DATA MANAGEMENT for SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY
a course for writing-up students
[OUTLINE]
1. DIGITAL CURATION AND PRESERVATION – SOME PRINCIPLES AND TIPSi. General principles
ii. Sharingiii. Digital Repositories
iv. e-theses and publication
2. ETHICAL AND LEGAL ISSUESi. Risks and issues in data
disseminationii. Some tips and techniques to
make data saferiii. Data Protection Act 1998
iv. Freedom of Information Act 2000
v. Intellectual Property and copyright
3. FUNDING, DATA MANAGEMENT AND SHARING
N.B. - THIS IS A PARTICIPATORY
EXERCISE!
1
INTRODUCTIONS
LIFE CYCLES: the researcher’s
and the data’s
GOVERNANCE:sharing and data
management plans
re-use:
some examples
PUBLISHING YOUR
MONOGRAPH
TRANSFERABLE SKILLS
igeneralprinciples:
•types of data
•file formats, naming, structure
•storage•documentation
PLAN IN ADVANCE!
http://www.data-
archive.ac.uk/create-manage/format/formats-
table
ii
sharing
discussion
WITH: - your supervisor
- peers - other academics
- research participants
- wider audiences
agree on rules and conventions on mode of sharing and file naming
USEFUL TOOLS:
- institutional networked storage
-virtual learning/research environments
- Dropbox- GoogleDocs
- Google+- academic web networks
- blogs- wikis
-project websites-CDs/DVDs
-attachments-digital repositories
iiidigital
repositories:
http://www.esds.ac.uk/
http://www.datacite.org/
repolist
http://
oad.simmons.edu/oadwiki/
Data_repositories
http://www.opendoar.org/
ive-theses
andpublication
PROS:• Making findings available
to all• Raising profile amongst
research community• Long-term archiving
CONS:•Publication plans for the
thesis•sensitive data
•copyrighted material
2
law & ethics
http://openanthropology.files.wordpress.com/
2010/11/archive.jpg
RISKS of DISSEMINA
TION:-online storage- sharing and
consent-crossing borders
http://www.thea
sa.org/ethics/
guidelines
.shtml
TIPS
[multiple copies]
[restrict access]
[log out]
[firewalls & anti-virus]
[destroy data if necessary]
[encryption]
[tiered consent]
[anonymisation]
DATA PROTECTION
ACT 1998
- data may only be used for the purposes it was collected for
- data must not be disclosed to other parties without consent- individuals have a right of access to information held
about them- personal information may be
kept for no longer than is necessary,
and may not be sent outside the EEA
FREEDOM of
INFORMATION ACT 2000
-gives right to request access to recorded information (such as research data) held by public sector organisations; or be
informed whether information is held
-exceptions: personal data, data accessible by other means, meant
for publication or subject to confidentiality agreement
iNTELLECTUAL pROPERTY
copyright=
•creative works fixed in material form
•depends on academic status/institution/employment
position•right to control copying, adaptation, publishing,
performance, broadcast of the work, and their conditions
•exceptions for personal use and teaching
•limited time duration
SHARING & PUBL]SHING:
ethics, politics,
analyitics – your views
3
DATA POLICIES:
data management plans and sharing
[RCUK][ESRC]
[WELLCOME TRUST][NSF]
[WENNER GREN][other?]
http://dmponline.dcc.ac.
uk/
http://relu.data-archive.ac.uk/DMP_FR.pdf
http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/media/257647/ukda_jisc
dmcosting.pdf
ESRC DMP:
•assessment of existing data
•information on new data•quality assurance of data•back-up and security of
data•expected difficulties in
data sharing•copyright/intellectual
property rights•responsibilities
•preparation of data for sharing and archiving
http://www.esds.ac.uk/create/esrc/dataman/
yourturn
SOME GENERAL POINTS:
-Think about the ‘data life cycle’
-Questions to be answered in a data management plan:
What types of data will I produce?From what sources?
How will I organise the data? (file structure/naming, formats, software)
At what points and how will the data be evaluated?
What data will be deposited and where?Who will be interested in re-using the
data?What will the costs of managing data
be?
"[a] half-dozen monkeys provided with typewriters would, in a few eternities, produce all the books in the British Museum" (Borges, The Total Library)