Cambridge University Library

What?

Why?

Where?

How?

When?

MANAGING DIGITAL MATERIALAnna Collins DSpace@Cambridge, Cambridge University Library

Data

“A reinterpretable representation of information in a formalized manner suitable for communication, interpretation,

or processing.”Digital Curation Centre

Data

Any information you use in your research

Data manageme

nt

Why data management?

PhD students lose material all the time…and they are exactly the people who want to be backing up. These are people who are creating data which are life and death important to them.

Why we’re talking about data management

DON’T LET THIS BE

YOU!

“Fire” by andrewmalone via flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/andrewmalone/2032844649/

What would happen to your data if there was a fire in your office, department or

home?

Why data management is important (II)

• Good data underpin high quality research• Help you - and others - find and understand

your data• Credible and verifiable interpretations

• Important for validation• Long-term preservation

• Academic and professional recognition and reputation• Sharing leads to more collaboration and

citations – greater impact• Funding body requirements, legal, and

ethical codes of conduct

Why data management is important (III)

To help you finish

your research

project on time and

with the least stress

Why data management is important (IV)

“Thesis x8” by anthonycramp via flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/anthonycramp/4034670062/in/photostream

Mónica Pinheiro, Evidence: fieldnoteshttp://www.flickr.com/photos/monica_andre/4994971717/

Data Creation

Data Use

Selection &

Evaluation

Preservation& Re-use

Data Distribution & Archiving

Archives des députés allemands: www.flickr.com/photos/hamadryades/2549161782/

Anders Sandberg: equationhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/arenamontanus/5369316039/

Genizah project: T-S_12.146,r

Data Management

Planning

Give your data a structure… B

y A

nn

e (

Flic

kr I

D:

I lik

e):

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olta

ire &

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uss

ea

u”

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p:/

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By tw

ech

y (Flickr ID

): “Lib

rary B

oo

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ttp://w

ww

.flickr.com

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oto

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BY

2.0

…it makes it easier to find things

Give files/folders sensible names…

So this:

For another example of interesting version control see PhD Comics by Jorge Cham: A story in file names, http://www.phdcomics.com/ comics/archive.php?comicid=1323

…and version control should be clear

rather than this:

Describe your data…

…it’ll make it easier to

(re-)use later

113 Gb 42,699 Files 3,466 Folders

By Practicalowl (flickr ID): “Rubbish bins”, http://www.flickr.com/photos/practicalowl/2084873604/, CC-BY-NC

… but be selective about what you keep and what you throw away

Try not to keep everything…

Open Access

Open share icon: www.shareaholic.com/openshareicon

• Open Access publication maximises the number of people who can benefit from your research

• Many funding bodies make OA requirements on publications resulting from their funding• RCUK policy comes into effect from

1st April 2013• University has a new Open Access

policy• www.openaccess.cam.ac.uk/

Over to you…

Selecting what to keepManaging

emails

Data Management

PlansBackup, storage

& sharing

IPR: copyright and PhD theses

Documentation & metadata

Organising and naming files

16

Contacts and other resources

Data Management websitehttp://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/dataman

Open Access websitehttp://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/

Repository Support websitewww.lib.cam.ac.uk/repository

DSpace@Cambridge

www.dspace.cam.ac.uk

Contact detailssupport@repository.cam.ac.uk markheybo

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