Surveys, Surveys: Survey at UP 2010, Survey at UP 2013 Survey at CSIR 2013 RDM pilots @ UP Started with one pilot; other researchers followed What next?

1. WHAT RESEARCHERS WANT
With regard to research data management (RDM)
Dr Heila Pienaar
Mr Isak van der Walt
University of Pretoria Library

2. Several surveys
& pilots
But are we
listening???

3. CONTENT
Surveys, Surveys
• Survey at UP 2010
• Survey at UP 2013
• Survey at CSIR 2013
RDM pilots @ UP
• Started with one pilot; other researchers followed
What next?

4. Survey at UP 2010
 October 2009 – March 2010
 52 respondents: 35 researchers & 17 post-graduate students
 No need for data management plans or data sharing plans
 Data sets are often small
 Raw data is not published (no need)
 Need to store data (physical & electronic )

5. Survey at UP 2010: General trends
The top requirement is a central UP server or
repository that is easy to use with good security.
There is also a need for physical storage space.
The biggest worry of academic staff is lack of
sufficient time for RDM, and
lack of support for research by the UP Executive

6. Survey at UP 2013
 August – November 2013
 11 interviews with Deputy Deans Research or similar
 Small & big data sets; exponential increase in big data sets
 No faculty has a RDM plan in place
 Majority of the nine faculties have no metadata in place
 Willing to share data under certain conditions
 No capacity to upload data

7. Survey at UP 2013: Recommendations
 UP Research Data Management Policy needed
 Establish a central research data management office
 Need a RDM presence in each Faculty
 Data repository for both small and big data sets
 High performance computing needed
 Need a time frame for the roll-out of the RDM system
 Impact on workload must be taken into account

8. Survey at CSIR 2013
 September – December 2013
 36 interviews with CSIR Research Group Leaders (RGL’s)
 Primary data, confidential, variable size
 28% understand RDM well and applies it
 Metadata in place for almost half of the respondents
 83% willing to share data in future
 Experienced quite a few IT-related challenges

9. Survey at CSIR 2013: Recommendations
 Formal research data policies and procedures needed
 Guidelines for publishing and citing data are needed
 Systematic control of access by user rights and strong
passwords
 Meta standards for different disciplines are available
 Sufficient staff to undertake basic data management
 Data repository must be established
 Satisfactory IT infrastructure is in place

10.  Institure for Cellular and Molecular Medicine (ICMM) – Stem cell
Research
 PPP – Patato Pathology Programe
 PS – Powdery Scab Research
 Neuro Physiotherapy Research group
RDM PILOTS @ UP

11. PILOT PLATFORMS
 Alfresco ECM
• Content Management / Document Management
 Bagit – Bagger Specification
• Long term preservation
 Fedora – Islandora Integration
• Data repository

12. SUPPORTING THE RE SE ARCH DATA
L IFE CYCL E
12
Creating
Data
Processing
Data
Analyzing
Data
Preserving
Data
Giving
Access to
Data
Re-using
Data

13. SUPPORTING THE RE SE ARCH DATA
L IFE CYCL E CONT.
BagIt -
Specification
Alfresco CMS
Dspace /
Fedora

14. PILOT GROUP REQUIREMENTS
 ICMM
• Data security / Backups
• Storage of completed projects
• Document versioning
 PPP
• Collaboration
• Event sharing
 PS
• International collaboration
 Neuro Physiotherapy
• Data security / Backups
• Collaboration

15. DIRECT RDM FUNCTIONALITY
USAGE
 Data security / Backups
 Storage of completed projects
 Document versioning
 Collaboration
 Event sharing

16. INDIRECT RDM
FUNCTIONALITY USAGE
 Data replication
 Data curation / preservation
 Database accessibility / datasets
 Cloud services / live data
 Event sharing

17. WHAT NEXT???
 We have a very good idea of what researchers want
 But are we (as institutions) listening?
 Yes, sort of ….
 At UP a RDM steering committee will be involved in in-depth case
studies of academic needs led by senior researchers
 Library is in the process of establishing a data archive / repository