Conference Agenda

When deciding on a repository to deposit your research data, certificates are meant to be helping with the decision. They claim to indicate whether a repository is "trustworthy" by focusing on technical specifications, implemented procedures and workflows as well as institutional backup. Research data repositories that take care of the “long tail” of research data and do not focus on certain domains (thus not having an estimation on what kind of data they can expect), have a problem when trying to get their repositories certified, though: The predominant repository certification programs require a process of “active preservation” to be present in the repository workflow, which many repositories in general will never be able to implement. The presentation will try to ask whether criteria like active preservation are valid indicators for trustworthiness or whether other aspects might be more important in practice.

The presentation discusses the comprehensive reimplementation of the Archaeological Map of the Czech Republic (AMCR). The outdated technologies and platforms of AMCR led to the decision to renew the system. The chosen solution involved integrating the Fedora 6 platform, based on the OCFL standard, to address issues of quality, sustainability, and secure data storage. The selection of Fedora was driven by the need for a low-complexity platform with an efficient back-end, and the use of OCFL ensured future-proof repository content. The AMCR, designed for archaeological heritage management, originally faced challenges such as low performance and security issues. The new implementation is based entirely on open source solutions, using the Python-based Django framework and the PostgreSQL database. Data storage now follows the OCFL format, mediated by Fedora via the REST API. The presentation highlights the benefits of this approach, emphasizing development flexibility and system modularity, while ensuring data consistency at multiple levels. The reimplementation aims to achieve a user-friendly, modular system with a stable backend that meets the criteria for secure long-term storage of digital data. The changes are consistent with the goal of certifying AMCR as a trusted domain digital repository, addressing aspects of FAIR data and long-term preservation.

Applying for CoreTrustSeal certification challenged and enriched Arca Dados, Fiocruz's data repository. Aligning its practices with CoreTrustSeal's rigorous criteria, while showcasing the strength of its existing framework within Fiocruz's robust infrastructure, proved insightful. Key lessons learned include: Aligning repository and institutional practices required referencing over 100 documents, showcasing Fiocruz's commitment to data governance and trustworthiness; Specific CoreTrustSeal requirements linked to legal aspects and IT infrastructure, demanded close attention due to their alignment with institutional policies and procedures; The Arca Dados Operative Plan and Workflow proved valuable evidence for multiple requirements, demonstrating thorough planning and process implementation; Deposit involves collaboration between the curation team, Fiocruz bodies, and domain experts, ensuring diverse perspectives and expertise; Pre-existing terms of use, rights agreements, and license choices (CC-BY) facilitated the R02 requirement, highlighting the benefits of prior planning; and interviews during deposit provide insights into community practices and inform digital preservation strategies. Overall, the CoreTrustSeal application process proved valuable for Arca Dados, solidifying its commitment to data quality, trustworthiness, and accessibility while identifying areas for further improvement. This experience offers valuable insights for other institutional repositories, particularly those within complex research institutions like Fiocruz.

Repositories play a key role for the long-term access and publication of research data. However, there are cultural barriers for the use of research data repositories, especially for data which are not (yet) intended for public access. In certain scientific disciplines there are renowned repositories available, in other disciplines there is a lack of research data management infrastructure. For the latter, institutional infrastructures come into play. We report a case study of a research data repository (ReSeeD) operated by Ruhr University Bochum (Germany) and based on the Hyrax platform of the Samvera community. Adaptations to the open source platform were made to lower the cultural barrier for data deposit and direct linking with relevant metadata: A fine-grained role and rights management enables tailored visibility of data. A multi-step and tiered review workflow is prerequisite for 10 years of preservation or publication with DOI. Easy authentication even beyond institutional affiliation is mediated via ORCID. The implementation was carried out in close collaboration between central IT, library and a research use case. In a first stage, ReSeeD was brought into service late 2023 and is intended to serve as infrastructure for the about 6000 researchers of the university and external project partners.