SoRa - Data linking service

Development of the Social-Spatial Science Research Data
Infrastructure SoRa: FAIR, smart, inclusive (SoRa+)

Phase II: SoRa+ / Operationalization

Development of the Social-Spatial Science Research Data Infrastructure SoRa: FAIR, smart, inclusive (SoRa+)

The interdisciplinary linking of data, from diverse sources from various knowledge disciplines through Linked (Research) Data Infrastructure services, has gained increased attention. The completed project 'Social-Spatial Research Data Infrastructure (SoRa)', was able to successfully establish a technical and organizational infrastructure to ensure the prototypical linkage of the research data infrastructures of GESIS, SOEP and the Monitor of Settlement and Open Space Development (IOER-Monitor), via interoperable and open interfaces. The SoRa+ project serves as a continuation, aiming to expand the infrastructure for permanent operational use and validate its functionality through case studies.

Project period: 05/2023 - 04/2026

The following project partners are involved in the SoRa+ project:

 

Phase I: SoRa / Prototyping (Project is completed)

The completed project was 'Social-Spatial Science Research Data Infrastructure (SoRa)'.

The raising emergence of environmental issues, such as urbanization accompanyied by urban sprawl and soil sealing, biodiversity loss, global warming, and water scarcity poses increasingly urgent questions about how to better understand the interactions of human actions with the environment. In the social sciences, a broad field of research has emerged under the concept of environmental justice, encompassing aspects of health, well-being, as well as issues of general-societal participation. While this research has been discussed in countries such as the USA for a very long time in interaction with politics and civil rights movements, the topic has only gained prominences as an object of inequality research in Germany in recent years.

The necessary, but thus far insufficient, integration of social science survey data with spatial science data can bet attributed to several reasons:

  1. Infrastructural interdisciplinarity,
  2. Legal framework, particularly in relation to data protection laws and so on
  3. Methodological challenges in the application of geoinformation systems for the use and analysis of such data, particularly by social scientists.

In the project 'Social-Spatial Science Research Data Infrastructure (SoRa)', efforts are to develop approaches to addressing the three problem areas. The primary aim of the project is to provide linking solution among the established research data infrastrucutre i.e. spatial (IÖR-Monitor) and social science (GESIS-Panel, SOEP). These infrastrucutres will be expanded in a manner that ensures interoperability, taking into consideration international standards and interfaces. Innovative analysis tools (KIT-aifb:Web Science), referred to as cognitive Apps, will play a crucial role by enabling flexible investigations of research data from all participating infrastructures. The underlying hypothesis posits that the establishment of interoperability among research infrastructures supports interdisciplinary research. This interoperability is essential for facilitating the joint analysis of research data from different domains. In the project, this hypothesis will be examined, with a focus on research questions related to the topic of environmental justice.

The research data linked in the project are intended for long term usability with full implementation of data protection requirements, and the infrastructures built and optimized, are to remain available in the long term. Furthermore, the flexible, modular and open technical architecture is designed to be transferable to other research data infrastructures and adaptable to various research questions. The utility and transferability of the developed infrastructure are to be ensured within the framework of the project by means of initial user tests.

Project period: 12/2016 to 10/2020

The following project partners were involved in the SoRa project:

 

GESIS - Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences
Dr Stefan Jünger, Dr Benjamin Zapilko

IOER - Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development
Loren Mucha, Dr Sujit Sikder, Dr Gotthard Meinel

KIT - Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Lars Heling, Dr Maribel Acosta, Prof Dr York Sure-Vetter

Funding

The project is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) for a duration of 36 months