News

Welcome New Member: Roper Center for Public Opinion Research

The DDI Alliance welcomes the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research (Kathleen Weldon. representative) as a Full Member! 

DDI Alliance Executive Board election results

The DDI Alliance recently held elections to fill four seats on the Executive Board, which is responsible for managing the operations of the Alliance, including setting the overall policy and budget, and providing strategic guidance and review of the Alliance’s activities. Elected members of the Executive Board serve for a term of four years, with terms starting on July 1st.

The member representatives unanimously elected include:

  • Dr. Catherine Fitch is Associate Director of the Minnesota Population Center (MPC) and founding Co-Director of the Minnesota Research Data Center (MnRDC), a United States Census Bureau Research Data Center (RDC).  Throughout her career, she has been closely involved in the creation of several MPC databases, including IPUMS (USA and International) and Terra Populus.
  • Dr. Steven McEachern is Director of the Australian Data Archive.  He has high-level expertise in survey methodology and data archiving, and has been actively involved in development and application of survey research methodology and technologies over fifteen years in the Australian university sector.  Steve currently serves as Chair of the DDI Executive Board and was first elected to the Board in 2013.
  • Dana Müller is Head of the Research Data Centre (FDZ) of the Federal Employment Agency at the Institute for Employment Research.  Dana worked as a researcher at the Technical University in Chemnitz before joining the staff of the Data Research Centre of the Federal Employment Agency at IAB.  Dana was first elected to the DDI Executive Board in January 2017.
  • Dr. Barry Radler is a Distinguished Researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Institute on Aging and a researcher on the Midlife in the United State (MIDUS) study.  With 20 years of experience in the behavioral sciences, he has worked with universities, government agencies, and Fortune 500 companies.  Barry is Chair of the DDI Marketing and Partnerships Group.

Additionally, a special thank you goes to outgoing Board members, Leanne Trimble (University of Toronto) and Louise Corti (UK Data Archive).

Save the Date - North American DDI Conference: April 5-6, 2018

We are pleased to announce that the 2018 North American Data Documentation Initiative Conference (NADDI) will be held at the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C. on April 5-6, 2018.

The Call for Papers will be published shortly and further details will be added to the Conference web site over the coming months.

http://naddiconf.org/2018/

The theme for NADDI 2018, ‘Benefits of Describing National Statistics with Common Standards’, emphasizes the benefits of using metadata to drive efficiencies in a research data lifecycle, as well as promotes subsequent re-use of end data products, especially those generated by federal and national statistical agencies.

Aimed at individuals working in and around data and metadata, NADDI 2018 seeks submissions of presentations and posters that highlight the use of DDI and other metadata standards within research projects, official statistics, survey operations, academic libraries, and data archives.

Welcome New Member: University of Applied Sciences HTW Chur

The DDI Alliance welcomes the University of Applied Sciences HTW Chur (Ingo Barkow, representative) as a Full Member! 

Welcome New Member: TBA21 Group

The DDI Alliance welcomes the TBA21 Group (represented by TBA21 Germany) an Associate Member of the Alliance.  David Schiller is the respresentative.

DDI Alliance to Meet in Lawrence, Kansas on 22 May

The DDI Alliance will hold its annual meeting on Monday, May 22, 2017, in the Big 12 Room of the University of Kansas Memorial Union in Lawrence, Kansas (the day before the start of the IASSIST conference). The morning will be devoted to the Meeting of Members and the afternoon to the meeting of the Scientific Board with lunch provided in between. As in previous years, in most cases it will be the same person attending both meetings, but do feel free to send different people.

The agenda for the meeting is available at:
 

Welcome New Member: University of Wisconsin Institute on Aging - MIDUS study

The DDI Alliance welcomes the University of Wisconsin Institute on Aging - MIDUS study (Barry Radler, representative) as a Full Member! They were previously an Associate Member of the Alliance.

Welcome New Member: Statistics Estonia

The DDI Alliance welcomes Statistics Estonia (Kaia Kulla, representative) as an Associate Member! 

NADDI Conference Held in Ithaca, New York

NADDI2017, the 5th Annual North American DDI User Conference, took place December 5-7, 2016, in Ithaca, New York. The conference was hosted by the Cornell Institute for Social and Economic Research (CISER) and The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research.
 
The conference program included 15 presentations, 7 posters, and 2 workshops. The keynote address was given by Dr. Peter Enns ("Why We Need Survey Data and Data Archives to Understand Mass Incarceration").

DDI Training Group looking for help creating how-to videos

The DDI Alliance Training Group is creating short how-to videos about frequently asked topics, such as "What is DDI?", "How can you use DDI to document questionnaires?", and "How can you use DDI for repeated data management?"  The goal is to make DDI more understandable to potential users, especially by showcasing practical applications.

The group is looking for assistance from the DDI community.  

  • If you are interested in joining the working group, please contact the chair, Amber Leahey (amber.leahey@utoronto.ca).  
  • If you have suggestions about video topics, please add them to this online spreadsheet.  
  • If you have existing presentations you think would be worth turning into a short video presentation, please let Amber or the Training Group know.