A minimal infrastructure for the sustainable provision of extensible multi-layer annotation software for linguistic corpora

该项目的目标是设计、实施、评估和记录可持续提供研究软件的最低限度的基础设施。根据假设，只有从一开始就将必须由相关学术机构提供的技术和人力资源降至最低，基础设施才能在学术背景下可持续地运行。在为语言语料库提供多层注释软件的案例研究中，该项目举例说明，对于这种基础设施，只需要四个组件：源代码储存库平台；为最终用户提供软件版本的储存库；提供软件依赖项(例如软件库)的储存库；管理和发布基础设施和研究软件并管理用户和开发人员社区的维护员。在这些组件中，可以说只有维护者需要由各自的学术机构提供资金。对于所有其他组成部分，可能可持续的外部基础设施是免费提供的。该项目开发的基础设施的可持续运作的另一项要求是其提供的研究软件的技术可持续性。在项目实施过程中，将把原型机“GraphAnno”开发成稳定的产品。该产品名为“六原子”，通过满足这些科学界的可验证的高需求，在不同的语言学科中具有强大的使用潜力。此外，“六角原子”将通过实施软件工程的最佳实践，在项目早期满足技术可持续性的要求。这些包括，例如，通过自动构建系统可复制的构建；软件所有方面的全面文档记录；许可的开放源码许可证；在不同操作系统上的可移植性和可运行性；全面的测试套件；公开提供源代码；模块化和通用数据模型的可扩展性和适应性；与其他工具和数据标准的广泛兼容性；结构良好的社区进程。该项目不仅评估和记录软件使用潜力的满意度，而且还评估和记录其长期的、独立于项目的开发的潜力。这在一定程度上是通过收购“六角原子”功能模块的外部贡献来实现的。此外，最低限度的基础设施模型不仅得到了实施，而且其实施也得到了记录和测试。反过来，测试结果被记录下来并浓缩为最佳实践，这些最佳实践本身就代表了一个重要的项目目标。通过将假设驱动的方法与案例研究相结合，该项目对评估研究软件的可持续基础设施的最低要求作出了重要贡献。

The project's goal is the design, implementation, evaluation and documentation of a minimal infrastructure for the sustainable provision of research software. By hypthesis, an infrastructure can only be operated sustainably in an academic context if the technical and human resources that have to be provided by the respective academic institution can be minimalized for the long-term from the onset. In a case study providing a multi-layer annotation software for linguistic corpora, the project exemplifies that for such an infrastructure, only four components are strictly necessary: a source code repository platform; a repository providing versions of the software for end users; a repository providing the software's dependencies (e.g., software libraries); a maintainer who administers and publishes the infrastructure and research software, and manages the user and developer communities. Of these components, only the maintainer arguably needs to be funded by the respective academic institution. For all other components, potentially sustainable external infrastructure is available free of charge. A further requirement for the sustainable operation of the infrastructure developed in the project is the technical sustainability of the research software it provides. In the course of the project, the prototype "GraphAnno" will be developed into a stable product. The product, "Hexatomic", has a strong use potential across different linguistic disciplines by satisfying a verifiable high demand on the part of these scientific communities. Additionally, "Hexatomic" will satisfy the requirement for technical sustainability early on in the project, by implementing best practices of software engineering. These include, e.g., reproducible builds through an automated build system; comprehensive documentation of all aspects of the software; a permissive open source license; portability and runability on different operating systems; comprehensive test suites; public provision of the source code; extensibility and adaptability through modularization and a generic data model; extensive compatibility with other tools and data standards; well-structured community processes. The project evaluates and documents not only the satisfaction of the software's use potential, but also its potential for long-term, project-independent development. This is partly achieved through the acquisition of external contributions of functional modules to "Hexatomic". Moreover, the minimal infrastructure model is not only implemented, its implementation is also documented and tested. The test results are, in turn, documented and condensed into best practices, which represent an important project goal in and of themselves. In combining a hypothesis-driven approach with a case study, the project makes an important contribution towards the evaluation of minimal requirements for sustainable infrastructures for research software.