When designing data collection, researchers must take important decisions on how much data to collect and what resources to devote to enhancing the quality of the collected data. But the threshold for choosing better over bigger data may be reached long before the sample numbers in the thousands, write Jeff Dominitz and Charles F. Manski. Big data has become an […]
Category: research data
Book Review: Open Data and the Knowledge Society by Bridgette Wessels, Kush Wadhwa, Rachel L. Finn and Thordis Sveinsdottir
In Open Data and the Knowledge Society, authors Bridgette Wessels, Kush Wadhwa, Rachel L. Finn and Thordis Sveinsdottir place the management of open data ecosystems at the heart of the transformation into a “knowledge society”, presenting five case studies through which to consider various ways of dealing with different types of data. Miranda Nell welcomes this book for showing how open data is […]
Starter tips on sharing data and analysis scripts
Researchers are increasingly encouraged to make their data openly accessible and usable for others. To early-career researchers in particular, this can seem daunting, with different considerations when posting data publicly rather than retaining it solely for internal use. Katherine Wood has compiled a short open data starter guide to make the process less overwhelming and help researchers do their bit for […]
RDMF13: notes from breakout group 1 (practice)
Breakout group 1, session 2 – How do data-related activities during a research project affect longer-term preservation requirements? – chair: Joanna Ball, University of Sussex
JB – themes: non digital data; implementing RDM as part of…
RDMF13: notes from breakout group 2 (systems)
Breakout group 2, session 1 – What systems are involved in data preparation processes, and what impacts do they have? – chair: John Beaman, University of Leeds
M Wolf – systems for non-digital data (x2)
Several institutions do not hav…
What is an Information Scientist and What is Information Science?
Over the years I have been asked what I do and what my profession does in general. I know what I do, but I’m better at writing than speaking, and I often stumble over my words. The other day I found these definitions, thanks to the State of North Carolina’s Division of Employment Security job […]
‘Picturing the Social’: Questions of method, ethics and transparency in the analysis of social media photography.
Anne Burns has been researching current norms of social media sharing, particularly in relation to photo sharing practices, and reflects here on the implications this research might have for social media research in years to come. Whilst there are many opportunities for researchers, more reflection is needed on the potential for harm that can be caused by the unauthorized reproduction of […]
RDMF13: notes from breakout group 3 (roles and training)
This breakout session brought together over 30 attendees across the two sessions to discuss roles and (staff and student) training for preparing data – and other research objects – for deposit. It was chaired by Sophie Salffner of SOAS.
Following a br…
MSF Scientific Day 2015: Innovation for a faster, leaner research model to tackle public health threats.
A two-day conference taking place in London, New Delhi, and online will explore what innovation really means in a humanitarian organisation. Sarah Venis provides an overview of the ‘conference without borders’ where a key aim is to bring together medical, operational, and technological audiences to help guide field operations, influence policy, and increase the benefit for the populations in which research is conducted. […]
Digital Object Identifiers: Stability for citations and referencing, but not proxies for quality
What exactly is a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) and how does it help in the management and long-term preservation of research? Laurence Horton explains the basic structure and purpose of a DOI and also points to some limitations. DOIs are not the only way of providing fixed, persisting references to objects, but they have emerged as the leading system. A DOI is a Digital […]