Dataverse
Dataverse is an open-source application for sharing, citing, analyzing and preserving research data, which can be customized and managed by its owner (container for research data studies). Dataverse works together with Study (a container for a research data set, including cataloging information, data files and complementary files.
The Dataverse Network Project Background
The Dataverse Network Project is housed at the Institute for Quantitative Social Science (IQSS) at Harvard University. Coding of the Dataverse Network software began in 2006 under the leadership of Mercè Crosas and Gary King. This project benefited considerably from their experience with the earlier Virtual Data Center (VDC) project, which spanned 1999-2006 and was organized by Micah Altman, Gary King, and Sidney Verba as a collaboration between the Harvard-MIT Data Center (now part of IQSS) and the Harvard University Library. Precursors to the VDC date to 1987, comprising such entities as a stand-alone software guide to local data, preweb software, and tools to transfer cataloging information by FTP to other sites across campus automatically at designated times.[1]
The Dataverse Network
The Dataverse Network is an open-source application for sharing, citing, analyzing and preserving research data. The main goal of the Dataverse Network is to solve the problems of data sharing through building technologies that enable institutions to reduce the burden for researchers and data publishers, and incentivize them to share their data. By installing Dataverse Network software, an institution is able to host multiple individual virtual archives, called "dataverses" for scholars, research groups, or journals, providing a data publication framework that supports author recognition, persistent citation, data discovery and preservation. Dataverses require no hardware or software costs, nor maintenance or backups by the data owner, but still enable all web visibility and credit to devolve to the data owner.[2]
Harvard Dataverse Network
A collaboration with the Institute for Quantitative Social Science, the Harvard Library, Harvard University Information Technology and Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA): the Harvard Dataverse Network is a repository for sharing, citing, analyzing, and preserving research data; open to all scientific data from all disciplines worldwide.
Dataverse Networks Around the World
There are several production and test Dataverse Networks installed in Universities and organizations around the world. Below are featured Dataverse Networks.
- Odum Institute
- UC Davis
- UC San Diego
- Dutch Universities
- Fudan University
- University of Copenhagen - DataBox
- Department of Cross Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen (ToRS)
- European Union Democracy Observatory (EUDO) (Beta version)
- Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL) Scholars Portal
APIs and Interoperability
The Dataverse Network currently has two open source APIs available:
- Data Sharing API: allows a remote, non-Dataverse Network repository/application to search the holdings and download files from a Dataverse Network.
- Data Deposit API: allows a remote, non-Dataverse Network repository/application to deposit files and metadata to a Dataverse.
Alternatives and similar projects
DSpace is often compared with Dataverse and is used for storing scientific data. CKAN provides similar functions and is widely used for open data.
See also
- Data citation
- Data sharing
- Gary King (political scientist)
- Mercè Crosas
- Institute for Quantitative Social Science
- Micah Altman
External links
References
- ↑ "History of the Project". The Dataverse Network Project. Retrieved 17 December 2012.
- ↑ Crosas, M. "The Dataverse Network®: An Open-Source Application for Sharing, Discovering and Preserving Data". D-Lib Magazine. Retrieved 17 December 2012.