Customize a Dataverse

Owned by Mandy Gooch
Last updated: 2023-04-12
6 min read

Customize a Dataverse

You may further customize your project dataverse by selecting ‘Edit’ and choosing from the drop-down menu. Additional customizations include setting permissions levels, assigning roles to other users or groups, adding design elements such as logos and project links, developing dataset templates, and creating guestbooks to track user metrics.

Image of the dataverse edit button and drop-down menu displaying options for customizing a project dataverse

General Information

This page should look familiar to users who just created their project dataverse. The general information page is where dataverse admins may update the description of their dataverse, the contact information, and make changes to the metadata and facet selections that will display on their dataverse page. Dataverse admins may return to this page at any time to make updates as needed.

Theme & Widgets

Admin may customize the look of their project dataverse using the Themes & Widgets interface.

From the Themes tab, users may upload a logo for their project dataverse, choose a different background color, link color, and text color for the header, include a tagline and URL to a project website, and add a footer image. This helps brand the project dataverse and differentiate it from the UNC Dataverse.

Screenshot of Themes and Widgets page with all the available fields and options for branding a project dataverse

The Widgets tab provides HTML code that you can embed within your project website. You may select the Dataverse Search Box HTML code to generate an embedded search box in your website that links back to results in your project dataverse, or you may select the Dataverse Listing HTML code which embeds your project dataverse results list within your website. This is another useful mechanism for branding your project dataverse and making it more accessible to users exploring your project website.

Permissions

Dataverse allows admins to set permission and access levels to limit how users may interact with their project dataverse. Permission levels may be changed at any time; however, please keep in mind that if you change your permissions to be more stringent, you will need to review your users/groups to determine if previously approved users should retain their active role(s). To learn more about roles and users/groups, please see Permissions – Users/Groups.

To edit permissions, select ‘Edit Access’ under the Permissions section. You will be prompted to answer two questions in the pop-up window.

First Question: Who can add to this dataverse?

Dataverse provides you with varying levels of access:

Option 1: Anyone adding to this dataverse needs to be given access.

The admin of this dataverse is the only person permitted to add new sub-dataverses and datasets. If another user would like to add to this dataverse, the admin will need to assign a role to that user. This is the most restricted level of access to a dataverse and is recommended for users creating personal or individual project dataverses, or groups creating a dataverse that will only require approved users to contribute content. Odum Institute Data Archive recommends most dataverses use this option.

Option 2: Anyone with a Dataverse account can add sub dataverses.

Users with a UNC Dataverse account are permitted to contribute sub dataverses to this project dataverse. They will be assigned the role of admin to any sub dataverse they create and can then add datasets to their sub dataverse.

Option 3: Anyone with a Dataverse account can add datasets.

Users with a UNC Dataverse account may only contribute datasets to the dataverse. Users who create new datasets will be assigned as a ‘Dataset Creator’ and will only be able to edit their datasets. This is a particularly useful designation for groups who seek contributions, but only within the scope of their project. It is also the recommended permission level for journals who require data sharing as part of their publication process.

Option 4: Anyone with a Dataverse account can add sub dataverses and datasets.

This is a combination of options 2 and 3. Users are permitted to create sub-dataverses and add datasets to those sub-dataverses, or they may contribute to the project dataverse directly by adding new datasets. This gives your contributors more options in how they share and organize the data and supporting materials within your project dataverse; however, it opens your dataverse to contributions from anyone with a UNC Dataverse account.

Second Question: When a user adds a new dataset to this dataverse, which role should be automatically assigned to them on that dataset?

The second question works in combination with the first. These options determine what roles are assigned to your users once they are permitted access to create new content. The two designations are ‘Contributor’ or ‘Curator’. UNC Dataverse provides a description of the types of actions each role can make.

Contributors can edit metadata, upload files, and edit files, edit Terms, enable a guestbook, and submit their datasets for review. Contributors are not able to publish a dataset within your project dataverse. Instead, they can submit the dataset for review and an admin or curator may publish the dataset. See Submit for Review & Return to Author Feature for more information.

The Contributor role is the recommended choice for those dataverses using Option 3: Anyone with a Dataverse account can add datasets. This combination permits admins the ability to review all dataset records before publication, make any necessary edits, and then approve or deny the publication.

Please keep in mind that once a role is assigned it can be removed at any time by an admin or curator. To learn more about assigning and revoking roles, please see Permissions – Users/Groups.

Permissions - Users/Groups

This section of the Permissions page allows admin and curators to assign roles to other UNC Dataverse users, granting them the ability to perform certain actions within their project dataverse.

To assign a user a role within your project dataverse, click the ‘Assign Roles to Users/Groups’ button. A pop-up window will appear where you can enter a username into the Users/Groups field.

Find the user or group in the drop-down and select their name. Under ‘Role’ select the role that is most appropriate for this user. When you click on a role, UNC Dataverse will provide a description of all actions that role type may take within a dataverse. Once you have decided on the appropriate role, select ‘Save Changes’. The pop-up window will disappear, and the Users/Groups section will update to reflect the new user and their assigned role.

Please note that only users with existing UNC Dataverse accounts can be assigned permissions. If you wish to add someone who does not currently have a UNC Dataverse account, please request that they Create an Account.

To remove a user from the Users/Groups and revoke their role, simply locate the user in the Users/Groups section and click on ‘Remove Assigned Role’. The user will no longer have access to the project dataverse.

Permissions - Roles

The final section of the Permissions page is the Roles section. This is a list of all existing Roles within a dataverse that describes each action that role may take. We recommend using the pre-existing roles available; however, if you are interested in creating a custom role for your dataverse, please Submit a Help Ticket first to ensure that the role will function as intended.

Groups

Groups are a useful way of bundling users to quickly assign or revoke permissions. UNC Dataverse allows admins and curators to create ‘groups’ through a simple pop-up window in the interface.

Enter the information into the required fields, a description, and then use the Users/Groups field to locate the individual users or pre-existing groups you’d like to include in your group. Once you’ve included everyone in your group, click ‘Create Group’. You may now use the Permissions page to assign roles to this group.