80 likes | 206 Views
eHumanities. Address Software and Tools Sustainability Wrap-up… …or Warp-down Mark Dupuis. Barbara Sierman (KB/NL). E-depot has existed for over 10 years Risk of obsolete file formats Risk of losing original look and feel Emulation of software becomes increasingly complex.
E N D
eHumanities Address Software and Tools Sustainability Wrap-up… …or Warp-down Mark Dupuis
Barbara Sierman (KB/NL) • E-depot has existed for over 10 years • Risk of obsolete file formats • Risk of losing original look and feel • Emulation of software becomes increasingly complex
Neil Chue Hong (SSI/UK) • Novelty is rewarded, re-use is not • Hacking new stuff is fun, maintenance old stuff is not • Preserving function is less hard than preserving form • Generalising software makes it increasingly hard to target users • Even a small team (9 FTE) can work wonders by engaging the community and distributing training activities
Policy & Organisation • Take the research (life-)cycle as a starting-point • Data browsing, collection & generation • Storage andcuration • Labellingand metadating • Annotation • AnalysingandVisualising • Reviewingandpublishing • Make tools reusableandinteroperable
Policy & Organisation (cont.) • Whoshouldbepayingfor software and tools maintenance? • The researcher / the research institution? • The fundingorganisation? • In case of the latter, should we leave the funding issue to the research community? • Drivers: • Self-interest on the part of the researcher / institution • Requirementsbyfundingorganisations in the research grants • Towhatextent are fundersresponsiblefor the third stage, i.e. valorisation, commercialisation
Policy & Organisation (cont.) • Do we need a Dutch counterpart of the British SSI? • Yes, we needsomesort of national body • It mightbeanexistinginstitution • Whatabout a coalition (DANS, NLeSC, 3TU Data Centre, DEN)? KB, SURF??? • Do we need a Seal of Approvalforsustainable software? • Yes, ultimately we want aninternationalstamp, but fornowlet’s set up a nationalone • But we alsoneedSSPs (cf. DMPs) • NL and UK shouldconsider (further) collaboration in the area of sustainability of software and tools
Technology & Services • We are dealingwith a number of problems: • Different types of software • Different sustainabilityrequirements • Different divisionswithinhumanities • The currentfunding model is not right(certainlynottailoredforsustainability) • There is a lot of amateur software out there • Humanities is varied landscape
Technology & Services (cont.) • Conclusions / Actions • We’re talking hundreds of tools • Strive for abstraction of commonalities • Produce more robust software • Skepticism about yet another institute – and seal, for that matter • “Registry” (single/unified national or world-wide (?) eHumanitiesportal) • Incorporate maintenance costs in proposals • Set up training/consultancy programmes