Publishing in the NSDL: Fundamental Concepts for Creating and Reusing Content

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Publishing in the NSDL Fundamental Concepts for
Creating and Reusing Content
Carol Minton Morris Communications Director NSDL
Core Integration Cornell
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Presentation

• NSDL Overview and Communications
• On Ramp Content and Communications service
• Why?
• On Ramp Survey overview and findings
• Components and implementation
• Summary

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Acknowledgements

• On Ramp
• Lynette Rayle
• Elly Cramer
• NSDL Fedora
• Carl Lagoze
• Dean Krafft
• Tim Cornwell
• Dean Eckstrom

• Fedora Team
• Sandy Payette
• Chris Wilper
• Cornell HCI Lab
• Helene Hembrooke
• Erika Cullingford

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The National Science, Technology, Engineering,
and Mathematics Education Digital Library

• http//NSDL.org
• The National Science Foundations online library
  of resources for education and research

• established to catalyze and support continual
  improvements in STEM education at all levels
  (K-12, Higher Education, and Lifelong Learning).

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. . . NSDL Communications is a nexus for STEM
educators, researchers, resource creators, policy
makers and the public . . .
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. . .That seeks to build bridges between and
among stakeholders . . .
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. . . Enabling a complex ecosystem of people,
technology, software, resources, events,
activities, tasks, policies and their associated
environments interacting as an educational
digital library.
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However, in the words of the chain gang captain
in the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke, even with the
best of intentions, great technology, and clear
instructions, in some situations, What we've got
here is failure to communicate.
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However, in the words of the chain gang captain
in the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke, even with the
best of intentions, great technology, and clear
instructions, sometimes, What we've got here is
failure to communicate.
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How will we avoid a failure to communicate?
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How will we avoid a failure to communicate?

• By sharing contextual information directly or
  indirectly
• related to NSDL resources through interactive
• services that empower users-as-contributors
  to the
• Bi-directional flow, the representation of
  primary resources from the underlying raw data
  layer and contextual information from the upper
  layer, allow(ing) the Information Network Overlay
  (INO) to evolve over time into an increasingly
  rich information space.

Lagoze, C. et al, What is a Digital Library
Anymore? Dlib Magazine, Nov. 2005
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Why On Ramp?

• NSDL is a large, distributed community of
  organizations, contributors, and users
• They have a critical need to rapidly develop and
  disseminate information in multiple formats drawn
  from multiple sources to their communities
• Existing systems (e.g. databases, web pages,
  hand-managed documents) are inadequate
• Flexible workflow, teams, and outputs are required

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On Ramp User Survey, Fall 2005

• An on-line survey was constructed to gather
  potential users current understanding of the
  NSDL OnRamp Content Management System Project
  goals and objectives
• A small group of participants from NSDL Pathways
  Projects (NSDL projects that provide audience and
  discipline-specific views of selected NSDL
  resources) were asked to take the survey
• Documentation and a prototype On Ramp website
  were used for participants to review and
  interpret. Participants were selected because
  they regularly participated in exchanging
  information with NSDL and understood distributed
  content management
• There was a 50 response rate to 18 qualitative
  and
• quantitative survey questions

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Key Findings

• Content managers who are sharing information with
  NSDL currently manage editorial or contextual
  content in a variety of ways. Even though methods
  are not standardized and in some cases
  cumbersome, participants would not use On Ramp
  unless the system provided improved usability,
  navigation and transparency.
• Participants anticipated that physical space
  concepts might reflect how they hoped to feel,
  as if they were present, when working in the
  virtual world.
• Respondents were asked to reflect on a type of
  metaphor that might be useful for helping users
  understand On Ramp. Most responses suggested a
  publishing metaphor.

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Why not an existing CMS?

• Not integrated with Fedora and NDR
• Many are only focused on efficient storage and
  retrieval
• Most have fixed, static workflow only
• Frequently have limited content data types and
  dissemination formats (e.g. web pages only, or
  web pages/RSS only)

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What is On Ramp?

• Fedora-based content management system with
• Flexible packaging, repackaging, repurposing and
  reuse of content
• Support for multiple users in multiple roles
  (e.g. author, editor, reviewer)
• Arbitrary user-defined workflow for document
  creation
• Ability to disseminate package of content in
  multiple formats (e.g. RSS, email, web page,
  print)

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Managing Content

• Multiple pieces of related content are gathered
  together into a package (e.g. a project or
  publication)
• Content moves through the system at the package
  level
• All content is maintained in a single repository,
  with multiple archived versions available at any
  time

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Managing Workflow

• User configurable workflows support multi-person
  authoring, editing, review, and release
• Integrated review process ensures quality of
  content
• Workflow supports scheduled release
• Delayed release (start date)
• Timed release (start and stop date)
• Periodic publication (regular release date)
• Limited lifespan (stop date)
• Ability to start over reinsert package into
  workflow

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Managing A Team

• Collaborators on a project do not necessarily
  reside in the same physical location
• Ability to define a team assigning members to
  specific roles in workflow process
• User roles can vary from project to project

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Managing Disseminations

• Packages can be disseminated in multiple formats
  RSS feeds, sets of web pages, email, or print
  publications (known as targets)
• Targets can disseminate subsets or rearrangements
  of the content in the package
• Pieces of content from multiple packages can be
  combined into a new package for use in a
  different context
• Existing packages can be sent to new targets

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Single Source Multiple Disseminations

• Maintain a single source of the content
• Example a set of news items for NSDL WhiteBoard
  Report
• Distribute the single copy of the content to
  multiple targets in variety of formats
• WhiteBoard Report (online web page)
• WhiteBoard Report (email sent on schedule)
• NSDL.org Headlines (RSS feed picked up by news
  organizations)
• NSDL Annual Report (print combined with many
• other content items)

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Integrating Education and Research An On Ramp
Outreach Scenario

• A scientist would like to create and disseminate
  a K12 workshop about an aspect of her labs
  research that is of particular interest to young
  people.
• Puts a distributed workshop team together with a
  variety of roles and assignments.
• The team plans, schedules and creates several
  packages for dissemination to different audiences
  
• Press release
• Registration information
• Workshop materials
• Evaluation and outcomes documents

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Implemenation

• Uses Shibboleth-based community sign-on
• Fedora-based content repository integrates with
  NDR
• Uses Fedora Workflow Orchestration Service (phase
  one release provides a single standard workflow)
• Integrates with Groupster user and group
  management system developed at Columbia
• Phase One release RSS disseminations 4Q06
• Phase Two release supports multiple workflows,
  additional disseminations, scheduling 1Q07
• Phase Three release enhanced user interface
  based on evaluation/feedback 2Q07

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Summary

• The Fedora-based NSDL Data Repository (NDR) opens
  the door for creating a unique database of
  context, contribution, and collaboration
  alongside NSDL resources
• OnRamp supports the reviewed and edited
  publication and dissemination of NDR-integrated
  content and context in a wide range of media and
  formats
• Distributing ownership of contextual content
• creation to partner libraries enriches and
• enlivens the NSDL communications space

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Contact Information

• Carol Minton Morris Cornell University
• clt6_at_cornell.edu
• Dean B. Krafft Cornell University
• dean_at_cs.cornell.edu