A considerable part of the research conducted at UT involves the development and use of software, for instance for calculations, simulations, and testing environments. In previous research publications and documentation, the newly developed software would be mentioned, without offering actual access to it. Hosted locally at UT’s servers, it is now made easily accessible and reusable worldwide as well, under an open source sharing license.
‘Stand on the shoulders of giants’
‘Stand on the shoulders of giants’‘Open source software allows researchers to simply copy and paste lines of code or even complete software components. So, under the precondition that they properly cite their sources, they can build on the work of those that went before them without worrying about copyright infringement or costs for use. To put it more dramatically, it allows researchers to ‘stand on the shoulders of giants’,’ explains Sözeri.
He adds that it considerably speeds up research time and can help save money. ‘This eliminates the need for purchasing licenses, or allocating research funds into hiring external programmers if your coding skills are underdeveloped. By simply using what’s already available, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. That can also drastically reduce the time a research project needs.’
One example of a reused software programme is for VR environments for experiments. Sharing code isn’t exactly new, however, according to Sözeri. ‘The international GitHub and GitLab communities are well-known examples of major code sharing and documentation libraries. GitHub already boasts 400 UT-created projects.’
Prospects for its further use look promising. ‘Given the fact that the use of our local repository has grown exponentially the last few years, we’re expecting contributions to amount to more than 4000 this year,’ Sözeri beams.
Infinite cycle
Sözeri and his colleagues at LISA are tasked with offering policy support. ‘It’s exciting to think that for instance a US researcher’s work can be used by a German researcher to expand their line of inquiry, and then a Japanese researcher in a completely different field might read it and say: ‘That’s useful in my line of work as well,’ and reapply the software’s code in a completely new manner. It’s like an infinite cycle. We call it continuous integration.’
Security concerns
Naturally, having such an open gateway into cutting-edge research data and solutions leads to safety and privacy concerns. But Sözeri and his team assure that it is all in accordance with European GDPR rules and within the framework of the Wassenaar Arrangement. That last one is concerned with the idea of dual use, Sözeri explains: ‘Say we’re working on drone technology for agricultural purposes, but for instance Russia may use it to create new war drone technology. If a researcher has reservations that a thing they’re developing may fall into the wrong hands, they can contact the Knowledge Safety & Export Control Office.’
