Where has EdShare come from?
EdShare was created as part of a research project at the University of Southampton in 2008 as part of a project called EdSpace. This project aimed to create an insitutional space to facilitate the sharing and collaboration of teachning and learning materials across the University. By building EdShare on the EPrints, a digital content repository optimised for providing open access to data, the solution was also well suited to support needs around OER and OEP.

Who owns EdShare
EdShare is owned by the University of Southampton and in particular sits with the EPrints Services team in the Electronics & Computer Science school.

How long does it take to set up EdShare?
That depends on what you need. A vanilla version of EdShare can be installed very quickly, and be ready for you to use in a few weeks. What we will do is spend time finding out what your requirements are. As with anything the things that normally take up the time are policy, data and management decisions. 😉

How much control is there over the look and feel and functionality of EdShare?
You can specify exactly the features and branding that you require.

What support can I get for EdShare?
Through our services team at the University of Southampton, we can provide phone, email, on-site technical support and bug-fixing, on-site and off-site training, bespoke software development, project management, advice and consultancy. Just ask!

What sort of updates are available for EdShare?
One of the key strengths of EdShare is the distributed development which occurs. EdShare is supported and development by our EPrints Services team at the University of Southampton as a matter of course. EdShare is built on the open source software EPrints, and so benefits from a variety of work taking place in the OA field – many of which are generalised and not specific to open access materials. Bespoke development will also often take places with members of the EdShare Community and with their permission extensions will be generalised and added to the EdShare Core. Such extensions then become available to the rest of the community to benefit from.