a centre of expertise in digital information management standards for jisc's digitisation...

A centre of expertise in digital information management

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Standards For JISC's Digitisation Programme

Brian KellyUKOLNUniversity of [email protected]

UKOLN is supported by:

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/meetings/jisc-2006-04/http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/meetings/jisc-2006-04/

Acceptable Use PolicyRecording/broadcasting of this talk, taking photographs, discussing the content using email, instant messaging, Blogs, SMS, etc. is permitted providing distractions to others is minimised.

Acceptable Use PolicyRecording/broadcasting of this talk, taking photographs, discussing the content using email, instant messaging, Blogs, SMS, etc. is permitted providing distractions to others is minimised.

This work is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 licence (but note caveat)

* Subject to confirmation at end of talk


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Contents

This brief talk will cover:• Background to use of standards in JISC-

funded activities• Limitations of previous approaches• Layered approach developed by QA Focus• Doing the work• Supporting the work• Building on the work


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Background

JISC's development programmes:• Traditionally based on use of open standards to:

Support interoperabilityMaximise accessibilityAvoid vendor lock-inProvide architectural integrityHelp ensure long-term preservation

History:• eLib Standards document (v1 – 1996, v2 – 1998)• DNER Standards document (2001)

which influenced:• NOF-digi Technical Standards• ..


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Lessons Learnt

Experiences of the QA Focus (and NOF-digi Technical Advisory Service) revealed problems:

• Lack of knowledge of standards• Lack of resources• Immaturity of standards• Failure for standards to take off• Difficulties when building on existing work• Uncertainty of what to do if standards not

implemented correctly• …


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What To Do?

QA Focus project asked by JISC to make recommendations on how to address such tensions

Should we suggest:• Mandation of use of defined open standards;

penalty clauses for non-compliance; … (central government way?)

• Leave everything to the marketplace (Thatcherite approach)

• Or is there a third way?


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Need For Flexibility

There is a need for flexibility in the standards infrastructure:

• Learning the lessons from OSI networking protocols (the great networking standard of the 1980s!)

Today:• Conveyor belt of great new Web standards is

slowing down• Questions as to whether Web (for example) is

becoming over-complex "Web service considered harmful" The lowercase semantic web / Microformats

• Lighter-weight alternatives being developed• Responses from the commercial world


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Compliance Issues

What does must mean?• You must comply with HTML standards

What if I don't? What if nobody does? What if I use PDF?

• You must clear rights on all resources you digitise

• You must provide properly audited accounts

What if I don't?

There is a need to clarify the meaning of must and for an understandable, realistic and reasonable compliance regime

There is a need to clarify the meaning of must and for an understandable, realistic and reasonable compliance regime


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The ContextThere will be a context to use of standards:

• The intended use: Mainstream Innovative /

research Key middleware component Small-scale

deliverable

• Organisational culture: HE vs FE Teaching vs

Research Service vs Development …

• Workflow issues:• Can metadata always be created independently of context of

use of resource?

• Available Funding & Resources: Significant funding & training to make use of important new

standards Minimal funding - current skills should be used

• …


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Quality Assurance

External factors: institutional, cultural, legal, …

The Layered Standards Model

JISCJISC

JISC / project

JISC / project

3rd Parties

3rd Parties

Owner

Annotated Standards Catalogue

Purpose Governance Maturity Risks …

Prog. n Funding Research Sector …

Context: Policies

External Self assessment Learning …

Context: Compliance

This 3-layered model has been recommended to JISC


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Scope Of The Standards WorkThe Standards Catalogue:

• Covers JISC's development programmes• May be extended to cover other JISC-funded

development work• Is available for others (e.g. institutional work)

May be extended to cover • JISC-funded services• Cover JISC itself

Content areas will include:• Web File formats• Metadata Resource

discovery• E-learning Addressing• Alerting Authentication• E-Research …


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Implementation

How might this approach be used in practice?

Programme XX Call / Contract

Committees Advisers

Programme Team

Proposals must comply with XYZ standardProposals should seek to comply with XYZProposals should describe approach to XYZ

Projects audited to ensure compliance with …Projects should develop self-assessment

procedures and submit findings to JISCProjects should submit proposed approach

for approval/information

Development ProgrammeDevelopment Programme

JISC Manager

ReportReport

Contract

Report must be in MS Word / … and use JISC template…


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Collating The Content

We used a Wiki to collect initial information about the standards:

• Being used by a small groups of trusted individuals

• Avoids bottleneck for uploading and maintaining content

Note: the Wiki is used for creation & maintenance of the data and will not be the final repository

At this stage, a simple template will be used. This can be enhanced in future iterations.

At this stage, a simple template will be used. This can be enhanced in future iterations.


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Using The ModelCurrent status:

• Initial work carried out by QA Focus project (2002-2004)• Several peer-reviewed papers* described aspects of work:

• A Contextual Framework For Standards, E-Government Workshop, Edinburgh, May 2006

• A Standards Framework For Digital Library Programmes, ichim05

• Interoperability Across Digital Library Programmes? We Must Have QA!, ECDL 2004

• Deployment Of Quality Assurance Procedures For Digital Library Programmes, EUNIS 2003

• Ideology Or Pragmatism? Open Standards And Cultural Heritage Web Sites, ichim03

• Following validation of ideas, approaches are now being deployed by JISC

• JISC's Digital Repositories Programme will act as initial pilot

* Co-authors include staff from UKOLN, AHDS, TechDis & CETIS* Co-authors include staff from UKOLN, AHDS, TechDis & CETIS


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Accessing The ContentContent available via the Digital Repositories Wiki

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/repositories/digirep/index/DigRepStandardsHome

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/repositories/digirep/index/DigRepStandardsHome


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About The Content

The information provided aims to be simple and succinct (but document will still be large when printed!)

Standard: Dublin Core About the Standard: Dublin Core is a metadata standard made up …Version: New terms are regularly added to … Maturity: Dublin Core has its origins in workshops held …Risk Assessment: Dublin Core plays a key role …. It is an important standard within the context of JISC development programmes. Further Information:

• DCMI, <http://dublincore.org/> • …

Author: Pete Johnston, UKOLN Contributor: Date Created: 04 Oct 2005 Update History: Initial version.

Example

Note that as the standards catalogue is intended for wide use the contents will need to be fairly general


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Providing Feedback

As the JISC Digitisation programme is an early user of this approach to standards, your feedback is important

The Discussion tab can be used by registered users to provide:

• Specific feedback on the standards entries

• Suggestions for further information (e.g. case studies you've written)

More generic feedback on the model, its applications, etc. may be provided using other mechanisms? Opportunity for discussion on best options.


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Quality Assurance Infrastructure

Will projects and services implement standards as required? How will we know?Compliance checking:

External checkers: Approach used in NOF-digi. But:• Concerns over big brother• Does big brother have expertise?• Alien to HE culture• Standards not embedded into working practices

(done because funders want it)Self-assessment:

• Approach recommended by QA Focus (and should be done even if external checking)

• Need for projects/services to define their QA processes


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QA Framework

QA Focus project:• Developed lightweight quality assurance

framework designed for JISC's development programmes

• Methodology validated by Duke/Jordan review of JISC's standards

QA methodology:• Project should provided document policies• Projects should implement systematic procedures

for ensuring their policies are being implementedJISC perspective:

• JISC may define the QA procedures• And/or JISC may ask projects to define their own

QA policies and procedures


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Standards Catalogue Process

There's a need for developing and enhancing the standards catalogue in order to:

• Update with new standards• Learn from feedback and experiences

Review

Policies

Context

Compliance

SupportInfrastructure

QAFramework

User Experiences

Funder'sExperiences

Standards

…Standards

Framework

The Standards Catalogue can be integrated with the JISC's 'Framework' The Standards Catalogue can be integrated with the JISC's 'Framework'


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Sustainability

How do we • Sustain, maintain and grow the standards

catalogue?• Develop a sustainable support infrastructure?• Ensure that JISC supports learning organisations

(and that JISC is a learning organisation)

Options:• More funding for support infrastructure• Exploit learning gained by projects, reuse

experiences, encourage sharing, etc.


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Support Infrastructure (1)

Experiences of QA Focus:

• 90+ briefing documents & 30+ case studies

• Licensed (where possible) under Creative Commons

• UKOLN are continuing to publish new documents (documents on Folksonomies, AJAX, Podcasting, Wikis, etc. published recently)

Case Study Template• About the Project• Area covered• Approach taken• Lessons Learnt /

Things We'd Do Differently

• …

Case studies:• Opportunity to describe

experiences in specific areas• Standard template to ensure

consistency & provide focus• Allows UKOLN to promote

projects' work • Project get better Google rating


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What you can do:

Case Studies• On train home use template to summarise one

aspect of your project work• Upload to Wiki

Briefing Documents• Write a (brief!) briefing paper on area not

currently covered and send to Brian Kelly

Why?• Others (e.g. me) can cite your work• Use of a CC licence enables you, your work, your organisation, … to

become known in other sectors – you can benefit from this• You will be seen to be good JISC citizens• You may get the 'feel good' factor – it's not just open source software

developers who can share their work

Why?• Others (e.g. me) can cite your work• Use of a CC licence enables you, your work, your organisation, … to

become known in other sectors – you can benefit from this• You will be seen to be good JISC citizens• You may get the 'feel good' factor – it's not just open source software

developers who can share their work


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How do we maintain the information about the standards?

• Your feedback• Linking to related information in Wikipedia (the

world can help the updating)• Uploading information to Wikipedia – the wider

community can help to update and maintain it• Making information available with CC licences –

so others can use it, update it – and hopefully give feedback on enhancements

Note that this approach of collaboration, sharing and trust reflects the Web 2.0 culture which is currently informing various aspects of Web development

Note that this approach of collaboration, sharing and trust reflects the Web 2.0 culture which is currently informing various aspects of Web development


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Extending The Model

Joint UKOLN / TechDis / OSS Watch work has extended the layered model to other related areas

…

Context: Policies

Sector Funding Culture Resources …

External Self assessment Learning …Context: Compliance

Standards Software AccessibilityAnnotated Catalogues

This model (described in paper accepted for E-Government Workshop in Edinburgh in May 2006) aims to provide a consistent and understandable model:

• For use by the funders• For use by projects• Applicable to the diversity to be found in the sector• Applicable to the technical complexity and diversity


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Conclusions

To conclude:• Approach to developing standards catalogue

based on QA Focus's experiences, and its review by Jon Duke/Andy Jordan

• Acknowledges importance of context• Allows for hard-line implementation (which is

needed in some areas)• Projects need to be actively involved in process,

providing feedback, etc.