Workshops

With the commencement of a new academic year, the DRCP launched the “Digital Research Series”, a series of workshops tailored to researchers and hosted by the Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship (SCDS). Topics in this series including building JavaScript websites, managing code & scripts and introductions to research impact & information security for researchers. The Research Data Management (RDM) workshop series also commenced in September with topics covering data management plans (DMPs) & Introduction to DMP Assistant, depositing and sharing data online and best practices for managing data in your research. RDM services is supporting Spark’s 2023 Data Champions initiative by providing support and training to a group of 5 qualitative and quantitative social sciences and humanities graduate students working as RDM Champions on faculty research projects.

Learning Modules

To help researchers develop software quickly and effectively, new topics on basic security for web development, reproducible research software & building modern single-page applications  were added to the Research Software Development Learning Modules. Information Security Services launched the information security training program which addresses topics on email phishing, passwords, multi-factor authentication, and data storage.

Data management plan database

Data Management Plans (DMPs) requirements are evolving, and researchers applying for funding are sometimes writing a DMP for the first time. To provide these researchers with suitable exemplars and thereby assist with effective DMP creation, Research Data Management compiled, described, and tagged a list of 180 DMPs from various sources into a searchable, central, open-access database.

Using transcription with data from human participants

Online transcription services, especially those using Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology, can save researchers time and money. However, online platforms increase the risk of a data breach and have privacy risks which researchers need to be aware of in order to protect research participants and comply with the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans – TCPS 2 (2022). Different platforms have different security practices and privacy policies and need to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis to ensure they are adequately protecting sensitive data.

In general, online transcription services should only be used for low– and medium– risk data. To help researchers evaluate online transcription services and better understand whether it is appropriate for their research data, members of the Research Data Management and Information Security for Researchers teams along with McMaster Research Ethics Board (MREB) created an online transcription guidance document (please note, the information is only accessible to the McMaster Community).

For researchers collecting high-risk data, offline transcription or professional human transcription with confidentiality agreements should be used and researchers should be personally transcribing in the highest risk situations. The Research Software Development working with John Fink, Digital Scholarship Librarian, McMaster Research Ethics Board (MREB), and Hamilton Integrated Research Ethics Board (HiREB), automated speech recognition (ASR) platform for McMaster researchers. This was based on an identified need for a secure service where transmission, storage, and distribution of recorded human participant interviews is restricted due to privacy and ethical concerns. Next steps are to explore hosting and funding options for this service.

Single Sign-On (SSO)

The Research Software Development and Information Security for Researchers teams collaborated to produce resources for single sign-on (SSO) implementation and to secure web applications JavaScript & PHP. Resources include and a learning module, Basic Security for Web Development.

M365 Resources for Researchers

The DRCP continues working with the Collaboration & Productivity Team (UTS) to develop M365 resources for researchers. This tool compliments McMaster’s Discover and Learn SharePoint and will help researchers navigate and discover M365 resources and functionality, answer questions, and connect researchers to available supports and resources.

Websites for researchers

The DRCP has compiled a list of how members of the research community can request a website related to their research and research group.

Update McMaster’s Evolving Digital Research Support Landscape Report

Based on the feedback received in Fall 2023, the DRCP will update the digital research support report and draft a strategy that articulates a model for improved digital research support at McMaster, including clarifying what role the DRCP can play.

Information for new members of the McMaster research community

The DRCP is compiling information for new members to the McMaster research community, including  faculty members, graduate students, and research staff. The aim of this project is to equip researchers with the tools at the onboarding stage creating a better-informed base of researchers.

Development of Research Data Management Community Research Data Toolkits – March 21-22, 2024

Please save the date for the upcoming Research Data Management Community Research Data Toolkits taking place on March 21-22, 2024 at McMaster University.

This two-day Workshop initiate development of two sharable toolkits, a collection of co-developed guidance documents, one with considerations and guidelines for Data Management Planning (ex. templates, draft research contracts, researcher expectations, community rights documents), and a second for Data Deposit (ex. data curation primers, legacy data inventories, or data access committee frameworks). We will bring together researchers and RDM practitioners alongside social justice advocates, community councils and organizations, and non-profits whose work may intersect with research processes and outcomes from many angles. Growing out of this work, we will establish a working group and framework to continue development of these toolkits beyond the workshop and taking on future projects following this theme.

More information about the workshop, including a detailed agenda and registration information, will be available soon.

This workshop is made possible from a SSHRC Connections grant awarded to Jay Brodeur (Associate Director, Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship), Danica Evering (Research Data Management Specialist), and Subhanya Sivajothy (Data Analysis and Visualization Librarian).

Software Licensing Catalogue -Phase 1 (Proof-of-Concept)

The DRCP is collaborating with the six Faculty IT Units, McMaster University Libraries & RHPCS to document software licenses available to researchers. The goals of this collaboration are to share aspects of documentation for use by the McMaster research community and internally share the documentation with digital research support providers for cross-unit information sharing and coordination. Phase 2 of the project (Fall 2024) will expand the catalogue to include other digital research support providers.

REDCap Support for Researchers

In collaboration with Natalie Campbell (Medicine), Arun Keepanaseril (Health, Evidence & Impact), and James Dietrich and Graig Kelly from Computer Services Unit (CSU), the DRCP is working to better understand the REDCap landscape at McMaster and thereby tailor REDcap support to researcher needs

Software Management Plan (SMP)

Effective planning and management of developed software can help researchers address key components for responsible and efficient research including storage, backup, preservation, sharing, reuse, responsibilities, ethics, legal and security. Research Software Development collaborated with Research Data Management to create a template for creation of a Research Software Management Plan (SMP) which helps researchers manage software associated with research data and reproducibility. The template is currently in pre-release and will be made nationally available on the Digital Research Alliance of Canada’s (DRAC) DMP Assistant.

Project for the Web Proof-of-Concept

The DRCP is collaborating with IT Strategic Implementations (in UTS) on a proof-of-concept for Project for the web. In addition to utilizing Project-for-the-web as a project management platform, the DRCP will also help develop recommendations and guidelines for use and assess functionality and suitability for broader implementation at McMaster. The proof-of-concept period began in September 2023 and will run until January 2024.

Digital research requirements for grants

There can be many components to include when applying for a Tri-Agency Grant. To assist researchers with keeping track of the digital research components, there is now a resource with Tri-Agency Grant deadlines which outline which grants require DMPs. Future development of this resource will include adding security requirement training and other stuff.