Editorial

Hello,

Four years after the start of NFDI, the consortia from the first round are now working on their follow-up proposals. In this phase, the consortia are reorganizing. They are seeking new participants and networking their services. To support the networking and sustainability of decentralized services, RDMG has introduced a concept into the discussion at the state level of Baden-Württemberg .

Best regards,

Jan Leendertse

From the RDMG

Open Science Policy Published

The Open Science Policy, adopted in January 2024, has been published. It is accessible as the canonical version on FreiDok plus and additionally as a search engine-friendly version on the main page of the university . For citations, the PDF version on FreiDok plus should be used.

Concept for operating common services

In a working paper by the RDMG with the involvement of other university members, a concept is outlined on how decentralized services with potential can be sustained beyond project phases. An example is the OMERO image database, which was set up as a service within the NFDI4BIOIMAGE consortium. During a meeting of the Research Data Management Working Group (AK FDM) , it sparked a discussion because many universities see initiatives for promising services that come to an unmanaged end as project funding runs out. For similar initiatives at the University of Freiburg that benefit beyond an institute or project and lack permanent operational organization, please contact the RDMG .

Paper on Data Minimization

The working group AK FDM has developed a joint paper titled “Guide to Digital Data Minimization ,” which provides solutions for the ever-growing storage needs in research data management. Increasing data volumes are welcome but lead to new technical and organizational challenges. The paper explains possible motivations behind digital data minimization considering organizational, technical, and ethical criteria, data protection, and sustainability. It offers implementation suggestions for both the preliminary and ongoing phases of a research project against the backdrop of central challenges.

Research Data Management in Practice

Data Steward Meeting

After an interruption of some months, those employed as Data Stewards in clusters and projects or involved in domain-specific data organization met on April 25 . A brief report and the slides from the meeting are available in the RDMG discussion forum.

During this meeting, the Open Science Policy was presented with a focus on its impact on data stewardship. It provides another reference point for data management strategies aimed at sustainability. An example was also shown on how nested folder structures can be stored in FreiData. Lastly, SFTPgo was introduced. This service opens bwSFS for users who want to utilize the features of S3 technology but lack the resources for integration via command-line interfaces and would be adequately served by access via WebDAV or SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol). SFTPgo also opens bwSFS for data exchange with external parties.

Colleagues from the IT center attended this meeting, leading to follow-up discussions on technical implementation. One example was the automated publication of data packages from device data in FreiData.

SFTPgo in Production Use

SFTPgo is in production use with initial professors. The last newsletter highlighted the ability to access object storage with WebDAV and SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol). Through SFTPgo’s web frontend, links can also be generated to offer data packages to external parties for download. Control over which data is made available to whom remains with the users.

If interested, please contact rdm@mail.uni-freiburg.de .

Connection of Galaxy to FreiData and Zenodo

Galaxy enabled the interface to repositories in early May that are operated with InvenioRDM. This includes FreiData. Data generated in Galaxy can now be directly transferred to FreiData and linked with a DOI.

Dates

Meeting of RDM Representatives and NFDI Participants from Freiburg

NFDI participants and RDM representatives from the University of Freiburg should save the date from 16:00 to 17:30 on October 22, 2024. Colleagues from the MatWerk and DataPLANT consortia and the RDMG will invite participants, with the venue and agenda being prepared. Expected topics include support for grant applications requiring evidence of research data management and data exchange with cooperation partners.

Next Newsletter

Newsletter #005 is expected to be published in the last week of July 2024.