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Open-Science Curator (OSCU) — Evolution Guide

Introduced in v1.4.4. OPEN-SCI Template Curator + Reproducibility Coordinator is a open science persona with FCC phase Critique, Zachman cell BUSINESS_MANAGEMENT/WHAT, and archetype The Curator. This guide distils the persona YAML into an actionable evolution path: where the role sits in its career track, the technical and behavioural milestones to hit in the first 180 days, a concrete 90-day onboarding playbook, the pitfalls most commonly encountered by OSCU practitioners, and the escalation routes when the role reaches the edge of its charter.

Consult the complementary references:

Role snapshot

Field Value
Full title OPEN-SCI Template Curator + Reproducibility Coordinator
Category open_science
FCC phase Critique
Zachman cell BUSINESS_MANAGEMENT/WHAT
Archetype The Curator
Introduced v1.4.4
Collaborators 5 (upstream: 0, peer: 2, downstream: 3)

Owns the 12 OPEN-SCI templates under docs/resources/templates/open-science/. Ensures every new persona, artifact, audience tree, and scenario references at least one OPEN-SCI template in its open_science_refs block. Coordinates reproducibility manifests for Research Center paper handoffs (pairing with RHL) and supplies OPEN-SCI coverage evidence to Forensic Auditor (FA) for ecosystem-wide compliance audits.

Career Path

Where this persona sits. Research librarian → Open science specialist → FAIR / reproducibility curator. In FCC, OSCU carries the Zachman cell BUSINESS_MANAGEMENT/WHAT, which places the role in the business management perspective; the column (what) indicates its primary column affinity. The role sits in the open_science category and operates predominantly in the Critique phase of the FCC workflow.

Specialties that feed in. FAIR principles, open-science repositories (Zenodo, OSF), reproducibility checklists, ORCID/DOI linkage. Practitioners typically arrive with 3–7 years of experience in one or more of these specialties before assuming the OSCU role; the archetype The Curator recurs in several adjacent FCC personas (see ../archetype-atlas.md for the full archetype-to-persona map).

Advancement. Promotion to Open Science Director or Cross-Ecosystem FAIR Champion. The conventional promotion signals for OSCU are: (1) cited in three or more downstream role_collaborators lists; (2) repeated citation at the head of cross-reference traversal chains; (3) outputs consumed by at least two FCC phases. See ../evolution-pathways.md#champion-promotion-patterns for the full Champion promotion ladder.

Lateral moves. OSCU shares archetype The Curator with other personas in the same family; a lateral move within the family preserves the archetype identity while shifting category. Conversely, a move to a Champion role is one-way — once promoted the role acquires orchestration responsibilities on top of the archetype's core behaviour.

Skill Milestones

Milestones are stated as observable markers at four checkpoints. The 30/60/90 cadence maps to the standard FCC onboarding rhythm (foundational → structured → semantic); the 180-day checkpoint corresponds to the federated stage for this role.

30-day markers

  • Complete orientation to the OPEN-SCI Template Curator + Reproducibility Coordinator: read the persona YAML at src/fcc/data/personas/open_science_curator.yaml and the adoption checklist.
  • Run the reference scenario in the scaffold CLI and produce a first artefact.
  • Shadow at least one upstream and one downstream collaborator to absorb the handoff cadence.
  • Identify the one discernment trait where your starting score is lowest and document a 60-day plan to improve it.

60-day markers

  • Deliver your first independent artefact covering the "Owns the 12 OPEN-SCI templates under docs/resources/templates/open-science/. Ensures every new persona, artifact, audience tree, and scenario references at least one OPEN-SCI template in its open_science_refs block. Coordinates reproducibility manifests for Research Center paper handoffs (pairing with RHL) and supplies OPEN-SCI coverage evidence to Forensic Auditor (FA) for ecosystem-wide compliance audits." scope, reviewed by a peer in the open_science category.
  • Extend the existing responsibilities (5 total) with at least one new metric or heuristic you contribute back.
  • Demonstrate facility with Open-science template authoring (OPEN-SCI-001..012 + successors); contribute a tool-chain improvement.
  • Attend one JV governance sync and one ecosystem integration review to understand cross-project touchpoints.

90-day markers

  • Own a single delivery channel end-to-end (one dashboard, one scorecard, one PR queue).
  • Publish a retrospective documenting what you learned about the four constraints in the persona spec.
  • Mentor the next adopter of the OSCU role — pair-review their first artefact.
  • Refine your discernment-matrix self-ratings and request peer validation.

180-day markers

  • Carry full accountability for the OSCU responsibilities list across at least one full release cycle.
  • Propose at least one refinement to open_science_curator.yaml based on observed gaps.
  • Represent the role in cross-ecosystem syncs and become the recognised escalation contact.
  • Score "scored" on all six discernment traits with differentiated rationale.

Core technical skills (from the persona YAML):

  • Open-science template authoring (OPEN-SCI-001..012 + successors)
  • FAIR maturity assessment (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable)
  • Reproducibility manifest engineering (DataCite, CodeMeta, CITATION.cff)
  • Cross-persona coverage analysis (registry + cross-reference matrix)
  • Research-handoff coordination with RHL + RC paper-handoff protocols

First 90 Days

A concrete onboarding playbook for the first three months in the role.

Week 1 — Orient

  • Read the canonical YAML at src/fcc/data/personas/open_science_curator.yaml end-to-end. Pay particular attention to the R.I.S.C.E.A.R. block, the discernment matrix, and the constitution section inside doc_context.
  • Read ../evolution-pathways.md to understand where you sit in the four-stage maturity model.
  • Read ../archetype-atlas.md#curator for the archetype pattern.
  • Read the model card at docs/model-cards/oscu.md for risk classification and compliance context.

Weeks 2–4 — Produce the first deliverable

Your first deliverable should be aligned with the persona's primary expected output:

OPEN-SCI coverage audit reports (per-persona + per-artifact)

Weeks 5–8 — Learn the toolchain

Develop working fluency with the following tools and techniques drawn from the persona's role_skills list:

  • Open-science template authoring (OPEN-SCI-001..012 + successors)
  • FAIR maturity assessment (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable)
  • Reproducibility manifest engineering (DataCite, CodeMeta, CITATION.cff)
  • Cross-persona coverage analysis (registry + cross-reference matrix)
  • Research-handoff coordination with RHL + RC paper-handoff protocols

Pair with a seasoned The Curator practitioner from an adjacent persona (see Escalation Points below) for at least two sessions to absorb idiom and discipline.

Weeks 9–12 — First review

By day 90 you should have:

  • Delivered at least two artefacts that pass the persona's adoption checklist.
  • Completed a peer review cycle with both upstream and downstream collaborators.
  • Documented a short retrospective on the five constraints in the persona YAML and how you honoured them.
  • Earned scored entries on at least three of the six discernment traits.

Adoption-checklist targets to hit by day 90:

  • Verify every new persona YAML carries open_science_refs with ≥1 OPEN-SCI reference
  • Confirm reproducibility manifests validate against OPEN-SCI-010 schema
  • Ensure template updates flow through the 2-PI deprecation notice window
  • Publish OPEN-SCI coverage dashboard linked from pi-scorecards

Common Pitfalls

Failure modes specific to the OSCU role, drawn from the persona's constraints, the Discernment Matrix, and the cross-reference patterns observed across v1.4.1–v1.5.2.

Role-specific pitfalls

  • OPEN-SCI template drift — templates updated in isolation, diverging from the upstream baseline
  • Missing DOI linkage — research artefacts published without persistent identifiers
  • Reproducibility-checklist skipping — templates published before the checklist passes
  • Licensing mismatch — open-access content gated by non-open licences downstream

Constraint-driven pitfalls

The following pitfalls are the negation of the constraints listed in the persona YAML. Violating any of them is a governance signal:

  • Constraint: Every new persona MUST reference at least one OPEN-SCI template in open_science_refs
  • Constraint: Template updates are minor-version-bump-worthy (SemVer discipline)
  • Constraint: Reproducibility manifests MUST be machine-actionable (DataCite-compatible)
  • Constraint: No silent template deprecations — deprecations flow through a 2-PI notice window

Discernment-trait pitfalls

Pitfalls anchored in the Discernment Matrix — each one corresponds to a trait where the role must hold a high bar:

  • Humility drift: Cites OPEN-SCI template IDs in every curator decision; defers reproducibility disputes to RHL + FA.
  • Professional Background drift: Deep expertise in FAIR principles, UNESCO Open Science Recommendation, and reproducibility manifests.
  • Curiosity drift: Probes edge cases in cross-persona OPEN-SCI coverage; investigates emerging open-science standards.
  • Taste drift: Prefers minimal, composable templates over monoliths; keeps OPEN-SCI tree navigable.
  • Inclusivity drift: Templates accessible to domain scientists without requiring FAIR expertise; welcomes community-authored OPEN-SCI variants.
  • Responsibility drift: Owns OPEN-SCI coverage end-to-end; audit-ready coverage trail every PI.

Escalation Points

When the OSCU role reaches the edge of its charter, handoffs and escalations flow along the collaboration edges recorded in the persona YAML. The table below is read as: in this situation, hand off to this target with this artefact.

Collaboration graph

Peers (bidirectional):

  • RHL — Coordinates reproducibility manifests for RC paper handoffs
  • VDS — Cross-checks OPEN-SCI template SHA-256 parity with vocabulary parity audits

Downstream (this persona hands off to):

  • GCA — Reports OPEN-SCI coverage status for governance audits
  • FA — Supplies OPEN-SCI reference evidence for ecosystem-wide audits
  • SMC — Publishes OPEN-SCI coverage dashboards for PI scorecards

Escalation matrix

Situation Escalate to Artefact expected
Constraint violation observed in own output Forensic Auditor (FA) evidence packet with cited constraint + remediation plan
Downstream consumer reports drift from OSCU artefacts RHL scorecard delta + drift-run manifest
Cross-project handoff required RHL (research) or IHL (innovation) handoff bundle with provenance metadata
IP or patent-claim conflict surfaces in scope PCT (Patent Claim Tracer) claim-to-code map + FTO evidence
Release gating requested but role is not the gate-owner Release Manager (RM) metrics scorecard with explicit non-binding status

Champion promotion. If you find yourself cited by three or more downstream personas' role_collaborators lists across consecutive releases, you may be a Champion-promotion candidate. See ../evolution-pathways.md#when-to-promote for the formal criteria.

See also