Open access to bibliodiversity

Issues surrounding open digital publishing infrastructures in the humanities and social sciences. 

In the era of the cloud, software as a service (SAS), big data and global digital giants, the debate surrounding European initiatives on digital research infrastructures seems unavoidable[2]. Awareness of this issue dates back to 2006… and was American-led.[3] Since then, European actors have also woken up to the issue, in particular thanks to the ESFRI roadmap,[4] which put digital technology on the agenda. In terms of the humanities and social sciences (HSS), it is apparent that the resources mobilised are modest, and disproportionate to the academic stakes. In this respect, the Strategy Report on Research Infrastructures (2010) is particularly enlightening. If we take the construction costs of European ESFRI infrastructures in all disciplines, we find that the humanities and social sciences represent only 1% of this cost.[5] And yet, the stakes – of constructing, mobilising, reusing, interconnecting, conserving, disseminating and developing data, results and publications in the HSS – are high,[6] both from an academic point of view (exploiting digital technology to enhance the cumulative nature of results) and a societal one. It is no coincidence that H2020 points to culture as playing a structural role in Europe’s development. Read more…