Category: Data Curation, Open Data, and Research Data Management

"ARL White Paper on Wikidata Highlights Use of Open Knowledge in Scholarly Communication, Special Collections"

ARL has released "ARL White Paper on Wikidata Highlights Use of Open Knowledge in Scholarly Communication, Special Collections."

Here's an excerpt:

Librarians are using Wikidata's structured data about people, topics, concepts, and objects to populate open source faculty profiling systems, to enhance bibliographic records in online catalogs, and to collaborate with communities on meaningful, culturally relevant, descriptive metadata for special collections and archives. The white paper, circulated for public comment in fall 2018, contains examples of Wikidata applications, screenshots, and recommendations for involvement on an individual or organizational level.

Research Data Curation Bibliography, Version 9 | Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"Cold Storage Data Archives: More Than Just a Bunch of Tapes"

Bunjamin Memishi et al. have self-archived "Cold Storage Data Archives: More Than Just a Bunch of Tapes."

Here's an excerpt:

The abundance of available sensor and derived data from large scientific experiments, such as earth observation programs, radio astronomy sky surveys, and high-energy physics already exceeds the storage hardware globally fabricated per year. . . . While high-performance data analytics has received much attention from the research community, the growing number of problems in designing and deploying cold storage archives has only received very little attention.

In this paper, we take the first step towards bridging this gap in knowledge by presenting an analysis of four real-world cold storage archives from three different application domains. In doing so, we highlight (i) workload characteristics that differentiate these archives from traditional, performance-sensitive data analytics, (ii) design trade-offs involved in building cold storage systems for these archives, and (iii) deployment trade-offs with respect to migration to the public cloud.

Research Data Curation Bibliography, Version 9 | Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

Ithaka S+R US Faculty Survey 2018

Ithaka S+R has released the Ithaka S+R US Faculty Survey 2018.

Here's an excerpt:

In this seventh triennial cycle, we surveyed a random sample of faculty within the United States on topics from previous cycles, including information discovery and access, data management, research dissemination, perceptions of student research skills, and the value of the library. We also added new questions on emerging topics of interest, including open educational resources, learning analytics, and evolving scholarly communication models.

Research Data Curation Bibliography, Version 9 | Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"Data Stewardship Week in an Academic Library: An Overview"

Caitlin Harrington et al. have published "Data Stewardship Week in an Academic Library: An Overview" in College & Research Libraries News..

Here's an excerpt:

In the information age, data stewardship is crucial for individual and organizational productivity. It is easy to get overwhelmed by vast amounts of information being created every second. Information overload has become a common occurrence in the workplace to the extent that people "spend more time searching for the right information, leaving them less time for proper analyses using the acquired information." Thus, the excess of information in the workplace can lead to stress, lack of productivity, and information fatigue.

Research Data Curation Bibliography, Version 9 | Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"Teaching Research Data Management for Students"

Cord Wiljes and Philipp Cimiano have self-archived "Teaching Research Data Management for Students."

Here's an excerpt:

Sound skills in managing research data are a fundamental requirement in any discipline of research. Therefore, research data management should be included in academic education of students as early as possible. We have been teaching an interdisciplinary full semester's course on research data management for six years. We report how we established the course. We describe our competency-based approach to teaching research data management and the curriculum of topics that we consider essential. We evaluate our approach by a survey done among the participants of the course and summarize the lessons we learned in teaching the course.

Research Data Curation Bibliography, Version 9 | Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"Ten Principles for Machine-Actionable Data Management Plans"

Tomasz Miksa et al. have published "Ten Principles for Machine-Actionable Data Management Plans" in PLOS Computational Biology.

Here's an excerpt:

Data management plans (DMPs) are documents accompanying research proposals and project outputs. DMPs are created as free-form text and describe the data and tools employed in scientific investigations. They are often seen as an administrative exercise and not as an integral part of research practice.

There is now widespread recognition that the DMP can have more thematic, machine-actionable richness with added value for all stakeholders: researchers, funders, repository managers, research administrators, data librarians, and others. The research community is moving toward a shared goal of making DMPs machine-actionable to improve the experience for all involved by exchanging information across research tools and systems and embedding DMPs in existing workflows. This will enable parts of the DMP to be automatically generated and shared, thus reducing administrative burdens and improving the quality of information within a DMP.

This paper presents 10 principles to put machine-actionable DMPs (maDMPs) into practice and realize their benefits. The principles contain specific actions that various stakeholders are already undertaking or should undertake in order to work together across research communities to achieve the larger aims of the principles themselves. We describe existing initiatives to highlight how much progress has already been made toward achieving the goals of maDMPs as well as a call to action for those who wish to get involved.

Research Data Curation Bibliography, Version 9 | Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"Implementing Publisher Policies That Inform, Support and Encourage Authors to Share Data: Two Case Studies"

Leila Jones, Rebecca Grant, and Iain Hrynaszkiewicz have published "Implementing Publisher Policies That Inform, Support and Encourage Authors to Share Data: Two Case Studies" in Insights.

Here's an excerpt:

Open research data is one of the key areas in the expanding open scholarship movement. Scholarly journals and publishers find themselves at the heart of the shift towards openness, with recent years seeing an increase in the number of scholarly journals with data-sharing policies aiming to increase transparency and reproducibility of research. In this article we present two case studies which examine the experiences that two leading academic publishers, Taylor & Francis and Springer Nature, have had in rolling out data-sharing policies. We illustrate some of the considerations involved in providing consistent policies across journals of many disciplines, reflecting on successes and challenges.

Research Data Curation Bibliography, Version 9 | Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

Report on the Survey of Digital Data Management Practices at the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences

Boris Radosavljevic et al. have self-archived Report on the Survey of Digital Data Management Practices at the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences.

Here's an excerpt:

The GeoDataNode project, funded by the Federal Ministry for Research and Education (BMBF) conducted a survey of data management practices at GFZ. The aim was to assess the state of current practices and needs, and their alignment to institutional and national guidelines for data management. The target audience included scientific and technical employees at all levels. A response rate of 24% of the target demographic was achieved. The survey revealed a general need for improvement and structuring of research data handling. This includes provision of adequate storage space, back-up schedules, and the familiarization of young researchers with good scientific practice.

Research Data Curation Bibliography, Version 9 | Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"Too Many Tags Spoil the Metadata: Investigating the Knowledge Management of Scientific Research with Semantic Web Technologies"

Samantha Kanza, Nicholas Gibbins, and Jeremy G. Frey have published "Too Many Tags Spoil the Metadata: Investigating the Knowledge Management of Scientific Research with Semantic Web Technologies" in the Journal of Cheminformatics.

Here's an excerpt:

Previous studies of Electronic Lab Notebooks (ELNs) in academia and industry have identified semantic web technologies as a means for organising scientific documents to improve current workflows and knowledge management practices. In this paper, we present a qualitative, user-centred study of researcher requirements and practices, based on a series of discipline-specific focus groups. We developed a prototype semantic ELN to serve as a discussion aid for these focus groups, and to help us explore the technical readiness of a range of semantic web technologies. While these technologies showed potential, existing tools for semantic annotation were not well-received by our focus groups, and need to be refined before they can be used to enhance current researcher practices.

Research Data Curation Bibliography, Version 9 | Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"Intelligent Infrastructure, Ubiquitous Mobility, and Smart Libraries—Innovate for the Future"

Yi Shen has published "Intelligent Infrastructure, Ubiquitous Mobility, and Smart Libraries—Innovate for the Future" in Data Science Journal.

Here's an excerpt:

This paper presents an empirical research on the strategic development of a large-scale transdisciplinary area, named Intelligent Infrastructure for Human-Centered Communities or IIHCC, in the institutional context of Virginia Tech. . . . . Within such developments, this study discusses the developing scenarios of "smart" libraries as innovative testbeds for data exploration, community knowledge base, and intelligent information interface. It further projects an intelligent, learning, and adaptive library system, featuring exemplary data science platform and dynamic data management mechanism, smart design and innovation space, as well as collective intelligence and creative partnership. During this extraordinary time of horizon change, this timely work informs academic library transformation and its architectural innovation in the age of "smartness."

Research Data Curation Bibliography, Version 9 | Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"Establishing a Research Data Management Service on a Health Sciences Campus"

Kathryn Vela and Nancy Shin have published "Establishing a Research Data Management Service on a Health Sciences Campus" in the Journal of eScience Librarianship.

Here's an excerpt:

Objective: Given the increasing need for research data management support and education, the Spokane Academic Library at Washington State University (WSU) sought to determine the data management practices, perceptions, and needs of researchers on the WSU Spokane health sciences campus.

Methods: A 23-question online survey was distributed to WSU researchers and research support staff through the campus listserv. This online survey addressed data organization, documentation, storage & backup, security, preservation, and sharing, as well as challenges and desired support services.

Results: Survey results indicated that there was a clear need for more instruction with regard to data management planning, particularly as data management planning addresses the areas of metadata design, data sharing, data security, and data storage and backup.

Research Data Curation Bibliography, Version 9 | Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"Data Objects and Documenting Scientific Processes: An Analysis of Data Events in Biodiversity Data Papers"

Kai Li, Jane Greenberg, and Jillian Dunic have self-archived "Data Objects and Documenting Scientific Processes: An Analysis of Data Events in Biodiversity Data Papers."

Here's an excerpt:

The data paper, an emerging scholarly genre, describes research datasets and is intended to bridge the gap between the publication of research data and scientific articles. Research examining how data papers report data events, such as data transactions and manipulations, is limited. The research reported on in this paper addresses this limitation and investigated how data events are inscribed in data papers. A content analysis was conducted examining the full texts of 82 data papers, drawn from the curated list of data papers connected to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Data events recorded for each paper were organized into a set of 17 categories. . . . The findings challenge the degrees to which data papers are a distinct genre compared to research papers and they describe data-centric research processes in a through way.

Research Data Curation Bibliography, Version 9 | Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"Researchers May Need Additional Data Curation Support "

Robin E. Miller has published "Researchers May Need Additional Data Curation Support " in Evidence Based Library and Information Practice.

Here's an excerpt:

Twelve data curation activities were identified as "highly rated" services that academic institutions could focus on providing to researchers. Documentation, Secure Storage, Quality Assurance, and Persistent Identifier were the data curation activities that the majority of participants rated as "most important." Participants identified the data curation practices in place at their institutions, including documentation (80%), secure storage (75%), chain of custody (64%), metadata (63%), file inventory or manifest (58%), data visualization (58%), versioning (56%), file format transformations (55%), and quality assurance (52%). Participants reported low levels of satisfaction with their institutions’ data curation activities.

Research Data Curation Bibliography, Version 9 | Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"Assessing Data Management Support Needs of Bioengineering and Biomedical Research Faculty"

Christie A. Wiley and Margaret H. Burnette have published "Assessing Data Management Support Needs of Bioengineering and Biomedical Research Faculty" in the Journal of eScience Librarianship.

Here's an excerpt:

Results: This study revealed the majority of researchers explore broad research topics, various file storage solutions, generate numerous amounts of data and adhere to differing discipline-specific practices. Researchers expressed both familiarity and unfamiliarity with DMP Tool. Roughly half of the researchers interviewed reported having documented protocols for file names, file backup, and file storage. Findings also suggest that there is ambiguity about what it means to share research data and confusion about terminology such as "repository" and "data deposit". Many researchers equate publication to data sharing.

Research Data Curation Bibliography, Version 9 | Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"Persistent Identifiers: The Building Blocks of the Research Information Infrastructure"

Alice Meadows et al. have published "Persistent Identifiers: The Building Blocks of the Research Information Infrastructure" in Insights.

Here's an excerpt:

Persistent identifiers (PIDs)—for people (researchers), places (their organizations) and things (their research outputs and other contributions)—are foundational elements in the overall research information infrastructure. They enable these entities to be uniquely identified and connected, to create reliable links between them. In this paper we describe what PIDs are and how they work. We demonstrate how, if widely adopted, the connections they enable will result in improved access to information, opportunities for collaboration, reduced administrative overhead and, ultimately, increased trust in scholarship and research. To ensure they are fit for purpose, we propose that PID metadata should meet FAIR principles, and that the source of information they contain should be clear and transparent. We also recognize existing usage of persistent identifiers, and invite community support for wider adoption of PIDs in future.

Research Data Curation Bibliography, Version 9 | Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"Searching Data: A Review of Observational Data Retrieval Practices in Selected Disciplines"

Kathleen Gregory et al. have published "Searching Data: A Review of Observational Data Retrieval Practices in Selected Disciplines" in the Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology.

Here's an excerpt:

This review explores the existing data retrieval literature and identifies commonalities in documented practices among users of observational data as a first step toward creating a model describing how users search for and evaluate research data.

Research Data Curation Bibliography, Version 9 | Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"Research Computing in the Cloud: Leveling the Playing Field"

Michael Berman has published "Research Computing in the Cloud: Leveling the Playing Field" in EDUCAUSE Review.

Here's an excerpt:

The universal availability of commodity cloud services and high-speed networks can eliminate the requirement that departments must have local HPC resources. The infrastructure available from large cloud providers such as AWS dwarfs and outperforms all but the largest and most-specialized supercomputing facilities. . . .

Moving large data sets on commodity networks, or even on regional research and education networks, simply doesn't work well for hundreds of terabytes or petabytes of data, which is the scale required by modern researchers in many fields. . . .

To begin to address these issues, the Pacific Research Platform (PRP), a collaboration among research universities and CENIC (operator of the CalREN network serving California), has been funded by the National Science Foundation to support the streaming of "elephant flows."

Research Data Curation Bibliography, Version 9 | Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap