IASSIST 2008Collection, Communication, Access and

Preservation

IASSIST 2008 – session E3

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow: Data on the Web from Vision to

Practice to Sustainability

Bo WandschneiderUniversity of Guelph

IASSIST 2008Collection, Communication, Access and

Preservation

<odesi><odesi>

• Collaborative project of OCUL• Jointly funded by OCUL and

Ontario Buys• Builds on Scholar’s Portal

IASSIST 2008Collection, Communication, Access and

Preservation

<odesi>

• It provides university researchers with access to a significant number of datasets in a web-based data extraction system

• It will establish best practices for the DDI mark-up of these files.

IASSIST 2008Collection, Communication, Access and

Preservation

Vision

• written or spoken words or pictures that create a vivid mental image.

• use of images, metaphors, and examples make a vision more memorable.

• brings clarity to a thought or concept. • motivate and inspire. • makes certain predications and

assumptions about the future • may focus on an opportunity at some

moment in time. • is unique and will present a shared ideal

that delivers on the common good.

IASSIST 2008Collection, Communication, Access and

Preservation

Transformational Vision

• Transformational Visions• “Social Science Dream Machine”

IASSIST 2008Collection, Communication, Access and

Preservation

<odesi> vision

• Builds on other visions• Vision for a project• Two distinct parts

• Access through Scholar’s Portal• Best Practices around metadata

creation

IASSIST 2008Collection, Communication, Access and

Preservation

Foundation for <odesi> vision

• discussions, collaborative relationships, ideas and training/workshops from groups like IASSIST, DINO (OCUL Data group), DLI (Canadian Data Liberation Initiative), CAPDU (Canadian Association of Public Data Users), CANDDI (ad hoc group looking at DDI in Canada)

• a maturation of the DDI standard and increased acceptance

• success of other collaborative projects, such as CESSDA (Council of European Social Science Data Archives)

• a maturation of technologies at both the hardware and software level

• a realization of the common challenges across Ontario institutions and a desire to eliminate duplication

• the success of scholar’s portal as a replicable solution• the emergence of discussions in e-science and the notion

of trusted digital repositories

IASSIST 2008Collection, Communication, Access and

Preservation

Events leading up to <odesi>

• CANDDI• DINO• Discussion Paper

IASSIST 2008Collection, Communication, Access and

Preservation

What is in <odesi>

• common access for all partner institutions, irrespective of size

• development of meta data standards/best practices that enabled all institutions to participate and sustain the project. While at the same time allowing us to easily change course if the field took another direction

• allowing local needs to prevail• archiving locally produced data• enhancing usage• engaging undergraduates in a research

environment as both user and creator• enhancing numeracy• opportunities for linkages and sharing with other

national and international initiatives.• expression of cost savings

IASSIST 2008Collection, Communication, Access and

Preservation

New “visions”

• new visualization tools, • Federated Identity Management,• enhanced searching across all collections, not just

data, • serving up information in RSS feeds• focusing on negotiating shared access to ‘local’

collections• pushing <odesi> as a model for a node in a series

of trusted data repositories – moving towards some sort of national network

• Sustainability – this really flows out of the Best Practices and suggests that to attain sustainability we need to ensuring data providers adopt these tools/standards and deliver new data in a common format

IASSIST 2008Collection, Communication, Access and

Preservation

Can <odesi> be transformational

• Maybe a piece of something transformational

• Move to become a trusted data repository within a network• Maintain provincial purpose• Live within a national context

• Define an institutional role with sustainable operation

IASSIST 2008Collection, Communication, Access and

Preservation

Questions

• Can <odesi> model the way to a new organizational model for data access and preservation in Canada?

• Can <odesi> find space within the e-science framework?