Service background

A free-at-point-of-use service which allows University researchers to upload, share, and license data for online discovery and re-use.

Technology

The repository is based on DSpace software, the most popular open source repository system in use, globally. DSpace was originally developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries and Hewlett-Packard, and is now supported by the not-for-profit organisation, DuraSpace, based in Ithaca, New York. The application stores digital objects with their descriptions, with tools for managing content and enabling digital preservation. It offers built-in workflows for content submission and review.

Edinburgh DataShare has been customised to offer its own look and feel, with a selection of standards-compliant metadata fields useful for discovery of datasets, through Google and other search engines.

Service Level Definition

This document contains statements about functionality, availability, resilience, backup and disaster recovery of Edinburgh DataShare.

Current service

Edinburgh DataShare is managed by the Research Data Support team within Information Services. It is a key component in the Research Data Roadmap, published by the University in October, 2012, which is work in progress to implement the University Research Data Management Policy, passed by Senate in May, 2011.

Origins of the service

This IS service was built as an output of the Data Information Specialists Committee-UK (DISC-UK) DataShare project, which explored pathways for academics to share their research data over the Internet at the Universities of Edinburgh, Oxford and Southampton (2007-2009). The project was funded as part of the Jisc Repositories and Preservation Programme.

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