Transcript Slide 1

Research data management
in the humanities
Sudamih Project, OUCS
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What is research data
management?
▪ The aspects of research that take place
between gathering sources and
producing the final outputs
▪ Organising and structuring material
▪ Storage and backing up
▪ Preparing material for analysis, or to
share with others
▫ This may include working with databases
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Key aims of research data
management
▪ In the short term, to ensure you
have the information you need at
your fingertips
▪ In the longer term, to ensure
information remains secure, easily
retrievable, intelligible, and
adequately documented
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Funding bodies’ requirements
▪ Funders are increasingly requiring
researchers to meet certain data
management criteria
▫ For example, you may be asked to make
your data available through an archive
▪ When applying for funding, you may
need to submit a technical or data
management plan
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Data management basics
▪ Be proactive – plan ahead
▪ Take time to look at your existing ways
of dealing with information
▫ Do they meet your current needs?
▫ Will they continue to do so for the duration
of your research project? Beyond that?
▪ Think about how you’ll integrate new
material with what you already have
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Information management tools
▪ Explore the tools that are available
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Word processors can’t do everything
Consider using a relational database...
... or some bibliographic software
... or software to annotate, organise,
analyse...
▪ Visit the Research Skills Toolkit website
▪ Ask colleagues for recommendations
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Storage and backing up
▪ Your data is valuable – so keep it safe
▫ Make a backup plan
▫ Keep copies in multiple places
▫ OUCS’s HFS service offers free backup
and archiving to university staff
▪ If you work on multiple computers,
investigate synchronisation services
▫ Dropbox is popular – though others exist
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Training
▪ OUCS IT Learning Programme offers
courses on a wide range of software
▫ Also database design, working with digital
images, Web publishing...
▫ Look out for courses specifically focusing
on data management
▪ The Skills Hub (on WebLearn) lists other
training providers
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Advice and support
▪ OUCS’s RTS team (shortly to become
InfoDev) can advise on technical issues
▪ Departmental IT support teams
▪ OUCS’s NSMS offers paid-for services
▪ The OU Research Data Management
website provides guidance and
information about services
▪ Download the Sudamih Project’s leaflet
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Data sharing and curation
▪ In addition to publishing your results,
you may also want to share your data
▫ Data for sharing needs to be consistently
presented and properly documented
▫ Consider depositing it in an archive
▫ Oxford has its own research archive - ORA
▪ The Digital Curation Centre is a national
body which can provide advice
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Finally...
▪ See time spent on information
management as an investment
▫ Spend a little time now to save more later
▪ It can be a good task for times when
you’re feeling tired and uninspired
▫ But remember that it’s supposed to save
time, not occupy it!
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