Interested in a cooperation?

If you are interested in a cooperation regarding an open data project, feel free to contact us at openatlas@oeaw.ac.at. If possible, please provide some or all of the following information in your email. These help us to assess your project's specific needs and thus enable adequate consulting.

Although OpenAtlas is freely available on GitHub, not every project has the internal resources to cover all the aspects needed for successfully using the complex software (e.g. setting up a web server and OpenAtlas itself, updates and backups, development of new features, etc.). It is therefore possible, to cooperate with the OpenAtlas team via the ACDH-CH, an institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, if budget is available. For current and former cooperations see: projects. A cooperation allows for the further development of OpenAtlas and within some or all of the following aspects can be covered:

Software development

Due to differing project designs and research questions, there might be a need for:

  • New features
  • Expanding existing features
  • User interface adaptions

The development of features is time-consuming and tied to costs. Though, once new features are implemented, they can be used by all OpenAtlas projects which allow for shared costs and synergies between projects.

Infrastructure

Certain infrastructure is needed to use OpenAtlas, e.g. a server to install and make OpenAtlas available to your team members. To get this running, experienced personal is needed to:

  • Install OpenAtlas on a dedicated web server, create a database, set up email, etc. - for details see the installation notes
  • Update the software - new OpenAtlas versions are released about once a month
  • Update the dedicated server, including security updates
  • Set up automated backups
  • Troubleshooting e.g.:
    • The website becomes unresponsive or unavailable
    • Functions do not work as expected
    • Available server space is getting low
    • A backup import is needed

Support

Even with infrastructure in place, support might be needed for e.g.

  • Training sessions and workshops on how to use OpenAtlas
  • Evaluation on how to map research data to CIDOC CRM and adaption of the OpenAtlas model
  • Re-evaluation of the model during the project
  • Import of existing data
  • Support in organizing and/or cleaning up data
  • Answering user questions and requests

Presentation website

Once research data is entered into OpenAtlas and results are available, a possibility to present these findings to a broader audience in form of a presentation site might be desirable. The OpenAtlas team can advise on the creation of such a site and take care of programming and putting it online.

Long-term archiving

Long-term archiving of data is highly advised for any kind of research data and part of many grant agreements. Archiving of information in an OpenAtlas instance, including metadata, can be covered within a cooperation. The data will also be made available online which will make the information usable even years after a project is concluded. At the ACDH-CH this is possible within ARCHE.