Workpackages

The workpackages to be undertaken by this project are:

This workpackage will establish a Federation comprising a baseline of six partners with populated data repositories. Appropriate Federation agreements and policies will be established between partners and will be underpinned by a Federation Framework. A phased Roll-out Plan for practical deployment will be produced, with the Universities of Sydney, Glasgow and Newcastle in the first tranche, all using the eCrystals/ePrints software platform. The other partners (ReciprocalNet, Cambridge, STFC and ARCHER), operating repositories on different software platforms, will be introduced at a later stage.
 * Work Package 1: Repository deployment and support

One of the main aims of WP2 will be to establish a “core” Federation Application Profile, and to achieve full agreement and adherence to the Profile by all participating data repositories. The role of the Information Environment Metadata Schema Registry in this process will be investigated, and mappings between existing schema’s will be explored. The project will form the basis of a testbed for the OAI-ORE protocol.
 * Work Package 2: Repository interoperability and linking services

Appropriate harvesting and aggregator services will be tested in partnership with publishers and data centres. eCrystals will work with IUCr, RSC, CCDC and CDS to establish scaleable harvesting mechanisms for data repository records.
 * Work Package 3: Repository interactions with data centres, publishers and learned societies

WP4 will build on the Data Curation and Preservation Work Package Deliverable from eBank Phase 3, (A scoping study on the curation and preservation issues in the eCrystals Repository and Federation), which identified several areas relevant to preservation and curation which need to be addressed. These include: audit and certification for long-term repositories; identification of critical Representation Information (which encompasses anything that may be required to convert data into information, including standards, data dictionaries, semantics and software); the identification of critical preservation metadata; and conformance of repository software to the OAIS Reference Model.
 * Work Package 4: Repositories, Preservation and Sustainability

Advocacy services and other support, will be developed by the Federation, informed by an analysis of researcher requirements. This will build on the results from the SPECTRa and R4L Survey, and will complement Repository Support Project advocacy work. Each partner will set realistic targets for populating their repository with data sets, and practical experience in successful advocacy methods and approaches will be shared, and will contribute to wider policy development.
 * Work Package 5: Advocacy and Dissemination

Project administration and management will be carried out by the Project Manager at the University of Southampton. A Project start-up meeting and quarterly face-to-face team meetings will be held with partners, in addition to fortnightly teleconferences/Access Grid sessions to monitor progress. A project plan will be developed and progress reports and updates will be produced for JISC as required.
 * Work Package 6: Project Management

Project Plan

Work Package