because good research needs good data

Research Data Management for Researchers

University of Aberdeen 7th October 2014

Jonathan RansDigital Curation Centre

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 UK: Scotland License.

What will we cover?

1. Definitions that we work to2. What does the EPSRC expect of you and your

institution?3. How can these requirements be satisfied and

how are other institutions addressing them?

Who we are

The (Est. 2004) is:» A national-level centre of expertise in digital

preservation with a particular focus on Research Data Management (RDM)

» Based across three sites – Edinburgh, Glasgow and Bath

» Working closely with a number of UK institutions to boost RDM capability across the HE sector

» Also involved in a variety of national and international collaborations

Definition of research data

“Research data is defined as recorded factual material commonly retained by and accepted in the scientific community as necessary to validate research findings; although the majority of such data is created in digital format, all research data is included irrespective of the format in which it is created.“

So, what might this include?

Anything & everything produced in the course of

research

http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/phod/dac/array_growth.html

http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/phod/graphics/dacdata/globpop.gif

http://www.sbirc.ed.ac.uk/documents/lbc_protocol.pdf

What is research data management?

Research data management is an explicit process covering the creation and stewardship of

research materials to enable their use for as long as they retain value.

- A. Whyte and J. Rans DCC

DCC lifecycle model

A simplified data lifecycle

Data Management PlanningCreationUseAppraisalDeposit and PublicationDiscovery and Reuse

Plan

Create

Use

Appraise

Deposit and Publish

Discover and Reuse

EPSRC Principles

1. As freely and openly available as possible2. Acknowledges constraints on data release3. Use of datasets should be properly acknowledged4. Limited period of privileged access5. Data Management Plans required, preservation of

long-term data is required6. Appropriate metadata should be made openly

available7. It is appropriate to use public funds to support

preservation and management of data

The role of the institution

“The modern data-rich environment for research and learning and the open culture that is needed to exploit it presents new challenges for Universities…

creating a setting that will encourage researchers to adapt their ways of working and…

implementing strategies to manage the knowledge that they create.”

Science as an open enterprise - The Royal Society 2012 p.71

Components of an RDM service

http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/how-guides/how-develop-rdm-services

Institutions investing in managed storage for active data are making substantial amounts available free

Institutional collaborative platforms5 TB

1 TB 0.5 TB

What is best practice for handling files?» Adopt file naming conventions:» http://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/guide/choosing-a-file-name/

» Design a good project folder structure» http://

research-data-toolkit.herts.ac.uk/document/research-project-file-plan

How can I share sensitive data?» http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/create-manage/consent-ethics/ano

nymisation

» http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/create-manage/consent-ethics/consent

What support is there for data cleaning?

Labtrove

Online lab-book systemAdapted blogging platformLinks to instrument dataAllows data publication and sharingUsed by the Roslin Institute

Training materials» http://datalib.edina.ac.uk/mantra/ » http://www.jorum.ac.uk/

What help is there with data protection issues?» Institutional FOI and IP advice» http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/how-guides/license-research-data

http://libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk/blog/2013/12/06/the-four-quadrants-of-research-data-curation-systems/

What metadata should be captured?» Minimum

» http://data.bris.ac.uk/2012/05/18/minimal-set-of-mandatory-metadata/

» Discovery» Readme file content http://

data.research.cornell.edu/content/readme

» Use» Data Documentation Initiative

http://www.ddialliance.org/ » DCC Metadata Catalogue http://

www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/metadata-standards

Do I need to archive non-digital data?How can I make data citable and get credit for sharing it?» Digital objects must have an associated DOI» http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/how-guides/cite-datasets

Orcid profiles can integrate with institutional infrastructure

» http://orcid.org/organizations/institutions

What if I want to host my own data?» Making the case for preserving a live database

» http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/developing-rdm-services/dmps-arts-and-humanities

» Using an institutional repository as a back-end» http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/developing-rdm-services/repo

sitory-radar

How do I cost my RDM activities?» 4C project

» http://www.4cproject.eu/» UKDA costing tool

» http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/media/247429/costingtool.pdf

Thank-you!

Image Credits4 Quadrants of research data: Stuart Lewis, Edinburgh University, http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.873617 Labtrove - Milsted AJ, Hale JR, Frey JG, Neylon C (2013) LabTrove: A Lightweight, Web Based, Laboratory “Blog” as a Route towards a Marked Up Record of Work in a Bioscience Research Laboratory. PLoS ONE 8(7): e67460. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0067460Metadata devil: http://www.truthdig.com/cartoon/item/nsa_its_just_metadata_20130812

Jonathan RansJ.Rans@ed.ac.uk

@JNRans