The Purposes of Research Documentation Collections

You may be wondering, if DACs are for backing up raw data and DSCs are for sharing results, what do I need an RDC for? Well, RDCs are intended to internally archive documentation of the research process as well as intermediate data representations that are not directly relevant for the published manuscript (and therefore not made publicly available through the DSC). Thus, RDCs may contain (a) intermediate analysis files, (b) in-progress results, (c) documentation files, and (d) preliminary manuscript versions.

Documentation Files

In addition to intermediate and processed data, RDCs should ideally contain additional information. On this intranet page you can find detailed guidance on what specific kinds of data should be placed in RDCs. Generally, however, you RDCs should house files pertaining to how:

How analyses may have changed over time
What you learned through changing analyses over time
Why each version is the way that it is

Therefore, each time you tinker with your script to try something new out, you should save the version of that script as something new and add to your logs about:

What you changed
Why you changed it
What the results were
Your thoughts about what the results mean

You should save this documentation in a .txt file. You can also save it in a .docx file, but .txt files can be viewed in any format. Documentation files should be put in a folder called docs, which is in your Project Folder and should be named by the date

Note

This will help improve the FAIR-ness of your research data, primarily by increasing its Reusability: adding this documentation will allow others who come after you to pick up where you left off. Additionally, the RDC houses information on the context of your data, which also benefits future users. RDCs are for (internal) archiving, meaning that only people given access by one of the collection managers can view this data.

Manuscript Files

RDCs can also be used to house the various versions of your manuscript to ensure that these are recorded and traceable after you finish the project. Note that final published versions of manuscripts should not be archived in the RDR, because these are usually copyrighted by a journal.

Using Stager to Upload Documentation

Create a documentation file

In file explorer, navigate to /project/3010000.05/XXXXXXX.XX/
Create a folder called docs
In this folder, create a txt file with today’s date: DD_MM_YYYY.txt
In this file, write something

Establish a connection to the Trigon Network using either eduVPN or a hardwired connection

Login to Stager

After login, the folders in the DCCN Project Storage are displayed on the left side of the screen.
Input your RDR data access credentials in the fields under the Radboud Data Repository section (revist this page if you don’t remember where to find these)

Select the Directories to Upload

On the Project Storage side, double click /3010000.05/
On the Project Storage side, double click /XXXXXXX.XX/
On the Project Storage side, check the boxes next to the results and scripts directories: these are all of the folders we want to share to our RDC

Select the Latest Day Directory to Upload to in the Radboud Data Repository

On the Radboud Data Repository side, double click dccn
On the Radboud Data Repository side, double click RDC_3010000.05_469
On the Radboud Data Repository side, double click XXXXXXX.XX
In the Dialog box, type today’s date in this format DD_MM_YYYY and push Create
On the Radboud Data Repository side, check the box next to the directory you have just created

Select the Directories to Upload into Today’s Directory

On the Project Storage side, double click /3010000.05/
On the Project Storage side, double click /XXXXXXX.XX/
On the Project Storage side, double click /docs/
On the Project Storage side, check the box next to the DD_MM_YYYY.txt file

Select the Dcoumentation Directory to Upload to in the Radboud Data Repository

On the Radboud Data Repository side, double click dccn
On the Radboud Data Repository side, double click RDC_3010000.05_469
On the Radboud Data Repository side, double click XXXXXXX.XX
In the Dialog box, type docs and push Create
On the Radboud Data Repository side, check the box next to the directory you have just created

Upload the data to your Research Documentation Collection

Push the Upload button

Using Repocli to Upload Documentation

Create a documentation file

In file explorer, navigate to /project/3010000.05/XXXXXXX.XX/
Create a folder called docs
In this folder, create a txt file with today’s date: DD_MM_YYYY.txt
In this file, write something

Establish a connection to the Trigon Network using either eduVPN or a hardwired connection

Open a TigerVNC session (read how to do that here)
Login to the Radboud Data Repository

Open TigerVNC
Open the terminal application
Type repocli shell and then push enter
Type config and then push enter
Enter your RU username (u1234567@ru.nl) and then push enter
Enter the RDR password you retreived in step 2, then push enter

Make subdirectories for your files

Type mkdir /dccn/RDC_3010000.05_469/XXXXXXX.XX/DD_MM_YYYY/ and push enter
Type mkdir /dccn/RDC_3010000.05_469/XXXXXXX.XX/docs/ and push enter

Upload to the Research Documentation Collection

Type put /project/3010000.05/XXXXXXX.XX/results/ dccn/DAC_3010000.05_873/XXXXXXX.XX/DD_MM_YYYY/
Type put /project/3010000.05/XXXXXXX.XX/scripts/ dccn/DAC_3010000.05_873/XXXXXXX.XX/DD_MM_YYYY/
Type put /project/3010000.05/XXXXXXX.XX/docs/DD_MM_YYYY.txt dccn/DAC_3010000.05_873/XXXXXXX.XX/docs/