Anyone can do 23 (research data) things at any time. Do them all, do some, cherry-pick the things you need or want to know about. Do them on your own, or get together in a group and share the learning. The program is intended to be flexible, adaptable and fun!

Each of the 23 things offers a variety of learning opportunities with activities at three levels of complexity:

  • Getting started
  • Learn more
  • Challenge me

All resources used in the program are online and free to use.

The 23 things are designed to build knowledge as the program progresses, so if you’re new to the wonderful world of research data management, we suggest you start with things 1-3 and then decide where you want to go from there.

  • Thing 1: Getting started with research data
    • Research data comes in many shapes and sizes. Kick off your research data journey and start sharing your stories.
  • Thing 2: Issues in research data management
    • Research data is critical to solving the big questions of our time. So what are some of the issues we face in managing research data?
  • Thing 3: Data in the research lifecycle
    • Data and its management change over time. Here we look at data and research lifecycles and make connections between them.
  • Thing 4: Data discovery
    • Repositories and portals play an important role in making research data discoverable and accessible.
  • Thing 5: Data sharing
    • Research data may be shared in many ways.  This week we look at 3 ways.
  • Thing 6: Long-lived data: curation & preservation
    • Ensuring data stays accessible and reusable into the future.  Learn about the curation of data and try out a free tool for managing file formats.
  • Thing 7: Data citation for access & attribution
    • Citation analysis and citation metrics are important to the academic community. Find out where data fits in the citation picture.
  • Thing 8: DOIs and citation metrics for data
    • What are Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) and how do they support data citation and metrics for data and related research objects?
  • Thing 9: Licensing data for reuse
    • Understand the importance of data licensing and learn about Creative Commons.
  • Thing 10: Sharing sensitive data
    • Sharing sensitive data requires careful consideration, but it can be done.  Find out how.
  • Thing 11: What’s my metadata schema?
    • Metadata is the lifeblood for finding and reusing research data. Data is only as valuable as the metadata which describes and connects it.
  • Thing 12: Vocabularies for data description
    • Data descriptor, keyword, subject … these are all terms commonly used when discussing metadata.  Learn about the use of controlled vocabularies to enhance data discovery.
  • Thing 13: Walk the crosswalk
    • There are times when metadata created using one schema will need to be transformed or crosswalked to another schema so that metadata can been shared between systems.
  • Thing 14: Identifiers and linked data
    • Identifiers are crucial to disambiguation of people, accurate attribution and impact metrics. We look at identifiers for people - specifically the global people identifier: ORCID, and stray into the fascinating world of linked data.
  • Thing 15: Data management plans
    • Some research institutions and research funders now require researchers to submit a Data Management Plan (DMP) for new projects. What should a DMP cover? Could you help with one?
  • Thing 16: What are publishers & funders saying about data?
    • Data sharing policies are becoming increasingly common in Australia and internationally. Learn why research funders and journal publishers are particularly influential when it comes to encouraging data availability.
  • Thing 17: Data literacy & outreach
    • What resources exist for building an inclusive culture of data literacy - not just scientists and science disciplines?  Find resources and think about the skills we need as information and data professionals
  • Thing 18: Data interviews: talk the talk
    • Learn some tips and tricks for responding to data queries and starting a data conversation.
  • Thing 19: Exploring APIs and Apps
    • APIs and Apps are the engines behind making data usable. Find out what they are and how they make data accessible to us all. Get hands on to explore and use APIs relevant to research data including services offered by ANDS and the National Library of Australia.
  • Thing 20: Find it with data!
    • It has been said that 80% of all research data has a geographic or spatial component.
  • Thing 21: Tools of the trade
    • Dig in to dirty data.  What is it?  Why should we care? Try your hand at using an open source data cleansing tool.
  • Thing 22: What’s in a name?
    • Learn about the key players in Australia’s research data management ecosystem and how these players combine to make generation, management and publication big data possible.
  • Thing 23: Making connections
    • Keep learning and stay connected after 23 (research data) Things.  Take time to celebrate and reflect on all you’ve learned since joining the 23 (research data) Things.