DALIA Meeting in Mainz
On June 30th and July 1st, 2025, colleagues from the University and State Library and the TU Darmstadt, the University Medical Centre Göttingen, the Academy of Sciences and Literature Mainz, the TIB Leibnitz Institute for Science and Technology, the University Library Hannover and the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, and the IT Centre of RWTH Aachen University met to summarize the results of the last six months and to plan and coordinate the next steps. We were hosted by the Academy of Science and Literature in Mainz. We had the opportunity to discuss topics in more detail than in weekly meetings and plans and ideas were developed. Members of the DALIA Advisory Board were also present. The focus of the first day was on the achievements of the working fields of the last six months and the exchange between the various working groups as well as a survey on the progress of the project and the challenges.
New functionalities of the platform
Since the platform was launched, various functionalities have been added, including:
Accessibility features:
- At the bottom of our website, you can now find a button that can be used to make individual settings for font size, line and text spacing, and cursor size.
- Navigation via keyboard is now possible.
Linked keywords:
- The keywords listed under the resources are now linked in such a way that clicking on a tag automatically starts a search for all entries with this keyword. This improved linking facilitates thematic search and offers a clear presentation of the relevant content in the area of research data management. The same principle also applies to authors: Clicking on a person's name lists all articles with this name. In addition, authors with a green ORCiD logo can click on the ORCiD logo to go directly to the author's ORCiD page.
List of search results:
- The first filter options are available on the left-hand side. The number of options is adjusted dynamically so that only options for which resources exist can be selected.
- The selection of metadata listed per resource in the results list has been adjusted. More space has been created for authors' names.
- The ‘Go to resource’ button has been added to the search results list, which can now be used to go directly from the search results list to the learning material without first having to open the detail page of the resource.
Detail page of a resource:
- The form and structure of the presentation of the metadata on the individual detail pages of the resources has been improved in terms of clarity and adapted to the current DALIA Interchange Format (DIF).
Community pages:
- Communities that have contributed to the creation of a resource or would like to recommend this resource are listed under Communities in the Info section on the detail page of a resource. Clicking on the name of the community takes you to the community page. There, you will find a description of the community and an overview of which resources are associated with this community. There are currently community pages for all NFDI consortia. Further community pages will be added in the future.
Search options:
- The search for resources has also been improved. In addition to the already familiar Basic Search, a first version of the Advanced Search is now available. The Advanced Search in its new form provides an improved overview so that additional filters can be added as required in the future. In addition, after using the Basic Search, the results obtained can be narrowed down using new filter options.
Number of ressources:
- The number of available resources in DALIA has been increased to 541. We continue to welcome new submissions.
Incubator projects at Base4NFDI Services
DALIA has successfully applied to Base4NFDI Services with two incubator applications. These include incubator projects at IAM4NFDI (Identity and Access Management for NFDI) and TS4NFDI (Terminology Services for NFDI).
IAM4NFDI: NFDI AAI for DALIA
The aim is to add an NFDI AAI login to the DALIA search portal by integrating the NFDI Infrastructure Proxy as an OIDC provider. This allows users to log in to the DALIA search portal via the NFDI AAI, in particular using their home IDP. The connection to the NFDI AAI infrastructure is important as DALIA is relevant for all NFDI consortia.
see Incubator dashboard IAM4NFDI
TS4NFDI
We're working towards integrating the DALIA Ontology into TS4NFDI, which will enable us to use TS4NFDI's API for autocompletion and to re-use its front-end widgets for search in DALIA's upcoming curator portal. This will support curators who want to contribute their own open educational resources (OERs) to the DALIA Platform by enabling them to make FAIR metadata annotations during submission.
Use cases and user stories on the website
A central idea of the DALIA project in the development of a knowledge platform is the implementation of an agile user-defined approach. The specific needs of the users are described by user stories, in which a scenario or an expectation during use is described in detail in a use case. This format ensures that the requirements are linked to both the user context and the desired/planned system functionality. By clearly defining the scenario, a clear work order for the development can be formulated. The user expectations described here were obtained from a survey in a community workshop. This participatory approach to developing the use cases and user stories, and therefore also the knowledge platform, enables user-centred, agile, and adaptable development.
The user stories and use cases developed as part of the DALIA project are now available on our website:
Contributions from DALIA at various events
Workshops
Workshop on consolidating metadata schemas for (FDM) training materials from the DINI/nestor Working Group on Research Data Training/Continuing Education and the DALIA project
In this jointly organized online workshop, the UAG Schulungen/Fortbildungen der DINI/nestor-AG Forschungsdaten and the DALIA Project had the opportunity to present their metadata schemas to each other. Afterwards, small groups discussed the mapping of the two schemata and exchanged ideas on further development. The event was rounded off with a final discussion.
NFDI4DS Hackathon in Cologne
In June, NFDI4DS, in cooperation with DiscoRSE and QUADRIGA, organized a hackathon at ZB MED in Cologne. This hackathon focused on mapping various selected sources related to training materials to Schema.org. DALIA participants took care of mappings to their DALIA ontology and Interchange Metadata Format. Other attendees included members of QUADRIGA, OERSI/KIM with the AMB (Allgemeines Metadatenprofil für Bildungsressourcen), TeSS/ELIXIR with Bioschemas, and Skills4EOSC. The participants had the chance to present their different projects and metadata schemas. During the development of crosswalks and mappings for the respective schemas, many fruitful discussions arose. The publication of the results on Zenodo is planned.
WiNoDa Workshop
On 26 June, WiNoDa and DALIA held a joint online workshop bringing together representatives from data competence centres (DKZ), regional RDM initiatives and NFDI consortia. The aim of the workshop was to briefly introduce the WiNoDa and DALIA projects as well as RDMTraining4NFDI and to record open educational resources (OER) that are currently being developed in an interactive session. In this way, it was not only possible to identify synergies and thus potential for collaboration between the participants, but also to discover gaps in the generic and discipline-specific landscape of data-literacy and RDM-related OER. The results were developed and discussed on a Miro board. The workshop provided a productive space for exchange and collaboration and marked an important step towards stronger networking and coordination of learning opportunities in the field of data literacy.
Conferences
The DALIA team was represented at several conferences with posters and presentations. Topics included the DALIA interchange format (DIF) and the presentation of the search portal.
- DHd 2025 in Bielefeld, Germany
- E-Science Days 2025 in Heidelberg, Germany
- Chemistry Data Days in Mainz, Germany
- Digital Humanities Conference 2025 in Lisbon, Portugal
DALIA - upcoming events
DALIA Satellite Meeting to CoRDI 2025
We cordially invite you to our DALIA Satellite Meeting to the CoRDI conference of NFDI! The meeting will take place in Aachen at 25.08.25 (10:00 a.m.) at the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry of RWTH Aachen University.
You can expect a day full of exciting input presentations on the topic of data management skills training and trend-setting discussions on the future of data literacy in practice.
We look forward to welcoming the speakers Peter Pelz, Jens Dierkes, Richard Hartshorn, Cristina Grisot, Jan-Willem Boiten, Celia van Gelder, Tanja Hörner, and Oliver Knodel.
The event is free of charge and catering is also included.
Use this change to network with the data literacy communities and register here: Agenda & Reistration
Registration deadline is August 11th, 2025!
Digital Philosophy Workshop
How can we research and teach philosophy with and about data? The relationship between digital methods and philosophical research currently (still) needs to be clarified. While there is no question that digitality and digitization are legitimate areas of research for a “philosophy of digitality,” the search for genuinely philosophical questions that can be answered with the help of the toolkit of “digital philosophy” is still in its infancy. This raises the question of the necessary skills for handling research data, i.e., data literacy specifically for the philosophy community. We want to discuss these questions using concrete case studies at a workshop on September 4th and 5th, 2025 at the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz and online. The workshop is a collaboration between the DALIA project and the Philosophy of Digitality working group of the German Society for Philosophy.
The deadline for registration is August 3rd, 2025!
DALIA presentations at upcoming conferences
CoRDI 2025 in Aachen
DALIA will be represented with several exciting contributions at CoRDI 2025 in Aachen (August 26–28th):
- DALIA Search Platform: Data literacy for all from the very beginning
- Safeguarding Quality of OER Materials in DALIA: A Federated Curation Concept
- The Revised DALIA Interchange Format - New Picklists for Describing Open Educational Resources
- “As a [researcher], I [want to find open educational resources about data literacy] by using a [knowledge graph based search platform].” - Use cases and user stories for the development of the DALIA platform
- How Could we Scale up the Qualification of Researchers for Trusted Research Environments - Preparing the Usership for the European Data Spaces