This presentation will describe the MU Love Data Week, which took place in 2018 and 2019. This is an international event, with similar initiatives taking place in different countries worldwide. The aim is to gather data users and interested parties together to discuss the use of and possibilities for data, particularly open data.
MU Library sought to bring together those with expertise and knowledge in the data area from within the library, the university and nationally, including external speakers from government, business and academia. They shared their knowledge with the campus community via a series of talks, exhibitions, demonstrations and workshops.
Similar to Open Access Week, the purpose of the Love Data Week event is to raise awareness and build a community to engage on topics related to research data management, sharing, preservation, reuse and library-based research data services. In addition, it is an ideal opportunity to promote the benefits of open data and open research generally.
The global theme for the 2019 event is open data and data justice, with participants encouraged to adapt and modify the theme to best suit their environment. MU Library plans to include open data and open research themes and also Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality (VR/AR) and demonstrations.
This event has proved to be a useful means for the Library to promote data activity on campus as well as nationally and to build a community of data users and experts who can share knowledge and expertise across multiple disciplines. Since the first Love Data Week event the Library has established a Makerspace interest group to explore possibilities for our Makerspace and is collaborating on developing GIS services across campus. This presentation will be of interest to those seeking to create and use data in new and innovative ways.