Open Source Ecosystem Project Spotlight: Accessible Content Optimization for Research Needs (ACORN)

Researchers generate vast amounts of data, but making that information easy to find, understand, and use is still a challenge. Accessible Content Optimization for Research Needs (ACORN) is a command-line multitool designed to streamline and improve the accessibility and usability of research activity data (RAD). This data encompasses all raw information, evidence, and documentation collected and analyzed during a research study, including data like questionnaires, transcripts, codebooks, and digital records.

Developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), a federally-funded research and development center supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, ACORN can run locally or on remote continuous integration servers for shared RAD repositories. 

ACORN uses predefined templates to check that research content follows consistent rules for structure, terminology, and accessibility, then produces standardized, analysis-ready files that are easy to share, reuse, and integrate into larger repositories. Through its automation and collaboration features, research teams can maintain accurate, well-structured content products and repositories.

Image of the ACORN workflow courtesy of Oak Ridge Laboratory (ORNL)

Ultimately, the project’s goal is to standardize and automate the research content workflows to better communicate projects, capabilities, technology, and people. 

“With concerted effort, our project could enable quick analysis of research project portfolios, allowing decision-makers to pick and pull solutions for execution, sponsor discussions, or even event and conference support,” explained Audrey Carson, Science Writer at ORNL. “Through this project, we aim to use RAD to enable better science, especially when developed through the lens of a collaborative open science effort.”

The ACORN team is supporting their involvement in the Open Source Ecosystem Project through their own resources, underscoring the value they see in contributing to a larger vision of resilient, community-supported open science infrastructure and their alignment with COS’s mission of advancing open science.

Currently, the team is focusing on expanding ACORN’s reach by extending its interoperability to broaden its usability and accessibility. ORNL is building a two-way integration between ACORN and OSF that includes:

• Publishing RAD datasets directly to OSF
• Enabling OSF users to consume, validate, and analyze standardized RAD outputs
• Leveraging the OSF ecosystem to test nanopublications and support emerging persistent identifiers like RAiDs

As Carson shared, the team is most excited about “opening the door to open science at the Department of Energy national laboratories and other federally funded research and development centers.”

By advancing the accessibility and interoperability of research activity data, ACORN has the potential to strengthen data-driven decision-making and foster collaboration both within and beyond the DOE laboratory system—helping create a more transparent and connected research ecosystem.