This year, through the work of volunteer-identified ad hoc committees, IEEE Technical Activities will position itself as an organization that is prepared to carry its members into the future. By examining the needs of IEEE members, as well proactively understanding a changing technical landscape, 2019 will be focused on building an IEEE that is best equipped to lead for many years to come.
The Technical Activities Board (TAB) accomplished much to further its goals during the first meeting of 2019, held on 15 and 16 February at the Marriott Tampa Waterside Hotel, in Florida..
TAB heard from 2019 ad hoc committees designed to further IEEE’s engagement with both the entrepreneurial community and with other global technical societies. It also approved the IEEE Accelerated Open Access Plan to provide Plan S compliant publications that meet their deadlines and allow for a timely acquisition of an impact factor.
A highlight from the meeting was the IEEE DataPort workshop, which was held to ensure all TAB leaders could engage and help drive the IEEE DataPort strategy forward in 2019 and discuss how data is the next big thing beyond IEEE Xplore Digital Library. Six break-out sessions were held to enable TAB leaders to discuss specific ways IEEE can address data needs in each of these areas:
- Data Storage and Open Access
- Data Needed to Support Academic Research
- Supporting Industry Applications
- Building Data Communities & Running Data Challenges
- Enhancing Journal Papers & Conferences
- How to Promote IEEE DataPort
The breakout groups identified many benefits and differentiators that IEEE DataPort offers to both IEEE members and non-members.
I am certain those who participated in the TAB breakout sessions will join me in saying IEEE is proud to introduce IEEE DataPort, a new, valuable, and easily accessible data platform that can significantly enhance your research efforts. It is already being used by over 40,000 individuals across the globe.
Using IEEE DataPort, you can upload and store datasets for free, independently of, or in conjunction with paper submission to more than 64 IEEE journals.
Further benefits include:
- Backed by IEEE–reputable and trusted
- Can store datasets indefinitely up to 2 terabytes each
- Datasets can be linked to IEEE Xplore articles
- Users can send email to dataset owners to make inquiries, collaborate, or provide feedback on a specific dataset
- Integrated with ORCID; users can opt to have the IEEE DataPort dataset asset automatically added to their ORCID asset list
- Fully integrated with Amazon Web Services to facilitate data analytics
- Provides Digital Object Identifier automatically for each dataset
- Citations are formulated and provided in multiple formats for users
- Metadata provided with each dataset and expandable; IEEE Standards Association working to standardize metadata
- Can support and facilitate data challenges
- Can store and link related documentation–scripts, visualizations, and related documentation
- Help meet funding agency requirements for data management
The platform is designed to accept all types of datasets and it provides both downloading capabilities and access to Amazon Web Services to facilitate data analysis in the cloud. Learn more by visiting the IEEE DataPort website.
If you have further questions, feel free to reach out to the IEEE DataPort team.
I hope you will agree with me that IEEE DataPort can be a valuable capability to enhance your research efforts, because it could:
- Establish personal impact and support research reproducibility by making your research data available with your research results
- Enhance your individual research efforts using available datasets
- Participate in an interactive data community
- Store data indefinitely for later use
Thank you again for all that you do to make IEEE a vibrant community. I look forward to working with you this year as we work intelligently in the present to ensure the IEEE is equipped for the future.
Liu is the 2019 Technical Activities vice president.