Global Open Research Commons - Typology of Elements
Context
The coordination of data infrastructure on various levels (country, continent, discipline, sector) is on the increase. So called "Open Science Commons" or "Data commons" provide a shared virtual space or platform that provides a marketplace for data and services. Examples include the European Open Science Cloud, the Australian Research Data Commons, the African Open Science Platform, open government portals and initiatives outside traditional research contexts. Coordinating across these initiatives to enable a network of interoperable data commons is the goal. The Interest Group, operating under the umbrella of the Research Data Alliance, is a neutral place where people have conversations about Open Research Commons. The Group will work to reach a shared understanding of what a "Commons" is in the research data space; what functionality, coverage and characteristics does such an initiative require and how can this be coordinated at a global level? The IG Chairs will also proactively look outside the RDA community to connect with parallel initiatives in other spaces, whether in national / regional contexts or in other fora such as the OECD, G7 Open Science Working Group, UN's Expert Advisory Group on a Data Revolution for Sustainable Development, CODATA, GO-FAIR and others.
One of the early tasks of the group was to identify the elements necessary to create a Global Open Research Commons. This started with an analysis of a number of extant commons, and over a process of refinement through online meetings, as well as exposure to the RDA community, resulted in the elements in the diagram below. This should be seen as the output of an international collaborative development process. The IG has also finalised a set of definitions for each of the element terms. My thanks to Paul Murphy from the ARDC for the graphic design!
Diagram
References
Jones, Sarah, Leggott, Mark, Lopez Albacete, Javier, Pascu, Corina, Payne, Karen, Schouppe, Michel, Treloar, Andrew, & Global Open Research Commons IG. (2023). GORC IG: Typology and Definitions (1.0). https://doi.org/10.15497/RDA00087