Transparency through community-led open infrastructure: a pathway to trust | Community-led Open Publication Infrastructures for Monographs @ Zenodo

Barnes, M., & Steiner, T. (2024). Transparency through community-led open infrastructure: a pathway to trust (1.0). Poster presented at 18th International Digital Curation Conference (IDCC24), Edinburgh, Scotland. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10608700

Abstract: A basic tenet of the digital world holds that data per se cannot be owned nor copyrighted. Access to certain sets of data, however, can be restricted via copyright, which over the years has led to a variety of complications in the larger context of metadata workflows. As a result, today’s highly-compartmentalised book supply chain is primarily built on proprietary, closed-access systems that seek to control the flow of data to enable metadata aggregators who collect publication-specific data to monetise the dissemination of bibliographic and usage data e. g. to libraries. And while such a commercial approach might make some limited sense when dealing with commercial book publishing, it stands in direct conflict with notions of Open Access and Open Data. The Open Data movement in particular seeks to establish free flows of all data created in the context of the scholarly production of knowledge to increase transparency, with more and more organisations (e. g. Open Knowledge Foundation, or Coalition S) calling for open and interoperable metadata (see van Gerven Oei, 2020 for a detailed overview). With Thoth Open Metadata (https://thoth.pub/), we have developed a platform and service embracing open standards, focusing on the provision of fully open metadata that is licensed under CC0 to enable participation and reuse to its fullest extent via open APIs. We see this as the logical step on the road to a more transparent, open and equitable ecosystem for books. Our poster will detail this system and approach.

Part of the work within Thoth has grown to include the archiving of open access monographs, specifically those published by small and scholar-led publishers with no other archiving and preservation plan in place. Many of these presses are under-resourced in most every significant way: financially, staff resources, and technical expertise (Barnes, Bell, et al, 2022). As these contributions to the scholarly record are therefore at risk, the developing Thoth Archiving Network is meant to step into the gap and provide a safety net for retaining access to these important books within participating university repositories and open web-archiving platforms (Internet Archive, Zenodo). This will be done via a simple interface where publishers can select a location and archive their work with the click of a button.

Traditionally, digitally published works have been kept in “dark archives” by digital preservation services as a means of preserving the files and protecting copyright, only triggered to be openly accessible if the publisher ceases to operate. With the advent and increase of open access publishing, first with journals and open access monographs following, the question of whether open access works should also be “openly” preserved has gained traction (Portico, for instance, has a policy that triggers all open access content to openly accessible, where possible.)

Thoth considers archiving as “just another” form of dissemination, which ties into the importance of open metadata. Our poster will show how the Thoth Archiving Network is a specific application of open metadata (and open content), and an important contribution to trust and transparency via community-led infrastructure.