Figshare for Institutions is an open platform for hosting and sharing the raw material of Smithsonian research. 

Features

• log on using SI network credentials
• automatic assignment of a Smithsonian-specific DOI (can be reserved before making data public, e.g., when needed for a publication)
• citations for deposited datasets are included in Smithsonian Research Online (SRO) 
• integration with github
• collaborative "project" spaces that enable deposit and review by multiple researchers, even those outside SI.
• free! (to you) with TB of available space

Why not just use figshare.com? 

Figshare for Institutions is jointly administered by the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives and OCIO's Office of Research Computing, who are committed to caring for your data, including any future platform migrations, long after it is deposited. This central administration also provides reporting features for SI units and PIs to see who and where their data is being cited and reused. These reports will eventually be filtered up to the main SI dashboard through Smithsonian Research Online (SRO), but can also be reused on your SI Profiles page or departmental webpage (contact SRO for more details.) 

What can be shared through figshare for Institutions?

Any of the raw material used for your research whether it be sensor data, species lists, genome sequences, text, images, or video. Everyone has data, not just the sciences. If you do research, you have data.

Figshare is file-format agnostic, however some types of research data are more appropriate for figshare than others. Figshare is great for:

• data that underlie peer-reviewed publications
• data that are (mostly) complete and self contained, e.g., a set of tabular files containing sensor monitoring data for a specific time period with accompanying images of monitored plots
• data for ongoing research that periodically needs to be shared

Data that should not be in figshare for Institutions.

Peer-reviewed publications should be deposited in Smithsonian Research Online (SRO).

Very large quantities (> 1TB) of photos and/or video - these should first be deposited in SI DAMS for safe keeping. Contact SI -RDM at si dot edu to coordinate deposit of photos and video into DAMS.

Any datasets, regardless of format, that cannot be made public due to content that falls under one of the "Allowable Restrictions" as listed in SD 609, Digital Asset Access and Use such as:

• Content with Intellectual Property (IP) restrictions such as copyright, moral rights, trademarks, or rights of privacy and publicity, 
• Content with contractual restrictions, e.g., deeds of gift or licensing restrictions
• Content with Personally Identifiable Information (PII)
• Content that includes Native American and Native Hawaiian human remains and cultural patrimony subject to repatriation
• Content with rare, threatened or endangered species locality or collector information
• Content that reveals the location of sensitive archeological, paleontological, geological, or sacred and historic sites.
• Content with uncertain provenance or export records, e.g., Holocaust-era assets
• Sensitive content, e.g., data related to traditional knowledge and practices whose display may give offence if used inappropriately or commercially, or that are the private domain of specific individuals, clans, cults or societies. 

How to get an account

Go to https://smithsonian.figshare.com/ResearchData and click on the "log in" link in the upper right hand corner.  If prompted, use your SI network credentials to log in, but generally it will authenticate you automatically. If you are off-campus, you will be prompted for your username, password, and MFA token.

If there are problems contact SI-RDM@si.edu or call email Keri at 202.633.1716at thompsonk at si dot edu

More details, q's etc.

email SI-RDM@si.edu or Keri Thompson thompsonk at si dot edu