Preservation Planning for Grant Requirements
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
When applying for institutional and external research awards and grants that deal with data sets, especially federal-level grants such as NEH Digital Humanities grants, you will notice that they often ask for a separate Data Management Plan (DMP). Generally, meeting the Data Management Plan standards for the NEH Office of Digital Humanities (ODH) will set you up with an optimal DMP for any use case, though be sure to check against any specific requirements in the award you are applying for.
The ODH lists these three criterion that they consider when reviewing DMPs:
Do applicants demonstrate an understanding of the types of data produced for their project?
Are there adequate plans for preserving, managing, and sharing data, including beyond the period of performance?
Have applicants demonstrated an understanding of the project’s long-term needs and are there sufficient plans to ensure the sustainability of the project?
Take a few minutes to consider these questions in relation to your own project. Take a look at example DMPs and the resources they have described in their plans. These plans are usually for projects being worked on by teams, but if you are working on your own, consider what is realistically manageable for one person while still taking into account the questions above.
What to think about when creating a Data Management Plan (DMP) for a research grant/award:
What types of data do I need to store?
Where will the data be stored?
For how long will the data be stored?
Who needs to access the data?
Who is responsible for both storing the data and updating it?
Does my data have any privacy, confidentiality, security, intellectual property, and other rights or requirements/concerns?
Does the access to my data also include the necessary metadata and citations?
Let's Review!
What have you learned from the previous sections that you can apply to creating a Data Management Plan (DMP) that meets grant requirements?