skip to main content


Title: Actually Accessible Data: An Update and a Call to Action

As funder, journal, and disciplinary norms and mandates have foregrounded obligations of data sharing and opportunities for data reuse, the need to plan for and curate data sets that can reach researchers and end-users with disabilities has become even more urgent. We begin by exploring the disability studies literature, describing the need for advocacy and representation of disabled scholars as data creators, subjects, and users. We then survey the landscape of data repositories, curation guidelines, and research-data-related standards, finding little consideration of accessibility for people with disabilities. We suggest three sets of minimal good practices for moving toward truly accessible research data: 1) ensuring Web accessibility for data repositories; 2) ensuring accessibility of common text formats, including those used in documentation; and 3) enhancement of visual and audiovisual materials. We point to some signs of progress in regard to truly accessible data by highlighting exemplary practices by repositories, standards, and data professionals. Accessibility needs to become a mainstream component of curation practice included in every training, manual, and primer.

 
more » « less
Award ID(s):
1823950 2116935
NSF-PAR ID:
10522952
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ;
Publisher / Repository:
Iowa State University Press
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication
Volume:
11
Issue:
1
ISSN:
2162-3309
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. Accessibility of research data to disabled users has received scant attention in literature and practice. In this paper we briefly survey the current state of accessibility for research data and suggest some first steps that repositories should take to make their holdings more accessible. We then describe in depth how those steps were implemented at the Qualitative Data Repository (QDR), a domain repository for qualitative social-science data. The paper discusses accessibility testing and improvements on the repository and its underlying software, changes to the curation process to improve accessibility, as well as efforts to retroactively improve the accessibility of existing collections. We conclude by describing key lessons learned during this process as well as next steps. 
    more » « less
  2. People with disabilities have been historically underrepresented in scientific fields as a result of systemic barriers and a “leaky pipeline” through academia. This has been especially true in field science, where a lack of resources and limited access to adaptive equipment have made accommodating disabilities in field settings seem daunting. This paper introduces the Equipment Repositories for Accessibility (ERA) model as a blueprint for universities to implement and improve the accessibility of field research and field-based courses. It first provides an overview of the history of disability in science and how systemic barriers contribute to underrepresentation and reduced access to field science. It then outlines the steps for the establishment and long-term management of the ERA model as a means of overcoming these barriers and provides a brief overview of the types of adaptive equipment available for a diverse range of accessibility needs. The scientific community benefits from the inclusion of diverse individuals and addressing barriers to accessibility is a necessary step in creating a truly intersectional academic community, which acknowledges the deeply interconnected nature of disability with other identities including race, gender, and sexuality. 
    more » « less
  3. Over the last decade, significant changes have affected the work that data repositories of all kinds do. First, the emergence of globally unique and persistent identifiers (PIDs) has created new opportunities for repositories to engage with the global research community by connecting existing repository resources to the global research infrastructure. Second, repository use cases have evolved from data discovery to data discovery and reuse, significantly increasing metadata requirements.To respond to these evolving requirements, we need retrospective and on-going curation, i.e. re-curation, processes that 1) find identifiers and add them to existing metadata to connect datasets to a wider range of communities, and 2) add elements that support reuse to globally connected metadata.The goal of this work is to introduce the concept of re-curation with representative examples that are generally applicable to many repositories: 1) increasing completeness of affiliations and identifiers for organizations and funders in the Dryad Repository and 2) measuring and increasing FAIRness of DataCite metadata beyond required fields for institutional repositories.These re-curation efforts are a critical part of reshaping existing metadata and repository processes so they can take advantage of new connections, engage with global research communities, and facilitate data reuse.

     
    more » « less
  4. Data curation is the process of making a dataset fit-for-use and archivable. It is critical to data-intensive science because it makes complex data pipelines possible, studies reproducible, and data reusable. Yet the complexities of the hands-on, technical, and intellectual work of data curation is frequently overlooked or downplayed. Obscuring the work of data curation not only renders the labor and contributions of data curators invisible but also hides the impact that curators' work has on the later usability, reliability, and reproducibility of data. To better understand the work and impact of data curation, we conducted a close examination of data curation at a large social science data repository, the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR). We asked: What does curatorial work entail at ICPSR, and what work is more or less visible to different stakeholders and in different contexts? And, how is that curatorial work coordinated across the organization? We triangulated accounts of data curation from interviews and records of curation in Jira tickets to develop a rich and detailed account of curatorial work. While we identified numerous curatorial actions performed by ICPSR curators, we also found that curators rely on a number of craft practices to perform their jobs. The reality of their work practices defies the rote sequence of events implied by many life cycle or workflow models. Further, we show that craft practices are needed to enact data curation best practices and standards. The craft that goes into data curation is often invisible to end users, but it is well recognized by ICPSR curators and their supervisors. Explicitly acknowledging and supporting data curators as craftspeople is important in creating sustainable and successful curatorial infrastructures. 
    more » « less
  5. Abstract

    Persistent identifiers for research objects, researchers, organizations, and funders are the key to creating unambiguous and persistent connections across the global research infrastructure (GRI). Many repositories are implementing mechanisms to collect and integrate these identifiers into their submission and record curation processes. This bodes well for a well-connected future, but metadata for existing resources submitted in the past are missing these identifiers, thus missing the connections required for inclusion in the connected infrastructure. Re-curation of these metadata is required to make these connections. This paper introduces the global research infrastructure and demonstrates how repositories, and their user communities, can contribute to and benefit from connections to the global research infrastructure.

    The Dryad Data Repository has existed since 2008 and has successfully re-curated the repository metadata several times, adding identifiers for research organizations, funders, and researchers. Understanding and quantifying these successes depends on measuring repository and identifier connectivity. Metrics are described and applied to the entire repository here.

    Identifiers (Digital Object Identifiers, DOIs) for papers connected to datasets in Dryad have long been a critical part of the Dryad metadata creation and curation processes. Since 2019, the portion of datasets with connected papers has decreased from 100% to less than 40%. This decrease has significant ramifications for the re-curation efforts described above as connected papers have been an important source of metadata. In addition, missing connections to papers make understanding and re-using datasets more difficult.

    Connections between datasets and papers can be difficult to make because of time lags between submission and publication, lack of clear mechanisms for citing datasets and other research objects from papers, changing focus of researchers, and other obstacles. The Dryad community of members, i.e. users, research institutions, publishers, and funders have vested interests in identifying these connections and critical roles in the curation and re-curation efforts. Their engagement will be critical in building on the successes Dryad has already achieved and ensuring sustainable connectivity in the future.

     
    more » « less