Agreement – The General Terms and Conditions of Use in its entirety.

Author – The person(s) from whom the data within the Data Collection originated; the person(s) who conducted the research that led to the creation of the Data Collection. This person can, but need not be, the same as the Data Depositor.

Best Practice – The set of standards that governs the use and functioning of Discuss Data’s specific features, functionalities and applications. It should be considered a benchmark for any operations of Discuss Data in order to standardise processes, procedures and communication.

Board of Curators – Assembly of all Curators of the Platform which consults about Registered User complaints against a single Curator’s decision and/or behaviour.

Broker Model – The Broker Model is designed especially for sensitive and large Data Collections, which are not freely accessible online but deposited at the Research Centre for East European Studies at the University of Bremen. While Metadata and Data Documentation are available, making the data findable, access to the Data Collection itself is restricted (by the Data Usage License Agreement). Discuss Data serves as a broker between the Data Depositor and Registered Users and enables controlled access to these Data Collection at its facilities in Bremen (Germany).

Content – Any information, data, text, software, scripts, graphics, and interactive features found on the Discuss Data Platform.

Curator – The Registered User who controls and is the main organizer and manager of a particular Data Collection topic (sub-section of Discuss Data). On the Curator’s role see the Discuss Data guidelines ‘Best Practices: Roles and Communication’.

Data Collection – Empirical data related to the post-Soviet region which have been collected in accordance with academic standards. The Data Collection consists of (1) the empirical data in a single or multiple file(s); (2) a description of the Data Collection (Metadata); (3) Documentation of Data Collection; and (4) (if applicable) documentation of legitimate use of data (e.g., consent forms from interviewees). The Metadata and the Documentation of Data Collection of a specific Data Collection are always publicly available without restrictions. This also applies to cases where a Data Collection has to be taken offline or deleted due to (alleged) copyright violations.

Data Depositor – The Registered User who uploads a collection of data files as a Data Collection to the Discuss Data online platform.

Data Discussant – A person who is engaged by a Curator in order to review a certain Data Collection and assess such aspects as methodology, completeness, applicability etc. Further information about Data Discussant’s role can be found in “Best practices: Data submission and Discussion”

Data Submission Agreement – Agreement between the Research Centre for East European Studies at the University of Bremen (Forschungsstelle Osteuropa) and a Data Depositor concerning the submission of a Data Collection for presentation at the Discuss Data online platform.

Data Use Agreement – The default option for all Data Collections is the restricted Data Usage Licence Agreement (‘Data Use Agreement’) that Discuss Data offers. If applied to a Data Collection, the Data Use Agreement will be a legally-binding licence agreement between the Data Depositor and any Downloader of that Data Collection.

Data Usage Licence Agreement – The licence agreement directly between a Data Depositor and a Downloader governing the limits and restrictions (or lack thereof) of how the downloaded Data Collections can be used. Discuss Data offers four forms of Licenses for Data Depositors to choose from:

• a restricted form, which serves as a default option for the Platform and in which the Data Depositor has to explicitly relinquish single rights to the Downloader for a specific Data Collection
• the Open Data Commons Attribution License (ODC-BY), where the Data Depositor permits others to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work, as well as make and distribute derivative works based on it
• the Open Data Commons Open Database License (ODbL), where the Data Depositor permits others to create and distribute derivative works, but only under the same or a compatible license (“share alike”).
• a Customized Data Usage Licence Agreement between the Data Depositor and any Downloader of that Data Collection (for more information see User Submission Data Usage Licence Agreement).

Documentation of Data Collection – Accompanying information, either in a separate file or otherwise included in the Data Collection materials, about how a particular Data Collection has been created. A Documentation of Data Collection is expected to indicate the sources of the data, to describe the way the Data Collection has been compiled, to discuss ethical issues related to the collection and use of the data as well as the validity/context dependence of the data (see ‘Best Practices for Documentation of Data Collection’).

Download Data – Information collected whenever a Data Collection is downloaded, including, but not limited to, user Profile name, time of download, and downloaded file name.

Downloader – The User who downloads a single data file or a collection of data files from a Data Collection.

Funding organisation/body – The organisation that has financially supported the creation/preparation of the Data Collection.

Institution –The organisation for which the Data Collection was created/prepared.

Metadata – Accompanying standardized information, entered during upload via an online form, about a particular Data Collection including, but not limited to, the information required in the Discuss Data guidelines ‘Best Practices: Data Submission and Review’.

Ombudsperson – Affiliated member of the Board of Curators. The Ombudsperson has the power to immediately revise a Curator’s decision if a Registered User makes a complaint about a Curator and/or against his/her decision(s).

Platform – The Discuss Data application and server.

Publish – A function available for Data Collections by which Registered Users can make their Data Collection containing data files publicly available and publicly searchable on the Discuss Data Platform search engine and third-party search engines (e.g., Google Search or Bing Search).

Registered User – Any individual or entity who owns and/or controls a registered Profile on Discuss Data.

Registration Information – Information required to register for a Profile, as laid out in the Discuss Data guidelines ‘Best Practices: Roles and Communication’.

Restricted User Submissions – Any Data Collections that are published with either Discuss Data’s Data Use Agreement or with a customised Data Usage Licence Agreement that the Data Depositor drafts and/or designates for the Data Collection. Restrictions might apply to the Download as specified by the Data Depositor.

Service – The Discuss Data Platform and all of the available services, functions, and capabilities afforded on the Platform.

Spamming – Any unauthorized or unsolicited advertising, junk or bulk e-mail, messages, comments, or other communications directly or indirectly stemming from use of the Discuss Data Platform, including, but not limited to, comments posted to Data Depositor’s/Author’s Data Collection pages and messages or other communications sent to Registered User’s email addresses, profiles, or other means of contact.

Sufficient length of time – Any period of time as obligated by any pre-existing legal contract, such as with the subjects concerned in the research data, or with the institution that is sponsoring or that sponsored the research undertaking. If no such obligation exists, then the requisite length shall be any reasonable amount of time as designated by Discuss Data’s Curators at their sole discretion.

Unpublished Data Collection – An uploaded Data Collection that has not yet been made available to the public and is viewable only to the Data Depositor, invited Data Discussants, authorised administrative personnel (responsible for technical server maintenance) and responsible Curators.

Use of Service – Any access to, use of, or other action involving the Discuss Data Platform’s functions, services, resources, and repository of Data Collections, including, but not limited to, any uploading, posting, submitting, storing, searching for, downloading, distributing, facilitating distributions, and otherwise utilizing any Content found on the Discuss Data Platform.

User – Any individual or entity who uses Discuss Data.

User Profile – A User-controlled means of access to Discuss Data that is protected by a User-created login ([institutional] email address and password). With this Profile the Registered User can obtain access to Discuss Data’s uploading, downloading and communication functionalities (according to his/her User rights as laid out in the Discuss Data guidelines ‘Best Practices: Roles and Communication’). The Registered User Profile will always be visible and accessible for all other Users of the Platform. In the same vein, the Metadata and the Documentation of Data Collection for the specific Data Collection are always publicly available without restrictions. This also applies to cases where a Data Collection has to be taken offline or deleted due to (alleged) copyright violations.

User Uploads – Any uploaded, submitted, disclosed, distributed, or otherwise posted Content by a Registered User, including, but not limited to, new Data Collections, Metadata information, custom Data Usage Licence Agreements, descriptive information for Data Collection download pages, user guides, and other contributions either originating from the Registered User or originating from a third-party Author who gave permission to the Registered User to disseminate on the Discuss Data Platform.