Representatives of the Latvian Data Stewards Network — Danija Maļceva (University of Latvia), Svetlana Sokolova (Riga Technical University), and Daina Kosīte (VPC) — attended the 17th annual European DDI User Conference, which took place in Budapest, Hungary, from December 1 to 3.
DatDicmentation Initiative (DDI) is an international metadata standard mainly used for describing and managing data in the social sciences, statistics, and related fields. It provides a structured and consistent way to document datasets, starting from their origin and data collection methods to variables and their codes. This structured approach offered by DDI helps improve data discoverability, reuse, and long-term preservation, ensuring that information about the data is clear and accessible to researchers and institutions alike.
The conference covered a wide range of topics related to metadata and data documentation, such as interoperability solutions for datasets, the use of data curation tools, repository management, and the application of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions in data management.
The data stewards also attended workshops that provided practical insights into how small organizations can implement the DDI metadata standard and use tools for metadata management. Organizations such as the DDI Alliance, the Slovenian Social Science Data Archives, the Croatian Social Science Data Archive (CROSSDA), SciencesPo, and others shared their experiences, emphasizing the importance of standardized approaches in data management and long-term preservation.
The conference provided an opportunity to network with representatives of other repositories and archives. Among the participants were several repositories based on the Dataverse platform, which enabled the exchange of experiences on implementing the DDI metadata standard within Dataverse repositories.
