First Data Conversations – Speakers confirmed!

Data Conversations on 30 January “Sharing Data – Benefits and Boundaries

We are very excited about the first Data Conversations event at Lancaster University coming up on 30 January 2017, 1.45-4pm. There will be 6 short talks from academics talking about aspects of their research data. We can now publish the agenda.

Detailed agenda

13:45 Registration and Coffee  
14:00 Welcome to Data Conversations Nigel Davies

(Data Science Institute)

14:10 – 14:50 First round of short talks
14:10 – 14:20 1. Does Linked Data have to be Open? Reflections from the Pelagios Commons Leif Isaksen

(History)

14:25 – 14:35 2. The Politics of Counting: Is Violent Crime Increasing or Decreasing? Jude Towers

(Sociology)

14:40 – 14:50 3. Protecting participants and their data on a sensitive topic Alison Scott-Baumann

(PPR)

14:55 – 15:10 Tea and coffee
15:10 – 15:55 Second round of short talks  
15:10 – 15:20 4. Building interactive data visualizations to support publications David Ellis

(Psychology)

15:15 – 15:30 5. Efficient sharing of numerical output Chris Jewell

(Medical School / CHICAS)

15:35 – 15:45 6. Mining and mapping places with multiple names’ Chris Donaldson & James Butler (History)
15:55 Close Hardy Schwamm (Library)

We are very happy that we get speaker from a range of disciplines! We are looking forward to the first Data Conversations and will report on how it went. Watch this space!

 

Researchers: what do they really think?

Image: Flickr https://flic.kr/p/8WpM2U – Rul Fernandes CC BY 2.0

Well… it’s probably quite hard to get to the truth of the matter but here at Lancaster we are trying to find out what researchers really think.  This is crucial for developing and improving our services and vital for delivering the service our researchers want.

We are one of the organisations taking part in the JISC RDM Shared Services pilot and you can read their take on the work being done here.  With JISC’s help we undertook a researcher survey to find out a bit more about the kinds of research data which were being produced, how the data were (or weren’t) being managed and researcher attitudes towards their data.

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Acting On Change: Pericles/DPC Conference and DPA Awards London 2016

DPA Awards 2016 nominees and judges (Image @SueCorrigall licence OGL)
DPA Awards 2016 nominees and judges (Image @SueCorrigall licence OGL)

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the Pericles/DPC Conference: Acting on Change at the Wellcome Institute in London.  The theme of the conference was moving forward with digital preservation; in other words taking steps beyond just the technical tools and looking outward instead of inward.  There were excellent keynotes and panel sessions and useful and thought-provoking workshops.  PERICLES (Promoting and Enhancing Reuse of Information through the Content Lifecycle) is a EU funded four year project which seeks to address the issues of managing digital preservation in an ever changing world.

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RDMF16 – Creating a Research Data Community

Are research institutions engaging their researchers with Research Data Management (RDM)? And if so, how are they doing it? In this post Hardy Schwamm (@hardyschwamm),  Research Data Manager, Lancaster University, and Rosie Higman (@RosieHLib), Research Data Advisor, University of Cambridge, and explore the work they are doing in their respective institutions.

Whilst funder policies were the initial catalyst for many RDM services at UK universities there are many reasons to engage with RDM, from increased impact to moving towards Open Research as the new normal. And a growing number of researchers are keen to get involved! These reasons also highlight the need for a democratic, researcher-led approach if the behavioural change necessary for RDM is to be achieved. Following initial discussions online and at the Research Data Network event in Cambridge on 6 September, we wanted to find out whether and how others are engaging researchers beyond iterating funder policies.

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iPres 2016 – International Digital Preservation Conference Bern, Switzerland

I was extremely lucky to attend iPres 2016 the International Digital Preservation conference this year held in the beautiful Swiss capital city Bern.
Bern and a view of the Eiger, the Monch and the Jungfrau
Bern and a view of the Eiger, the Monch and the Jungfrau

The conference attracts some of the leading practitioners in the field so it’s a real privilege to be able to hear from and speak to people who are leading in research and development – creating tools, developing workflows and undertaking research into all aspects of digital management and preservation.

It will take a while to digest everything – there was so much to learn! – but I thought I would gather together some “highlights” of the session while still fresh in my mind.
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Repository Fringe 2016

The Repository Fringe modestly claims to be the “UK repository community’s unmissable gathering” and happened on 1 & 2 August 2016.

Folks arriving at RepoFringe 2016
Folks arriving at RepoFringe 2016

This was my third visit to the RepoFringe conference which is organised by the Digital Curation Centre, Edina and the University in Edinburgh. Why do I think it is a conference worth attending?

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