EDDI 2023 is organized jointly by the Slovenian Social Science Data Archive (ADP), GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences and IDSC of IZA – International Data Service Center of the Institute for the Study of Labor.
It will be hosted by ADP in Ljubljana, Slovenia, from Monday 27 to Wednesday 29 November 2023. Online participation will also be available for those unable to travel.
- Tutorials and Workshops: Monday 27 November 2023
- Conference: Tuesday 28 November – Wednesday 29 November 2023
- Side Meetings: Thursday 30 November – Friday 1 December 2023
The Data Documentation Initiative (DDI) is an international standard for describing the data produced by surveys and other observational methods in the social, behavioral, economic, and health sciences.
The meeting will bring together DDI users and professionals from all over Europe and the world. Anyone interested in developing, applying, or using DDI is invited to attend and present.
We are seeking presentations, talks, papers on all things DDI:
- Case Studies
- Mature implementations
- Early Implementations
- Interplay of DDI with other standards or technologies
- Projects in early phases in which DDI is under consideration
- Critiques of DDI
Proposed topics of the conference
We expect that many presentations will cross over between topic areas but that should not discourage proposals. Please also note that the possible topics are not exclusive to those listed:
User Needs, Efficient Infrastructures and Improved Quality
Rich, standard-based metadata can a) improve the fulfillment of the need for better documentation for researchers and other users; b) improve efficiency by providing infrastructures that drive data collection, data processing and dissemination (e.g. metadata-portals); c) improve quality of our products and processes. There has been increasing interest in metadata in Europe in the context of building the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). Papers describing innovative solutions covering the parts of or the whole life-cycle from collection to dissemination based on metadata are encouraged. Papers focusing on metadata driven production are welcomed as well.
Official Statistics
National and international statistical organizations share a need for inter-related standards like the Generic Statistical Business Process Model (GSBPM), the Generic Activity Model for Statistical Organizations (GAMSO), the Generic Statistical Information Model (GSIM), the Common Statistical Production Architecture (CSPA), DDI, and SDMX. We welcome papers with a focus on standards in the context of official statistics.
Interoperability, Reusing and Sharing Metadata
DDI is strongly focused on the principles of metadata re-use and interoperability. “Enter once and use many times” is a powerful paradigm that can lead to improved fulfillment of user needs, improved quality and improved efficiency. The FAIR principles emphasize the use of formal, accessible, shared and broadly applicable language for knowledge representation and use of vocabularies and references. Papers that demonstrate achieving interoperability using DDI, interaction with other metadata standards, or innovative ways to reuse, share and harmonize metadata are welcomed.
(Meta)Data Harmonization
(Meta)data harmonization can maximize the value of large scale population research in health and social sciences for both documentation and processing purposes. DDI has rich metadata constructs such as Concept, Comparison, Group, ConceptualVariable and RepresentedVariable in DDI 3.x. We encourage papers which describe projects utilizing DDI or exploring DDI as a basis for harmonizing (meta)data.
Incentives to Document Data
The advantage of having good documentation on data is rarely challenged, but it is often left as the last thing (or maybe not even that) to do on a research project. This is because the benefits for researchers come largely from publication and not from the data itself. In this context, changing both the culture and the rewards for documentation and sharing of data might be seen as key motivators. We encourage papers exploring this topic with the focus on DDI and metadata.
Open Data, Metadata and Linked Open Data
As the “Open Data” movement – which aims to make data more freely available – gains more and more attention in science and humanities, especially in the area of government data, the value of data that are easy to access and not limited by restrictive licenses is acknowledged. By using “Linked Open Data” technologies the ability to create reproducible and transparent research is enabled. For both, high quality metadata that is standardized and machine-actionable, like DDI metadata, is crucial. We encourage papers in the area of Open Data and Linked Open Data with a focus on DDI.
The sharing of data or metadata is sometimes restricted due to privacy issues or property rights. Especially, but not exclusively, in health research there is the need to protect the privacy of persons to whom the data refer. In social sciences and humanities, data can contain copyrighted material like texts and photos. Access rights can be determined by well standardized metadata. Thus good metadata management enables the protection of research participants’ and researchers’ rights and ensures an organization’s investment in data and metadata. We encourage papers in the area of concepts or implementations of privacy and access control issues with a focus on DDI.
Metadata versus Data and Related Ethics
In the case of surveys, there is usually a clear distinction between data and metadata. However, for example, in the context of qualitative research the boundary between data and metadata is less clear-cut. This issue also arises with big data sources like Facebook and other social media. Ultimately what is perceived to be data and what is perceived to be metadata is defined by research questions. This poses some difficult questions for research ethics when release, use and access to data usually have governance, yet metadata conceivably does not. We encourage papers focusing on this area of tension with the background of DDI.
Machine Learning, AI and Automation
Machine learning and AI technologies offer the potential to create, evaluate and enhance metadata reducing the manual labor often associated with metadata production. We encourage papers which address the use and limitations of these technologies with a focus on DDI and related metadata such as ontologies, thesauri, controlled vocabularies and classifications.
Software / Tools
The acceptance and adoption of a “standard” depends on the availability of re-usable tools and software to utilize it. Many new tools that leverage DDI are emerging, and they target different parts of the data life cycle. We encourage papers showcasing tools and software which make use of DDI or parts of it.
Submissions and Presentation forms
Proposals are welcome for the following presentation forms.
Complete Session: Proposals for complete sessions should list the organizer or moderator and possible participants. The session organizer will be responsible for securing both session participants and a chair.
This is designed for sessions which could be described as a Discussion, Plenary or Birds of a Feather.
- The submission should provide titles, author names, and a brief description for each of the individual presentations. Submission: abstract (500 words maximum).
Full Paper: The presentation will be approx. 20 minutes long, plus 10 minutes for questions at the end.
Accepted papers will be presented at the conference. They can be published in the journal IASSIST Quarterly.
- At least one author of each paper is expected to register for the conference and to present the paper.
- Submission: abstract (200 words maximum)
- A draft of the paper of 8-12 pages with appendices
Regular Presentation: The presentation will be approx. 20 minutes long, plus 10 minutes for questions at the end.
- Submission: abstract (200 words maximum).
Short Presentation: The presentations will be approx. 10 minutes long, plus 5 minutes for questions at the end.
- Submission: abstract (200 words maximum)
Poster: An A1 poster
- Submission: abstract (200 words maximum)
- Posters are to be presented in-person
Tutorial or Workshop: Half-day or full-day tutorials (introductions) or workshops (more advanced special topics) with respectively 2 and 4 blocks each lasting 90 minutes in length.
These are scheduled to take place on Monday, November 27, 2023.
- The abstract should describe the topic, the perspective (business or technical), the intended audience and possible prerequisites.
Hands-on exercises could rely on the participants using laptop computers. - Submission: abstract (300 words maximum).
Side Meetings: Half-day or full day meetings for established DDI related projects or DDI Alliance working groups etc. These are scheduled to take place on Thursday November 30 and/or Friday, December 1, 2023. Proposals should be aware that space is limited, so the number of participants should not exceed 10 people. Meeting space is being provided by ADP. It will not be possible to provide catering for the side meetings.
- The abstract should describe the topic, the rationale for the meeting.
Submission: abstract (300 words maximum).
How to submit
If you are interested in submitting a proposal, please login to use the submission system at https://bit.ly/eddi2023
The deadline for submissions is 14 September 2023, 23:59 CET.
- Please consider indicating your availability as a reviewer of full paper proposals as well.
- Please also indicate whether you will be presenting in-person or on-line.
Author Guidelines & Important dates
- Deadline of Call for Papers / all proposals due: 14 September 2023, 23:59 CET.
- Notification of acceptance for all proposals: 28 September 2023.
For Full papers
- Reviewer comments will be sent to the authors by 17 October 2023.
- Final version of full papers due: 11 November 2023.
- Full papers must follow the rules of IASSIST Quarterly. Submissions should use the IQ author template.
- Please pay attention to the details in the template and submit your contribution in Microsoft Word document file format (or RTF or OpenOffice) and PDF format.
- Accepted papers have to be submitted in Microsoft Word document file format (or RTF or OpenOffice) and PDF format.
General Information
- The Program Committee strategically develops, creates and organizes the program.
- The Organization Committee coordinates the onsite work.
- For questions or any other correspondence regarding the Call for Papers of EDDI 2023, please send an email to eddi23-prog@googlegroups.com.
- Details of last year’s program is available at the EDDI website.
- More information about the EDDI conference series and details on the previous EDDI conferences can be found at https://www.eddi-conferences.eu/.