Technical Infrastructure

Data Policy and Planning

How is development of technical infrastructure (e.g. facilities, sensors, in\strumentation, tools, services) for DIR managed?
How often are technological requirements reviewed and up-dated? And by whom?
What is the role of the central Computing Service? In which areas does it provide support?
Does the institution mandate use of Data Management Plans (DMP)? If so, how are researchers supported? (e.g guidelines, provision of templates, training courses (CARDIO, DMP online), FAQs, checklists etc.)
What is the institution's policy with regard to the use of data identifiers for long-term research data? Are they locally allocated, discipline specific or internationally accepted? At what level of granularity of data are they allocated? Are they persistent?
Are there institution specific recommendations for versioning research data?
What recommendations exist on the use of standard, open and curation friendly file formats?
What policies exist in relation to quality control, security, validation and integrity of research data?
What facilities are available for managing research grants, applications and central facilities? e.g. a CRIS (Current Research Information System)?
Do these facilties support CERIF (Common European Research Information Format)?

Notes

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Capture and Collection (Primary Data)

What is the institution's policy on managing primary research data?
What centralised facilities are supported for collecting and managing primary data? E.g. instruments, sensors, telescopes, cloud storage, storage cabinets etc.
How much pre-existing data is used and what are the main sources of that data?
What forms of data does the institution hold? e.g. documents, notebooks, spreadsheets, databases, images, audio, video, websites, emails, maps, physical samples etc.
What are the typical data volumes that are acquired or generated by the institution annually?
Is use made of shared external technical facilities? E.g. instruments, cloud storage etc. If so, with whom and how?
Who is responsible for the day-to-day management, storage and backup of primary data?

Notes

Is there more to do in this area?

Processing and Analysis (Intermediate Data)

What policies exist regarding management of intermediate research data?
Does the institution support any facilities for managing, processing and analysing data e.g. EPSRC NCS, storage, scientific instruments, statistical packages, visualisation software etc.
How is sharing of workflows, tools and methodologies encouraged?
Which file formats are supported centrally during data processing and analysis? Are they open? Are they standard? Are they curation-friendly?
Who is responsible for the day-to-day management, storage and backup of intermediate data?

Notes

Is there more to do in this area?

Data Curation

What centralised long-term storage facilities are provided? E.g. IR, centralised storage, cloud infrastructure, filing cabinets for paper-based data or physical samples. How does the institution ensure that such facilities are "trustworthy"?
If an IR is available, what documentation and metadata is required at the time of data deposit? Does the facility have a collection or acquisition policy?
What quality control, security, validation and integrity checks are required at the time of data deposit?
Are centralised storage facilities subject to a DMP? If so, how often is the DMP reviewed? Who is responsible for its implementation?

Notes

Is there more to do in this area?

Reuse and Impact

How are tools, facilities and support provided for reusing and/or repurposing existing data? E.g. tools for moving analysis to data rather than data to researchers
How are tools provided for accessing and visualising exisitng data?
How are platforms supported for citizen science? e.g. zooinverse
How does the institution encourage the take-up of new tools for DIR? E.g. hackathons, bootcamps etc.
Are any tools arising from institutional research being used by third parties? If so, which and how have they been adapted?

Notes

Is there more to do in this area?

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