Monthly Archives: June 2012

First ADMIRe pilot in the Classics Department

We are pleased to announce that ADMIRe is now working with The University of Nottingham Classics Department. This promising pilot examines the storage and citation of large data sets and general research data.

When we first approached the department, we were surprised to learn that the size of their data sets is on a par with the sciences. They regularly use specialist equipment to scan and model statues and sculptures in museums, the resulting files are 1-3Gb and are stored and backed-up locally. So as well as providing feedback on our proposed data store solution, they will also be one of the first departments to test our prototype data file store service.

As well as large data, the collaboration gives us the opportunity to raise awareness of ADMIRe and JISC RDM by linking to an AHRC project on Digital Transformations in Arts and Humanities. Here our specialist knowledge and expertise on RDM can really add value to their project and strengthen the outputs of both ADMIRe and the Digital Humanities project.

More updates will follow as the pilot progresses.

Open access to research outputs

Two key publications have been made available this week, both of which are of interest to the ADMIRe project team. Firstly we had the highly awaited publication of the Finch Report: “Accessibility, sustainability, excellence: how to expand access to research publications” . This 140 page publication presents the findings of the Working Group on Expanding Access to Published Research Findings, chaired by Dame Janet Finch. The report recommends a programme of action which will enable more people to read and use the publications arising from research. The report makes ten recommendations and outlines the key actions necessary in order to implement the recommendations of the working group. An executive summary is available and the report has had some interesting media coverage this week, including in the Guardian and the BBC.

The Royal Society today published their substantial report “Science as an open enterprise: open data for open science” which:

“highlights the need to grapple with the huge deluge of data created by modern technologies in order to preserve the principle of openness and to exploit data in ways that have the potential to create a second open science revolution.”

The report highlights six key areas for action, and these include:

  • Scientists needing to be more open amongst themselves and with the public and media
  • Greater recognition for the value of data gathering, analysis and communication
  • Common standards for sharing information in order to make data widely usable
  • Publishing data in a reusable form to support findings must be mandatory
  • More experts in managing and supporting the use of digital data are required
  • New software tools need to be developed to analyse the growing amount of data being gathered

The report includes some interesting case studies of data use and the costs of digital repositories.

It will be interesting to see the impact that both these publications have on academic scholarly communications and opening up access to research outputs (both publications and data).

 

Data citation, sharing data, and RDM at Nottingham

It has been a pretty hectic couple of weeks for Tom and I filled with meetings with key University of Nottingham staff from different departments and divisions all whom are keen to facilitate and deliver good and effective research data management (RDM) practice at our institution. We have identified and contacted academics from all five faculties (Arts, Engineering, Medicine and Health Sciences, Science, and Social Sciences) to take part in our phase one RDM pilots and we have also given plenty of thought to what we would like the University of Nottingham RDM website to contain and offer our research community. We are also working on a RDM@Nottingham survey which we hope will inform the development of the ADMIRe project.

Since my last blog post I have also attended some interesting external events including the excellent DataCite workshop at the British Library which covered topics such as how to mint a DOI (Digital Object Identifier), why making research data available and citable is important, and the challenges there are with citing research data. All the presentations from the day are available here.

I also attended the Repositories Support Project one day event on scholarly communications and new developments in open access in London on the 01st June. It was held at the stunning Art Deco venue the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and the programme showcased some great case examples of innovative approaches supporting data sharing, open access to research outputs and an open approach to scholarship.  Videos and presentations from the event are all available here.

Ethics, consent and data sharing – for anyone interested in this area of RDM I would definitely recommend listening to the recording of the Webinar delivered by Margaret Henty of the Australian National Data Service in April. She considers the myths around data sharing, meeting funding bodies obligations, informed consent, access control, and the importance of incorporating data sharing into research planning.

Also published this week is the Council on Library and Information Resources publication “How does big data change the research landscape for the humanities and social sciences?”. The full-text publication and associated press release is available here.