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Group Session January 22, 2021

A typology of the components of Global Open Research Commons

Plenary: RDA 17th Plenary Meeting, Edinburgh, UK (Virtual)

Submitted by
Sarah Jones
Recording

Meeting objectives

Collaborative session notes (main session): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HkpT2R7seR9aT86Zhub_9KDm5vlPruU1cRvoQ53x-58/edit?usp=sharing

Collaborative session notes (repeat session): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wOzDJYlP4iPK1CkCH8i8tdnIDqUI9hh8as5oiczxe40/edit?usp=sharing

Significant work is underway to define and classify the Global Open Research Commons as evidenced by previous BoF and Interest Group sessions. We have harmonised on a definition of the Commons as “A global trusted ecosystem that provides seamless access to high quality interoperable research outputs and services” and are building consensus around this. The key values which should be characteristic of the commons were rated by the group as trusted, open, standards-based, distributed and community governed. The other aspect of our remit which we intend to progress in this meeting is the typology of a Commons.

 

We have identified six key components as: Governance, Sustainability, Stakeholder engagement, Services, Data and Compute. In the session we plan to describe the approaches to each of these components in different initiatives so we can compare descriptions and define benchmarks. This will be done in conjunction with the Benchmarking WG. Discussion will also identify other aspects that need to be considered such as interoperability. While not a component per se, defining the standards each initiative is working to will aid global collaboration.

  • Consolidate the definition of the Commons

  • Validate the typology and how it could serve as a framework for benchmarking

  • Compare descriptions of the implementation of each component

  • Define benchmarks to track status and global maturity

Meeting presenters

WG/IG chairs plus invited speakers from Commons initiatives

Meeting agenda

  • Introduction to meeting and previous work (10 mins) – Andrew Treloar

  • The typology and worked examples (40 mins) – Sarah Jones & lightning talk presenters

    • The NII cloud – Kazu Yamaji

    • The Australian Research Data Commons – Andrew Treloar (on behalf of Rosie Hicks, ARDC CEO)

    • International Virtual Observatory Alliance – Chenzhou Cui

    • Global Alliance for Genomics and Health – Angela Page

  • Group activity to fleshing out the typology (30 mins) – All

  • Updates from GORC WGs and externals (10 mins) – Karen Payne and Mark Leggott

Target audience

Research funders, infrastructure providers and data services active in delivering Research / Data Commons initiatives

Additional links to informative material

The most recent IG session was held at P16 in Costa Rica. Slides and notes are available online.

The most recent Benchmarking BoF session was held at P16 in Costa Rica. Slides and notes are available online.

 

Originally, three BoF sessions were run at previous events:

  1. At the 11th RDA plenary in Berlin in March 2018 there was a BoF entitled Towards a Global Open Science Commons. This included presentations on the African Open Science Platform, the Australian Research Data Commons, the European Open Science Cloud, the NIH data commons and Canadian activities. 

  2. At International Data Week in Gaborone in November 2018, a SciDataCon session was held on Delivering a Global Open Science Commons. Again a number of presentations were given to profile existing work, after which the group discussion pointed to a number of next steps. 

  3. At the 13th Plenary in Philadelphia in April 2019 there was a BoF entitled Coordinating Global Open Science Commons initiatives. This session focused on group work to advance a typology and identification of areas in which it makes sense to collaborate and coordinate work.

 

In addition, at the CODATA 2019 ‘Towards next-generation data-driven science: policies, practices and platforms’ conference in Beijing in September 2019, a session was held on Coordinating Global Open Science Commons Initiatives. A number of presentations were given and further discussion was focused on understanding possible areas for consensus building and collaboration, surveying initiatives that aim to coordinate Open Science activities and reduce ’siloisation’, refining the initial typology and framework and examining the potential for further coordination and interoperability. 

 

Suggested literature for the Groups also includes:

The International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC) https://www.iasc-commons.org

Short Group Status

The Global Open Research Commons IG will coordinate global activity on the development of Open Science platforms such as the EOSC, AOSP and ARDC. The Interest Group holds the overall mission and defines key activities for development through working groups, the first of which is focusing on benchmarking. It will also socialise the community to the concept, definition and value of Research Commons.

Avoid conflict with the following groups

GORC International Model WG
Virtual Research Environment IG (VRE-IG)