Common themes in data management emerge at the MRC's open data workshop

A FAIRy tale by Phillip Crout – a personal story about how I work with FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) data.

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In Phillip Crout's account of the open-data seminar at the Medical Research Council Biostatistics unit, he highlights the recurrent themes in data management that emerged among researchers in the life sciences. Despite varied research interests, the challenges in handling data remained consistent, revealing a universal resonance among attendees.

He noticed how the FAIR principles encapsulated these challenges, resonating even with those new to the FAIR principles. The seminar unveiled a prevailing tendency among researchers to underestimate the importance of completing the final steps in their open-data efforts.

One consistent oversight was the lack of long-term data hosting solutions. Discussions emphasised the significance of reliable data repositories, contrasting issues with post-publication dataset accessibility against platforms like Figshare and Zenodo.

Phillip's reflections on the workshop underscore the diverse perspectives and the intrinsic value of good data management practices. The tale emphasises the impact of  data curation—advocating for stable hosting platforms and the provision of accurate, concise and comprehensive metadata.