Making UP research visible on the Web

Abstract

World-wide the research paradigm is in the process of expanding into e-research. This implies news ways of collaboration, dissemination and reuse of research results, specifically via the Web. In the South African context the implication of e-research has been investigated at high level, and this resulted in the SARIS report, according to which it is envisaged that South Africa, as a country, should position itself in the forefront of this new paradigm. This implies that individual research institutions should take the necessary steps to implement such strategies, collaborate amongst one another and lobby Government to support such initiatives. At the University of Pretoria this has led to the development of a high-level e-strategy for the University, supported by the Executive. This is embodied in different strategies, such an e-information strategy developed by the Academic Information Service, the Research Information System of the Research Office, and supported by a new IT strategy. This has resulted in a number of projects, such as the Research Database, the UPeTD (a full-text database of theses and dissertations), the UPSpace (a UP digital research repository, with a number of sub-projects, such as a repository of all UP research articles and Africana collections).

In this paper we will give an overview of the rationale for the initiatives, and demonstrate the implementation of the various projects. We will also discuss the technologies used, and reflect on the perceived advantages of the projects. The paper will be illustrated by screen captures from different projects.