I'm Tim Dennis. I've spent 26 years in the UC system building research data infrastructure that keeps running after the grant ends, after the staff turns over, after the priorities shift.
I run the UCLA Library Data Science Center. This is where I write about what that work actually takes.
Recent writing
-
Building Programs That Outlast Their Founders
Most library programs die when the person who built them leaves. The ones that survive are not better — they are differently structured. Here is what that structure looks like.
-
What Research Data Infrastructure Requires from Library Leadership
Research data infrastructure is not an IT problem. It is a scholarly stewardship problem — and libraries are uniquely positioned to lead it, but only if we're willing to be more than service providers.
-
From Teaching Workshops to Building Research Infrastructure
How eight years of work at UCLA evolved from teaching data skills to building the systems that make open, sustainable research possible.
Notes
-
Three pieces I bookmarked this year that keep pointing at the same thing: a lot of the software running the world rests on one or two people, and almost no one funds them.
-
The DataSquad model — what makes it work
Link to a DataSquad post on the undergraduate research consultant model, with commentary.
-
Open Science Curriculum for Librarians — IMLS project update
Summary of progress on the IMLS-funded open science curriculum, originally posted on the project site.