# Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

*Last updated: 2024-10-25*
* URL for this page: https://hackmd.io/@investinopen/Infra-Finder-FAQ
* Open the sidebar [using this link](https://hackmd.io/@investinopen/Infra-Finder) to see all Infra Finder documentation.
## What is Infra Finder?
Infra Finder is designed to make it easier for those looking for an infrastructure to determine if an open infrastructure will meet their needs.

To get periodic updates about Infra Finder, [sign up for our newsletter](https://share.investinopen.org/newsletter).

## How were infrastructure services prioritized and selected for inclusion at launch?
For the current release, we decided to focus on infrastructure services enabling the sharing of research data and publications. This is a shared focus across all of our current core programmes of work. It allows us to better align our research, community engagement, and strategic support efforts. We see increasing the visibility of infrastructure services in this area and advancing their adoption as key to furthering the aims of policies including the [Nelson memo in the US](https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/08-2022-OSTP-Public-access-Memo.pdf) and [UNESCO’s Recommendation on Open Science](https://www.unesco.org/en/open-science/about).

Within this focus, we invited 84 service providers to participate. Some of these 84 services expressed interest in being part of the tool, and others we are engaging with through ongoing research efforts (e.g. the [“reasonable costs” project](https://investinopen.org/blog/ioi-nsf-reasonable-costs-announcement/)). Out of the 84 providers, we received responses from 57 services.

## How can I add an infrastructure service to Infra Finder?
We believe that Infra Finder’s value grows with the inclusion of more infrastructure services and standards, and we invite infrastructure services to express interest in joining Infra Finder. Please refer to [this page](https://investinopen.org/add-an-infrastructure-to-infra-finder/) for more on eligibility and how you can express your interest in participating in Infra Finder.

## How do you define open infrastructure?

We recognize that open infrastructure is a spectrum, rather than a binary.

Your infrastructure may be eligible for inclusion if it is **a service, protocol, standard or software that the academic ecosystem needs in order to perform its functions throughout the research lifecycle**.

We are currently prioritizing services that are:
* Actively used and maintained; and
* Designed to be used or installed by other people or organizations;

And meet **two or more** of the following criteria:
* Meet the definition of open source software (OSS);
* Primarily or exclusively distribute openly licensed (open access) content;
* Free to use by anyone (free of charge or other restrictions);
* Community-governed;
* Transparent in operations and finances.

***Additional notes:***

We generally do not list the following in Infra Finder: institutional and specialist repositories of content and data, collections of cultural heritage, open access journals, vendors of open source software*, and social infrastructure.

We acknowledge that these resources are well covered by other organisations such as [re3data](https://www.re3data.org/), [OpenDOAR](https://opendoar.ac.uk/), [Directory of Open Access Journals](https://doaj.org/), and others.

**Individual Infra Finder entries may include vendor info if the infrastructure chooses. Vendors who’d like to be listed should contact the infrastructure directly using the contact information on their Infra Finder page.*

## How does Infra Finder relate to other registries, assessment tools, and values and principles frameworks in the scholarly communication space?
Infra Finder is built on previous and current efforts to map and bring visibility to the landscape of infrastructure services and technologies for research and scholarship. It was also heavily inspired by existing registries and values and principles frameworks in the space. These efforts include the [Scholarly Communication Technology Catalogue (SComCAT)](https://www.scomcat.net/?ref=investinopen.org), the [Principles of Open Scholarship Infrastructure (POSI)](https://openscholarlyinfrastructure.org/?ref=investinopen.org), the [FOREST framework](https://educopia.org/forest-framework-for-values-driven-scholarly-communication/), [re3data](https://www.re3data.org/), [fairsharing.org](https://fairsharing.org/), the [EOSC marketplace](https://marketplace.eosc-portal.eu/), and many others. We are grateful to all who have contributed to these resources.

In creating Infra Finder, we chose to take a solutions-oriented, user-driven approach to increase the adoption of open infrastructure in a scalable way. For more about this approach, please refer to [documentation on Infra Finder’s background](https://hackmd.io/@investinopen/Infra-Finder-background).

## Where does the data come from? (And how was it validated?)
To ensure that the data in Infra Finder is up-to-date and verifiable, we chose to work with a small first group of providers for the first Infra Finder release. This group's input has been invaluable in helping refine and co-develop our data collection and visualization approaches. The IOI team also established a process to validate provider provided information against public information sources. Please see [our documentation](https://hackmd.io/@investinopen/Infra-Finder-background#Data-Sources) for more on our data collection and review approach.

## Did the services profiled in Infra Finder get the chance to give you feedback?
Yes! When we invited a service to participate in Infra Finder, we also invited them to have an introductory conversation with at least one member of our team, through which we answer questions they have regarding Infra Finder and the data collection and validation process, and also gain a deeper understanding of their motivations and/or concerns with participating in Infra Finder.

In completing the intake instruments, many providers also asked questions and gave us feedback on how we can improve the instrument to improve its clarity and applicability across different types of infrastructure.

In December 2023, we shared our first designs and prototypes with the participating service providers. Simultaneously, we shared a copy of their data (as it would be displayed in the final application, which built on what we collected from them and then validated) with each service provider asked to verify the data and/or submit a request to update. We incorporated service provider feedback into the design and the data updates were incorporated before launch.

We are extremely grateful for the service providers’ input and support throughout the development of the first release of Infra Finder.

## How did you choose the data fields to display in the Infra Finder, and how they’re displayed?
The data collection instrument's initial design was inspired by many of [the resources we consulted](https://hackmd.io/@investinopen.org/Infra-Finder-background#resources-consulted) and refined by the insights and findings from our user interviews. Please read the [designing the data collection instrument” section on in our documentation](https://hackmd.io/@investinopen/Infra-Finder-background#Designing-the-data-collection-instrument) for more information.

After we have collected most of our data for the first Infra Finder release, our team, together with our UX/UI designers, went over the data collected to understand how to best display the information. We also conducted user testing with a small group of target users on a low-fidelity version of the design.

We would love to learn from your user experience and feedback! If you have any questions or suggestions regarding the information and user experience designs of Infra Finder, please don’t hesitate to use the Infra Finder feedback form to let us know.

## What do you mean by [a term on Infra Finder]?
Please refer to [our definitions page](https://hackmd.io/@investinopen/Infra-Finder-definitions).

## Is Infra Finder data available for download?
Yes it is. For a full copy of the current Infra Finder data in CSV format, please follow [this download link](https://forms.gle/CKaKTcS7HrsUenup6).

## How is Infra Finder data being updated in the future?
Upon launch, existing providers will be able to update their data within the Infra Finder admin at any time. The updates will be moved through our verification process prior to being shown on the public-facing pages. In addition, we will be sending regular reminders to service providers to invite them to update their data to ensure that Infra Finder’s data is as much as possible up to date. Post launch, new service providers are asked to complete an [Expression of Interest form](https://investinopen.org/add-an-infrastructure-to-infra-finder/). This enables additional service providers to be included while also ensuring that Infra Finder continues to provide a high quality experience for its users. In a future release of Infra Finder, we’ll be looking to further improve the admin portal to make it even easier for service providers to update data for validation and review. We will continue to learn and iterate on this first release in order to further improve the utility of Infra Finder and the efficiency of data collection and validation. We are committed to ensuring that service providers’ needs and wishes are heard

## How can I support Infra Finder’s development?
If you develop/maintain an open infrastructure, please consider [adding your infrastructure to Infra Finder](https://investinopen.org/add-an-infrastructure-to-infra-finder).

If you discovered an infrastructure by using Infra Finder, please consider supporting that infrastructure directly through a membership or contribution to their work.

If you find Infra Finder useful, please consider supporting Invest in Open Infrastructure’s work to develop and maintain this resource. You can make a one-time donation [on this page](https://investinopen.org/data-room/about-infra-finder#Support-infra-finder), [join our Sustaining Circle](https://investinopen.org/about/funding/), or [get involved in our other projects](https://investinopen.org/get-involved/).

## How can I give feedback about Infra Finder?
We welcome any and all feedback on Infra Finder and the data collected, including comments, feature requests, bug reports, and general inquiries. You can use [this feedback form](https://form.asana.com/?k=_SIAKr0YcFgxdAgWY3fCNQ&d=1204039279428915) to let us know, or email us at [e-mail].

## How do you envision Infra Finder to serve a global community of open infrastructure providers and adopters?

We want Infra Finder to be useful to a global community of open infrastructure adopters, and aspire for it to highlight more open infrastructure services, especially those developed by teams outside of Europe and North America. Through our research and engagement, we understood that adopters (even within the same region) have diverse priorities and considerations in choosing an infrastructure. We also heard from infrastructure services in regions outside of North America and Europe that meaningful descriptors of aspects like funding sources and business or ownership models may look very different from what we currently present. We have invited and featured a number of infrastructures from Africa and Latin America in the initial release of Infra Finder, with the aim to test and learn how we can improve Infra Finder’s utility for stakeholders from these regions. Following the launch, we look forward to having intentional conversations with stakeholders worldwide to hear your feedback and experience, and understand how Infra Finder can better serve the global community.

---

This page first published: 2024-04-05

###### tags: `Infra-Finder-documentation`

---

<a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png" /></a><br />This work is made available under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>. Users are free to share, remix, and adapt this work. (Please attribute [Invest in Open Infrastructure](https://investinopen.org/) in any derivative work).