  Digital archives are the preferred means for open access to research data.
They play essential roles in knowledge infrastructures - robust networks of
people, artifacts, and institutions - but little is known about how they
mediate information exchange between stakeholders. We open the "black box" of
data archives by studying DANS, the Data Archiving and Networked Services
institute of The Netherlands, which manages 50+ years of data from the social
sciences, humanities, and other domains. Our interviews, weblogs, ethnography,
and document analyses reveal that a few large contributors provide a steady
flow of content, but most are academic researchers who submit datasets
infrequently and often restrict access to their files. Consumers are a diverse
group that overlaps minimally with contributors. Archivists devote about half
their time to aiding contributors with curation processes and half to assisting
consumers. Given the diversity and infrequency of usage, human assistance in
curation and search remains essential. DANS' knowledge infrastructure
encompasses public and private stakeholders who contribute, consume, harvest,
and serve their data - many of whom did not exist at the time the DANS
collections originated - reinforcing the need for continuous investment in
digital data archives as their communities, technologies, and services evolve.
