A Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums (GLAM) Lab is a place for experimenting with digital collections and data. It is where researchers, artists, entrepreneurs, educators and the interested public can collaborate with an engaged group of partners to create new collections, tools, and services that will help transform the future ways in which knowledge and culture are disseminated. These Labs play a significant role in the transformation of large digital collections into data.

So far there was no systematic guidance on establishing GLAM Labs. In September a team of 16 international experts wrote the book ‘Open a GLAM Lab’ in five days during a booksprint and now this book is available under a CC0 licence on https://qspace.qu.edu.qa/handle/10576/12115  and also accessible from the website of the International GLAM Labs community, https://glamlabs.io/.

We are sharing with the CODATA community where many colleagues may be interested in the collections as data aspects of this work.

This post was written by Rebecca Lawrence, Managing Director of F1000. She was a session organiser at the CODATA 2019 Conference in Beijing, China 

Scholarly research is a global enterprise, often requiring researchers to collaborate with relevant experts across the world. The data generated during research is a valuable commodity, and researchers are increasingly required to share the data created during their research endeavour. 

However, institutional and funder data sharing policies are typically developed at organisational or national level. Meanwhile, researchers are often funded by several research agencies, working as part of a collaboration and/or with a myriad of data-related outputs.  This makes adherence to the different data sharing policies complex, burdensome and time consuming.  Furthermore, the practical ability to share data – in reputable repositories, with adequate metadata, in usable formats, at economic cost – can be onerous and in some case prohibitive for researchers.  There also remain real cultural, social and economic barriers for many researchers to share their research data openly and in a timely manner.

The session at CODATA Beijing brought together experts representing many different parts of the world to discuss how we can work better together towards harmonisation of policies and incentives for researchers to share their data so that we can fully realise the benefits of making research data more available. Panelists were Jean-Claude Burgelman (European Commission), Rebecca Lawrence (F1000; chair), Xiaoxuan Li (Chinese Academy of Sciences), Erik Schultes (Dutch Techcentre for Life Sciences), Daisy Selematsela (University of South Africa (UNISA) Library and Information Services) and Nick Shockey (SPARC).

There was considerable discussion around making sure that we don’t repeat the mistakes of the road towards Open Access (OA) but rather that we learn from it. With data sharing, there was agreement that it is especially important that it is built on a Commons and not allowed to be built by a small number of commercial closed entities. This is especially important given that ownership of data can be far more powerful and restrictive than ownership/copyright of publications. There was also agreement that much of the slow progress towards OA has been caused by confusing and lenient policies. With data sharing we have the opportunity to ensure early on that clear and stringent policies are put in place to ensure that a middle-ground does not emerge along a similar vein to the ‘hybrid’ approach now prevalent in article publishing.

There was also much discussion about the significant, and growing, gap in data sharing practices between the global north and the global south. We need to not just talk about the positives that data sharing can bring but also (and maybe especially importantly in the global south) about the risks of doing nothing. We need to consider carefully the impact on equity and inclusion before we build data sharing systems, not after when it is too late to make a tangible difference. This is especially important when considering the business model for these infrastructures to ensure that approaches don’t develop that will cause further imbalance and inequity.

The importance of ensuring that researchers not only understand what data sharing is about but also why it is important and the potential positive impact it can have on them and their research should not be underestimated. We need to debunk the many myths about it and recognise that this process is going to take considerable time and effort to achieve. 

Having said this, a significant shift towards greater data sharing will only come about if the rewards and incentives system starts to fully recognise the value of such activities and shifts away from the traditional sole focus on publications in high-impact venues. However, during such a shift, we also need to be alert to potential unintended negative consequences of any new system or approach.

Such a shift in incentives can be achieved not only by dangling ‘carrots’ but also by reducing researcher burden.  For example, the increasing use of automated workflows and data capture was highlighted as potentially creating an incentive for researchers to share their data by removing the considerable time burden in capturing and curating the data and associated methods, whilst also increasing the likely level of FAIR-compliance of the resulting data.

There was a sense from the panel that like the early Internet, the current infrastructures being built globally to support data sharing are going to become another revolutionary global infrastructure that can ultimately be used by everyone. Like then, we don’t yet know what this infrastructure may become or what it may enable. But once we can demonstrate the possibilities and potential brought about by open data policies and implementation by working through a few pilots on a multinational scale, this will mobilise the international community very quickly, and help us to bring about the crucial alignment needed around core elements of data sharing policy and implementation. 

Francophone Open Data Conference

17 – 19 December – Abidjan, Ivory Coast

Conscious of the importance of data to build sustainable development, the Francophone African Community on Open Data (CAFDO) in collaboration with the Government of Côte d’Ivoire through the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry host of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), organizes the second edition of the Francophone Open Data Conference (CAFDO 2019) from 17 to 19 December 2019 in Abidjan at the Palm Club Hotel.

The theme of this second edition is ” Open Data: From Principles to Action “. It is placed under the very high patronage of His Excellency the Prime Minister, Head of the Government of Côte d’Ivoire.

The objective of the conference is to promote the openness and reuse of data in French-speaking Africa. Specifically, it will:

• Advocate at the political level for more openness of data produced in ministries and public institutions;
• promote good practices on models of openness and exploitation of data;
• identify common challenges and propose actions for a better contribution of data in building a sustainable economy in member countries.

It is expected at this conference, actors from government, civil society, development organizations, research centers, universities, digital communities (Open Source, Open Data, Open Government, etc.).

Read more

August 2019:  Publications in the Data Science Journal

	Title: Development of a Climate Forcing Observation System for Africa: Data-Related Considerations Author: Johannes Beck, Ana López-Ballesteros, Wim Hugo, Robert Scholes, Matthew Saunders, Jörg Helmschrot URL: http://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2019-042
	Title: Practical Application of a Data Stewardship Maturity Matrix for the NOAA OneStop Project Author: Ge Peng, Anna Milan, Nancy A. Ritchey, Robert P. Partee II, Sonny Zinn, Evan McQuinn, Kenneth S. Casey, Paul Lemieux III, Raisa Ionin, Philip Jones, Arianna Jakositz, Donald Collins URL: http://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2019-041
	Title: NASA’s Earth Observing Data and Information System – Near-Term Challenges Author: Jeanne Behnke, Andrew Mitchell, Hampapuram Ramapriyan URL: http://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2019-040
	Title: Research Data Publication: Moving Beyond the Metaphor Author: Sarah Callaghan URL: http://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2019-039
	Title: Teaching Research Data Management for Students  Author: Cord Wiljes, Philipp Cimiano URL: http://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2019-038
	Title: Application of Natural Language Processing Algorithms to the Task of Automatic Classification of Russian Scientific Texts Author: Aleksandr Romanov, Konstantin Lomotin , Ekaterina Kozlova URL: http://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2019-037

This article was first published by the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology http://www.jkuat.ac.ke/prof-muliaro-the-advent-of-big-data-heralds-huge-opportunities/

The CODATA-RDA Research Data Science Schools provide Early Career Researchers with the opportunity to meet their colleagues and learn relevant Data Science skills. We actively encourage students to use their learning as an opportunity to create new collaborations and generate new research.

One spectacularly successful example of this is Oscar Arbelaez Echeverry from Colombia who, through links made at the schools, enabled approximately 1.2 million CPU hours [this is akin to having access to a 1600 core cluster for a month] to be run on Monte Carlo simulations. As a result of accessing the Open Science Grid resource, six publications [1-7] have been generated by his supervisor, in the best journals in the field and for wider audiences . By providing Oscar with the relevant skills, he has been instrumental to advancing research in his home institution.

Oscar attended the Trieste school in 2017 (#dataTrieste17). He has a background in Condensed Matter Physics and was working with Juan Alzate-Cardona at the Departamento de Física y Química, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Manizales. Juan is working on computational studies of magnetic materials. This requires extensive Monte Carlo simulations of the materials and is highly computationally intensive, but allows insights into the nature of the materials such as the magnetocaloric effect – which in essence is how the temperature of a magenetic material changes when subjected to a change in the magnetic field around it.

As it was, the research team was highly limited in the work they could do because they didn’t have sufficient access to compute resource and were unaware of freely accessible services like the Open Science Grid (OSG) and how to apply them. During the school Oscar was introduced to the OSG in the Computational Infrastructures course run by Rob Quick. OSG scavenges computing cycles from the vast amount of grid computing clusters available worldwide and offers 1.5 billion CPU hours per year which is free and open to all researchers. Oscar described the problem he was having to Rob and they agreed to make use of the OSG.

Since being a student at the school in 2017, Oscar has gone to act as a helper in the school in São Paulo, Brazil. He is now in Switzerland completing research for his Ph.D. This success story is precisely why we work on these schools – the schools are not just about the materials; they are about building communities and creating connections. These connections are key in enabling these opportunities and successes for researchers in Low and Middle Income Countries.

If you give people access to tools and teach them how to use them, you can transform the research being generated. The CODATA/RDA schools are doing this across the LMIC, one student at a time. Well, 250+ now and counting… Just imagine the ripple effect all these individuals have had in their home communities!

[1] Pordes, R. et al. The open science grid. J. Phys. Conf. Ser. 78, 012057 (2007)

[2] Alzate-Cardona, J. D., Sabogal-Suárez, D., Arbeláez-Echeverri, O. D. & Restrepo-Parra, E. Vegas: Software package for the atomistic simulation of magnetic materials. Rev. Mex. Física 64, 490 (2018).

[3] Alzate-Cardona, J. D., Sabogal-Suárez, D., Evans, R. F. L. & Restrepo-Parra, E. Optimal phase space sampling for Monte Carlo simulations of Heisenberg spin systems. J. Phys. Condens. Matter 31, 095802 (2019).

[4] Alzate-Cardona, J. D., Salcedo-Gallo, J. S., Rodríguez-Patiño, D. F., Acosta-Medina, C. D. & Restrepo-Parra, E. Unveiling a Scaling and Universal Behavior for the Magnetocaloric Effect in Cubic Crystal Structures: A Monte Carlo Simulation. Sci. Rep. 9, 5228 (2019).

[5] Acosta-Medina, C. D., Alzate-Cardona, J. D. & Restrepo-Parra, E. Monte Carlo study of the magnetization reversal times in a core/shell magnetic nanoparticle. Comput. Condens. Matter 17, e00338 (2018).

[6] Sabogal-Suárez, D., Alzate-Cardona, J. D. & Restrepo-Parra, E. Influence of the shape on exchange bias in core/shell nanoparticles. J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 482, 120–124 (2019).

[7] Salcedo-Gallo, J. S., Rodríguez-Patiño, D. F., Alzate-Cardona, J. D., Barco-Ríos, H. & Restrepo-Parra, E. Magnetocaloric effect and magnetic properties in NdMnO3 perovskite: A Monte Carlo approach. Phys. Lett. A 382, 2069–2074 (2018).

Deadline for Applications for the 2019 Foundation School http://www.codata.org/working-groups/research-data-science-summer-schools/datatrieste-2019 and Advanced Workshops http://www.codata.org/working-groups/research-data-science-summer-schools/datatrieste-2019 is approaching: 18 April

This post is a syndicated copy of the one at https://www.rd-alliance.org/blogs/tracking-impact-codatarda-data-science-schools-case-osg.html

This document provides a quick and accessible list of CODATA activities, deliverables and impact from the past year. It then highlights some important upcoming activities and events for 2019: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2561414

The CODATA Prospectus: Strategy and Achievement, 2015-2018 summarises the most important activities, deliverables and impacts over that period: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2559274.

Strategic Priority Area 1: Data Policy

The CODATA International Data Policy Committee has been reformed and invigorated.  Under the leadership of Paul Uhlir, the Committee now boasts participation from a team of global experts.  In 2018, the Committee explored a number of key policy areas, establishing sub-groups for the following topics:

• Upstream-Downstream: Non-Profit Research Data and Commercial Innovation;
• Data Diplomacy
• Model Data Policy Training Module
• Landscape Survey and Good Practice in Data Policies

Reports, White Papers or scholarly articles, as appropriate will be the major outputs from these groups.  In 2019, the Committee will also deliver the following:

• The creation of the University of Arizona – CODATA Center of Excellence in Data for Society (formal announcement to follow)
• International Workshop on Implementing Open Research Data Policy and Practice, Beijing, China, 16-17 September 2019
• 20-Year Review of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)

Other important data policy related contributions of 2018 were:

• Turning FAIR into Reality https://doi.org/10.2777/1524, European Commission Expert Group Report, chaired by Simon Hodson, Executive Director, CODATA.
• SA-EU Open Science Dialogue Report https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2559469, Report of the SA-EU Dialogue, Simon Hodson, Executive Director, CODATA, was a member of the Expert Task Group.

Strategic Priority Area 2: Frontiers of Data Science

2018 saw a significant milestone in the history of science when the General Conference of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures approved the redefinition of four base units of the International System of Units (SI) on values determined by the work of the CODATA Task Group on Fundamental Physical Constants.

The CODATA Data Science Journal continued its renaissance with rapidly growing citations and impact.  Two notable new Special Collections include Research Data Alliance Results and papers from the Göttingen-CODATA RDM Symposium 2018, which took place in March 2018.

International Data Week 2018, which took place in Gaborone, Botswana, 5-8 November, organized in partnership with the Research Data Alliance, the ISC World Data System and the African Open Science Platform was a major success with 850 participants from around the globe.  IDW combines SciDataCon with the RDA Plenary.  Papers from the conference will appear in the CODATA Data Science Journal.

The major data science activity in 2018 has been the piloting of the Data Integration Initiative, which addresses the fundamental challenge of data interoperability for major, global, interdisciplinary research questions.  In 2018, the initiative advanced with three pilot case studies, examining these issues in the context of infectious diseases, resilient cities and disaster risk reduction.  Major outputs include:

• Data Integration Initiative: Planning Document https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1319525
• CODATA Workshop on Advancing Interdisciplinary Global Challenges Research Through Data Integration, CNIC, Beijing, 30-31 July 2018
• CODATA-DDI Workshop: Interoperability of Metadata Standards in Cross-Domain Science, Health, and Social Science Applications, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz Center for Informatics, October 1-5, 2018

The event held at the Schloss Dagstuhl in partnership with the Data Documentation Initiative was particularly important in advancing the initiative’s approach and it will result in a series of articles about the pilot case studies and the data challenges involved.  CODATA is preparing for consideration by the International Science Council, a proposal for a major flagship programme to address the challenge for data interoperability and integration for interdisciplinary research.

Strategic Priority Area 3: Capacity Building and Data Skills Training

The African Open Science Platform project addresses a number of areas essential to building capacity in the use of data and Open Science.  Information on the project’s activities can be found at http://africanopenscience.org.za/.  Two stakeholder and strategy workshops (March and September 2018) led to the launch of the Vision and Strategy for the African Open Science Platform https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2222418 for the African Open Science Platform at Science Forum South Africa, in a presentation by co-chair Khotso Mokhele.  A founding members’ meeting will be hosted at the Biblioteca Alexandrina later in 2019.

The CODATA-RDA Schools of Research Data Science have continued expanding: in 2018 schools were held in Brisbane, Australia (June; short version); Trieste, Italy (August; foundational school and advanced workshops); Kigali, Rwanda (October; foundational school) and São Paulo, Brazil (December; foundational school).  For 2019, Data Schools are planned for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (July), Trieste (August), Kigali (October), San José, Costa Rica (December) and Abuja, Nigeria (TBC).  Negotiations are underway with hosts for 2020 and, resources permitting, that year could see as many as twelve schools.

A video about the Data Schools initiative can be watched at https://vimeo.com/299263596; be sure to follow the CODATA website, lists and social media for announcements of application deadlines.

Building on this work, CODATA is a partner in the European Commission funded FAIRsFAIR project, playing a major role in the development of virtual competence centres for data skills.   CODATA is also leading the GO FAIR Training Frameworks Implementation Network which will leverage these activities to 1) refine a curriculum framework for data science and data stewardship; 2) develop a train-the-trainer programme; and 3) design a mechanism for endorsement and certification of training activities.

31^st CODATA General Assembly (2018)

The 31^st CODATA General Assembly was held at the University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana on 9-10 November 2018.  The report and other materials from the General Assembly may be consulted here http://www.codata.org/events/general-assembly/general-assembly-2018

The General Assembly elected Barend Mons as President and a new Executive Committee.  Eight Task Groups were approved.  Also significant was that the General Assembly approved revisions to the CODATA Constitution designed to encourage organizations of various sorts to become CODATA members and to allow CODATA to function in a more effective, modern way.

Major Events for 2019

In addition to the activities noted above, CODATA will convene two major conferences in 2019.

CODATA-Drexel Workshop on FAIR and Responsible Research Data Management, 31 March-1 April will take place as a collocated event to the 13^th RDA Plenary Meeting in Philadelphia, USA.  Like its predecessor in Göttingen, the workshop will feature invited talks and selected presentation on matters relating to FAIR and Responsible RDM.  It will result in a Special Collection of the Data Science Journal.  The deadline for papers is 18 February: http://www.codata.org/events/conferences/drexel-metadata-research-centre-and-codata-workshop

CODATA 2019: Towards next-generation data-driven science: policies, practices and platforms, 18-19 September 2019 in Beijing, China: https://conference.codata.org/CODATA_2019/

The Call for Sessions has been released with a deadline of 15 April 2019.

The conference will follow a high-level workshop, 16-17 September 2019, on ‘Implementing Open Research Data Policy and Practice’ that will examine such challenges in China and elsewhere in the light of the emergence of data policies and in particular the China State Council’s Notice on ‘Measures for Managing Scientific Data’.

The newly-elected CODATA Executive Committee after the General Assembly in Gaborone: http://www.codata.org/about-codata/executive-committee

In 2018, the third year of activity, the CODATA-RDA Schools of Research Data Science expanded to five events, with foundational data training in Brisbane, Trieste, Kigali and São Paulo and advanced workshops in Trieste.

SpringerNature is a committed and generous supporter of this initiative and part of our collaboration is that participants in the schools have written blogs about their experiences which appear on the SpringerNature Data Dialogues.  Three of these blogs relating to the São Paulo school in December 2018 have recently appeared.  These are direct and transparent accounts from three student helpers involved in the São Paulo school.

One of the approaches used by the initiative is to arrange for particularly able and enthusiastic students to return as student helpers: this provides invaluable assistance with pedagogy, enhances the experience of the returning student, helps build the social and skilled network around the schools, and creates a community of future instructors and hosts as the initiative expands.

Introducing the CODATA-RDA School of Research Data Science

CODATA-RDA Research Data Science Summer School Trieste 2018.

We have often heard wise heads in the Open Science and FAIR movements say things like the following:

• the major challenge is human rather than technical;
• the size of the data challenge is measured in people rather than in PB…

These student helpers are part of that human solution.

Please follow the links below and enjoy!

An old dog learning new tricks Attending the CODATA-RDA School in 2017 as a student was a breakthrough moment for me. By Juliano van Melis , Biologist, Faculdade de Ciências da Saúde Read more Opening my head to FAIR science My participation in the CODATA-RDA schools really improved my view regarding what is to be a good scientist. Openness and FAIRness should constantly and consciously be applied as a golden rule. He… By Caroline Franco , PhD Student, Sao Paulo State University Read more Thoughts after two years on the São Paulo’s School of Research Data Science  In this blog I discuss the benefits/truth of joining the CODATA-RDA School of Research Data Science. Taking part of the school both as a student and a helper allowed me to see how the school helped… By Jose Lopez , Student, Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica. Read more

• curriculum vitae, including contact details (max 1 page);
• letter of motivation (700-1000 words);
• letter of support from their supervisor (max 1 page);
• statement on the estimated height of the financial contribution by the participant and/or their institute.

These four elements are to be submitted as one PDF-file.

• their research interests and/or current planned research;
• their digital skills and the DH competences they would like to develop and/or to improve during the workshop;
• their earlier involvement in DH events (workshops, etc.) as a participant or otherwise. 

Institutions now have a new means at their disposal to aid them in assessing their research data management initiatives, the Evaluating RDM Tool.

A collaborative creation, the tool was developed using the SPARC Europe How Open is Your Research service and the Digital Curation Centre’s RISE Framework.

“We wanted to create something that would go beyond providing initial RDM guidance,” said SPARC Europe Director, Vanessa Proudman. “This tool should help with the next phase, aiding institutions as they continue to improve and evolve their RDM programmes and practices.”

As for how it works, users are invited to answer a selection of questions. Based on their responses, three downloadable radar charts are generated providing insights into: the breadth or range of RDM services provided by the institution; the degree to which RDM services are being tailored to specific users; and lastly, whether or not the initiatives are “sector leading”.

Marta Teperek, Data Stewardship Coordinator at TU Delft, described the Evaluating RDM Tool as a “quick and easy means to help assess RDM readiness at your institution and to visualise gaps.”

The tool is free to use. Any question regarding its use may be directed to info@sparceurope.org.

Try out the Evaluate your RDM Offering Tool