eSciDoc Days
Welcome!
Sabine Brünger-Weilandt
President & CEO
Berlin, June 10th, 2008
FIZ Karlsruhe – Some Facts
‰ Founded in 1977 by the German Federal Government
‰ Shareholders:
z Federal Republic of Germany; 13 German Federal States
z 6 renowned scientific societies, e.g. Max-Planck-Society, German
Physical Society, Fraunhofer Society
‰ Staff: about 320 employees
‰ 4 sites: Karlsruhe, Berlin, Bonn, and Princeton / New Jersey
FIZ Karlsruhe is a not-for-profit organization, and a member of
the Leibniz Association (WGL).
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Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646 – 1716)
Motto: „theoria cum praxi“
‰ A German polymath who made significant contributions
to many areas of physics, logic, history, librarianship,…
‰ … plus philosophy, theology, and diplomacy
while also working on wind-driven propellers, mining
machinery, lamps, etc.
‰ In philosophy, he is most remembered for his conclusion
that our universe is, in a restricted sense, the best possible
one God could have made.
‰ He invented calculus independently of Newton, and his notation is the one in
general use since.
‰ He discovered the binary system, foundation of virtually all modern computer
architectures.
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•
•
•
83 independent
research institutes
21 scientific service
institutes
funded by the German
government and the
Federal States.
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Profile
• Leibniz institutes focus on subjects of problem oriented
research.
• Each institute concentrates on a subject of strategic
relevance, also in the view of German national research
politics.
• Asset: Unique combination of research and scientific
service (transfer, consulting, knowledge infrastructure).
Theoria cum praxi!
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FIZ Karlsruhe:
Business Areas
Online Service
International
Databases &
Information Services
FIZ Karlsruhe
e-Science
Solutions
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Fulltext
Service
FIZ Karlsruhe:
Business Areas
Online Service
International
Databases &
Information Services
FIZ Karlsruhe
e-Science
Solutions
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Fulltext
Service
New Challenges for Research
„Because of the critical importance of data and information in the
global scientific enterprise, the international research community
must address a series of new challenges if it is to take full advantage
of the data and information resources available for research today.
Equally, if not more important than its own data and information needs,
today’s research community must also assume responsibility for
building a robust data and information infrastructure for the
future.“
(International Council for Science, ICSU, 2004).
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Changing Roles and New Partnerships
The roles of research institutions as well as of service
organizations are changing.
‰ Research data and information created during research processes
must be preserved and transferred across time, space and domains.
‰ As part of their funding applications, funding organizations are starting
to ask researchers to provide plans for knowledge management, for
preservation and sharing of information.
‰ New, fruitful partnerships between scientists, research and service
organizations are to be established.
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eSciDoc:
Model of a New Partnership
eSciDoc is as a joint project of the Max Planck Society and FIZ Karlsruhe,
funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), aimed at
building an e-Science platform for multi-disciplinary research organizations.
eSciDoc
‰ integrates research results and materials in an emerging e-research network,
‰ provides effective and comprehensive access to data and information,
‰ supports collaboration and interdisciplinary research in future e-Science
scenarios,
‰ increases the accountability of research,
‰ improves the visibility of research institutions and organizations.
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Beyond the funded Project:
The Future of eSciDoc
‰ Both MPS and FIZ Karlsruhe see eSciDoc as of strategic value for the
two organizations.
‰ Therefore, both partners have signed a cooperation memorandum
that covers the further joint development of eSciDoc for the time after
the current project (Funding ends in 2009).
‰ Both partners have agreed to further maintain and develop eSciDoc in
the spirit of a true Open Source project.
‰ Creating a strong and active user community around eSciDoc is
pivotal for the future.
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eSciDoc is Open Source
‰ Open Source is key to make the project a success.
‰ Building a vivid and supporting community that helps us to further
developing eSciDoc requires an Open Source licensing – today and
in the future.
‰ Therefore, all eSciDoc software is released under accepted Open
Source license (CDDL).
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FIZ KnowEsis:
Professional Services for eSciDoc (and more …)
KnowEsis
Consulting
and Support
Training
and Workshops
Software
as a Service
Normalization
of Metadata
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Open Source e-Science Tools
e-Science
Infrastructure
e-Science
PubMan
Solutions
Open Source Tools
Fedora
Repository
Projects
Lucene
FIZ KnowEsis Model strengthens eSciDoc
‰ A large and active user community is pivotal for the success of
eSciDoc.
‰ To be appropriately set up, open source projects benefit from being
accompanied by professional services.
‰ Whilst basically ensuring eSciDoc’s open source nature, by its
KnowEsis professional services, FIZ Karlsruhe takes care of making
eSciDoc sustainable.
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eSciDoc is Sustainable
‰ The Open Source philosophy and community model,
‰ The ongoing partnership of Max Planck Society and FIZ Karlsruhe,
‰ The further development of the eSciDoc software,
‰ The extensive services offered to the user community
ensure the sustainability of a state-of-the-art e-Science platform for
multi-disciplinary research.
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I wish for informative
presentations
and fruitful discussions !
Thank you!