DRIVER II - Digital Repository Infrastructure Vision for European Research – Phase II

Artini M., Baldacci M. B., Bardi A., Bosio C., Castelli D., Manghi P., Mikulicic M., Zoppi F.

Digital Libraries  Digital Repositories  e-Ifrastructures 

DRIVER is a multi-phase effort whose vision and primary objective is to establish a cohesive, pan-European infrastructure of Digital Repositories, offering sophisticated functionally services to both researchers and the general public. Its aims to introduce key innovations compared to the original “DRIVER” project, while building on its results. The main novelties envisioned are: Establishment of a “European Confederation of Digital Repositories” as a strategic arm of DRIVER; Inclusion of Digital Repositories with non-textual or non-publication content, e.g., images, presentations, and possibly primary data; Construction of “enhanced publications”, which combine interrelated information objects into a logical whole, e.g., publications coupled with relevant presentations and associated datasets; Provision of advanced functionality to address the requirements raised by the above innovations or to serve varied modes of scientists’ research explorations. Additionally, DRIVER Phase-II moves from a test-bed to a production-quality infrastructure, expands the geographical coverage of Digital Repositories included in it, intensifies state-of-the-art and future-direction studies, and escalates dissemination, training, and community building activities. “DRIVER Phase-II” significantly broadens the horizons of the DRIVER endeavour regarding infrastructure operation, functionality innovation, and community relevance, and is a major step on the way to the envisioned Knowledge Society.