Meeting title
Open Data Surveys: The issues, emerging survey findings, user interests and future directions
Meeting room: Tsodilo B3
Collaborative session notes
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RhL0s7HdPCnbIV_LCcqMTa9Iq-Y6Fg_itHHje4qjPy8/edit?usp=sharing
Short introduction describing the activities and the scope of the group
Activities: The co-chairs organized a BoF meeting in Montreal. Based on the interest and opportunities identified, we submitted a Charter Statement to establish an Interest Group. A meeting at RDA Berlin was accepted but due to the illness of the co-chairs, we were unable to launch the IG as anticipated. A revised Charter Statement is being submitted alongside this meeting proposal.
Scope: The co-chairs believe that there are advantages to promoting a coordinated approach to the development and analysis of open data sharing surveys. We seek to encourage comparative analysis of existing surveys in terms of their design, scope and findings. Through such analyses, we will promote a discussion on opportunities to develop modular and interoperable open survey(s) that interested stakeholders could utilize to track changes in practice overtime and promote policy learning.
The rationale: We are in a period of experimentation: open data policy statements by government agencies, research funders, research performing organizations, professional societies and publishers are becoming common place. While they are united behind the goal of making research data open, incentives, institutional settings and infrastructure capabilities are some of the variables that influence the pace of change.
As open data policies are implemented and data sharing practices evolve, comprehensive benchmarking and tracking of open data practices can serve to illuminate advances in data sharing (where and by whom), and help to understand the reasons for different data sharing practices. We are experiencing the first wave of survey reports and are starting to see the gaps between policy and research practices. Some data sharing surveys provide insight into how policy and practice might be bridged but the granularity of surveys, their comparability and uneven geographical coverage needs addressing.
Please provide additional links to informative material related to your group i.e. group page, Case statement, working documents etc
A revised Charter is being finalized in consultation with our TAB Chair Dimitris Koureos. It is being submitted concurrently with this session proposal
Meeting objectives
As we are in the early stage of this IG, we seek to promote an agenda-setting discussion that will promote awareness of, and feedback on, the proposed goals and identify potential collaborators. As this meeting will be the first RDA meeting in Africa, we are keen to promote a discussion between African and international colleagues on how the scope of the IG might support their interests.
Meeting agenda
Subject to refinement with panellists, short introductory presentations will set the context and this will be followed by a moderated exchange with invited role players from the practitioner and research community.
Preliminary allocation: 90 minutes
a. Outline, scope, rationale: 10 minutes
b. Learning from Surveys – 2 case examples: 20 minutes
c: Horizon scanning: 10 minutes
d: User cases:20 minutes
e: Future direction/discussion: 30 minutes
Structure
a) Opening remarks: Ingeborg Meijer (University of Leiden) will set the context with a presentation on the rationale for the RDA Interest Group and a framework for how researchers and practitioners can contribute to and benefit from its stated objectives.
b) Learning from Data Sharing Surveys: Two short presentations will provide an introduction to existing survey instruments to highlight their intent and insights gained.
i. Research Data: The Researcher’s Perspective. Federica Rosetta (Elsevier)
ii. Practical challenges for researchers in data sharing. Varsha Khodiyar (Springer Nature)
c) Horizon scanning. Kazuhiro Hayashi (NISTEP, Japan) will highlight the differences and similarities of open data surveys. This comparative analysis provides a schema from which modular surveys could be developed.
d) User cases
i. Africa: AOSP and NRF speakers will outline their interests in the RDA Interest Group and opportunities for collaboration. Drawing on AOSP’s work, Susan Veldsman will comment on the state of research evidence on data sharing in Africa. David Ngigi will comment from a national funding agency’s perspective.
Susan Veldsman (South African Academy of Science & African Open Science Platform, AOSP)
David Ngigi (National Research Fund, Kenya)
ii. Europe: The European Commission through its research funding schemes seeks to promote research data sharing. Jean-Claude Burgelman will comment the Open Science Monitor, the role it plays in supporting the EC’s open science agenda and where the IG could make a contribution.
Jean-Claude Burgelman (European Commission, Belgium)
e) Next steps. David O’Brien, IDRC
The chair will moderate a discussion to solicit feedback and interest in building the IG. We will extend invitations to different stakeholder communities to join this IG.
The following illustrative questions seek to identify different organizational perspectives / research interests that would contribute to the development of this IG.
a) What is the policy framework(s) promoting open data in your country, agency or research domain?
b) What research evidence is available or being developed to understand data sharing practices and capacity strengthening needs in your country, agency or research domain?
c) What suggestions or directions would you like to see the IG pursue? What might you / your organizations contribute to the IG to realize those interests?
Audience
At this meeting we seek to involve publishers, research funding agencies, government agencies that promote open science / research data, and researchers interested in understanding research data sharing practices.
We are interested in data these stakeholders have gathered on data sharing practices, and opportunities they see or interests they have in utilizing surveys to understanding the open data environment and choices researchers make.
Group chair serving as contact person
David O'Brien
Type of meeting
Working meeting