Ithaka S+R is currently accepting applications from researchers interested in participating in Leveraging Data Communities to Advance Open Science, an NSF-funded workshop developed in partnership with the Data Curation Network. Participants will receive funding to attend a two-day incubation workshop in 2022, as well as expert guidance from information professionals about how to create sustainable infrastructures to support voluntary data sharing across disciplinary and institutional boundaries. Applications are due October 1, 2021. Please see the following CFP for full details:

Leveraging Data Communities to Advance Open Science

Ithaka S+R welcomes applications from interested researchers to participate in Leveraging Data Communities to Advance Open Science, an NSF-funded workshop, developed in partnership with the Data Curation Network. Participants will gain expertise in best practices for facilitating data sharing across disciplinary and institutional boundaries, including developing shared metadata conventions and standardization of existing file formats or the creation of new formats for emerging data types (e.g., 3D data), building or improving repositories and other sharing infrastructures, and developing schemas that promote interoperability and machine readability. This workshop will support the development of infrastructures for data sharing within interdisciplinary data communities, informal or formal groups of scholars who voluntarily share data to foster scientific progress on a topic of mutual interest.

Building sustainable data communities requires a significant technical infrastructure that is best created through collaboration between scientists and information professionals. Unfortunately, these groups are often bifurcated by differing professional identities, and have relatively few opportunities for sustained dialog across disciplinary and professional perspectives, and institutional or geopolitical borders. The Leveraging Data Communities to Advance Open Science workshop will provide a rare forum for collaboration.

Successful applicants will receive one-on-one access to an information professional with specialized expertise who will help participants identify individualized solutions to the data sharing challenges they face during a remote meeting in fall 2021. They will also receive funding to participate in an NSF-sponsored two-day workshop in the spring of 2022. We are currently planning for an in-person workshop, to be held at the University of Michigan, but may switch to a remote format depending on the public health situation and participant’s level of comfort with travel. Together, the remote meeting and incubation workshop will provide a forum for focused dialogue between scientists and information professionals about how to combine their expertise to foster robust cultures of data sharing and data reuse within scientific communities. These sessions will also help generate recommendations for key metadata fields in the National Science Foundation’s Public Access Repository (PAR).

Who is eligible to apply? 

We welcome applications from teams of researchers who are involved in existing data communities or are interested in establishing one. Data communities are formal or informal groups of scholars who voluntarily share data across disciplinary and institutional boundaries for collective benefit and the advancement of science.

Project teams should include from two to five members. We are particularly interested in teams that include individuals from multiple institutions and researchers from different disciplinary backgrounds. When possible, team composition should reflect the diversity of roles required to successfully share data and thus include a combination of tenured- or tenure-track faculty, non-tenure-researchers, and postdocs, information professionals, lab managers, or data management staff.

What will participants do? 

All members of the project team will be paired with an information professional for a mandatory virtual meeting, to be held in the fall of 2021. In addition, two members of the project team will attend the two-day workshop on February 28 and March 1, 2022. We are currently planning to hold the workshop in-person, at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, but may switch to a remote format depending on the public health situation and preferences of participants.

What support will Ithaka S+R and the Data Curation Network provide? 

Ithaka S+R and the Data Curation Network will facilitate learning opportunities within the project cohort and pair each project team with an expert information professional who will provide participants with individualized advice about data management and sharing challenges they face. Project teams will receive full funding for two team members to attend the Spring 2022 workshop.

When are applications due? 

Applications will be due on October 1, 2021. To apply, submit the following information as a single PDF or word document to Dylan.ruediger@ithaka.org.

What do I need to do to apply? 

Interested parties should submit the following information:

A. List the names, email addresses, institutional affiliation, and job title of all members of your project, and indicate who will serve as the primary contact. Project teams must be composed of 2-5 individuals. 

B. What kinds of data does your data community wish to/currently share? (Approximately 100 words)

C. Provide a brief narrative describing the data community your team represents or would like to create. Please describe your data community’s goals and methods for data sharing. If you have a web page or existing data repository, please include a link. (Approximately 250 words)

We welcome applicants from established and emerging data communities, as well as from teams looking to create a new data community. Please be open about the status of your community, as our goal is to include communities at different stages of organization. 

D. Provide a brief description of the main challenges your data community faces and what you hope to learn from participating in Leveraging Data Communities. (Approximately 250 words)

E. A brief description of the efforts your data community has taken or anticipates taking to demonstrate a commitment to encouraging racial, ethnic, gender, social, and other forms of diversity within your team and/or data community. (Approximately 200 words)

For questions about this workshop or further conversation about whether you are part of a data community, please contact Dylan Ruediger (Dylan.ruediger@ithaka.org).

“Leveraging Data Communities to Advance Open Science” is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 2013433.