a centre of expertise in digital information management ukoln is supported by: dealing with the...

A centre of expertise in digital information management

www.ukoln.ac.uk

UKOLN is supported by:

Dealing with the Data Cloud

Dr Liz Lyon, Director, UKOLN, University of Bath, UK

Associate Director, UK Digital Curation Centre

Research Committee University of Bath, November 2008

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons LicenceAttribution-ShareAlike 2.0

Themes1. Research in the Cloud :

a changing landscape

2. Institutions & Assets : emerging initiatives

3. Dealing with Data at Bath : Developing Curation & Preservation Strategies

Research in the Cloud

Wikiomics (Nature July 2008)

Cloud Content & Services

OPEN CLOSED

“Continuum of Openness”

What does the C21st researcher look like?• “From users to

choosers” (Yanosky)

• Pro-sumers (Toffler)

• Digital nomads

• Working on the Webtop

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shankrad/2905938179/

• Highly collaborative

• Multi-disciplinary

• Virtual team sciencehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/stormsriver/2286011597/

• Link

• Tag

• Share

• Mash

• Integrate

• Aggregate

• Trade

What do users do in the Cloud?• Map

• Visualise

• Search

• Mine

• Model

• Simulate

• Game• Socialise

• Network

• Collaborate

• Tweet

• Blog

• Discuss

• Comment

• Rate

• Vote

• Recommend

Some issues for the Institution….

• What is the policy on open science?• Do your students / staff blog their results?• Should there be an institutional mandate for

deposit of research outputs in a repository? • Which outputs? • Do academic / research staff have the skills

to tag, blog, tweet etc. ?• How can social networking technologies

facilitate collaboration and interdisciplinary research?

Institutions and Assets

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mintchocicecream/7491707/

State-of-the Nation Analysis

Research funder policies

Data centres and facilities

International comparators

Options analysis and appraisal

Baseline for Costs

Stakeholder analysis,

Success criteria

Emerging survey themes:

Advocacy, Co-ordination and information, Coherence, Data Depository, Skills and training, Seeding the Data Commons

Case studies: Bristol, Leeds, Leicester, Oxford

http://www.flickr.com/photos/philipdunn/2424950499/

University of Oxford case study

37 interviews with researchers + Workshop

Report published July 2008

Background

A recommendation to JISC:

“JISC should develop a Data Audit Framework to enable all universities and colleges to carry out an audit of departmental data collections, awareness, policies and practice for data curation and preservation”

Liz Lyon, Dealing with Data: Roles, Rights, Responsibilities and Relationships, (2007)

Data Audit FrameworkLaunch: 1st October 2008 http://www.data-audit.eu/

Benefits:

Prioritisation of resources

Capacity development and planning

Efficiency savings – move data to more cost-effective storage

Manage risks associated with data loss

Realise value through improved access & re-use

Positioned as a self-audit tool

Scale: departments, institutions

Methodology

http://www.data-audit.eu/DAF_Methodology.pdf

School of GeoSciences pilot audit

• A leading international centre for research • 80 academics, 70 research fellows, 130 PhD students• Annual research grant and contract income of £4-6M • Staff contribute to >1 of five Research Groups • Involvement in inter-University Research Consortia and Research Centres• 15Tb data on main server• Interviews with 35 staff• Create Inventory of 25 datasets and classify them• Assess most significant assets in detail, collect basic set of data elements based on

Dublin Core• Draft Report and Recommendations to the School of GeoSciences and to

Information Services

GeoSciences pilot: lessons learned

• Little documentation / knowledge of what exists: “a nightmare”

• There are no standards in creating & managing data assets

• Variable openness of staff and their data• Ensure appropriate timing (avoid exams, field trips,

Boards…) and enough time• Get support from senior management (VP level)• Inventory as a representative sample

GeoSciences pilot: some outcomes

• Preliminary but positive• Requirement for institution-wide data policy and

guidelines• Requirement for researcher training• Issues associated with data ownership: individual or

institution?• Training for auditors• Scaling up audits: 6 further data audits in process

(including Physics, Biol Sci., Education, History, Classics & Archaeology, Biomedical Sciences)

Some (more) issues for the Institution….

• What is the “state-of-the nation” for research data at Bath?

• Do academic / research staff have the skills to deal with their data ?

• Do they produce data management plans?• Do they deposit their data in an archive?• What data storage is available at Bath?• Should there be a DAF data audit?• Who should lead the work?

Dealing with Data at Bath

Data challenges?1. Understanding the risks, awareness2. Community consensus, advocacy3. Data management plans4. Appraisal: selection criteria5. Data documentation: metadata,

schema, semantics6. Data formats: applying standards7. Instrumentation: proprietary formats 8. Data provenance: authenticity9. Data citation & versions: persistent IDs 10. Data validation and reproducibility11. Data access: embargo policy12. Data linking: text, images, software

UK Digital Curation Centre http://www.dcc.ac.uk/

• Policy & Advocacy: briefing papers, curation manual • Audit & Certification: DRAMBORA • Community Development: 2nd Research Data Forum

November 26-27 Manchester• Training and skills: workshops, “summer school”

Curation 101, February 2009 tbc• Research: database archiving• Dissemination: International Conference, e-journal

IJDC

http://www.dcc.ac.uk/docs/publications/DCCLifecycle.pdf

PoWR Handbook to download at

http://jiscpowr.jiscinvolve.org/handbook

Digital Preservation Policies Study

High-level pointers and guidance

Outline policy model/framework

Mappings to institutional strategies

ExemplarsReport October 2008

And more issues for the Institution….• Should the University develop a Data

Preservation Strategy? Web archiving?• How does this relate to other strategies?• Should there be an overarching e-Strategy

addressing wider e-Infrastructure issues?• Who should lead / be responsible?• Should new academic staff induction include

data curation training? • Would a DCC Workshop be a good start to

raise awareness of the issues?• How should Research Committee engage?

Thank you.

Slides will be available at :

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/ukoln/staff/e.j.lyon/presentations.html