A [very] short introduction to Data Management

What Series of steps to ensure your data remains safe and accessible* Research data can be anything from image/sound files to tabular data to lab notes. It’s whatever your you base your scholarly output (articles, presentations, etc.) on. *accessible—determined by you, agency funders, publishers, etc.

Why? Maintains research integrity over time Assists in continued access Allows replicability Enhances scholarly reputation Data citation (hurrah!) Likely to be required by granting agencies and publishers Allows you to build on the work of others and vice versa

How? Create and implement a ‘Data Management Plan’: Organize your data Document your data Back-up your data Share your data Curate your data DMP is essentially a roadmap identifying how you’re going to describe your data, who will have access to it, who is responsible for it and how long it should stick around Organize your data File naming conventions Short Use underscores or CamelCase Include time/date Document your data Be consistent Apply disciplinary metadata standards if possible Be clear Storing your data Where do you store your data now? How often do you back it up? Lost any? Sharing your data Depends on nature of data—can set parameters Data repositories can be institution or discipline specific (TDAR, Open Archaeology Project) Archive your data Preserve if necessary, not all data needs to be archived Ensure your data is normalized or get assistance in doing this

email: data-services@sfu.ca Who The SFU Library can: Assist in research data management planning Identify suitable repositories for data deposit Deliver workshops and individual support for research data management Assist with data analysis software support email: data-services@sfu.ca