Colectica to Lead Workshop and Present at EDDI 2026 in Brussels
Colectica staff members Jeremy Iverson and Dan Smith will attend the 18th Annual European DDI Users Conference (EDDI 2026) in Brussels, Belgium, November 30 through December 4, 2026. They will lead a hands-on workshop and give presentations on data curation and implementing the latest Data Documentation Initiative (DDI) specifications in Colectica 8.
EDDI 2026 is hosted by the Social Sciences and Digital Humanities Archive (SODHA), the State Archives of Belgium, and the Brussels Institute for Social and Political Sciences (BSPO) at Vrije Universiteit Brussels. The event brings together the DDI community to exchange practical approaches to documenting, managing, and reusing data.
November 30: From data file to published dataset
Jeremy Iverson will lead “From Data File to Published Dataset: Deposit, Describe, Approve, and Preserve with Colectica” on Monday, November 30, from 1:00 to 4:30 PM at the Belgian State Archives.
The workshop follows the full journey from deposit to publication and preservation using the Colectica Datasets desktop application and Colectica Catalog, the web-based catalog and curation platform. Participants will take on the roles of depositor, curator, and administrator to check data files, improve documentation, and move a dataset through review and publication.
Hands-on activities will cover automated checks of labels, value labels, missing values, and text; multilingual dataset and variable descriptions; configurable metadata profiles; and team roles and approvals. Participants will also explore file integrity monitoring, export descriptions as DDI Codebook, DDI Lifecycle, DCAT, DataCite, and Dublin Core, and generate a BagIt archival package for preservation.
Participants may bring their own data files or use the provided sample studies. A laptop is required; no prior Colectica experience is needed. The workshop is designed for data archives, organizations building their first catalog, and statistical offices formalizing their curation workflows.
December 2: Implementing DDI Lifecycle 4.0 and DDI Codebook 2.6
Dan Smith will present “Implementing DDI Lifecycle 4.0 and DDI Codebook 2.6 in Colectica 8” on Wednesday, December 2, from 10:30 to 11:00 AM at Vrije Universiteit Brussels, in the DDI Implementation session.
The presentation will examine Colectica 8’s support for the two specifications, including modeling, validation, import, export, reuse, versioning, and provenance. Dan will discuss implementation challenges and lessons learned from DDI Lifecycle 4.0’s model-first architecture and its multiple serializations, including XML Schema, JSON Schema, and RDF/OWL.
The talk will also explain how updated Codebook-to-Lifecycle conversion rules recognize equivalent multilingual metadata and repeated concepts, reducing duplication and creating reusable metadata objects. Attendees will learn practical approaches to adopting the new specifications while maintaining established DDI workflows.
December 2: Automated checks and guided curation
Jeremy Iverson will present “Improving Data Documentation Through Automated Checks and Guided Curation” on Wednesday, December 2, from 2:30 to 3:00 PM at Vrije Universiteit Brussels, in the DDI Curation 2 session.
The presentation will show how Colectica Datasets identifies issues such as undocumented categorical values, redundant labels, and numeric data stored as text. Curators can review findings, apply supported metadata corrections, or dismiss findings with explanatory notes. Check settings and dismissals remain with the dataset in Parquet, helping teams retain the reasoning behind their decisions when sharing files.
Jeremy will also discuss how Colectica Catalog supports shared documentation, multilingual descriptions, configurable profiles, team review, publication requests, and file integrity monitoring. Concrete examples will show how automated findings support professional judgment and how metadata corrections differ from changes to the observations themselves.
Meet Colectica in Brussels
Dan and Jeremy are also listed as speakers in the Scientific Board’s DDI Working Group Lightning Talks session on Tuesday, December 1, from 3:15 to 4:45 PM at Vrije Universiteit Brussels.
Colectica welcomes conversations with attendees about data documentation, curation, publication, and adopting DDI standards. See the EDDI 2026 conference website for registration and the latest program, or contact Colectica to arrange a conversation during the event.
All session times are local to Brussels. The program may be updated before the conference.
About Colectica
Colectica® helps organizations design, explain, manage, and share statistical research. Since 2010, its practical tools and services have helped government statistics agencies, survey researchers, data archives, and other data-intensive organizations document their work in common open standards. Learn more at colectica.com or request a free evaluation.
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