USDAS

Internal structure of organization

The USDAS (University of Sarajevo – Digital Archive and Service of social science data) will be organized as department within sub-organizational unit of University of Sarajevo. During the SERSCIDA project, and also during the active period of the Initiative for establishment of social sciences data archive, the Human Rights Centre was identified as suitable hosting institution.

Governance structure

The archive is led by the head of USDAS who is reporting to a hosting institution’s head. He or she is responsible for the management of the archive communication with stakeholders and national, regional and international partners.

The oversight board has the responsibility of reviewing the work of the data archive. They review annual plans and annual reports and ensure that the work of the data archive is in line with goals and strategies of scientific and other institutions to which they belong. It consists of representatives of the Steering Board of the University of Sarajevo. Its tasks are: to acquire significant data sources within a wide range of social science disciplines of interest to Bosnian and Herzegovinian social scientist; to review and prepare these data for digital preservation; and to disseminate them for further scientific, educational and other purposes. Collecting data from surveys, questionnaires or interviews for one study is a painstaking process. Providing that accurate records have been kept, data that have been collected for one study can be analysed again for an entirely different piece of research. Digital preservation is the proactive and ongoing management of digital content to lengthen the lifespan and mitigate against loss of these data.

The Centre is the result of an FP7 funded project SERSCIDA – Support for Establishment of National/Regional Social Sciences Data Archives (2012-2014). SERSCIDA was designed as a strategic project for supporting the cooperation and exchange of knowledge between the EU countries associated within the Council of European Social Sciences Data Archives (CESSDA) and the Western Balkan Countries (WBC) in the field of social science data archiving. The project addresses the issues of potential for use of information-communication technologies for the benefit of scientific research and the exchange of knowledge as laid down in the call for proposals.

The primary activities are:

• Preservation and dissemination of quantitative and qualitative data for use in secondary analysis;
• Permanent monitoring of compliance with the international standards in the field of data management and preservation;
• Mediation between the demands of data users and data providers;
• Collaboration with the wider scientific community in the field of collecting and distributing data;
• Open Access Initiative promotion.