The Changing Research Data Paradigm One agency’s response Changes to Implementation of NSF’s Data Sharing Policy NOAA’s second annual Environmental Data Management Conference June 21, 2011 Silver Spring, MD.

Proposed questions to be addressed  What is data management planning ?  Why do a plan?  How is it used throughout the DMP lifecycle?  Experience in DMP Critical success factors Best practices in DMP  Recommendations for NOAA as we embark on a DMP policy  Case Studies/Examples of existing plans

WHAT IS DATA MANAGEMENT PLANNING? For NSF, it will ultimately be community defined

A means to an end  One of a variety of tools to efficiently and effectively advance the science, improve environment stewardship, provide accountability, and uphold the tenet of transparency  A vitally important form of scientific communication  “Customers don’t go to the hardware store to buy a ¼ drill, they go to buy a ¼ hole. Theodore Levitt, Harvard Business School

WHY DO A PLAN? There is no other option in a data-intensive science era

Data-intensive science “The data deluge represents an opportunity to advance U.S. leadership in science and technology, and harnessing it has become a national priority.” President’s Council of Advisors on Science & Technology, August 2007 “The quest for Knowledge used to begin with grand theories. Now it begins with massive amounts of data. Welcome to the Petabyte Age.” Wired Magazine: Issue “there is a pending crisis in archiving…. We have to create long-term methods for preserving information, for making it available for analysis in the future.” Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) 100 Year Archive Requirements Survey Report

Extensive Bibliography of Reference Work 2005: Report of the National Science Board on ‘Long-lived Digital Data Collections: Enabling Research and Education in the 21 st Century’ 2008: Report of the NSF Task Force on Cyberlearning ‘Fostering Learning in the Network World: The Cyberlearning Opportunity and Challenge’ 2009: Report of the Interagency Working Group on Digital Data ‘Harnessing the Power of Digital Data for Science and Society’ 2010: Report of the Blue Ribbon Task Force on ‘Sustainable Economics for a Digital Planet: Ensuring Long-Term Access to Digital Information’ 2010: Workshop report for the Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) community ‘Data-Enabled Science in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences’ 2010: White paper ‘Data Intensive Science in the Department of Energy’ giving a DOE perspective on the opportunities and needs of Data Intensive Science.

Poor data practice results in loss of information (data entropy) Information Content Time Time of publication Specific details General details Accident Retirement or career change Death (Michener et al. 1997)

HOW IS IT USED THROUGHOUT THE DMP LIFECYCLE? The key focus is on the full lifecycle of data of which DMP is part

Life Cycle Model from the Digital Curation Centre

Life Cycle Model from ‘Harnessing the Power of Digital Data for Science and Society’

ISO Digital Archive Reference Model PRODUCER CONSUMER MANAGEMENT Preservation Planning Access Data Management Administration Ingest Archival Storage Adapted from ISO 14721, Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System

EXPERIENCE IN DMP CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS BEST PRACTICES IN DMP For NSF, it is a work in progress

Process used by NSF  The development of the new guidelines engaged internal NSF staff, the NSB, and OMB  NSB and NSF leadership continue to examine the issue  As with the Board Impacts criteria, there will be an evolution in the development of “Best Practices” within the community

New Data Management Plan Requirements  All proposals are required to include, as a supplementary doc, a data management plan of up to 2 pages.  Electronic enforcement  Plan should describe how the proposal will conform to NSF policy on dissemination and sharing of research results.  A valid Data Management Plan may include only the statement that no detailed plan is needed, as long a clear justification is provided.  Plan will be reviewed as part of the intellectual merit and/or broader impacts of the proposal.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR NOAA AS WE EMBARK ON A DMP POLICY Outputs are a means to achieve outcomes

Context for DMP is key  Differences in agency missions caution specific advice  Suggested pertinent questions to be considered How will DMP be part of the full lifecycle of data? How will the DMP contribute to NOAA’s mission? How will the DMP make the science better?

CASE STUDIES/EXAMPLES OF EXISTING PLANS A limited set of examples and practices

Examples and practices  IPY – formal process committee/data-management.htm  NCAR – good practices, but yet to be developed formal plan  DDC – very good resource

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