Digital Repository Infrastructure Vision for European Research - Phase Two - (DRIVER-II) (DRIVER II)

DRIVER is a multi-phase effort whose vision and primary objective is to establish a cohesive, pan-European infrastructure of Digital Repositories, offering sophisticated functionality services to both researchers and the general public. The present proposal (DRIVER-II) aims to introduce key innovations compared to the original DRIVER project, while building on its results. The main novelties envisioned are: EStablishment of a European Confederation of Digital Repositoires as a strategic arm of DRIVER inclusion of Digital Repositories with non-textual or non-publication content, e.g., images, presentations, and possibly primary data construction of "enhanced publications", which combine interrelated information objects into a logical whole, e.g., publications coupled with relevant presentations and associated datasets provision of advanced functionality to address the requirements raised by the above innovations and to serve varied modes of scientists' research explorations. Additionally, DRIVER-II moves from a test-bed to a production-quality infrastructure, expands the geographical coverage of Digital Repositories included in it, intensifies state-of-the-art and future-direction studies, and escalates dissemination, training, and community building activities. DRIVER-II significantly broadens the horizons of the whole DRIVER endeavour regarding infrastructure operation, functionality innovation, and community relevance, and constitutes a major step on the way to the envisioned knowledge society.