FAQ – FAIR Databases

1. The recommended sections A through H can be answered at various levels of details so a ballpark for the expected length could be constructive Expand

We expect between 3 and 5 pages for the proposal – including the budget.

2. Funding seems to allow a 1-person 1-year salary, but no support for infrastructure in included (in particular, storage for the proposed database). Is this an intentional feature of the call? Expand

This funding is specifically not for heavy infrastructure. However, if you can argue that you will need to set up a dedicated server in order to make the data accessible to other researchers, we may reconsider. In my experience, the real challenge is paying for the work, and not for the server. (There are repositories such as Zenodo that may be appropriate, rather than an inhouse server.)

3. The call appears to focus on steps 4,5,6 but no attention is made to the collection and acquisition of the raw data. In my case the latter is likely to consume most of the effort while creating the database, so it would be constructive to understand if mine is outside the scope of the CFP Expand

The focus we had in mind is not on collecting new raw data, but rather, on accessing and organizing existing raw data such as exists in government departments, or institutions, or companies. While not disqualifying the collection aspect, you would have to argue that the data to be collected and organized would be of potential interest to several groups of (Israeli) researchers.

4. It appears that privacy is a matter of concern. I would appreciate understanding if datasets for which privacy is not an issue are outside the scope of the call Expand

If raw data are identified with people, then attention has to be paid to their privacy concerns. Apart from anonymization, which may involve simple or complicated steps to prevent revealing identity, other ways to deal with this issue include establishing limitations on who has access, under what terms, with what safeguards. The relevant approach needs to be spelled out in the application. If your proposed data has no potential privacy issues, then justify that claim, briefly.

5. As finding databases “to play with” is a major obstacle, do we have to bring our own data with its scheme and information or just a consent from a data owner that he allows us to use it? Expand

The main motivation of the project is to access, download and organize data from governmental, public or private institutions. The product should be a data base that will be of use to many research groups. The work involved is in the subject matter decisions on how to organize the data, define dictionaries, metadata, etc. The focus is not on the technical aspects of making data available.

6. Are there any pre-requirements on the DB’s size? Expand

No, although there have to be enough records to make research using the data of interest.

7. Can we apply to this project only as the analytic team without the data ? Expand

Not really.