PHAIDRAcon'22
Day 1, Roundtable - November 22, 2022 - What do we need from research data standards?
There is a growing consensus that sharing data is the key to opening up siloed research projects towards a more productive, interconnected ecosystem. While some valid concerns, conditions and exceptions remain, the widespread adoption of FAIR Data Principles and the increasing use of Linked Open Data illustrates the real appetite for greater sharing.
With growing agreement in principle, this roundtable explores the practicalities of storing data in a way that makes it more valuable, accessible and promotes sharing. Our expert panel explores the vital role of standards for data and metadata, as well as new technologies and methodologies emerging which could help with the challenges.
- What do researchers themselves require from data standards?
- Where are we on this journey, and what are the next steps?
- Where do researchers and institutions start with standards, and where should they look for guidance?
- Can broader, more effective data standards promote sharing, and what else is required to support this?
- What are the most interesting new technologies and methodologies which may help? (Data Ops and more Agile Data Science approaches, Graph analysis, Improved search indexing)
- What can academic and research institutions learn from the implementation of standards in industry and the private sector?
- What future does a more effective standards landscape offer within academia and for public/private sector partnerships and collaboration?
Speakers Roundtable 1
Raman Ganguly earned his degree in Media Engineering at the St. Pölten University of Applied Science, and he is a Level C IPMA project manager. Before finishing his university degree, he worked as a software developer in different companies and headed web-development departments at two media agencies.
He became part of the team of the Computer Centre at the University of Vienna in 2008. Since 2011 one of his main focuses is the management and archiving of research and educational data. In this capacity he is responsible for designing the technical infrastructure of the data management ecosystem of the University and for the sustainable operation of the technical infrastructure for long-term data preservation. He is the technical director of the PHAIDRA digital asset management system for long-term preservation. PHAIDRA is currently used by the University of Vienna and 21 institutions throughout Europe.
Dr. Devan Ray Donaldson is an Associate Professor of Information Science in the Department of Information and Library Science (ILS) in the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering at Indiana University, Bloomington, where he directs the Master of Library Science Program and specializations in Archives and Records Management and Digital Curation. Donaldson is also Affiliated Faculty with the Data to Insight Center (D2I) at Indiana University. His research interests include: digital preservation, digital repositories, research data management, trust, and security. His research has been funded by the University of Michigan, Indiana University, the Regenstrief Institute, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the United States Department of Energy.
He holds a Ph.D. in Information from the University of Michigan, a M.S. in Library Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a B.A. in History from the College of William and Mary in Virginia. In 2005, he studied abroad at Oxford University, Hertford College.
He has been a Bill and Melinda Gates Millennium Scholar (2002-2015), a Horace H. Rackham Merit Fellow (2008-2015), an Edward Alexander Bouchet Graduate Honor Society Member since 2012, and a Research Data Alliance (RDA) US Data Share Fellow (2015-2016). Donaldson is a recipient of the Indiana University Trustees Teaching Award.
Donaldson serves on the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force for the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering. He also serves on the Curriculum Committee, Graduate Programs Committee and the ILS Colloquium Committee for the Department of Information and Library Science. He is co-founder and co-chair of the Research Data Alliance (RDA) Early Career and Engagement Interest Group (ECEIG) and co-chair of the Repository Platforms for Research Data Interest Group (RPRDIG). Donaldson served on the Biomedical Informatics, Library and Data Science (BILDS) Review Committee for the National Library of Medicine (2018-2021).
LinkedIn
Neil Jefferies is currently the Head of Innovation in Open Scholarship Support at the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford. He was involved with the initial setup of the Eprints and Fedora Repositories at Oxford and is now working on the development of future library-related technologies and services. Neil is Technical Strategist of the Cultures of Knowledge project, and PI of the Unlocking Digital Texts project. He is a founding co-author of the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF), a co-author of the Oxford Common File Layout (OCFL) for preserving versioned digital objects, and community lead for the SWORD protocol for moving digital objects between systems. Neil has served on the organising committees of international conferences such Open Repositories, DPASSH, The Preservation and Archiving SIG and ILIDE. He also teaches regular sessions on a variety of topics at the Oxford Digital Humanities Summer School, and convenes a module on IIIF for Research for the MSc in Digital Scholarship. Most recently he was chair of the panel of judges for the International Digital Preservation Awards.
Fani Gargova is a postdoctoral Researcher for the interdisciplinary project “Synagogen-Gedenkbuch Hessen” at the Goethe University Frankfurt am Main. Previously, she was a postdoctoral Assistant in Art History at the University of Vienna, Byzantine Research Associate at the Image Collections and Fieldwork Archives of Dumbarton Oaks, Harvard University, and project coordinator of the Digitales Forschungsarchiv Byzanz (DiFaB) at the University of Vienna. She holds a Ph.D. in art history from the University of Vienna and has held fellowships supported by the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the Rothschild Foundation (Hanadiv), and the IFK in Vienna. In her various roles, she has worked towards expanding the accessibility and visibility of architectural and art historical documentary material through exhibitions and digital humanities projects.
Day 2, Roundtable 2 - November 24, 2022 - Data Sharing and Reuse - Practicalities and Opportunities Across Research
There are very few voices objecting in principle to the increased sharing of research data, but sharing does not always happen in practice. What are the reasons, how do we break current data silos, and what are the realities involved?
Building on our first panel discussion, this second roundtable puts a practical focus on the remaining challenges and the opportunities for researchers.
Drawing insight from across the fields of science and social science and data licensing, we explore the practical challenges and what society has to gain.
Questions
- Does data sharing change the future fundamentals of research: scope, methods and possibilities?
- Is there a set of universal principles that apply across all fields of research?
- Can we just leave researchers to share with their peers, or is there a necessary role for data and collaboration specialists?
- While the principle is one thing, do all researchers want to share their data openly?
- Are there valid reasons not to?
- Are there recognisable areas where sharing is more or less successful?
- Are there reasons to restrict/constrain sharing? (to a smaller group)
- Funder Requirements?
- Do all researchers want to reuse data?
- Is there a premium on “fresh” new research?
- Is there a demand for this from funders?
- And, can researchers adopt licensing and practices from fields such as Open Source Software, Free Culture and the Creative Commons?
Speakers Roundtable 2
Ph.D. in Media and Communication Studies and German Studies at the University of Vienna. Head of the Department Repository Management PHAIDRA-Services. Lecturer at the University of Vienna. Chairperson of the Austrian Society for Research on Children's and Youth Literature
Alexander Gruber is RDM Officer in the RDM team at Graz University of Technology. His responsibilities include data stewardship (consulting, training, policy development, etc.) and project management support for FAIR Data Austria. His main focus is the development of training and introductory material on RDM topics and tools, especially an electronic lab notebook called eLabFTW. A programme for researchers interested in RDM, named Data Champions, is also part of his tasks. He has a Dipl.-Ing. (MSc) in Technical Physics from Graz University of Technology.
Claire Jean-Quartier is one of the data stewards at TU Graz. Focusing data science she has been engaged in interdisciplinary topics related to wet and dry biomedical research next to the aspect of sustainability. Her fascination for natural and technical sciences lead to basic research involving all data steps from data generation, mining, processing to sharing and quality assurance. These experiences demonstrated the challenge for open science and the necessity of RDM.
Day 3, Conference Day - November 25
Introduction Vice Rector Roland Maier
PHAIDRAcon'22 Conference Day
Abstract
Campus Medius explores and expands the possibilities of digital cartography in cultural and media studies. In this talk, the project head Simon Ganahl elaborates on the development of the website campusmedius.net from a historical case study to a mapping platform. The focus of the presentation will be on the use of open-source software and of Creative Commons licenses for research and scholarly publishing.
About Simon Ganahl
Simon Ganahl (Mag. DDr. phil.), born in 1981, researches and teaches at the University of Vienna as a literature and media scholar with a focus on digital humanities. He directs the digital mapping project Campus Medius (campusmedius.net) and edits the peer-reviewed, open-access journal Genealogy+Critique (genealogy-critique.net).
Abstract
AUSSDA supports the life cycle of data from the social sciences. In addition to trainings in research data management, the archive curates datasets for secondary usage and provides access to numerous datasets like Austrian census data, COVID-19 datasets, election studies, social surveys and many more. In this contribution, open challenges in data sharing practices in the social sciences are discussed.
About Veronika Heider
Veronika Heider coordinates data ingest and processing at AUSSDA – The Austrian Social Science Data Archive. As a senior data curator, she works closely with depositors to make metadata, data and documentation in the AUSSDA Dataverse findable and usable. Within CESSDA ERIC, she is in close contact with partner archives throughout Europe and collaborates on European projects.
Abstract
Research and development are facilitated by sharing knowledge bases and collaborative efforts that involve the collective utilization of data. We are in a transition phase of breaking data silos and creating collaborative data sharing between data producers and users. Improving our understanding of complex phenomena requires integrating diverse data sets and algorithms. Computational approaches based on the use of information from past experiments can be, example given, vital to understanding fundamental processes in disease. Thereby, use cases are presented based on publicly available resources in cancer research and artificial intelligence methods to find answers to detailed questions. Several tools and programming approaches can be employed for analyzing data, including annotation, clustering, comparison and extrapolation, merging, enrichment, functional association and statistics. We support and promote the idea of data sharing to be paramount for making progress in research.
About Claire Jean-Quartier
Claire Jean-Quartier is one of the data stewards at TU Graz. Focusing data science she has been engaged in interdisciplinary topics related to wet and dry biomedical research next to the aspect of sustainability. Her fascination for natural and technical sciences lead to basic research involving all data steps from data generation, mining, processing to sharing and quality assurance. These experiences demonstrated the challenge for open science and the necessity of RDM.”
PHAIDRAcon'22 Conference Day contd.
Abstract
To use research data successfully, associated metadata is essential. Often this information can be found in laboratory books and is not available in digital form. Sharing, digitalising and finding this metadata in physical lab notebooks is an additional workload for researchers. Digital lab notebooks (ELNs) such as the elabFTW software can solve some of these problems.
About Alexander Gruber
Alexander Gruber is RDM Officer in the RDM team at Graz University of Technology. His responsibilities include data stewardship (consulting, training, policy development, etc.) and project management support for FAIR Data Austria. His main focus is the development of training and introductory material on RDM topics and tools, especially an electronic lab notebook called eLabFTW. A programme for researchers interested in RDM, named Data Champions, is also part of his tasks. He has a Dipl.-Ing. (MSc) in Technical Physics from Graz University of Technology.
Abstract
The Historical Archive of Padua’s Botanical Garden documents the centuries-long history of the Botanical Garden of Padua. It consists of 200 folders of a composite nature covering a time span from the 18th century to the second half of the 20th century. The archive contains administrative and scientific documents and relevant materials related to the activities of the Garden’s directors (“Prefetti”), namely the extensive personal and scientific correspondence that Roberto De Visiani (1800–1878) and Pier Andrea Saccardo (1845–1920) entertained with botanical experts all over the world. These letters chronicle the studies of Botany, the society, and the historical period going from the Risorgimento to the Great War, representing a unique source of remarkable value, among the most important preserved at the University of Padua.
About Giulio Turetta
With a background in Telecommunications Engineering, he works as Digital Services Librarian at the University of Padua Library Center. He is a manager of the library discovery service and the local Phaidra digital repository. He is involved in developing and managing library websites, virtual exhibitions, and the institutional archive for research data.
Abstract
Considerable resources are being invested in strategies to facilitate the sharing of data across domains, with the aim of addressing inefficiencies and biases in scientific research and unlocking potential for science-based innovation. Still, we know too little about what determines whether scientific researchers actually make use of the unprecedented volume of data being shared. This study characterizes the factors influencing researcher data reuse in terms of their relationship to a specific research project, and introduces subjectification as the mechanism by which these influencing factors are activated. Based on our analysis of semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 24 data reusers and intermediaries, we find that while both project-independent and project-dependent factors may have a direct effect on a single instance of data reuse, they have an indirect effect on recurring data reuse as mediated by subjectification. We integrate our findings into a model of recurring data reuse behaviour that presents subjectification as the mechanism by which influencing factors are activated in a propensity to engage in data reuse. Our findings hold scientific implications for the theorization of researcher data reuse, as well as practical implications around the role of settings for subjectification in bringing about and sustaining changes in researcher behaviour.
About Daniel Spichtinger
Daniel Spichtinger is an independent consultant working on open science, including open access and data management policies. From 2012-2018 he was a member of the unit dealing with open science in the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation. In this capacity he contributed to the development of EU open access policies (for scientific publications) and open/FAIR research data policies, including the design and implementation of the Open Access to Research Data Pilot in Horizon 2020. As part of his job, he also developed relations and facilitated inter-institutional and policy dialogue with external stakeholders and other EU institutions. This also involved information and awareness raising on open access, e.g. through public presentations and trainings. He was also responsible for managing several EU funded projects in this area, e.g. RECODE. He is familiar with European level legislation on the subject including the Horizon 2020 regulation, the Recommendation on Access to and Preservation of Scientific Information and the proposed provisions for open access in Horizon Europe.
About Marcel LaFlamme
Marcel LaFlamme is Open Research Manager at the scientific publisher PLOS, where he engages with research communities to collaboratively develop solutions that increase adoption of open research practices. He completed his PhD in anthropology at Rice University in 2018. From 2019 to 2021, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the LBG Open Innovation in Science Center in Vienna.