Meeting the increasingly complex requirements involved in providing and making data usable often requires collaboratively operated structures in which tasks are divided among specialised partners. Digital research practice depends on data that is accessible and usable across disciplinary and sectoral boundaries.

However, the DFG and many other stakeholders observe that cooperation and the collaborative operation of infrastructures are made more difficult by the structural differences between facilities (e.g. in terms of size, legal framework, operating model, supporting organisation, funding, technical requirements, remit and strategic orientation).

These differences can create challenges, for example when agreeing on common standards, ensuring technical interoperability and reusability, or exchanging knowledge and experience.

Drawing on the example of institutions and facilities that preserve what are often highly heterogeneous object collections, such as museums, university collections and research collections, and also some libraries, the dialogue will explore options for reducing and ideally overcoming structural differences.

Why this focus?

Facilities that hold object collections are particularly affected by such differences, making cooperation more difficult. Other stakeholders within the information infrastructure landscape are much further advanced in terms of targeted exchange and initiating cooperation and can contribute valuable experience to the dialogue.