Data Stewardship – InfoDoc MicroVeille

Authors : Antti M. Rousi, Xiaolong Li, Lara Ejtehadia, Richard Dars, Pedro E.S. Silv, Udayanto Dwi Atmoj

Data stewardship is a key expertise needed for the transformation towards more open and transparent science. This is particularly relevant in research institutions, where data stewards play a direct role in supporting research under open science requirements.

However, the absence of established frameworks and merits for assessing this expertise has hindered recognition, professional development, and the integration of data stewardship into institutional practices.

This work aims to examine how multidisciplinary data stewardship work transpires through the Open Science Career Assessment Matrix (OS-CAM); a tool designed to assess open science contributions across various dimensions. Using a case study approach, we report findings from a workshop where a multidisciplinary team of experts engaged in data stewardship described their work in relation to OS-CAM.

This work presents a summary of the CV narratives and suggested merits for data stewardship developed in the workshop. Assessing data stewardship through OS-CAM provides a structured framework for evaluating, recognising, and rewarding these contributions, thereby increasing their visibility in academic and professional evaluations.

However, our study also reveals notable gaps in OS-CAM’s coverage of data stewardship, particularly the underrepresentation of infrastructure-related activities such as the management of data repositories.

It is important to note that while OS-CAM may offer value in academic research settings, it is less applicable for data stewardship roles that extend beyond research or open science.

Therefore, we recommend further research to include diverse institutions and participants, combined with other complementary frameworks, for a more comprehensive understanding of data stewardship’s contribution to science and its recognition in or beyond academic communities.

URL : Data stewardship through the lens of Open Science Career Assessment Matrix

DOI : https://doi.org/10.2218/ijdc.v19i1.1088

Author : Ge Peng

Data stewardship encompasses all activities that preserve and improve the information content, accessibility, and usability of data and metadata. Recent regulations, mandates, policies, and guidelines set forth by the U.S. government, federal other, and funding agencies, scientific societies and scholarly publishers, have levied stewardship requirements on digital scientific data.

This elevated level of requirements has increased the need for a formal approach to stewardship activities that supports compliance verification and reporting. Meeting or verifying compliance with stewardship requirements requires assessing the current state, identifying gaps, and, if necessary, defining a roadmap for improvement.

This, however, touches on standards and best practices in multiple knowledge domains. Therefore, data stewardship practitioners, especially these at data repositories or data service centers or associated with data stewardship programs, can benefit from knowledge of existing maturity assessment models.

This article provides an overview of the current state of assessing stewardship maturity for federally funded digital scientific data. A brief description of existing maturity assessment models and related application(s) is provided.

This helps stewardship practitioners to readily obtain basic information about these models. It allows them to evaluate each model’s suitability for their unique verification and improvement needs.

URL : The State of Assessing Data Stewardship Maturity – An Overview

DOI : http://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2018-007