data management for social anthropology

ADVANCED MODULE

[OUTLINE]

1. DOCUMENTING YOUR DATAi. Paper archives and indexes

ii. Digital archivesiii. Brainstorm

iv. Techniques and softwarev. Categories and ontology

vi. Sharing

2. ETHICAL AND LEGAL ISSUESi. Risks and issues in data

disseminationii. Some tips and techniques to

make data saferiii. Data Protection Act 1998

iv. Freedom of Information Act 2000

v. Intellectual Property and copyright

N.B. - THIS IS A PARTICIPATORY

EXERCISE!

1

documentation

& metadat

a

http://archives.lse.ac.uk/GetImage.ashx?db=Catalog&type=default&fname=Malinow

ski\Malinowski_3_18_5.jpg

For instance, my present mode of life: I turn in too late, I get up at irregular hours.

Too little time devoted to observation, contact with natives, too much to barren

collecting of information. I rest too frequently, and indulge in "demoralization". I also thought about problems of keeping a

diary. How immensely difficult it is to formulate the endless variety of things in the current of a life. Keeping a diary as a

problem of psychological analysis: to isolate essential elements, to classify them

(from what point of view?), then, in describing them indicate more or less

clearly what is their actual importance at the given moment, proportion; my

subjective reaction, etc. (Malinowski, B. 1989 A Diary in the Strict Sense of the

Term. Stanford: Stanford University Press; entry for 4.11.1918, p. 247)

what is an index, and how does it

work?

http://www.alanmacfarlane.com/FILES/frazer.htm

why paper-slip indexes collapse:

•size, untransportability, cannot be accessed remotely

•shifting, complex, rigid classification

•difficult to find cards in the dataset

http://www.alanmacfarlane.com/topics_front.htm

http://www.esds.ac.uk/

findingData/snDescription.asp?

sn=5801&key=caplan+food

http://www.datacite.org/

repolist

http://

oad.simmons.edu/oadwiki/

Data_repositories

http://www.opendoar.org/

documentation

WHAT

TECHNIQUES,CATEGORIES, SOFTWARE,

ISSUES?

BRAINSTORM

TECHNIQUES&SOFTWARE

- FORMAT-SPECIFIC:

-digital: linking and back-linking, tagging, searching, horizontal classification-analogue: hierarchical classification, manual tagging

OR

-GENERIC: e.g. colour-coding, categories, dates, place names…

- REPORTS CAN HELP!

- KEEP AS MUCH OF YOUR DATA AND DOCUMENTATION IN THE SAME PLACE

- SOFTWARE MIGHT PROVE USEFUL – wikis, databases, reference managers, spreadsheets..

CATEGORIES/ONTOLOGY

-EVALUATE PROS & CONS (time consuming, expensive, but useful in the long-term and for analysis)

-PROJECT- & FOCUS-SPECIFIC

- VOLATILE! BETTER TO STICK TO GENERIC DESCRIPTORS? (e.g. places and personal names, more easily remembered; dates; …)

- NEED DOCUMENTING AND UPDATING: make an index of the categories you use, and systematically update as you add new ones

HOW TO DEVELOP AND INDEX

SHARING WITH: - your supervisor

- peers - other academics

- research participants

- wider audiences

agree on rules and conventions on mode of sharing and file naming

USEFUL TOOLS:

- institutional networked storage

-virtual learning/research environments

- Dropbox- GoogleDocs

- Google+- academic web networks

- blogs- wikis

- digital repositories

http://www.esds.ac.uk/

2

law & ethics

http://openanthropology.files.wordpress.com/

2010/11/archive.jpg

RISKS of DISSEMINA

TION:-online storage- sharing and

consent-crossing borders

http://www.thea

sa.org/ethics/

guidelines

.shtml

TIPS

[multiple copies]

[restrict access]

[log out]

[firewalls & anti-virus]

[destroy data if necessary]

[encryption]

[tiered consent]

[anonymisation]

DATA PROTECTION

ACT 1998

- data may only be used for the purposes it was collected for

- data must not be disclosed to other parties without consent- individuals have a right of access to information held

about them- personal information may be

kept for no longer than is necessary,

and may not be sent outside the EEA

FREEDOM of

INFORMATION ACT 2000

-gives right to request access to recorded information (such as research data) held by public sector organisations; or be

informed whether information is held

-exceptions: personal data, data accessible by other means, meant

for publication or subject to confidentiality agreement

iNTELLECTUAL pROPERTY

copyright=

•creative works fixed in material form

•depends on academic status/institution/employment

position•right to control copying, adaptation, publishing,

performance, broadcast of the work, and their conditions

•exceptions for personal use and teaching

•limited time duration

SHARING & PUBL]SHING:

ethics, politics,

analyitics – your views