IASSIST Quarterly (Journal)
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Research data management and services: Resources for different data practitioners
Full text linkThe emergence of data-driven research and demands for the establishment of Research Data Management (RDM) has created interest in academic institutions and research organizations globally. Some of the libraries especially in developed countries have started offering RDM services to their communities. Although lagging behind, some academic libraries in developing countries are at the stage of planning or implementing the service. However, the level of RDM awareness is very low among researchers, librarians and other data practitioners.
The objective of this paper is to present available open resources for different data practitioners particularly researchers and librarians. It includes training resources for both researchers and librarians, Data Management Plan (DMP) tool for researchers; data repositories available for researchers to freely archive and share their research data to the local and international communities.
A case study with a survey was conducted at the University of Dodoma to identify relevant RDM services so that librarians could assist researchers to make their data accessible to the local and international community.
The study findings revealed a low level of RDM awareness among researchers and librarians. Over 50% of the respondent indicated their perceived knowledge as poor in the following RDM knowledge areas; DMP, data repository, long term digital preservation, funders RDM mandates, metadata standards describing data and general awareness of RDM. Therefore, this paper presents available open resources for different data practitioners to improve RDM knowledge and boost the confidence of academic and research libraries in establishing the service
Differences in data-sharing attitudes and behaviours, extended version to African data curators and data management experts
Full text linkThis article reports the results of a survey conducted between 16th November and 8th December 2020 among African data curators and data experts about different aspects of data sharing. The sample of respondents has been extracted from participants to the 1st IASSIST Africa Regional Workshop held on 11th -13th January 2021, Kampala, UGANDA and other data experts and practitioners. First, we recall the main results of a previous article published by IQ about the same argument in order to introduce the new survey. After that we analyse the new findings comparing them with the previous results, splitting the samples between Africans and not Africans
Data literacy integration into development agenda. A catalyst to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Full text linkThe ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ (4IR) era characterized by ‘Information Communication Technology’ (ICT) based data literacy with respect to research data collection, documentation, preservation, intellectual protection / control and dissemination is a functional catalyst in enabling the realization of the SDGs of the United Nations (UN) global agenda on poverty reduction; hunger eradication; safe water accessibility, sustainable energy accessibility; ‘Sustainable Forest Management’ (SFM); climate change resilience; ‘Disaster Risk Reduction’ (DRR); biodiversity conservation and; social and gender equity by 2030. The study, employing a desk bound literature review research design, conceptualized that ‘ICT based digital data literacy’ (dependent variable) can ‘catalyze an enabling of the realization of the SDGs of the United Nations (UN) global agenda’ (independent variable), ‘inherent challenges’ (intervening variable) like poor internet infrastructure, digital data illiteracy and high-power costs among others notwithstanding. Global government ‘Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are managing voluminous (big) digital data to support strategic decision making, policy implementation and operational optimization (monitoring and evaluation) towards realizing the SDGs. This requires effective competence (literacy) in digital data analytics to facilitate SDGs based data processing thereby enabling global government MDAs to accurately utilize data for policy implementation and decision making towards effectively realizing the SDGs. The study findings recommend a scaling up of digital data literacy and internet infrastructure development as well as power accessibility in especially developing countries among others. 
Outside the R1: Equitable data management at the undergraduate level
Full text linkUniversities within the California State University System are given the mandate to teach the students of the state, as is the case with many regional, public universities. This mandate places teaching first; however, research and scholarship are still required activities for reaching retention, tenure, and promotion, as well as important skills for students to practice. Data management instruction for both faculty and undergraduates is often omitted at these institutions, which fall outside of the R1 designation. This happens for a variety of reasons, including personnel and resource limitations. Such limitations disproportionately burden students from underrepresented populations, who are more heavily represented at these institutions. These students have pathways to graduate school and the digital economy, like their counterparts at R1s; thus, they are also in need of research data management skills. This paper describes and provides a scalable, low-resource model for data management instruction from the university library and integrated into a department’s capstone or final project curriculum. In the case study, students and their instructors participated in workshops and submitted data management plans as a requirement of their final project. The analysis will analyze the results of the project and focus on the broader implications of integrating research data management into undergraduate curriculum at public, regional universities. By working with faculty to integrate data management practices into their curricula, librarians reach both students and faculty members with best practices for research data management. This work also contributes to a more equitable and sustainable research landscape
Guest editors\u27 notes
No full textThis special issue has nine papers selected from the Africa Regional Workshop at Makerere University (Kampala, Uganda) on January 11th to 13th 2021.
The first two papers relate to Research Data Management (RDM). The first one analyses the authorship, volume, visibility, and quality of publications on RDM in Sub-Saharan Africa. The analysis was done using bibliometrics focusing on RDM publications from, and on, Sub-Saharan Africa which are currently indexed in Google Scholar.
The second article presents available open RDM resources for different data practitioners, particularly researchers and librarians at the University of Dodoma, in Tanzania. Some of the RDM resources discussed in this paper are Data Management Plan (DMP) and a data repository available for researchers to freely archive and share their research data with the local and international communities.
The third paper highlights the data-sharing attitudes and behaviors of African data curators and data management experts. The paper compares data from an earlier study and analyses the new findings between the data sharing attitudes and behaviors between Africans and non-Africans.
The fourth paper articulates the data literacy integration agenda and how it can catalyze the achievement of Sustainable development goals. The paper unpacks the role of data literacy in catalyzing the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), challenges faced, and suggests recommendations to the challenges. It is however sad to note here that the author of this paper recently passed on 15th December 2021. May the good lord accord Gorreti an eternal rest.
The fifth paper discourses the establishment of a data center at Mzuzu University Library in Malawi after the unfortunate fire outbreak of 2015 that destroyed the whole library. Interesting models are drawn in the paper like; the six-month process of restoring an interim library and the designing & construction of the new library in collaboration with the Virginia Technological School of Architecture & Design in the United States.
The sixth paper goes further to examine the growth and development of institutional repositories in the East African Countries of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The paper contextualizes and discusses in detail the drivers and barriers to the development of institutional repositories in East Africa such as: policy formulation, financial support, training, infrastructure, open access awareness among others.
The seventh paper focuses on the learning outcomes in literacy and numeracy in Uganda in the light of maternal education. In this paper, deeper analysis was conducted on the data mined from the Uwezo assessment data to show the effect of the mothers’ education on the numeracy and literacy learning outcomes among children in Uganda.
The eighth paper illuminates the opportunities and risks of sharing agricultural research data in Tanzania. Stimulating themes on sharing of research data are developed and discussed in this paper such as: research collaboration, transparency, accuracy, funding, policy, institutional, and government support among others.
Finally, the ninth and last paper narrates the data dissemination process at the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS). The paper presents in detail the methods, channels of data sharing such as: workshops, websites, libraries, resource centres, social media, and the physical delivery of print resources to the UBOS partners and clients.
Winny Nekesa Akullo and Robert Stalone Buwul
DATABOOK : a standardised framework for dynamic documentation of algorithm design during Data Science projects
Full text linkThis paper proposes a standard documentation framework for Data Science projects, called Databook. It is a result of five years of action-research on multiple projects in several sectors of activity in France, and of a confrontation of standard theoretical Data Science processes, such as CRISP_DM, with the reality of the field. As a vector for knowledge sharing and capitalisation, the Databook has been identified as one of the main facilitators of Human Data Mediation. Transformed into an operational prototype of simple and minimalist documentation, it has since been tested then on about a hundred Data Science projects, has proven its benefits for the internal and external efficiency of Data Science projects, and can be turned into a more ambitious standard framework for data patrimony valorisation and data quality governance
IASSIST gone glocal
Full text linkWelcome to the special double issue of IASSIST Quarterly 2021 (IQ vol. 45(3-4) 2021).
IASSIST is an acronym. You may think that the word is the contraction of the two words \u27I assist\u27. In my mind, you are right! Whether the word IASSIST or the long explanation of seven words came first is the problem of the chicken and the egg. However, it is undisputed that when it is spelled out, the first I in IASSIST is for International. That has been so from its founding in 1974. Having IASSIST members in USA, Canada, and some (west) European countries was for a long time what we myopic westerners considered to be international. It is with great pleasure that IASSIST Quarterly now presents a double issue from a regional workshop in Africa. Even in 2021, it is only a small number of IASSIST\u27s members who are from regions not part of the western world. However, having a special issue from the African region is an important contribution to making IASSIST truly international. The phrase \u27think globally, act locally\u27 is a good framing of the compressed word \u27glocal\u27.
This special issue was compiled by guest editors Winny Nekesa Akullo and Robert Stalone Buwule, and they were also behind the Africa Regional Workshop that took place at Makerere University (Kampala, Uganda) on January 11 to 13, 2021. Winny Nekesa Akullo works as Head, Library and Documentation Centre at Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority in Uganda, and is the IASSIST Africa Regional Secretary. Robert Stalone Buwule is Senior Assistant Librarian at Kyambogo University, also in Uganda.
The themes of the workshop addressed a world issue: \u27Data Literacy as a catalyst for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)\u27. Thus, global problems were addressed from a local viewpoint. Great thanks to Winny and Robert for their lead in the arrangement of the workshop and extra thanks to them for collecting, editing, and making the papers of the regional workshop available to us all, and for making the regional international and the local global.
Enjoy the reading!
Karsten Boye Rasmussen - December 2021
Data dissemination by Uganda Bureau of Statistics
Full text linkData plays a big role in educating the population on various issues that contribute to development. One of the major activities conducted after data collection is, dissemination of the data to different stakeholders. Uganda Bureau of Statistics disseminates data to its users through a number of channels. This paper discusses each method in detail and how it\u27s used during this process. The major channel of sharing data with users is through dissemination workshops and the website. Other channels used for dissemination include the library and resource centre, social media and physical delivery to stakeholders in district public libraries. Having the above-mentioned channels of data dissemination in place, has helped UBOS remain the centre of excellence in dissemination of data to users, countrywide and in Africa
Learning outcome in literacy and numeracy in Uganda: Mining Uwezo assessment data to demonstrate the importance of maternal education
Full text linkAcademic performance in primary education plays a crucial role in obtaining further educational opportunities. Despite increased focus on addressing the inequality gaps in access to education, a number of studies have shown that children living in poor families with mothers who have low educational attainments experience less success, both in school and later as adults in the workforce, than children living in more advantaged circumstances. This paper analyses the effect of mothers’ education on the numeracy and literacy learning outcomes among children in Uganda. Mining data from the 2018 Uwezo Uganda Learning Assessment survey, we explore the influence of maternal education on learning outcomes.
The findings showed that the proportion of children who demonstrated the ability of competently reading and comprehending a story of primary two level increased with increasing maternal education. Whereas only 13.6% of the primary four children whose mothers had never been to school were able to read and comprehend a story (the highest level in literacy assessment), more than four times (50.7%) of the children whose mother had above senior four qualification had similar abilities. A similar trend was seen with performance in numeracy where 31.9% of primary four children whose mothers had no education at all were able to attain the highest numeracy level, compared to 59.1% for children whose mothers level of education was beyond senior four. It was further observed that slightly more than one in three (35.6%) of the primary one/two children whose mothers had never been to school were completely non numerate compared to less than one in ten (9.0%) of the children whose mothers had studied beyond senior four who were non-numerate. Given the changes in access to schooling and impact on learning yielding from the global COVID 19 pandemic, whereas the data mined was collected before this pandemic, there is need for reflection on the home schooling approach being proposed by government and other stakeholders considering that this is likely to benefit more children whose mothers have higher levels of education than those with less education or neve