NeDIC – the way forward

Structure Augmenting the draft presented earlier SWOT Policy Issues Roles and Responsibilities –Government, funding agencies, top mgmt –Researchers –Government research managers –Librarians –NeDIC Project team Augmenting the draft presented earlier

Strengths Good eResearch activity underway – globally connected, global standards Some classy work in spite of poor infrastructure: Astronomy, materials modelling Infrastructure developing – if slowly Energy – especially among librarians – ideal curators Legislative cover – Enforcement?

Weaknesses Money, Money, Money Nervous/retiring librarians Lack of training Lack of good practice guidelines (link) Insularity – project and national level Lack of incentives for staff and institutions Poor sense of research priorities in institutions Poor preparation of students Bureaucracy

Opportunities OECD Guidelines on Access structures/highlights some of the problems Piggyback on experienced counterparts Spread the good practice over wider range of players - Support staff need only to understand enough of the speciality to contribute Welcome government departments to the fold Capacity building projects from ICSU Take the lead in SADC /Africa

Threats Internet and Research Divide Isolation/Obscurity – getting left behind Speed of Technological change Falling behind on the bandwidth race TELKOM monopoly on undersea cable Loss of key (paper) records (eqpt design) Rigid application of coercive rules Insufficient attention to AAA Raiding of SA IP via ‘foreign’ researchers or digitization of precious records – Technological colonialism. NeDIC as a champion?

Policy Valid, well documented Data/Information are valuable Publicly funded D/I should be looked after and made accessible for their ‘useful life’, after expiry of the researcher’s priority window Assessment of priority window and ‘useful life’ is best left to domain communities Standards, protocols, processes ditto Funding is a legitimate project ‘add-on’ cost Distributed model is more attractive at present Sensible, transparent Guidelines suit the research community better than Rules Learn from the experienced – what they do and what they avoid. Make space for private sector participation – if only wrt standards and protocols. Access, Authentication, Authorization - It’s Urgent!!

R&R(1) Government, funding agencies, top management Set firm expectations and requirements, endorse guidelines Provide Incentives – Rewards and Recognition Provide resources – MMM – infrastructure – support staff - long-term back-up – technology/media upgrade Support the big battles – eg for affordable bandwidth Support /provide training

R&R (2) - Researchers Data storage is driven by good science – see this holistically Avoid unnecessary duplication Work on identifying essential granularity Agree quality and monitor (peer review) Participate in standards/process/protocol development debates – follow global practice Share your insights, learn from others in these pre-competitive areas Recognise value of secondary analysis Its not really your data anyway!

R&R (3) Government Research Managers Recognise the opportunities in this community Use available/sensible means to protect confidentiality – no smokescreens Promotion and user support can make you look good

R & R (4) Librarians/Information specialists Join the activists Don’t be intimidated by specialists, you are one too! Support Communities of Practice – create check lists, guidelines, etc Use established models. Use your existing skills – and learn the new tricks Be a good practice disseminator Get Paid more?!

R&R (5) NeDIC Project Team Recognise that we have company on this developmental road Promote understanding of Curation Formulate proposal for DST to fund NeDIC Note SWOT – we have much to gain and more to lose Keep the momentum up in the meantime Do we need a NeDIC?