Neil introduces the report as a whole. The part about research data is extracted below:

The activities of the Alliance Initiative are directed to three areas: First, the partners wish to formulate a common data policy in order to promote both the need for action and to demonstrate the usefulness of primary data infrastructures for scientists and scholars.

Secondly, the partners wish to foster cooperation between scientists and information specialists and to offer funding for pilot projects. Such projects should develop subject-specific standards and methods of data curation and archiving; they should also define the division of labour required in the process.

These steps have the overall goal of establishing a reliable system of digital archives for primary research data, and to ensure that these remain accessible internationally and their data reusable in various interdisciplinary contexts.
Finally, the third and ultimate aim is to establish a system of discipline specific, internationally networked data repositories for primary research data. However,
this task can and should only be tackled when sufficient experience has been acquired from the funding and evaluation of pilot projects. This is to ensure that
the new structures respond to the requirements of the individual subject disciplines and are embraced by them.

Interesting item about how the volume of generated astronomy data has surpassed the ability of scientists to analyse it, and so how they have enlisted the public (amateur astronomers) to help.

JISC has organised a grouping of projects interested in data curation in and out of repositories, including DataShare and the Data Audit Framework. One of the key areas of shared concerns is training.

A report-back on the recent Research Data Management Forum organised by DCC with RIN, with links to key presentations.

A short and sweet summary of the Cambridge report sizing up the UK Trading Funds (such as the Met Office, Land Registry and the Ordnance Survey) and their business models. Bottom line? Opening up the data vaults at these agencies "could benefit the economy to the tune of net £164m." Link through to the full report and on to the Guardian's Free Our Data Campaign.

Chris Rusbridge examining whether repositories add value to data in terms of search engines.

A new blog from the JISC team that manages a number of programmes including ours - the Repositories and Preservation Programme.

WRAP is a a blog to chart the progress of the Warwick Research Archive Project. Recent posts include thoughtful musings on the potential effects of Harvard mandating open access, attitudes of academics towards pre-prints, and the new European Research Council Guidelines for Open Access [including primary data].