Slides from a workshop delivered on 21st May 2018 for OU researchers

1. Making your research data open
21st May 2018
Dan Crane, Research Support Librarian
library-research-support@open.ac.uk

2. 2
Why/what/how/when to share
Preparing data for sharing
Rights and data sharing
Ethics and data sharing
Re-using data
Useful resources / Questions
WHAT WE’LL COVER
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But first…
…what do you hope to get from the
session today?

4. WHY/WHAT/HOW/WHEN
TO SHARE

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WHY?
Research data is defined as the evidence base on which academic
researchers build their analytic or other work. Such data may be in any
form, but may include “digital information created directly from research
activities such as experiments, analysis, surveys, measurements,
instrumentation and observations; data resulting from automated or
manual data reduction and analysis including the inputs and outputs of
simulations and models”
RCUK Common principles on data policy
WHAT DO WE MEAN BY ‘DATA’
Open University Research Data Management Policy

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WHY?
“Research data management concerns the
organisation of data, from its entry to the research
cycle through to the dissemination and archiving of
valuable results. It aims to ensure reliable
verification of results, and permits new and
innovative research built on existing information."
Digital Curation Centre (2011)
Making the Case for Research Data Management
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/sites/default/files/documents/publications/Making%20the%20case.pdf
WHAT IS RDM?

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WHY?
WHAT IS DATA SHARING?
• Supporting publication or end of project
• In a trusted repository
• With metadata
• As open as possible​
• Available for 10 years​
• Discoverable, accessible, citeable
• Data access statement in publications

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Rufus Pollock, Cambridge University and Open
Knowledge Foundation, 2008
“The coolest thing to do with
your data will be thought of
by someone else.”
WHY?

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WHY?
BENEFITS AND MOTIVATIONS
What are the potential
benefits and motivations
for data sharing?

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WHY?
innovation - moving
science forward
transparency
higher citation, better
recognition
impact
collaborations
public money better
spent
efficiency - saves time,
effort, money
better data management
cultural change
BENEFITS AND MOTIVATIONS
meet funder requirements

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DISCUSSION
•Describe your research
•What type of data do you create/use?
•From what you’ve heard, what challenges might
you face?
WHY?

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WHY?
FUNDER POLICIES

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WHY?
FUNDER POLICIES
Since 2017, all Horizon 2020 projects are part of the Open
Research Data Pilot by default
All publications after May 2015 should have a statement
describing how to access underlying data. EPSRC have
said they will check.
Researchers now required to prepare to share data and
other outputs of their work, such as original software and
research materials like antibodies, cell lines or
reagents.

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WHY?
PUBLISHER POLICIES

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WHY?
PUBLISHER POLICIES
“An inherent principle of publication is that others should be able to
replicate and build upon the authors' published claims. A condition of
publication in a Nature journal is that authors are required to make
materials, data, code, and associated protocols promptly available
to readers without undue qualifications. Any restrictions on the
availability of materials or information must be disclosed to the editors at
the time of submission. Any restrictions must also be disclosed in
the submitted manuscript.”
http://www.nature.com/authors/policies/availability.html

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WHY?
PUBLISHER POLICIES
“PLOS journals require authors to make all data underlying the
findings described in their manuscript fully available without
restriction, with rare exception.
When submitting a manuscript online, authors must provide a Data
Availability Statement describing compliance with PLOS's policy. If the
article is accepted for publication, the data availability statement will be
published as part of the final article.
Refusal to share data and related metadata and methods in accordance
with this policy will be grounds for rejection…”
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/data-availability

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WHY?
OU POLICY
“In keeping with OU principles of openness, it is
expected that research data will be open and
accessible to other researchers, as soon as
appropriate and verifiable, subject to the
application of appropriate safeguards relating to the
sensitivity of the data and legal and commercial
requirements.”
OU Research Data Management Policy, November 2016
http://www.open.ac.uk/library-research-support/sites/www.open.ac.uk.library-research-
support/files/files/Open-University-Research-Data-Management-Policy.pdf

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A SHARED AIM
WHY?
Concordat on Open Research Data
https://www.ukri.org/files/legacy/documents/concordatonopenresearchdata-pdf/
“Good data management is
fundamental to all stages of the
research process and should be
established at the outset.”
“Open access to research data is an
enabler of high quality research, a
facilitator of innovation and
safeguards good research practice.”

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INNOVATION
WHY?

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RESEARCH INTEGRITY
WHY?

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IMPACT, CITATIONS
WHY

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EXEMPTIONS
WHY NOT?
“As open as possible, as closed as necessary”
It is recognised that access may need to be restricted or managed in
order to:
• maintain confidentiality
• guard against unreasonable cost
• protect individuals’ privacy
• respect consent terms
• managing security or other risks.

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BARRIERS
WHY NOT?
• Look at the discussion cards
• Can these barriers to sharing be overcome?
• How?
• If not, why not?

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WHAT
• Raw data
• Derived data
• Data underpinning
publications
• Code
• Methods
What are research data in your context?
What would others need to understand your research?

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REPOSITORIES
HOW
Open Research Data Online
(ORDO)
Online data sharing services
• Figshare
• Zenodo
• CKAN DataHub
• Mendeley Data
Funders’ repository services
• UK Data Service ReShare
• NERC data centres

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REPOSITORIES – Open Research Data Online
HOW
• ORDO - our own research data repository
https://ou.figshare.com/
• It provides secure, long-term storage for data and makes it
shareable, discoverable and citable
• Meets funder requirements and ‘industry standard’

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WHEN
• supporting publications
• at the end of a project
• supporting presentations, blogs, etc.
• archive at project stages

28. PREPARING DATA FOR
SHARING

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METADATA/DOCUMENTATION
PREPARING DATA FOR SHARING
“...make sure that data are fully described, so
that consumers have sufficient information to
understand their strengths, weaknesses,
analytical limitations, and security
requirements as well as how to process the
data...”
G8 Open Data Charter (2013)
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-data-charter/g8-
open-data-charter-and-technical-annex

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METADATA/DOCUMENTATION
PREPARING DATA FOR SHARING
What do others need to understand your data?
Embedded documentation
• code, field and label
descriptions
• descriptive headers or
summaries
• recording information in
the Document Properties
function of a file
(Microsoft)
Supporting documentation
• Working papers or
laboratory books
• Questionnaires or
interview guides
• Final project reports and
publications
• Catalogue metadata
• File naming convention

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METADATA/DOCUMENTATION
PREPARING DATA FOR SHARING
Imagine you have just downloaded the data
sample sheet from a repository...
• What contextual or explanatory information is
missing?
• Is there anything odd about the data that needs
clarifying?
• What additional documentation would
you like to see supplied?

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FILE FORMATS
PREPARING DATA FOR SHARING
• Unencrypted
• Uncompressed
• Non-proprietary/patent-encumbered
• Open, documented standard
• Standard representation (ASCII, Unicode)
Type Recommended Avoid for data sharing
Tabular data CSV, TSV, SPSS portable Excel
Text Plain text, HTML, RTF
PDF/A only if layout matters
Word
Media Container: MP4, Ogg
Codec: Theora, Dirac, FLAC
Quicktime
H264
Images TIFF, JPEG2000, PNG GIF, JPG
Structured data XML, RDF RDBMS
Further examples: http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/create-manage/format/formats-table

33. RIGHTS AND DATA
SHARING

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INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
RIGHTS AND DATA SHARING
IP will usually belong to the
institution (OU) but...
• Sometimes funders exert
claims over rights
• When working with commercial
partners there may be joint IP
rights – best handled with an
agreement/contract

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COPYRIGHT / DATABASE RIGHTS
RIGHTS AND DATA SHARING
Database rights apply
when there has been
substantial intellectual
investment in obtaining,
verifying or presenting
content in an original
manner
Copyright applies to:
• Original literary
dramatic, musical
and artistic works
• Sound recordings,
films, broadcasts
• The typographical
arrangement of
publications
• NOT facts

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LICENSING FOR RE-USE
RIGHTS AND DATA SHARING
How do you want your data to be re-used?
Other options should
be considered for
databases and
software.

37. ETHICS AND DATA
SHARING

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INFORMING PARTICIPANTS AND SEEKING CONSENT
ETHICS AND DATA SHARING
Information sheets and consent forms should cover:
• The purpose of the research and nature of participation
• How confidentiality will be maintained
• Options for varied consent conditions for participation,
publication and data sharing
• How research data will be stored and preserved in the
long-term
• How data may be used for future research or teaching
and any restrictions on that use
For more information see the UK Data Archive & OU HREC:
https://www.ukdataservice.ac.uk/manage-data/legal-ethical/consent-data-sharing
UK Data Service model consent form
https://www.ukdataservice.ac.uk/manage-data/legal-ethical/anonymisation
http://www.open.ac.uk/research/ethics/human-research/faqs

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INFORMING PARTICIPANTS AND SEEKING CONSENT
ETHICS AND DATA SHARING
NEW!
GDPR is the General Data Protection Regulation
• Replaces Data Protection Act 1998
• EU wide
• Comes into force 25th May 2018
• Reflects how society communicates and collects information
GDPR image: used under Creative Commons https://pixabay.com/en/legislation-gdpr-protection-privacy-3231548/

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INFORMING PARTICIPANTS AND SEEKING CONSENT
ETHICS AND DATA SHARING
What is personal data? - any information relating to an identifiable
person who can be directly or indirectly identified.
“This definition provides for a wide range of personal
identifiers to constitute personal data, including name,
identification number, location data or online identifier,
reflecting changes in technology and the way organisations
collect information about people.”
(ICO Key Definitions)
Strengthens the rights of data subjects, including:
• The right to be informed
• The right of access
• The right to erasure (to be forgotten)
• The right to data portability

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INFORMING PARTICIPANTS AND SEEKING CONSENT
ETHICS AND DATA SHARING
GDPR requires that consent for data collection and use must
be freely given, specific, informed and an unambiguous
indication of their participants’ agreement to the processing of
personal data relating to them.
• It must be in the form of a statement or by a clear affirmative
action (e.g. not a pre-ticked box)
• Consent needs documented so that it can be demonstrated
To be able to give consent, participants must be informed
about, and allowed to give or withhold consent for, each of the
ways that their data will be processed and used.

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ACTIVITY
ETHICS AND DATA SHARING
Look at the new info and consent
template and discuss:
• What are your initial impressions?
• How effective is it?
• Is there anything
missing/unnecessary?
• Compare it to consent forms you’ve
used: would you change anything on
your own having read it?

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INFORMING PARTICIPANTS AND SEEKING CONSENT
ETHICS AND DATA SHARING
In short:
• Inform participants about what you are doing and why you are
doing it: explain what information will be gathered, whether and
how any identifying information will be removed, and how the
data will managed and used during and after the project.
• Request consent for taking part and use of the data at a granular
level, allowing participants to consent, or not, to each use.
• Retain documentation of consent
• Store, manage and archive your data in a way that protects
personal data
• Write a Data Management Plan

44. RE-USING DATA

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RE-USING DATA
Where to look...
• Disciplinary data
archives
• Re3data
• Datacite
• British Library
• Data access
statements

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RE-USING DATA
Prepare for...
• Data interpretation
• Data cleaning

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Consider...
• Discovery
• Access
• Citation
• Cost
• Licensing
RE-USING DATA

48. QUESTIONS & USEFUL
RESOURCES

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QUESTIONS & USEFUL RESOURCES
QUESTIONS?

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QUESTIONS & USEFUL RESOURCES
FEEDBACK

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QUESTIONS & USEFUL RESOURCES
1. Sharing your data isn’t just about compliance
2. Good metadata enables re-use
3. Know your rights – and make conditions for
re-use clear
3 take home points...

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HOW WE CAN HELP
QUESTIONS & USEFUL RESOURCES
• Open Research Data Online (ORDO)
• Help with Data Management Plans and consent forms
• Advice on preparation of data for sharing
• Data catalogue on ORO
• Online guidance
• Enquiries
Email: library-research-support@open.ac.uk

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USEFUL RESOURCES
QUESTIONS & USEFUL RESOURCES
• The OU Library Research Support website: http://www.open.ac.uk/library-
research-support/research-data-management
• Open Research Data Online (ORDO): https://ou.figshare.com
• Digital Curation Centre: http://www.dcc.ac.uk/
• DMP Online: https://dmponline.dcc.ac.uk/
• UK Data Archive: http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/
• MANTRA: http://datalib.edina.ac.uk/mantra/
• Software Sustainability Institute
https://www.software.ac.uk/resources/guides/adopting-open-source-licence
• The Orb: http://open.ac.uk/blogs/the_orb
• OU HREC: http://www.open.ac.uk/research/ethics/human-research

54. THANK YOU

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IMAGE CREDITS
Unless otherwise stated, all images are by
Jørgen Stamp at http://www.digitalbevaring.dk