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Research Data Camp

Research Data Camp Overview

Welcome to the January 2024 Research Data Camp. The Camp is sponsored and organized by the Center for Research Data and Digital Scholarship (CRDDS) at the University of Colorado Boulder, and Colorado State University Libraries.

It is likely that you will work with research data at some point during the course of your respective graduate programs. The goal of this Research Data Camp is to provide you with an overview of some of the skills, strategies, and best practices that will help you to get started in pursuing this kind of work. The Camp does not presuppose any prior experience in working with research data, and all of the sessions are introductory in nature. Our purpose is not to help you master any given topic, but to provide a useful and productive starting point for further exploration and learning. As you explore further after the Camp and into the semester, we hope you’ll make use of your campus’s many resources, such as opportunities for individual consultations and workshops (many of which will cover the material introduced here in greater depth). More information about these opportunities is provided on the CRDDS and CSU websites.

In thinking about the various skills and tasks that are relevant to projects that involve research data, librarians and data professionals often think in terms of a heuristic called the research data lifecycle:

Research Lifecycle

The lifecycle model specifies, in broad terms, the distinct yet interconnected stages of a data-intensive research project; each stage involves a variety of more specific tasks and competencies, as represented in the following graphic from the CRDDS website:

Research Lifecycle Tasks

By attending the Camp, our hope is that you will be empowered to navigate the research data lifecycle with respect to your own work, in a deliberate and intentional way.

The different sessions of the Research Data Camp address themselves to various stages of this research data lifecycle (italicized words correspond to the stage(s) of the research data lifecycle that the session will emphasize).

  • The first session, on Data Discovery, will be taught by Liz Novosel (Subject Librarian at CU Boulder Libraries). It will provide you with an introduction to basic strategies for finding data that is relevant to your research needs, and explore basic principles of data ethics that you should consider when working with research data. (Plan; Develop; Publish; Preserve)
  • The second session, on Data Ethics will be taught by Nickoal Eichmann-Kalwara (Digital Scholarship Librarian at CRDDS) and Katerina Allmendinger (Success and Engagement Librarian at CU Boulder Libraries). It will discuss basic principles of data ethics, with the goal of empowering you to use and create research data in an ethical and responsible manner. (Plan; Develop; Publish; Preserve)
  • The third session, on Data Publishing and Repositories will be taught by Melissa Cantrell (Scholarly Communication Librarian at CRDDS) and Andrew Johnson (Head of Data and Scholarly Communication Services at CRDDS). It will discuss basic principles of scholarly communication as it relates to data research, and best practices for data archiving (Plan; Publish; Preserve)
  • The fourth session, on Data Management, will be taught by Mara Sedlins (Research Data Management Specialist at Colorado State University Libraries). It will explore basic principles of data management, and introduce tools for data management and storage. (Plan; Develop; Preserve).
  • Our fifth session is an Interdisciplinary Tools Tour taught by Nickoal Eichmann-Kalwara. It will survey various useful data-related tools for interdisciplinary research. (Plan; Develop; Publish; Preserve)
  • The sixth session, on GitHub and GitHub Pages, will be taught by Phil White (Earth Sciences and GIS Librarian at CU Boulder Libraries). It will explore how you can use GitHub and GitHub pages as platforms to collaborate with others, and to share and disseminate your work (Publish; Preserve)
  • The seventh session, on Data Analysis in R, will be taught by Ellery Galvin (PhD Student in Applied Mathematics at CU Boulder, and Statistics Specialist at CRDDS). It aims to introduce R novices to useful principles, tools, and packages for data-based research in R/R Studio (Develop).
  • The eighth and final session will focus on the Python programming language, and will be taught by Kevin Worthington (Maps and GIS Data Specialist at Colorado State University Libraries). The Python Fundamentals session will cover the fundamentals of the Python programming language, while Data Analysis in Python will introduce you to the use of Python for data-based research (Develop).

We will conclude the Research Data Camp by discussing how you can continue your learning about the various topics introduced at the Camp by participating in CRDDS programs and activities during the fall semester and beyond. We will also discuss the details of the Research Data Camp microcredential, which you can earn by completing a small project that demonstrates your familiarity with the topics presented over the course of the Camp.