This post is part of our Curators’ Corner series. Every so often we’ll feature a different DCN Curator. The series grew out of a community-building activity wherein curators at our partner organizations interview each other “chain-letter style” in order to get to know each other and their work outside of the DCN better. We hope you enjoy these posts!
Halle Burns is the Research Data Management Specialist at Princeton University. Halle was interviewed by Alexandra Provo in June 2024.
How did you come to your current position?
When I was in a library school, I largely took either data management or data science courses – learning how to code, metadata schemas, data cleaning, things like that. After I graduated, I took a job at the University of Nevada. And then I ended up wanting to move back to the East Coast, where I’m from, and I saw this position open up. It’s not too far from family, and it also gave me the opportunity to expand a bit more into tech things – being able to do curation and expand my background in metadata, which was something that I was really interested in. So that’s kind of how I got here.
What were you doing at the University of Nevada?
I was their first data librarian. I developed workshops, wrote LibGuides, and did a lot of outreach. I worked with different departments all around campus, trying to get a feel for what was needed in terms of data education, whether it was data management, data analysis, learning how to use certain tools – anything, in a very discipline-agnostic way.
What do you do at Princeton?
A lot! As data management specialists, data curators – really anyone involved in this field – there are a lot of hats that we have to put on to make the process seamless. I’m kind of like the backup data curator for our team at this point. I also review data management plans – I’m part of leading our data management plan review service. But the main part of my job involves something called TigerData, which is the University’s soon-to-be-launched data management and storage platform. I work with my colleague Matt Chandler on instructional efforts and the metadata schema. As people come to store their active working data, part of it is ensuring certain data management practices are in place so that when they do eventually get around to publishing their information, the elements of FAIR and certain curation aspects are all in place at the beginning.
Why is data curation important to you?
Data curation is important because it’s kind of like the backbone of everything. It’s what keeps open science upright and open and functioning. It’s like the life system of it. And I think it’s made more important because it’s something a lot of people don’t really think about – it can be tough to raise awareness on. Data curation is important because it’s part of the whole. You can’t have truly open science or truly good research without it.
Why is the Data Curation Network important?
I think there’s a lot of different tiers of this and most of it comes down to education. The Data Curation Network from an outside perspective is useful because it does support this element of open science. It gets the message about curation out there, builds necessary community, and tries to encourage these elements of curation before we’re necessarily hitting the, “oh gosh, I have to publish” stage.
It’s really connecting people with resources that are out there, particularly the CURATE(D) steps or the Primers. At my previous institution we didn’t have the infrastructure to support [a data repository or data curation], and as I’ve been learning more and more about the Data Curation Network, I’ve been sending materials back. I think having that information readily available and free for others to use really helps those who are just getting started or individuals who want to raise awareness. I mean, Data Curation Network practices what it preaches: it’s contributing to open science in that regard, through open and peer-reviewed materials, and making sure that others (even those who aren’t part of a member organization) have the information they need.
For me, what I like about it is the community. The Data Curation Network isn’t just for its members, it’s for everybody. I think that’s really unique and really cool. I know that I can’t know everything – I don’t try to know everything! If you don’t know something, there’s a high likelihood that someone will. Because of the community involved, we can all support each other. The Data Curation Network makes me better.
If you weren’t doing data curation, what would you be doing?
I would love to freelance for different performance arts venues and theaters and build databases for them to document what kind of props, costumes, or furniture they have. I got into it when I was working in theater and we needed to figure out what was in our storage. I mean, when you’re standing in warehouses of things, you need to be organized. Like, “this is a chair”: that’s not going to tell anyone anything. But if you have a photo of the chair, the style, information about the fabric, materials, what century it evokes, what colors – a lot of that information is really important for the designers as they’re starting to come in and put something together.
What is your favorite cuisine?
My favorite cuisine is probably Persian food. I love it and really grew up eating it.
What do you like to do outside of work?
I’m such a homebody. Outside of work, I mostly play video games and read. Video game-wise, I’ve been playing a lot of Stardew Valley. I joke that I’ve been having my own data management experience with Stardew Valley, where my work has been influencing my downtime. I have a whole schema for how I’m storing my different objects around my farm. But I also lost my save file and then had to go in and figure out how to make backups.
What is your favorite city?
I love Rochester, New York. I went to undergrad there. I loved the weather, which you won’t hear from many people because lake-effect snow is a thing. There was a vibrant arts culture, and it had a cool community of people – there’s a heavy nerd culture there, too. I enjoyed the weather, enjoyed the vibes, enjoyed the food.
Where would you most like to travel to next?
I have always wanted to go to Iceland. It’s been a long-time plan, since I was in middle school. I became really interested in the language. I loved the history, the mythology, the different stories, the different folklore. I want to go and get a car and go out into nature there. It’s gorgeous!
To learn more about Halle, and the datasets she has curated for the DCN, see her curator page!