Frequently Asked Questions - Centres

Centres will form the backbone of the persistent and stable CLARIN service infrastructure. For further information we refer to the Requirements Specification Document and to the Short Guides.

Researchers will only use certain resources and certain tools/services offered via the web when they are sure that they can access them also during a longer period. Currently, researchers mostly download resources first to their computer to create accessibility, but in the cyberinfrastructure scenario with the many big resources and collections this way is not suitable anymore. So availability and accessibility has to be guaranteed by institutions with a clear service oriented attitude that do pose as little restrictions as possible on the usage by the researchers. Only this new type of centres can give such guarantees.

Can everyone act as a CLARIN centre in the emerging network? No - since centres need to fulfill a number of criteria which have been mentioned in the documents. In particular these centres need to make a commitment statement that they will give their services for a defined period of time at a certain service level which is dependent on the type of service. Setting up centres that adhere to these requirements will cost some money, therefore it is obvious that centres need to have clear funding basis.

The answer  on this question is dependent on the country although some services are given at a European level. For detailed questions about the centres, see www.clarin.eu/centres