Research Repository System web orientation

This is one of a series of posts aiming to expand on the idea of the negative click, positive value repository, which I'm now calling a Research Repository System. I've suggested it should contain these elements:

• web orientation
• researcher identity management
• authoring support
• object disclosure control
• data management support
• persistent storage
• full preservation archive, and
• spinoffs
  

By web orientation, I mean that the RRS should be Web 2.0-like, being user-centred in that it knows who you are, and exploits that knowledge, and is very easy to use. It should be oriented towards sharing, but (as you’ll see) in a very controlled way; that is items should be sharable with varying groups of people from close colleagues, through unkown reviewers, to the general public. I think simple tagging rather than complex metadata should be supported. Maybe some kind of syndication/publishing support like RSS or Atom. The RSS should have elements with first class Semantic Web capabilities, supporting RDF. And because research and education environments are so very varied, and so highly tailored to individual circumstances (even if this is only based on the personal preferences of the PhD student who left a few years ago!), the RRS should be highly configurable, based on substitutable components, and able to integrate with any workflow.

Although the idea is linked in my mind to institutional or laboratory repositories, there are aspects that seem to me to require a service at above the institutional level (where researchers from different institutions work together, for example). It could be that some genuine Web 2.0 entrepreneurship might provide this!