The first working meeting of the Academic Board of the DASS-BiH research network was held in the premises of CREDI Center in Sarajevo with the online presence of a number of members, on Thursday, November 5, 2020. The aim of the meeting was to determine the plan of activities in the work of the DASS-BiH network, and it was organized as part of the celebration of the World Digital Preservation Day.
In the introductory part of the meeting, the participants had the opportunity to present themselves and the institutions they come from, and to give a brief overview on previous experiences and practices in long-term preservation of social science research data. In the second part of the meeting, Ivana Ilijašić Veršić, CESSDA COO, presented basic information about the CESSDA-ERIC network, the history of CESSDA, and the services and projects it is currently implementing. Attendees also received information on possible cooperation and the benefits of full membership of Bosnia and Herzegovina in this network.
During the meeting, the attendees were introduced to the new services established by DASS-BiH for its users, including a separate website (www.dass.credi.ba) and a data catalogue, as well as a data laboratory and a separate room for access to data in the restricted access category. The results of the research conducted through a questionnaire that the member institutions of the DASS-BiH network filled out when joining the network were also presented. Some of the results are presented here. Through the discussion, the members jointly concluded that it is necessary to work on educating the academic community about the benefits of data reuse, and on promoting the services that DASS-BiH offers to its users. The participants also agreed on concrete steps to introduce the academic community, but also donor representatives, including public institutions that fund social science research, to the activities and services offered by the DASS-BiH network, and on the practices of making data and research results available to a wider audience.
