As part of our research project, “Sustaining Open Research: Institutional Repository Readiness,” the DCN hosted a virtual learning series that focused on supporting IRs that share data in demonstrating alignment with and evaluation of the Desirable Characteristics of Data Repositories for Federally Funded Research (DC-DR). Over the course of several months, we hosted four events with nearly 800 registrants:
- Event 1: Funding Agencies and the Desirable Characteristics (Recording)
- Event 2: Data Sharing Readiness in Academic Institutions (Recording)
- Event 3: Making the Case for Institutional [Data] Repository Services (Recording)
- Event 4: Developing and Maturing IR Technology Platforms to Support Data Sharing (Recording)
Over the course of the four events, we were fortunate to hear presentations from 14 talented speakers (listed below), which sparked lively conversation and discussion among our attendees. Throughout the series, there were numerous threads connecting the presentations, including:
- Data retention, review, and long-term preservation. Many of us flagged this as a challenge that will likely increase in urgency as our repositories grow with increasing files, formats, and dataset sizes.*
- Data services and institutional repositories are more than technology. In order to be successful in meeting the needs of researchers, there need to be people and processes in place to support the technology and the surrounding services. In other words, while the platform is important, the social and intellectual infrastructure is essential.
- What “Big Data” means for our local contexts. We are still working to understand this question, while also working out how we store it and where, how we curate and provide access to it, and how we preserve it.
We are extremely grateful to the speakers who contributed their time and expertise to make this series a success!
- Peter Arbuckle
- Leighton Christiansen
- Ashley Farley
- Lisa Johnston
- Wind Cowles
- Cynthia Hudson Vitale
- Heidi Imker
- Susan Ivey
- Moira Downey
- Tina Baich
- Amy Nurnberger
- Sara Mannheimer
- Kristi Holmes
- Wendy Kozlowski
*The DCN conducted an internal scan on preservation practices in the DCN in 2022– if you missed it then, check it out now!