Definitions

• Virtual Research Environment

• • “A set of online tools, systems and processes interoperating to facilitate or enhance the research process within and without institutional boundaries”
  • • emphasis is on environment
    • contributing to any stage of research process

• Sustainability

• • No single definition except, “...lives on in some form after the grant runs out”
  • “sustainability goes beyond simply paying the bills: intellectual sustainability requires human capital. Digital projects need to draw on a pool of trained and engaged personnel, and therefore universities need to develop the programs and the opportunities that produce people with this kind of expertise. Projects and services will be sustained by the demand of users. But deciding when to collaborate to build economies of scale, and when to compete in order to meet and improve specific services, is not easy. ” (ACLS Cyberinfrastruture for the Humanities report (draft))

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