VIVO Implementation Project

July 1, 2013

Rationale

The complexity and scale of the university and its scholarship and research environment are often bewildering to students, faculty and staff.  A simple means for discovering what work has been done, who has done it,  what work is in progress, and by whom is needed.  Research and scholarship discovery will enhance our ability to form collaborations, identify synergies and avoid redundancy.  Joining a national network of research and scholarship discovery opens the university to greater collaboration with new research and scholarship partners across the nation and the world.

Goal

Design and implement an open, semantic web research and scholarship discovery tool for the university using the VIVO software.

Objectives

1. Implement the VIVO software as an information service bridging the Provost's Office/Faculty Affairs, central Information Technology Services, the Vice Provost for Research, and the Library
2. Identify and implement reproducible automated data ingest to VIVO
3. Promote VIVO through an outreach program to students, faculty and staff
4. Establish data and service governance for the VIVO service
5. Establish operational requirements and implement on-going services

Project Sponsors and Team

Executive sponsors include Dr. A, Provost; Ms. B, Director of the Office of Faculty Affairs; Dr. C, Vice Provost for Research; and Dr. D, Dean of the Libraries.  The project lead is Ms. E, Director of Faculty Information in the Office of Faculty Affairs, with additional team members representing Faculty Affairs, IT, the Library, and Research Administration.

Impact

All of the University's research and scholarship can benefit from direct, simple, integrated access to information regarding people, grants, concepts, events, locations, papers, datasets and research resources.  VIVO greatly simplifies discovery of research and scholarship across the University, providing access to all.

Faculty and staff activities and accomplishments will be publically accessible, substantially improving the visibility of University research and scholarship.

Data in VIVO can be repurposed for web sites and reporting, significantly lowering the maintenance required to maintain web sites and produce reports, while improving data quality.

Participation in national and international networks of researchers provides substantial new opportunities for identifying research opportunities and collaborators, as well as measuring changes in collaborations over time.

Timeline

Reproducible automated ingest procedures will be completed by December, 2016. VIVO will be in public pilot production by March, 2016 for two colleges.  The project will be transitioned to operation support in central IT and the Library with oversight by the Office of Faculty Affairs by June, 2016.