In this section we will go over UBC’s institutional data repository, Dataverse.
Dataverse and FRDR
UBC provides our researchers with access to three different purpose-built data repositories: Dataverse, Dryad, and the Federal Research Data Repository (FRDR) https://researchdata.library.ubc.ca/deposit/. We’re going to focus on UBC Dataverse because this is the repository you will use to deposit your MGEM data, and also this is our preferred and most supported repository. Just so you know, FRDR is a federated research data repository: it harvests datasets from other Canadian repositories (including Dataverse) and makes them available on a unified platform. FRDR is also intended for big data, e.g. measured in TB, while Dataverse works for other data sized the best.
Geodisy
As an added bonus, the Library Research Commons team has developed Geodisy, which is the national geospatial data search layer built on top of Dataverse in collaboration with the FRDR organization and others. Adding geospatial metadata to your dataset in Dataverse will help Geodisy situate your data in its geospatial index and display it on the national research data map interface, together with thousands other datasets.
UBC’s Dataverse is hosted by Scholars Portal, at the University of Toronto. You can use your UBC CWL to log in to Dataverse. Once you’ve logged in, navigate to the Faculty of Forestry dataverse and then to the MGEM dataverse; or go to the direct link: https://dataverse.scholarsportal.info/dataverse/UBC_MGEM.
Workflow for depositing into Dataverse
Take a look at our one-pagers to learn more about data deposits in Dataverse –
- What is Dataverse?
- Quick Guide to UBC Dataverse – Something brief, just to get you started.
- Extended Guide to UBC Dataverse – More detailed information about data discovery, file formats, DOIs, Private URLs, access control, licenses, file size, version control and more.
When in doubt, please contact research.data@ubc.ca for help!
1 Get yourself an ORCID. This is a good move differentiate you from other researchers with a similar name, and it will help you connect things like grants, research data and publications. It’s also one of the main ways that search engines such as Google or Datacite link your work back to you.
2 Organize your data on your local computer. Create a directory for your data deposit. Create a sub-directory for each main type of data you’re going to deposit. Here are some one-pager instructions to file naming and data organizing - File naming guidelines and File format recommendations. Dataverse automatically unzips your zipped folders. To preserve data structure and file storage hierarchy, we recommend to double zip deposited data folders to preserve solid order.
3 Check out our guidance on creating README files. You can download our template README file and work from it. README files are essential for data deposits, they explain what the dataset is all about, naming the variables, software used, data partners, etc. Note that we will not publish your dataset without a solid README file.
4 Think of a title and a description for your dataset. You could probably use the same ones as in your final report. Since your data deposit is geospatial in nature, please add Geospatial Metadata from the metadata menu to ensure that it will display on any map based research data interfaces.
5 There are lots of metadata elements in Dataverse but not all of them will apply to your dataset. For each element, ask yourself if it applies to your data. Hover over the question mark to read the guidance about that element. If it does, try and fill it in. Time spent on your metadata now equals better findability and a better chance that someone else will retrieve and use your data in the future.
6 Deposit a PDF of your final report. PDFs follow ISO 32000-1:2008, which means they are not proprietary and are expected to be durable as files for the future. Be consistent in your date formatting. We suggest using the format YYYY-MM-DD, which complies with ISO 8601.
7 When done, click on Submit Data. We will review it and get back to you with more curational suggestions, e.g. README file, file structure, descriptions of files, data tags, etc…
And again - When in doubt, please contact research.data@ubc.ca for help!