IASSIST 2016 Program At-A-Glance, Part 2: Data infrastructure, data processing and research data management

Here’s another list of highlights from IASSIST2016 which is focusing on the data revolution. For previous highlights, see here.

Infrastructure

• For those of you with an interest in technical infrastructure, the University of Applied Sciences HTW Chur will showcase an early protype MMRepo (1 June, 3F), whose function is to store qualitative and quantitative data into one big data repository.

• The UK Data Service will present the following panel “The CESSDA Technical Framework - what is it and why is it needed?”, which elaborates how the CESSDA Research Infrastructure should have modern data curation techniques rooted in sophisticated IT capabilities at its core, in order to better serve its community.

• If you have been wondering about the various operational components and the associated technology counterparts involved with running a data science repository, then the presentation by ICPSR is for you. Participants in that panel will leave with an understanding of how the Archonnex Architecture at ICPSR is strengthening the data services offered to new researchers and much more.

Data processing

Be sure to check out the aforementioned infrastructure offerings if you’re interested in data processing, but also check out a half-day workshop on 31 May, “Text Processing with Regular Expressions,” presented by Harrison Dekker, UC Berkeley, that will help you learn regular expression syntax and how to use it in R, Python, and on the command line. The workshop will be example-driven.

Data visualisation

If you are comfortable working with quantitative data and are familiar with the R tool for statistical computing and want to learn how to create a variety of visualisations, then the workshop by the University of Minnesota on 31 May is for you. It will introduce the logic behind ggplot2 and give participants hands-on experience creating data visualizations with this package. This session will also introduce participants to related tools for creating interactive graphics from this syntax.

Programming

• If you’re interesting in programming there’s a full-day Intro to Python for Data Wrangling workshop on 31 May, led by Tim Dennis, UC San Diego,  that will provide tools to use scientific notebooks in the cloud, write basic Python programs, integrate disparate csv files and more.

• Also, the aforementioned Regular Expressions workshop also on 31 May will offer  in-workshop opportunities  to working with real data and perform representative data cleaning and validation operations in multiple languages.

Research data management

• Get a behind-the-scenes look at data management and see how an organization such as the Odum Institute manages its archiving workflows, head to “Automating Archive Policy Enforcement using Dataverse and iRODS” on 31 May with presenters from the UNC Odom Institute, UNC Chapel Hill. ‘Participants will see machine actionable rules in practice and be introduced to an environment where written policies can be expressed in ways an archive can automate their enforcement.

• Another good half-day workshop, targeted to for people tasked with teaching good research data management practices to researchers is  “Teaching Research Data Management Skills Using Resources and Scenarios Based on Real Data,” 31 May, with presenters from ICPSR, the UK Data Archive and FORS. The organisers of this workshop will showcase recent examples of how they have developed teaching resources for hands-on-training, and will talk about successes and failures in this regard.

• The Technical Data Infrastructure Frameworks session on 1 June will have opportunities to get a better understanding of  the fast-changing research data management environment, too, with presentations on The Cessda Technical Framework - What Is It And Why Is It Needed?; Mmrepo - Storing Qualitative And Quantitative Data Into One Big Data Repository; and Archonnex at ICPSR - Data Science Management For All.

Tools

If you’re just looking to add more resources to your data revolution toolbox, whether it’s metadata, teaching, data management, open and restricted access, or documentation, here’s a quick list of highlights:

• At Creating GeoBlacklight Metadata: Leveraging Open Source Tools to Facilitate Metadata Genesis (31 May), presenters from New York University will provide hands-on experience in creating GeoBlacklight geospatial metadata, including demos on how to capture, export, and store GeoBlacklight metadata.

• DDI Tools Demo (1 June). The Data Documentation Initiative (DDI) is an international standard for describing statistical and social science data.

• Teaching Data on 1 June: What Is Your “unit Of Analysis” And, More Importantly, Why? New Tools And Methods For Teaching Undergraduate Social Science Students To Think About Data, with presenters from Lewis & Clark College

• Research Data Management Tools And Workflows: A Report From The Front, with presenters from the University of Porto Portugal

• Online Tools And Training For Access And Analysis Of Restricted Government Data Files, presented by Cornell University’s Warren Brown

• DDI tools: No Tools, No Standard (3 June), where participants will be introduced to the work of the DDI Developers Community and get an overview of tools available from the community.

Open-access

As mandates for better accessibility of data affects more researchers, dive into the Conversation with these IASSIST offerings:

• Opening up open data (1 June), with presentations from UK Data Archive, OpenAIRE / Uni Goettingen; OpenAIRE / Institut Ruder Boškovic

• Roles For The Data Services Community In Promoting Openness And Integrity In Social Science Research on 2 June, with Harrison Dekker, University of California, Berkeley

Metadata

Don’s miss IASSIST 2016’s offerings on metadata, which is the data about the data that makes finding and working with data easier to do. There are many offerings, with a quick list of highlights below:

• Metadata Driven Systems (2 June), where presenters’ topics include Making Nordic Health Data Visible, Establishing An Integrated Data Sharing Process For Micro- And Metadata At Deutsche Bun-desbank; and Metadata For Discovery Systems

• As part of the  Partners in Research Data Management workshop on 1 June), presenters fromthe Australian Data Archive will present on Embedding Metadata In The Research Process - Archives As Partners In Data Production

• At the 3D-Data Curation: Active Phase Data Management workhop (2 June), presentations will include one on  The UK Data Service’s Unified User Interface – A Framework To Provide A Consistent User Experience For Data And Metadata Management.

• Creating GeoBlacklight Metadata: Leveraging Open Source Tools to Facilitate Metadata Genesis (Half-day workshop, 31 May), with presenters from New York University

• At Posters and Snacks on 2 June, Building A Metadata Portfolio For Cessda, with presenters from the Finnish Social Science Data Archive; GESIS – Leibniz-Institute for the Social Sciences; and UK Data Service

• The Metadata Model Of The Dataverse Project: Helping More Data Become Discoverable (June 2), with Eleni Castro, Harvard University  

Spread the word on Twitter{.ico-twitter} using #IASSIST16. 

A story by Dory Knight-Ingram (ICPSR)