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Funding Open Data:Some Thoughts andChallenges on the Road ahead

ESOF, 19 July 2008

Dr. Max Vgler Programme Officer German Research Foundation(DFG)

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Introduction

about the DFG

Open Data from the funding perspective

DFG Practices

Perspectives

ESOF 2008 / Max Voegler Barcelona, 18.-22.07.2008

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DFG Mission Statement

The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation,DFG) is the central, self-governing research funding organization thatpromotes research at universities and other publicly financed researchinstitutions in Germany.

The DFG serves all branches of the sciences and the humanities byfunding research projects and facilitating cooperation amongresearchers.


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DFG Funding 2007

Funding available:

1,7 billion

Projects granted:21.089

Money granted:

2,2 billion

(incl. Excellence

Initiative)Source:http://www.dfg.de/jahresbericht/download/dfg_jb2007.pdf


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The Case for Open Data the public funding perspective

Research Data is the infrastructure of science. Publicly funded Basic Researchis thus a public good.

Sharing data enables better Science

re-analysis of data helps validate and/or correct previous results

research data might be re-analyzed indifferent (disciplinary) settings, opening upnew avenues of research beyond theinitial context in which data was collected.

Increases the Visibility of a nationalresearch system


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The Case for Open Data some Challenges

Quality ControlCan all data be kept forever? Should it? Who decides how, when, where andwhy data is stored and for how long?

SustainabilityData needs to be sustainable resource. How do you fund long-term access toresearch data? Who pays? And where, when do they pay?

Privacy and Patent issues (surveys, interviews, medical data)There are many legitimate reasons for not making (all) data available.

Subjects must trust the researchers that their data remains anonymous.Balance is especially tricky with qualitative data, e.g. in psychology. Also:

Industrial-academic partnership and mixed funding: Open Data becomescomplicated with projects co-funded by industry.


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What is the DFG doing and planning?

Policy Level:

Encouraging archiving and verification of data sets :DFG Principles: Safeguarding Good Scientific Practice (1996) Includes:

Primary data as the basis for publications shall be securely stored for tenyears in a durable form in the institution of their origin.

Developing a data policies or framework of data policies for funding.Implementation must be very discipline specific and come through thedisciplinary panels.


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What is the DFG doing and planning?

Funding Pilot Projects

Publication and Citation of Scientific Primary Data cooperation of 4 Data Centers in the environmental sciences and the

German National Library of Science. created a DOI agency for primary data enabled researchers to acquire

reputation by providing their own data. provided metadata to make primary data findable.

Documenting, Archiving, and Presenting Primary Data in Psychology aims at providing reusable raw data from psychological questionnaires. has patient confidentiality among its core issues. shows that researchers readiness to hand over their own data sets is

not at all sufficient.

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Research Data Sets in the catalog of the National Library of Science, Hannover (DFG funded project)

http://tiborder.gbv.de/psi/DB=2.63/CLK?IKT=8578&TRM=primaerdaten

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What the DFG is doing... and planning?

Community Building

Every scientific community has its own culture and set of issues, practices andcultures that must be understood and addressed when tackling data

infrastructure issues. Series of Workshops

Social Sciences (Dec. 2007) Infrastructures / Data Centers (Jan. 2008) Archaeology (April 2008)

Life Sciences I: Scoping (Fall 2008) ... undoubtedly many more to come.

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What the DFG is doing... and planning?

Cooperation: We are not alone!The DFG can help finance certain measures. But we are a self-governingfunding organization. Must work with other actors to achieve results.

Alliance of Research Organizations National Initiative on DigitalInformation (DFG, Max Planck, Helmholtz, Frauenhofer, Leibniz Institutes,

Rectors Conference, Science Council (Wissenschaftsrat)Partners have embarked on a joint initiative. One of the themes will beresearch data a the focus on data policies, data sustainability, etc.

Knowledge ExchangeDFG Works together with other European organizations (DEFF, DK; JISC, UK;and SURF, NL) to address infrastructure issues related to research data.

ESF Members Forum on OA to Research DataWant to work with other funding agencies on these problems.

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What is (and what should be) on our agenda for the coming years

Encouraging the publication of data setsWithin the scholarly communication cycle, the publication of data sets needsto be given a higher standing. Need infrastructure, development of legalframework, other incentives to make this possible.

Exploring the European Dimension to Data

Coordinated system to curate, archive and make data accessible would be aninvaluable contribution to ERA. How to coordinate? (ESFRI-like process?)How to create long term financing? How to align policies, financing, etc.?

Working across sectorsGood opportunity to work together with publishers and other actors. On Dataissues, there should be much common ground.

Think DisciplinesEU: Europe (or Germany, or the UK, or...) as the best possible home for global research communities. With data, this can be put into practice.

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Dr. Max Voegler Programme Officer [email protected]

Thank you!

Questions?


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20080719 esof voegler