Governance

RCGC Data Management Subcommittee

Data management issues that are of campus-wide impact are discussed and addressed by the Research Computing Governance Committee (RCGC) Data Management Subcommittee. The RCGC is a shared governance committee comprised of a cross-departmental group of researchers and IT professionals with oversight of central research computing resources. It is sponsored by the Vice President of Research, the Chief Information Officer, the Dean of Libraries, and the Senior Vice President of Health Sciences. 

ReDATA Deaccessioning

The Subcommittee is responsible for making determinations of de-accessioning datasets deposited into ReDATA which have exceeded the repository's initial 10 year commitment. In this capacity, the role of the committee is the following.

The Data Management Subcommittee of the Research Computing Governance Committee will, on an as-needed basis, review deposited datasets for possible de-accessioning from ReDATA. Candidate datasets will be presented to the committee by the ReDATA administrator and will include those which have exceeded ReDATA’s commitment period for archiving as stated in the dataset’s deposit agreement (10 years for most datasets, measured starting from the time the dataset was publicly posted) AND which are determined by the ReDATA administrator to pose a significant burden on repository resources should they be continue to be made available. The committee will evaluate each candidate dataset based on the following criteria.

 

  • Monetary cost of continuing to maintain access. Factors include: size of the dataset, any human labor required to ensure ongoing access
  • Scholarly impact. Factors include the number of downloads, citations, and the Altmetric score
  • The availability of storage space for continued access
  • Risks of maintaining access. Factors include: re-identification risks due to advances in technology or the availability of additional third-party data, legal risks.
  • The scientific or societal benefit of continued access, as determined by the committee.

If a dataset is determined to be subject to deaccessioning, the committee will contact the corresponding author and provide them an opportunity to approve the removal or provide a justification why it should not be removed. If the corresponding cannot be contacted, the dataset will be removed. All removals will be permanent.

The Data Management Subcommittee Reports

  • From the fall 2015 to the spring 2017, the RCGC Data Management and Curation Subcommittee conducted the Data Management and Data Curation Pilot in collaboration with the UA Libraries (UAL), University Information Technology Services (UITS), and the UA Office of Research, Discovery, and Innovation (RDI). The pilot worked with five research projects through the data life cycle to evaluate data management services. This report includes an environmental scan, an overall summary of the pilot, details from each project, results of exit interviews with the project participants, and recommendations. 
      Data Management and Data Curation Pilot Report and Recommendations Prepared by Mary Bell and Christine Kollen. September, 2017

 

  • In response to the National Science Foundation's mandate in early 2011 that all new proposals must include a two-page data management plan and the expectation that other agencies would follow suit, the Office of the Vice-President for Research (VPR) and the University Libraries charged the Committee to provide input on the following points: (1) The desirability of a University-wide strategy for data management in support of research activities (2) Identification of needed support mechanisms such as services, expertise, and technology (short term and long term) (3) Identification of the needed cyber infrastructure (short term and long term) (4) Organizational models and distribution of responsibility (short term and long term).
     

           Recommendations of the Campus Data Management and Curation Advisory Committee, November, 2011