#### __"Those last few seconds were our first taste of the atmosphere of Saturn," Watkins said. "Who knows how many PhD theses are in that data?"__ -- JPL Director Mike Watkins, as quoted by the Washington Post. --------------------------------------------- ## Data Entropy Unlike research products such as journal articles, dissertations, etc., data are often not self-describing. That is, data by themselves may lack the information and context needed to be fully understood: sources, methods, and limitations on applicability or use. The importance of this information or additional context is illustrated by the following model of data entropy: ![Data Entropy from Michener et al., 1997][1] (Image credit Michener et al. 1997) All of these risks can be pro-actively managed. --------------------------------------------- ## Research Lifecycle As implied by the image above, data management takes place across multiple contexts. It is ongoing and requires planning. Data may require your attention longer than they have your interest! A highly generalized model is provided here: ![A research lifecycle model][2] Among other reasons, it is used here because it maps nicely to the generic NSF data management plan (DMP) requirements: * Types of data produced * Data & metadata standards * Policies for access & sharing * Policies for reuse and redistribution * Plans for archiving and preservation Put simply, a DMP is a lifecycle document. It should be considered a minimum standard, and is ideally a high level summary of a more detailed, actionable plan. ------------------------------------------------ ## Recommended Best Practices Note that the following recommendations apply to a 2 page NSF DMP as well as a more thorough, actionable plan. * Be specific about roles * Who is responsible for the data? * Who is responsible for implementing the DMP? * Who is responsible for data stewardship post-project? * Identify standards where applicable * File formats and software * Metadata * Licensing * Commit to openness * Open formats and standards * Sharing and archiving * __Budget for data management!__ -------------------------------------------------- ## Resources * [Online DMP Tool](https://dmptool.org/) * [UNM Libraries Data Management Libguide](http://libguides.unm.edu/data) * [Open Science Framework](https://osf.io/) [1]: http://www.europeanpollendatabase.net/wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?w=400&tok=014894&media=figure1_1.jpg [2]: https://library.sydney.edu.au/research/data-management/images/Research_data_lifecycle_final_20150827.png