[Rdap] Deciding when a Data Management Plan is not required?

Thu Apr 28 09:03:23 EDT 2011

Good morning!

I appreciate everyone's comments - especially seeing that some of the
instructions from the different directorates are different.  And Sherry, I
am in full agreement with you that a lot of the written requirements are
just too vague at this point - I hope that NSF will post updates in the
not-too-distant future.  

I think this kind of clarification of intent will continue to be a topic
for some time.

Thanks,

Aletia

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aletia Morgan
Research Application Designer
Office of the Vice President for Research 
   and Graduate & Professional Education
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
715 CoRE Building, Busch Campus

ahmorgan at vpr.rutgers.edu
732-445-3344

From: rdap-bounces at asis.org [mailto:rdap-bounces at asis.org] On Behalf Of
Cragin, Melissa H
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2011 4:13 PM
To: Research Data, Access and Preservation
Subject: Re: [Rdap] Deciding when a Data Management Plan is not required?

Hi,

  In seeing this bit that Sherry posted, I re-visited other NSF materials,
and find that I need to correct what I wrote a couple of days ago (My
apologies for not sorting this out prior to posting my response.)

While the requirements expressed by the Directorates vary to some extent,
there is an FAQ posted by NSF that seems to apply across Directorates. It
states:

"2. Is a plan for Data Management required if my project is not expected
to generate data or samples?

     Yes. It is acceptable to state in the Data Management Plan that the
project is not anticipated to generate data or samples that require
management and/or sharing. PIs should note that the statement will be
subject to peer review."
(http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/dmpfaqs.jsp#2)

Jan Cheetham's post on sorting out the specifics of how such a meeting
will be documented and what will be made public (and where) is very
helpful advice.

Melissa

From: rdap-bounces at asis.org [mailto:rdap-bounces at asis.org] On Behalf Of
Lake, Sherry (sah)
Sent: Friday, April 22, 2011 3:33 PM
To: Research Data, Access and Preservation
Subject: Re: [Rdap] Deciding when a Data Management Plan is not required?

As for the particular question asked in this e-mail thread, maybe page 4
of the Education & Human Resources (HER) Directorate DMP guidelines
(http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/dmpdocs/ehr.pdf)  will help. This
section of the guidelines list examples for EHR proposals to follow:

1. A proposal for a workshop that will result in a workshop report.

a. The DMP could consist of a statement to the effect that a workshop
report will be produced and disseminated, e.g., via a website, publication
in a journal, or other means.

Institute of Museum & Library Services (IMLS) is a little clearer on when
a DMP is required. The DMP requiremnts is part 3 of the section
"Specification for Projects that Develop Digital Products". So I assume,
for IMLS, no digital products, no DMP required.

I wish the NSF would give a little more guidance as to what they want in a
DMP. They could then tell us which proposals do not require one. I think
looking at the specific solicitation should have that information, like
Melissa said.

--

Sherry Lake
shlake at virginia.edu

Scientific Data Consultant <http://www.lib.virginia.edu/brown/data/> 

Brown Science and Engineering Library   University of Virginia

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

       "A library is not a luxury but one of the necessities

                  of life." --- Henry Ward Beecher

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

From: rdap-bounces at asis.org [mailto:rdap-bounces at asis.org] On Behalf Of
John Graybeal
Sent: Friday, April 22, 2011 12:56 AM
To: Research Data, Access and Preservation
Cc: rdap at mail.asis.org
Subject: Re: [Rdap] Deciding when a Data Management Plan is not required?

Here's the way I think about this kind of thing:

1) You have done useful work by the time you finish (presumably).

2) To the extent the useful work was based on discovered, collected,
observed, or otherwise modeled data, the conclusions are likely to depend
on the those inputs.

3) If someone wants to evaluate your conclusions in light of your inputs,
would they be able to do that?

If the basis is entirely on other papers, then those would presumably be
cited in the report.  If it is strictly a thought process of a single
group, then the report is the data.  

But if the basis is on brainstorming ideas from multiple groups, or having
people in the meeting each generate their own inputs, which are then
collated and massaged, or it relied on results that were on-line and might
be different tomorrow -- then it would be a 'best practice' to maintain
the original raw materials in a repository (say the web site where your
work is managed, if any) that others could inspect.  (They might validate
your group's wisdom, or find great wisdom that your group missed.)  In
these cases, I would say a very short Data Management Plan would be worth
including.

john

On Apr 21, 2011, at 13:43, Aletia Morgan wrote:

Greetings - I'm working with PIs on reviewing DMP documents that are part
of NSF proposals, and I am wondering about whether a DMP is needed.

The project involves staging a meeting with researchers in the discipline,
with a goal that includes the development of plans for future research.

Obviously, there's no experimental data here, and the output is
essentially a narrative document.  The PI asserts that "This proposal does
not seek to collect environmental data. A data management plan is not

required."

If a conference is being organized, notes are taken, documents are being
written.   Is there a need to say how these records will be developed and
preserved?  Or am I being too compulsive!

Thanks for any thoughts, and if there might be a better place to ask this
question.

Regards,

Aletia

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aletia Morgan
Research Application Designer
Office of the Vice President for Research 
   and Graduate & Professional Education
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
715 CoRE Building, Busch Campus

ahmorgan at vpr.rutgers.edu
732-445-3344

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----------------

John Graybeal    <mailto:jgraybeal at ucsd.edu>     phone: 858-534-2162

Product Manager

Ocean Observatories Initiative Cyberinfrastructure Project:
http://ci.oceanobservatories.org

Marine Metadata Interoperability Project: http://marinemetadata.org

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