Managing Research Data in Big Science

The project which led to this report was funded by JISC in 2010--2011 as part of its 'Managing Research Data' programme, to examine the way in which Big Science data is managed, and produce any recommendations which may be appropriate. Big science data is different: it comes in large volumes, and it is shared and exploited in ways which may differ from other disciplines. This project has explored these differences using as a case-study Gravitational Wave data generated by the LSC, and has produced recommendations intended to be useful variously to JISC, the funding council (STFC) and the LSC community. In Sect. 1 we define what we mean by 'big science', describe the overall data culture there, laying stress on how it necessarily or contingently differs from other disciplines. In Sect. 2 we discuss the benefits of a formal data-preservation strategy, and the cases for open data and for well-preserved data that follow from that. This leads to our recommendations that, in essence, funders should adopt rather light-touch prescriptions regarding data preservation planning: normal data management practice, in the areas under study, corresponds to notably good practice in most other areas, so that the only change we suggest is to make this planning more formal, which makes it more easily auditable, and more amenable to constructive criticism. In Sect. 3 we briefly discuss the LIGO data management plan, and pull together whatever information is available on the estimation of digital preservation costs. The report is informed, throughout, by the OAIS reference model for an open archive

Managing Research Data: Gravitational Waves

The project which led to this report was funded by JISC in 2010–2011 as part of its ‘Managing Research Data’ programme, to examine the way in which Big Science data is managed, and produce any recommendations which may be appropriate. Big science data is different: it comes in large volumes, and it is shared and exploited in ways which may differ from other disciplines. This project has explored these differences using as a case-study Gravitational Wave data generated by the LSC, and has produced recommendations intended to be useful variously to JISC, the funding council (STFC) and the LSC community. In Sect. 1 we define what we mean by ‘big science’, describe the overall data culture there, laying stress on how it necessarily or contingently differs from other disciplines. In Sect. 2 we discuss the benefits of a formal data-preservation strategy, and the cases for open data and for well-preserved data that follow from that. This leads to our recommendations that, in essence, funders should adopt rather light-touch prescriptions regarding data preservation planning: normal data management practice, in the areas under study, corresponds to notably good practice in most other areas, so that the only change we suggest is to make this planning more formal, which makes it more easily auditable, and more amenable to constructive criticism. In Sect. 3 we briefly discuss the LIGO data management plan, and pull together whatever information is available on the estimation of digital preservation costs. The report is informed, throughout, by the OAIS reference model for an open archive. Some of the report’s findings and conclusions were summarised in [1]. See the document history on page 37

Report of the Stanford Linked Data Workshop

The Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources (SULAIR) with the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) conducted at week-long workshop on the prospects for a large scale, multi-national, multi-institutional prototype of a Linked Data environment for discovery of and navigation among the rapidly, chaotically expanding array of academic information resources. As preparation for the workshop, CLIR sponsored a survey by Jerry Persons, Chief Information Architect emeritus of SULAIR that was published originally for workshop participants as background to the workshop and is now publicly available. The original intention of the workshop was to devise a plan for such a prototype. However, such was the diversity of knowledge, experience, and views of the potential of Linked Data approaches that the workshop participants turned to two more fundamental goals: building common understanding and enthusiasm on the one hand and identifying opportunities and challenges to be confronted in the preparation of the intended prototype and its operation on the other. In pursuit of those objectives, the workshop participants produced:1. a value statement addressing the question of why a Linked Data approach is worth prototyping;2. a manifesto for Linked Libraries (and Museums and Archives and …);3. an outline of the phases in a life cycle of Linked Data approaches;4. a prioritized list of known issues in generating, harvesting & using Linked Data;5. a workflow with notes for converting library bibliographic records and other academic metadata to URIs;6. examples of potential “killer apps” using Linked Data: and7. a list of next steps and potential projects.This report includes a summary of the workshop agenda, a chart showing the use of Linked Data in cultural heritage venues, and short biographies and statements from each of the participants

Natural asset management and market-based conservation in Indigenous contexts

This research consists of two parts. The first part provides an extended critique of market-based conservation as exemplary of neo-liberal ideology. Natural asset management, an example of market-based conservation, is described as a form of "progressive neo-liberalism," a political formation that consists of a neo-liberal economic practice and a progressive politics of recognition. Market-based conservation is shown to conflict with Indigenous ways of knowing and Indigenous life practices, posing a potential challenge to the capacity of Indigenous and Settler communities to imagine non-capitalist futures and to realize what Leanne Betasamosake Simpson calls "Indigenous resurgence." The second part of the thesis addresses the challenges faced by the Municipal Natural Asset Initiative in engaging with Indigenous Knowledge in their future work and puts forth multiple recommendations for doing so respectfully, effectively, and ethically

Walking a linguistic tightrope: learner development in writing job application letters

This thesis focuses on tracking the development of 17 tertiary English language learners (ELLs) studying how to write job application letters. The research took place within the context of a Business Writing in English module, in which the pedagogy was informed by a Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) approach to genre. While much genre-based research in educational settings examines pedagogic practices, Cheng (2006) urges genre researchers to focus on learner development. In this project, learner development in writing job application letters was of interest for two reasons: (a) the letters were new to the learners, in the project's national context and (b) the letters required the complex task of both: demonstration of suitability for jobs and maintenance of appropriate social relations with presumed readers. Within their coursework, the 17 learner-participants wrote three job application letters, in response to three job advertisements, at three points in time. For the 17 participants, demonstration of suitability for the jobs was examined. For three of these participants, a mor.e detailed analysis was carried out, concerning their management of social relations with their presumed readers. Analysis for tracking development was informed by SFL and focussed on the lexicogrammatical and register strata, in relation to the generic staging of a job application letter. Participant interviews and feedback from Human Resources professionals supplemented the linguistic analyses. From the findings, three main conclusions are drawn and presented with reference to Halliday's (2004) language learning triad: (a) 'learning language' - genre development can be seen through the participants' appropriate expansion, organisation, and variation of repertoire; (b) 'learning through language' - genre development can be seen through the participants' 'resemiotisation' (ledema, 2003) of themselves as job applicants; (c) 'learning about language' - genre development can be seen through the participants' demonstration of 'practical' and 'discursive' knowledge (Giddens, 1984). Based on insights from the research, policy and practice implications are offered. Finally, further research directions are suggested

Governance in online communities of artistic cultural production

Thesis (D.B.A.)--Boston UniversityWhile scholars have brought much insight into the governance of online communities engaged in the production of goods with relatively established quality criteria, such as open source software, they paid less attention to the governance of online communities of artistic cultural production. In artistic cultural production, due to its drive for novelty and potential resistance to institutionalized norms, it is difficult to create agreements and shared routines among participants -particularly during initial emergence when participants are new to one another and new to their form of contributions. In this two-essay dissertation, I study arguably the largest online community of artistic production in Turkey, Sour Dictionary, and analyze the governance configurations during its initial emergence and ongoing growth. The first essay describes how coherence was achieved during the birth and early years of the Dictionary through the use of ambiguity in the two governance dimensions of vision and rules of production. I show that in this period, ambiguity was maintained in these dimensions not only to provide participants with the flexibility they needed for artistic expressions, but also to bring clarity to the recognition of participants' allegiances. The presence of a shared opposition among participants appears key to achieving coherence in an artistic community, and for such a community, ambiguity is an adaptive resource rather than something to eliminate as is often argued within an economic logic. The second essay follows a natural experiment where the founder's changing decisions on two other governance dimensions of quality assurance and member recruitment, along with his utilizations of IT for growth, resulted in different outcomes of coherence and popularity during the community's ongoing growth. As the founder switched the combination of his use of IT and member recruitment method from one that invited slow and incremental growth to one that brought sudden and massive growth, the community faced a variety of problems in both outcomes. I show that these problems arose as the founder responded to growth by implementing quality assurance methods that emphasized efficiency rather than flexibility, and thus failed to

Using online communications technologies and communities of practice to strengthen researcher-decision maker partnerships

Successful knowledge transfer is all about relationships. As anyone who has conducted research with non-academic partners knows, it takes a considerable amount of time and effort for these relationships to be fruitful. The great benefit of placing this work within the context of a community of practice is that it gives researchers and decision makers a structure within which to interact. This study explored ways in which a community of practice framework can be used to develop and nurture relationships between researchers and decision makers. Further, it investigated how these communities of practice can be supported by online communications technologies. Its major contribution is the development, testing and refinement of a checklist of six ways that researchers can connect with decision makers in communities of practice, both in person and online. This checklist provides concrete, practical suggestions on how to develop an effective community of practice. Items in the checklist are based on both the academic literature on knowledge transfer and communities of practice, and the author’s experience as part of an academic research unit focused on conducting collaborative research with community and government partners. Each item in the checklist was validated through interviews with members of two communities of practice. While the initial checklist had five items, a sixth was added following analysis of the interviews. This checklist is generalizable, in that it can help guide any kind of community of practice, not just those in which members work on early childhood development issues, nor those communities in which researchers and decision makers interact. It is a valuable contribution to knowledge transfer methods at a time when both interest levels and efforts to improve knowledge implementation are widespread. The final checklist reads as follows: A community of practice should: 1. provide opportunities for regular interaction between community members; 2. allow members to participate at varying levels that can change over time; 3. provide both public and private spaces for interaction; 4. document its goals, activities and outcomes, in order to develop a knowledge repository; 5. identify and document the value of the community itself; and 6. enlist the guidance of a technology champion in order to use online communications technologies effectively