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BROCHURE FAQ:

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 not-for-profit mission.
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").
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.
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, but with better opportunities for sharing across communities. Over time, we expect synergies to emerge between the projects. The DuraSpace organization will provide leadership to help identify and enable these opportunities. The priorities for each platform will be established through community-driven process with guidance and support from the non-profit organization.
What other 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 have other mission-driven activities that serve existing communities and new users, including support for other open source projects that have strategic fit. For example, the Mulgara semantic store will be supported by the organization.
What is the new organization leadership and structure?
- Initially, the organization will have 11 people coming forth from both Fedora Commons and the DSpace Foundation. There will be a Chief Executive Officer (Sandy Payette), a Chief Business Officer (Michele Kimpton), and a Chief Technology Officer (Brad McLean). The organization will be designed along functional lines to promote maximum flexibility during the startup phase. Key people will fill roles in Technology, Product Management, Business Development, Administration, Marketing, and Communication. There will be representation on the Board of Directors from both original organizations.
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 synergies to the existing platforms. We also believe that both existing and new communities of users will benefit as we pursue our mission of bringing innovative software and services to those who create, manage, publish, share, and preserve digital resources.
When will DSpace and Fedora platforms interoperate?
- For many year, our communities have been very active in discussions about repository interoperability. Both platforms have moved toward adopting common deposit APIs (e.g., SWORD) and improved fit with emerging Web standards. There is also active discussion about a common storage abstraction layer that would provide APIs to enable back-end storage interoperability. Our communities will continue to set priorities on which forms of interoperability are most desirable for the plaforms as they evolve. We predict new opportunities for common components and API's, especially with the emergence of the DSpace 2.0 community of users.
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.
When will the DuraSpace organization be effectively operating?
- DuraSpace will be operating on July 1, 2009. The two groups have been working together over the past several months to prepare for this date.

DSpace specific questions:

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.