At the kick-off meeting on 20 August in Frankfurt, representatives from the Strategy Development (SD) and Community Interaction (CI) task areas met to establish a strategic plan for this initiative. One of the main objectives is to make the results of the Infrastructure Use Cases (IUCs) available to a wider MatWerk audience beyond the core NFDI-MatWerk participants.
In each IUC, experts from different areas - such as ontologies, infrastructure, software and workflow - work together with project partners from Participating Projects (MSE projects). Together, they develop software solutions based on real-world examples to simplify data management and improve its FAIRness (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability and Reusability). Initially designed for project partners, these solutions will soon benefit the wider MatWerk community.
In this context, 'rollout' refers to the extension of these solutions to a wider audience, including project leaders, researchers, PhD students, technicians and students - each with their own needs. A key issue discussed was how the solutions are presented on the NFDI-MatWerk website. It was identified that the services need to be more intuitive and user friendly to empower novice users. Making these solutions accessible, usable and known within the MatWerk community is as important as developing the solutions themselves.
To achieve these goals, the working group will need the support of other groups within the NFDI-MatWerk, including the Task Areas (TAs), Infrastructure Use Cases (IUCs) and Participating Projects (PPs). The working group will initially reach out to active users from the PPs and encourage them to act as ambassadors, sharing their experiences with the tools and highlighting the benefits they bring to everyday research data management. At the same time, it will reach out to those who have not yet integrated NFDI-MatWerk solutions into their work, gathering feedback from both ends to refine the solutions and ensure they meet the needs of the entire MSE community.
Next, the working group will focus on setting standards for all solutions to ensure consistency and quality. This will be followed by efforts to expand and adapt learning materials for different audiences. In addition, targeted marketing strategies will be developed to effectively promote the solutions and ensure widespread adoption and impact.