Research Data AllianceFuture Directions Consultation

August, September 2015

Updated: 18th August 2015

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RDA community focuses on building social, organizational and technical infrastructure to

reduce barriers to data sharing and exchange

accelerate the development of coordinated global data infrastructure

CREATE ADOPT USE

RDA Working Group Infrastructure Deliverables are:

Focused pieces of adopted code, policy, infrastructure, standards, or best practices that enable data to be shared and exchanged

“Harvestable” efforts for which 12-18 months of work can eliminate a roadblock for a substantial community

Efforts that have substantive applicability to “chunks” of the data community, but may not apply to everyone

Efforts for which working scientists and researchers can start today while more long-term or far-reaching solutions are appropriately discussed in other venues

Research Data Alliance created to Accelerate Development of Research Data Sharing Infrastructure Worldwide

Plenary 2 Washington,

DC

3Precipitous GrowthRDA Launch / First Plenary

March 2013

RDA SecondPlenary

September 2014

RDA ThirdPlenary

March 2014

RDA FourthPlenary

September 2014

RDA FifthPlenary

March 2015

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Washington, DC, USA

Dublin, IrelandGothenburg, Sweden

240 participants

First Working Groups and Interest Groups

380 participants from 22 countries

First “neutral space” community meeting (Data Citation Summit)

First Organizational Partner Meet-up

First BOFs

497 Participants from 32 countries

First Organizational Assembly

6 co-located events

14 BOF, 12 Working Groups, 22 Interest Groups

San Diego, CA, USA

550 Participants from 40 countries

1st RDA Deliverables presented

Organizational Assembly and first OAB / Council meeting

10 co-located events

11 BOF, 14 Working Groups, 36 Interest Groups

383 Participants from 30 countries

2nd RDA Deliverables presented

Organizational Assembly / Council meetings

1st Adoption Day & Large scale data projects meeting

10 BOF, 10 Working Groups, 20 Interest Groups; 10 joint Sessions; 4 thematic Plenary Sessions

4The Research Data Alliance Community Today

Total RDA Community Members: 3140

from 103 countries

Funders Forum

Interest Groupsdomain coordination, idea

generation, maintenance, …

Working Groupsimplementable, impactful outcomes

Councilorganisational vision and strategy

Technical Advisory Board

socio-technical vision and strategy

Secretariat administration and

operations

OrganisationalAdvisory Boardneeds, adoption, business advice

RDA Foundation

6Future Directions Context

The RDA Council has responsibility for the overarching vision and mission of RDA and its future directions.

During Plenary 4 and after 1.5 years of activity, RDA constituent groups held a meeting to assess RDA’s effectiveness and strategic approach.

The consensus from the meeting was that this is a useful time to consider future directions for RDA.

Subsequently, the RDA Council appointed a small organizing group to frame the next steps [Fran Berman, Ross Wilkinson, Walter Stewart, Sandra Collins].

Key aspect of process is consultation with the RDA members and stakeholders.

After consultation, synthesis, and adoption by Council, action takes place across RDA

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We first identified key questions to address in future direction planning:

1. How do we most effectively harness the power of a volunteer organization?

2. What does RDA look like in 3 years – what’s our shared vision?

3. What are our results and what impacts do we want to have?

4. How do we organize internally?

Key Questions for RDA

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P4 identified the need and use for future directions planning. Organising group established (December 2014)

P5 initial consultation with constituent groups in RDA, first draft presented to RDA membership, and published online (March 2015)

Community survey about priorities and actions developed, conducted and analysed ( May / June 2015)

Second draft prepared for online webinar presentation to membership (August 2015)

Analyse and consolidate feedback and present final draft at P6 to determine consensus (September 2015)

Final draft of Directions Document prepared (September / October 2015), presented to Council for agreement

Report on Directions Document and initial implementation report-out (March 2016 at Plenary 7)

Process and timeline

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Three central themes emerged:

CommunicationsEngagementCo-ordination

These themes shaped the community survey and are key to this set of webinars.

Out of the Initial Consultation

Coordination Communication

Engagement

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296 responses ~10% response rate Most common forms of involvement:

staying informed (88%) participating in plenaries (57%) Participated in communication (48%) Contributed to the WG/IG work (39%)

Why involved: 75% say they participate because they believe in RDA vision and goals 58% say their RDA activities are closely aligned with their work 27% say that participating in RDA is recognized positively by their

employers. Most common barriers to participation:

lack of time (74%), no budget for travel (51%) no financial incentives to do the work in RDA (33%)

Community Survey Response

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71% agreed coordination, communication, and engagement should be main directions (22% not sure, 5% no), but more specific goals, activities, and metrics of success are needed. Less talking, more doing!

105 of 296 want to participate in CC&E actions (and provided email) 69 in Coordination 81 in Communication 80 in Engagement

Proposed actions that had most volunteer support: tracking of RDA activities and results writing collaborative papers gathering and disseminating adoption success and failure stories organizing joint events with domain-based data management organizations providing training for various data-driven organizations

Most common themes in suggested first steps: finding and inviting motivated individuals identifying and prioritizing domains, organizations, and activities developing strong messages for the right audiences and channels facilitating cross-domain/cross-organizational collaboration

Survey Results Summary

See full report at https://rd-alliance.org/survey-analysis.html

Proposals for feedback….Findings from workshops and survey consultation,analysed and presented by the organising group,

seeking membership feedback via webinars

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Communications with communities increase impact -primarily delivered by RDA membership.

Possible strategies: Identification/recruitment of 50 members who can serve as

communications ambassadors to lateral stakeholders / domains Recruitment of individuals / organizations to write stories/create content

(including regional RDAs) Conduct of data-related events to promote recognition and build

community Development of clear statements of value and compelling targeted

messaging to existing and new communities Development of white papers to promote discussion of key data-related

issues

Community Communications

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Communications with stakeholders help promote sustainability - primarily delivered by RDA leadership.

Possible strategies: Plan for communications with key stakeholders including needed

preparation, and workflow implementation and designation of responsible individual

Development of statements of value and compelling targeted messaging about investment in RDA

Identification of messengers to stakeholders Improved communications among Council, senior leadership and

stakeholders

Stakeholder Communications

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Communications among ourselves help disseminate information and increase efficiency - primarily delivered by the RDA Secretariat.

Possible strategies: Create and implement an overall RDA communications plan Focus Secretariat efforts on facilitating and community efforts on creating content

Regularize effective communications (balance between push and pull); Gather feedback on outputs/activities Create a more effective monthly newsletter [Include a “do you know” section?] Make it easy for WGs and IGs to write news and submit to newsletter Develop collateral and materials to assist membership in messaging

Create web resources for members to use for communication Provide training for 50 members (+ good member communicators) Facilitate plenary sessions

about communicating about RDA Coordinate the gathering and disseminating success and failure from adoption by membership

Membership Communications

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Engagement with communities promotes growth and expansion - primarily delivered by RDA membership.

Possible Strategies: Develop a cohort of RDA Champions in a variety of research

domain and organizations, who could be an authoritative voice able to strengthen the engagement, particularly across research domains. While the 50 suggested earlier are selected for their communications skills, this group is selected for their gravitas and status with particular research domains. There may, indeed, be overlap in membership between the two groups.

Organize joint events with domain-based management organizations

Offer training / webinars about RDA for various organizations Have liaisons from TAB to WGs promote community development

as part of their interactions / oversight

Engagement with Communities

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Engagement with stakeholders should help promote sustainability - primarily delivered by RDA leadership.

Possible strategies: Foster next generation leadership for RDA through

recruitment and encouragement Create an overarching engagement plan that is

strategic in nature for cultivating existing and new stakeholders

Invite representatives of industry / startups / entrepreneurship to RDA Plenaries and related activities.

Engagement with Stakeholders

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Engagement with ourselves promotes RDA community development - primarily delivered by RDA membership and RDA Secretariat.

Possible strategies: Maintain approach of Plenaries as fostering the RDA community: A success of the

RDA Plenaries is to build community engagements – much of the reason to attend plenaries for many participants is to engage with data peers from around the world

Enhance opportunities for leadership development TAB liaison officers work with WG/IGs on community development Provide venue for shared experiences from component groups including TAB

mapping, OAB mapping Designate someone/a small group to focus on community development Document and highlight successful collaborative activities with other organisations

from an engagement perspective e.g. data citation agreement between multiple organisations

Engagement with Ourselves

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Coordination amongst ourselves promotes efficiency and effectiveness - primarily delivered by the RDA membership and Secretariat.

Possible strategies: Consider a future exercise to map how things connect, what gaps

and overlaps there are, perhaps in 6 months time Identify and promote the roles and responsibilities of volunteer

RDA members RDA seeks both technical and social change. RDA should

develop an understanding of existing organizational models of non-technical organizations and their suitability for RDA and provide recommendations for improving efficiency and dealing with social deliverables

Coordination amongst Ourselves

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Coordination of RDA operations promotes efficiency -primarily delivered by the Secretariat.

Possible strategies: Develop a tracking mechanism for RDA processes, actions,

deliverables. Establish priorities and metrics for effective coordination. Publicize member recognitions and contributions on RDA

website and in other appropriate collateral Council to review the result of TAB and OAB mappings in order

to consider a future mission map exercise. Council to establish a group to develop a future mission map. Mission map provides an articulation of how things connect, what gaps and overlaps are.

Coordination of RDA Operations

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…What do you think we should prioritise?

…What do you want to volunteer for?

Finally…