User engagement in research User engagement in research data preservation and curationdata preservation and curation

Stuart Macdonald Stuart Macdonald EDINA National Data Centre, EDINA National Data Centre, University of EdinburghUniversity of Edinburgh

Luis Martinez-Uribe Luis Martinez-Uribe Oxford e-Research Centre, Oxford e-Research Centre, University of OxfordUniversity of Oxford

ECDLECDLCorfu, 30 September 2009Corfu, 30 September 2009

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Data delugeAn updated IDC white paper reported that the digital universe in 2007 was 281 exabytes and in 2011 should be 1,800 exabytes (or 10 times that produced in 2006).

*“The Diverse and Exploding Digital Universe - an updated forecast of worldwide information growth through 2011- http://www.emc.com/collateral/analyst-reports/diverse-exploding-digital-universe.pdf (Mar. 2008) BBSRC strategic plan

(2010-2015) consultation document

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Research data definitions

Words, pictures, numbers, sounds

Workflows, methodologies, protocols, standard operating procedures, instrumentation, models, questionaires, code books, set-up files, algorithms, transcripts

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US Office of Management and Budget defines research data as “the recorded factual material commonly accepted in the scientific community as necessary to validate research findings”

“it is becoming increasingly clear that effective and efficient management and reuse of research data will be a key component in the UK knowledge economy in years to come, essential for the efficient conduct of research ….”

*JISC (2008) “Identifying the benefits of curating and sharing research data” - http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/digitalrepositories2007/databenefits.aspx

• Research methods experiencing a radical transformation

• New tools & infrastructures generating research data

• New ways to use, share and re-use

Growing importance of preserving and curating research data

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• Departmental websites• Domain-specific repositories• Centralised data repositories (UKDA, NERC, MRC)

Libraries and computing/IT services within academicinstitutions working together to develop and

customise institutional repositories to curate research data

Data deposition and publication

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Institutional Repositories:• open access• built for academic publications • technology lead

No formal requirements analysis procedures

User engagement required to develop systems that will

meet researchers’ needs

Bottom up approach to inform top-down thinking

Researchers – key user community overlooked

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Barriers to sharing:

• time taken to prepare datasets for deposit• concerns over making data available before full academic exploitation• misuse / misinterpretation (non-academics)• loss of ownership, loss of commercial or competitive advantage• repositories will cease to exist• unwillingness to change working practices• uncertainty about IPR and confidentiality

Open data – realism versus altruism

DISC-UK DataShare - to contribute to new models, workflows and tools for academic data sharing

Image courtesy of the periodic table printmaking project – http://azuregrackle.com/periodictable/table/

Charting individual researcher’s information practices across 7 sub-disciplines of the life sciences - http://www.rin.ac.uk/case-studies

DCC / ISSTI (University of Edinburgh)

Deployed a range of methodologies and tools including short-term ethnographic techniques and semi-structured instruments:

Diaries (x55), F-2-F interviews, (x24) Cognitive mapping (1 per case), Focus groups (1 per case)

RIN-funded Disciplinary case studies

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Some findings from RIN Disciplinary case studies project:Some findings from RIN Disciplinary case studies project:

• Some disciplines lend themselves more than others to ‘openly’ data sharing

• Research data are varied, specific and complex

• Data curation and/or sharing only becomes crucial at certain stages of research lifecycle

• Feeling that only researchers have subject knowledge to curate their own data

• Keen sense of ‘ownership’ and protectiveness towards data

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Scoping digital repository services for research data management - http://www.ict.ox.ac.uk/odit/projects/digitalrepository/

Scope requirements for services to manage research data generated by Oxford researchers from a variety of disciplines:

Interviews (x37) conducted to learn about data management practices and identify top requirements

Workshop (x46) held to compliment findings and to gather examples of good practice regarding use of repository services for research data management

Consultation with service units (ORA, data library,NGS, oxford digital library) - identify gaps in service, validate researchers’ requirements Image courtesy of the periodic table printmaking project –

http://azuregrackle.com/periodictable/table/58.html

Scoping digital repository services - top requirements

• Advice on practical issues related to managing data across their life cycle incl. data management plans, assistance with formatting

• Secure storage required for large datasets generated by high throughput instruments

• Sustainable & authenticated infrastructure that allows publication and long-term preservation of research data

It is now followed up by the intra-institutional JISC funded Embedding Institutional Data Curation Services in Research (EIDCSR) project –

http://eidcsr.oucs.ox.ac.uk/

Tools – Data Audit Frameworkhttp://www.data-audit.eu/

• DAF helps to establish relationships with research communities around the issues of data curation

• Allows institutions to identify, locate, describe and assess how they are managing their research data

• Provides information specialists who wish to extend support for research data with a vehicle for engaging with researchers e.g. through local research data management training

"staff had numerous comments and suggestions for improvement of data management at different levels indicating an awareness of the issues, even where it had not been made a priority to address" - edinburgh data audit implementation project

Summary

• Repository development distant from current research needs

- due to lack of iterative requirements analysis with researchers

• Open data ethos detached from disciplinary research needs in some cases

• Trusted relationships - dialogue with researchers early in

research process Image courtesy of Flickr – http://www.flickr.com/photos/59414209@N00/3367225630/

Thank you

stuart.macdonald@ed.ac.uk luis.martinez-uribe@oerc.ox.ac.ukCreative Commons images - courtesy of Flickr

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