Text Hewitt spoke today on “The Perils and Prospects of Digital Scholarship in the 21st Century Canada: Tri-Agency Research Data Initiative” at our Research Data Management week. Some of the things he talked about follow.
Canada is not leading on data stewardship. We need to catch up so that we can take advantage of what the world has to offer and we need to offer what Canada has to the world. Data management capacity is increasingly linked to Canada’s international competitiveness.
We used to do a literature review when starting a project. Now we also look for data sets that we can use so we aren’t re-searching to create useful data.
He talked about the Capitalizing on Big Data report and some the key ideas:
- We need ways of promoting excellence in data management
- Data management plans need to be required
- We have to coordinate the players
He talked about the tri-agency approach which includes parallel initiatives lied by the Government of Canada (Treasury Board Secretariat) on Open Government and Open Science. The Government is trying to be open about data. Canada has an action plan on open government 2014-16.
He also talked about “Seizing Canada’s Moment: Moving Forward in Science, Technology and Innovation 2014”. This includes new policies on research data management and storage. Canada has a hackathon.
He talked about collaboration in the research ecosystem. He mentioned different organizations like Leadership Council for Digital Infrastructure, Universities Canada, Research Data Canada, CARL, CANARIE, CFI, and the Research Data Alliance.
What is SSRHC doing?
- They are working on a Tri-Agency Statement of Principles on Digital Data Management
- This will lead to pilots where RDM plan is required for certain grants
- This will lead to reviewed plans being critical to being funded
These will be introduced in ways that make sense to researchers.
He talking about what is digitized and can be analyzed. Not your notes or email.
He talked about truly interdisciplinary grants (those that cross into health and science.) These fall between the funding councils. Some truly interdisciplinary grant programs will be coming, but if it is fundamentally about improving human health then SSHRC shouldn’t fund it.
In a meeting that followed he talked about the Transatlantic Platform and it sounds like another program is coming. It sounds like there will be an expanded list of funding partners, and themes like digital scholarship, migration, learning.