SERSCIDA is 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 potentials of usage of information-communication technologies for the benefits of scientific research and exchange of knowledge as laid down in the call for proposals topic. The project aims to produce tangible results and improve the capacities for exchange of knowledge and data collected through research in social sciences between the European countries and WBC involved.
The last Steering Board Meeting took place in Sarajevo, where our journey began two years ago. And this time the weather served us much better. Our host was the Center for Human Rights at the University of Sarajevo, coordinator of SERSCIDA project.
The forth visit of SERSCIDA partner's delegations was in Lausanne, Switzerland, December 11-13, 2013. The WP5 meeting was taking place in FORS, University of Lausanne.
The third visit of SERSCIDA Western Balkan country delegations is taking place in Gothenburg, Sweden 11-13 November 2013. The visit is taking place at the University of Gothenburg hosted by the Swedish National Data Service.
Celebrating its 40th anniversary, the International Association for Social Science Information Services and Technology (IASSIST) is issuing a call for paper and session proposals for its annual conference, which will be held in Toronto, Canada on June 3-6, 2014.
Delegations from the three Western Balkan countries are visiting the UK Data Archive as part of the Work Package 4 - training and knowledge transfer activities between CESSDA member archives and future archives to be established in the Western Balkan countries.
'Open Access' refers to the practice of granting free Internet access to research publications and data. As all research and innovation builds on earlier achievements, an efficient system for broad dissemination of and access to research publications and raw data can accelerate scientific progress. The OECD Declaration of 2008 states "that open access to, and unrestricted use of data promotes scientific progress and facilitates the training of researchers," as well as maximizing "the value derived from public investments in data collection efforts." SERSCIDA will address the need for improved and open access to and dissemination of primary data collected through research in social sciences while at the same time trying to support reinforcement of the existing national strategies and structures, and to contribute to development of new ones.