Infrastructure
A shared knowledge infrastructure is necessary to promote accessibility and sharing of research data and information.
A network of interoperable repositories has been set up in the Netherlands. Repositories focus mainly on storing scientific/scholarly publications and making them accessible. In order to allow exchanges to take place, national and international standardisation is needed in the area of metadata, data modelling, and protocols. The focus is becoming wider, however, and we are increasingly dealing with new developments such as enhanced publications, collaboratories, and data storage. These developments have consequences for the structure of repositories as part of the knowledge infrastructure.
To enable the exchange of information and open access and to facilitate the supply of research data, SURFshare is working on:
• Research repositories: Digital systems in which research universities and universities of applied sciences can store their research results and make them available to the public as far as possible.
• Digital Author Identifier (DAI): A unique national number assigned to every author who has been appointed to a position at a Dutch university or research institute or has some other relevant connection with one of these organisations. The DAI brings together various different ways of writing the author’s name and distinguishes between authors with the same name.
• Persistent Identifier: Every digital object is assigned a number that represents that object for all time, thus ensuring that it can always be found.
• Complex Objects: for example enhanced publications.
• Metadata: In order to make a digital work traceable, it must be properly described with metadata.
• Tools & widgets: Scientists and scholars can use small-scale applications (“widgets”) to explore the information available within the research infrastructure (for example repositories).
• Statistics: Exchanging statistics can provide comparisons of how often material is consulted.
• Research Information Systems: By sharing information with CRIS (Research Information Systems), a better workflow can be achieved, with more reliable information about the research.
• European knowledge infrastructure: Collaboration on international projects to build up a European knowledge infrastructure.
• Educational repositories: Digital systems in which research universities and universities of applied sciences can store their educational materials and make them available for re-use as far as possible.
Using standards
To be able to exchange information and be compatible with other systems, (international) standards are used. Within the SURF program many existing standards are used and new standards are developed. To keep track of the standards used and the way they are used (application profiles) SURFfoundation has a wiki with this information.
More information
For more information please contact Maurice Vanderfeesten.