The successful SURF DARE project (Digital Academic Repositories) has resulted in a European successor under the name DRIVER. In the DARE project, the universities in the Netherlands provided free digital access to all their research results. The aim of the European DRIVER project is to create a single, large-scale virtual content resource that provides access to all European research materials. DAREnet, the network of repositories in the Netherlands that provides easy access to Dutch scientific materials, is its source of inspiration and its guiding example. SURF is an important partner in this project that is funded by the European Commission.
The “Digital Repository Infrastructure Vision for European Research” (DRIVER) project responds to the vision that any form of scientific-content resource, including scientific/technical reports, research articles, experimental or observational data, rich media and other digital objects should be freely accessible through simple Internet-based infrastructures. DRIVER enables researchers to plug into the European knowledge infrastructure, gaining access to the scientific content of others on the one hand, and providing access to their own scientific content on the other, in a standardised, open way. Open Access to research information is vital for researchers and helps the public appreciation and understanding of science.
The project is a joint collaboration between ten international partners with the intention to create a knowledge base of European research. DRIVER will put a test-bed in place across Europe to assist the development of a knowledge infrastructure for the European Research Area. The project will develop over the next 18 months, building upon existing institutional repositories and networks, from countries including the Netherlands, Germany, France, Belgium and the UK. This network of repositories allows the publication of any form of scientific-content resource, including scientific/technical reports, research articles and experimental or observational data....
Posted by
Peter Suber at 10/04/2006 08:34:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
