News

Seeking DDI Alliance funding requests for the upcoming fiscal year (July 2024-June 2025)

Dear DDI community,

Each year, the DDI Executive Board solicits funding requests to support DDI activities.  Past funding has supported meetings, workshops, training, and tools development, among other activities.

With the next fiscal year (FY2025, July 2024 through June 2025) on the horizon, we are announcing another opportunity to submit funding requests to support DDI activities.  Requests are due by April 22, 2024 and should explain the purpose of the request, how it aligns with the Alliance's Strategic Plan, and include an itemized budget for the funding request.  (More details about annual budget funding requests are here: https://ddialliance.org/alliance/funding-guidelines-and-request-form.)  

DDI Alliance membership dues fund these requests and the Executive Board prioritizes requests that align with strategic priorities.  We strive to maintain a balanced budget and fund requests in proportion to membership revenue, although we are open to funding high-value proposals that exceed the annual budget.  To reduce costs, we also encourage funding requests that do not require travel or are located alongside existing meetings or conferences that members are already planning to attend.

Funding requests may be sent to secretariat@ddialliance.org.  

Sincerely,
DDI Executive Board

Seeking feedback on the draft DDI Alliance Strategic Plan, 2024-2027

Dear DDI community,

The DDI Alliance is pleased to announce its draft Strategic Plan, 2024-2027. The plan identifies three overarching priorities:

  1. Engaging the DDI Community

  2. Expanding the DDI Community

  3. Aligning DDI Development

The draft plan was informed by a recent membership survey, as well as reviewed by the DDI Scientific Board.

We welcome and encourage community feedback on this new draft strategic plan!  Please send all feedback to secretariat@ddialliance.org.  We will discuss and finalize this new strategic plan at the June Annual Meeting of Members.

Sincerely,
DDI Executive Board

Save the Dates + Registration: Virtual 2024 DDI Annual Meetings

Dear DDI Members and Community Participants,

We're excited to invite you to the virtual Annual Meeting of the Scientific Community on May 21, 2024 (9-11am EDT) and the virtual Annual Meeting of Members on June 5, 2024 (9-11am EDT).  

 
Why Attend?
  • Discover the latest DDI advancements and results from the past year.
  • Engage in thoughtful discussions, providing your unique feedback and perspectives.
  • Shape the strategic direction and priorities for the upcoming year.
Annual Meeting of the Scientific Community
  • Date & Time: May 21, 2024 (9-11am EDT)
  • Focus: Review and discuss the activities and accomplishments of the Scientific Board/Community and discuss the future Scientific Work Plan.
  • Register Now
Annual Meeting of Members
  • Date & Time: June 5, 2024 (9-11am EDT)
  • Focus: Review and discuss Alliance and Executive Board activities, and review and approve the DDI Alliance Strategic Plan for 2024-2027.
  • Register Now

Additional Information:

  • Prep Materials: Full agendas and more details will be shared ahead of the meetings.
  • Past Meetings: For a look back at previous accomplishments and discussions, visit https://ddialliance.org/annual-meetings.
We're looking forward to your participation and insights!    

DDI-Lifecycle 4.0 Beta 1 Overview Presentation Recording

The presentation portion of the 28 February 2024 DDI-Lifecycle 4.0 Beta 1 Question and Answer session is now available on the DDI Alliance YouTube channel, including a link to the presentation slides: https://youtu.be/HaKyuDIj5P8.

DDI Questions and Questionnaires Working Group first meeting: 10 April 2024

Do you work with questions and/or questionnaires? If so, you may be interested in being part of a new DDI Questionnaire/Question Working Group. 

The first meeting will take place on 10th April 2024 in Paris as a side meeting of COSMOS. Further details can be found on the COSMOS website

Please let us know if you are interested and would like to attend the meeting by 22nd March. 

 

Many thanks, 

Hayley. 

Dr Hayley Mills (she/her)
CLOSER Senior Metadata Officer  
UCL Social Research Institute | University College London 
h [dot] mills [at] ucl [dot] ac [dot] uk

DDI Training Materials -- Now Available in French

To meet the training needs of the French-speaking community, the DDI Training Working Group has translated several training materials that are now available on the DDI Alliance website.

Translating DDI documentation training materials

The Centre for Sociopolitical Data (CDSP) has been participating for several years in the coordination of the DDI Training Working Group, whose mission is to promote the DDI data documentation standard and provide training in its use. 

Initiated by the two co-chairs of the TWG (Alina Danciu and Hayley Mills), the coordination of this project was ensured by Lucie Marie (CDSP) in collaboration with other engineers from the CDSP and with the engineers from IR* Progedo.

The translations, validated by the DDI Alliance Scientific Advisory Board, are now available on the DDI Alliance website and archived on Zenodo .

Resources available

  • DDI Training Group (2023) “Les bases de DDI: Qu'est-ce que les métadonnées?” ". Zenodo, September 14. doi:10.5281/zenodo.8344046.
  • DDI Training Group (2023) ”Principes fondamentaux : Qu'est-ce que DDI?". Zenodo, September 14. doi:10.5281/zenodo.8344330.
  • DDI Training Group (2023) “DDI Codebook, DDI Lifecycle, et DDI Cross Domain Integration : cas d'usage et objectifs”. Zenodo, September 14. doi:10.5281/zenodo.8344316.

DDI-Lifecycle 4.0 Beta 1 -- Question and Answer session

The DDI Alliance Technical Committee invite you to a webinar presenting the recently released DDI-Lifecycle 4.0 Beta 1 and the opportunity to ask questions.

Details of the beta release are available at: https://ddialliance.org/announcement/ddi-lifecycle-40-beta-announcement

Questions and Questionnaires - New DDI Working Group

Do you work with DDI questions and/or Questionnaires? If so, you may be interested in being part of a new DDI Questionnaire/Question Working Group. 
 
The parameters and mandate need to be discussed and agreed with members, as well as input from the SB, but could include:
  • Development of best practice for implementation
  • Development of best practice for interoperability
  • Provide ideas for revisions, extensions, and feed into future versions of DDI
Please let us know if you, or someone else from your organisation, would be interested in being part of this WG by 1st February. We will then set up an initial meeting to discuss remit and chairs. 
 
Many thanks, 
Hayley
 
Dr Hayley Mills (she/her)
CLOSER Senior Metadata Officer  
<h.mills [at] ucl.ac.uk>

DDI Alliance Secretariat Offices Closed 23 December to 2 January

The DDI Alliance Secretariat offices will be closed from December 23rd to Jan 2nd for the holiday break. Our online resources remain open 24/7 at http://ddialliance.org.

Happy Holidays!