Knowledge Base

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Terminology used in this edition

Preferred term	Also seen as	What it means in HORTUS	What it means for you
Action rail	Right-side actions / contextual controls	The group of buttons like share, favourite, follow, register, edit, delete.	When you open a page, look there first for what you can do next.
Administrator / operator	Platform admin / IT support office	Users responsible for configuration, operations, monitoring, and governance.	They manage the platform itself rather than research content only.
Approved / Rejected	Moderation outcome	The decision taken on a submitted item.	Approved means it can progress to publication/reuse; rejected usually means changes are needed.
Contribution	Submitted item / authored item	Any item you created or submitted that HORTUS tracks.	Your drafts, pending approvals, and published objects are visible in My Contributions.
Contribution queue item	Pending item / moderation item	A submitted resource, project, or metadata set waiting for review.	If you submit something, it may not appear publicly immediately; it can wait in a queue.
Researcher	Contributor	An authenticated user who can create content and research artefacts.	This is the main productive role for researchers who publish or contribute.
Controlled vocabulary	Vocabulary binding	A pre-defined list of allowed values for a metadata field.	It keeps descriptions consistent across records.
D4Science	Infrastructure provider	The underlying research infrastructure powering storage, cataloguing, identity, compute, and more.	HORTUS runs on top of D4Science services.
Discussion thread	Comments / feedback	Structured comments attached to a project, event, resource, or post.	Discussions keep questions and answers attached to the right object instead of getting lost in email.
Draft	Unsubmitted version	A work-in-progress record not yet submitted for approval/publication.	You can save work without publishing it yet.
Event	Workshop / webinar / seminar / conference	A time-bound activity with schedule, participants, and discussion.	Use Events to discover or publish academic activities.
Event registration	Register to this event	The HORTUS-side participation action for an event.	It may signal your participation inside HORTUS; some events can also require external registration.
Experts	People	The directory of researchers and contributors.	Use it to find collaborators, read profiles, and contact specialists.
External helpdesk	Redmine handoff	A support request routed to an external service desk.	Some support actions continue outside the visible HORTUS interface.
Favourites	Saved items	A personal list of resources, projects, experts, tools, or searches you want to keep.	Favouriting helps you build your own shortlist.
Followed	Notifications subscription	Saved items you also want updates about.	Following usually means you want notifications when something changes.
HORTUS	-	The overall digital research environment for ITSERR.	Think of HORTUS as the full platform where you discover resources, meet experts, join projects, store files, learn, and publish.
Issue / ticket	Support request	A recorded problem or support need.	Use this when documentation and FAQ do not solve your problem.
Maintainer / Project lead	Owner	A user responsible for a project, event, support area, or owned content.	Maintainers manage people, content, and local governance.
Marketplace	Resources Catalog	The catalogue of datasets, publications, tools, services, and other research objects.	This is where you search for reusable research materials and tools.
Messaging	Chat	Direct person-to-person communication inside HORTUS.	Use it to contact experts or continue conversations without leaving the platform.
Metadata Management	My Metadata	The workspace area where metadata schemas are created, edited, submitted, and reused.	Advanced users can define how research objects should be described.
Metadata schema	Metadata format / metadata set	A reusable structure defining which metadata fields should describe a resource or document.	It is a template for description, not the content itself.
Metrics	-	The analytics and dashboard area showing platform-level indicators.	It is for counts, activity indicators, and platform monitoring, not for publishing content.
Moderation	Approval workflow / queue review	The review process for governed content.	Some items must be approved before they become fully available.
Moderator	Reviewer / approver	A user who approves or rejects governed artefacts.	Moderators keep quality control over submitted content.
My Folders	Workspace folders	The file storage area inside My Workspace.	Use it for organising documents, sharing files, versioning, and publishing selected items onward.
My Workspace	My HORTUS / personal area	Your private working area inside the platform.	This is where you manage your own activity, folders, favourites, contributions, and metadata work.
News item	Announcement / article	A short editorial post linked to a project or institutional context.	Use News for updates, launches, calls, and public-facing announcements.
Notification	Alert / toast / notification panel entry	A system message pointing you to something that needs attention.	Notifications help you resume work: a comment, approval, update, or task.
ORCID	-	An external researcher identity service that HORTUS can use for sign-in and for importing profile information such as affiliations and publications.	ORCID is your persistent scholarly identifier. If you already keep your ORCID record up to date, HORTUS can reuse that information so you do not have to retype it.
ORCID import	Profile import from ORCID	Pulling profile/publication data from ORCID into your public profile.	It can save time, but the manual warns it may replace some manually entered publication data.
Pending moderation	Waiting approval / submitted	A state after submission and before decision.	Your item exists, but reviewers still need to approve or reject it.
Project page	Institutional Page / contextual landing page	A structured page representing a project, initiative, or sometimes a tool.	A project page is the public “home” of a research initiative, with tabs, members, linked resources, and discussions.
Public profile	Expert profile / People profile	Your public researcher page.	This is your visible scholarly identity: bio, affiliations, interests, CV, publications, links.
RBAC	Role-Based Access Control	The model that determines what each role can see or do.	Your permissions depend on your role, not just on being logged in.
Registered user	Baseline authenticated user	A logged-in user with normal account access.	Registration unlocks personal workspace, favourites, notifications, and more actions.
Saved search	Filtered search saved	A saved query with filters and keywords.	Useful when you repeatedly monitor a topic or project area.
StorageHub	D4Science distributed storage	The storage service behind workspace folders and files.	It is the technical layer supporting file storage, sharing, and preservation.
Support	Documentation / FAQ / Issues	The area for manuals, common questions, and problem reporting.	Start here when you need help or want to report an issue.
Tabbed detail layout	Overview / Metadata / Discussions / Participants / Documents tabs	The standard page structure for many HORTUS objects.	Learn this pattern once and you can navigate most modules faster.
Training Centre	LMS / Moodle-like subsystem	The learning environment for courses, enrolment, grades, and learning activities.	This is where you take courses and training materials related to HORTUS or research methods.
Training course	Course / module	A course delivered through the Training Centre.	It can include enrolment, lessons, files, grades, and reports.
Validation rules	Field constraints	Rules that define what a metadata field accepts.	They improve data quality and consistency.
Visitor	Unregistered user	A public user without authentication.	Visitors can browse many public pages, but cannot do private or contribution actions.
Preferred term	Also seen as	What it means in HORTUS	What it means for you
VRE	Virtual Research Environment	A D4Science working environment for a community.	Think of it as the infrastructure concept behind collaborative spaces.
Workspace document / file	File, document	A stored item inside My Workspace or a project folder.	A file in HORTUS is not just an attachment; it can have metadata, versions, discussions, and share links.
Zenodo export	Repository export	Sending a Marketplace resource toward Zenodo.	HORTUS can help you move certain outputs to an external repository.
Global Search (Top Menu)	Platform-wide search, Universal search, Header search	Search feature accessible from the top navigation bar that queries all HORTUS modules simultaneously.	You can quickly find anything across the entire platform with a single query, without needing to know where the information is stored.
Local Search (Entity-specific)	Contextual search, Module search, Filtered search	A search feature limited to a specific module or entity type (e.g., within Projects, Marketplace, Experts), often combined with filters and sorting options.	You can refine your search within a specific area to get more precise and relevant results for your current task.

What HORTUS is (conceptually)

HORTUS is not just:

a storage system
a social network
a publication repository

It is a combined research environment that integrates:

collaboration
publication
data management
dissemination

All governed by a moderation-based workflow to ensure quality and consistency.