Frequently Asked Questions

BROCHURE FAQ:

1. Why have Fedora Commons and the DSpace Foundation joined together?
   • Fedora Commons and DSpace foundation have come together to pursue a common mission. Jointly, they will provide leadership and innovation in open source technologies for global communities who manage, preserve, and provide access to digital content.   The joined organization, named DuraSpace, will sustain and grow its flagship repository platforms - Fedora and DSpace.  DuraSpace will also expand its portfolio by offering new technologies and services that respond to the dynamic environment of the Web and to new requirements from existing and future users.   DuraSpace will focus on supporting existing communities and will also engage a larger and more diverse group of stakeholders in support of its non-for-profit mission.
2. How did you decide upon "DuraSpace"  as the name of the organization?
   • The Fedora and DSpace brands are very strong.  Therefore, it is desirable to keep these brands associated with the existing software platforms.   The DuraSpace name was created to be reminescent of both Fedora and DSpace while also being suggestive of the overall mission of the non-profit organization.   DuraSpace conveys the notion of durability of digital content and evokes the sense of a digital information space.   Also, DuraSpace sounds like Fedora ("Dura") and has an element of DSpace ("Space").
3. What is the mission of the DuraSpace organization?
   • The DuraSpace organization inherits the shared aspects of missions of both Fedora Commons and the DSpace Foundation.  The purpose of DuraSpace is to provide sustainable open technologies and services to help individuals and organizations create, manage, publish, share, and preserve digital resources upon which we form our intellectual, scientific, and cultural heritage.  (Alternate sentence:  The purpose of DuraSpace is to provide sustainable open technologies and services for building durable digital content spaces that support scholarship, science, and culture.)
4. How will the Fedora and DSpace open source software be affected?
   • Both the Fedora and DSpace repository platforms will have their home in the DuraSpace organization.   The DuraSpace organization will support both platforms by providing leadership in the areas of technology, community outreach, communication, and marketing.    Each project will continue to innovate and evolve within their existing communities. Over time, e expect significant synergies to emerge between the projects and the role of the new organization is to identify and build on these opportunities.  The priorities and strategies for each platform will be set the using the same process ( or evolving process) that is used today, primarly driven through the communities with guidance and support from the non-profit organization
5. What new initiatives will the DuraSpace organization take on?
   • Currently, the organization is developing DuraCloud, a new web-based service that will enable content replication to a network of cloud-based storage services, and provide an environment for running access and  preservation services within the cloud.  The DuraSpace organization will develop new mission-driven services that serve both existing communities and new users.
6. What is the new organization leadership and structure?
7. Who will benefit from the DuraSpace organization?
   • We believe the entire repository community will benefit from the new organization,as it will bring new resources and focus to the existing platforms and will potentially bring new software and services to the entire community of users wanting to create, manage, publish, share, and preserve digital resources.
8. When will DSpace and Fedora platforms interoperate?
   • Our communities will dictate when it is desirable and for what use cases the platforms should interoperate.  To date, there has been work done to develop a common storage abstraction layer, so both platforms could deposit content to multiple backend storage solutions using the same API.  We predict other common components and API's will be developed, particularly when there is a community of users for DSpace 2.0.
9. Where will the DuraSpace organization be located?
   • DuraSpace is incorporated in the State of New York and will have its main offices in Ithaca, New York and Boston, Massachusetts.   As an organization that is the home of multiple open source projects, the organization works effectively with employees and collaborators distributed geographically.   Several DuraSpace employees work at locations outside of the main office locations.
10. When will the DuraSpace organization be effectively operating?
    • DuraSpace will be operating on July 1, 2009.  The two groups have been effectively working together over the past few months to prepare for this date.

DSpace specific questions:

1. How will the DSpace software be supported in the new organization?
   • The DSpace software will be supported in the new organization exactly in the same manner it was supported as part of the DSpace Foundation.  There will be a core "DSpace" team within the new organization responsible for providing guidance and support to the DSpace community.

Other questions:

1. Does this merger have anything to do with DuraSpace?
2. What are the milestones of the joining
3. How will the new organization be funded?
4. What specific benefits will my organization (with an installed DSpace or Fedora repository) derive from this merger?
5. Who will set the priorties/strategies for each of the platforms?
   • The priorities and strategies for each platform will be set the using the same process ( or evolving process) that is used today, primarly driven through the communities with guidance and support from the non-profit organization.
6. Is this a membership organization? no
7. How can I/we contribute to or participate in new org?  The new organization will be launching a community sponsorship program,strategic corporate partner program and strategic service provider program.  More specific details on all of these programs will emerge in the fall.
8. How are the non profit organizations joining together?
9. How will the DSpace and Fedora products continue to be maintained?  What other projects will be under the umbrella?
10. Will there be separate special interest groups like preservation or data curation, or will interest groups span projects and products?
11. How does my organization propose new projects or collaborations, to the new foundation as a whole or to one of the individual projects?
12. When will DSpace and Fedora be one software platform?
13. Will DSpace and Fedora products merge into a single solution?
14. Will DSpace or Fedora change their names?
15. Should I be mitigating the risk of the DSpace (or Fedora) project dissolving by moving to a new solution?
16. What differences will I as a DSpace (or Fedora) user see as a result of the merger?
17. In trying to decide which product to implement at our institution, how do I now choose?
18. Is there a long-term vision of the products that would help guide my decision in selecting an implementation at our institution?