From October 1st until 6th a delegation from AKSW Group, Leipzig University of Applied Sciences (HTWK), eccenca GmbH, and Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences went to São Paulo, Brazil to meet people from the Web Technologies Study Center (ceweb.br) for evaluation future collaboration.
For getting to know our mutual research interests we held the Workshop on Linked Data Management.
The Workshop on Linked Data Management (Workshop sobre Gestão de Dados Abertos) was co-located with the annual conference of the Brazilian Word Wide Web Consortium (Conferencia web.br 2018) in São Paulo.
During the workshop 11 talks were held by researchers from the Brazilian hosts and the German delegation.
By mutually presenting our research areas, open questions, and visions to the audience overlapping research interests and complementing areas of expertise could be identified.
A recurring hypothesis was that Open Data is a very powerful method to foster participation, accessibility, and collaboration across areas.
During the presentations the potential in the areas of research data in the digital humanities, the accessibility of educational resources and organization of educational infrastructures, and the participation in public administration and government became visible.
A recurring topic in the presentations was the need for collaboration among actors and stakeholders which arises the need for methodologies and systems for supporting the collaboration.
Asset for a potential future cooperation in this research area between the Brazilian and the German side were the mutually complementing interests and experiences of the groups.
The Brazilian side has an existing involvement with public administration, government, and education particularly with the special needs from a developing country perspective.
On the German side a strong background in the creation and operation of data management systems and infrastructures, as well as data integration exists.
We are currently in the process of establishing useful communication channels and collaboration platforms which allow efficient joint work across timezone, language, and continental borders, to foster the cooperation between the two groups.
For a common understanding of our interests and skills the first subject of collaboration is an common extended documentation of the initial workshop. Following this documentation a requirements engineering process will be started identify the concrete needs and potentials on both sides for a common project in future.
The second workshop planed in June 2019 will focus on the results of this discussion.
After the workshop we have also visited the DFG Office in Latin America to discuss possible research collaboration between German institutions and institutions in São Paulo.
The Open Data Management Workshop and the visit of the German delegation is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) in cooperation with the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) under grant agreement number 388784229.
Also read about our trip at the HTWK news portal (German).
