Open Research Data Management Infrastructure: Building the Backbone of Open Science
The Challenge:
Even when good open research data infrastructure exists, researchers often don't adopt it. And even when they do adopt it, how do we keep it running? The biggest infrastructure challenges often aren't technical - they're human and financial. How do we build data management infrastructure that researchers actually want to use, and how do we fund it sustainably?
What We'll Explore:
The adoption challenge: Why do researchers stick with suboptimal tools? How can we design research data infrastructure that fits naturally into existing workflows?
The sustainability challenge: How do we fund open infrastructure long-term? What funding models work beyond initial grants?
Discussion Points
What makes you choose one research tool over another? When have you abandoned a "better" tool for convenience?
How can we make research data management tools feel like essential workflow tools rather than compliance exercises?
What are the hidden barriers to adoption that infrastructure builders often miss?
What can we learn from tools researchers love and apply to research infrastructure?
How do successful open infrastructure projects sustain themselves? What can we learn from examples like arXiv, ORCID, or Wikipedia?
Why This Matters Now
As research becomes increasingly data-intensive, robust data management infrastructure is essential for scientific progress. But the best infrastructure is useless if researchers won't use it - and even great, well-adopted infrastructure fails if we can't fund it sustainably. Let's discuss how to bridge both gaps.