Public Data Access Perspectives (and a Product) from a

Membership-based Organization

2013 ICPSR MeetingOctober 10, 2013

The Agenda• ICPSR – A Reflection• The Changing Data Access

Environment • ICPSR in the New Environment• Demonstration of the ICPSR

Public Access Product• Benefits of ICPSR Membership

in the Public Access Environment

The ICPSR Membership Model since 1962

• Pooled membership funds to curate data:– Acquire– Process– Disseminate– Preserve– Train– Evolve through R&D

• Complemented with sponsored funding creating public access, yet with a common infrastructure

• Growth from 22 member universities to 740 institutions

The Changing (Evolving) Data Access Environment• Growing desire by NSF, NIH, and other

agencies to ‘share’ research data collected by federal monies– Data management plan requirements initiated

in January 2011 for NSF proposals• Memo from the Office of Science and

Technology Policy February 2013:– Increasing Access to the Results of Federally

Funded Scientific Research

The OSTP Memo – Overview• Released February 22, 2013• A concern for investment: “Policies that mobilize these

publications and data for re-use through preservation and broader public access also maximize the impact and accountability of the Federal research investment.”

• Federal agencies with over $100 M annually in R&D expenditures to develop plans to support increased public access to the results of research funded by the Federal Government

• Plans to contain eight points

The Eight Points of the Plan1. Strategy for leveraging existing archives2. Strategy to improve the public’s ability to locate and access digital

data3. Approach to optimize search, archival, and dissemination features

that encourage innovation in accessibility & interoperability and ensure long-term stewardship

4. A plan to notify awardees & researchers of their obligations5. Strategy for measuring and enforcing compliance with the plan6. Identification of resources within the existing agency budget to

implement plan7. Timeline for implementation8. Identification of special circumstances that prevent the agency from

meeting memo objectives

More Information on OSTP from ICPSR

ICPSR’s Data Management & Curation Site

Guidelines and Resources for OSTP Data Access Plans Located on Slideshare.net

www.icpsr.umich.edu/datamanagement/

ICPSR’s Stance: supportive – in fact, ICPSR already addressing public access needs

The Full Collection

But: What about research data not part of collections? Individual researcher needs?

• How will ICPSR support needs for free public access in these instances?

• How will it be paid for? Sustained?• How can ICPSR assist to maximize

discoverability, access, preservation?• What about sensitive data or data that should

be restricted-use – in a public access environment?

How does ICPSR continue to “care” for research data in this environment?• Curation, from the Latin "to care," is the process that ICPSR uses to add

value to data, maximize access, and ensure long-term preservation.• Data curation is akin to work performed by an art or museum curator.

– Data are organized, described, cleaned, enhanced, and preserved for public use, much like the work done on paintings or rare books to make the works accessible to the public now and in the future.

• Though benefits are many, data curation is resource intensive & costly.

Exploring & Supporting the Environment• Discussions

– ICPSR Sloan Project: "Building Community Engagement in Data Citation and Open Access to Data”

– National Academy of Sciences – public comment meeting on OSTP Memo

– Association of Public Data Users (APDU)• Resource Development

– Revamp of ICPSR’s Data Management & Curation site

Exploring & Supporting the EnvironmentExploration of Public Access Products

What will ICPSR offer?

openICPSR is a research data-sharing service for the social and behavioral sciences. It enables the public to access

research data without charge—or in the case of restricted-use data, for nominal charge.

What Makes openICPSR Unique?• The deposit is reviewed by professional data

curators who are experts in developing metadata for the social and behavioral sciences

• An immediate distribution network of over 740 institutions looking for research data, powerful search tools, and a distinguished data catalog indexed by major search engines

What Makes openICPSR Unique?• Sustained by a well-respected organization

building on over 50 years of experience in reliably storing research data and demonstrating commitment to long-term data stewardship

• Eager to accept and disseminate sensitive and/or restricted-use data in the public-access environment

• And to sustain the service, fees for deposit

Three Deposit Options• Self-Curation Package• Professional-Curation Package• Topic Archive or Collection

Self-Curation• Enables the research scientist to deposit (upload) data &

documents on demand and provide immediate access to the public

• Depositor prepares all the files and metadata (meta tags)• Once data are published, depositor receives a DOI and a

data citation • openICPSR is notified to conduct a metadata review to

maximize exposure in ICPSR’s extensive data catalog• Bit-level preservation and public access is provided for a

minimum of five years• Fee for the self-curation package is $600

Professional-Curation• Enables the research scientist to deposit (upload) data &

documents on demand and provide immediate access to the public

• Enables a research scientist to tap all aspects of ICPSR’s curation services including full metadata generation and a bibliography search, stat package conversion, user support, and more

• Depositors must call for pricing as costs depend largely upon the number of variables in the data and the complexity of the methodology

Topic Archive or Collection• Enables an agency, foundation, or large project with a

number of datasets to distribute to fully fund the dissemination of its data

• Data undergo treatment as in the Professional-Curation option, the Topic Archive option includes premium services such as dedicated staff/content specialists, an exclusive website and customized data tools, data community outreach and promotional materials, workshop and training development, and acquisitions and compliance reporting

• Project managers, officers, and agencies must call for a proposal

A Fee for Data Deposits?• Access to data curated for discovery and access and long-

term preservation doesn’t happen without costs• There are paid professionals behind the screen and

storage costs for multiple copies to ensure no harm comes to the published data

• openICPSR will charge deposit fees in order to sustain the service and to assure access to data immediately and in the future

Dissemination of Restricted Data?• In January 2014, openICPSR will accept restricted-use data

for deposit at the same fee levels as public-use data. Researchers will receive DOIs and related citations upon deposit– Restricted-use data will not be disseminated until Phase II

• In late 2014, openICPSR will begin to disseminate restricted-use data via its Virtual Data Enclave (VDE)– Data users will be charged an administration fee to access

restricted-use data

On with the Demo!

Benefits of ICPSR Membership Continue• Access to over 65,000 datasets collected as early as 1779

and numerous data series• Access to fully curated datasets complete with

professionally generated metadata, statistics package conversion, standardized codebook, variable-level search, bibliography search, and other data tools

• Teaching and instructional tools• Discounted tuition for ICPSR Summer Program courses• Continued option to donate research data to ICPSR for

curation and access by the membership

Benefits of ICPSR Membership related to openICPSR

Members using openICPSR receive:• 10X the storage space for openICPSR deposits• Access to selected openICPSR deposits in the fully curated

form• Ability to request selected openICPSR deposits be fully

curated• Access to datasets that have gone beyond the 5-year span• Ability to test-drive the product for 3 months after launch

with no fee for the self curation deposit

Your Questions?

openICPSR is a research data-sharing service for the social and behavioral sciences. It enables the public to access

research data without charge—or in the case of restricted-use data, for nominal charge.

More Questions/Thoughts? Join ICPSR staff at the openICPSR poster at 3:30 pm

today in the Michigan Union Ballroom