Identifying Needs and Stakeholders

Estimated time: 45 minutes

Overview

Questions

• What are the open science needs at your institution?
• Who should be involved in starting a community of practice?
• How can you identify allies and supporters for your initiative?

Objectives

• Gather 3–5 open science needs or opportunities at your institution.
• Identify key researcher and support audiences to engage.
• Select 2–3 potential partners or allies for launching a CoP.

Why Start Here?

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Launching a successful CoP begins with understanding your local context—what’s missing, what’s already working, and who’s already doing the work. This episode helps you identify pain points and map out people and groups who can help you move forward.

Callout

💡 Key Idea: Starting with known needs and existing relationships builds momentum and trust.

Discussion

Exercise: Institutional Scan

Individually or in small groups, write down:
- Three current challenges researchers face with open science at your institution
- Two existing programs or resources that support openness
- One area where your institution could grow or improve

Then share out with the group or on a shared board.

Sample Categories of Need

• Lack of training in reproducible workflows
• Unclear data sharing expectations
• Few opportunities for cross-disciplinary collaboration
• Limited awareness of platforms (e.g., OSF, Dryad, Zenodo)

Identifying Stakeholders

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A stakeholder is any person or group that can influence the project, be influenced by it, or feel connected to its outcomes.

Who should be part of your community or linked to it?

• Faculty researchers
  
• Graduate students or postdocs
  
• Librarians and data support staff
  
• IT staff or digital infrastructure teams
  
• Campus centers such as the research office, ethics board, or grants office

Discussion

Think–Pair–Share

• Who are your likely allies?
  
• Who might benefit but hasn’t been invited before?
  
• Who could help advocate for your group?

Discussion

Activity: Stakeholder Mapping

Use a 2x2 matrix to sort stakeholders by:
- Level of interest in open science (low to high)
- Level of influence on campus (low to high)

Draw this out or use a sticky note tool. Then discuss:
- Who falls in the “high influence / high interest” quadrant?
- Who is underrepresented but still important to include?

Discussion

Planning Your Core Team

Identify three to four people you could invite to help start or co-lead the community of practice. Aim for:
- A mix of roles such as researcher, librarian, or administrator
- People with available time or interest in new opportunities
- Early adopters who can bring others along

Key Points

• Link community goals to local needs.
  
• Involve a diverse set of stakeholders to strengthen sustainability and reach.
  
• Begin with a small, committed team to build momentum.