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

"Data Management Plan Requirements for Campus Grant Competitions: Opportunities for Research Data Services Assessment and Outreach"

Andrew M. Johnson and Shelley Knuth have published "Data Management Plan Requirements for Campus Grant Competitions: Opportunities for Research Data Services Assessment and Outreach" in the Journal of eScience Librarianship.

Here's an excerpt:

Objective: To examine the effects of research data services (RDS) on the quality of data management plans (DMPs) required for a campus-level faculty grant competition, as well as to explore opportunities that the local DMP requirement presented for RDS outreach. . . .

Results: Analyses showed that RDS consultations had a statistically significant effect on DMP scores. Differences between DMP scores for funded versus unfunded proposals and among disciplinary categories were not significant. The DMP requirement also provided a number of both expected and unexpected outreach opportunities for RDS services.

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"Requirements on Long-Term Accessibility and Preservation of Research Results with Particular Regard to Their Provenance"

Andreas Weber and Claudia Piesche have published "Requirements on Long-Term Accessibility and Preservation of Research Results with Particular Regard to Their Provenance" in the ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information.

Here's an excerpt:

In this article we describe the considerations regarding the implementation of a local research data repository for the Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) 840. The main focus will be on the examination of requirements for, and an agenda of, a possible technical implementation. Requirements were derived from a more theoretical examination of similar projects and relevant literature, diverse discussions with researchers and project leaders, by analysis of existing publication data, and finally the prototypical implementation with refining iterations.

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"Congress Wants to Turn Obama’s Open Data Actions into Law"

Representative Derek Kilmer has released "Congress Wants to Turn Obama's Open Data Actions into Law."

Here's an excerpt:

A new bill introduced Thursday would give a legislative basis to a number of open data initiatives already underway in the federal government under executive order.

The Open, Public, Electronic and Necessary (OPEN) Government Data Act, introduced by Reps. Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., and Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, would build upon a number open data policies from the Obama administration that push federal agencies to make as much data as possible free for the public to use.

A Senate version of the bill will also soon be introduced by Sens. Brian Schatz, D-HI, and Ben Sasse, R-Neb.

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Building Blocks: Laying the Foundation for a Research Data Management Program

OCLC Research has released Building Blocks: Laying the Foundation for a Research Data Management Program.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Many research libraries are taking on a new role to support the research data management needs of their researchers and of their universities. In many cases, there are few resources to support the activity and a single librarian may have only the title or responsibility to get started. This document begins by suggesting very low-overhead ways to start a management program and goes on to describe services that can be added as possible to build out the program. References to many other resources are included.

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Presentations from the 8th Annual University of Massachusetts and New England Area Librarian e-Science Symposium

eScholarship@UMM has released presentations from the 8th Annual University of Massachusetts and New England Area Librarian e-Science Symposium.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

The theme for the 2016 University of Massachusetts and New England Area Librarian e-Science Symposium: "Library Research Data Services: Putting Ideas into Action"

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"Implementing Research Data Management Services in a Canadian Context"

Tess Grynoch has published "Implementing Research Data Management Services in a Canadian Context" in the Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management.

Here's an excerpt:

Research data management (RDM) has become an increasingly pressing issue for academic libraries as they strive to assist researchers in addressing new public funding requirements surrounding data dissemination and preservation. Briney, Goben, & Zilinski (2015) reviewed several characteristics of RDM service provision efforts by 206 American research universities. Following a similar methodology, the author reviewed RDM service development within Canadian research universities and compared the results to the American efforts. The main area requiring development in Canada is the provision of RDM services. Therefore, some current best practices for implementing RDM services were gathered through a literature review. The successful approaches highlighted in the literature include awareness of funder and institutional data policies, reaching out to data service providers on campus and beyond, understanding researcher data management needs and finding RDM champions, implementing research data services strategically, planning for growth in RDM services, marketing the RDM services, and creating incentives to create data management plans and utilize RDM services.

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Coursera and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Launch MOOC-Based Master’s Degree in Data Science

Coursera and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have launched a MOOC-based Master's Degree in Data Science.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Coursera, a leading online education company known for massive open online courses (MOOCs), today announced a professional data science master's degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Home to one of the top five computer science graduate programs in the United States, the University of Illinois will open access to its world-class data science curriculum at a fraction of the cost of a traditional on-campus or online master's degree through the Master of Computer Science in Data Science (MCS-DS) degree on Coursera.

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"Transparency: The Emerging Third Dimension of Open Science and Open Data"

Liz Lyon has published "Transparency: The Emerging Third Dimension of Open Science and Open Data" in LIBER Quarterly.

Here's an excerpt:

This paper presents an exploration of the concept of research transparency. The policy context is described and situated within the broader arena of open science. This is followed by commentary on transparency within the research process, which includes a brief overview of the related concept of reproducibility and the associated elements of research integrity, fraud and retractions. A two-dimensional model or continuum of open science is considered and the paper builds on this foundation by presenting a three-dimensional model, which includes the additional axis of 'transparency'. The concept is further unpacked and preliminary definitions of key terms are introduced: transparency, transparency action, transparency agent and transparency tool.

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"Migrating 2 and 3D Datasets: Preserving AutoCAD at the Archaeology Data Service"

Katie Green, Kieron Niven, and Georgina Field have published "Migrating 2 and 3D Datasets: Preserving AutoCAD at the Archaeology Data Service" in the ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information.

Here's an excerpt:

The lessons learnt during the largescale CAD migration process presented in this paper provide an important insight into the digital preservation component of Research Data Management practice.

While the overall migration process presented in this paper was not a strict migration according to the OAIS model and in many cases essentially involved "re-archiving" data, the exercise itself was necessary for the long-term preservation of the data and was undertaken in such a way as to achieve the best possible outcome for both the ADS and data consumers. While elements of the process were both laborious and time consuming (and therefore costly), as a result of having to reassess original files in the SIP, this highlights the benefits of normalizing data at the point of ingest and the production of homogenous AIPs to stable, reliable standards and formats, reaffirming the importance of professional Research Data Management and preservation practices.

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"Making Sense of Researcher Services"

Justin Shanks and Kenning Arlitsch have published "Making Sense of Researcher Services" in the Journal of Library Administration.

Here's an excerpt:

In this article we establish three categories (author/researcher identification, academic/professional networking, and reference/citation management) and examine nineteen services that fit into those categories.

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"Dissertations and Data"

Joachim Schöpfel et al. have self-archived "Dissertations and Data."

Here's an excerpt:

The keynote provides an overview on the field of research data produced by PhD students, in the context of open science, open access to research results, e-Science and the handling of electronic theses and dissertations. The keynote includes recent empirical results and recommendations for good practice and further research. In particular, the paper is based on an assessment of 864 print and electronic dissertations in sciences, social sciences and humanities from the Universities of Lille (France) and Ljubljana (Slovenia), submitted between 1987 and 2015, and on a survey on data management with 270 scientists in social sciences and humanities of the University of Lille

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"Fostering Open Science Practice through Recognising and Rewarding Research Data Management and Curation Skills"

Joy Davidson has self-archived "Fostering Open Science Practice through Recognising and Rewarding Research Data Management and Curation Skills."

Here's an excerpt:

Researchers will need to acquire new research data management and curation skills that enable them to undertake a broader range of tasks along the entire research lifecycle—from undertaking new means of collaboration, to implementing data management and sharing strategies, to understanding how to amplify and monitor research outputs and to assess their value and impact. In parallel, information professionals who work to support researchers and the open science process will also need to expand their research data management and curation skillsets. It will be equally important that current recognition and reward systems are amended to reflect the application of such skillsets within a range of disciplines. This paper will explore the potential role that librarians can play in supporting and progressing open science and discuss some of the new skills that librarians may require if they are to fulfil this role effectively.

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"The FAIR Guiding Principles for Scientific Data Management and Stewardship"

Mark D. Wilkinson et al. have published "The FAIR Guiding Principles for Scientific Data Management and Stewardship" in Scientific Data.

Here's an excerpt:

A diverse set of stakeholders-representing academia, industry, funding agencies, and scholarly publishers-have come together to design and jointly endorse a concise and measurable set of principles that we refer to as the FAIR Data Principles. The intent is that these may act as a guideline for those wishing to enhance the reusability of their data holdings.

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"A New Approach to Configuration Management for Private LOCKSS Networks"

Tobin M. Cataldo has published "A New Approach to Configuration Management for Private LOCKSS Networks" in D-Lib Magazine.

Here's an excerpt:

The node-based configuration management model is an alternative approach to configuration management for Private LOCKSS Networks that reduces external dependencies and subsequent vulnerabilities by flattening the hierarchical vendor-consumer model into a preservation node-based service. The node-based configuration management model also describes approaches for leveraging the LOCKSS preservation protocols to distribute and preserve the configuration data, and maintain continuous service regardless of network membership changes or infrastructural failure.

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"Humanities Data in the Library: Integrity, Form, Access"

Thomas Padilla has published "Humanities Data in the Library: Integrity, Form, Access" in D-Lib Magazine.

Here's an excerpt:

Digitally inflected Humanities scholarship and pedagogy is on the rise. Librarians are engaging this activity in part through a range of digital scholarship initiatives. While these engagements bear value, efforts to reshape library collections in light of demand remain nascent. This paper advances principles derived from practice to inform development of collections that can better support data driven research and pedagogy, examines existing practice in this area for strengths and weaknesses, and extends to consider possible futures.

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"The RADAR Project-A Service for Research Data Archival and Publication"

Angelina Kraft et al. have published "The RADAR Project-A Service for Research Data Archival and Publication" in the ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information.

Here's an excerpt:

The aim of the RADAR (Research Data Repository) project is to set up and establish an infrastructure that facilitates research data management: the infrastructure will allow researchers to store, manage, annotate, cite, curate, search and find scientific data in a digital platform available at any time that can be used by multiple (specialized) disciplines. While appropriate and innovative preservation strategies and systems are in place for the big data communities (e.g., environmental sciences, space, and climate), the stewardship for many other disciplines, often called the "long tail research domains", is uncertain. Funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), the RADAR collaboration project develops a service oriented infrastructure for the preservation, publication and traceability of (independent) research data. The key aspect of RADAR is the implementation of a two-stage business model for data preservation and publication: clients may preserve research results for up to 15 years and assign well-graded access rights, or to publish data with a DOI assignment for an unlimited period of time. Potential clients include libraries, research institutions, publishers and open platforms that desire an adaptable digital infrastructure to archive and publish data according to their institutional requirements and workflows.

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"Data Fluidity in DARIAH—Pushing the Agenda Forward"

Laurent Romary, Mike Mertens, and Anne Baillot have self-archived "Data Fluidity in DARIAH—Pushing the Agenda Forward."

Here's an excerpt:

This paper provides both an update concerning the setting up of the European DARIAH infrastructure and a series of strong action lines related to the development of a data centred strategy for the humanities in the coming years. In particular we tackle various aspect of data management: data hosting, the setting up of a DARIAH seal of approval, the establishment of a charter between cultural heritage institutions and scholars and finally a specific view on certification mechanisms for data.

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"Making Sense of Journal Research Data Policies"

Linda Naughton and David Kernohan have published "Making Sense of Journal Research Data Policies" in Insights: The UKSG Journal.

Here's an excerpt:

This article gives an overview of the findings from the first phase of the Jisc Journal Research Data Policy Registry pilot (JRDPR), which is currently under way. . . . The project undertook an analysis of 250 journal research data policies to assess the feasibility of developing a policy registry to assist researchers and support staff to comply with research data publication requirements. The evidence shows that the current research data policy ecosystem is in critical need of standardization and harmonization if such services are to be built and implemented. To this end, the article proposes the next steps for the project with the objective of ultimately moving towards a modern research infrastructure based on machine-readable policies that support a more open scholarly communications environment.

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Sloan Foundation Funds Frictionless Data initiative

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has given a $700,000 grant to Open Knowledge International to support its Frictionless Data initiative .

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

The funding will target standards work, tooling, and infrastructure around "data packages" as well as piloting and outreach activities to support researchers and civic technologists in addressing real problems encountered when working with data.

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IMLS and Partners Launch Fourth Digging into Data Challenge

The Institute of Museum and Library Services and 15 national funding agencies have launched the Fourth Digging into Data Challenge.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

This year's competition is presented under the auspices of the Trans-Atlantic Platform (T-AP), a consortium of sixteen international funders of social sciences and humanities research from Europe, South America, and North America. U.S. funding agencies are IMLS, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Science Foundation. With new funders from Europe and, for the first time, South America, research teams will have opportunities for more diverse collaborations and subjects of inquiry. . . .

The Digging into Data funding opportunity is open to international projects that consist of teams from at least three member countries, and must include partners from both sides of the Atlantic. Projects must address a research question in humanities and/or social sciences disciplines by using large-scale, digital data analysis techniques, and show how these techniques can lead to new insights. Research partners will receive funding from their own national funding agencies for projects that can last for up to 36 months.

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Webinar Recording: "VIVO plus SHARE: Closing the Loop on Tracking Scholarly Activity"

DuraSpace has released "VIVO plus SHARE: Closing the Loop on Tracking Scholarly Activity."

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

On February 24, 2016, Rick Johnson (Program Co-Director, Digital Initiatives and Scholarship Head, Data Curation and Digital Library Solutions Hesburgh Libraries, University of Notre Dame; Visiting Program Officer for SHARE at the Association of Research Libraries) and Mike Conlon (VIVO Project Director, DuraSpace; Professor Emeritus, University of Florida) presented, "VIVO plus SHARE: Closing the Loop on Tracking Scholarly Activity."

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Filling the Digital Preservation Gap: A Jisc Research Data Spring Project Phase Two Report—February 2016

Jenny Mitcham et al. have released Filling the Digital Preservation Gap: A Jisc Research Data Spring Project Phase Two Report—February 2016.

Here's an excerpt:

Phase 1 of the project investigated the need for digital preservation as part of a wider infrastructure for research data management and looked specifically at how the open source digital preservation system Archivematica could fulfil this function. . . .

Work in phase 2 had the following aims:

  • Work with Artefactual Systems to develop Archivematica in a number of areas (highlighted in our phase 1 report) in order to make the system more suitable for fitting into our infrastructures for research data management
  • Develop our own detailed implementation plans for Hull and York to establish how Archivematica will be incorporated into our local infrastructures for research data
  • Consider how Archivematica could work as an above campus installation
  • Consider how digital preservation is addressed by the projects in phase 2 of Research Data Spring

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DuraSpace and LYRASIS Boards Approve "Intent to Merge"

The DuraSpace and LYRASIS Boards have approved an "Intent to Merge".

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

The respective boards unanimously approved an "Intent to Merge", which means the organizations, having done a careful initial investigation, will move into a public phase to consider an official plan and pathway for the potential coming together, including a full analysis of member benefits. The decision to eventually come together is not yet final. In this public phase of investigation, each organization seeks feedback from members of their organizations and will investigate carefully the value of all services, projects, membership models and organizational cultures to ensure a smooth transition for members of both organizations should a merger agreement occur.

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"An Update on Peer Review and Research Data"

Fiona Murphy has published "An Update on Peer Review and Research Data" in Learned Publishing.

Here's an excerpt:

As has been outlined here, the question of how to review research data and incorporate this into the publication process remains a knotty one. Various groups have made a certain amount of progress with potential recommendations, and domain-related and technical support functions are also emerging. However, the critical mass of active researchers has so far failed to engage.

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"Data Literacy Training Needs of Biomedical Researchers"

Lisa M. Federer, Ya-Ling Lu, and Douglas J. Joubert, have published "Data Literacy Training Needs of Biomedical Researchers" in the Journal of the Medical Library Association.

Here's an excerpt:

This article reports on an exploratory study that expands on the existing literature by considering the data literacy training needs of career-level researchers and related staff. This study was conducted to inform the development of the data services program at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Library, which serves staff at NIH and other agencies in the Department of Health and Human Services.

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