Datasets: Displaying, Preserving, and Citing to Them with Dataverse

The IQSS Dataverse Network is a free software platform for the displaying, citing, and archiving of social science research data.  Dataverse was developed at the Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University.  One may store data on the IQSS server, or download the free Dataverse software, licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License, to set up a local archive.  Dataverse’s features include the ability to customize the public interface to appear as though it is on the data provider’s own Web page, and the use of persistent URLs and universal numerical fingerprints, to enable citation and verification of data by other scholars.  Dataverse may be useful for scholars engaged in empirical research; law libraries seeking to archive, publicize, or increase access to their faculty members’ datasets; or for legal journals seeking to distribute the data on which published articles are based.  Professor Carolyn Shapiro’s recent blog post and and Professor Gary King, the principal investigator for Dataverse, has a blog post on this. [Robert Richards]