Announcing Make Data Count and HELIOS Open Collaboration: ‘Implementing data evaluation at institutions’ Working Group
We are pleased to announce the launch of the ‘‘Implementing data evaluation in academia’ Working Group, a partnership between Make Data Count and HELIOS Open. John Chodacki (Director, University of California Curation Center (UC3); University of California Office of the President) and Kristi Holmes (Associate Dean for Knowledge Management and Strategy at Northwestern University) will co-lead activities along with Iratxe Puebla (Director of Make Data Count) and Caitlin Carter (Director of HELIOS Open). We are thrilled to have such strong expertise and a broad range of perspectives represented in this group, and to amplify existing work in this space.
Data experts engaged in both HELIOS Open and Make Data Count networks have joined forces to develop recommendations and resources that support implementation of data evaluation as part of institutional processes, in particular hiring, review, promotion, and tenure (RPT). Both initiatives work to advance open scholarship and have a shared commitment to the need to recognize and reward open data contributions in service of a more transparent and equitable scholarly ecosystem; however, implementing campus policy and evaluation reform can take time, coordination, and resources. This group will take a practical approach, focusing on resources that institutional representatives can readily bring to their institutions to either start conversations about data evaluation, or advance steps toward implementation within institutional processes. The resources will take into account all institution types and locations across the globe.
The Working Group will produce resources on the value of incorporating data metrics and data evaluation in hiring, tenure and promotion, generate use cases of data evaluation as part of institutional evaluation processes, and create implementation guides.
Over the last few years, HELIOS Open members have been working hard to ensure higher education administrators acknowledge the importance of modernizing hiring and RPT to explicitly reward and recognize open scholarship and take action. In January 2024, supported by NASA, HELIOS Open and Florida International University (FIU) brought together fifty high-level college and university decision makers to discuss what they could do collectively to encourage open practices by changing incentive structures on campus. Many attendees agreed that updating tenure and promotion is one of the hardest institutional tasks, but that culture change is needed to achieve a more transparent, inclusive, and open incentives system. The attendees will gather again in January 2025 to reflect on actions taken since the 2024 workshop and to share and capture campus case studies. We are thrilled to announce these planned resources as they support leadership and implementation partner plans at various stages.
Make Data Count works to catalyze the development of responsible data metrics, so that the community can meaningfully evaluate the usage and reach of data. Make Data Count seeks to foster collaboration across disciplines, sectors, and geographies to realize a vision where data are recognized as primary outputs. We convened the Make Data Count Summit as a forum to identify priorities to advance responsible evaluation of data, and drawing on discussions from the Summit, we developed recommendations to update evaluation at institutions to recognize data. We look forward to pursuing work with institutional representatives to create practical resources that support the broader implementation of data evaluation as part of institutional processes.
