# DFS: A Dataset File System for Data Discovering Users

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1905.13363 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.13363/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 31 May 2019.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Cognitive Prosthetic: An AI-Enabled Multimodal System for Episodic Recall in Knowledge Work](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.02072/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Many research questions can be answered quickly and efficiently using data already collected for previous research. This practice is called secondary data analysis (SDA), and has gained popularity due to lower costs and improved research efficiency. In this paper we propose DFS, a file system to standardize the metadata representation of datasets, and DDU, a scalable architecture based on DFS for semi-automated metadata generation and data recommendation on the cloud. We discuss how DFS and DDU lays groundwork for automatic dataset aggregation, how it integrates with existing data wrangling and machine learning tools, and explores their implications on datasets stored in digital libraries.