DCH-RP:Glossary

This is the DCH glossary being developed in the DCH-RP project.

CLOUD: Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.This cloud model promotes availability and is composed of five essential characteristics (On-demand self-service, Broad network access, Resource pooling, Rapid elasticity, Measured Service); three service models (Cloud Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud Platform as a Service (PaaS), Cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)); and, four deployment models (Private cloud, Community cloud, Public cloud, Hybrid cloud). Key enabling technologies include: (1) fast wide-area networks, (2) powerful, inexpensive server computers, and (3) high-performance virtualization for commodity hardware. Source: The National Institute of Standards and Technologies

DC-NET: Digital Cultural heritage NETwork is an ERA-NET (European Research Area Network) project, financed by the European Commission under the e-Infrastructure - Capacities Programme of the FP7. The main aim was to develop and to strengthen the co-ordination of the public research programmes among the European countries, in the sector of the digital cultural heritage.Preservation was identified as a major priority for DCH, and a study on "Digital Preservation Services:State of the Art Analysis" was produced, serving as a basis for DCH-RP (http://www.dc-net.org)

DIGITAL CURATION: Maintaining, preserving and adding value to digital data throughout its life-cycle (http://www.dcc.ac.uk/digital-curation/what-digital-curation)

DIGITAL PRESERVATION: A set of activities required to make sure digital objects can be located, rendered, used and understood in the future (DigitalPreservationEurope Project, http://www.digitalpreservationeurope.eu/what-is-digital-preservation/) 

E-INFRASTRUCTURE:An IT Infrastructure for instant access to data, remote instruments, "in silico" experimentation, as well as the setup of Virtual Research Communities and/or Virtual Organisations that is composed by one or more autonomous (maintaining their own policies)Service Providers. (Source: EGI Glossary: http://www.egi.eu/about/glossary/glossary_E.html)

eCULTURE SCIENCE GATEWAY (eCSG): Platform used to create the e‐Collaborative Digital Archives deployed on the COMETA e-Infrastructure. Particular attention has been paid to simplify the access to non‐expert users and to define fine‐grained authentication and authorization system that could protect digital cultural contents in an effective way: http://ecsg.dch-rp.eu/

EUROPEAN GRID INITIATIVE (EGI): A non-profit organisation based in Amsterdam established to coordinate and manage the infrastructure (EGI) on behalf of its participants: National Grid Initiatives (NGIs) and European Intergovernmental Research Organisations (EIROs). 

GRID: IT Infrastructure that is concerned with the integration, virtualisation, and management of Services and Resources in a distributed, heterogeneous environment that supports collections of users and resources (Virtual Organisations) across traditional administrative, trust and organisational boundaries (real organisations). (Source: OGF GFD-I.181)

INDICATE: International Network for a Digital Cultural Heritage e-Infrastructure was an European Union FP7 project which aimed to establish a network of common interest made up of experts and researchers in the field of e-infrastructures and digital cultural heritage at Euro Mediterranean level. Through the network, the participants shared experience, promote standards and guidelines, seek harmonisation of best practice and policy. (www.indicate-project.eu)

INSTRASTRUCTURE AS A SERVICE (IaaS): The capability provided to the consumer is to provision processing, storage, networks, and other fundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to deploy and run arbitrary software, which can include operating  systems and applications. The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems, storage, and deployed applications; and possibly limited control of select networking components (e.g., host firewalls). (Source: The National Institute of Standards and Technologies)

INTEROPERABILITY: The ability of systems, people and organisations to provide services to and accept services from other systems, people and organisations and to use the services so exchanged to enable them to operate effectively together.

JOINT PROGRAMMING: The overall aim of Joint Programming is to pool national research efforts in order to make better use of Europe's precious public R&D resources and to tackle common European challenges more effectively in a few key areas. (Source: European Commission, http://ec.europa.eu/research/era/areas/programming/joint_programming_en.htm)

MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING: An agreement that clarifies the relationships, responsibilities and communication channels between two or more parties that may share Services, clients, and Resources. The MoU is used when both parties do not want to pursue a Contract that is legally binding (generally). Formal contracts can be intimidating therefore MoUs are the better option for some communities. However, it can also be used to regulate the relationship between parties. 

METADATA: Information about Content, describing its characteristics to aid in its identification, discovery, interpretation and management. Metadata is given to Europeana and drives discovery of Content held at the Data Provider’s/Aggregator’s site. Metadata are usually facts or fact-like information, containing little individual artistic/creative expression. Examples: Bibliographic or filmographic data, temporary and spatial data, etc.

NATIONAL GRID INITIATIVE (NGI): The national federation of shared computing, storage and data resources that delivers sustainable, integrated and secure distributed computing services to the national research communities and their international collaborators. The federation is coordinated by a National Coordinating Body providing a single point of contact at the national level and has official membership in the EGI Council through an NGI legal representative. 

NATIONAL RESEARCH AND EDUCATION NETWORK (NREN): A National Research and Education Network (NREN) is a specialised Internet service provider to the research and educational communities within a country. NRENs provide connectivity and services to higher education establishments (typically universities) and research institutes, but can also support schools, further education colleges, libraries and other public institutes. In some cases, services may be provided to government and healthcare sectors as well.  (Source: http://www.terena.org/activities/development-support/r+e-faq/general.html#nrens)

OPEN SCIENCE: The umbrella term of the movement to make scientific research, data and dissemination accessible to all levels of an inquiring society, amateur or professional. It encompasses practices such as publishing open research, campaigning for open access, encouraging scientists to practice open notebook science, and generally making it easier to publish and communicate scientific knowledge. (Source: Wikipedia)

PROOF OF CONCEPT: Also known as proof of principle. It is a realization of a certain method or idea(s) to demonstrate its feasibility,or a demonstration in principle, whose purpose is to verify that some concept or theory has the potential of being used. A proof-of-concept is usually small and may or may not be complete.(Souce: Wikipedia)

REPOSITORY: A storage location from which software packages may be retrieved and installed on a computer. (Source: Wikipedia)

ROAD MAP: Instrument for presenting the scope and coverage of an e-Infrastructure. They are also frequently used within projects and institutions in the digital preservation domain. the focus of roadmaps can vary and that national roadmaps can coexist with project and institutional level ones. DCH-RP roadmap should highlight areas that need further elaboration and coordination of actions across a number of stakeholders.