Frequently asked questions on dA Client (Tech. FAQ)

Why do we need a system like digitAlexandria?

A recognized (see [1]; [2] among many) crisis is grasping the scientific publishing market, principally brought about by the increase in the cost of subscriptions and the consequent decrease in the number of library subscribers, which causes a further increase in subscription prices, but also a general economic crisis for smaller and specialized publishers [3].
In the latest analysis, the crisis also effects the libraries themselves, seeing a deterioration in the service offered, a consequential reduction in financing, and their role being taken over by intermediaries (compilers) which catalogue, index and bundle "packets" of subscriptions and by the publishers themselves.
On the other hand, the Open Archives (OA) "guarantee, it is true, the interoperability between different archives, but they cannot guarantee the promotion of the publications contained within them. Inasmuch as it is digital, the library-publisher who neglects distribution strategies can without a doubt be classified as a parasitic publisher" [4].
Furthermore, the open archives are not technically prepared to absorb even a fraction of the circa 10 million scientific documents created every year by 3.5 million researchers present in the EU 15, USA and Japan, these figures don't take into account countries such as India, China or Brazil.
dA enters into the current market with the best of both worlds: the promotional force needed by the open archives and the technical potential for the widespread distribution of the system; bringing visibility in a large and specialized market to publishers with particular benefit for the small ones. It will also make available content which is currently inaccessible, bringing the enormous quantity of gray literature to public attention and benefit.

What makes digitAlexandria different from other tools?

Freescience and Archivemaker have characteristics that are new in digital archiving:
1) they affordably allow to build OAI digital archives of any size, from the personal archive of a single researcher, or a small archive of an independent laboratory or a university department, regardless for the "main house" policy, up to the large repository of a big university
2) they don't need assistance of any kind, neither for installation, nor for configuration and management.
3) they are very easy to install, use and manage. Any not specialised person can afford it.
4) they are not just a tool for archive building. Instead, they are a set of useful tools for the work of scientific research.

Why is a peer to peer network better than a centralized database accessed through a web site?

There are technical, practical and commercial advantages. A peer to peer network is perfectly scaleable in relation to the size of the archives and the volume of traffic generated. Differently from a centralized archive, it can contain a limitless number of documents and satisfy a limitless number of users (indeed, and unlike a centralised system, the more users there are the more efficient the system becomes), and it allows for the archive to grow at its own speed.
From a practical point of view, the advantages are innumerable. Compared to using a browser, the P2P client software has the advantage of not having to undertake research from a particular site (buried under hundreds of bookmarks, or to be hunted down with a search engine, before losing it again). The P2P client software is always on the desktop, and its purpose is clear and precise¹. One important feature, compared to a web site, is that the documents remain on the computer of the researcher. The researcher doesnt have to let the documents go and thus loose control over them, indeed at any time they can modify them or remove them from the file sharing system altogether. This also means a significant simplification of the procedure for document sharing. Indeed it is this automation of the file sharing procedure that makes dA the only tool suitable to bring to light the enormous quantity of gray literature often of great value, produced by the scientific community. P2P client software can offer also many other services, presenting them in a much more accessible and user friendly way compared to a web site. Furthermore P2P has been shown to spread between users much more rapidly than any archive contained on a web site.

¹Thanks to a specific investigation, it has been ascertained that a function gets twice as many hits when desktop-ready, compared to the same function in an internet site that can be reached by a common browser.

How reliable are the documents shared on the dA system?

Reliability can be trimmed at will by users. In fact, research can be conducted excluding or including the following categories:

• Documents published in magazines
• Documents with peer review
• Official documents from research centers or companies
• Post-print
• Pre-print
• Various types of documents (degree and doctorate theses, technical reports, etc...)
• No filtering

A different degree of reliability is implied within each of the categories, and the user can thus make an appropriate choice. Furthermore, each document is linked to indexes which give other information to help judge its reliability: number of downloads, user assessment, etc.
The web site will also contain a review service, where the users (ie: other researchers) can comment on downloaded documents through the dA client software.
Readers, either scientists or researchers, can judge the quality of the documents based on the reputation of the writer, the reputation of the organization they belong to or the publishers of the work, as well as by using their own experience in the field. It should be remembered that the open archives are used almost exclusively by researchers for work purposes, and that peer review is done by "equals", who often (particularly in experimental campaign reports) simply have to take the word of the writer that the article is reliable! [5]

What stops people sharing any type of file?

In principle, nothing.
However, the nature of the users (researchers & scientists), and the fact that the service is being used for professional purposes, makes it unlikely that anyone would be willing to risk their reputation (which is of fundamental importance in the world of science) by misusing the dA service.
Furthermore, the authentication procedures, the DRM technology and the limits to the formats which can be shared make other programs much more practical for generic file sharing.

What stops people from pirating copyright protected digital documents?

Just the same that stops them from pirating copyright protected paper documents: nothing.
Though, as the dA project will advance, the DRM technology (Digital Right Management) will allow what paper cannot: to ensures that every document shared in dA is protected from copyright pirating.

What stops people putting other peoples published copyright protected documents on the network?

Beside the fact that most of the publishers now allow to put online published papers (see http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo.php?all=yes), thus making completely legal to share and distribute them for free, it is of course possible for someone to digitalize and distribute texts belonging to others, but the procedure is long and tedious compared to the preparation of music files, it needs specific hardware and software and there is very little motivation for doing it. Experience of similar situations shows that a mass phenomenon like the sharing of mp3 files is not feasible with paper based documents.

What stops publishers from putting another publisher's works on the network?

The same things which stops them printing books and giving them out for free: it is expensive and it is a crime.

How are you going to overcome the low number of shared documents which will be available in the early stages?

Through compatibility with the OAI (Open Archive Initiative). This means that we have around 1,000,000 scientific documents immediately available, as well as thousands of OAI users who can search the dA archives and will need to download the dA program to have access to the documents.

Why should a researcher share their own documents with dA?

The main reason for publishing work on dA is for the impact that it will have on research and for the number of quotations it will receive in other works. It has been shown that quotations received through open digital archives, with or without peer review, are over 330% greater than those received for work published in traditional electronic or printed magazines.
Furthermore, Users can publish all their works which will be much more visible than in traditional media.
dA allows for the sharing of knowledge by creating a virtual community, it allows for direct contact and the sharing of experience and opinions. Publication on the dA is simple and, more importantly, immediate (compared to months, or even years, necessary for publication in printed magazines).

There are research projects which are of great importance to industry, private parties or governments. How can such research be shared?

Simply put, they are not shared. Users only share what they want or are allowed to share. Experience shows that research which cannot be released due to patents or to industrial or military secrecy agreements makes up a tiny percentage of the enormous bulk of scientific documents produced by researchers.
Furthermore a company or research center can share all its own documents internally, but make only those selected by the administrator available to the outside world.

Why should a research institute pay to be part of the dA system?

First and foremost, dA offers simple and easy to use tools for the creation of a digital archive for the institute or to substantially improve an existing archive. The system is easily set up by the user and there is no need for specialized technicians or system managers.
Second, thanks to a series of exclusive functions,dA can help to maximize the impact of the research undertaken by the institute, promoting the sharing of information within and outside the organization, increasing productivity and decreasing the time needed for bibliographical research. In the case of unpublished material the difference simply cannot be overstimated.
Third, research institutes can substantially improve their visibility in the scientific community and significantly increase their prestige thanks to digital publishing products which can be created and distributed through dA.

Why should an industrial organization, a company or a professional practice participate in dA?

dA is first and foremost a valuable type of intranet, which is fast, reliable, extremely simple and powerful. There is no need for a system manager or any type of computer technician: anyone can install the system by themselves in a few seconds.
There is no limit to the size of files being shared, and the system is particularly suited to promoting collaborative work between employees.
It is truly a means of increasing productivity, which combats the down time which has up till now been practically inevitable. The time lost exchanging files, when the technology breaks down, learning how to use complex systems and the interaction between employees when collating texts, projects and research, etc.
Furthermore, dA can help designers and researchers in their work, as well as anyone who has to collaborate with distant collegues. In general for the same reasons described in the previous point. Another interesting aspect is the transferral of technology: companies can use dA to update their technologies, and at the same time look for potential employees or collaborators working in fields of interest.

Why should a publisher participate in the dA?

The simplest reason is because they will make substantial, direct profits from the downloaded documents. Another reason would be the large amount of publicity to be gained from their visibility in the search keywords of the program, and the high number of hits the site receives from a qualified public which is naturally interested in the product on offer.

What is Digital Rights Management (DRM)?

DRM (Digital Rights Management, or rather the management of copyright in a digital environment) is a system for the distribution of digital content with respect for the authors' copyright. Contrary to the free and uncontrolled tradition of sharing, the DRM system sets precise rules which allow the user to offer their own electronic products and keep control of the copyright. It is a system which, for the purchaser of a document, separates the possession of a digital product from the way it can be manipulated.

How to gain access to the dA System?

To access the dA system you need an account (username and password). These informations my be requested through this form.

How can I share a document?

Here follow the few steps required to share a document:

• Click the "Library" button on the left, then go on the "Share" panel and switch to "Share Document" at looking at the tabs at the window's bottom.
• In the "Share Document" panel you need to fill up all the metadata fields that can be easily called "bibliographical information". As you will notice, some of the fields are mandatory, other optional; but remember that a carefully compiled entry assures the best visibility to your document.
• Then you need to insert the full text of your document; to do that click on the button "Browse..." and select the file to share
• Once you have filled up all the required fields, click on "Save" and wait the confirmation from the Server.

How can I download a document?

Click on the "Library" left button, then go on the "Search" panel and "Documents"
From the "Documents" panel it is possible to search a document by title, by author, etc.
Once you have found a document, if the "availability" is equal or greater than 1, you can download it clicking on "Download", otherwise the document isn't available (nobody sharing the document is online). On the other hand, for the OAI documents, the availabilty field is not relevant, because their full-text, when made available by the archive, can be reached through the URL printed in their details.

What is the "OAI Compatibility"?

The dA system is compatible with the OAI-PMH 2.0 protocol. In fact, the dA Server exposes the metadata of documents shared by dA clients through this protocol.
Moreover the dA Server "harvests" metadata from some OAI Data Providers and then makes them accessible to the dA users in a transparent way.
Thus,dA can be considered both as an OAI Data Provider (it exposes the shared documents) and a Service Provider (makes all the OAI data available to its users).