Who Owns Research Data? | Interdisciplinary Lunch Series

Date/Time
Date(s) - 09/14/2012
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

On March 16, 2012, the Center will host an “interdisciplinary lunch” open to faculty and graduate students from across the UNC system. The topic will be “Who owns research data?”

There are many stakeholders who may have a legitimate interest in determining what happens to data that are collected and generated as part of scholarly research. “Ownership” can be seen as a right to control the data but also as having the responsibility to responsibly care for the data over time. Data ownership issues touch on legal constraints and commitments (e.g. FERPA, intellectual property, human subjects protections, open records laws), requirements of funding agencies (e.g. data management plans), and social norms and behaviors. Perceptions of ownership often do not align well with formal, institutional mandates. And those responsible for creation of data are not always well positioned to provide for long-term access.

The lunch will be held from noon to 1:15 p.m. on Friday, September 14 in room 208 in Manning Hall. We will provide box lunches and drinks for those who register. All you need to bring is an inquiring mind.

The topic description and reading list below were developed by Christopher “Cal” Lee, an associate professor in the UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS). Thanks to Cal for the reading list and to SILS for hosting this event!

Background Readings

To help guide the discussion, we have selected several optional background articles on the topic:

• Anderson, William L. “Some Challenges and Issues in Managing, and Preserving Access to, Long-Lived Collections of Digital Scientific and Technical Data.” Data Science Journal 3 (2004): 191-201

• Council on Governmental Relations. “Access to and Retention of Research Data Rights and Responsibilities.” March 1, 2006

• Keeping science open: the effects of intellectual property policy on the conduct of science. London: Royal Society, 2003

• Research Data Stewardship at UNC: Recommendations for Scholarly Practice and Leadership. February 15, 2012

• Scaramozzino, Jeanine Marie, Marisa L. Ramírez, and Karen J. McGaughey. “A Study of Faculty Data Curation Behaviors and Attitudes at a Teaching-Centered University.” College & Research Libraries 73, no. 4 (2012): 349-65

We plan to use these readings as a jumping off point for the conversation, but we also are eager to discuss how these issues intersect with your work.

Contact

We hope that you can make it. Please RSVP to Liz Woolery by September 12 so we can order a lunch for you.