Collaborative Research: HNDS-I: Enhancing Infrastructure For Discovery About Human Behavior

About This Grant

Video is a uniquely powerful source of information about human behavior. Video provides data about what people do, documentation about how research is carried out, and provides demonstrations that inform scientists and the public about research results. Researchers across the sciences routinely use video as data, documentation, and demonstration. One such resource is 'Databrary,' the world’s only known large-scale repository specializing in storing and sharing research videos in behavioral sciences. Housed at New York University, Databrary was launched with NSF support. Databrary has removed the most significant barriers to video reuse while reinforcing core ethical principles of informed consent and restricted access to sensitive or identifiable data. Databrary now supports the research and teaching of thousands of scientists across the globe. This project updates and enhances Databrary’s software to make it an even more powerful and useful platform for research and teaching about human behavior. This updated version accelerates the reuse of shared data by making it easier to find target video clips or specific videos. The updates include tools for users to create their own custom collections for research or teaching. Upgraded software make it easier for scientists to organize their data before it is shared widely. Expert staff provide professional curation assistance to make shared data maximally useful to the widest possible audience. Researchers also create software libraries in R and Python that empower users to write their own code to access Databrary. Through substantial improvements to Databrary, the project enables novel, innovative, and data-intensive research about the characteristics and consequences of human behavior using powerful, flexible, affordable tools available in a web browser. The enhancements enrich datasets already shared on Databrary—many funded by taxpayers—thereby increasing the value of prior public investments in research. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.