FBA one-day workshopKing’s College London

14 February 2012

Data Management Planning at the DCC: a human factor

Martin DonnellyDigital Curation CentreUniversity of Edinburgh

Running order- About the DCC- The DCC and data management planning

– Resources– Collaborations

- DMP basics- Checklist for a Data Management Plan

– Stages– Sections

- DMP Online– Functions– Connections– v3.0 (coming soon)

- Contacts and resources

The Digital Curation Centre

- Founded in 2004- Mission to support the UK research

community in the management and curation of digital resources, with a special focus on research data

- Three partner organisations: Edinburgh, Glasgow and Bath

- Primary funder is JISC

DCC and DMP

– “Dealing with Data” (Lyon, 2008)– Analysis of Funder Policies (Jones, 2009)– Checklist for a Data Management Plan (Donnelly

and Jones, 2009)– DMP Online (Donnelly, Pattenden-Fail and

Richardson, 2009-2012)– “Data Management Plans and Planning”

(Donnelly, 2012) in Pryor (ed.) Managing Research Data, London: Facet

Links to all DCC resources via http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/data-management-plans

We became involved in response to increasingly prescriptive data requirements…

Other resources

Links to all DCC resources at www.dcc.ac.uk

Jones, S. (2011). ‘How to Develop a Data Management and Sharing Plan’. DCC How-to Guides. Edinburgh: Digital Curation Centre.

- Generic data management guidance ( in conjunction with )

- Funder-specific guidance developed in collaboration with the funders themselves

- Institution-specific guidance developed with key institutional contacts

- Discipline-specific guidance developed and deployed with JISC MRD projects (e.g. DMT Psych at York)

- Joint training programmes organised and delivered by DCC and UKDA

- Provided advice to US consortium

Collaborations

JISC consultancy report...

REC 9. Each funded research project should submit a structured Data Management Plan for peer-review as an integral part of the application for funding. (1, 2)

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/ukoln/staff/e.j.lyon/publications.html#2007-06-19

“Dealing with Data”

Why plan data management? The 5 Ps...

Perfect Planning Prevents Poor Performance

Why?

Data management is a journey with multiple drivers /stakeholders, from researchers to support staff to curators to long-term data centres: each of these has to follow the same map in order to mitigate the risk of not getting there.

Contributing Factors for Data Management (Planning)

- Economic constraints- Need for commonality in best practice- “The nature of the beast...”

Researcher(s)

Research Support Office

Computing Support

Faculty Ethics Committee Etc...

DATAMANAGEMENTPLAN

UNRULYDATA

Data Library / Repository / Archive

What can a plan not do?

It can’t do the work for you.

The map is not the territory (Korzybski) orChalk’s no shears (Scottish saying)

It is important to remember that the human challenges in data management are often more difficult to meet than the technological ones. Communication is vital.

The limits of planning

We pulled together a list of all the UK funders’ requirements, gathered them into thematic groups, and supplemented this list with our own expertise... (Donnelly & Jones, 2009)

This became the first ‘Data Management Plan Content Checklist’ (Checklist v1.0’) – it had 51 questions/headings. (Post-consultation, v2.0 had 115 questions/headings.)

A comprehensive checklist…

We mapped our Checklist questions to each funder’s data-related requirements, and determined three key stages...

Stages of a Data Management Plan

1. Research conceptualisation / funding application

2. In-project (potentially multiple iterations)

3. Post-project / longer-term preservation

Remember, each stage will involve different stakeholders and emphases…

Stages of a Data Management Plan

The DMP Checklist (Donnelly/Jones) is the underlying intellectual framework which supports all of the DCC’s data management planning work.

It is arranged into 10 sections, and aims to be comprehensive.

The Checklist, Section by Section

The next part of this talk gives an overview of these sections, with a little commentary from me on who might be involved in filling them in...

§1: Introduction and Context§2: Data Types, Formats, Standards and

Capture Methods§3: Ethics and Intellectual Property§4: Access, Data Sharing and Re-use§5: Short-Term Storage and Data

Management§6: Deposit and Long-Term Preservation§7: Resourcing§8: Adherence and Review§9: Agreement/Ratification by

Stakeholders§10: Annexes

Checklist Headings

Checklist for a Data Management Plan v3.0 (Donnelly and Jones,

March 2011)

What? Basic project and administrative information Aims and purpose of the research Relevant policies (institutional, departmental, funder-

specific...)

Who? Researcher(s) Research support officers

§1: Introduction and Context

What? Data (and metadata) specifics New and existing data Justifications of decisions

Who? Researcher(s) Technicians Librarians / Data Centre staff?

§2: Data Types, Formats, Standards and Capture Methods

What? Ethical and privacy issues (inc. Data Protection Act) Ownership of datasets Licensing of datasets

Who? Researcher(s) Faculty ethics committees Institutional legal/IP advisors

§3: Ethics and Intellectual Property

What? Plans for sharing data / making accessible Freedom of Information Re-use expectations Embargoes, publications etc

Who? Researcher(s) FOI officer / records manager Data centres

§4: Access, Data Sharing and Re-use

What? In-project data management specifics

Storage media Backups Security

Who? Researcher(s) Computing support

§5: Short-Term Storage and Data Management

What? Long-term strategy (post-project)

Selection Retention Transformation Longer-term custody

Who? Researcher(s) Data centre staff Institutional compliance officers

§6: Deposit and Long-Term Preservation

What? Roles and responsibilities for implementation Funding (in-project and post-project)

Who? Researcher(s) Funder Institutional staff Archive / data repository

§7: Resourcing

What? Roles and responsibilities Timetable for review / versioning

Who? Researcher(s) Funder Institutional staff

§8: Adherence and Review

What? Statement of agreement (N.B. This is optional)

Who? Relevant level of authority/seniority

§9: Agreement/Ratification by Stakeholders

What? Contact details and expertise of named individuals Glossary of terms Other annexes as required

Who? Project staff Others will depend on content

§10: Annexes

Checklist: last words

N.B.

All research projects are differentThe DMP will depend upon the nature of

the research AND the context (funder, domain, institution(s) etc)

DMPs are both metadata and communication tools

www.dcc.ac.uk/dmponline

What does it do?DMP Online is a web-based tool that enables users to...

i. Create, store and update multiple versions of Data Management Plans at the application and in-project stages

ii. Meet funders’ specific data-related requirements*iii. Get funder- and institution-specific guidance on

best practice and helpful contacts, at the point of need

iv. Customise and export DMPs in a variety of formats

* Disclaimer: mappings are not yet fully endorsed by funders, but we’re working on it...

ConnectionsDMP Online can also be used in conjunction with other tools that support the data management/curation lifecycle, e.g.…

- DAF (Data Asset Framework)- DRAMBORA (Digital Repository Audit Method

Based On Risk Assessment)- CARDIO (Collaborative Assessment of

Research Data Infrastructure and Objectives)

Also non-DCC tools:

- LIFE- Planets tools- and more

Coming Soon: DMP Online v3.0

- Improved user interface- New features

- Overlaying multiple (‘hybrid’) templates- Template phases (e.g. pre, during, post)- Granular read/write/share permissions- API for systems interoperability- Endorsement from funders

- Launching Spring 2012

To sum...

All of our DMP-related resources available online via:

www.dcc.ac.uk/dmponline/

Thank you

Martin DonnellyDigital Curation CentreUniversity of Edinburgh

www.dcc.ac.uk/dmponline martin.donnelly@ed.ac.uk

Twitter: @mkdDCC

Image credits:

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