Digital Toolkit for Collaborative Environmental Research, or Digitcore, aims to bridge divides between tech-driven solutions, academic research, and community needs by creating a framework for responsibly using open technologies for community-centered or oriented environmental research. Our goal is to make such research more inclusive, collaborative, and ultimately impactful for communities, researchers, and technologists alike.

In 2024, OEDP began conducting research to explore the role of open source technologies and open data infrastructures in collaborative environmental research. We were particularly interested in how open tools and their associated processes empower (or hinder) community actors in studying socio-environmental processes that sustain or degrade the planetary commons.

In 2025, we are developing a comprehensive toolkit to support open source developers, researchers, and community organizations in designing, applying, and sustaining open tools in environmental research. This toolkit will identify common challenges and solutions identified by these groups, as well as other resources, recommended practices, and conceptual frameworks to navigate cross-sector collaboration and the evolving open tech landscape. For example, it may feature a directory of impactful open source projects, good practices for facilitating respectful collaborative partnerships, documentation examples, and essential resources, like data sharing agreement templates and licensing guides.

We are conducting this work in collaboration with Dr. Gwen Ottinger (Drexel University) and Guillermina Actis (Universidad Nacional de San Martín), and generous support from the Digital Infrastructure Insights Fund.