The platform

On the RDM Compas (Research Data Management Competence Base) online platform you will learn research data management competencies in the social, behavioural, educational and economic sciences. The platform was developed primarily for and with research data centre (RDC) staff. For this reason, the content structure follows the Data Curation Lifecycle Model¹, and you get to see first the RDC staff perspective on research data management. RDM Compas offers as well learning opportunities for prospective research data centre employees, researchers and graduate students. You will also find discipline-specific content that addresses the unique characteristics of RDM in the different sciences.

This ambitious project is only made possible by the active participation of research data centres, who collaborate to collect and make centrally available existing information and teaching material in their archives. In addition, our team researches and produces original material.

To address the diverse needs of our community, we developed a modular learning offer structured into two RDM Compas Centers: the RDM Knowledge Base and the Training Center. This modularity gives us the possibility to expand our offer flexibly.

¹ Higgins, Sarah (2008): The DCC Curation Lifecycle Model. In: The International Journal of Digital Curation 3 (1), S. 134–140. Online verfügbar unter http://ijdc.net/index.php/ijdc/article/view/69. 

The RDM Knowledge base

In the RDM Knowledge Base you will read articles on all aspects of the Data Curation Lifecycle¹. While covering the basic topics of RDM that are common to all fields of science, we also provide articles on discipline-specific themes in the social, behavioural, educational and economic sciences. The Knowledge Base aims at facilitating your data curation tasks as well as interaction between RDC staff and researchers. Look out for tips on how to support researchers throughout the Knowledge Base.  The access to the Knowledge Base is open for everyone.

The Training Center

The Training Center offers a rich, interactive learning environment where you can choose between courses and learning paths that cover a wide variety of RDM topics. The courses and learning paths are designed around our Data Curation Competence Framework, and you can earn badges or competence certificates by completing the different learning paths. To access the Training Center, you must create a personal account, for free. With it, you can sign up for courses, track your progress, and communicate with other students inside the learning platform.

A community-driven effort

RDM Compas strives to be a platform for the community and made by the community. It is first and foremost a place where research data centres can share their know-how, best practices and experiences. But it is also a place where research data centres have the opportunity to reach out to data users and prospective employees with informative material. To make this a reality, we welcome contributions to the Knowledge Base and to the Training Center by our community, in form of articles or teaching material. We especially look forward to discipline-specific contributed content.

The Project

The RDM Compas Information and Training platform is part of a broader project to improve RDM competencies among data curators, researches and graduates. Besides the long-term platform success, the objectives of the RDM Compas project are:

• a training programme for RDC staff based on collaboration with RDCs and their existing expertise
• a certification course aimed at preparing future staff for working at the RDCs
• online tutorials and webinars for university students

Institutional Partners

RDM Compas is funded by NFDI and KonsortSWD. As members of KonsortSWD, GESIS and ZPID are responsible for the development and implementation of the project.