Thursday, October 01, 2009

Keeping Research Data Safe2 Costs Survey

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The Keeping Research Data Safe2 project (KRDS2) funded by JISC commenced on 31 March 2009 and will complete in December 2009. The project is identifying long-lived datasets for the purpose of cost analysis (including social sciences and humanities research) and is building on the work of the first “Keeping Research Data Safe” study completed in 2008. The report from KRDS1 made a major contribution to the understanding of digital preservation costs by developing a cost model and identifying the major expenditure variables for preserving research data in the UK. The report focused on Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) but its conclusions are of value to other organisations which preserve research data.

KRDS2 is currently undertaking detailed analysis of available cost information from 3 of its project partners and aims to develop guidance for how cost metrics can be captured and applied in future from this.

In addition a survey proforma has now been added to the project website to help identify other research data collections with information on preservation costs and issues. KRDS2 invite you to contribute to the data survey if you have research datasets and associated cost information that you feel may be of interest to the study.

We anticipate that no organisation will have complete information on costs but most will have cost information in some areas. The aim of the survey is to compile an overview of what preservation cost information is collected.

The Survey proforma is available to download as an Acrobat form (requires Adobe Reader 8+ installed) or a Word form (requires Microsoft Word installed). The Survey proforma is available as a single main questionnaire or alternatively if you have multiple cost datasets you can complete a separate organisational cover sheet and multiple collection details as required. It should take less than 30 minutes to complete and KRDS2 is seeking responses (to info@beagrie.com) by the end of October 2009.

Further information on the KRDS2 Project can be found on the project website. The outcomes of the study will be critical in developing preservation-costing tools and associated cost-benefit analyses and we would encourage everyone who can contribute to participate. If you have any queries on the survey or need further information before completing the form please do not hesitate to get in touch.


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