Meet the family. Open infrastructure group to collaborate with the view to exchange knowledge and build an Open Science Infrastructure Community of Practice.
SCOSS has successfully supported three pledging rounds to date, helping to gather over 4.5 million euros for Open Science Infrastructures. Since the launch of our Pilot cycle, the group of SCOSS-supported projects has grown to 10 infrastructures, and we will soon be adding more with the fourth cycle to launch in autumn 2022.
As stated in the SCOSS strategy 2022-2024, SCOSS wants to go beyond raising funds for OSIs and look into strengthening the landscape by facilitating connection building and developing a Community of Practice. In this context, this month, it was only natural to get the growing SCOSS family together to see how we can support each other by sharing experiences, addressing common challenges and perhaps starting new projects together. Our shared goal is to find pragmatic solutions for sustainable support for Open Science Infrastructures.
As in any welcoming family meeting, we aimed to gather several generations at one table by bringing the SCOSS infras together for an online meeting. SCOSS graduates from the first cycle joined us: DOAJ and Sherpa Romeo, as well as well-seasoned representatives of the second pledging round: DOAB/OAPEN, PKP, and OpenCitations and new kids on the block from the 3rd cycle: arXiv, Redalyc/AmeliCA, and DSpace. It quickly became clear that the group was eager to exchange their experiences, share insights and learn from each other.
After some discussion, one of the first areas that the group wants to tackle is how all members address the POSI principles (Principles of Open Science Infrastructure) and to see how we might share this out with the public. We will further discuss whether and how SCOSS family infra data on this could be shared more broadly and in a more structured way.
The group will meet quarterly. We are also considering holding a public open event with the family reporting on the current developments of each infrastructure to keep the wider OS community updated.
Stay tuned for more updates from the SCOSS Family!