GERMANY: Internet services launched for research

Two new internet platforms have been opened in Germany for academics: scholarz.net was developed at the University of Würzburg and offers smart software for academic research, while perspectivia.net is an international publications platform for the humanities.

Würzburg's scholarz.net provides a web 2.0 toolkit for a researcher's everyday work, combining state-of-the-art knowledge management and integrated reference management with an online knowledge service similar to that of Wikipedia and a researcher's network.

"scholarz.net is a grown solution by PhD students for PhD students," says Daniel Koch, Director of the research project Scientific Work in Web 2.0 at Würzburg. "All functions are available online so they can be accessed from all over the world."

The platform underwent test phases involving researchers worldwide before it was launched last month. The developers improved the software and adapted it to user needs. scholarz.net is free for all private users and some universities are already considering obtaining licences to integrate it into their library systems.

perspectivia.net, the international publication platform for the humanities, was presented at a meeting on development prospects and funding opportunities for the humanities at the German Historical Institute in Paris last month.

It is a collaborative scheme run by the Bavarian State Library in Munich and the Foundation German Humanities Institutes Abroad (DGIA), headed by DHIP Director Professor Gudrun Germann. DGIA is an umbrella organisation comprising six historical institutes, including the DHIP, an oriental studies institute and an art history institute, all of them abroad.

The platform is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research and provides free-of-charge access to selected publications in the humanities from German humanities institutes abroad as well as their partner institutes. It is currently offering congress reports and reviews as well as an online version of the DHIP journal "francia".

Over the next few months, the range of publications will be expanded although the state library is responsible for long-term archiving of the material. The project's combining of high publishing quality with a multilingual platform surface and complete accessibility represents a novelty in the academic world.

michael.gardner@uw-news.com