Grace Agnew
Associate University Librarian, Digital Library Systems
Rutgers University
The research process is a complex ecosystem of information. Research frequently begins with a grant proposal or other methodology for establishing a hypothesis and a research proposal, data is collected, and throughout the collection process, documents are created, such as lab or experiment notes, images, video, etc. Instruments are used to collect and analyze data, such as sensors, particulate collectors, telescopes, microscopes, etc. Maintenance or calibration records for those instruments can be important when collection practices must be justified or explained. At the end of the research process, peer reviewed publications share the conclusions and extensively reference the research data. From conception to collection to publication, the entire research process produces valuable data that should be collected and made available for others.
RUcore takes a unique approach, combining event and relationship information to capture the entire context behind data in a user friendly manner. Events can be hidden or exposed for different audiences in different portals. RUcore has built its understanding of research context through more than three years of studying researchers, including a two year ethnographic study undertaken at the libraries and the generous assistance of researchers who are helping us build the research portal. The resulting portal captures the context surrounding research data from hypothesis to publication.