Modama: a User-Friendly Data Lake for Everyday Scientists

Modama is used to manage all kinds of working data for user facilities such as ER-C, for both members and visitors. It facilitates data exchange between projects and users, offering a wide range of interfaces for access. Together with its simple structure and without any restrictions on data formats or schemas, this enables applications to the widest range of workflows and projects, including new user-created ones. On the other hand, it provides very little guidance on data structures and the data is highly non-uniform.
Modama follows a modular approach where components are coupled with standards-based interfaces. This allows integration of new tools and interfaces without risking or interfering with existing functionality, as well as administering various parts collaboratively by a team within a large facility.
Modama is centred around a file system, as opposed to object storage, since an overwhelming majority of software tools and workflows in electron microscopy are file-based. The data in Modama is mutable by default, but selected parts can be made immutable to preserve e.g. valuable raw data.

• Make more tools available to modama users
• Improved search
• Improve interoperability with other repositories, such as Zenodo
• Improve support for data formats that are specific to electron microscopy (EM) in the wider ecosystem
• Enable federation with other repositories and VREs participating in EOSC Data Commons to facilitate collaboration and data exchange.
• modama users should have access to a larger choice of tools while reducing the administrative effort to deploy them with an improved search and browsing interface that can likely be based on the discovery mechanisms and interfaces developed in EOSC Data Commons.

• The search engine and interface of EOSC Data Commons can likely also be used in modama.
• OpenCloud, in use at CERN, may replace Nextcloud in modama to improve performance and compatibility with local file data.
• Since data in modama is private and primarily targets local use, EOSC Data Commons services are likely to be deployed locally at ER-C as part of modama, which can possibly be integrated with an identity provider common to EOSC Data Commons.
• Federation with other repositories can be explored as well to facilitate data exchange, with a mechanism for AAI to keep unpublished data private.