Using the DAF Methodology in Oxford

The document "Using the Data Audit Framework: An Oxford Case Study" reporting on the Oxford experience applying the DAF Methodology has now been published as a deliverable of the JISC funded DISC-UK DataShare project.

The DAF Methodology proved to be an excellent complement to the interview framework used to gather researchers' requirements for services to help them manage their data as part of the Scoping Digital Repository Services for

 Research Data Management project. 

In the Oxford DAF two research groups participated in the exercise mainly through their Data Managers who provided incredibly valuable information about their groups' data and data management practices.  In both cases, their practices where mapped, see example below, to the DCC Lifecycle Model which we felt it needed to be integrated with the DAF Methodology.

In addition to this, the DAF data assets register was used to compile information about data resources being made available through the Oxford website.

We have had a really good experience with the DAF Methodology here in Oxford and will certainly make use of it in the future.

Oxford to use the Data Audit Framework as part of DataShare

From the DISC-UK DataShare blog:

In the coming months the Universities of Southampton and Oxford will conduct data audits using the JISC Data Audit Framework Methodology as part of the JISC DISC-UK DataShare project. 

JISC funded the Data Audit Framework (DAF) Development Project to develop a methodology to enable universities to carry out exercises to map research data resources and data management practices across departments and research centres. This should help departments and institutions to identify what data they have, where they are located and how they are being looked after as well as to raise awareness of the importance of actively managing research data. Four projects were funded to pilot the methodology at University College London, Imperial College London, University of Edinburgh, and King's College London.

In the University of Oxford, Luis Martinez-Uribe will conduct the data audit as part of the Scoping Digital Repository Services for Research Data Management project. After having captured requirements for services to assist researchers with their data management, Luis will use DAF to gain deeper understanding of the research data held in some departments and those data published on departmental websites.

Harry Gibbs and Teresa McGowan will be leading the DAF work at the University of Southampton aiming to build a picture of the research data used and generated in the School of Social Sciences and to gain understanding of the School’s current data management processes.