Manage and share data

The Seeding the Commons at Deakin University Project ran from July 2011-May 2012 and was funded by the Australian National Data Service (ANDS).

The project aimed to improve the capture, management and discovery of research data at Deakin University.

The Project was the collaborative effort of the Library and Research Services Divisions and was managed through the Information Technology Programme Management Office. It reported to the IT Steering Committee - Research.

The project had the following key aims:

• To record Deakin University research data collections from at least one key research area on the ANDS Collections Registry to the standards required.
• To test and develop sustainable processes for the capture of such information into the future, utilising Deakin University’s research repository, Deakin Research Online.

The information supplied to the ANDS Collections Registry provides content for the Research Data Australia webpages, and enables data collections to be counted in the Australian Research Data Commons.

The project identified over 50 key research data sets within strategic research areas.

Working with the researchers, identified projects and ANDS, the project:

• Collected information required.
• Described the data collection, researchers and their project to ANDS standards.
• Developed Deakin’s research repository, Deakin Research Online, to support all fields required by ANDS recommended standards, and developed an interface to supply data in RIFS-CS metadata format.
• Ensured records entered on the ANDS Collections Registry, in the first instance by direct entry, then by supply of data from Deakin Research Online.
• Developed internal processes to support the registering of research data collections into the future.
  

• Identification and description of strategically important research data collections.
• Creation of stored and nationally visible metadata about research data collections held at the University, including access conditions (contacts, permissions and usage requirements).
• Establishment of sustainable processes for recording research data collections in a research data community in Deakin Research Online and registering these collections in the ANDS Collections Registry.
• Increased understanding of research data management practices across the University.
• Improved support for researchers and research students around the management and recording of research data collections.
• Improved discovery and exposure of University research data collections.
• Improved discovery and potential re-use of Deakin University research data collections by outside researchers.
• The ability to more easily replicate and build on Deakin Research using the same source data as the research outputs that use that data.

• Identification of research data collections in at least one strategic research area.
• Recording of these collections in the ANDS Collections Registry to standards for both content and metadata.
• Development of templates within Fez/Fedora using MODS metadata (with RIF-CS equivalence) to support all fields required for data registry.
• Development of an OAI PMH interface to supply data in RIFS-CS to the ANDS Collections Registry.
• Internal processes and resources to ensure appropriate description of new research data collections into the future.
• Enhancements to Fez/Fedora web software tool(s) and services (in Deakin Research Online) to facilitate creation, storage and management of information regarding University research data collections.

How do I know if my data is important?

• All data are important.
• Data that cannot be repeated is especially important.

Why share information about my data?

• It ensures that your data can be accessed and cited in the long term. In some cases it may be a requirement for funding or publishing your research.

Why use the University research repository Deakin Research Online (DRO)?

• Descriptions of data collections in DRO will promote awareness of research at Deakin University and the researchers associated with it.
• It is highly visible in search engines such as Google Scholar.
• It will facilitate sharing within conditions that you set.
• Information from DRO will also be harvested by the national Research Data Australia database.

What information do I need to provide about my data?

• The attached form lists the information required to describe your data. (A team member will assist you in completing this.)
• More information can be found at dro.deakin.edu.au/help/authors/describe-data.php, including links to directly submit your description.

Will I still control my data?

• You set the rules for access to your data. Some options are:
  • nominate a 'gate keeper' to decide on each request.
  • provide a secure link to your data on your School or Institute's server and arrange access.
  • deposit your data with Deakin Research Online and specify who may have access (data collections less than 5 gigabytes).
  • store your data in a 'cloud' service, and specify who may have access e.g. Duracloud.
• Once access is granted, you cannot control use of the data, but this is no different from any other publication. Protections are provided by:
  • the Copyright Act.
  • a Creative Commons licence requirements if you choose to release the data in this way.
  • you should always expect attribution for any published use of your data.

When should I not share my data?

Some research data may need to remain confidential because of:

• contracts with sponsors;
• to protect Intellectual Property;
• to protect privacy or confidentiality of research participants;
• to protect the copyright of others.

My dataset involves humans, doesn't identify individuals, but I didn't specify that it would be reused by others. Can I share it?

• You do not need approval to make available to others human data that do not identify individuals unless assurances were given to participants that this would not be done.
• Any researcher wishing to use it must complete whatever review or exemption process is required for their institution. At Deakin this is covered by an exemption process.

Individuals may be identified in my data, but they are very valuable for further research. Is there any way in which I may share them?

• You may de-identify data in order to share it, but must take care to ensure that it may not be re-identified when used in conjunction with other related data files.
• Ensure that where data must be stored in identifiable form, that appropriate consent is obtained from the original participants for the reuse of their information.
• If sharing the data was not part of your original plan you will need to obtain written consent from participants for the further use of their data, or the researchers seeking access to the data will need to obtain a waiver of consent under the applicable legislation. Access to personal information is governed by complex laws and guidelines. In this case you should contact an Ethics Advisor to discuss the proposed access and obtain tailored advice.

Will anyone help me do this?

• Yes, staff trained in gathering and presenting metadata in DRO will help you with the description of your data and any access conditions that you specify (drodata@deakin.edu.au)
• If you have questions about reuse of your data and the ethics approval change process, first check the approrpiate section of Human Research Ethics Guidelines. If you can't find the information you need, please contact the Human Ethics Unit (research-ethics@deakin.edu.au) and one of the Advisors will be happy to assist you.

If you are a Deakin researcher, you may be interested in contributing a description of your research data to Research Data Australia (RDA).

Library staff are working with Deakin researchers to provide descriptive metadata of Deakin research datasets to RDA, a set of web pages describing data collections produced by or relevant to Australian researchers.

RDA is designed to promote visibility of research data collections and to encourage their re-use.

Consider the following benefits that participation will bring to you:

Increase the impact of your research

• Reuse of your data increases its impact
• Citation of your data acknowledges your contribution

The integrity of your research is recognised

• Providing access to your datasets enables others to validate your findings
• Good stewardship of public resources used to conduct research is demonstrated
• It supports the responsible communication of research results.

Support future use

• Your data may be reused by researchers in other fields for different purposes
• It can be discovered many years in the future by others
• It will be easier to locate by others and you!

Fulfil obligations

• The Australian Code for Responsible Conduct of Research suggests that research data should be made available for use by other researchers unless this is prevented by ethical, privacy or confidentiality matters.
• The Code also requires you to maintain a catalogue of research data in an accessible form.
• The ARC discovery grants funding rules states that the Final Report must outline how data arising from the Project has been made publicly accessible where appropriate
• The NH & MRC notes that if a researcher is not intending to deposit the data from a project in a repository within a six month period, s/he should include the reasons in the project’s Final Report.

Improve opportunities for collaboration

• Researchers in different fields may become aware of your research by discovering your data collections

You still retain control of your data

• You decide who can see your data under what conditions
• You can place an embargo on access until you publish
• You can ensure valuable data collections are made publicly accessible once you have completed your research
• You should retain your data collection on your School or Institute server
• You may transfer copies of data collections that you wish to make publicly accessible
  • Web accessible share drive within your School
  • Repository or archive (Subject, or institutional e.g. Australian Social Science Data Archive (ASSDA), Deakin Research Online)
  • Purpose built shared facility such as a data enclave
  • A trusted cloud computing facility e.g. ARCS Compute Cloud or Duracloud

For further information and assistance, contact the Library DRO Data team:
Email: drodata@deakin.edu.au
Phone: +61 3 5227 8231