We are pleased to be presenting our recent work on RDM at the 11th International Digital Curation Conference in Amsterdam.
Identifying RDM drivers, gaps and opportunities: A baseline assessment
Our study is a joint effort between researchers from the Digital Curation Institute and members of the University of Toronto Libraries (UTL) RDM Working Group, who are presently tasked with developing an approach and strategy for e-research within the UTL system in support of all disciplines.
We have found that while many research institutions are looking to increase their RDM capacity, there is currently no method to evaluate an institution-wide RDM program and consider questions such as:
- How do factors like distributed organizational structure and diversity of disciplines influence the opportunities and challenges of developing an RDM program?
- How can existing and emergent needs be addressed by leveraging existing processes, technologies and services? Which stakeholder partnerships are critical to facilitate these changes?
- Which key drivers and influencing factors are critical for the establishment and successful delivery of RDM services?
We use the “Institutional Model of RDM” (from Pinfield, Cox, and Smith, 2014) to address the varying levels of maturity in existing practice, understanding and technology used for data management across disciplines, and provide a comprehensive baseline assessment of the institution-wide RDM program.