The DANS Data Station Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) allows further editing of datasets after deposit, versioning, and integration with external tools, such as a viewer for audiovisual files.
Easier to find data
Ricarda Braukmann, specialized in the Social Sciences and one of the Data Station Managers for the SSH, notes: “The Data Station SSH offers all kinds of possibilities to include additional information about your dataset, specific to the Social Sciences and Humanities. This increases the findability of datasets, making it easy for users to estimate whether a dataset is fit for reuse.” The data station is built on Dataverse software, developed by Harvard University. The software code is open source and is continuously expanded by a large, international community. “This enables us to keep enriching our Data Station with new functionalities.”
Easy to share, easy to protect
“It is now easy to share data you wish to be reusable, as well as to protect sensitive data”, Jetze Touber adds. He is the Data Station Manager responsible for the Humanities domain. “You can share your data under one of the open Creative Commons licences, but more restrictive licences are also available. The depositor can determine for each data file whether other users get access, or not. In this way it is possible to make files which contain sensitive information accessible to a select group of users. Another option is to impose an embargo, making datasets available only after a certain period of time has elapsed.”
Convenience
Ease of use is central to the new Data Station SSH. It is possible, for instance, to explore PDFs, images and video files directly. The Data Station also allows you to add new versions to an existing dataset: published datasets can be adapted, and changes are recorded in the version history. It is easy to cite datasets and files, exporting citations to EndNote, RIS and BibTex. And you log in simply by using your institutional account via SURFconext, or through your Google or GitHub account.
More information
Come and see the collection of over 7,000 datasets in the Data Station SSH, archive your own data sustainably, and easy to find for reuse. In case you have questions, you can contact Ricarda Braukmann and Jetze Touber. There is also a FAQ you can consult.
On 12 June we organise an online showcase where we will demonstrate the possibilities of the Data Station.
Click here for the Data Station Social Sciences and Humanities.
