DRIVER Belgium

We Need Your Help!                                                                                                     As part of a Europe-wide usability study led by UGent, we will conduct a focus group session for repository managers, in which the DRIVER registration and validation modules will be tested live, and you could give us valuable feedback  for further improvements to the platform. Proposed dates for this, in concordance with a normal DRIVER meeting: Feb 19, 20; March 2, 3, 4                                                          Morning 9-12, or Afternoon 1:30- 4:30PM.                                                          Proposed subjects for meeting: updates on mandates/policies // long-term preservation // complex objects//...

Please let us know your preferred dates and subjects, or suggest new ones!

We would also like to ask you to forward the researchers' questionnaire for a short usability analysis of the DRIVER Search Services , at the start of February.

DRIVER Europe

For those of you who haven't read the DRIVER Guidelines v2.0 yet, it's time to make a fresh start and follow up on good resolutions !

 The  fresh-from-the-printers DRIVER Technology Watch report gives a clear insight into Complex Objects, enhanced publications and their dissemination formats (Interoperability), as well as a state-of-the-art update on the CRIS and GRID communities  and Long-Term Preservation of complex objects. Read it free, online!

OA News

The 2008 OA overview by Peter Suber lists Best and Worst practices, with, as the most meaningful evolution for OA, the NIH and Harvard mandates, which sparked a worldwide mandate movement, doubling the number of mandates from all the years before. Also, the  election of Obama and more specifically his scientific advisory board which has OA-proponent and Nobel Prize winner Harold Varmus in it, is seen as a very positive evolution for OA.  The large growth of OA Journals, data repositories and OA-related sites are signs of increasing attention for the topic. Also, the launch of Europeana is an important step according to Suber. Read more.

After a brief discussion between Klaus Graf, Stevan Harnad and Bernard Rentier (ULG) about the legal framework of the ULG mandate, including discussions of the BOAI definition of OA, and the difference between Gratis and Libre Open Access (free 'only' vs free with reuse rights), Peter Suber wrote an overview and concluded with comprehension for the criticisms as well as for the ULG exceptions and policy. This case is interesting because ULG was one of the first theoretical mandates and is now implemented, hence its strengths and weaknesses will be important lessons for upcoming mandates.  

Technical News

 A  well-written article, 'OAI-ORE, PRESERV2 and Digital Preservation'  on the missing link between OAI-ORE and Digital Preservation, by Sally Rumsey (Fedora) and Benjamin O'Steen (Oxford).

 The SCOR/IODE Report  on Data Publishing from the Marine Sciences, published by UNESCO. 

Events

The best agenda fillers for the whole upcoming year! There's a general evolution towards focusing on  data, interoperability and organizational aspects of repositories, and we hand-picked some of the most interesting conferences, out of which the first one is of very special interest:

·         BOM-Vlaanderen: Strategies for Multimedia Archives, February 6th, Ghent, Belgium.                

Ø  The conference is intended especially for those active in the fields of digital archiving and digital collection building and management, and those planning to take steps in this direction. Many well-known Belgian speakers will be present. 

·         DigCCurr 2009: Digital Curation Practice, Promise and Prospects, April 1-3, 2009, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

 ·         0R2009: Open repositories 2009, May 18-21 at Georgia Tech, USA

Ø  With  user group meetings of Fedora, Dspace and Eprints, on topics such as:

data, repositories and infrastructure, repositories in the organization, interoperability and data networks, services, interfaces and scholarly communications.

 ·         IASSIST/IFDO 2009: Mobile Data and the Life Cycle, 26-29ay, Tampere, Finland

Ø  Among the topics:     Life cycle models for managing data,    Infrastructure for data collection, access and preservation,    Applying metadata standards for data,  Sharing data across applications, Barriers to data sharing and strengthening the reception for data sharing, Reaching new populations through data services, Data services in virtual spaces, E-science, cyber infrastructure and open data, New data partnerships in knowledge communities.

 ·         QQML 2009, Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Libraries, May 26-29,Chania, Crete (Greece)

Ø  with special focus on: metrics, development and assessment of digital repositories

·         ELPUB 2009, 13th International Conference on Electronic Publishing, 10     - 12 June 2009, Milan, Italy

Ø  Rethinking Electronic Publishing : Innovation in Communication Paradigms

and Technologies

 ·         OAI6, 17-19June, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland

Ø  ELPUB 2009 and OAI 6 are just 3 days in time and 400 km in space (4 hoursby train, 50 minutes by plane) away from each other: take this unique chance to participate in both, enjoying two exciting scientific events in electronic publishing and scholarly communication and visiting Italy and Switzerland.

·         Content architecture: UKISKO Conference 2009,22-23 June 2009, London,UK

Ø  This Conference aims to bring together people from all the diverse specialisms that contribute to integrated information systems and services.

·         ECDL 2009: Digital Societies, Sept 27- Oct 2, Corfu, Greece