DfR Assumptions
Assumption Important* Questionable** Tools like Box and DropBox are widely used by researchers for data backup, and this is a growing trend Danny, Chris Researchers want a way to easily back up their research data Dan Researchers will be willing to have their research data backed up offsite Researchers will be willing to have their research data backed up by a third-party organization (not their institution of employment) Chris Researchers will be willing to install software on each machine/instrument which needs to have content backed up Bill, Dan Bill Researchers will be willing to invest the time to try a new storage strategy Bill, Danny, Dan Researchers want a way to interact with their data on the web Danny, Chris, Dan Researchers can be pursuaded to spend time making their dataset more understandable and usable Danny Bill, Danny, Chris, Dan Researchers will be willing to trust that a cloud-based storage system will maintain the integrity of their data Bill, Chris Bill Researchers will be willing to trust that a cloud-based storage system will maintain the security of their data Bill, Chris Bill Researchers will appreciate a data storage system which provides access to their institution's data curation staff Dan Researchers know where all of their research data is stored Chris, Dan Researchers will find a storage system which provides additional data management services more compelling than existing simple backup systems Bill, Danny, Chris Danny Researchers want to be able to backup their data early in the research project lifecycle Bill Chris, Dan Researchers are interested in offsite backup for the purposes of data recovery and storage Researchers are interested in offsite backup for the purposes of collaboration Researchers want to use web search capabilities to be able to discover data within the entire data set of their research project Dan Researchers want to be able to provision a data management system with little upfront effort Dan Researchers want to be able to discover datasets outside of their own research projects Researchers want to be able to easily retrieve datasets that they have discovered Research Institutions want a single system with provides data backup services for all of their researchers Danny, Chris, Dan Research Institutions want to take a role in the management of the data sets produced by their researchers Bill Research Institutions are willing to continue to pay for some amount of data from completed research project which have been curated New customers will hear about DfR through conference presentations and will visit a DfR website to learn more and sign up Bill, Danny Bill, Danny New customers will hear about DfR through DuraSpace press releases and marketing campaigns and will visit a DfR website to learn more and sign up Bill, Danny Bill Some DuraCloud customers, when invited individually, will be interested in signing up for DfR
* Votes in this column indicate that the person voting considers this assumption very important to the current DfR strategy. If this assumption were not true, the strategy of DfR would need to change.
** Votes in this column indicate that the person voting considers this assumption likely to not be true.
Assumption Tests
Test 1: Survey
- Tests assumptions #1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 15, 16
- Asks:
- Do you currently use any of the following tools (Box, Dropbox, etc) for data backup?
- If you do use these tools, what do you like or not like about them?
- Administered via SurveyMonkey
- Need to get survey out to as many researchers as possible
- Could we get assistance from other orgs: Sparc, Johns Hopkins?
- Perhaps we could get universities that were part of the original DfR discussion to send survey out to their research staff
Test 2: Interview
- Tests assumptions #2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 14
- Sit with a researcher, and have them show us how they use their existing tools
- Discuss where in the research project they implemented their backup strategy
- Show the researcher DfR that is running remotely, both UpSync and SiDora
- Let them use the UIs, discuss what they find most important
- Setting up the demonstration:
- We hand create the objects, have them already in SiDora
- Requires that:
- We have a small set of researchers that are willing to give DfR a try
- We use researchers local to us, or we travel to them
Test 3: Website
- Tests assumptions #24, 25
- Create a DfR website, create a video demo that shows how DfR would work, provide a button to "try it now"
- Button provides them with an opportunity to sign up for a wait list, and to indicate that they would be willing to be a beta tester
- Allows us to gauge interest
- Questions: Would a researcher pick up DfR and try it out on their own? What hurdles are there to this?
Actions
Requirements for running the tests above
Test 1
Task Assignee Create a survey Jonathan first draft, Bill to review Establish a list of survey recipients Jonathan Send out survey Enlist assistance from Carissa/Carol Collect and tabulate results TBD
Test 2
Task Assignee Get UpSync tool to a demonstrable state Danny Get a stable SiDora in place DGI, Dan to bring into DfR Hand create some objects and store them in SiDora Dan, Chris to assist Create an interview outline Bill first draft, Jonathan to review Establish a list of researchers to interview Jonathan (once we know that steps 1-4 will be completed very soon) Schedule meeting times between interviewers and researchers Jonathan to initiate contact, interviewer to follow up Conduct interviews, with interviewers taking notes (and possibly recording the audio of the discussions) Collect results, determine what has been learned TBD
Test 3
(May postpone implementation until after Tests 1 and 2 are complete)
Task Assignee Create a website listing the expected features of DfR ? Create a video demonstrating how we expect DfR would work (as if it were already functioning) ? Post website and video ? Collect metrics on how many people click the "sign up" button ?
