An Integrated Open Ecosystem: Whose Responsibility Is it?

Digital Cultural Heritage institutions want to be able to use open solutions for their digital infrastructure. However, the landscape of open-source and open-access components tends to be siloed, leaving it up to users to figure out how to put the pieces of the puzzle together. This can present a barrier to adoption of open infrastructure, especially when commercial providers claim to offer easy access to a complete interoperable ecosystem. With the number of priorities to consider when implementing software, interoperability often falls through the cracks or defaults to low priority because by its nature interoperability requires the participation of multiple entities. It's not always clear whose responsibility it is or why it matters. We will share observations on this topic from the perspective of the Lyrasis Research Infrastructure Communities and the Lyrasis Organizational Home for Community Supported Technologies, posing these questions for the wider open repository community to consider: (a) what role should individual communities play in creating a viable interconnected open ecosystem? (b) how can communities be accountable to each other to ensure that the ecosystem is created and is sustained?