Workshop Information
NETS Stakeholder Workshop
June 27-28, 2013
Amherst, MA
The Nanoscience and Emerging Technologies in Society: Sharing Research and Learning Tools (NETS) project investigates digital resources to advance the collection, dissemination, and preservation of this body of research, addressing the challenge of marshalling resources, academic collaborators, appropriately skilled data managers, and digital repository services for large-scale, multi-institutional and disciplinary research projects.
The central activity of the project involves a summer 2013 workshop that will gather key researchers in the field and digital librarians together to plan the development of a disciplinary repository of data, curricula, and methodological tools.
Participation in the stakeholder workshop is limited. NETS is soliciting letters of interest from researchers, data managers, and digital collections managers to represent their areas of expertise during this exploration of disciplinary and technical needs to support a centralized digital repository for nano ELSI research.
FAQs
What is the value of creating a dedicated Nano ELSI repository?
The benefits of having these data in a shared infrastructure are: the centralization of research and ease of discovery; uniformity of access; standardization of metadata and the description of projects; and facilitation of compliance with funder requirements for data management going forward. Additional benefits of this project will be the expansion of data curation capabilities for data repositories into the nanotechnology domain, and research into the development of disciplinary repositories, for which very little literature exists.
What would a dedicated Nano ELSI repository contain?
Potential materials that need to be curated are both qualitative and quantitative in nature, including:
- survey instruments, data, and analyses
- interview transcriptions and analyses
- images or multimedia
- reports
- research papers, books, and their supplemental data
- curricular materials
What will the Stakeholder Workshop accomplish?
The Stakeholder Workshop aims to bring together the key researchers and digital librarians to draft a detailed project plan for the implementation of a dedicated Nano ELSI repository. The Workshop will be used as a venue to discuss questions such as:
- How can a repository extend research in this area?
- What is the best way to collect all the research in this area?
- What tools would users envision using with this resource?
- Who should maintain and staff a repository like this?
- How much would a repository like this cost?
- How long will it take to implement?
What is expected of Workshop participants?
The workshop will bring together key researchers and digital librarians to discuss the requirements for a dedicated Nano ELSI repository. To inform that discussion, some participants will be requested to present on their current or past research projects and collaborations. In addition, workshop participants will be enlisted to contribute to the draft of the final project report and make recommendations for the implementation plan.
Will participants' expenses be paid?
The NETS Stakeholder Workshop will take place in Amherst, Mass., in June 2013. NETS will provide food, accommodation, and travel for all Stakeholder Workshop participants. Again, participation is limited; those with relevant data and experience will be given higher consideration.