Upgrading FSD's Loda metadata portal using Colectica

The Finnish Social Science Data Archive (FSD) upgraded its longitudinal survey metadata portal, which previously provided users with variable-level information on four Finnish National Election Studies (FNES), in 2022 as part of the C-BoTS project funded by the Academy of Finland. The portal was upgraded using Colectica Designer, Repository and Portal, and the updated contents of the portal include the metadata for the latest FNES dataset in the series. The aim of the portal is to enable easier discoverability and findability of variable-level information. The portal also allows users to effortlessly compare variables that have measured the same concepts across different waves of the study. In this presentation, the process of upgrading the portal using the Colectica tools is described, including the challenges and opportunities encountered along the way. Additionally, the presentation details how the process inspired the thought of expanding the portal's contents beyond the FNES data series, as well as the implications the process has had regarding FSD's potential shift from DDI Codebook to DDI Lifecycle