national-programmes
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How Far Have We Come?
From eLib to NOF-digi and Beyond
Brian Kelly Acceptable Use Policy
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Introduction Contents
Introduction
• About me
• About this talk
The National Programmes (provider’s perspective)
• The technical standards
• The support infrastructure
What We Learnt
• What succeeded, what failed and what we
discovered along the way
What Should We Do In The Future
• What do we do next?
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Introduction About This Talk
Talk is based on experiences of national programmes:
• eLib
• NOF-digi
• DNER/IE
• Michael
Common characteristics:
• Interoperability through open standards
• Managed view of roadmap
Issues:
• Did we get it right?
• Are there alternative approaches?
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3
The eLib Programme
eLib Programme:
• Response to the Follet
review, 1993
• Initial budget of £15m
over 3 years
• 60+ projects funded
Areas covered:
• Document Delivery
• Access To Network
Resources
• Training & Awareness
• Electronic Journals
• Digitisation / Images
• Electronic Short Loan
Collections
• On Demand Publishing
• Pre-Prints and Grey
Literature
A centre of expertise in digital information management • Supporting Studies
www.ukoln.ac.uk
4
eLib Standards Guidelines
eLib Standards
Guidelines:
• Provides
recommendations
for selection & use
of standards
• Strongly
encouraged where
relevant
Covered:
• Data
communications
• Data interchange
• Metadata
• Search & retrieve
• Security,
authentication &
A centre of expertise in digital information management payment services
www.ukoln.ac.uk
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Editors: Chris Rusbridge
eLib Standards Lorcan Dempsey,& Ann
Mumford (myself as a
Things we don’t care about (?): contributor)
• Email (SMTP, not X.400), …
Areas we correctly hedged our bets:
• GIF is OK, keep eye on PNG
Areas we were evasive about:
• PostScript & PDF
Areas we got wrong:
• “It is anticipated that SGML will be a key standard ...
Projects are encouraged to .. agree or, where
necessary, develop document type definitions”
• “projects should … supply a URL for public services, and
be prepared to adopt URNs when they are stabilised”
Standards which seem to have disappeared:
• CGM
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eLib Standards version 2
eLib Standards version 2
• Published in 1998 (2 years after v 1)
• Introduced a template for descriptions
Relevant standards:
Comments:
Consensus:
• Templates on recommended standards
complemented by technical summaries – and
speculation e.g.
“HTTP-NG should support more secure
authentication and encryption”
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Beyond The Standards
Cross-Searching: The Vision
• whois++ lightweight distributed cross-searching
protocol
• ROADS: Open source software used by most eLib
subject gateways (e.g. SOSIG)
• Z39.50: More heavy-weight solution used in library
context
• eLib SBIGs/RDN: implementation in a distributed
environment (with departmental providers)
Cross-Searching: Today’s Reality
• Intute: Centralised database, distributed data
collection. Cross-searching interfaces, but how
widely used?
Note dangers of using standards outside of DL programmes –
JISC Web site in digital information management
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Later, in NOF-digitise
NOF-Digitise programme:
• Ran from August 1999 to December 2004
• £50 million funding to put information that supports
lifelong learning into digitised form.
• Brought together wide range of partnerships &
organisations
NOF Technical Advisory Service (NOF TAS) provided:
• Informed support and advocacy of Technical
Standards and Guidelines
• Assistance in achieving standards compliance
• Detailed and project-specific advice
• Repository of standard and generic advice
Provide by UKOLN and AHDS
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Development Culture
Different culture to HE digital library development community:
• Tell us the standards which we must mandate
• Caused problems:
“NOF-digi project Web sites must have 24x7 availability” –
very expensive! Requirement was availability at weekends!
Recommended standards weren’t mature (e.g. SMIL)
whereas proprietary solutions (Flash) provided compelling
user services
• Providing pragmatic solutions:
“NOF-digi project Web sites should seek to maximise
their uptime”
Quarterly reporting template provided a get-out clause:
“You must (a) describe the areas in which compliance will
not be achieved; (b) explain why compliance will not be
achieved (including research on appropriate open
standards); (c) describe your migration strategies to ensure
compliance in the future and (d) how the migration may be
funded”
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Minerva Experience
Minerva technical
guidelines:
• EU-funded
• Built on
eLib/NOF/JISC
IE resources
• Initially edited
by UKOLN
Continued to
promote plausible:
• Standards
• Best practices
which failed to take
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Compliance Issues
What does must mean?
• You must comply with HTML standards
What if I don't? JISC 5/99 programme
What if nobody does? ~80% of project home
What if I use PDF? pages were not HTML
compliant
• 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
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QA Focus
QA Focus:
• JISC-funded project provided by UKOLN and (initially) TASI,
then AHDS from 2002-2004
• What QA regime should JISC provide for its development
programmes? What actions should be taken if standards not
conformed with?
• Recommendations:
Self-assessment, not external validation (projects
explained complexities of standards-compliance)
Build on culture of sharing and openness
Have a pragmatic view of ‘open standards’
Understand complexities of non-conformance / ‘failure’:
The standard failed, not the project
The standard may be too expensive to deploy
Alternatives may become available
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Why Open Standards?
JISC's development programmes:
• Traditionally based on use of open standards to:
Support interoperability
Maximise accessibility
Avoid vendor lock-in
Provide architectural integrity
Help ensure long-term preservation
But (thinking the unthinkable):
• Do open standards deliver?
• What happens if open standards fail?
• What is an open standard?
• Is the only alternative to open standards use of
proprietary solutions?
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… But Don't Always Work
There's a need for flexibility:
• Learning the lesson from OSI networking protocols
Today:
• Is the Web (for example) becoming over-complex
"Web service considered harmful"
The lowercase semantic web / Microformats
• Lighter-weight alternatives being developed
• Responses from the commercial world
Other key issues
• What is an open standard?
• What are the resource implications of using them?
• Sometimes proprietary solutions work (and users
like them). Is it politically incorrect to mention this!?
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What is An Open Standard?
Which of the following are open standards today
(and were open standards in 2006)?
• XHTML 1 PDF Flash
• Java MS Word RSS (1.0/2.0)
UKOLN's "What Are Open Standards?" briefing paper
refers to characteristics of open standards:
• Neutral organisation which 'owns' standard &
responsible for roadmap
• Open involvement in standards-making process
• Access to standard freely available
•…
Note these characteristics do not apply equally to all
standards bodies e.g. costs of BSI standards; W3C
membership requirements; …
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RSS Example Is RSS An Open Standard?
Is RSS an open standard ("are RSSs open standards")?
RSS 1.0 (RDF Site Summary)
• XML application using RDF model
• Developed by Aaron Schwarz
RSS 2.0 (Really Simple Syndication)
• XML application using simpler model
• Developed by Davey Winer
Note that RSS is a widely used and popular application;
with usage growing through its role in podcasts
Issues:
• Are these open standards?
• Are they reliable and robust enough to build
mission-critical services on?
• Is there a clear roadmap for the future? www.ukoln.ac.uk
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RSS Example RSS – Governance Issues
Governance Issues:
• RSS 1.0 spec maintained by Aaron Schwartz:
"Aaron Swartz is a teenage writer, hacker, and
activist. He was a finalist for the ArsDigita Prize for
excellence in building non-commercial web sites
at the age of 13. At 14 he co-authored the RSS
1.0 specification, now used by thousands of sites
to notify their readers of updates."
• RSS 2.0 specification developed by Dave Winer:
"Winer is known as one of the more polarizing
figures in the blogging community. … However ..
there are many people and organizations who
seem unable to maintain a good working
relationship with Dave."
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RSS Example RSS – Summary
To summarise :
• We thought RSS was a great lightweight
syndication technology
• It was – but competing alternatives were
developed
• No clear winner (RSS 1.0's extensibility & W3C's
support versus RSS 2.0's simplicity and take-up
in podcasting, iTunes, etc)
Conclusions
• Life can be complex, even with simple standards
• Technical merit is never enough – market acceptance can
change things
• RSS can still be useful, and interoperability can be provided by
RSS libraries supporting multiple formats
• Need for a more sophisticated approach such as model in
“A Contextual Framework For Standards”, WWW 2006
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Contextual Issues The Context
There 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 …
• Available Funding & Resources:
Significant funding & training to use new standards
Minimal funding - current skills should be used
• …
An open standards culture is being developed, which is
supportive of use of open standards, but which recognises
A centre of expertise in can avoid mistakes
the complexities anddigital information management made in the past
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The Layered Standards Model
Owner Quality Assurance
External factors: institutional, cultural, legal, …
Context: Policies
JISC
Prog. n Funding Research Sector …
3rd Annotated Standards Catalogue
Parties
Purpose Governance Maturity Risks …
JISC / Context: Compliance
project External Self assessment Penalties Learning
JISC's layered standards model, developed by UKOLN.
A centre that one size doesn't always
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The Standards Catalogue
The information provided aims to be simple and
succinct (but document will still be large when printed!)
Standard: Dublin Core Example
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/>
•… Note that as the standards
Author: Pete Johnston, UKOLN catalogue is intended for
Contributor: wide use the contents will
Date Created: 04 Oct 2005
Update History: Initial version.
need to be fairly general
The Standards Catalogue is deemed important – but there’s a
A centre of expertise in digital information management www.ukoln.ac.uk
22 still lack of understanding of the contextual model
What If Web 2.0 Changes Everything?
“Web 2.0 Changes Everything” – what if this is true?
The “Higher Education in a Web 2.0 World” report
suggests that Senior Managers in HE may feel this to
be the case
• “Network is the platform” / The Cloud
• Web infrastructure becomes the infrastructure
(HE follows, no longer leads)
• Growing importance of informal learning
• Growing importance of informal networking
• Growing reluctance to travel (travelling to CILIP-S
on par with dodgy MPs’ expenses claims?)
• …
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The DNER/IE Diagram
Web 2.0 in the context
of Andy Powell’s
famous IE diagram
(early version shown)
..which later was
developed further
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My Take
My Vision
In 2001 I suggested that
application services could
be provided ‘out there’ (in
The Cloud).
I speculated about the
JISC Spellchecker and
JISC ‘delicious’ services
What I Missed!
What I thought about but failed to articulate (it seemed (a)
Thatcherite out-sourcing & (b) too complex) was commercial
the services & large-scale
provision of of expertise in digital information managementapps e.g. Google Docs
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Services In ‘The Cloud’
Will Web 2.0
services in ‘The
Cloud’ make
national initiatives
irrelevant?
Or will there be a
mix of institutional,
national and global
providers of
solutions?
Or will institutional
& national services
make use of
infrastructure in
‘The Cloud’?
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What About The Developers?
In the old days:
• Development was slow and
required significant levels of
funding
• Funders and budget
holders could manage
development process
Today:
• Web infrastructure more
mature (standards,
services, APIs, …)
• Light-weight is ‘cool’
• Developers don’t want 3
year projects (and
associated bureaucracy) –
but food & drink are good!
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What Can Be In A Weekend?
Tony Hurst’s visualisations of
MPs expenses claims
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Community Matters
Importance of developer
community now being appreciated:
• In JISC Circles (cf dev8d week;
Mashed Library events; Rapid
Innovation Call)
• In Museums sector (cf. Mashed
Museum events)
• In commercial sector (cf
barcamps)
• In government circles (cf.
Government barcamps)
http://dev8d.jiscinvolve.org/2009/03/30/ • …
Dev8D: Developer Happiness Days event sponsored by
JISC. See <http://dev8d.jiscinvolve.org/>
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Risk Assessment Model (c. 2006)
SS=f(SB, S, U, En, ..)
Selection of appropriate standard (SS) is function of:
Standards Body (SB): Maturity, stability, status,
openness, responsivity, …
Standard (S): Functionality, complexity / ease-of-use, …
Users (U): Appropriateness for, benefits to adoption by …
Environment (En): Institutional, community, sectoral, …
Other factors:
• Market acceptance: do vendors support it (beyond
proof-of-concept open source examples)
• Risks (am I betting the company of the standard)
• Exit options (can I easily change my mind)
• Advocacy (is the world campaigning for it) and
threats (is the world criticising for it)
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Deployment Strategies
Interested in using Web 2.0 in your organisation?
Worried about corporate inertia, power struggles, etc?
There’s a need for a deployment strategy:
• Addressing business needs
• Low-hanging fruits
• Encouraging the enthusiasts
• Gain experience of the browser tools – and see
what you’re missing!
• Staff training & development
• Impact assessment and measurement
• Risk and opportunity management strategy
• Critical Friends and friendly critics
• Culture of sharing
31
• …
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Strategies Risk Management
JISC infoNet Risk Management infoKit:
“In education, as in any other environment, you can’t
decide not to take risks: that simply isn’t an option in
today’s world. All of us take risks and it’s a question of
which risks we take”
Examples of people who are likely to be adverse stakeholders:
• People .. required to commit resources to the project
• People who fear loss of control over a function or
resources
• People who will have to do their job in a different way
• People who will have to carry out new functions
• People who will have to use a new technology
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32 • ..
Critical Friends
JISC U&I
programme is
encouraging
establishment of
“Critical Friends”
Paul Walk
(UKOLN) was
described as a
‘critical friend’ of
See <http://dev8d.jiscinvolve.org/2009/
See <http://critical-friends.org/> JISC
02/10/five-minute-interview-paul-walk/>
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Towards a Framework
Biases
• Critical friends Intended
• Sharing
• Application to Purpose
experiences
existing Benefits • Learning from
services (various successes
• Application to stakeholders
& failures
in-house Risks
(various • Tackling biases
development
•…
•… stakeholders
Missed Opps.
(various
stakeholders
Costs
(various “Time To Stop Doing and Start
stakeholders Thinking: A Framework For
Subjective factors Exploiting Web 2.0 Services”,
Museums & the Web 2009
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Using The Framework
Twitter for individuals Organisational Fb Page
Community Intended Marketing
support Purpose Critical friends:
events,…
• Paul Walk / Brian
Benefits
Rapid Large Kelly blog posts)
(various
feedback audiences • MCG discussions
stakeholders
Risks Learning
Justify ROI (various Ownership, • UKOLN cultural
Org. brand stakeholders privacy, lock-in heritage guest
Missed Opps. blog post
Community- Marketing
(various • Conferences
building opportunity
stakeholders • Papers
Low? Costs •…
(various Low?
stakeholders
Note personal biases!
Use of approach in two scenarios: use of Twitter & Facebook
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Using The Framework (2)
Semantic Web No standard
Intended
Purpose Critical friends:
• JISC Advisers
Benefits
• Developers
(various
• International
stakeholders
Risks community
(various Learning
stakeholders • From developers
Missed Opps. • Conferences
(various • Papers
stakeholders •…
Costs
(various
stakeholders
Use of approach with standards: doing nothing (today) might be an
A centre of expertise in digital information management
option! www.ukoln.ac.uk
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The Assumptions
Standards:
• Interoperability through open standards
• Avoidance of proprietary lock-in & other benefits
• All we need is to identify the correct open
standards
• This will save us time, money & deliver rich
functionality and usable & useful services
Development:
• The developers can then simply use the
standards
• This will also provide seamless evolution to new
standards
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Challenging The Assumptions
Maybe we want:
• To challenge the unthinking assumptions in national
development programmes –using evidence rather than
assertions
• The benefits promised (but not necessarily delivered) by
open standards
• An understanding that it’s not a binary open standards vs
proprietary world
• The world may choose good enough, whilst we want to
provide the best
• To develop user-focussed services which the commercial
sector seems to be better at
• To recognise the importance of the developers’ perspective
And we should also challenge these views!
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Questions
Any questions, comments, …?
Additional Resources:
Papers published on standards and national programmes:
• What Does Openness Mean To The Museum Community?, MW 2008
• Openness in Higher Education: Open Source, Open Standards, Open
Access, elPub 2008
• Addressing The Limitations Of Open Standards, MW 2007
• A Contextual Framework For Standards, WWW 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, IADIS 2003
• Developing A Quality Culture For Digital Library Programmes, EUNIS
2003
• Ideology Or Pragmatism? Open Standards And Cultural Heritage Web
Sites, ichim03
39
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See <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/papers/#standards> www.ukoln.ac.uk
