Tech@ICPSR returns from Gartner

Tech@ICPSR is still recovering from a week-long trip to the 2011 North American Gartner Symposium/ITxpo.

The event had nearly 10,000 technology leaders, CIOs, and other folks from the world of IT. The original game plan was to generate a few short blog posts about the event while attending the symposium, but no such luck.  Kudos to those intrepid bloggers who can both attend an event all day and then blog about it all night.

The major themes at Gartner this year were:  cloud, social, video, big data, and managing the explosive growth in the amount of content that is being produced and retained.  ICPSR has its toes in all of these, and so it felt like the program was a very good fit.

In some ways the event was disappointing in that there were obvious take-aways.  But in other ways it was rewarding because it confirmed that ICPSR is on the right track in many of these areas, such as making use of the cloud to solve certain problems.  And so while the speaker, a Gartner Analyst, may have been encouraging the audience members to conduct an experiment with the cloud, ICPSR is already using the cloud as part of its production operations.

The sessions on "social" were the most interesting.  Again, it feels like ICPSR is already making use of social media in some ways, but it also feels like there is a vast, untapped opportunity to use the content that "social media" generates in social science research.  Is there an opportunity for ICPSR to partner with another organization to create, curate, preserve, and disseminate datasets derived from Twitter feeds?  Facebook walls?

Photo credit:  http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4038/5145453784_861aaacc04_m.jpg

TRAC: A2.1: The right type of staff and skills

A2.1 Repository has identified and established the duties that it needs to perform and has appointed staff with adequate skills and experience to fulfill these duties.

The repository must identify the competencies and skill sets required to operate the repository over time and demonstrate that the staff and consultants have the range of requisite skills—e.g., archival training, technical skills, and legal expertise.

Evidence: A staffing plan; competency definitions; job description; development plans; plus evidence that the repository review and maintains these documents as requirements evolve. 

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I see three main areas of evidence to support this requirement.

One is that ICPSR has been in operation for fifty years, and it continues to win contracts and grants to preserve and disseminate social science research data and documentation.  No organization can operate for fifty years if it does not have a team capable of delivering success.

Another bit of evidence appears on ICPSR's organization chart.  I don't believe we publish it for the world to see, but we do maintain a copy on our intranet site.  The org chart shows the areas, teams, and people one needs to curate content successfully.  Data managers?  Check.  Metadata specialists?  Check.  Technology?  Check.  Administrative functions?  Check.  And, of course, specialists in digital preservation policy and standards.

Finally, there is also evidence in the body of job descriptions one would find on the University of Michigan jobs site (if its content was preserved!).  One can see how job titles, job functions, and skillsets have evolved over the years as technology, best practices, and types of content have also evolved.

Using DuraCloud for Archiving and Preservation

I'll be joining Michele Kimpton, CEO of DuraSpace, on a webinar next Wednesday (November 2, 2011).  Our topic is DuraCloud, and how one can use this cloud-based service as part of one's digital preservation strategy.

I think sometimes people will view the cloud as an alternative to keeping and maintaining local copies, but at ICPSR we're using the cloud as an easy-to-manage storage location to supplement more conventional locations, such as local NAS storage and the University of Michigan's "Value Storage" service.

Here is a copy of the invite that went out via email:

DuraSpace

You are invited to attend the following event: Using DuraCloud for Archiving & Preservation Wednesday, November 2, 2011 1:00p.m. - 2:00p.m. Eastern Standard Time Presented By: Michele Kimpton, DuraSpace Chief Executive Officer & DuraCloud Project Director & Bryan Beecher, Director of Computing & Network Services,Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) Having a hard time keeping up with current preservation and archiving practices? Are you finding the task of archiving your content complicated, costly and confusing? Then you need to join us for a free webinar that details how DuraCloud can be part of your preservation and archiving solution. This webinar will discuss how to use DuraCloud as a component of your archiving and preservation strategy. An overview of the service will include what it is, how it works, and the benefits it has to offer. Additionally, Bryan Beecher, Director of Computing & Network Services at ICPSR, will present ICPSR's preservation and archivingstrategy. Bryan will share how DuraCloud and other methods have been implemented to meet ICPSR's preservation and archiving goals. If you are interested in attending please thoroughly complete the registration process (below) to receive your unique login url. Be sure to SAVE the return email you receive from Infinite Conferencing as it will include your unique login information.   To register for this event, use the following link: http://ash-cs7.conferenceservers.com/brands/INF/EP_WebInterpoint/maskpath.html?id=66c84ec486&l=en-US  Below is the call-in information for the event. Via Skype (Free, World): Dial +9900827047086940  Via Phone (Toll, US): Dial +1(201)793-9022 Enter Room Number: 7086940 The maximum capacity for this web seminar is 99 participants. The event will be recorded and slides will be available for viewing after the event at http://duraspace.org/web_seminars. Please contact Kristi Searle at ksearle@duraspace.org with any questions. **Please be aware of Infinite Conferencing System Requirements: -          Internet connection speed of 128 kbps or higher is recommended -          Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, or Server 2003 -          Internet Explorer 6.0 SP2, 7.0, 8.0 & 9.0, Firefox 3.0x/3.5, 4, 5 and Chrome 12 browsers -          Apple Mac with Intel CPU, Mac OS X 10.5/10.6, Safari 4.x, 5.x or Firefox 3.x, Java 1.5+ -          Linux, Unix, or Solaris with Mozilla 1.0+ -          Cookies and Scripting enabled in browser

TRAC: A1.2: Succession planning

A1.2 Repository has an appropriate, formal succession plan, contingency plans, and/or escrow arrangements in place in case the repository ceases to operate or the governing or funding institution substantially changes its scope. 

Part of the repository’s perpetual-care promise is a commitment to identify appropriate successors or arrangements should the need arise. Consideration needs to be given to this responsibility while the repository or data is viable—not when a crisis occurs—to avoid irreparable loss. Organizationally, the data in a repository can be at risk regardless of whether the repository is run by a commercial organization or a government entity (national library or archives). At government-managed repositories and archives, a change in government that significantly alters the funding, mission, collecting scope, or staffing of the institution may put the data at risk. These risks are similar to those faced by commercial and researchbased repositories and should minimally be addressed by succession plans for significant collections within the greater repository.

A formal succession plan should include the identification of trusted inheritors, if applicable, and the return of digital objects to depositors with adequate prior notification, etc. If a formal succession plan is not in place, the repository should be able to point to indicators that would form the basis of a plan, e.g., partners, commitment statements, likely heirs. Succession plans need not specify handoff of entire repository to a single organization if this is not feasible. Multiple inheritors are possible so long as the data remains accessible.

Evidence: Succession plan(s); escrow plan(s); explicit and specific statement documenting the intent to ensure continuity of the repository, and the steps taken and to be taken to ensure continuity; formal documents describing exit strategies and contingency plans; depositor agreements.
 

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ICPSR has formalized succession planning and contingency planning via its commitment to Data-PASS, the Data Preservation Alliance for the Social Sciences.  As noted on the Data-PASS web portal:

Organizations join the Data-PASS partnership for several reasons. Membership in Data-PASS helps insure against preservation loss. Data-PASS safeguards the collections of its members through transfer protocols, succession planning, and live replication of collections. If a member organization requires off-site replication of its collections, the partnership will provide it. And if a member organization is no longer institutionally capable of preserving and disseminating a collection, the collection can be preserved and disseminated through the partnership.

This commitment helps ensure that content currently  held and managed by ICPSR will continue to be available even if ICPSR ceases to exist.

The RCS becomes the DARS

ICPSR first launched its Restricted Contract System (RCS) more than two years ago.  Since that initial launch we've learned a lot:  who actually uses the system to apply for access to data; how they experience the system; how ICPSR contract administrators use the system; and, how to build in workflow to make it a smoother experience for all parties.

We relaunched the RCS last week, but with a new name:  the ICPSR Data Access Request System (DARS).  I suspect a lot of us will continue to call it the RCS, but it is the same system, but with a very different look and flow.

The DARS home page is the same as the old RCS system, and the most typical access method for initial use is from the home page of a study.  If a version of a study is available through a data-use agreement, then a link appears on its home page, and clicking that link navigates the visitor to the DARS.

Once there the visitor can initiate the data-use agreement process, going through the same general steps as before.  However, it is now much clearer when the agreement process has been completed, and the ball is now in ICPSR's court for review.  We've also worked hard to distinguish between essential elements of the agreement (e.g., if it changes, then the agreement must be reviewed and signed again), and which are more tangential (e.g., if it changes, ICPSR will be notified, but the agreement need not be signed off on again).

One element of the redesign is an explicit acknowledgement that this system may be used for any data-use request, and is not limited to only restricted-use requests.  We based this change on feedback from an internal team of reviewers who thought that the system should be able to work for any type of content that requires an agreement, even if it isn't particularly sensitive or confidential.

This design also recognizes that the applicant using the system may not necessarily be the PI who is requesting access to the data.  (In fact, we suspect that most applicants are not the PI.)  We therefore built views and rules to make it easier for, say, a population center data coordinator who may be working on several request for several PIs to get a better view of status across all requests.

Tech@ICPSR heads to Gartner

Tech@ICPSR is attending the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo this week in sunny Orlando.  Rather than writing a single blog post summarizing the event, I'll try to post a series of very short posts throughout the week as I attend different sessions.  (Something bigger than a tweet, but not as long as a typical blog post here.)

TRAC: A1.1: Mission statement

A1.1 Repository has a mission statement that reflects a commitment to the long-term retention of, management of, and access to digital information.

The mission statement of the repository must be clearly identified and accessible to depositors and other stakeholders and contain an explicit long-term commitment.

Evidence: Mission statement for the repository; mission statement for the organizational context in which the repository sits; legal or legislative mandate; regulatory requirements.

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Here is our mission statement: 

ICPSR provides leadership and training in data access, curation, and methods of analysis for a diverse and expanding social science research community.

The important word in the context of TRAC requirement A1.1 is curation.  My recollection is that as we were crafting the mission statement, it originally contained many, many more words, and one of the most time-consuming tasks was for the group to pare it down.  I think the term curation was meant to imply not passive storage of content, but active management of our content, beginning with its receipt in the deposit system, and then onward.

Along with a mission statement we also have a strategic plan (which is getting a little long in the tooth now that it is 2011), and the commitment to long-term retention and management of digital information also appears in several places therein.