Do you love your data? You’d better! Research data are the foundation of the scholarly record and are crucial for advancing our knowledge of the world around us. Knowing how to manage, share, and protect your research data is crucial to your academic and professional success.

February 8-12, 2016, is “Love Your Data” week, and UT is one of 24 universities participating in this nationwide event that will take place entirely on social media. Join the conversation, follow the activities, and get organized.

Follow us on social media — facebook.com/utklibraries and twitter.com/utklibraries – for daily tips and activities. We’ll point out helpful resources and share success (and horror) stories. We hope you’ll share your own experiences and helpful tips to keep the conversation lively. You can also visit the Love Your Data website at loveyourdata.wordpress.com.

Over the course of five days, the “Love Your Data” event will guide you through five activities to help get your data organized, secure, and ready for write-up, sharing and reuse. Each day will have a different theme:

Monday, Feb. 8 –“Data: Keep it safe.”
Where do you keep your data? Do you know the university’s policy on storing data? Learn about backups, cloud storage, and data snapshots.  Read Monday’s blog post to learn more about how to keep your data safe.

Tuesday, Feb. 9 – “It’s the 21st century. Do you know where your data are?
Would you change anything about your file naming scheme now, if you could? What tools do you use to keep your files organized?  Read Tuesday’s blog post to learn more about how to organize your data.

Wednesday, Feb. 10 – “Document. Document. Document.”
Metadata has been called “A love note to the future.” Be kind to your future self and others: write everything down so you can understand it in the future and make your data reuseable.  Read Wednesday’s blog post to learn more about the importance of writing down information about your data.

Thursday, Feb. 11 – “Get credit. Give yourself and your data an identity.”
Distinguish yourself from other researchers with ORCID, a unique author ID. Learn about depositing data in a subject repository. Get a DOI for your data so it’s easy for others to find.  Read Thursday’s blog post to learn more about giving yourself and your data an identity.

Friday, Feb. 12 – “Open Data, Open Research, Open Publishing.”
How might your data be used by colleagues, students, future researchers, or the public? Why Open Research is good for everyone.  Read Friday’s blog post to learn more about open research.

For more information, contact Chris Eaker, Data Curation Librarian, at ceaker@utk.edu, 865-974-4404, @chris_eaker.

While we have your attention, we’d like to recommend two upcoming workshops offered by the UT Libraries in partnership with the Office of Research & Engagement (register here):

Data Management (Part 1): Writing the Data Management Plan, Feb. 2, 10-11 a.m., A004 Blount Hall
Data Management (Part 2): Data Management Best Practices, Feb. 16, 10-11:30 a.m., A004 Blount Hall