We often say that “A is a version of B” but do not explain what we mean by “version”. We imply that B was somehow derived from A or that they share a common ancestor. But how is B related to A? How do they differ? Do they differ in content or format? What is the significance of this difference? While this sounds like a question about the provenance of a dataset, it goes beyond that and asks questions about the identity of a digital object and the intellectual and creative work it embodies.
The project “PID Reference Model for the Versioning of Research Data” at the Chair of Information Management at the Berlin School of Library and Information Science (IBI) at Humboldt Universität zu Berlin focused on the versioning of research data publications in the context of ongoing discussions about the reform of research evaluation from an infrastructural perspective. As an output of the project, the team led by visiting fellow Jens Klump developed a set of guidelines on how to version research data.
Klump, J., Pampel, H., Rothfritz, L., & Strecker, D. (2024). Recommendations on Data Versioning. Berlin, Germany: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13743876
This recommendation outlines key aspects of research data versioning for scientists and information management professionals at research-performing organisations. It is based on prior work by the Research Data Alliance Data Versioning Working Group.
Here is a presentation by the team lead in German: https://www.ibi.hu-berlin.de/de/von-uns/bbk/abstracts/ss_24/klump_versionen
