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The Utopia of Innovative Open Research Infrastructures

Organisers & Speakers: Ina Blümel - TIB Hannover and Hochschule Hannover, Benedikt Fecher - Alexander von Humboldt Institute For Internet and Society and German Institute for Economic Research, Tony Ross-Hellauer - Graz University of Technology and Know-Center GmbH, Sascha Friesike - Weizenbaum Institute and University of the Arts Berlin, Rebecca Kahn - Alexander von Humboldt Institute For Internet and Society, Pelagios Network, Nataliia Sokolovska - Alexander von Humboldt Institute For Internet and Society, Ilire Hasani-Mavriqi - Graz University of Technology
Duration: 2 hrs
Room: D. Maria Hall

This workshop is dedicated to the question of how innovative public research infrastructures can be created. To this end, we will open three thematic tables that we believe cover critical aspects of infrastructure development: 1) funding and administration, 2) interoperability and maintenance, 3) incentivisation and team coordination. It is planned to document and publish the results of the workshop. Participants are invited to collaborate in a publication.

The agenda is as follows:

  • Introduction to the topic by the workshop leader (15 minutes)
  • Participants divided into three thematic tables (5 minutes)
  • Sprint 1: Big challenges (30 minutes)
  • Sprint 2: Bold solutions (30 minutes)
  • Bringing together and discussing the results (40 minutes)

Find the full agenda below.

Workshop abstract

What makes a research infrastructure innovative (as in novel and useful), and open (as in technically open and interoperable)? In our opinion, this is the crucial question in order to develop competitive and useful future services to support research and foster open science. We therefore invite participants of the Open Science Fair to join us in developing the principles for the utopia of innovative and open research infrastructures.

target audience

The success of the workshop depends on the diversity of the participants. We therefore encourage theparticipation of everyone working in and on research infrastructure, especially infrastructure project managers, funders, policy makers, librarians and other service providing institutions, as well as research administrators.

Learning outcomes

  • Learning from each other about the key problems in research infrastructure development and working together on solutions to these problems
  • Encouraging innovative thinking among the infrastructure community in terms of working conditions, funding, and management of research infrastructures
  • Foster exchange and enable future collaborations among the participants

Agenda

Content: The workshop proceeds from the (somewhat exaggerated) assumption that publicly-funded research infrastructure projects often fail and that this is a direct result of factors such as how resources are allocated and managed, people are motivated and teams are organized. The workshop thus calls for a fundamental rethinking of these topics. We propose that infrastructure work is the fourth mission of equal importance as research, teaching, and knowledge transfer. This workshop invites participants to discuss the key challenges of infrastructure work and to define key principles for a utopia of truly innovative, non-commercial research infrastructures.

[Presentation]

  • Introduction:
    The workshop begins with a short presentation (15 minutes), in which we draw from ourown experiences and research on research infrastructures. We conclude the presentation by defining three topic areas (at the moment):
    • funding and administration,
    • interoperability and maintenance,
    • incentivisation and team coordination.
  • Two sprint sessions:
    • For each of the topic areas we will open topic tables to which the workshop participants can assign themselves.
    • One of the moderators will assist each table.
    • We will propose a way to structure and document the results (e.g. on magic paper).
    • Using the Think-Pair-Share method, we will work in two sprints (à 30 minutes) first on the key challenges and then on bold solutions (principles) to overcome these challenges.
  • Moderated discussion:
    After the two sprint sessions, a representative of each table presents the results (à 5 minutes + 10 minutes questions). We will then open the discussion by proposing a theme (for instance “ways forward”).
  • Conclusion:
    We conclude with a wrap-up of the workshop. We will document and write down the results of the workshop and invite the participants to collaboratively write short articles about the key learnings.
  • Collaboration:
    We will collaborate with the blog journal elephantinthelab.org to publish the results of the workshop under a Creative-Commons-license.

Speakers

  • Ina Blümel - TIB Hannover and Hochschule Hannover
  • Benedikt Fecher - Alexander von Humboldt Institute For Internet and Society and German Institute for Economic Research, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  • Tony Ross-Hellauer - Graz University of Technology and Know-Center GmbH, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  • Nataliia Sokolovska - Alexander von Humboldt Institute For Internet and Society, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  • Ilire Hasani-Mavriqi - Graz University of Technology, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

When

16th September, 14:00

See full programme here.