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Research data ecology
1. Conceptualising Collaboration
and Competition in the Changing
Ecology of Research Data
Dr Andrew Treloar
Director of Technology
Australian National Data Service
18/06/2012 1
2. Why me?
• Information management
• Scholarly communication
• Institutional repositories
• Research data management
• „Adjunct librarian‟
• andrew.treloar.net/research
18/06/2012 2
3. ANDS enables transformation of:
Data that are: To Structured Collections that are:
Unmanaged Managed
Disconnected Connected
Invisible Findable
Single use Reusable
so that Australian researchers can easily
publish, discover, access and use research data.
18/06/2012 3
ands.org.au
5. Jungle
18/06/2012 5
BY http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/Jungle.jpg/1280px-Jungle.jpg
6. Why an ecological approach?
• Information ecology:
o people
o practices
o values
o technologies
• Way of thinking about the space that offers
richer insights
18/06/2012 6
7. Ecology elements
• Systems that evolve over time
• Environmental factors (constraints, forcing)
• Selection pressures
• Biodiversity
• Species and individuals
• Niches for colonisation/exploitation
• Resources
• Interactions
• Species co-evolution/co-adaptation
18/06/2012 7
8. Research data ecology
elements
• Researchers
• Institutions
• Research funders
• Data centres (institutional, disciplinary,
national, international)
• Disciplines
• Research facilities
• Libraries
• Publishers
18/06/2012 8
13. Co-evolution isn‟t necessarily
good
• Systems co-evolve
• But can also get stuck in a new stable (not
necessarily more desirable) state
• Example: p-journals e-journals
o form and access arrangements largely
unchanged
• #openaccess is now gaining momentum
• But form changing more slowly
18/06/2012 13
14. New niches allow for new
possibilities
• Internet was new niche for journals
18/06/2012 14
CC-BY http://www.flickr.com/photos/stone-imaginings/3504148642/
15. Research data can be new niche
for librarians
• New roles within institutions
• New way to engage with wider range of
clients
• New application of existing skills
• New partnerships with Research Office, IT
Services, e-Research folks
18/06/2012 15
16. Selection pressures in research
data driving change
• Increasing
o
o
o
volume
variety
}
velocity
(Gartner, 2001)
• Increasing importance of data relative to
publications
• Mixed messages from journal publishers
• Outcomes currently unclear
18/06/2012 16
17. Role of Publishers
• Is the relationship between the publishers
of research and the producers of research
symbiotic or parasitic?
• And how will rise of data-intensive
research change this?
o Protein Data Bank
o Human Genome Project
o International Virtual Observatory
18/06/2012 17
18. Collaboration or competition?
• Symbiotic relationships are often better for
both parties than either competition or
predator/prey
18/06/2012 18
CC-BY http://www.flickr.com/photos/peternijenhuis/2979063336/
19. Conclusions
• Ecology provides a richer way of thinking
about scholarly communication than
mechanics
• Research data is a new niche for (some)
librarians
o but it‟s a niche undergoing great change
• Look for symbiotic relationships
• Critically examine the roles of other
players in the ecosystem
18/06/2012 19
20. Further reading
• B. A. Nardi, & V. L. O‟Day, “Information
ecologies: using technology with heart.
Chapter Four: Information ecologies”, First
Monday Vol 4 No 5 May 3, 1999.
http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue4_5/n
ardi_chapter4.html
• R. J. Robertson, M. Mahey, J. Allinson, An
ecological approach to repository and service
interactions, v. 1.5 http://ie-
repository.jisc.ac.uk/272/1/Introductoryecolog
yreport.pdf
18/06/2012 20
I’ve been working on/for ANDS for over four yearsPrior that e-Research and Institutional RepositoriesNow, on with talk. I’m going to look at one way of thinking about research data within scholarly communication. When you think of the current system of scholarly communication do you think of this?
or thi?
An alternative – and probably more realisticSo, why take an ecological approach
Building here on the work of Nardi and O’Day (as well as Kaufer and Carley). Homework at end.
So, what does this mean in the context of research data?
I’d now like to think about relationships between ‘species’ in research data ecology. Four basic kinds of relationships possible
Predator-Prey
Competitor
Parasitism:Eucalyptus mistletoe
Symbiosis: Potato cod on GBRSo, how does this framework help us think about scholarly communication and role of research data? Here are some thoughts
Volume – SKA producing 10 Petabytes per hour (1 PB = one thousand Terabytes). 2,000,000 DVDs/hour
Symbiosis between coral (sedentary filter-feeding animal) and green algae within their tissues provides benefits to both (and opportunities for huge diversity)