Open Science at CMU Newsletter - December 2020

We are excited to share recordings here of some open science events that University Libraries hosted this fall. You can also find information below on how to apply to an upcoming virtual hackathon that we are supporting in January and a summary of all of our recent open science blog posts. University Libraries will have a new series of workshops next semester, including many on open science topics, so stay tuned to learn more about those in January.

Please contact us at openscience@andrew.cmu.edu if you have any questions and follow us on social media at #CMUOpenScience.

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On October 19 and 20, University Libraries hosted the annual AIDR (Artificial Intelligence for Data Reuse and Discovery) and Open Science Symposiums. About 230 people joined us virtually from around the world to listen to invited talks and panel discussions from researchers, developers, and publishers who work at the cutting edge of open science and data reuse. There are now multiple ways to learn about the conversations that took place at those events.

• OSS: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbkhiRA2P3qJ49fZF3mqsshvcseFTc4uj
• AIDR: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbkhiRA2P3qJZmr1wjoSzY6c4NcxMVGrv

You can read about a conference report for the two events on CMU's institutional repository, KiltHub: https://doi.org/10.1184/R1/12092193.v1.

Finally, many of the slides for the talks are posted on Open Science Framework event pages.

• OSS: https://osf.io/hbt7c/
• AIDR:  https://osf.io/tchdq/

We hope to see you in the fall at the next AIDR and OSS Symposiums!

Upcoming Virtual Hackathon

University Libraries is partnering with DNAnexus and the OpenCravatGroup at Johns Hopkins University to host a virtual hackathon titled "Bringing Genomic Data to the Clinic" on January 6-8, 2021. A variety of exciting projects will be revealed to hackathon participants prior to the hackathon, and will build off of previous National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) hackathons and community projects.

After a brief organizational session, teams will spend four days addressing a challenging set of scientific problems related to a group of genomics datasets. Participants will analyze and combine datasets in order to work on crucial problems and opportunities in clinical bioinformatics. Throughout the four days, participants will come together to discuss progress on each of the topics, bioinformatics best practices, coding styles, etc., and receive support from data librarians and academic liaison librarians from CMU Libraries on data management education and recommended practices for writing manuscripts.  

Interested in genomics data and increasing your computational and collaborative skills? Applications are open! Submit your application by December 23rd!

Blog Post Roundup!

In the final two topical posts of the year, OSDC team member Hannah Gunderman provided two new Tartan Datascapes that provide tips and advice for techniques that can make your research data process more transparent and reproducible (and more open!): 

1. README Files: Front Matter for your Data 

In this blog post, learn more about README files and why they provide important context for anyone wanting to reuse your data! Open science is built on data reuse and data sharing, and README files should always be a part of that process.

2. A Safe, Cozy Home for Data: The KiltHub Institutional Repository

In this blog post, Hannah features the KiltHub repository, CMU's institutional repository for data and other research outputs. This repository can provide a DOI for your data which can be included in a Data Availability Statement (a growing requirement for many journals!) as well as satisfies grant and funder mandates for long-term data preservation. 

Meet Katie Behrman, Institutional Repository Manager

As the Institutional Repository Manager in the University Libraries, I support the KiltHub repository and other open scholarship tools and practices. I've been in the Libraries since 2000, and have worked with the institutional repository since 2009. My educational background is in public and cultural history, and I started my career at Carnegie Mellon as an archival specialist in the University Archives. 

Open science is a natural fit to the work I do with KiltHub, the university-supported open repository for Carnegie Mellon researchers to share, preserve, and track their scholarship. With my OSDC colleagues, I regularly consult with researchers to help them comply with publisher policies and funder mandates for making their work open and accessible. We work with you to ensure that the research we're sharing in our repositories is well-organized and described so that it can be easily discovered, cited, and reused by others. Despite the name, open science isn't just about science--the Libraries' team supports all disciplines and types of research. If you're a CMU researcher interested in increasing the visibility and impact of your work with KiltHub, or if you'd like to discuss making your work more open in general, I'd love to hear from you!