The Alliance for Data Archive Technologies: Looking towards

a Common Future

Myron Gutmann, ICPSRBen Evans, ASSDA

Deborah Mitchell, ASSDAKevin Schürer, UK Data Archive

Overview

• Why?• What?• Why Now?• Early Steps• Understanding Process• Understanding Needs• Next Steps

Why?

• Data curation has been an ad hoc process, with local practices & expertise

• Since the 1990s– Enormous investment in technology– Significant successes in social science

(SDA, Nesstar, DVN, IPUMS, even ICPSR)– Major new ways to find & use content (Google) &

architectures to deliver content (web services)

More Why

• Proprietary systems unsustainable• Market too small for commercial systems• Partnerships will help avoid unnecessary

duplication of effort & assure efficiency• Need to be truly global

What?

• New organization to support technologies for curation, preservation, & delivery that are:– Open– Community-developed– Standards-based

• Built on existing networks of social science data archives & technology centers, and …

• Open to all who want to contribute

Why Now? Three Standards

• DDI – Metadata Standard• OAIS – Preservation Reference Model• Repository Architecture Standards:

- Fedora, D-Space & Duraspace

• Organizational models like the DDI Alliance, CESSDA, Data-PASS (even the new Hathi Trust)

Why Now? Community Tech

• Community-developed software has become widely used

• Examples: Drupal/Plone• Examples: Fedora• Examples: SOLR/Lucene

• But we shouldn’t ignore all the challenges that this software has faced

Why Now? Workflows

• Improved workflow technologies are operating in many of our institutions

• Some are shared in CESSDA & Data-PASS• And in other communities: Virtual

Observatory

• Another challenge: not the same as sharing business practices in complex organizations

Why Now? Progress So Far

• SDA• Nesstar• DVN

• All used in more than one archive• Not all open-source• Potential shared technologies that we can

leverage in the future

1st Steps: October 2008 Meeting

• ICPSR• ASSDA• UKDA• Roper Center - UConn• Odum Ins. – N. Carolina• Harvard - IQSS• Minnesota Pop. Center• Berkeley – SDA• DANS – Netherlands

• DDA Denmark• Gesis – ZA• South Africa• DDI Alliance• IASSIST• Library of Congress• U.S. NSF• U.S. NIH• Canadian SSHRC

***Thanks to Library of Congress for hosting

1st Steps: After October, 2008

• Solicit needs in the form of wish lists• Authorize creation of an organization at an

appropriate time• Work on raising money and finding common

ground for future work

Process: Begin with OAIS Model

Design OAIS for ICPSR

Focus on Ingest

ICPSR: Standards Compliance

OAIS Workflow• Ingest tools• AIP Creation-Validation• SIP Creation-Validation• DIP Creation-Validation• Audit tools

DDI Workflow• Tools for full variable-

level metadata creation not dependent on proprietary software (such as SPSS)

• DDI Editor• DDI Converter • DDI 2 to 3 translator

Needs: Wish Lists from …

• ICPSR• UKDA• ASSDA• Harvard• Roper Center• Odum Institute

• DANS (Netherlands)• DDA (Denmark)• GESIS (Germany)• NSD (Norway)• Minnesota Pop.

Center

Needs: A Catalog

Ingest

Data Management

Archival Storage

Access

Storage fabric/architecture (FEDORA or ?)Replication (LOCKSS)Persistent identifiersContent model development

Storage fabric/architecture (FEDORA or ?)Replication (LOCKSS)Persistent identifiersContent model development

Open metadata curationConfidentialitySoftware/algorithm archiving

Open metadata curationConfidentialitySoftware/algorithm archiving

Open metadata curationData format curationData management & analysisQualitative data managementData integrationMetadata registriesSurvey question managementData citation

Open metadata curationData format curationData management & analysisQualitative data managementData integrationMetadata registriesSurvey question managementData citation

Data format conversionSetup file creationInternational data sharingCommunity data/User comments/Web 2.0SearchConfidentialityPersistent identifiersVisualizationData citationSemantic data accessSecurity

Data format conversionSetup file creationInternational data sharingCommunity data/User comments/Web 2.0SearchConfidentialityPersistent identifiersVisualizationData citationSemantic data accessSecurity

AdministrationIdentity managementOAIS workflow & audit (SIP/AIP/DIP)Identity managementOAIS workflow & audit (SIP/AIP/DIP)

ProductionData producer toolsData producer tools

Next Steps: Canberra Meeting

• Prime Goal: Strategic Planning • What’s the business model?• What are the links to… – Standards?– Security?– Archiving practice & workflows?– Training & Research?

• How do we measure success?

Three Major Outcomes

• Goal 1: A few critical decisions– Standards, repository framework, software

approaches

• Goal 2: Initial Common Interests. Examples:– Fedora data/content models– Open source metadata tools (DDI 3?)

• Goal 3: How do we collaborate?

Thank you!

gutmann@umich.edudeborah.mitchell@anu.edu.au

schurer@essex.ac.ukben.evans@anu.edu.au