DataCite is pleased to welcome Joseph Rhoads to our team. Joseph joined DataCite as an application developer in October 2021
Can you tell us a little bit about what you did before you started working for DataCite?
Prior to joining DataCite I led the repository team at the Brown University Library to develop the Brown Digital Repository. We developed web applications (primarily in python and Django) to gather, preserve, and make available the digital assets produced via the scholarly, instructional, research, and administrative activities at Brown. One of my first projects was to migrate a home-grown repository of digital library collections (about 50K objects or 2TB) into Fedora-3. One of my last projects was to migrate that Fedora-3 respository (now grown to about 900K object or 60TB) on to a system based on the Oxford Common File Layout with zero downtime. I appreciate that symmetry.
What interested you in working for DataCite?
I think that DataCite’s work is extremely important to preserving the scholarly record. I have experience with some of this locally from my work at Brown, but the impact at DataCite is worldwide. I also appreciate DataCite’s commitment to openness as an organization as well as the software we produce.
What technologies are you interested in?
I have a deep and abiding fondness for all things Python and Search (most recently Solr). I’m looking forward to branching out with more front-end technologies and I expect to have opportunities to do so at DataCite. I’m also very interested in infrastructure as code and functions as a service. Working on a small team, I’m excited at the prospect of being able to work on projects up and down the technology stack.
Given your background working on technology for an academic institution, how can DataCite make it easier for them to use DataCite services?
I know other folks have mentioned this but providing clear, well-documented APIs are key to make it easier for institutions to use DataCite services. I think DataCite does a pretty good job on this, but there’s always room for improvements. Where possible, providing tools to migrate from older versions of the DataCite schema to the current version would go a long way to enrich their data allowing institutions to make their content more findable and enhance the scholarly record.
