It is time to pilot Mildred services – volunteer researchers are being sought!

In the Project Mildred we have developed data management services for researchers. The work has been done in five Mildred sub-projects for over a year. Now most of the services are ready to be tested out. We invite researchers to join in any of the following five pilot schemes:

Searching the data service (Mildred 1)

What will be tested? The web site that helps a researcher to find the most suitable data service. This is an online service channel, where all the University of Helsinki data related services can be found.
When? In August 2017. The web service provider will be chosen in the first week of August, and researchers are expected to be involved in the development of the service at an early stage.
More information & enrollment: Aija Kaitera (aija.kaitera@helsinki.fi), Helsinki University Library.
Important! The online service channel is intended for users of all levels but especially for researchers who have little experience with data issues. In this respect, data newbies are most welcome to develop the service.
Good to know: The web site developed here is expected to be published in the autumn 2017.

Sharing and storing the data (Mildred 2)

What will be tested? The repository services designed for sharing and storing the data produced by researcher. The services make use of ready-made data tools developed by EUDAT, and the following services are introduced in the pilot: (1) B2DROP, a Dropbox-like service for data sharing and collaboration, (2) B2SHARE for data sharing and longer-term storage, and (3) B2SAFE for storing. Researchers use these services in their actual research. Researchers are expected to give feedback on the functionality of the services as well as on the further needs regarding the use of the service.
When? At first researchers use B2DROP, and the pilot of this service starts in August. The B2SHARE pilot will start in September. The B2SAFE pilot takes place by end of the year, and the schedule will be informed later. The pilots will continue until the end of the year unless otherwise agreed.
More information & enrollment: Kimmo Koskinen (kimmo.koskinen@helsinki.fi), Helsinki University Library and Ville Tenhunen (ville.tenhunen@helsinki.fi), IT Center.
Important! Participation in the pilot is risk free for researcher: firstly, the data management tools in the pilot are largely based on already existing and finished products, and secondly, EUDAT services are available to researchers also after the pilot. During the pilot phase, the use of the services is free of charge for the researchers. The distribution of the post-pilot costs will be clarified in the autumn. Furthermore, it is important to know that piloting involves only non-sensitive research data at this point. Solutions for sensitive data (e. g. personal data) will be run at a later point of time.
Good to know: The data handled in B2DROP can be transferred to B2SHARE in which case the data will be complemented with metadata and other information required for permanent preservation. The technical realization of the services is mainly carried out by EUDAT but the design and part of the technology is adjusted by the University of Helsinki. The service operator is IT Center for Science (CSC).

Searching and publishing the data (Mildred 3)

What will be tested? The user interface of the research data search service. In this service the user can search useful data sets. The pilot is supposed to give information about the functionality and browsing opportunities of the search service. Also the data publishing service will reach the pilot phase this year. The service is designed for the opening of the data produced by the researcher.
When? The prototype of the search service is tested in August/September 2017. The more sophisticated version of the search service will be opened to the public by the end of the year. The research data publishing service comes into the pilot phase during the autumn and is reported separately. The pilot for the data publishing service will be realized probably in October/November. A more accurate schedule will be informed later.
More information: Researchers interested in testing the search service can contact Pauli Assinen (pauli.assinen@helsinki.fi). Service provider Digitalist is responsible for implementing the pilot and recruiting.
Good to know: In the beginning, the Mildred search service crawls data from Zenodo (CERN), B2Share (EUDAT) and Etsin (ATT). Other sources for research data are being surveyed and the supply will expand later this year.

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In addition to the pilots above, the storage and backup service for researchers (Mildred 4) will be piloted in the autumn 2017. The pilot plan and schedule will be refined later. The data management planning tool Tuuli (Mildred 5) is already in use, and researchers can already use it in drafting research plans. Discipline-specific Tuuli guidance will continue to develop, and researchers are involved in this work (See DMPTuuli hackathon for historians).