iridium - reporting on identification of available external and internal RDM tools

Some while back we undertook an exercise as part of  our tools and systems workpackages to review external RDM tools to supplement our own internal tools that had RDM application in support of the developing draft policy.

i) Firstly, our iridium PG support team used the very useful DCC website, which had been recently updated, with a DCC catalogue of RDM tools:

http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/external/tools-services

This is divided into tools  for ‘Curators’ and for ‘Researchers’

Curators –  depositing, archiving/preserving, administering, etc.:

http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/external/tools-services/depositing-and-ingesting-digital-objects
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/external/tools-services/archiving-and-preserving-information
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/external/tools-services/managing-and-administering-repositories

Researchers – managing, active data, sharing outputs, tracking, etc:
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/external/tools-services/managing-active-research-data
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/external/tools-services/sharing-output-and-tracking-impact

There is a useful search function to the tools catalogue. At that time, we tabulated about 45 different tools, such as Dataverse, MyExperiment, Research gate, Curator workbench, NLNZ Metadata Extraction Tool, PREMIS in METS Toolbox, KEEP Emulation Framework, OpenDOAR, etc. and how they maybe useful to our own project or for future reference in response to specific researcher needs/questions.

ii) We also noted the DCC own tools, such as:

CARDIO – ‘assess your data management support and infrastructure’

DMPOnline – ‘develop data management plans that meet research council and funding body mandates’ - (*technical/initial user testing blog to follow)

DAF (Digital asset framework) – ‘identify researchers’ current data management activity’

iii) We then went on to search wider for other external ‘tools’/tool themes that would meet in scope requirements and could potentially be used for RDM:

Zentity
DataStage/DataBank (from DataFlow) – (*technical/initial user testing blog to follow)
Microsoft SharePoint (with possible future Virtual Research Environment toolkits.
File re-namer tools
EduServ cloud
SWORD2 protocol - (*technical blog to follow)
ViDass
Brisskit (also CiviCRM, REDCap, OBiBa Onyx, i2b2)
KRDS (Keeping Research Data Safe)/Beagrie value tool chain
MyLabBook
DDI metadata explorer
‘Security’/encryption tools

After evaluation (a series of blog posts will follow on outcomes of this), regarding  supporting policy implementation and selection of tools with general institutional application and suitability for local technical infrastructure this list was reduced.

iv) We also had a few specific tools that our requirement gathering survey reported and were flagged by researchers/data managers – some, but not all, of these were perhaps more particular research data analysis/methods tools compared to our own definition of a ‘research data management tool’. Generally though, our survey did not report high levels of RDM tools use by researchers.

CARMEN - neuroscience code, repository, modelling
rsnapshot

OMERO – microscopy discipline specific software allowing organisation, cataloging, open file formats,  etc.

Datashield (data aggregation)

CasaXPS
ArcGIS
Dotmatics Browser and Gateway
Document management software, study/sample management applications

Dropbox.com
Newcastle Drop-off service

v) We then outlined our local institutional tools/systems with possible RDM utility (noting that we had existing RIM systems of MyProject/MyImpact).

At the first, initial scoping stage these included:

• Sakai Virtual Research Environment (existing tool, RDM modifications possible if available)
• e-Science Central (custom install, RDM/authentication/data transfer protocol modifications possible)
• MyProjects, MyImpact, local ePrints systems/feeds – with a tool to connect? (see later ’Research Data Catalogue‘ tool)
• Sharepoint (that could be modified for RDM)
• Talend
• Google Search Appliance

This list has been later refined following investigations (blog series to follow on tools going forward and initial technical testing/user evaluation).

vi) We also intend to keep an eye out for updates on above and new tools that come to light:

I’ve noted the following discussed within the MRD Programme and wider community recently:

• CKAN seems a mature ‘data management’ system (see recent ORBITAL/Lincoln blogs) with some useful features
• DataCite system - minting DOIs
• ORCID - ‘aims to solve the author/contributor name ambiguity problem in scholarly communications’
• Archivematica – ‘open-source digital preservation system … to maintain standards-based, long-term access to collections of digital objects’
• Bazaar – version control system
• OwnCloud – ‘universal access to your files through a web interface or WebDAV’
• Sparkleshare
• JISC MRD Hackday winner and discussion of an ‘Academic dropbox‘

Q. Are there any others tools/systems recommended from Programme we should know about?

Research metrics/citations tools are topical in wider MRD community:

Research Gate

altmetrics

ColWiz