mackenzie smith associate director for technology mit libraries
TRANSCRIPT
MacKenzie SmithAssociate Director for TechnologyMIT Libraries
Agenda
IntroductionDSpace demoTechnical architectureOrganizational modelMIT case studyDSpace Federation
Q&A at the end of each presentationGeneral Q&A at the close
DSPACEINTRODUCTION
DSpace
Vision (1999) A federated repository that makes available the
collective intellectual resources of the world’s leading research institutions
Mission Create a scalable digital archive that preserves and
communicates the intellectual output of MIT’s faculty and researchers
Support adoption by and federation with other research institutions
DSpace is…
An open source technology platform
A service model for open access and/or digital archiving
A platform to build an Institutional Repository
A (proposed) federation of digital repositories across multiple academic research institutions
A production service of the MIT Libraries to the local research community
Institutional Repositories
Institution-based
Scholarly material in digital formats
Cumulative and perpetual
Open and interoperable
The DSpace Repository
Institutional Repository for MIT faculty’s digital research materials
MIT Libraries - Hewlett Packard Research Labs collaborative development project
Open Source system
Federated system
Preservation archive
DSpace Functions
Captures Digital research material (any format) Directly from creators (e.g. faculty) Large-scale, stable, managed long-term storage
Describes Descriptive, technical, rights metadata Persistent identifiers
Distributes Via WWW, with necessary access control
Preserves
Possible Content
Preprints, articles
Technical Reports
Working Papers
Conference Papers
E-theses
Datasets statistical, geospatial,
matlab, etc.
Images visual, scientific, etc.
Audio files
Video files
Learning Objects
Reformatted digital library collections
Why Libraries?
Expertise Large-scale collection management
Assessment/collection policies preservation
Metadata Solid business practices
Commitment Long time frames Mission scope
CHALLENGES
Challenges
Faculty Acceptance Valuing and trusting an institutional archive
Sustainability institutional, financial
Digital Preservation
Digital Preservation
Philosopy Lots of digital material is already lost Most digital material is at risk Better to have it, do bit preservation, than to
lose it completely Need to capture as much information as
possible to support functional preservation Cost/benefit tradeoffs
Digital Preservation
MIT’s commitment levels Known/supported
TIFF, SGML/XML, AIFF, PDF Known/unsupported
Microsoft Word, PowerPoint (common, proprietary) Lotus 1-2-3, Visicalc, WordPerfect (less common)
Unknown/unsupported One-of-a-kind software program
Digital Preservation
Supported = migration and/or emulation Migration for texts, images, audio, etc. Emulation for software, multimedia?
Unsupported Bit preservation at minimum Format migration where possible
Commercial conversion services
Global Digital Format Registry
DESIGN
Information Model
Communities Research units of the organization
Collections (in communities) Distinct groupings of like items
Items (in collections) Logical content objects Receive persistent identifier
Bitstreams (in items) Individual files Receive preservation treatment
Information Model
Versioning Item “versions” can be
All instances of a work in different formats E.g. the XML, PDF, and PostScript versions
All editions of a work over time Official changes (e.g. addenda or new release) Periodic snapshots (e.g. web sites)
Metadata lists all available versions of items
Communities
Research units of the organization Schools, Departments, Research Labs,
Research Centers, Programs, etc. Individuals
Community “home page” with logo, custom description, etc. Or contract with library
Communities
Local, distributed policy decisions Who can contribute, access material Submission workflow
Submitters, approvers, reviewers, editors
Collections definition, management
Local, distributed production work Communities supply metadata, files
Partnership between library and communities
Communities
SCHOOLS
DEPARTMENTS
LABS
CENTERS
PROGRAMS
Communities DSpace system
Web User Interface
SCHOOL
LAB CENTER
DEPARTMENT
Archival Storage
Metadata (Database)
Search/Browse
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CollectionItemItemItemItem
Users
EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY
Problem
Lack of persistent repository for Learning Objects
Needed for reuse of Entire courses Useful “learning objects”
Prior efforts not institution-based Merlot, HEAL, etc.
Open Knowledge Initiative
Defines API for interoperation between Course/Learning Management Systems
Open source (e.g. Coursework, Stellar) Commercial (e.g. Blackboard, WebCT)
Digital Repositories Open source (e.g. DSpace, FEDORA) Commercial (e.g. TEAMS, Bulldog)
Collaborating with IMS Digital Repository working group
OpenCourseWare
“Make MIT course materials that are used in the teaching of almost all undergraduate and graduate subjects available on the Web, free of charge, to any user anywhere in the world.”
“Course materials contained on the MIT OCW Web site may be used, copied, distributed, translated, and modified, but only for non-commercial educational purposes that are made freely available to other users under the same terms defined by the MIT OCW legal notice.”
OpenCourseWare
Publication of all course content on the Web Faculty-authored 3rd party produced Metadata based on IMS specifications
DSpace Archive for entire course web site Archive of significant content items or “learning
assets” for rediscovery and reuse
Metadata
SIMILE Flexible metadata infrastructure
e.g. support for IMS/SCORM schema
HP/MIT Alliance-funded project HP Labs W3C’s Semantic Web activity MIT Lab for Computer Science researcher (David Karger)
Haystack project on personalized information management
MIT Libraries’ DSpace providing test-bed, real-world applications
RESEARCH AGENDA
Further R&D
Digital preservation Datasets, multimedia, websites, programs Economics and user requirements
Publishing E-journal alternatives Collaborative, iterative authoring tools
Rights management for academia