Maintaining your data safely and securely is of upmost importance in this work environment. While academic DMPs tend to place more emphasis on the long-term storage of data, your DMP will need to note how data will be stored while being collected and manipulated. The following information should be included:
When writing this portion, ask yourself:
What level of security does your data require?
Where you backup your work will be largely influenced by the security classification of your data.
What is the anticipated size of your dataset and the computational requirements?
Datasets often end up as large files that may require high-speed processors and substantial disk space to analyze. Having an idea in-advance of what your data will require will help you choose the right places to back up your data.
Where will you backup your data?
The "3-2-1 Rule" is ideal when it comes to backing up data.
3: Keep three copies of any important file, a primary and two backups.
2: Store files on two different media types.
1: Keep at least one copy offsite.
Backing up your data using the "3-2-1 Rule" will ensure that you have multiple copies of your data, even in the event of an emergency, whether that be data corruption or a natural disaster.
Options for Data Storage
This is a non-exhaustive list, but the following are a few data storage options for consideration:
1. Jupiter: Jupiter is the Department of the Navy (DON) analytics platform supporting users at all skill levels across the breadth and depth of National Defense and Naval missions. Jupiter helps DON organizations transform data into decisions and action. Using one central data platform with right-time data, data tools, and other self-service products, Jupiter simplifies solutions and puts the power of analytics in the pocket of every analyst and decision-making authority at the DON.
2. Defense Technical Information Center: Learn how to submit Research Project Data (Research project summaries and annual updates) as well as DoD Datasets to their directory of DoD-funded research datasets.
These considerations will only apply to certain DMPs. Only include this information if it is relevant to your project.
When choosing whether to write this portion, ask yourself:
Does your research use human participants?
If so, this will add a layer of ethical questions to how you will store and eventually share your data. Anonymizing and placing restrictions on data that comes from human participants is considered a best practice. For a list of protected health information (PHI) that may need to be anonymize, see HIPAA PHI: Definition of PHI and List of 18 Identifiers from the University of California Berkeley.
Who will own the copyright and intellectual property rights of the data?
Generally, works created by the United States government are copyright-free, but not all. For more information about what may fall under copyright, read about Copyright Exemptions for U.S. Government Works. Further, factual information is considered outside of copyright protection in the United States, so most data cannot be under copyright. That being said, there are still types of data that are not in the public domain. If your data will not be in the public domain, see Cornell University's Introduction to intellectual property rights in data management, which describes various data licenses that can be used for your data.