The Data Curation Network project team released two new reports this week. The first shares the results of six focus group sessions with researchers on their perceptions, use, and barriers of data curation activities. In total we engaged 91 researchers from across our institutions U. of Minnesota, Cornell, Penn State, U of Illinois, U of Michigan, and Wash U. in St. Louis. The research revealed what curation activities are most important to researchers and where the Data Curation Network could provide the most impact. Our interview instruments and assessment data are also provided!

The second report describes the results of our experimental pilot for curating data with staff from across our six institutions. We present our methodology, results and concluding recommendations for how a resulting Network model will work as a distributed staffing approach to providing data curation support. Based on the findings of this pilot data curation exercise, the Data Curation Network now has a better understanding of the roles of the “local” and “DCN curators” and how data might effectively flow through the DCN once implemented beyond our six institutions.

Read the full reports on our Publications page

March 2017: 

Special Report: “Results of the Researcher Engagement Sessions

Supplemental Files available: Data TablesWorksheet Protocol, and Master Card Desk used in Researcher Engagement Focus Groups

Special Report: “Results of the Data Curation Pilots