Case study 1: Suggestions for Overcoming Challenges

Overall considerations:

Plan from the beginning of your project how you could make the research outputs as open as possible, and as closed as necessary for the long-term. What research outputs are you intending to produce? Have open conversations with your co-creators and document your agreed decisions.

Ethics, Copyright and Intellectual Property:

Consider from the outset how others could build upon your work. Develop clear guidelines for data use and reuse.
Prioritise securing open access licenses (e.g. Creative Commons) for digital content. Are other licenses more appropriate for software?
Negotiate agreements with rights holders for non-commercial open access use.
Ensure that consent forms for oral histories are robust and cover all potential uses of the data. Is it appropriate to share the recordings or transcripts?

Technical Infrastructure and Sustainability:

Use institutional repositories or open access platforms for long-term storage, access and preservation. Talk to you supervisor and your library for guidance at an early stage in your planning.
Adopt open source software and file formats to minimise dependency on proprietary technologies.
Develop a sustainability plan that includes regular data backups, format migration, and ongoing maintenance.

Data Management, Metadata, Accessibility and Usability:

Develop a comprehensive data management plan that outlines metadata creation, storage, and preservation procedures.
Ensure the metadata provides all the context required for users to understand and contextualise your data.