Following the most recent stage of the modernisation process that the National Open Access Research Data Archive (MIDAS) has been undergoing since March, the MIDAS portal now boasts an updated design. The portal has not only got a new look but has also become mobile-friendly.
While developing the new design, a lot of attention has been paid to the visibility of research data published on MIDAS. Therefore, on the updated homepage visitors will first be greeted by a block with the three most viewed and three most recently published studies on MIDAS. Further below, the new contact form feature will allow users to send an email to the MIDAS administrator without leaving the portal. Moreover, from now on, users will have an opportunity to leave a testimonial about their experience while using MIDAS as well as read testimonials written by others.
A further improvement brought by the update is a faster access to all essential project information when browsing the list of published research projects on the portal. After clicking on the title of the project, all essential details, including licencing information, will be displayed. Users will be able to access statistics on views and downloads of the particular project and will be able to generate citations in APA or DataCite style.
In order to simplify the information on access to datasets contained within a particular record, only two out of the three types of data access remain: “Public access” and “Permission required”. Data from projects marked as “Public access” can be downloaded without any limitations or authentication. To access data from projects marked as “Permission required”, users will have to authenticate or/and send a permission request to the owner of the datasets.
What do you think of MIDAS’ new look? We would love to hear your feedback, which you can provide using the contact form located on the MIDAS homepage or its user testimonials feature.
The modernisation of the National Open Access Research Data Archive (MIDAS) is funded from the European Social Fund 2014-2020 Lithuanian Operational Programme as part of the project No. 09.3.1-ESFA-V-738 “Optimising the network of Higher Education Institutions and improving the quality of studies by merging Šiauliai University with Vilnius University”.
Gintė Medzvieckaitė
2022-05-13