11/16/2007
The SURFshare programme is today awarding EUR 170,000 to six innovation projects that have an overall budget of EUR 360,000. The award will encourage researchers to make their material available online and stimulate web-based collaboration between them. The six-month-long pilot projects were submitted by nine institutions of higher education.
Four of the projects focus on “collaboratories”, web-based collaborative environments that allow researchers at different locations to work together and share one another’s results and sources. Two of the projects are aimed at Open Access plus, the online publication of articles or other research publications such as dissertations, supplemented by research data, models, visualisations, public reviews or annotations.
SURFshare
SURFfoundation, SURF’s innovation incubator in higher education and research, launched the SURFshare programme in 2007. The programme is a follow-up to DARE, which focused on setting up a network of Digital Academic Repositories. DARE succeeded in making 125,000 articles available via “Open Access”; now, SURFshare intends to go a step further by concentrating on “enhanced publications”. In other words, not only the article itself will be made available, but also the datasets, simulations, models, visualisations and other research-related material.
SURFshare programme manager Marjan Vernooy-Gerritsen is satisfied with the outcome of the tender. “I'm particularly delighted about the variety and practical applicability of the plans. The emphasis for SURFfoundation is not so much on building environments in these projects, but on testing them and allowing users to see what it’s like working in the various collaboratories. Our focus in this phase of the SURFshare programme is on gaining practical experience and inspiration”.
The six projects that were awarded grants are:
Collaboratories
• Hublab – Towards online collaboration on a worldwide data collection in social and economic history, International Institute of Social History (IISG)
• TestweekLab - 40 years of Testweek for everyone, Amsterdam University
• Virtual Knowledge Studio Collaboratory - Linking Scholarly Networks and Disciplines, Erasmus University Rotterdam with Maastricht University and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Collaboratory for Evidence Based Critical Reviews, Utrecht University (Faculties of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Medicine, and Veterinary Medicine).
Open Access plus
• CORF/OA+, Collective Education Research Facility, Eindhoven University of Technology (Eindhoven School for Education) and Fontys Teacher Training College Tilburg
• ”Together in Parts” [Samen in Delen] - Enhanced Publications, Tilburg University and Erasmus University Rotterdam
More information about these projects can be found at: www.surffoundation.nl/SURFshare.
About Open Access
Open Access means making the results of publicly financed research available without restriction, and in particular making such results available online free of charge. This means that the author must agree to distribute his or her work, but also that a suitable technical infrastructure must be in place to support distribution.
About SURF
SURF unites Dutch institutions of higher education and research in creating pioneering ICT innovations, thereby enabling them to make the best possible use of the opportunities afforded by ICT and to excel in their education and research efforts.
SURF consists of three organisations: SURFfoundation, SURFnet and SURFdiensten.
About SURFfoundation
SURFfoundation facilitates pioneering education and research. We initiate, orchestrate and drive innovation in ICT though knowledge-sharing and partnerships. SURFfoundation is part of SURF, in which Dutch institutions of higher education and research collaborate on innovative ICT facilities, both in the Netherlands and abroad.
For more information, please contact:
SURFfoundation
Marjan Vernooy-Gerritsen
T +31 (0)30 234 6600
E vernooy@surf.nl