FAIRsFAIR Top RDA Working and Interest Groups

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FAIRsFAIR Top RDA Working and Interest Groups
23 Sep 2019

FAIRsFAIR Top RDA Working and Interest Groups

Support to Data Repositories, Semantics and Data Policies: FAIRsFAIR partners recently analysed the Research Data Alliance Interest and Working Groups to identify those whose priorities most closely match with FAIRsFAIR activities. Namely, the following FAIRsFAIR action lines have been addressed:

 

Support to Data Repositories

A key focus area for FAIRsFAIR is supporting European data repositories in achieving CoreTrustSeal certification. Allied to this is a drive to design implementation features to increase interoperability - the so-called “FAIRification” of data repositories. 
More than seventy repositories responded to an Open Call which was issued in June 2019 and closed at the end of  August. By October 2019, work towards certification in the selected repositories will have started and the first outcomes will be available.

 

Semantics 

Semantics play a fundamental role in making data FAIR. However, the heterogeneity of technical and metadata and semantic resources, and the variety of data repositories already in existence pose a challenge to effective data integration. This inhibits the reuse of data in multi-disciplinary data science endeavours. FAIRsFAIR has invited semantics experts and owners of repositories and infrastructures to its co-located event at RDA 14th Plenary meeting in October. The meeting is  entitled Building the data landscape of the future: FAIR Semantics and FAIR Repositories and participants will brainstorm about about how to achieve interoperability and FAIRness. In addition, FAIRsFAIR launched a survey on semantics and interoperability, targeted data curators, architects, developers to know what kind of formats, semantic artefacts, identifiers and software practices they see in the scientific community they work with (deadline is September 22).

 

Data policy

FAIRsFAIR is directing significant effort towards improving FAIR policy and practice in order to foster a FAIR data culture throughout Europe. A working group led by the Digital Curation Centre (Wp3 FAIR Policy and Practice) at the University of Edinburgh has been tasked with working collaboratively across the full range of stakeholders to: 1) analyse current policy and make recommendations regarding enhancements; 2) define the requirements for repositories and service providers to support FAIR. As part of this activity, a survey is being distributed (with deadline 27 September 2019) focusing on the range of policies influencing the way that researchers work,  what motivates researchers when sharing data and metadata, and what sources of support are currently available. The stakeholders include the ESFRI Clusters, the EOSC Secretariat, and the EOSC5b projects, and the RDA Community. 

 

The FAIRsFAIR Top 10 RDA Groups according to the above mentioned topics are presented in this article .