How to set up and run a data service: the challenges of social science data

A once-a-year opportunity for data archivists to go behind the scenes and learn first-hand from specialists at the UK Data Archive is happening on 28 and 29 November 2013.

Over two days participants will learn about the strategies and practices used in the Archive's daily work, with a focus on storing and sharing social science data, including microdata, aggregate, qualitative and historical data.

The Archive has over 40 years’ experience in selecting, ingesting, curating and providing access to data. We are a designated Place of Deposit for The National Archives and are internationally acknowledged experts in this field.

The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) will be supporting fully funded scholarships to attend this workshop.

Applications to join this event are now being taken. Further details and booking can be found at: http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/news-events/events.aspx?id=3543

NIH Call for Information on Methods for 'Big Data' in Biomedical Research

The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has just issued a call for information on software tools and analysis methods as part of their Big Data to Knowledge Initiative. Specifically, the call solicits input on needs for software and analysis methods related to data compression/reduction, data visualization, data provenance, and data wrangling for biomedical research. The closing data for responses is September 6th 2013.

Background

Biomedical research is becoming more data-intensive as researchers are generating and using increasingly large, complex, and diverse datasets. This era of 'Big Data' in biomedical research taxes the ability of many researchers to release, locate, analyze, and interact with these data and associated software due to the lack of tools, accessibility, and training. In response to these new challenges in biomedical research, and in response to the recommendations of the Data and Informatics Working Group (DIWG) of the Advisory Committee to the NIH Director (http://acd.od.nih.gov/diwg.htm), NIH has launched the trans-NIH Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) Initiative (www.bd2k.nih.gov).

The long-term goal of the NIH BD2K Initiative is to support advances in data science, other quantitative sciences, policy, and training that are needed for the effective use of Big Data in biomedical research. (The term "biomedical" is used here in the broadest sense to include biological, biomedical, behavioral, social, environmental, and clinical studies that relate to understanding health and disease).

Details can be found here: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-HG-13-014.html

 

 

BSA Presidential Event: The Challenge of Big Data

25 October 2013: 09:30-16:45
British Library Conference Centre, London, UK

BSA President, Professor John Holmwood has announced a one-day seminar/workshop on 'The Challenge of Big Data', organised in collaboration with Dr Emma Uprichard, Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies, University of Warwick and Dr Abby Day, Department of Sociology, Goldsmiths.

Speakers include: Evelyn Ruppert (Goldsmiths), Ken Benoit (LSE), Emma Uprichard (University of Warwick), Alan Warde (University of Manchester), Abby Day (Goldsmiths), Emer Coleman (dsrptn), Peter Elias (University of Warwick), Paul Martin (University of Sheffield), Paul Taylor (UCL), Andrew Goffey (University of Nottingham).

The Government White Paper on Open Data and the Finch Report on Open Access to Research publications were both published in June 2012, inaugurating a discussion about the changing nature of social science research and its role in the evaluation of policy and practice. Administrative data and its linkage to other large data sets, data mining, and the increased proprietorial interest in large data all pose a fundamental challenge for the social sciences to confront big data with big questions. This joint event of the British Library and the British Sociological Association uses a workshop format to address these issues.

Places for this event are allocated on a first come, first served basis. Lunch and refreshments are included. BSA Members can attend this event for £10. Non-Members of the BSA may also attend this event for a registration fee of £30. 

For more information see http://www.britsoc.co.uk/events/bsa-presidential-event.aspx

 

Help! I’m an Accidental Government Information Librarian presents ... Historical Economic Data Sources & Economic Time Travel

The Government Resources Section of the North Carolina Library Association is holding a series of webinars designed to increase familiarity with government information resources, and the best strategies for navigating them.

 

Session #29 on historical economic data sources  will take place online on August 21 from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. (Eastern). Please RSVP for the Session by August 20 at 5:00 pm using this link: https://tinyurl.com/grs-session29

In economics, historical data aren’t necessarily 200 years old; historical data could be two weeks old. That’s because economic data are revised, frequently. And those revisions mean that the historical data librarians find for patrons may not be the same values that an individual would have seen when the data were initially released. Economic data are made from estimates. Over time, more information becomes available and these estimates are revised. Policy-makers, businesses, and consumers make economic and financial decisions based on unrevised data available at a point in time. These unrevised are useful for studying historic decisions and economic policies. This webinar will describe sources available for uncovering historical economic data and methods for using those sources that provide a window into the past.  

 

Pamela Campbell is a Senior Librarian at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. She has been working with government documents for nearly four years, with a focus on economic history. Pamela is part of the team that provides FRASER <http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/>, a digital library dedicated to preserving the nation’s economic history.

 

Technical requirements: The webinar will be via Blackboard Collaborate. The conneting PC must have JAVA. On RSVP, a link will be sent that can be used to test the software. No microphone is needed as a chat system is available in the software, but speakers or headphones will be necessary.

 

If you have any questions, please contact Lynda Kellam (lmkellam@uncg.edu).   

The session will be recorded and made available after the live session, linked from the NCLA GRS web page (http://www.nclaonline.org/government-resources).

HMRC consultation on data sharing

Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is seeking views on the department sharing non identifiable information for the creation of general, aggregate and anonymised datasets, and on proposed safeguards.

The consultation also covers the potential benefits, costs / risks and necessary safeguards for proposals to share VAT registration data, either publicly or under controlled conditions for specified purposes, for example, credit rating. Views are welcome on the principles underlying these proposals and on the suggested approaches to implementation.

The consultation will run until the 24th September 2013. You can find out more information and download the consultation documentation from https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/sharing-and-publishing-data-for-public-benefit.

I'M BACK

Apologies for my absence over the last few months, I have been changing jobs. I am now back and will hopefully be able to find time to blog issues of interest to data users and providers of data infrastructure on a regular basis again.

best
Tanvi

CODATA Data-at-Risk Inventory

Are you interested in saving scientific data?

CODATA is inviting contributions to to an inventory of descriptions of (1) scientific data at-risk of permanent loss, and (2) descriptions of data rescue projects.

What is the Data-at-Risk Inventory?

The Data-at-Risk Inventory (DARI) is an ongoing project of the Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA) Data at Risk Task Group (DARTG) to create a catalog of scientific data that are at risk of being lost. DARI is a descriptive inventory of endangered data that are held by others, and an inventory of data rescue projects; it is not a repository for data. DARI is an implementation of DARTG’s recognition that long-term observational scientific research depends on historical records.

What you can do to help:

DARI is looking for librarians, archivists, information custodians, data managers, scientists, researchers, and others who know of scientific data that could be at-risk, and are willing to contribute a description of that data to the inventory. We have also begun to document data rescue projects, and we are seeking descriptions of any known effort to preserve or rescue at-risk data.

How to contribute to the inventory:

1. Click on this link: http://www.ibiblio.org/data-at-risk/contribution
2. From the drop-down menu, select either "Data at Risk Inventory" or "Data Rescue Projects"
3. A form will appear into which you may enter information about at-risk data or about a rescue effort
4. Click on “Submit”

After the form is submitted, the DARI team will review it before it is made available to the web.