Brief description
SSHOC is a 40-month EU-funded project which is transforming the social sciences and humanities data landscape with its disciplinary silos and separate facilities into an integrated, cloud-based network of interconnected data infrastructures. To unlock heterogeneous data in SSH collections across Europe and render it easy to process, enrich, analyse and compare, SSHOC will pool and harmonise the required tools and services and making these available to researchers.
Project outcomes will support the development of the larger European Open Science Cloud, stimulate multidisciplinary collaboration, and increase the potential of research data for societal impact.
Our role
Leading Work Package 2, Communication, Dissemination and Impact, Trust-IT is contributing to SSHOC by:
- ensuring a proper communication and outreach strategy of SSHOC outputs, outreach, and stakeholder engagement and subsequently raising awareness to the scientific, industrial, and SSH communities;
- promoting and supporting the organisation of EU-wide dissemination of targeted workshops and concertation actions in Europe as well as webinars and training events, especially on data skills and other training opportunities arising from the project;
- implementing and maintaining homogeneous design and branding under the SSHOC umbrella of all tools, services, and materials delivered, including communication collaterals, online visuals, and logos to be used in the promotion of the online Marketplace;
- engaging in regular social media activities and with media outlets and journalists, conducting communication via newsletters and press releases.
Trust-IT and COMMpla developed the League of Data, an educational game for researchers teaching them how to manage their data, based on CESSDA's Data Management Expert Guide (a 200 page document). This included:
- Requirements gathering - understanding how to best transform the detailed Data Management Expert Guide into a fun game. Understanding the level of detail to include, and how to point players towards the right answers.
- Definition and design of each level of the game
- Software development
- Testing and roleout
League of Data is not a comprehensive e-learning tool teaching the whole DMEG, but rather a conversation starter. It introduces players to some key themes and challenges, and asks the players to work out the solutions. The game will be used as a supplement to lectures and data management training courses.
Impact
SSHOC has built a strong and recognisable brand, a single point of connection to a consortium of 6 well-established ESFRIs, 7 onboarded SSH data communities, an SSH Open Marketplace testers’ community and an SSH Training Community actively breaking down the silos and sharing knowledge, tools and services with significant potential for further capacity-building.
Such tangible outcomes have enabled SSHOC to become an important building block for EOSC.
Results
Over 2,500 stakeholders engaged in 65+ organised events are just some of the results of the communication and dissemination activities in numbers.
The SSHOC website acts as the main communication channel to its social media community of 2,200+ members, and 470+ newsletter subscribers. It is also the gateway to its catalogue of services, connecting its 60+ official reports to each single KER, and made available on ZENODO.
These results are being actively consulted by our community, an example is the report on the System Specification of the SSH Open Marketplace downloaded over 4,300 times.
The League of Data educational game which can be used as a Data Management teaching tool.
All of the above is leading to a recogniseable and consolidated SSHOC project brand, implemented in a wide array of communication materials.
Onboarding your target communities to ensure uptake of research solutions requires a structured approach, deep analytical skills and the design and implementation of communication and engagement plans made up of a mix of techniques and tools.
If you need to identify and build the perfect audience for your research activity and boost your community, contact us, we’ll be happy to help.
