Portage Website Update

April 6, 2022

As part of the integration of RDM into the Digital Research Alliance of Canada, Portage is very pleased to have launched a new website that integrates all services, including research data management, advanced research computing and research software. With the launch of this new site, portagenetwork.ca will no longer be maintained, and research data management information is now available at https://alliancecan.ca/services/research-data-management.

Portage will put redirects in place to help facilitate navigation and allow website visitors to update their bookmarks. The old website will be shut down in the fall, and it has been archived by UBC here. Many thanks to our colleagues at UBC for this work!  

If you have any questions, please contact communications@alliancecan.ca.

New DMP Templates

March 4, 2021

Portage is pleased to have published five new discipline- and methodology-specific Data Management Plan (DMP) Templates in English and French, with more to come. These Templates cover a range of disciplines and research methods, highlight best practices for DMPs in those disciplines, and provide tailored guidance for researchers writing their own DMPs. Initiated by a Portage funding call in April 2020, they are the result of hard work on the part of exceptional Researchers, Librarians, and Information Professionals in the Portage community, and members of the Portage Secretariat with whom they collaborated. 

The following DMP Templates are now available:

• Qualitative Health Sciences Research
  
• Interdisciplinary Health Software/Technology Development
  
• Arts-Based Research
  
• Mixed Methods (Surveys & Qualitative Research)
  
• Advanced Research Computing
  

These Templates are available on Portage Training Resources under DMP Templates as well as in the Portage Zenodo Community. They are also available and embedded for use and institutional customization in the DMP Assistant.

If you have any questions regarding the DMP Templates, please contact Robyn Nicholson, Portage Data Management Planning Coordinator, at robyn.nicholson@carl-abrc.ca. 

New DMP Templates

March 4, 2021

Portage is pleased to have published five new discipline- and methodology-specific Data Management Plan (DMP) Templates in English and French, with more to come. These Templates cover a range of disciplines and research methods, highlight best practices for DMPs in those disciplines, and provide tailored guidance for researchers writing their own DMPs. Initiated by a Portage funding call in April 2020, they are the result of hard work on the part of exceptional Researchers, Librarians, and Information Professionals in the Portage community, and members of the Portage Secretariat with whom they collaborated. 

The following DMP Templates are now available:

• Qualitative Health Sciences Research
  
• Interdisciplinary Health Software/Technology Development
  
• Arts-Based Research
  
• Mixed Methods (Surveys & Qualitative Research)
  
• Advanced Research Computing
  

These Templates are available on Portage Training Resources under DMP Templates as well as in the Portage Zenodo Community. They are also available and embedded for use and institutional customization in the DMP Assistant.

If you have any questions regarding the DMP Templates, please contact Robyn Nicholson, Portage Data Management Planning Coordinator, at robyn.nicholson@carl-abrc.ca.

New Sensitive Data Tools

October 21, 2020

The Sensitive Data Expert Group of the Portage Network is pleased to announce the publication of three new tools for researchers relating to the management of sensitive research data:

• a Glossary of Terms for Sensitive Data used for Research Purposes,
• a Human Participant Research Data Risk Matrix,
• and a document providing samples of Research Data Management Language for Informed Consent

These tools were created to help researchers understand how research data are related to the research ethics process, and to advance research data management (RDM) practices, such as data sharing and deposit, in the context of existing research ethics frameworks. The three tools are intended to work together as a suite of resources, but can also be used individually. All the tools are available in English and French.

The Portage Network’s Sensitive Data Expert Group has broad membership from research stakeholder communities - including research ethics professionals, representatives of funding agencies, and members of Indigenous organizations - with direct interests in sensitive research data. The group works together to develop practical guidance and tools for managing sensitive data in the Canadian landscape.

For more information, please contact Victoria Smith, Policy, Privacy, & Sensitive Data Coordinator, victoria.smith@carl-abrc.ca.

New RDM Guidance from the Portage COVID-19 Working Group

 September 30, 2020

The Portage Network is very pleased to announce the publication of five new guidance documents from the Portage COVID-19 Working Group. These guidance documents were developed to help support research data management in accordance with the RDA COVID-19 Guidelines and Recommendations. 

• Guide to COVID-19 Rapid Response Data Sharing and Deposit for Canadian Researchers
  This guidance is for researchers who need to prepare data for deposit in accordance with the Joint statement on sharing research data and findings relevant to the novel coronavirus (nCoV) outbreak.
• Can I Share My Data?
  This decision tree is designed to help alert researchers to situations where human participant data would need to be anonymized or de-identified before being deposited into a repository. It relies heavily on the Canadian Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans – TCPS 2 (2018) which addresses consent and secondary use of information for research purposes.
• De-identification Guidance
  This guidance is intended to help researchers minimize disclosure risk when sharing data collected from human participants.
• Documentation and Supporting Material Required for Deposit
  A brief guide outlining key materials for depositing data in a repository.
• Recommended Repositories for COVID-19 Research Data
  This document is designed to help researchers select a repository that will provide immediate and long-term access to their COVID-19 data.

Portage will be hosting a community call to discuss how these new resources can help researchers, librarians, and others better manage COVID-19 related research data. More information, including date and registration, will be announced shortly.

The Portage COVID-19 Working Group was initiated in late March 2020 to create guidance for Canadian researchers who are generating or working with COVID-19 related data, and for librarians and others who support them. Membership in the Group spanned institutions from across Canada, and was led by Portage Curation Coordinator Erin Clary, Preservation Coordinator Beth Knazook, and former Training Coordinator Melanie Parlette-Stewart.

In addition to the publications above, the Group also collaborated with the broader data management community to gather Canadian COVID-19 related resources — including sources of data or statistics on COVID-19 and RDM-related resources and links — for inclusion in the international  OpenAIRE COVID-19 Gateway. 

For more information about the Portage COVID-19 Working Group or its initiatives, please contact erin.clary@carl-abrc.ca.

Call for participation in the Portage Dataverse North Working Group

Call for Participation in the Portage Dataverse North Working Group

The Portage network is committed to developing a community of practice devoted to strengthening the capacity of Canadian university libraries to provide expertise, services, and infrastructure for research data management.

As a part of this mandate, Portage is now establishing the Dataverse North Working Group. This group will develop a community of practice centered around the use of the Dataverse repository platform on Canadian campuses. In collaboration with regional infrastructure providers of Canadian Dataverse instances, the Working Group will support libraries using or interested in using Dataverse on their campuses by promoting services that enable its use, including training, infrastructure development, and user support. For further information, please see the Terms of Reference for the Dataverse North Working Group.

We are now seeking volunteers from the university library community to join this Working Group. If you would like to participate or to recommend a colleague, please contact Shahira Khair (Portage Training Officer) and Chuck Humphrey (Portage Director). We are asking that you respond by April 07 2017.