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ISDD

The Informatics Software Download Database (ISDD) is a utility to help academics and students assign appropriate licences, often some form of open source licence, for their software. It is not intended to be a SourceForge-style utility for code management – it is simply a software repository like FTP.

The database is also a way for the School to keep track of download activity so that it may be claimed in the research excellence framework. If your software is not in the ISDD, download activity will not make it into that assessment.

We would strongly encourage all academics, staff, and students to upload to this site all software they distribute under whatever licence, and create a pointer on their existing web pages to the new archive for download. You do not need to make any other changes to your websites other than to move the package to the ISDD and point to it. Uploading is a simple procedure (as quick as FTP), and does not affect your ability to control, change, or remove the software in any way. It is fully automated, and also includes options for viewing the number of page views and downloads you get, and making yourself available for consulting in support of the software if you wish.

The ISDD helps provide:

  • Better documentation of our outputs for the REF
  • Better legal protection for all staff and students
  • A clearer approach to software distribution
  • A central point for software distribution which we can more actively promote
  • More downloads and wider distribution of our software
  • More direct credit to the academics who make significant contributions to the community
The ISDD is here: www.inf.ed.ac.uk/research/isdd and an FAQ about its purpose and functioning can be found here: www.inf.ed.ac.uk/research/isdd/faq.html

Below is a more formal abstract for the ISDD from the FAQ, and we would like to encourage everyone in Informatics to pitch in. Upload your code, and get the credit you deserve for the contribution the School makes to the international software community.

The Informatics Software Download Database (ISDD) is a way to better organise the School of Informatics' legacy in excellence in software engineering by promoting open source distributions of our research software. Software written by our staff and students may be uploaded here to be more easily found by the academic community. The ISDD acts as a common entry point into our software output. It also helps us keep statistics which can go into the next Research Excellence Framework (REF). You can use the ISDD to distribute your software more widely under an appropriate licence.
Last reviewed: 
08/03/2023

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