Defining Open Infrastructure

An initial exploration of the conceptual frame of open infrastructures (OI) and how they map onto the landscape of projects.

From the IOI website:

We define infrastructure as the systems, protocols, and software that research and scholarship rely on. Open infrastructure further builds on that definition, looking at the narrower set of open source solutions that facilitate the creation and dissemination of open content, and empower communities to deliver new, improved collective benefits without restrictions to participation, engagement, or usage. These solutions are open source by design, employ open standards, are designed to interact and interoperate with other open services, and are governed by community needs. This frame is aligned with the definition of open infrastructures included in the text of the UNESCO Open Science Recommendation, which states that shared research infrastructures “should be not-for profit and guarantee permanent and unrestricted access to all public to the largest extent possible.”

Further more detailed criteria for the investigation of the hidden costs of infrastructure were specified in the mellon grantOverview of IOI Work
Overview of IOI Work

This document provides an overview for the goals and projects that are currently investigated by the IOI team consisting of Kaitlin, Richard, Q, and myself.

Foundational research

The initial phase creates : [[Defining Open Infrastructure]]

Exploring Hidden Costs of Open Infrastructure

Grant: Mellon
Duration: 15 months

Purpose: Initial exploration of the costs associated with ongoing maintenance, sustainability, and resourcing of the technology, tools, and systems th....

Diving into the specifics

Infrastructure for scholarship

We define infrastructure as the systems, protocols, and software that research and scholarship rely on.

Systems, protocols, and software

Resarch and scholarship

A more detailed discussion of the concept of infrastructure can be found here.

Openness

Open infrastructure further builds on that definition, looking at the narrower set of open source solutions that facilitate the creation and dissemination of open content, and empower communities to deliver new, improved collective benefits without restrictions to participation, engagement, or usage. These solutions are open source by design, employ open standards, are designed to interact and interoperate with other open services, and are governed by community needs.

Away from pragmatic, technical understandings of openness (licenses, technical barriers) towards community

Detailed discussion of opennessopenness
What is openness?

Related notes: [[open access]], [[community]]

What is open?

Scholarship

The understanding of what counts as scholarly infrastructure depends on the communities of practice.

Planning Cycle

• research discovery
• literature management

Project Cycle

• data collection and storage
• data analysis & computation

Publication cycle

• submission
• peer review
• publishing

21st Century Digital Scholarship Cycle

• linking services
• metrics
• metadata services
• data analytics

Education and learning