Connecting Communities Through Open Infrastructure

Stories from DataCite’s Global Access Fund Awardees

Interested to learn how institutions around the world are connecting research through open infrastructure? On 24 April 2025, we hosted a webinar featuring three Global Access Fund (GAF) Awardees and their journeys in making research outputs more visible and impactful. Whether you missed the event or want to revisit the highlights, this blog summarizes the insights shared by our speakers.

Tunisian DOI Consortium: Connecting Tunisian Research for Enhanced Accessibility and Visibility

Bessem Aamira, representing Tunisia’s National University Center for Scientific and Technical Documentation (CNUDST), presented their recently launched Tunisian DOI consortium. The outreach and technical work leading to the creation of the consortium was funded by the GAF 2024 and implements a national framework to leverage DataCite’s open infrastructure to improve visibility for Tunisian research outputs. By adopting persistent identifiers (PIDs) and standardized metadata, the consortium enhances the discoverability of Tunisian research on a global scale.

The consortium’s efforts are supported by the automation of DOI registration within local repositories, such as the national repository PIST.TN, and Tunisian scientific eJournals, based on OJS, facilitated by DataCite APIs. Led by CNDUST, the five Consortium Organizations have registered 10,647 DOIs for theses, reports, journal articles, conference papers, and journals during the first quarter of 2025. By fostering a sustainable national community around open infrastructure, the Tunisian DOI Consortium exemplifies how national initiatives can effectively contribute to the broader international research landscape.

The Living Archive: Traditional Dance Captured as Motion Dataset

Imam Wahyudi Farid, on behalf of Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS, Indonesia), introduced DataCits, a comprehensive repository for traditional Indonesian dances and other cultural performances that aims to ensure these rich and diverse art forms are documented and accessible for future generations.  By digitally recording the precise movements of dancers, the ITS team has created open, richly detailed datasets that bridge cultural preservation with open research practices. To date, the project has documented 12 traditional Indonesian dances using high-fidelity motion-capture data, preserving a vital part of Indonesia's cultural heritage. The project is a powerful example of safeguarding intangible heritage while enabling access, education, and reuse through PIDs and metadata. Supported by the GAF 2024, this initiative highlights how local cultural knowledge can be shared globally through open infrastructure. Next steps include partnering with communities across South East Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, and Latin America for a globally inclusive dance motion repository.

Preserving Nigerian Cultural Heritage Using IGSNs and Repositories In Nigerian Museums

Owen Iyoha presented a transformative approach to safeguard Nigeria’s rich cultural heritage. Led by Eko-Konnect and funded by the GAF 2024, the Lagos Museum established a digital repository to preserve Nigeria's archaeological objects. To date, the team has digitized 1,569 cultural objects and assigned IGSN IDs using DataCite to boost their visibility and discoverability. This project serves as a demonstrator of how Nigerian museums can connect their collections to a broader audience by leveraging open infrastructure, fostering cross-cultural understanding and collaboration and empowering local communities. As a result, a significant part of Nigeria’s cultural heritage has been preserved and the digital literacy of Lagos museum staff was improved to include competence in managing their Open Access Repository through training workshops. As a next step, other local museums will be invited to join the preservation effort.

Bridging Communities Through Open Infrastructure

These three inspiring initiatives from Tunisia, Indonesia, and Nigeria demonstrate the role that open infrastructure can play in improving the visibility, accessibility, and impact of research and cultural heritage. By adopting persistent identifiers, metadata standards, and community-led collaboration, institutions can both preserve knowledge and connect it to a wider global network. Through the support of the Global Access Fund and DataCite’s infrastructure, these projects demonstrate how communities all over the world can benefit from an inclusive and interconnected research ecosystem.