DNER Architecture Andy Powell, Liz Lyon UKOLN, University of Bath Consultative group, Charity Centre, London 16 Feb 2001 UKOLN is funded by Resource: The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries, the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the Higher and Further Education Funding Councils, as well as by project funding from the JISC and the European Union. UKOLN also receives support from the University of Bath where it is based.

2 Overview scope - what is the DNER? functional model - builds on scenarios entity model - what are we dealing with? network systems architecture discover locate, request, deliver other shared services

3 General questions please raise them! is this a coherent view what’s wrong? what’s missing? there are gaps - need to try and fill them...in this study or further work

4 Aims validate current thinking raise issues generally specifically, think about user-profiles collection description service description authentication? thesauri/terminology recommendations

Scope

6 The DNER... is a set of content is an information environment that provides secure and convenient access to that content is comprehensive? is managed? complements institutional and other resources weaves rich information resources into the fabric of the Web provides cost-effective support for new modes of learning, research and communication

7 What’s in the DNER a national, strategic resource. licensed, created available through data centres,... a framework for access to a community resource deposit - AHDS, data archive,... discovery - archives hub, COPAC, … extend to local informational assets access to a quality controlled global resource Resource Discovery Network, A&I services

8 Primary Content Secondary Content Funded Institutional External Web pages Museums home pages theses research papers OPACs Institutional gateways Google Yahoo Northern Light RDN A&I images Full-text statistics Map data COPAC Amazon Public libraries courseware DNER content map

9 User view personalised landscape own information foremost …then institutional (Intranet/MLE) external DNER subject focus media-type focus

10 Scope summary... stuff is… local / remote primary / secondary digital / physical policy controlled / non-policy controlled in / out process includes discover / locate and access use / reuse / create receive / provide

11 DNER Collections content typically in the form of ‘collections’ collections of stuff (text, images, data,...) collections of metadata about stuff (e.g subject gateway’s Internet Resource Catalogues) services make stuff available people access stuff thru services

12 Primary DNER entities Content PersonService

Functional Model

14 Web Currently... Content End-user

15 Functional model think about what people are doing (or want to do) with the DNER based on MODELS verbs discover, locate, request, deliver...and later MODELS Information Architecture work addition of new verbs modelled using UML generic - applicable to finding Web resources, buying books, buying cars,...

16 High-level view discover locate useRecord request deliver useResource enter initiate userprovider discover, locate, request, deliver enter, useRecord, useResource added user-need -> item on desktop (virtual or physical) and use

17 enter authenticatelandscape > initiate user provider user visits Web service login (using Athens - may have ‘guest’ account) service builds personalised landscape (view of available resources)

18 survey/discover discover initiate userprovider survey savedListsearch initiate > savedListsearch browsealert initiate > queryAssist > queryAssist browsealert initiate survey - high-level collection description search (narrows or widens landscape) discover - drill-down same strategies used in each user-need -> metadata about ‘work’ (book or article) or ‘item’ (Web resource)

19 detail locateformat initiate userprovider ratingsconditions initiate locate is instance of getting more ‘detail’ about a resource locations, formats, ratings, terms & conditions metadata about ‘work’ -> metadata about ‘item’

20 useRecord annotate initiate userprovider remembershare locate is instance of getting more ‘detail’ about a resource locations, formats, ratings, terms & conditions metadata about ‘work/item’ -> richer metadata about ‘work/item’ and location of ‘item’ or ‘delivery service’ for ‘item’

21 request/access request authorise access downloaddeliver initiate userprovider authorisation required before access download (user initiated, e.g. clicking on link) deliver (provider initiated, e.g. Amazon delivering book) metadata about ‘work/item’ and location of ‘item’ or ‘delivery service’ for ‘item’ -> item

22 useResource incorporate initiate userprovider viewstoreunpackprocess useResource not thoroughly modelled here unpack - e.g. dealing with IMS package view - simplest case (looking at document) process - run software incorporate - embed into multimedia essay store, share, publish(?)

23 DNER information flow discover useRecord detail request access useResource

24 DNER information flow DNER not just a ‘provider to user’ flow users are both recipients of and creators of both primary and secondary content DNER architecture needs to support collaboration creation …as well as discovery, etc. current work on architecture doesn’t really address this. Does that matter?

Network Systems Architecture

26 Web Currently... Content End-user Current services offer mix of survey, discover, detail, request, access, useRecord functionality End-user needs to join services together manually as well as learning multiple user interfaces

27 Web Currently... Content End-user Need to think about what shared services might be required to offer functionality Also useful to think about what entities are being dealt with

28 enter authenticatelandscape > initiate user provider Shared services authentication user-profiling collection description service description Entities person/role (group) (organisation) collection service

29 survey user provider survey savedListsearch initiate > browsealert initiate > queryAssist Shared services collection description thesauri/terminology Entities collection

30 discover initiate userprovider savedListsearch > queryAssist browsealert initiate Shared services service description metadata registry terminology/thesauri Entities collection service schema work item

31 detail locateformat initiate userprovider ratingsconditions initiate Shared services locate ratings (terms & conditions) service description Entities work item service

32 useRecord annotate initiate userprovider remembershare Shared services (bookmark) (annotation) Entities work item

33 request/access request authorise access downloaddeliver initiate userprovider Shared services authorisation Entities item service person

34 useResource incorporate initiate userprovider viewstoreunpackprocess useResource Shared servicesEntities item

35 discover initiate userprovider savedListsearch > queryAssist browsealert initiate Shared services service description metadata registry terminology/thesauri Entities collection service schema work item

36 DNER Entities Service PersonProfileContent OrganisationGroup accesses providesAccessTo hasPart isPartOf is owns offers has isMemberOf Role fulfils comprises

37 DNER shared services authentication user-profiling collection description thesauri/terminology metadata registry service description location (ratings, terms & conditions) authorisation

38 Web Currently... Content End-user Authentication

39 Web Currently... Content End-user Authentication Collection description User-profiling

40 Web Shared service model Content End-user Authentication Authorisation Collection Desc Service Desc Thesauri,... User-profile

41 Joining things together Framework for shared services DNER as coherent whole rather than lots of stand-alone services two areas in particular discovery finding stuff from multiple content providers locate/request/deliver streamlining access

Discover

43 Discover services need to expose Web content for machine use m2m expose metadata using search, harvesting or alerting protocols expose data in machine-readable and persistent ways

44 Fusion? In order to remove need for end-user to discover across several individual services develop services that bring stuff together fusion portals presentation services searching vs. sharing alerting Note: I don’t like these words!

45 Presentation services...lots!? subject portals data centre portals institutional portals personal portals (agents) virtual learning environments

46 Web Searching Content End-user Authentication Authorisation Collection Desc Service Desc Thesauri,... Presentation User-profile Z39.50 Bath Profile

47 Web Searching Content End-user Authentication Authorisation Collection Desc Service Desc Thesauri,... Presentation User-profile Z39.50 Bath Profile brokers and gateways Broker

48 Z Bath Profile cross-domain focus (in part) DC XML records DTD-based rather than XML Schema

49 Web Sharing Content End-user Authentication Authorisation Collection Desc Service Desc Thesauri,... Presentation User-profile Open Archives Initiative

50 Web Sharing Content End-user Authentication Authorisation Collection Desc Service Desc Thesauri,... Presentation User-profile Open Archives Initiative Aggregator

51 Open Archives Initiative OAI Metadata Harvesting Framework simple mechanism for sharing metadata records records shared over HTTP as XML (using XML Schema) client can ask metadata server for all records all records modified in last ‘n’ days info about sets, formats, etc. See

52 Web Alerting Content End-user Authentication Authorisation Collection Desc Service Desc Thesauri,... Presentation User-profile RSS Aggregator

53 RSS Rich Site Summary RDF Site Summary XML application for syndicated news feeds pointers and simple descriptions of news items (not the items themselves) has been transitioned to more generic RDF/XML application (RSS 1.0) no querying - just regular ‘gathering’ of RSS file

54 Active vs. passive alerting note that RSS is passive - presentation service or aggregator collects is active - content service delivers can view alerting as content service ‘agent’

55 Discovery issues Terminology - presentation services, portals, brokers, etc. protocols - are they right? uptake - how many services will implement Z? Does it matter?

56 Exposing single-item content for some (?) Web content there is one copy only - ‘single-item’ need to expose that content in machine readable ways using HTTP and appropriate formats (see DNER Standards Document) Web pages, images, sounds, videos, etc.

57 Single-item identification For single-item resources, discovery process leads to identifier on the Web that is a URI (typically a URL) need to persistently identify stuff enable lecturers to embed it into learning resources enable students to embed it into multimedia essays enable people to cite it... a current example (from VADS)

58 Content example

59 XSPFX_=t&_MREF_=3392&_IXSR_=ea1&_IXSP_=0 &_IXSS_=%2524%2brec%2bvads%2band%2bseaside% 2band%2b%2528%2528Basic%2bDesign%2bCollection %2bin%2btitle_vads_collection%2529%2bor%2b%2528 Halliwell%2bCollection%2bin%2btitle_vads_collection %2529%2bor%2b%2528Imperial%2bWar%2bMuseum% 2bConcise%2bArt%2bCollection%2bin%2btitle_vads_co llection%2529%2bor%2b%2528London%2bCollege%2b of%2bFashion%2bCollege%2bArchive%2bin%2btitle_va ds_collection%2529%2529%2bsort%2btitle%2b%3d%25 2e%26_IXDB_%3dvads&_IXRECNUM=3392&_IXAS EARCH=&SUBMIT-BUTTON=DISPLAY Content example - the URL

60 Be nicer if......content URL was something like:

61 Identifiers what is identified...? the resource (image, text, map, data, sound,...) the resource in context (e.g. embedded into VADS page) metadata about the resource (e.g. from subject gateway)

62 Identifiers could use URLs, PURLs, DOIs,... but... URLs, locators not identifiers DOIs and PURLs resolved centrally all resolve to same thing irrespective of who/where the user is. E.g /october2000-granger always resolves to US version even though D-Lib mirrored in UK always resolves to US version even though DC pages mirrored in UK DOI and PURL resolved thru US resolver

63 Web content - issues Need guidelines on good practice for using URIs? Need to investigate possibilities for use of DOIs? Other suggestions?

locate, request, deliver

65 Multiple-item content For mutiple-item content, need to move from discovery thru locate, request and access move from generic ‘work’ to particular ‘item’ find appropriate copy location is context sensitive - need to know who, where end-user is best carried out locally to end-user?

66 Physical content discover typically results in metadata about the ‘work’ or a global identifier (ISBN or ISSN) in other words, a citation for the resource need to encode citation in machine readable way need to resolve citation in context sensitive way

67 Locate and identifiers Discover Locate Request ISBN Item URL URIDOI OpenURL or Z39.50 request Citation/metadata Discovery services Web resourceBook Journal issue Article Delivery service URL or Item URL Locate services Persistent ‘identifiers’ - context independent Transient ‘locators’ - context sensitive

68 OpenURL OpenURL - way to encode citation for a resource OpenURL = BaseURL + Description BaseURL = Description = Origin + ObjectDescription ObjectDescription is either a global identifier (e.g. A DOI) or a description (a citation) or a local identifier of some kind &isbn=

69 OpenURL resolver Content End-user OpenURL resolver Delivery service

70 Locate APIs Going into a locate service (from discover) URI OpenURL (metadata and/or identifier) Z39.50 (Bath Profile) query Coming out of locate service (into request) URL for item URL for delivery service for item (e.g. Amazon order form or ILL form)

71 Locate and useRecord useRecord (I.e. adding record to reading list of bookmarks) should use the URI or OpenURL from discover persistent context indenpendent *not* the URL from locate but browser will display the locate URL in its location box - so users are likely to use it?

Other shared services

73 DNER shared services authentication authorisation user-profiling collection description thesauri/terminology metadata registry service description location (ratings, terms & conditions)

74 User-profile Schema LIP, eduPerson protocol LDAP, XML/HTTP, SOAP ownership ? delivery central service? institutional service? user service?

75 Collection description Schema RSLP, eLib protocol LDAP, XML/HTTP, SOAP ownership ? delivery central service? content provider service? search or share?

76 Service description Schema UDDI, Explain, Explain-Lite protocol SOAP, XML/HTTP ownership ? delivery central service? service service? search or share?

77 Thesauri/terminology

78 Authentication...and authorisation

79 Other services linkbasket annotation ratings terms & conditions