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

"Federal Research Data Requirements Set to Change"

Abigail Goben and Dorothea Salo have published "Federal Research Data Requirements Set to Change" in the latest issue of College & Research Libraries News.

Here's an excerpt from:

FERPA, HIPAA, FOIA, and other sunshine laws, National Science Foundation data-management plans—grant-funded research data has had compliance strings attached for some time. Attention to research data is now even more heightened following the responses of the federal agencies in August to the Obama Administration's Office for Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) directive from February 2013.2 Research libraries will need to educate and partner with researchers to improve understanding and compliance, promote proper archiving of digital data, and expand discovery and reuse of research datasets

.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

Draft Policy on Open Access for Data and Information

The EU e-infrastructure coordination pro-iBiosphere project has released the Draft Policy on Open Access for Data and Information.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

The document addresses legal issues that hamper an integrative system for managing biodiversity knowledge in Europe. It describes the importance for scientists to have access to documents and data in order to synthesize disparate information and to facilitate data mining (or similar research techniques). It explores some aspects of copyright and database protection that influence access to and re-use of biodiversity data and information and refers to exceptions and limitations of copyright or database protection provided for within the relevant EU Directives.

The scientists also suggest that publicly funded institutions should refrain from claiming intellectual property rights for biodiversity data and information published or made accessible by them. Re-use of biodiversity data and information for research purposes should be allowed without any form of authorization. The only claims that publicly funded institutions should make are to ensure users fully acknowledge the sources of information that they rely on.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

figshare for Institutions Launched

figshare has launched an instiutional service for research data.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

figshare today announces the launch of 'figshare for Institutions'—a simple and cost-effective software solution for academic and higher education establishments to both securely host and make publicly available its academic research outputs. figshare, allows academic institutions to publish, share and get credit for their research data, hosting videos, datasets, posters, figures and theses in a cost-effective way.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

Special Issue on Research Data Access and Preservation

The latest issue of the Bulletin of the Association for Information Science and Technology focuses on research data access and preservation.

Here's a selection of articles:

  • "Partnerships Between Institutional Repositories, Domain Repositories and Publishers"
  • "The Relevance of Research Data Sharing and Reuse Studies"
  • "Tracking Citations and Altmetrics for Research Data: Challenges and Opportunities"
  • "The Research Data Alliance: Implementing the Technology, Practice and Connections of a Data Infrastructure"
  • "The DCC's Institutional Engagements: Raising Research Data Management Capacity in UK Higher Education"

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

"If We Share Data, Will Anyone Use Them? Data Sharing and Reuse in the Long Tail of Science and Technology"

Jillian C. Wallis, Elizabeth Rolando, and Christine L. Borgman have published "If We Share Data, Will Anyone Use Them? Data Sharing and Reuse in the Long Tail of Science and Technology" in PLOS ONE.

Here's an excerpt:

Research on practices to share and reuse data will inform the design of infrastructure to support data collection, management, and discovery in the long tail of science and technology. These are research domains in which data tend to be local in character, minimally structured, and minimally documented. We report on a ten-year study of the Center for Embedded Network Sensing (CENS), a National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center. We found that CENS researchers are willing to share their data, but few are asked to do so, and in only a few domain areas do their funders or journals require them to deposit data. Few repositories exist to accept data in CENS research areas.. Data sharing tends to occur only through interpersonal exchanges. CENS researchers obtain data from repositories, and occasionally from registries and individuals, to provide context, calibration, or other forms of background for their studies. Neither CENS researchers nor those who request access to CENS data appear to use external data for primary research questions or for replication of studies. CENS researchers are willing to share data if they receive credit and retain first rights to publish their results. Practices of releasing, sharing, and reusing of data in CENS reaffirm the gift culture of scholarship, in which goods are bartered between trusted colleagues rather than treated as commodities.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

Draft Guidelines for Digital Newspaper Preservation Readiness

The Educopia Institute has released Draft Guidelines for Digital Newspaper Preservation Readiness.

Here's an excerpt:

These Guidelines are a first-draft version of our work to distil preservation-readiness steps into an incremental process that an institution of almost any size or type should be able to use to begin maturing its digital newspaper content management practices.

This first draft is being issued for public review and comment here from July 22, 2013-September 20, 2013.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

Preserving Computer-Aided Design (CAD)

The Digital Preservation Coalition has released Preserving Computer-Aided Design (CAD).

Here's an excerpt:

Computer-Aided Design (CAD) systems are used in both industry and academia to create digital models, whether of engineering designs, archaeological dig sites, or virtual worlds. These models can be of long-lasting significance and importance, particularly if they contain irreplaceable data or relate to long-lived products. This report is primarily aimed at those responsible for archives and repositories with CAD content, but may also be useful for creators of CAD content who want to make their models more amenable to preservation. It begins with an introduction to the historical development and basic concepts of CAD systems, then reviews the most pertinent issues associated with preserving CAD models, and indicates the current state of standardization work in the area. The report goes on to present some recent research of relevance to preserving CAD models before drawing conclusions and making recommendations on how archives should handle the CAD models they accept.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

Presentations from Open Repositories 2013

Presentations from Open Repositories 2013 are now available.

Here's a brief selection of talks:

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

Helping to Open Up: Improving Knowledge, Capability and Confidence in Making Research Data More Open

The Research Information and Digital Literacies Coalition has released Helping to Open Up: Improving Knowledge, Capability and Confidence in Making Research Data More Open.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

The report describes a framework for how to address this challenge when designing training and support for opening data, within the broader questions of RDM. Recommendations are set out, relating to:

– putting opening data at the heart of policy

– putting opening data at the heart of training

– deepening and broadening the training

– identifying and disseminating best practice in opening data

– developing institutional and community support

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

UC Berkeley School of Information Launches Online Master of Information and Data Science Program

The UC Berkeley School of Information has launched an online Master of Information and Data Science program.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

The I School is staking out new master's degree territory in educating data scientists. While other institutions provide individual classes, certificates, or associate master's degrees in data science, the I School has designed a comprehensive and integrated suite of courses that culminate in a capstone course designed to solidify a student's knowledge of the breadth of data science concepts and skills.

The rigorous new 27-unit MIDS program officially begins in January 2014. Aimed at the working professional, the program will be offered online—except for a required, one-week immersion program at the I School's home at South Hall, to meet in person and explore the Bay Area tech environment.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

"Using Data Curation Profiles to Design the Datastar Dataset Registry"

Sarah J. Wright, Wendy A. Kozlowski, Dianne Dietrich, Huda J. Khan, and Gail S. Steinhart have published "Using Data Curation Profiles to Design the Datastar Dataset Registry" in the latest issue of D-Lib Magazine.

Here's an excerpt:

The development of research data services in academic libraries is a topic of concern to many. Cornell University Library's efforts in this area include the Datastar research data registry project. In order to ensure that Datastar development decisions were driven by real user needs, we interviewed researchers and created Data Curation Profiles (DCPs). Researchers supported providing public descriptions of their datasets; attitudes toward dataset citation, provenance, versioning, and domain specific standards for metadata also helped to guide development. These findings, as well as considerations for the use of this particular method for developing research data services in libraries are discussed in detail.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

"Foundations of Data Curation: The Pedagogy and Practice of "Purposeful Work" with Research Data"

Carole L. Palmer, Nicholas M. Weber, Trevor Muñoz, and Allen H. Renear have punlished "Foundations of Data Curation: The Pedagogy and Practice of "Purposeful Work" with Research Data" in the latest issue of Archive Journal.

Here's an excerpt:

Increased interest in large-scale, publicly accessible data collections has made data curation critical to the management, preservation, and improvement of research data in the social and natural sciences, as well as the humanities. This paper explicates an approach to data curation education that integrates traditional notions of curation with principles and expertise from library, archival, and computer science. We begin by tracing the emergence of data curation as both a concept and a field of practice related to, but distinct from, both digital curation and data stewardship. This historical account, while far from definitive, considers perspectives from both the sciences and the humanities. Alongside traditional LIS and archival science practices, unique aspects of curation have informed our concept of "purposeful work" with data and, in turn, our pedagogical approach to data curation for the sciences and the humanities.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

"Competencies Required for Digital Curation: An Analysis of Job Advertisements"

Jeonghyun Kim, Edward Warga, and William Moen have published "Competencies Required for Digital Curation: An Analysis of Job Advertisements" in the latest issue of the International Journal of Digital Curation.

Here's an excerpt:

With digital curation's increasingly important role in the fast-paced and data-intensive information environment, there is a need to identify a set of competencies for professionals in this growing field. As part of a curriculum development project funded by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, a total of 173 job advertisements posted between October 2011 and April 2012 were collected from various sources to take into account varying types of professionals in the field of digital curation across North America. Position title, institution types and location, educational background, experience, knowledge and skills, and duties were examined and analyzed. The results of the analysis show that digital curation jobs are characterized by a complex interplay of various skills and knowledge. The findings of this study present emerging requirements for a qualified workforce in the field of digital curation.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

Research Data Management Training for Support Staff: A DaMaRO Project Survey

The DaMaRO Project has released Research Data Management Training for Support Staff: A DaMaRO Project Survey.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

A few weeks ago, in collaboration with our colleagues from the DataPool Project in Southampton, we ran a survey for staff involved in supporting researchers at the University of Oxford. . . .

The survey asked support staff about a range of different research data management tasks. For each task, we asked them how confident they personally felt to advise researchers on this. As it's clearly unrealistic to expect all support staff to advise on all topics, we also asked how confident they felt of their ability to refer researchers to the appropriate person, organization, or resources for advice.

The responses revealed that current average confidence levels are low to moderate at best. Respondents did in general seem slightly more confident about referring researchers elsewhere for advice, but there's still a lot of room for improvement here.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

Research Data Curation Bibliography, Version 3

Digital Scholarship has released version 3 of the Research Data Curation Bibliography. This selective bibliography includes over 230 English-language articles and technical reports that are useful in understanding the curation of digital research data in academic and other research institutions.

The "digital curation" concept is still evolving. In "Digital Curation and Trusted Repositories: Steps toward Success," Christopher A. Lee and Helen R. Tibbo define digital curation as follows:

Digital curation involves selection and appraisal by creators and archivists; evolving provision of intellectual access; redundant storage; data transformations; and, for some materials, a commitment to long-term preservation. Digital curation is stewardship that provides for the reproducibility and re-use of authentic digital data and other digital assets. Development of trustworthy and durable digital repositories; principles of sound metadata creation and capture; use of open standards for file formats and data encoding; and the promotion of information management literacy are all essential to the longevity of digital resources and the success of curation efforts.

Most sources have been published from January 2000 through June 2012; however, a limited number of earlier key sources are also included.

The bibliography includes links to freely available versions of included works. If such versions are unavailable, italicized links to the publishers' descriptions are provided.

It is available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

2013 NDSA Innovation Award Winners

The National Digital Stewardship Alliance Innovation Working Group has announced the 2013 NDSA Innovation Award winners.

Here's an excerpt:

Please join us in congratulating the 2013 Innovation Award winners:

Future Steward: Martin Gengenbach, Gates Archive. Martin is recognized for his work documenting digital forensics tools and workflows, especially his paper,"The Way We Do it Here: Mapping Digital Forensics Workflows in Collecting Institutions" and his work cataloging the DFXML schema.

Individual: Kim Schroeder, Wayne State University. Kim is recognized for her work as a mentor to future digital stewards in her role as a lecturer in Digital Preservation at Wayne State University, where she helped establish the first NDSA Student Group, supported the student-lead colloquium on digital preservation, and worked to facilitate collaboration between students in digital stewardship and local cultural heritage organizations.

Project: DataUp, California Digital Library. DataUp is recognized for creating an open-source tool uniquely built to assist individuals aiming to preserve research datasets by guiding them through the digital stewardship workflow process from dataset creation and description to the deposit of their datasets into public repositories.

Organization: Archive Team. The Archive Team , a self-described "loose collective of rogue archivists, programmers, writers and loudmouths dedicated to saving our digital heritage," is recognized for both for its aggressive, vital work in preserving websites and digital content slated for deletion and for its work advocating for the preservation of digital culture within the technology and computing sectors.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

"First Aid Training for Those on the Front Lines: Digital Preservation Needs Survey Results 2012"

Jody L. DeRidder has published "First Aid Training for Those on the Front Lines: Digital Preservation Needs Survey Results 2012" in the latest issue of Information Technology and Libraries.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Every day history is being made and recorded in digital form. Every day, more and more digitally-captured history disappears completely or becomes inaccessible due to obsolescence of hardware, software, and formats. Although it has long been the focus of libraries and archives to retain, organize, and preserve information, these communities face a critical skills gap. Until we have in place the infrastructure, expertise and resources to distil critical information from the digital deluge and preserve it appropriately, what steps can those in the field take to help mitigate the loss of our cultural heritage? This article argues for the need for practical, accessible free or low-cost digital preservation training webinars, and reports on the results of a survey to identify the most important topics and types of materials on which to focus.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

"Making Research Data Repositories Visible: The re3data.org Registry"

Heinz Pampel et al. have self-archived "Making Research Data Repositories Visible: The re3data.org Registry" in PeerJ PrePrints.

Here's an excerpt:

Researchers require infrastructures that ensure a maximum of accessibility, stability and reliability to facilitate working with and sharing of research data. Such infrastructures are being increasingly summarized under the term Research Data Repositories (RDR). The project re3data.org—Registry of Research Rata Repositories has begun to index research data repositories in 2012 and offers researchers, funding organizations, libraries and publishers an overview of the heterogeneous research data repository landscape. Information icons help researchers to easily identify an adequate repository for the storage and reuse of their data. This article describes the RDR landscape, outlines the practicality of re3data.org as a service, and shows how this service helps to find research data.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

Research Data Management in Practice

The Australian National Data Service has released Research Data Management in Practice.

Here's an excerpt:

ANDS has commissioned this "Research Data Management Practice Guide" as a practical starting point that focuses on the 'Why' and 'How' of good data and risk management, with plenty of references for further reading for readers who need more detail. . . .

The Practice Guide is aimed at research administrators in the e-research space, providing them with an overview for the planning and operations of sharing research data, thereby creating better opportunities for data re-use. It is acknowledged that no single person or even business unit is responsible for all aspects of research data management and that a collaborative approach is required. In all cases this will involve the researcher/data creator.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

"The Role of the Library in the Research Enterprise"

Christopher J. Shaffer has published "The Role of the Library in the Research Enterprise" in the latest issue of the Journal of eScience Librarianship.

Here's an excerpt:

Libraries have provided services to researchers for many years. Changes in technology and new publishing models provide opportunities for libraries to be more involved in the research enterprise. Within this article, the author reviews traditional library services, briefly describes the eScience and publishing landscape as it relates to libraries, and explores possible library programs in support of research. Many of the new opportunities require new partnerships, both within the institution and externally.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

"Developing Researcher Skills in Research Data Management: Training for the Future—A DataPool Project Report"

Dorothy Byatt, Mark Scott, F. Gareth Beale, Simon J. Cox, and Wendy White have self-archived "Developing Researcher Skills in Research Data Management: Training for the Future—A DataPool Project Report" in ePrints Soton.

Here's an excerpt:

This report will look at the multi-level approach to developing researcher skills in research data management in the University of Southampton, developed as part of the training strand of the JISC DataPool project, and embedded into the University engagement with research data management.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

"Research Object for Scholarly Communication (ROSC) Community Group Charter"

Jun Zhao of the University of Oxford has released the "Research Object for Scholarly Communication (ROSC) Community Group Charter." ROSC is a W3C group.

Here's an excerpt:

The primary goal of the Community Group is to provide a platform for scholars, librarians, publishers, archivists and policy makers to exchange requirements and expectations for supporting a new form of scholarly communication, i.e. making the actual research assets available as first-class objects to enable better reuse and reproduce of research results and knowledge. These research assets, including data used and generated in an investigation, methods used for producing the data, as well as people and organisations involved in the study, are what we call Research Objects.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

"Academic Librarians and Research Data Services: Preparation and Attitudes"

Carol Tenopir, Robert J. Sandusky, Suzie Allard, and Ben Birch have published "Academic Librarians and Research Data Services: Preparation and Attitudes" in the latest issue of IFLA Journal.

Here's an excerpt:

Research funding bodies recognize the importance of infrastructure and services to organize and preserve research data, and academic research libraries have been identified as locations in which to base these research data services (RDS). Research data services include data management planning, digital curation (selection, preservation, maintenance, and archiving), and metadata creation and conversion. We report the results of an empirical investigation into the RDS practices of librarians in US and Canadian academic research libraries, establishing a baseline of the engagement of librarians at this early stage of widespread service development. Specifically, this paper examines the opinions of the surveyed librarians regarding their preparedness to provide RDS (background, skills, and education), their attitudes regarding the importance of RDS for their libraries and institutions, and the factors that contribute to or inhibit librarian engagement in RDS.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

"Drowning in Research Data: Addressing Data Management Literacy of Graduate Students"

ACRL has released "Drowning in Research Data: Addressing Data Management Literacy of Graduate Students" as part of the ACRL 2013 Proceedings..

Here's an excerpt:

In this paper we will discuss findings from our research study of social sciences and science graduate students' levels of research data management literacy, which include attitudes and behaviours, and formal and informal education experiences. Using an online survey of Canadian graduate students in the social sciences and science, we were able to reach a large number of students across the country and to gather sufficient responses to allow us to offer some insights on the overall graduate student research data management landscape.

| Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap |

"Dealing with Data: Science Librarians’ Participation in Data Management at Association of Research Libraries Institutions"

College & Research Libraries has released an e-print of "Dealing with Data: Science Librarians' Participation in Data Management at Association of Research Libraries Institutions"

Here's an excerpt:

This study, a survey of science librarians at institutions affiliated with the Association of Research Libraries, investigates science librarians' awareness of and involvement in institutional repositories, data repositories, and data management support services at their institutions. The study also explores the roles and responsibilities, both new and traditional, that science librarians have assumed related to data management, and the skills that science librarians believe are necessary to meet the demands of data management work. The results reveal themes of both uncertainty and optimism—uncertainty about the roles of librarians, libraries, and other campus entities; uncertainty about the skills that will be required; but also optimism about applying "traditional" librarian skills to this emerging field of academic librarianship.

| Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap |