Towards FAIRification of learning resources and catalogues—lessons learnt from research communities

Frontiers in Education, vol. 9

Abstract

Since the introduction of the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) data principles in 2016, discussions have evolved beyond the original focus on research data to include learning resources. In 2020, a set of simple rules to FAIRify learning resources was proposed, building on existing expertise within the training community. Disciplinary communities have played an important role in advancing FAIR principles for learning resources, although they have approached FAIRification activities in different ways. These communities range from volunteer-led to funded and independent organisations, however commonly include activities such as organising training and capacity building, and coordinated discussions on disciplinary-focused FAIR best practises and standards. Eight disciplinary community case studies are presented and analysed in this paper to examine the motivations, challenges and opportunities towards FAIRification of learning resources, reflecting on how community structure leads to differing responsibilities. The case studies are based on reflections formulated in 2022, the aim is to pull together the experiences of these different communities, focusing on the processes and challenges they encountered, in order to structure this knowledge across different learning platforms, draw attention to the question of sustainability for learning resources and anticipate improvements in future policies and governance.

Authors 12

1. Lottie Provost corresponding

   Institute for Computational Linguistics “A. Zampolli” · National Research Council

   Affiliation as printed

   Istituto di Linguistica Computazionale “A. Zampolli”, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Pisa, Italy

   Istituto di Linguistica Computazionale "A. Zampolli", Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Pisa, Italy

2. Louise M. Bezuidenhout Aachen Centre for Science and Technology Studies

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS), Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands

3. Shanmugasundaram Venkataraman

   OpenAIRE Non-Profit Civil Partnership

   Affiliation as printed

   OpenAIRE AMKE, Athens, Greece

4. Iulianna van der Lek-Ciudin

   Common Language Resources and Technology Infrastructure

   Affiliation as printed

   CLARIN ERIC, Utrecht, Netherlands

5. Celia W. G. van Gelder

   Health-RI

   Affiliation as printed

   Health-RI, Utrecht, Netherlands

6. Iryna Kuchma

   EIFL

   Affiliation as printed

   EIFL, Vilnius, Lithuania

7. Ellen Leenarts

   National Institute for Public Health and the Environment

   Affiliation as printed

   National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, Netherlands

8. Flávio Azevedo

   University of Groningen

   Affiliation as printed

   The Framework for Open and Reproducible Research Training (FORRT), Groningen, Netherlands

9. Irena Vipavc Brvar

   University of Ljubljana

   Affiliation as printed

   Slovenian Social Science Data Archive, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia

10. Lisanna Paladin

    European Molecular Biology Laboratory

    Affiliation as printed

    Data Sciences Centre, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Heidelberg, Germany

11. Helen Clare

    Jisc

    Affiliation as printed

    JISC, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

12. Ricarda Braukmann

    Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS)

    Affiliation as printed

    Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS), The Hague, Netherlands