Connect & Retain: Data retention, active digital preservation and trustworthy digital archives – a myth buster talk

Tuesday 11 February, 10:00-11:00h, online (postponed)

The Leiden University Data Management Regulation stipulates that underlying research data should be kept for a minimum of 10 years. On the other hand, we often assume to, and research data repositories often aim to, be keeping data indefinitely. So what do we do with data after 10 years? And who decides if data should be kept or discarded, and based on what criteria? And if we want to keep data for long-term preservation, how do we make sure they are in the right shape to do so? We plan to focus on these questions during the year, kicking off this Love Data Week with a presentation on the processes of data retention and digital preservation.

Micky Lindlar of TIB Leibniz Information Centre for Science and Technology, and member of the EOSC Long-Term Data Retention Task Force, will present on data retention, active digital preservation and trustworthy digital archives. They write:

“Your data is safe on our servers!”, “There are only a handful of file formats that are suitable for digital preservation!”, “No one really preserves data for longer than 10 years”, “Use this file format and you’re safe for eternity”, “Research data is so different from publication data – we have no idea where we should start!”. Have you ever heard any of these statements? A lot of myths exist when it comes to the processes of data retention and digital preservation. How can you spot these myths? What should you know about data retention principles and active digital preservation processes? This talk will give an introduction into what data retention is, what problems data may face over the long-term (or from the start) and how active digital preservation can meet these problems. It will also highlight the role that frameworks for trustworthiness play for digital repositories and digital archives.

More information and registration

Data Carpentry training: Data Carpentry with R for Social Sciences and Humanities

Monday-Tuesday 10-11 February, whole day (fully booked)

Data Carpentry develops and teaches workshops on the fundamental data skills needed to conduct research. Its target audience is researchers who have little to no prior computational experience, and its lessons are domain specific, building on learners' existing knowledge to enable them to quickly apply skills learned to their own research. Participants will be encouraged to help one another and to apply what they have learned to their own research problems. The course is aimed at graduate students and other researchers from Leiden University, VU, Erasmus University and TU Delft. The current edition is given at the new Digital Lab at the Leiden University Centre for Digital Humanities.

While this course is fully booked, it is given three times per year, so keep an eye on the University calendar entries! You can find more information on Carpentries training in this blog by Peter Verhaar.

Code Check

Friday 14 February, all day

The Leiden University Center for Digital Humanities is hosting their fourth codecheck event on 14 February, in collaboration with CDS colleague Kristina Hettne. Your can register here.

Coming soon: the “Leidse Regeling Werkgeversauteursrecht”

Fitting in perfectly with the theme of the week, “Whose data is it, anyway?”, the “Leidse Regeling Werkgeversauteursrecht” (Leiden University Employer Copyright Regulation) will become available online soon. In this useful document, the university's policy on dataset ‘ownership’ is detailed, along with many other copyright aspects. More details will be given in a separate blog by CDS copyright expert Erna Sattler, so watch this space.

Update 12 February 2025: The Leiden University Employer Copyright Regulation has now been published; Erna Sattler introduces this new Regulation in a blog.

Other events

You can find many more Love Data Week events and activities here.

Acknowledgements

Banner photo by Alexander Sinn on Unsplash. This blog was reviewed by Tessa de Roo.

Editor's note: The blog was updated on 12 February to indicate that the Connect & Retain event was postponed and to add the reference to the blog on the Leiden University Employer Copyright Regulation.