Research Data and Humanities: an European overview

0.24 MB·English

by  Maura Funari

Research data and humanities: a
European context
MauraFunari
1 Defining research data
The subject of research data1 has handled in scientific research’s
contexts,bothintheorizationsonresearch’sdifferenttopics,andin
managementpoliciesofresearch’sresultsandininternationalorga-
nizationspolicy’sdocuments. Tobypassthenecessityofdefining
researchdata,inthestrictsenseoftheword,isacommontendency.
Butvirtuallytomeetwithconceptualambiguitiesisfrequent: de-
pendingonthefieldofapplication,peculiaraspectsareidentifiedso
they,eventhoughinsomecasesalmostimperceptibly,vary. Sofar
onedefinitionwithaunivocalandauniversalkind,doesnotexist.
UNESCO(Swan)describesresearchdataasatypeof“research
output”togetherwithjournals,peer-reviewedconferenceproceed-
1Theitaliantranslationhasnotfoundacleardefinition: theitalianversionof
EuropeanCommission’sdocumentsrefersbothto“datidellaricerca”(Comunicazione
dellaCommissionealParlamentoEuropeo,alConsiglio,alComitatoeconomicoesociale
europeoealComitatodelleRegioni.Versounaccessomigliorealleinformazioniscientifiche:
aumentareibeneficidell’investimentopubbliconellaricerca)andto“datidiricerca”(Rac-
comandazionedellaCommissione,del17luglio2012,sull’accessoall’informazionescientifica
esullasuaconservazione).InthistreatisetheAnglo-Saxontermhasbeenkeptbecause
ofthecommonacceptance.
JLIS.it.Vol.5,n.1(Gennaio/January2014).
DOI:10.4403/jlis.it-8927
M.Funari,Researchdataandhumanities
ings,andbooks. Thiscategorizationseemstoindividualizeinthis
typologyofdata,aninstrumenttoexternalizeresearch’sproducts,
alsoacknowledgingtoresearchdataageneralincreaseintheatten-
tionthatopenaccesspoliciesattachthem.
A set of definitions comes from Australian National Data Ser-
vice(ANDS)which,specifyingintheintroductorythefactthatany
definitionislikelytodependonthecontextinwhichthequestionis
asked,collectsdefinitionsenunciatedindatamanagementpolicies
ofsomeAustralianuniversities: UniversityofMelbourne,Monash
University,GriffithUniversity(AustralianNationalDataService).
Thefirsttwodefinitionsquotecommonelementsinresearchdata’s
characterization,identifyingavarietyofshapesandcontentsandso
leavingoutapreviousdeterminationbasedonthesecriteria. The
foundingroleofresearchdata,thatisthedatumusedasprimary
source,oronwhichtheresearch’stheoryisbased,isanadditional
aspectjustinthefirstofthethreequoteddefinitions:“ResearchData
meansdata[...] onwhichanargument,theory,testorhypothesis,
or another research output is based” (University Of Melbourne).
TheGriffithUniversity’sdefinitionverbatimrefers,inthefirstpart,
totheOECDOrganisationforEconomicCooperationandDevelop-
ment(OECD)one(13)inwhichresearchdataaredefinedas“factual
records(numericalscores,textualrecords,imagesandsounds)used
asprimarysourcesforscientificresearchandthatarecommonlyac-
cepted,inthescientificcommunity,asnecessarytovalidateresearch
findings”. Thereforethisdefinitiondeterminesthatthecondition
ofcommonlyacknowledged,asnecessarymaterialinordertovali-
dateresearchfindingsbyscientificcommunity,isdeterminingfor
researchdata. Asimilarformulationcomesfromdefinitionofscien-
tificdatareportedintheMemorandumfortheHeadsofExecutive
Departments and Agencies2 of the Executive Office of the Presi-
2http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/ostp_
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dent,OfficeofScienceandTechnologypolicy,oftheWhiteHouse.
These data are defined as: “the digital recorded factual material,
commonlyacceptedinthescientificcommunity,asnecessarytoval-
idateresearchfindingsincludingdatasetsusedtosupportscholarly
publications”. Alsointhiscasetheconditionofnecessarymaterial
tovalidateresearchfindings,notdefinedas“factualrecord”butas
“factualmaterial(digitalrecorded)”,isconnotative.
The ANDS is, moreover, the RDA’s founder3 (Research Data
Alliance),withtheEuropeanCommission’ssupport(throughthe
iCordiproject,treatedintheparagraphassignedtoinfrastructures)
andtheUnitedStatesonetoo(throughtheNationalScienceFoun-
dation). The international organization aims to accelerate and to
improveinnovationanddata-drivenresearch,encouragingtheac-
tionsconnectedtoresearchdata(suchasexchange,sharing,usesand
re-uses, standardsandvisibility)andachievingthedevelopment
andtheadoptionofinfrastructures,policies,practices,standardse
services.
Gettingbacktotheresearchdata’sdefinitions,theCommunica-
tionoftheEuropeanCommission(ComunicazionedellaCommissioneal
ParlamentoEuropeo,alConsiglio,alComitatoeconomicoesocialeeuropeo
ealComitatodelleRegioni. Versounaccessomigliorealleinformazioni
scientifiche: aumentareibeneficidell’investimentopubbliconellaricerca
3),emphasizingtheincreasingattentiontotheresearchdata’saccess
improvement,characterizesthemas“experimentalresults,obser-
vationsandcomputer-generatedinformationwhichformthebasis
forthequantitativeanalysisunderpinningmanyscientificpublica-
tions”. Holdingintoconsiderationtheheterogeneitycomingoutof
theabove-saiddefinitions,however,itispossibletoestablishthat
researchdatacanbemeanttodata,indifferentformsandcontents,
public_access_memo_2013.pdf.
3http://rd-alliance.org/.
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M.Funari,Researchdataandhumanities
which constitute the basis for a scientific research, as a primary
resource and foundation of the research’s findings. Since the in-
trinsicvalueandthenecessityofcollection,preservation,sharing,
arequalitiesvaryingaccordingtodifferentfactors,fromthenature
of the research to the disciplinary field, the individuation of pre-
establishedcriteriaisessentialtosetwhatkindofdata,produced
intoaspecificarea, couldbeincludedinresearchdata’scategory.
This task should mainly belong to research’s findings treatment
policiesdevelopedbycenters,agenciesandinstitutionsinvolved.
Frombothaqualitativeandaquantitativepointofview,during
theresearch’sphases,alotofdatacouldbeproducedbutcertainly
their potential value constitutes the essential assumption for the
interest toward this typology, in the fields of information science
andresearch’sfindingstreatmentpolicies. Thispotentialvaluecan
varydependingondatum’sform,nature,origin(NationalScience
Foundation. NationalScienceBoard12-13). Thisrelativityissharp-
ened by differences that emerge both in natural sciences/human
sciencesmacro-areas,andinthesingledisciplines,insidethetwo
areas.
Furthermoreitmustbespecifythatresearch’sdatumcanhasgotthe
doubleroleofproduct(asresultorresultantofaspecificresearch)
andofsource(asadatumalreadyproducedbysomeoneelseand
re-usedasthebasisofanewresearch): acircumstancethathasbeen
appointedreferringtotheantitheticalideasofoutputandinput.4
Thisdoublenessbringsoutthepatternofacirculationandknowl-
edge’ssharingsystemwhich,whereasanopenlevelofsharingis
looming,foundedontheactionofre-using(Murray-Rust)(Murray-
Rust). Murrayhimself,quotedintheItalianstudies(DeRobbioand
Giacomazzi),noticesonedifferenceinpracticesofdata’spublication
4”Dataareoutputsofresearch,inputstoscholarlypublications,andinputstosub-
sequentresearchandlearning”(Borgman,ScholarshipintheDigitalAge:Information,
Infrastructure,andtheInternet115).
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andusebetweenthetypologiesof“LargeScience”and“SmallSci-
ence”.5 Furthermore,fromaterminologicalpointofview,6 theopen
level of sharing is the discriminating condition between research
dataandopenresearchdata: thelastonerefersjusttoopendata,
whilethefirstdoesnotleaveoutthem.
2 Research data in humanities
Naturalsciencesdifferfromhumanities,besidesforfieldofstudy
andmethodologies,alsoforagreaterquantityofdataproduced(as
a consequence of the technical level and the objectivity founding
naturalsciences),fortheirtypology(whichaffectsalsotheirlevelof
elaboration)andalsoforthedegreeofnecessityandpracticeintheir
sharing and re-using. These circumstances have made scientific-
naturalresearch’sdataprotagonists,notjustintheoreticalstudies,
butalsointheexecutionsofsystemsfortheircollection,manage-
mentandsharing,andinthepoliciesconcerningtoresearch. The
disadvantagecharacterizinghumanitiesinthisfield,suchasinthe
open access one (Suber), derives both from scientific-humanistic
research’sfeaturesandsofromtheirresultsandsources,andfrom
correlatedeconomicandculturalexplanations,especiallyconcern-
ingspreadandtiming(inthescientific-naturalresearchtheneed
of sharing, both in results ’s storage and in the access to them, is
characterizedbyaquicknessthatisreducedinhumanities.)7
5ThedistinctionmadebyMurraybetween“Largescience”and“Smallscience”
isbasedontheresearch’sunitdimensionthat,inthefirstcase,isvastandnarrow
(individualorlaboratory)inthesecondone.
6TherequirementssatisfyingtheattributeofOpen,referringtodataare,various.
Seethedefinitionof“open”proposedbytheOpenKnowledgeFoundation: http:
//opendefinition.org/okd/.
7PeterSuber(“Promotingopenaccessinthehumanities”)inhisanalysisonthe
openaccessslowmovinginthehumanitiescomparedtonaturalsciences,identifies
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M.Funari,Researchdataandhumanities
Ifaccordingtonaturalsciencestheindividualizationofwhatcan
correspondtoaresearchdataisratherintuitive,forwhenitcomes
humanities,thequestionismorecomplex.8 TheNationalScience
Foundation(12-13)identifiesdifferentdatacategories(“observational,
computational,orexperimental”)asaresultoftheirgivingorigin
toanobservation, acomputation, oranexperiment. Ifinnatural
sciencestheseactionsbelongtothestandardresearchingmethod
duringtheinterpretationandthestudyofphenomena,understood
asobservationalevents,inhumanities,whichhaveassubject-matter
nophysicalentities,thecorrespondenceisnotsoobvious.
The overlapping between data concept and “primary source”
(Burrows)constitutesthekeypointofthematter.9 Theconnection
between the two concepts is clear in the OECD’s quoted defini-
tion(PrinciplesandGuidelinesforAccesstoResearchDatafromPublic
Funding),inwhichresearchdataarethe“factualrecords”usedas
“primarysources”. Thisrolecomestrueintheresearch’sprocess:
thedatumconsideredasfactualrecordbecomestheprimarysource
oftheresearch. Andyet,consideringthedataproductsandtheir
ninedifferencesconcerningtheresearchinthetwodifferentareas. Althoughthe
analysis’ssubject-matteraretheresearch’sfindingsintheformofjournalarticles,
manyobservedcircumstancesarevalidalsoforwhenitcomesresearchdata,outlining
acontestinwhichopenaccessinhumanitiesappearsas“lessurgentandharderto
subsidize,thaninthesciences”.
8InBorgman(“Thedigitalfutureisnow:Acalltoactionforthehumanities”)the
question“Whatconstitutedatainthehumanities?”isinvestigatedbutitdoesnot
foundaclearanswer. Theauthorconcludes,referringtothequotedquestionand
tootherfourquestionsconcerningdigitalhumanities:“Answeringthesequestions
willenablethedigitalhumanitiescommunitytobemorearticulateaboutitsscope
anditsgoals,andbetterpositionedtoidentifytheirrequirementsforinfrastructure”.
(ThequestionisbroachedalsoinBorgman,ScholarshipintheDigitalAge:Information,
Infrastructure,andtheInternet215-217).
9Burrows(“Sharinghumanitiesdatafore-research: conceptualandtechnical
issues”) claims that to not discern “primary source” from “data” in humanities
“wouldbeanalogoustodescribingthestarsandgalaxiesasanastronomer’s’data’”.
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utilizationinthescientifichumanisticresearchasfactualrecordsis
hard,evenifthiscircumstancecannotbeexcludedatall,referring
forexampletothefindingsofatextminingintextualanalysis,or
to archeographic data in the archaeological field. However, it is
beyonddoubtthat,fromaquantitativeandaqualitativepointof
view,thisdatatypologydoesnotrepresentsthepre-eminentone,
alsotakingintoconsiderationthenatureofinvestigation’ssubject,
oftenconstitutedbyabstractsentitiesintheformofrepresentation.
Insteadofsimpledata, inmostcases, theyaredatasources(data
andinformation’ssources),indifferentforms,varyingfromtextsto
objects.
Briefly said, to identify what to mean for research data in hu-
manities,takingintoconsiderationinaunavoidableway,thediscre-
tionarypowerconferredfromthe“primary”foundinglabelwhich
characterizesresearchdata’sdefinitionsandrole,itisnecessaryto
makeadistinctionbetween:
• Dataintendedasimmediatelyknowableelements,asaresult
ofobservationsofphenomena,reality,experiments,computa-
tions. (Examples: findingsofatextminingintextualanalysis,
archeographicdata,questionnaires,audiogatheringsinfield
researches,etc.).
• Datasourcesasinvestigatedelementsprovidingthedatum,
oronwhichthedatumitselfisbased. (Examples: painting,
literarywork,musicalmanuscript,archaeologicalfind,etc.).
Thislasttypology, beingonthebasisofthedatum, representsits
source,wheretheresearchleadstofindingsbelongingtothefirst
category (which constitute the proper research data). For what
concerns the production and the use in the scientific-humanistic
research,thefirsttypology,hassaidbefore,isnotquantitativeand
qualitativesubstantialasinscientific-naturalone,inwhichthestudy
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M.Funari,Researchdataandhumanities
ofphysicalphenomenageneratesacomputationalornotproduction
of raw data, directly recorded. Otherwise the using of resources,
which are constituted by both data and sources (ex. documents,
imagines,texts,etc.),isrelevantsomuchsothat,asexplainedinthe
dedicatedparagraph,theEuropeaninfrastructuresexpresslycollect
digital resources. In the humanities area can not be said that the
factualrecordsareequivalenttotheprimarysourcesand,therefore,
thattheseconstitutetheresearchdata,butitispossibletodetectthat
theyhavegotthesamerole,asbasisofaresearch. Furthermore,in
humanities,technologyoffersinmanycasesthedirectpossibility
ofrecording,reproduction,graphicrepresentation,accessingand
linking10(circumstancelesslikelyinthenaturalsciencesarea). So,
digitalization,ifintegratedwithaccessibleinfrastructures,makes
possiblethecollection,thesharingandtheuseofresources’scollec-
tions,evenifleavingouttheirmateriality.
3 Research data in European policies
Theattentiontoresearchdata,amongEuropeanCommunity,has
beenrealizedthroughaseriesofEuropeanCommission’sCommu-
nications(ComunicazionedellaCommissionealParlamentoEuropeo,al
Consiglio e al Comitato economico e sociale europeo. Sull’informazione
scientifica nell’era digitale: accesso, diffusione e conservazione comuni-
cazione; Comunicazione della Commissione al Parlamento Europeo, al
Consiglio, al Comitato economico e sociale europeo e al Comitato delle
Regioni. LeInfrastruttureTICperlae-scienza;ComunicazionedellaCom-
missionealParlamentoEuropeo, alConsiglio, alComitatoeconomicoe
socialeeuropeoealComitatodelleregioni. Un’agendadigitaleeuropea;
ComunicazionedellaCommissionealParlamentoEuropeo,alConsiglio,al
10Anexampleofdigitalizeddatasourcescollection,linkedtodata,isEuropeana
www.europeana.eu.
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ComitatoeconomicoesocialeeuropeoealComitatodelleRegioni. Verso
un accesso migliore alle informazioni scientifiche: aumentare i benefici
dell’investimentopubbliconellaricerca),tillithasreachedtheformofa
Recommendation(RaccomandazionedellaCommissione,del17luglio
2012,sull’accessoall’informazionescientificaesullasuaconservazione)
tomemberStates. Thisinterestisaimtoresearchdataand,morein
general,toscientificinformation,producedinallresearch’sfields,
amongwhichhumanitiesarequoted.11 Researchdata,asaparallel
formbutalsoasassociated12totheproperpublications,constitute
thescientificinformation,ofwhichwideandquickdiffusionhasa
centralroleintermsofresearch’sinnovation, progress, efficiency
andexcellence. Thedesirabilityofthisdiffusion,howevervalidon
principle,isnecessaryespeciallyinthecaseoffindings,bothjournal
articlesanddata,resultingfrompubliclyfundedresearches.13
Alreadyin2009,inthefieldofICTInfrastructures(Information
andCommunicationTechnologies)fore-science,theassumptionof
theemergenceofnewresearchmethodsthatexploitadvancedcom-
putationalresourcesanddatacollections,aswellastheawareness
11“Theemergenceof’bigdatascience’hasaglobaldimension,asitreflectsthein-
creasingvalueofrawobservationalandexperimentaldatainvirtuallyallfieldsofsci-
ence(humanities,biodiversity,high-energyphysics,astronomy,etc.)”(Commissione
Europea,ComunicazionedellaCommissionealParlamentoEuropeo,alConsiglio,alComi-
tatoeconomicoesocialeeuropeoealComitatodelleRegioni. LeInfrastruttureTICperla
e-scienza9).
12TheCommunicationdealswitha“’continuum’ofthescientificinformation
spacefromrawdatatopublicationsacrossdifferentcommunitiesandcountries”.
Internetandthenewinformationandcommunicationinstrumentsallow,indeed,
touseresearchdatacomingfromexperimentsandobservations,associatingthem
tootherinformation’ssources,totheaimoftakingoutmeanings(Comunicazione
dellaCommissionealParlamentoEuropeo,alConsiglioealComitatoeconomicoesociale
europeo.Sull’informazionescientificanell’eradigitale:accesso,diffusioneeconservazione
comunicazione3).
13IbidemHoweversomedelayforthefirstusebyresearchersorforcommercial
purposescanbeconsideredasjustifiable(3).
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M.Funari,Researchdataandhumanities
of“theincreasingvalueofrawobservationalandexperimentaldata
invirtuallyallfieldsofscience”(ComunicazionedellaCommissioneal
ParlamentoEuropeo,alConsiglio,alComitatoeconomicoesocialeeuropeo
ealComitatodelleRegioni. LeInfrastruttureTICperlae-scienza9),had
identifiedasobjective,theadoptionbyEuropeofa“coherentand
managedeco-systemofrepositoriesofscientificinformation”(11).
MemberStatesandscientificcommunitieshadbeenaskedtostepup
investmentsinscientificdatainfrastructures,asalsoprovidedforby
theCommissionintotheSeventhFrameworkProgramme,withthe
aimof“supportaccessibilityandpreservationpolicies”. Inthisam-
bitofinteresttowardresearchdatatakesplacetheCommunication
(ComunicazionedellaCommissionealParlamentoEuropeo,alConsiglio,
alComitatoeconomicoesocialeeuropeoealComitatodelleRegioni. Verso
un accesso migliore alle informazioni scientifiche: aumentare i benefici
dell’investimentopubbliconellaricerca)followedbytheRecommenda-
tion(RaccomandazionedellaCommissione,del17luglio2012,sull’accesso
all’informazionescientificaesullasuaconservazione),inwhichtheatten-
tiontothembecomesmoredetailed. Thetraditionaldebatefocused
justonpublicationsand,atthesametime,theincreasingimportance
oftheimprovementofaccesstoresearchdata,definedasalready
quoted, are indeed acknowledged. The inefficiency of public re-
searchinvestmentsrevealsitselfwherefindingsintheformofdata,
fortheverificationandthepossibleuse,aremadenotavailableto
awidepublicofusers. IntheCommunicationareidentifieddiffer-
entobstaclestothedevelopmentofthisnewclutchofknowledge
sharingandarestatedtheinitiativesalreadycarriedoutbytheCom-
mission(OpenAIRE)andthoseplanned(financialsupportstodata
infrastructuresandtoresearchondigitalpreservation). Theiden-
tifiedobstaclesrelatedtothedevelopmentofresearchdataaccess
andtotheiruseandre-useare:
• Thelackoforganizationandclarityaboutresponsibilities.
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