Frictionless Data Tool Fund, 2019

The Tool Fund is part of the Frictionless Data for Reproducible Research project at Open Knowledge International. This project, funded by the Sloan Foundation, applies the work in Frictionless Data to data-driven research disciplines, in order to facilitate data workflows in research contexts. At its core, Frictionless Data is a set of specifications for data and metadata interoperability, accompanied by a collection of software libraries that implement these specifications, and a range of best practices for data management. The core specification, the Data Package, is a simple and practical “container” for data and metadata.

The Frictionless Data team has created a suite of open source software tools and specifications to shorten the path from data to insight. They want to build upon these existing tools and work with implementers to further improve the specifications in order to get us closer to the ideal of “frictionless” research data. In order to understand if this tool fund is for you, please take a close look at our existing tooling, software, and specs:

- Github
- Specifications
- Software
- Goodtables data validator tool
- Data package creator tool
- Datapackage pipelines
- Documentation

All work will need to be delivered by the end of 2019.

While the call for tools is purposefully broad, here are some examples of the types of tools our team would be interested in seeing:
- Integrating Frictionless Data (e.g. data packages) into tools researchers currently use (like Excel, Google Sheets, Matlab)
- Integrations with tools or other file systems that handle big(ger) data
- Building upon the metadata in data package creator (for example, adding ORCIDs, persistent identifiers/URIs, etc.)

The mini-grant agreement will include a Memorandum of Understanding between Open Knowledge International and the Applicant, based on some agreed deliverables derived from the Implementation reference documentation.

The main reason we are initiating the tool fund is to create new tools to help researchers. The developers will be on hand to work closely with you as you complete the work. They will announce implementers as technical partners on the project website and will be happy to support you by promoting your organization’s work through our blog and network channels.

Eligibility
The Fund is open to both individuals and organizations based anywhere in the world.

Benefits
The Frictionless Data Tool Fund, supported by the Sloan Foundation, is providing a number of mini-grants of USD 5,000 to support individuals or organizations in developing an open tool for reproducible science or research built using the Frictionless Data specifications and software.

For more information please visit the following link:
Frictionless Data Tool Fund, 2019