Data Maturity Matrix/meeting notes 20150406

Data Maturity Matrix Telecons: 2015-04-03 and 2015-04-06

Attendees: Ge Peng, Ruth Duerr, Toni Rosati, and Sophie Hou

Meeting Notes:

Overview: Ruth, Toni, and Sophie provided feedback to Peng regarding the Data Maturity Matrix evaluation results based on their respective datasets. The meeting notes are organized based on the nine evaluation categories from the Data Maturity Matrix.

1. Preservability:

a. The evaluators should help in defining what the “community” is that their dataset is part of and identifying if it is community-based or national or international standard-based in terms of archive process and metadata.

b. If only metadata is available through the repository but the actual datasets are still in the hands of the PIs and may not be available sometimes in the future, this might be a preservability level “0” because the datasets are not potentially stored digitally anywhere. It is discoverable but not accessible from a trusted repository.

2. Accessibility:

a. With the organizations that have more consistent applications of its stewardship practices, the datasets stewardship maturity level would likely to reflect the organizations as well.

b. Discoverability is not the same as accessibility (see the example in Preservability).

i. More discussions are needed to determine the pros and cons of combining or separating these two entities. If a dataset is not accessible or does not exist any more, is there any need for assessing its stewardship maturity? Probably not. However, there are many cases where the data is accessible but not readily discoverable and vice versa.

c. The current matrix assumes that datasets are digital and publicly available online. Those assumptions may need to be relaxed to allow application to a wider range of datasets. Wording might need to be modified to accommodate datasets with confidentiality and privacy concerns. How readily and easily for users to get information on the procedures could be used.

i. Peng’s afterthought: Like the idea of defining levels of readiness and easiness for users to find information about the procedure of requesting and timeliness of receiving proper access permission to restricted datasets. Questions for discussions: Are they measurable?

*Ruth - definitely. In some cases, an actual proposal for use is required but access can be granted rapidly thereafter (e.g., a matter of hours). In other cases, it may take months to negotiate access.