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Actions required to ensure VIVO’s leadership in the creation of an open ecosystem include formalizing and leveraging partnerships with, for example, ORCID, euroCRIS, CRediT, and CASRAI. VIVO must also attract and support projects that build on the VIVO framework, such as EarthCollab, the Deep Carbon Observatory, the UN FAO, and many others. Finally, we need to consult and interact with a diversity of efforts to demonstrate our strong commitment to open scholarship through the reuse of existing standards such as W3C and OBO Foundry. VIVO must continue to play a lead role to nurture innovation and collaboration and model best practices for developing data exchange standards.
Context
VIVO was first developed at Cornell University in 2003 and transitioned to an open source semantic
platform in 2007-8. Progress accelerated rapidly in 2009 when NIH awarded a $12.2M grant to the
University of Florida. This research program established a seven-university VIVO consortium and during
2009-2012, the VIVO project achieved successive software releases, created the VIVO ontology, and
launched the VIVO open source community. A highly successful outreach and implementation program
was developed to engage and expand the community. The first annual VIVO conference was held in 2010,
and the VIVO community grew significantly due to the adoption of VIVO at several institutions.
VIVO community leaders partnered with DuraSpace in 2013 to address long-term sustainability in
transitioning away from grant funding. DuraSpace is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that
provides leadership and innovation for building sustainable, open source communities, technologies, and
services. During 2013-2014, the VIVO Founding Sponsors contributed $270,000 to support a full-time
project director, a part-time programmer, and part-time community outreach, communications and
strategic administrative support. Overall membership revenue for 2013 was $200,000 and the DuraSpace
membership program launched in 2014 raised $340,000 (this amount includes some of the initial
contributions from Founding Sponsors along with $102,500 in new memberships and corporate
sponsorships). Annual income of $500,000 will be required to support key priorities and hire a full-time
technical lead. VIVO will need to grow the community and expand adoption by attracting financial and
in-kind support from new members and corporate sponsors.
In 2014, VIVO adopted a charter and established a governance model to foster adoption of open source
processes. A VIVO project at any institution brings greater exposure to local data quality issues, requires
new partnerships and workflows, and engenders significant ongoing commitments to outreach and
promotion. As a community, VIVO asks individuals and institutions to reach beyond local priorities to
contribute ideas, data, and tools to support the broader goal of building an open and collaborative
ecosystem.
Priority Goals and Recommended Actions
The Strategy Group identified 15 high-priority goals during the strategic planning process. Action plans were identified for these goals. VIVO leadership has consolidated 15 goals into this Strategic Plan by focusing on two overarching goals. These goals and corresponding recommendations for action are presented below.
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