A common set of themes for DMPs: seeking input
When the DCC revised DMPonline in 2013, we introduced the concept of themes to the tool. The themes represent the most common topics addressed in Data Management Plans (DMPs) and work like tags to associate questions and guidance. Questions within DMP templates can be tagged with one or more themes, and guidance can be written by theme to allow organisations to apply their advice over multiple templates at once. This means organisations don’t have to worry about monitoring changes in requirements and updating their guidelines each time a new template is released.
Institutional guidance on ‘Storage and Backup,’ overlaid onto a funder template
Moving forward, we see potential for broader application of the themes. In collaboration with the DMPTool, we plan to use a refined set of themes to support our objectives around machine-actionable DMPs. The themes provide the beginnings of a common vocabulary and structure for DMPs and could help to identify sections of text to mine, e.g., to identify a repository named in a DMP and the volume of data in the pipeline.
Stephanie and I have revised the existing set of Data Management Planning themes and propose a shortened set of 17 themes. We merged several closely related themes, e.g., ‘Metadata’ and ‘Documentation.’ Now we’re keen to collect your feedback about whether the themes still cover all the required elements and if they make sense to users. The goal is to find a suitable balance between the total number of themes (for mining and for usability considerations when creating guidance) and granularity.
Specific questions we have are:
- Whether ‘Existing data’ should be a separate category? We’ve merged it with the general ‘Data description’ on the rationale that reusing data doesn’t apply in all domains.
- Should the ‘Data repository’ theme be merged with ‘Preservation’ or is it better kept separate since repositories cover preservation and sharing?
- Several themes address data sharing: one is generic (‘Data sharing’), one addresses the ‘Timeframe for sharing’ and one covers ‘Restricted-use data.’ Is this granularity needed or should some of these themes be merged e.g. ‘Data sharing’ and ‘Restricted-use data.’
We’re reaching out to various groups on this: the Force 11 FAIR DMP group, the RDA Active DMPs group, CASRAI UK DMP working group and the Data Documentation Initiative (DDI) Active Data Management Plans working group. Naturally we’re also consulting the DMPonline and DMPTool user groups and are keen to receive feedback from any other quarters too so please pass this notice on to colleagues! Comments can be left on the blog here or emailed to DMPONLINE-USER-GROUP@jiscmail.ac.uk
The original and revised sets of themes are below for reference:
- Original DMP themes
- Proposed revision (shortened to 17 themes)
- Home
- Digital curation
- About us
- News
- Events
- Resources
- Briefing Papers
- Introduction to Curation
- Annotation
- Appraisal and Selection
- Curating Emails
- Curating e-Science Data
- Curating Geospatial Data
- Data Accreditation
- Data Citation and Linking
- Data Protection
- Database Archiving
- Digital Repositories
- Freedom of Information
- Genre Classification
- Interoperability
- Persistent Identifiers
- Trust Through Self Assessment
- Using OAIS for Curation
- Web 2.0
- What is Digital Curation?
- Common Directions in Research Data Policy
- 5 Steps to Research Data Readiness
- Citizen Science
- Making the Case for RDM
- Legal Watch Papers
- Standards Watch Papers
- Technology Watch Papers
- Introduction to Curation
- How-to Guides & Checklists
- Appraise & Select Research Data for Curation
- Cite Datasets and Link to Publications
- Develop RDM Services
- Develop a DMP
- Discover Requirements
- Five Steps to Decide What Data to Keep
- Five Things You Need to Know About RDM and the Law
- License Research Data
- Track Data Impact with Metrics
- Using RISE
- Where to keep research data
- Write a Lay Summary
- Developing RDM Services
- Reviewing research data platform capabilities at CISER
- Using EPrints to Build a Repository for UEL
- Assigning DOIs at Bristol
- DMPs in the Arts and Humanities
- Improving RDM at Monash
- Improving Research Visibility
- Increasing Participation in Training
- RDM Training for Librarians
- RDM strategy: moving from plans to action
- Storing and Sharing Data in Hull
- Curation Lifecycle Model
- Curation Reference Manual
- Peer review
- Editorial Board
- Completed chapters
- Appraisal and Selection
- Archival Metadata
- Archiving Web Resources
- Automated Metadata Generation
- Curating Emails
- File Formats
- Investment in an Intangible Asset
- Learning Object Metadata
- Metadata
- Ontologies
- Open Source for Digital Curation
- Preservation Metadata
- Preservation Scenarios for Projects Producing Digital Resources
- Preservation Strategies
- Principles for Enabling Access to Engineering Design Information Through Life
- Scientific Metadata
- The Role of Microfilm in Digital Preservation
- Chapters in production
- Policy and legal
- Data Management Plans
- Tools
- Case studies
- Repository audit and assessment
- Standards
- Publications and presentations
- Roles
- Curation journals
- Informatics research
- External resources
- Online Store
- Briefing Papers
- Training
- Projects
- Community
- Tailored support