Data Management Planning A. D. SMITH – SEPTEMBER 30, 2011

Data Management Planning What is data management? Data management includes all activities associated with data other than the direct use of the data. It may include: data organisation; backups; archiving data for long-term preservation; data sharing or publishing; ensuring security of confidential data; and data synchronisation. Australian National Data Service

Data Management Planning A data management plan is a document that describes what data will be created, what policies will apply to the data, who will own and have access to the data, what data management practices will be used, what facilities and equipment will be required, and who will be responsible for each of these activities Australian National Data Service

Data Management Planning Why create a data management plan? Increase the visibility of your research Save time Simplify your life Preserve your data Increase your research efficiency Documentation Meet grant requirements Facilitate new discoveries Support Open Access Increase the visibility of your research: Making your data available to other researchers through widely-searched repositories can increase your prominence and demonstrate continued use of the data and relevance of your research. Save time: Planning for your data management needs ahead of time will save you time and resources in the long run. Simplify your life: Enabling a repository to house and disseminate your data lets you focus on your research rather than responding to requests or worrying about data that may be housed on your web site. Preserve your data: Only by depositing your data in a repository can you be sure that they will be available to you and other researchers in the long-term. Doing so safeguards your investment of time and resources (including any work done for you by graduate students) and preserves your unique contribution to research. Increase your research efficiency: Have you ever had a hard time understanding the data that you or your colleagues have collected? Documenting your data throughout its life cycle saves time because it ensures that in the future you and others will be able to understand and use your data. Documentation: Managing and documenting your data throughout its life cycle ensures that the integrity and proper description of your data are maintained. Meet grant requirements: Many funding agencies now require that researchers deposit in an archive data which they collect as part of a research project. Facilitate new discoveries: Enabling other researchers to use your data reinforces open scientific inquiry and can lead to new and unanticipated discoveries. And doing so prevents duplication of effort by enabling others to use your data rather than trying to gather the data themselves. Support Open Access: Researchers are becoming increasingly more aware of the need to manage their work and consider issues of scholarly communication. The Open Data movement advocates for researchers to share their data in order to foster the development of knowledge. MIT Libraries

Data Management Planning What’s information is contained in a DMP? Increase the visibility of your research Save time Simplify your life Preserve your data Increase your research efficiency Documentation Meet grant requirements Facilitate new discoveries Support Open Access

Data Management Planning What’s information is contained in a DMP? Introduction and context Legal, rights and ethical issues Access, data sharing and reuse Data collection/ development methods Short-term storage and data management Deposit and long-term preservation Resourcing Compliance and review Agreement/ratification by stakeholders Annexes DCC Data Management Plan Content Checklist

Data Management Planning EXERCISE: What information required by the DMP cannot be taken from the DCP? Work in groups of 3 Compare the DCP modules to the DCC Data Management Plan Checklist Note deficiencies