Better Data Management, One Nudge at a Time

How do you help people improve their data management skills? For our team at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, we decided the answer was "one nudge at a time". A study conducted by Wiley and Mischo (2016) found that at Illinois, there is a disconnect between the awareness of data services and the actual use, as many researchers do not consider data management as a separate concern. In 2017, the RDS piloted the Data Nudge-a monthly opt – in email service to educate and remind Illinois researchers about data services on campus. The aim of the Data Nudge was to address this gap by raising awareness of best practices and campus resources. The topics covered in the Data Nudge center around data. Some topics are applicable to everyone, such as back-up, documentation, and file naming conventions. Other topics are specific to Illinois, like storage options, events, and conferences. After two years, the Data Nudge has accumulated almost 400 subscribers through word of mouth, marketing channels on campus, and inclusion in subject liaisons' instructional workshops. It receives stable open rates averaging at 54% (compared to 16.99% average industry rate for Higher Education*) and many compliments from subscribers. We expect the Data Nudge to continue supplementing workshops and training as an effective means of communication to reach researchers on our campus. In the future, we plan to provide Data Nudge topics in a reusable format, readily adaptable by other institutions. Data Nudge link: https://go.illinois.edu/past_nudges