Data steward networks through FAIR-IMPACT workshops and draft review to promote BonaRes Repository
Creators: name: Atemkeng, Maureen Fonji
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024

description: As a data infrastructure data steward with the BonaRes project, my responsibilities include enhancing the prominence of our data infrastructure, publishing data, educating researchers in research data management, and assisting them in ensuring their data is FAIR. Consequently, it has become crucial for me to establish connections with researchers, project leaders, fellow data stewards, data service providers, data users, and the wider scientific community. I set up a separate mailing list for all of the project principal investigators (PI) to facilitate networking and communication with the various 16 collaborative projects that must publish data in our data infrastructure, and I ensured that each PI assigned a researcher responsible for research data management (RDM) within their project. This allowed me to maintain touch with the focal researchers (16), who were then in charge of distributing RDM-related material from our team to the rest of the project members. Because some researchers still find RDM-related topics boring or secondary, receiving frequent emails in these areas turns them off and makes data stewards' aims even more difficult to achieve. One effective communication method at the institutional level was to target smaller working groups rather than organising 

RDM events for the entire institute. Smaller groups allow for the discovery and solutions of specific requirements. My current concentration is on early-career researchers, primarily PhDs and postdocs. 

It's interesting to see how enthused these scholars are about RDM. Given that they handle the majority of the data collection, cleaning, and analysis, it is clear that networking with them will elevate RDM to new heights, and they may be able to persuade their superiors of the need of RDM.

To boost the exposure of our data infrastructure, we organise workshops on specific and broad RDM themes, and all training materials include links to significant documentations or repository-related websites. Networking through broad RDM subjects proved to be quite effective, as RDM stakeholders who were not interested in data publication were drawn to these broad topics and then got interested in data publication. To increase the use of our repository, we used an outreach technique known as "data of the month". Each month, we showcase a single dataset or data collection across local and social media channels. These highlights generally include the title, abstract, photos, and, most crucially, the author's name and download link. This method has substantially enhanced the network, increasing data downloads as well as the repository's and authors' exposure. We currently receive requests for data from a range of sources, as well as guidance on data organisation and publishing.

Through my interactions with authors during the data publication process, I have encountered a range of issues that they have in ensuring the FAIRness of their data. While seeking training resources on the FAIR principles, I explored the FAIRsFAIR website and gained valuable insights into their initiatives. The FAIRsFAIR zenodo community approved the slides I uploaded on the zenodo platform following my workshop. Subsequently, I have stayed informed on FAIR Data-related matters through this project and have started participating in the FAIR Implementation Workshops held by the FAIR-IMPACT EU project, which succeeded the FAIRsFAIR project. By participating in workshops and subscribing to newsletters, I learned about the FAIR-IMPACT Open calls for support. I applied for one of the support actions called "Recommendations for trustworthy and FAIR-enabling data repositories," which will take place from May to September 2024, and my application was successful.

One of the reasons I applied for the FAIR- IMPACT Support Action was to relate my experience fulfilling the requirements for a trustworthy repository. To enhance the transparency and confidence in repositories, participants in the support action were required to evaluate the FAIR-IMPACT guidelines and offer comments for the draft's improvement. Above all, participants could get direction and help to increase the transparency of information regarding their repository service.Thanks to the FAIR-IMPACT support action and FAIR Implementation Workshops, I was also able to demonstrate how, working with authors, we can identify ways to enhance the FAIRness of their data. 

Networking and communication were crucial while applying for the repository's Core Trust Seal (CTS) certification, as a data steward. To prepare the application, our team had to review the 16 CoreTrustSeal-Requirements-2023-2025 and make the necessary contacts with other stakeholders and third parties to complete the application, which is still under review. Participating in the FAIR-IMPACT support action and FAIR Implementation Workshops provided me with a better understanding of the types of information that can help end users make informed decisions about whether a repository is FAIR-enabling and trustworthy, as well as how the guidelines' implementation can help facilitate discovery, provide context, and support data interoperability. In summation, I felt confident that I had played an important role in shaping the guidelines, and would be one of the draft writers. Once our data infrastructure gets certified, we will encourage journal managers to suggest it to authors and data creators as the next step in boosting networking and collaboration thereby increasing the visibility of our data infrastructure.

References

RDM Training on FAIR Principles: Atemkeng, M. F., Svoboda, N., Hoffmann, C., Specka, X., & Tula, A. (2023, January 4). Let´s Be FAIR with DATA. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7503081

Early Career RDM training material: Atemkeng, M. F. and Wibberg, D. (2024). Checking and increasing the visibility of your publications. Zenodo, 16 May. https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.11204269

BonaRes Repository: https://maps.bonares.de/mapapps/resources/apps/bonares

FAIRsFAIR Training materials: https://www.fairsfair.eu/fair-frameworks-training-programmes

How to apply for the CTS: https://www.coretrustseal.org/apply/

FAIR –IMPACT Support Action: https://fair-impact.eu/support-offer-3-recommendations-trustworthy-and-fair-enabling-data-repositories

FAIR-IMPACT Implementation Workshop: https://fair-impact.eu/events/fair-implementation-workshops