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Frequently Asked Questions.

Find the answers to most of your questions.

General

How can I apply to be a curator for OpenOrgs?
The first step to becoming a data curator with OpenOrgs is to express interest by completing our brief online form. This form provides an opportunity for applicants to introduce themselves, share their research background and motivations for contributing, and request guidance on effectively using the OpenOrgs service.

Upon submitting their expression of interest, the Curation Board will guide the applicant through the onboarding process. This includes a one-on-one 15–20 minute meeting with a member of the Curation Board. This meeting is the applicant's chance to discuss their role as a data curator in more detail and ask any questions they may have.

The applicant will also be provided with comprehensive training on using the OpenOrgs platform effectively. This training may encompass a variety of formats, including documents, videos, or a live session. Finally, to solidify their participation as a valued member of the OpenOrgs data curator community, the applicant will be asked to sign a Volunteer Statement outlining their rights and responsibilities.

Upon acceptance by both parties, the applicant is assigned the role of the metadata curator, with the proper access rights to OpenOrgs service. Frequent dedicated community calls of the OpenOrgs curators will be held to enhance the knowledge exchange and experiences, challenges faced by curators
What qualifications do I need to become a curator for OpenOrgs?
OpenOrgs data curator is an individual responsible for the management, curation, and maintenance of metadata, ensuring its accuracy, completeness, and reliability.

Curators are expected to have expertise in research organisations within their chosen country, a deep understanding of the local research landscape, and knowledge of major research institutions and universities.

Additionally, they should be aware of the research structure and organisation in their country and be familiar with national or regional research information systems.

Besides these specialised skills, curators should possess attention to detail, strong data management skills, analytical abilities, technical proficiency, and problem-solving skills.
Can I contribute to OpenOrgs if I am not a professional data curator?

Yes, enthusiasts with relevant skills and a keen interest in open science and data management are encouraged to contribute. However, specific roles and responsibilities may vary based on your level of expertise.

Curation process

How to add a new organization?

You can add an organization not present in OpenOrg by clicking on create -> a new org. There are three mandatory metadata: name, country and type. If a simple user enters the new organization, it must be approved by a national admin.

What kind of relationships can be established between organizations?

In OpenOrgs only one type of relationship can be established, and that is parent-child relationships. When curating relations between organizations (ie. departments or institutes inside an organization), the department or institute must first be approved as an organization, and then linked as child to the main organization.

Please note: this means that everything produced by the child will be included in the parent's production.

How to resolve duplicates?

Curation menu > Organization with new duplicates. 

In this section, you will find a list of orgs and by clicking on each of them will get a list of possible duplicates (orgs with a certain degree of similarity detected by the automated process). The curation work consists in accepting or rejecting this similarity. 

If you want to enter duplicates that were not found by the algorithm, you must open the single org page and enter the duplicate in the designated section.

What happens with discarded duplicates?

When you discard a duplicate, the discarded organization can be:

  • suggested as duplicate of another organization by a new dedupWf execution or
  • approved by an admin as a new organization, so you can edit its metadata.
Why do I still see new duplicates?

There could be new duplicates, even among already resolved cases. This means that you have already established a relation with two duplicates, but a third has been found and suggested by the algorithm. This can be resolved by every type of user.

How to approve a new organization?

Curation menu -> Suggested organization. Here you can find the list of organizations still to be approved inside OpenOrgs. 

The approval gives to the organization the stable OpenOrgs ID - original IDs are not going to be deleted: they are all grouped in identifiers.

Please note that the organizations are to be approved only after checking that the organization does not already exist with the OpenOrg ID).

How to resolve a potential conflict?

A conflict is created when the same organization is approved more than once, thus giving to the same organization two different OpenOrgs IDs. 

The section dedicated to conflicts is called 'potential conflicts' because they are suggested by the deduplication algorithm and the curator must confirm that they actually are the same organization. 

If a curator finds that the same organization accidentally has two different OpenOrgs IDs (that is it has been improperly approved more than once), the curator can add a conflict as follows: select the main organization, then select the conflicts tab on the org page, click add, search for the name of the conflicting organization, select it, and save. 

Adding or resolving potential conflicts set as “hidden” the conflicting orgs and creates a new OpenOrgs ID.

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