Biodiversity report for the university of otago Library

the first part of Gillian Elliot's report can be found here: http://www.library.otago.ac.nz/pdf/2008_OBDMP_questionnaire.pdf it will be one of 4 reports outlining her findings of the interviews she has conducted with researchers "with an interest in biodiversity" from the following departments: Biochemistry; Chemistry; Clothing and Textiles; Design Studies; Geography; Geology;
HEDC9; History; Information Science; Law; Management; Maori Studies; Maths;
Philosophy; Political Studies; Surveying and Tourism (page 7). One notable part of the summary findings was the fact that researchers are working very closely upon their own data, and applying their own metadata, the result of this is likely to be considerable variations in how they apply metadata, emphasis upon which elements are used is likely to differ. Whether researchers would be interested in a more standardised approach to applying metadata is outside the scope of this report. Another aspect of note is whether researchers have a data management plan in place or not, few respondents did, others cited time constraints, although many expressed interest, also others were unclear about this. (pg.33)

Another aspect I found interesting was low amount of respondents who deposit data into a repository. One way of extending this in a report would be to investigate the reasons why they do not. Gillian Elliot's report suggests there are wider concerns than merely copywright, and ownership issues.

One month on...

Thought I'd better check in, one month since the previous post is a bit much. We've had midterm break and have had a few lectures since the holidays, mainly concerning research methods, topics after the break have involved covering quantitative and qualitative research methods in detail up until this point in time. I was somewhat dissapointed at my mark for the first assignment (although it was a decent pass at least!), though the feedback was very useful and I think my main area for improvement is my referencing and possibly the structure of the assignment.

INFO 528 has commenced...

We have had 3 lectures so far, most have been concerned with the ideas of research methods, particularly going over the processes of commencing a literature review. Assignment one is due on the 23rd of August. I have started reading through what I've been able to find so far, which has mainly been on data curation methods. I will have to read through more of the literature upon data curation methods, but feel I should try to concentrate the bulk of my reading upon current data curation practice and methods researchers overseas use. I have emailed the biodiversity co-ordinator at work and hope to discuss some of their findings as well.

Introduction and Notes

This is the beginning of my INFO 580 project for completion of my MLIS.

I am very interested in exploring the possibility of New Zealand researchers data curation practices.

ROUGH NOTES:
Although there are many repositories established within academic institutions, I am intrigued by the amount of data researchers must have to manage as well as the possibilities which might exist, not only for data curation, but how researchers might share or collaborate on these.

"New Zealand researchers' data curation practices

Institutional repositories have become popular in the tertiary sector as a way of making academic research more widely available, and also preserving it for the future. There is growing interest in making research data available in a similar fashion, but we currently know little about how New Zealand researchers manage their data, and what data curation services may be needed." - SUPERVISOR

Questions:

Do researchers want to make academic research data more widely available? how do they want to preserve data? Issues involved?
How will this be done? Methods of data curation?
What would be the implications for collaboration?
Use of academic research data by students? Implications?