Keynote presentation given at the Data Fellows 2023 workshop in Berlin on 22-23 June. Presentation gives examples of good communication to explain data management concepts and how to use games and other forms of interactivity in training events

1. RDM training: tips and tricks
Sarah Jones [remote presentation]
GÉANT EOSC Engagement Manager
EOSC Association Board Director
sarah.jones@geant.org
Twitter: @sarahroams
Public
Free to reuse – attribution oniy
Fellowship of the Data — RDM Trainer Community Meeting –
Berlin, 21-22 June 2023 1
#DataFellows202
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Outline
• An example of teaching with you as guinea pigs via menti
• Examples of RDM training via games
• Lessons on running effective training workshops
• Q&A
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Go to menti.com
Enter code 7661 9166
Or follow this QR code
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My guess at words we may see…

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3 ways to describe interoperability…

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What matters most when training?
• Knowing who your audience is
• Having a sense of what they may already know / understand
• Figuring out a way to explain the concept in a meaningful way
• Avoid jargon, acronyms, assumed knowledge
• Stop regularly to test understanding / allow questions
• Make it fun! If you can…. (RDM can be a little dry!)

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My audience for interoperability – my Dad
• Retired old man
• Technical luddite
• Doesn’t EVER go online
• Has a very old mobile phone
• Weirdly intelligent
• Likes a story
• …..

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How to explain interoperability to Graham Jones
Dad, do you know that sometimes you get weird characters on your phone like black squares
and you wonder why?
It’s because someone sent you an emoji in a text message.
Emojis are pictures instead of words e.g.
❤️🤦♀️😂🍷🏴🙉🎶🤦👀🍻💆♀️😇🤦🤦😱🤦💩🤦🤦
🎅🏿🤦🏻♀️👯♀️👠👙⛑🐶🤦🌴💥☃️💦🍆
Your phone is so old that the technology it too outdated to understand emoji
This is what we call an interoperability issue

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Using games for
RDM training
Photo by Mourizal Zativa on Unsplash

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So many examples to pick from! #ResearchSupportGames
Excellent article profiling several relevant games
- CURATE! The Digital Curator Game
- The Game of Open Access
- The Impact Game
- LEGO: Metadata for Reproducibility
- Open Access Escape Room
- The Publishing Trap
- Virtual Games Workshop
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/296223326.pdf

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Advantages of games-based research support
• Can make it much easier to get messages across
• By being interactive, games can help to engage participants in dry topics
• Helpful for introducing new or complex ideas without overwhelm/boredom
• Particularly good for people who learn by doing or visual learners  more likely
that these audiences will retain the information
• Good way of getting people to feel more comfortable discussing topics that may
be new to them or which they may find stressful.
• Games can promote peer-to-peer learning and teamwork.
• Games are fun - for both participants and facilitators!
• Decisions and puzzles in games can make for excellent conversation-starters 
can make support staff aware of changes in researchers landscape, gaps in
service provision/training or their burning issues

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Example: lego for reproducibility
• Share lego blocks with basic (insufficient) instructions to make
an agreed shape (a car in this case)
• See what each group comes up with
• Compare against full metadata description
• Discuss why accurate, rich metadata is important
• Images CC-BY Digital Curation Centre IDCC20photos

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Use concepts people know like escape rooms
Data Horror
Escape Room
https://sites.google.com/vu.nl/datahorror/home
Made by Dutch unis

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These principles of play don’t only have to apply to games…

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Have fun when you create training resources…
Whatever concept you need to
communicate (e.g. FAIR) try to do it
in an engaging way
This Danish guide is openly licensed
for reuse
https://www.deic.dk/en/data-
management/instructions-and-
guides/FAIR-for-Beginners

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Using games as
ice-breakers
Photo by Bao Truong on Unsplash

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Games can be great ice-breakers and networking
Used at 10-year anniversary RDA plenary by Allyson Lister
Tip: use games that take less than 2-3 minutes to explain
Tip: social games where group has to collaborate to win are particularly good
Example games used at RDA:
• Sushi-go – cards with sushi on them
• Temple run – slapping card game
• Mind – card game numbered 1-100. Can’t tell anyone what you have. Play when you feel it’s right.
Really simple and really good
• Fake artist goes to New York – social deduction game. Nobody is singled out
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Allyson Lister, Oxford Uni

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The best training event social I ever had
Teambuilding dinner at FOSTER bootcamp in Barcelona
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Some basics
of pedagogy
Photo by Xavier von
Erlach on Unsplash

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My personal tips on training
• Make your training event a dialogue not wall to wall presentation
• Mix up types of content to suit different styles of learnings e.g. reading,
visuals, video, games, Q&A, discussion…
• This principle applies to physical workshops and online MOOCs etc
• Keep each element short – allow plenty of time for breaks and Q&A
• Don’t be scared of questions – you don’t have to be the expert and know
everything, say you don’t know – it breaks the ice!

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Back to Mr Graham Jones to close
Never underestimate
your audience
There is expertise in the
room you would never
believe
Use it!

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My Dad is always trying to understand what I
actually do for a living. I suspect you may face
the same issue…

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Thank You
Any questions?
www.geant.org
© GÉANT Association
As part of the GÉANT 2020 Framework Partnership Agreement (FPA),
the project receives funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020
research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No. 856726
(GN4-3).