1. Directions The DLI External Advisory Committee has been promoting DDI as a standard for DLI data. This appears in the DLI Strategic Plan following feedback in the mid- pilot evaluation and the input of EAC members. Chuck Humphrey Ontario DLI Training April 7, 2004

2. Directions In October 2003, the EAC allocated funds to seed the creation of DDI- compliant files and to give general direction. Given these directions, how do we all work together to share in the opportunities created by its implementation?

3. Recent Developments A new discussion group was begun in February 2004 called, CANDII or the Canadian DDI discussion group. The purpose of this group is to create a dialogue among the stakeholders of DDI users and to explore means of collaboration.

4. CANDDI A Yahoo Group was established in February 2004 and a network of contacts interested in participating was established. The first in-person meeting was held in Montreal on March 9, 2004 during the DLI Train-the-Trainers workshop.

5. CANDDI The group agreed in Montreal that an early task would be to review the DDI standard to identify the set of tags that would be considered a minimum set by which data documentation should be created in Canada. This could be developed into a template to represent best practices.

6. CANDDI This group is also identifying the challenges we face in creating data documentation using the DDI standard. Examples: How do we package documentation for both master files and public use files using DDI?

7. CANDDI Examples: What guidelines should be used for defining variable groupings? What controlled vocabularies and thesauri should be developed and endorsed? How should a Canadian-endorsed set of DDI tags be validated?

8. Time to Talk