Incorporating RDA Outputs in the Design of a European Research Infrastructure for Natural Science Collections

Sharif Islam,Falko Glöckler,Wouter Addink,Claus Weiland,Alex Hardisty

doi:10.5334/dsj-2020-050

Abstract

To support future research based on natural sciences collection data, DiSSCo (Distributed System of Scientific Collections) – the European Research Infrastructure for Natural Science Collections – adopts Digital Object Architecture as the basis for its planned data infrastructure. Using the outputs of one Research Data Alliance (RDA) interest group (IG) and five working groups (WGs) we show how RDA recommendations and supporting documents have been applied to the various stages of the DiSSCo data lifecycle.

Highlights

We describe how the outputs of one Research Data Alliance (RDA) interest group (IG) and five working groups (WG) have shaped the core concepts of DiSSCo (Distributed System of Scientific Collections)1 – the European research infrastructure for Natural Science Collections
We begin with the background on Natural Science Collections (NSCs) in the context of recent advances in digitization, data sharing and how the new challenges in the future can be addressed by a research infrastructure such as DiSSCo
We have presented how the RDA outputs can be used to create building blocks for research infrastructure architectural design decisions towards FAIR compliance

Summary

Introduction

We describe how the outputs of one Research Data Alliance (RDA) interest group (IG) and five working groups (WG) have shaped the core concepts of DiSSCo (Distributed System of Scientific Collections)1 – the European research infrastructure for Natural Science Collections. The collective expertise from RDA and the published recommendations provides the DiSSCo community with useful guidance for creating and supporting a sustainable, long-lived research infrastructure that can enhance the overall capacity of the user to find, retrieve, and use relevant information. How this community has used RDA recommendations to shape the DiSSCo approach is generic enough to be of interest to readers from other fields. RDA output covering guidelines and specifications to assess the DiSSCo FAIR implementation plan (RDA FAIR Data Maturity Model 2020)

Background

FAIR data maturity model

Created

PhysicalSpecimenId

Conclusions