The University of Vienna Data Steward Certificate Course

In 2022, the University of Vienna launched a "Data Steward" certificate course. During the course, participants from across the globe work together to acquire critical data stewardship knowledge and develop key competences that allow them to serve as data stewards at research institutions worldwide. Lectures are provided by a line-up of fantastic research data management experts and ample space is created for participant networking and collaboration. The course takes place part-time over two semesters. Initial sessions are held on-site in Vienna, but later meeting are conducted online. If you want to learn more, check-out the course webpage and the summary information. 

If you wonder what it's like to be a data steward, read about "A Week in the Life of a Data Steward" below! 

Monday by Emily

Grants, Publications, and Archives

8:30am- At the office a little early today to get ready for a meeting about a data management plan (DMP). No one wants a frazzled data steward.

9:00am- It's meeting time! Heading upstairs to a professor's office. Even in this digital era, people still like to meet in person. We discuss the DMP template for a funded project. The professor has some questions about buzzwords like "Interoperable" and "Metadata". They also have questions about assigning licenses to their research outputs. After much discussion and some cookies, the professor feels comfortable with creating a DMP draft. They'll send it to me next week and we can work on the edits together.

10:30am- Uh-oh. When was the last time I watered the office plants...?

10:45am- Let's check the univie RDM ticket system. Looks like there are a few requests for assistance. Someone needs help choosing between two archives. That can be tricky! There's another DMP waiting for review. I'll work on that tomorrow. I think I can handle the repository question now, though.

11:00am- I look at the two repositories the researcher was considering. They are both very active, but only one offers persistent identifiers. Actually, there seems to be another repository the researcher hasn't considered that's certified! That looks like the best option. I'll send my recommendations and some helpful web links.

12:00pm- Time for lunch. Pad Thai or curry? Life is so full of choices.

12:30pm- Ring! Ring! Someone's on the telephone. A postdoc is trying to upload data to the univie archive for a recently accepted paper, but is feeling a little intimidated. I answer some questions and suggest they try out the archive sandbox. It's a risk-free way to test the tools.

1:00pm- Logging onto a seminar about updates to a repository that handles imaging data. The large file size makes uploads challenging, but it looks like they created some new tools to help! This should make several people in my faculty happy.

2:30pm- I was having a coffee and someone stopped me in the kitchen. They wanted to know if FAIR data and Open data were the same thing. It's a popular question. We talked longer than I expected, but that's okay.

3:00pm- Hop on the tram to go to another building. My faculty is actually split between three locations.

3:30pm- Maintenance of data systems is a never-ending process. I have a meeting with five collaborating researchers about a database they are building and the problems they are experiencing. I was able to point them to some resources from the IT department they didn't know about. Hopefully, that will help.

4:30pm- Turn off the email, because it's time to go home!

Tuesday by Monika

Problem Solving and Custom Solutions

8:30 am- A researcher asked me to meet them early to ensure bearable temperature in their office, so I start the day with a meeting at the Campus. They are preparing a digital edition. We discuss about what infrastructure the university offers and what they should consider to facilitate long-term preservation. We arrange another meeting with their web designer and the ZID to delve into the more technical details. Long-term preservation of dynamic websites and web applications has turned out to be one of the most pressing issues at my faculty, so I currently focus on this in my daily work. I am happy that the researcher contacted me timely.

9:45 am- Back in my office. Finally coffee.

10:00 am- We share data management memes in our data steward chat group. As we work at different locations, much of our conversation is online. Working in this team means fun, peer-learning, and support, and I love it.

10:30 am- I received a question through our RDM ticket system - the researcher wants to know if their collection of 5000 photos is too large for our repository PHAIDRA. Good thing: it can be handled! I clarify what metadata they have and refer them to the PHAIDRA colleagues to arrange for a bulk upload.

11:00 am- We have the monthly meeting of our university-wide working group on research data management where all departments involved in RDM services exchange news and discuss strategies. As data stewards, we receive first-hand reports from researchers on how they use our services and what they are missing, so we can contribute vital information to this working group.

12:30 pm- Lunch with my colleagues from the Dean's Office. Today, we had Indian food delivered.

1:00 pm- I add a page about digital editions in my draft guidelines for researchers about archiving websites and polish the introduction. Weighing sophisticated design on the one hand and preservability on the other hand is not always easy. 

2:00 pm- The second part of my introductory course for PhD students of my faculty takes place. Feedback shows that organising data - from file naming and folder structures to readme files and version control - is something the students want to hear more about in an advanced course. I will address this in the group of RDM trainers.

3:30 pm- While having some coffee, I keep myself up-to-date by skimming the most important mailing lists and newsletters. There is so much going on, it's difficult to follow.

4:00 pm- We have been invited to present our data stewardship program in a coffee lecture at the European level later this month. I prepare my slides and include some of the memes my colleagues shared with me.

5:15 pm- Oh, overlooked the time again. I need to catch my train. I pack my laptop as tomorrow I will be working from home.

Wednesday by Tereza

Team Building and Program Development

8:30 am - Arrive at the office, and I'm the first one here. I like having a bit of quiet time to organize my thoughts before the hustle and bustle begins.

9:00 am -  Dedicating an hour to finalizing the onboarding plan for a new colleague. They will spend the first two months on the job getting to know the RDM team, our services, and workflows. This takes quite a bit of coordination, we are all very busy and important these days!

10:00 am - I check the Data Steward course inbox. Two potential participants are worried about meeting the requirements for the coding module. I reassure them that the course is designed for absolute beginners and as long as they can switch on a computer, they'll be golden.

10:30 am - Coffee and more emails!

11:00 am - Time to attend a meeting of an international working group. It's so important to stay informed about what's going on in other countries to make sure we are heading in the right direction. 

12:00 pm - Lunchtime! I join my colleagues from the u:cris team for a sandwich and a chat.

12:30 pm - Back to work for my favorite part of the week – the weekly Data Steward meeting! Our team is spread across different locations. It's great to see familiar faces and catch up on everyone's progress. This time, I am heading to Emily's office in the Biology building in the 3rd district. Fingers crossed she baked us a cake, as she sometimes likes to do!

1:00 pm - The meeting begins with a discussion of ongoing projects and sharing updates. We throw around ideas for a new guide on data documentation and start drafting an abstract for an upcoming conference.

3:00 pm - Back at the office, I realize my trip to the Research Data Alliance plenary is coming up. I create engaging slides for my talk on the Data Steward course.

4:00 pm - As the day winds down, I catch up on a few more emails. A researcher is curious about our guest lectures on RDM, and I provide a few possible dates for the upcoming semester. 4:15 pm - Before I wrap up, I update our internal knowledge base with the latest resources and insights from today's interactions. It's essential to keep my team well-informed and equipped to assist researchers effectively.

4:30 pm - Time to head home. As I close the office door, I feel a little tired but glad to be able to work with such a brilliant team.

Thursday by Michael

Training and RDM Mentorship

7:00 am- Starting my day early to do some final preparation for the second day of our RDM workshop for doctoral candidates that we are teaching today. But first, coffee.

8:30 am- Energized and ready for the workshop, I answer some emails before heading towards the seminar room.

8:45 am- The doctoral school coordinator has provided us with a variety of snacks for the workshop. It's going to be great!

9:00 am- The workshop begins, and I am excited to get to know the participants of the course and share my knowledge.

10:30 am- First break, a student approaches me about versioning and sharing their code on GitHub. We discuss the advantages and challenges. Soon after, I help them overcome their fears of operating GitHub, and they plan to tackle it after the course. I remind them that my door is always open if they need any further support.

12:00 pm- We manage to finish the workshop on time but had to rush a bit over the legal issues associated with data creation and re-use due to many questions on repositories. I note down that we have to adapt our planning a bit for the next iteration of the workshop.

12:30 pm- Enjoying lunch with the admin team of my research center. There is no better way to get updated on the newest gossip and happenings.

1:00 pm- Can't wait to check the feedback forms from our workshop. It seems like the participants enjoyed the workshop and agreed that they learned something useful in our course. I don't know that I have been this professionally proud in quite some time.

1:30 pm- Grabbing another coffee before logging into the IT meeting. It's a valuable exchange where I get updated on the newest IT developments at our research center and provide the IT team with input and questions I received from researchers. We also discuss the technical side of implementing an electronic lab notebook.

2:30 pm- On my way back to the office, I run into a student who attended our course in the morning, and we discuss how they can identify licenses of source code they want to reuse for their project. I ask them to send me the links to the repositories, and we plan to meet at my office to look them over. Turns out the information on the licensing was quite hidden in some of these projects, and some of them had no information at all.

3:30 pm- Ending the workday with some chit-chat about the newest Diablo game with my office colleague before heading home.

Friday by Korbinian

Building Relationships and Needs Assessment 

8:30 am - I arrive at the office, having already checked my emails at home before the journey to the university, as usual, so that I can think about the current inquiries during the journey on the U6 and the BIM. As usual, my office colleague and senior scientist from the Faculty of History and Cultural Studies is already there.
 
9:30 am - We have an appointment with the ACDH-CH as part of the Virtual Helpdesk. It's about a third-party funded project whose project period is coming to an end and which addresses the issue of long-term archiving after the end of the project. As the ACDH-CH has already supported the project during its term, archiving on the ARCHE platform was initially envisaged in this case. However, as this is not available free of charge and the project website is static, we recommend archiving and publishing the research data via the university repository PHAIDRA.
 
10:30 am - I check the inbox. There are further inquiries about long-term archiving of websites and DMPs for research data with image files.
 
11:00 am - Coffee and jour fixe with the Senior Scientist and the Vice Faculty Manager. Due to the high density of requests, we talk about creating a guide for dealing with websites at the University of Vienna.
 
12:00 pm - I gladly take over this agenda and request a meeting with my data steward colleague from the Faculty of Philosophy and Cultural Studies.
 
12:30 pm - Meal time! As I've had a hearty breakfast today, I use the time for a short walk in Votivpark and organize my thoughts.
 
1:00 pm - Back in the office. I check my emails again and realize that my data steward colleague from the Faculty of Philosophy and Cultural Studies has just contacted me and that we can discuss the previous considerations today.
 
2:00 pm - As part of a BMBWF initiative to expand and network the digital infrastructure in the humanities, there is the CLARIAH consortium. Together with a senior scientist and my data steward colleague from the Faculty of Philosophy and Cultural Studies, I attend the CLARIAH consortium meeting as a representative of the University of Vienna.
 
3:00 pm - I meet my colleague from phil-kult. And discuss the issues raised earlier. We decide to set up a working group to look into the hosting of websites at the University of Vienna with the aim of developing universal guidelines for researchers. In addition, we want to develop and test specified data management plan courses together with a colleague from PHAIDRA (image data, text data, video data).
 
4:30 pm - I start the first brainstorming session on the website guidelines in the u:cloud and create a schedule for the first WG meeting.
 
5:10 pm - I look at the clock and realize it's already past five, so I save the current files and head home.