After three years of webinars, online workshops, and virtual member meetings, DataCite Connect Gothenburg finally brought together our community for an in-person meeting co-located with the RDA Plenary 20. We are happy that so many members joined us to connect, learn, and discuss national PID and open research strategies and the role DataCite can play in their development.
Breaking the ice
DataCite Connect events bring our global community together in one room to have lively discussions and exchange ideas. Attendees who arrived early had the chance to vote on philosophical PID questions that were submitted during the registration process.
To break the ice, the event started with a speed dating session where pairs of attendees had five minutes to get to know each other. It was great to witness how people connected and after four rounds of speed dating, no ice was to be seen anywhere!
National PID and open research Strategies around the Globe
DataCite’s executive director Matt Buys kicked off by giving an overview of DataCite’s key strategic activities in the context of PID strategies. Emphasizing the character of DataCite as a global community with shared interests, Matt also used this opportunity to thank Madeleine de Smaele from Consortium Lead TU Delft who recently stepped down as co-chair of the DataCite Metadata Working Group for her outstanding long-year engagement.
We then heard about the different approaches, challenges, and characteristics of national PID strategies in the Czech Republic, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, China, Australia, and the UK. It was interesting to see that all presenters shared similar views on what is needed to set up PID strategies. Despite these similarities, each country and region has specific needs requiring a unique approach. The Q&A session that followed demonstrated the great interest in this topic among DataCite members from all regions.
From left to right: Antonia Schrader, Adam Vials Moore, Gül Akcaova, Lee Wilson, Jia Liu, John Aspler, Natasha Simons, Petra Černohlávková, Madeleine de Smaele, Hana Heringová
DataCite and national PID strategies
After a coffee break with delicious DataCite cookies, the audience split up into groups to discuss how national PID strategies affect the DataCite community or what role Consortia and Direct Members play in national PID strategies.
The wrap-up of the groups revealed that it needs the entire DataCite community when it comes to shaping and implementing national PID strategies. Almost unanimously all groups mentioned the need for collaboration to enable DataCite Members from all regions of the world to meet the requirements of their countries. We look forward to addressing this issue with the recently launched DataCite Global Access Program. When it comes to what kind of services DataCite could expand or develop to better support national PID strategies, most responses focussed on data citation. This confirms the need for the Open Global Data Citation Corpus that we will be working on together with key community stakeholders in the upcoming years.
What we took away
DataCite Connect Gothenburg was the first event of a series of in-person events that will take place in different locations around the world. Looking back, we took home the following five insights:
- In-person meetings add value because they allow for personal interactions and in-depth focused discussions that are hard(er) to have online.
- DataCite is a community in which members support each other.
- Collaboration (be it virtual or in-person) is key when it comes to tackling global and national challenges.
- The mix of interactive activities and talks led to new inspiration for the work on national PID strategies.
- Real cookies are tastier than virtual ones.
We thank all the speakers and attendees for coming to Gothenburg and sharing their valuable thoughts and ideas with us. We enjoyed seeing you at DataCite Connect Gothenburg and we look forward to seeing some of our members at the next DataCite Connect in Buenos Aires on 18 April 2023.
Paul Vierkant
Gabriela Mejias
