Office of the Vice President for Research N ORMAN C AMPUS AND N ORMAN C AMPUS P ROGRAMS AT OU-T ULSA Data and Access: Views from a Research Administrator (and recovering meteorologist) Kelvin K. Droegemeier Vice President for Research University of Oklahoma UNT 3 rd Annual Symposium on Open Access May 20-21, 2012

Office of the Vice President for Research N ORMAN C AMPUS AND N ORMAN C AMPUS P ROGRAMS AT OU-T ULSA A HUGE Spectrum 2 Zillions of small data; ubiquitous, streaming, unexpected, highly perishable, non-reproducible, geo-referenced, mobile Huge structured data; anticipated, well defined, streaming, fixed in space, reproducible

Office of the Vice President for Research N ORMAN C AMPUS AND N ORMAN C AMPUS P ROGRAMS AT OU-T ULSA Lots of Reports and Activities Lots of Dust in the Air 3

Office of the Vice President for Research N ORMAN C AMPUS AND N ORMAN C AMPUS P ROGRAMS AT OU-T ULSA The Easy Way Out? 4

Office of the Vice President for Research N ORMAN C AMPUS AND N ORMAN C AMPUS P ROGRAMS AT OU-T ULSA Definition of DATA Who owns it and when, and who decides? What should be kept and who decides? How and where should it be kept and who decides? How is quality assured and who determines it? Who provides access and who pays? How is access provided and who decides? Who is given access and when, and who decides? When should access be denied and who decides? Who provides technical assistance in using data? How should credit be given for generating/maintaining data, and who decides? Who ensures and pays for compliance? Some of the Key Questions 5

Office of the Vice President for Research N ORMAN C AMPUS AND N ORMAN C AMPUS P ROGRAMS AT OU-T ULSA Federal research agencies and laboratories – Money for research – Big iron – High capacity network backbone – Lots of storage – Special large and shared facilities (telescopes, ships, aircraft, accelerators) – Little compliance or policy apart from health-related information – Focus on physical science and engineering Universities – Researchers (faculty, students, post docs) – Modest computing for data analysis and visualization – Links to backbone plus modest on-campus connectivity – Some storage – Coordination at department/college level with distributed IT management Data: The Way it Was 6

Office of the Vice President for Research N ORMAN C AMPUS AND N ORMAN C AMPUS P ROGRAMS AT OU-T ULSA Federal research agencies and laboratories – Money for research – Big iron – High capacity network backbone – Lots of storage – Special large and shared facilities (telescopes, ships, aircraft, accelerators) – Significant compliance mandates, data management plans, IP implications – ALL disciplines now involved in data in VERY different ways! Universities – Researchers (faculty, students, post docs) – Significant computing for data analysis and visualization – Links to backbone plus significant wired/wireless on-campus connectivity – Large storage – Local digital repositories – Components of data systems for federated data bases – Emerging interaction among Library, IT Leadership, Research Office, Academic Leadership at the institutional level Data: The Way It’s Becoming 7

Office of the Vice President for Research N ORMAN C AMPUS AND N ORMAN C AMPUS P ROGRAMS AT OU-T ULSA Assist faculty across all disciplines within a comprehensive research university in achieving their scholarly goals and dreams – Help locate and create opportunity – Help build collaborations internally and externally – Help define research program trajectories and prepare competitive proposals – Provide financial and other resources – Create incentives and rewards – Promulgate useful policies and reduce administrative burden – Ensure tight integration of instruction and research – Shine a bright light on achievement – Recruit and retain the best faculty and students – to continue the cycle My Role as VP for Research 8

Office of the Vice President for Research N ORMAN C AMPUS AND N ORMAN C AMPUS P ROGRAMS AT OU-T ULSA Key Point #1: Facilitating Research With Data – A means to tackle some of the most compelling intellectual challenges at the intersections of multiple disciplines – It’s not only about providing access but also helping ensure EFFECTIVE use of data – which is not automatic! – The institution must help: bring people together, stimulate conversations, bridge language barriers, build trust, guide thinking, provide support – Library has a unique role to play – a renaissance as the intellectual commons of our campuses – As IT has opened new doors and brought people/disciplines together, so can the “data challenge” if we handle it properly! Especially critical for engagement of social sciences and the humanities View from a Vice President for Research 9

Office of the Vice President for Research N ORMAN C AMPUS AND N ORMAN C AMPUS P ROGRAMS AT OU-T ULSA Are All the Data Making a Difference? 10

Office of the Vice President for Research N ORMAN C AMPUS AND N ORMAN C AMPUS P ROGRAMS AT OU-T ULSA 11 Are All the Data Making a Difference?

Office of the Vice President for Research N ORMAN C AMPUS AND N ORMAN C AMPUS P ROGRAMS AT OU-T ULSA Numerical Simulation 24 hours CPU = 1 hour real 20 TB of output Still trying to understand Mother Nature Real time! Still trying to understand Data Don’t Guarantee Understanding!

Office of the Vice President for Research N ORMAN C AMPUS AND N ORMAN C AMPUS P ROGRAMS AT OU-T ULSA Key Point #2: Providing Credit and Support – System (but importantly also a philosophy) for giving credit to faculty for generating, maintaining, and provisioning data (similar to how IP has been added to portfolio) Provost, Deans, Tenure Committees, Senior Faculty – Building data stewardship into research metrics aka citations, impact factors, etc – Creation of persistent identifiers/tags (EZID, DataCiteConsortium) – but also WHAT credit means – Creation of an indirect cost component for data and compliance View from a Vice President for Research 13

Office of the Vice President for Research N ORMAN C AMPUS AND N ORMAN C AMPUS P ROGRAMS AT OU-T ULSA Key Point #3: Logistics and Cost – Coordination and consolidation of data management approaches across the institution: Provost, Library Dean, CIO, VPR – Appropriate cyberinfrastructure, security, systems-level approach – Integration into the broader academic ecosystem – The strategies in which we invest today may be quite different in a short time – shifting sands Division of responsibilities (local and national) When will the dust settle regarding policies? Unity versus diversity in approaches – Roles from Fran Berman’s recent article Universities: Expand repositories (pay via fees, gifts, tuition, grants) Agencies: Research, workforce, repositories, good policies Private Sector: Capacity and services, partnerships, federation View from a Vice President for Research 14

Office of the Vice President for Research N ORMAN C AMPUS AND N ORMAN C AMPUS P ROGRAMS AT OU-T ULSA Strategy for OU – Just hired a new Dean of Libraries (Rick Luce) – Bringing in a blue ribbon visiting team to evaluate IT support of research in its broadest definition Data issue is a key component of the agenda – Like some universities, OU doesn’t have a lot to “undo” in the way of a unified approach to data management – New coordination among Library Dean, CIO, Provost, VPR View from a Vice President for Research 15

Office of the Vice President for Research N ORMAN C AMPUS AND N ORMAN C AMPUS P ROGRAMS AT OU-T ULSA Like so many things in our world, our ability to generate data has far outstripped our ability to utilize them effectively for research and decision making In our necessary haste to make data available, we must also learn how to use data effectively We’re now somewhat in a valley – data deluge has slowed progress in some ways and accelerated it in others Some of the greatest advances in the history of civilization will be made in the next 50 years provided we can tackle the data challenge holistically (i.e., provision, effective use) Closing Thoughts 16