Pooling Activities, Resources and Tools for Heritage E-research Networking, Optimization and Synergies

Project Information

PARTHENOS

Grant agreement ID: 654119

DOI

10.3030/654119

Project closed

EC signature date 23 April 2015

Start date 1 May 2015

End date 31 October 2019

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Research Infrastructures

Total cost

€ 11 999 711,00

EU contribution

€ 11 999 711,00

Coordinated by

FONDAZIONE PIN - POLO DI PRATO UNIVERSITA DI FIRENZE
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - PARTHENOS (Pooling Activities, Resources and Tools for Heritage E-research Networking, Optimization and Synergies)

Reporting period: 2018-05-01 to 2019-10-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

PARTHENOS aims at strengthening the cohesion of research in the broad sector of Linguistic Studies, Humanities, Cultural Heritage, History, Archaeology and related fields through a thematic cluster of European Research Infrastructures, integrating initiatives, e-infrastructures and other world-class infrastructures, and building bridges between different, although tightly, interrelated fields. PARTHENOS has achieved these objectives through the definition and support of common standards, the coordination of joint activities, the harmonisation of policy definition and implementation, and the development of pooled services and of shared solutions to the same problems. This is important for society as it enables researchers from across the Humanities to work more efficiently across the different disciplines and to present their work for the benefit of the wider public.

PARTHENOS has provided common solutions for the provision for cross-discipline data use and re-use, the implementation of common AAA (authentication, authorisation, access) and data curation policies; IPR management, also addressing sensitive data and privacy issues; standardisation and interoperability; common tools for data-oriented services such as resource discovery, search services, quality assessment of metadata, annotation of sources; communication activities, and joint training activities. Built around two ERICs from the Humanities and Arts sector, DARIAH and CLARIN, and involving all the relevant Integrating activities projects, PARTHENOS has delivered guidelines, standards, methods, services and tools to be used by its partners and all the research community.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

"PARTHENOS started with defining the User Requirements (WP2) using Use Cases contributed by the many partners and from an extensive literature search based on reports addressing researcher’s needs in the Humanities and Arts. The first output from this work was the deliverable 2.1 “User Requirements” completed in February 2016 with an internal updated version released in September 2016 following feedback from the technical team and partners. Each work packages (3-8) then analysed the user requirements relevant to their specific focus, proposed solutions and started work on the development and implementation of these solutions as follows.

WP3, which addresses Common policies and implementation strategies, have created a simple tool, the Policy Wizard, which enables the user to find which are the most common policies in use for their discipline at each point of the data life cycle. If no policies exist, then similar ones can be shown that are used by other disciplines. A Guidelines Handbook entitled ""GUIDELINES to FAIRify data management and make data reusable"" was produced and made available in English, German, French, Greek and Hungarian following the success of the first print run. A foresight study for the humanities was also conducted resulting in a summary of the current state with recommendations for future actions.

WP4 covers standardisation and has developed an online Standards Survival Kit (SSK), supported by a printed “Why standards” guide which uses scenarios to help the end user find the most appropriate standards according to the task and context of their work. Cartoon characters from a fictional planet (Digitus) are used to promote the standards message as these are independent of subject domain or culture. The online SSK tool had been implemented as a prototype by the end of Year 3 and was launched in October 2018 with further scenarios and functions being added in the following months.

The technical work (WP5 and WP6) resulted in the PARTHENOS Entity Model which provides a metadata schema suitable for use across the Humanities. Several virtual research projects had been set up within the PARTHENOS VRE and access has been set up to several external tools. In order to allow external users to access and explore the VRE, a ""show case"" version has been set up which is available from the Portal. This provides users with access to the Visual Media Service, tools from the NLP Hub and the Text Analytics Services and the PARTHENOS Discovery Service which makes use of faceted searches for exploring the contents of the Joint Resource Registry and data ingested into the Cloud.

The area of skills, professional development and advancement (WP7) has provided a range of training materials to the Training Suite with modules on collaboration using Research Infrastructures (RIs) and on managing and improving the visibility of research data vis the FAIR Principles, Open data, Open Access and Open Science, Citizen Science, Ontologies and Digital Humanities Research Questions and Methods. In addition, PARTHENOS hosted a series of highly successful webinars which covered various aspects of working with RIs and creating impact with research data.

Finally, PARTHENOS has been widely disseminated through the website and Twitter, presentations at European and national events, press releases and booths. New posters were designed to illustrate the project outputs, the SSK and the International Relations and several joint workshops organised with other Humanities-related RIs on topics such as the FAIR Principles. The first edition of the PARTHENOS Hub, a Humanities meta-blog, was released early summer 2018 on the topic of Topic Graphs with a second edition on the subject of the Foresight Study being published in May 2019. The PARTHENOS Portal is via the website which provides access to the many outputs developed in the project such as the SSK, the Policy Wizard, and the Training Suite."

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

After four and a half years, PARTHENOS has made an impact and leaves a valuable legacy for Humanities researchers from the various domains represented. By the end of the project, researchers have access to a wide variety of data sources (through a common registry) and tools that will enable them to work across different subject areas in co-operation with colleagues based in geographically dispersed organisations on common projects. Sustainability Planning has ensured the future and continuing development of the outputs from PARTHENOS, with many of these being taken on by the participating ERICS and RIs such as DARIAH, SSHOC and ARIADNEplus.

With the increasing use of technology, the Humanities draw on a widening variety of skills and expertise to support their research and it is noticeable that the output from this area has accelerated significantly over the last few years. Consequently, there has been a growing need for existing data to discoverable, accessible and useable with new knowledge created likewise contributing to a shared common resource, as exemplified by the FAIR Principles. Use of shared standards and policies enables this to happen, along with the training and education which informs, shapes and supports researchers and stakeholders such as policy makers, managers and funding agencies in building this brave new world. The socio-economic benefit from integrating and supporting research activities in the Humanities is more effective use of facilities and expertise and the opportunity to create new knowledge that would not otherwise be possible. This in turn benefits society as whole, providing a better understanding of history and culture which can be capitalised upon by cultural organisations such as museums, in education and in the media.

2. Joint Workshop with E-RIHS, Crete May 2017 (Speaker: Jennifer Edmond)

Front cover of the Guidelines to FAIRIFY Data Management and Make Data Reusable

PARTHENOS Logo

Common policies and implementation strategies inter-project relationships

SSK Poster