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Space Still Available in DDI Summer Program course
It is not too late to register for the ICPSR Summer Program course on
DDI:
Documenting Data Using DDI 3.0: Supporting Research, Collection Management, and Access
Instructor(s):
- Wendy Thomas, Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota
- Arofan Gregory, Open Data Foundation
The Data Documentation Initiative (DDI) has produced an international
XML standard for metadata describing social science research data.
Version 3.0, which provides coverage of the research data life cycle,
was published in April 2008.
DDI supports the work of researchers and data service providers by
providing a structure that facilitates:
- Metadata capture from planning and production to dissemination and analysis;
- Reuse of metadata to drive subsequent production or analysis processes;
- ISO11179-compliant data registries such as question, variable, and concept banks;
- Grouping of study series for longitudinal and comparative research;
- Capturing comparative information for the creation of harmonized data;
- Improved capture of archival information for data organization and management.
The DDI 3.0 metadata structure is capturing the attention of major
archives, data producers, and funding agencies as a standard that will
aid in the collection, preservation, and dissemination of social science
data throughout its life cycle. This course will show you how DDI can be
used to support the research process, making the data you collect easier
to manage, share, and analyze.
Who should attend: Anyone managing numeric social science data
collections or a social science research project involving the
collection of numeric data.
Location: Ithaca, NY.
Dates: July 13-16
Co-sponsor: Cornell Institute for Social and Economic Research; Mann
Library
Fee: ICPSR Member: $550 Non-member: $550
This course is limited to 25 participants.
23 JUN 2009
New Member Joins DDI Alliance
The DDI Alliance is pleased to welcome a new member -- Survey Research
Operations (SRO), a unit of the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. Sue Ellen Hansen, Director of the Technical Systems Group at SRO, will serve as the representative to the DDI Expert Committee.
2009-JAN-22
The Next Frontier in Documenting Survey Data: What Data Producers and Archivists Need to Know about DDI, XML and SDMX December 2, 2008 9:30am - 3:30pm EDT, 4350 East West Highway Suite 800 Bethesda, MD 20814
This free, one-day workshop, sponsored by NORC at the University of Chicago in collaboration with the Open Data Foundation, is intended for a non-technical audience and is targeted at data producers and archivists. The objectives of the workshop are twofold:
- To provide an introduction to the basics of some emerging data documentation standards, such as the Data Documentation Initiative (DDI), eXtensible Markup Language (XML), and Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange Standard (SDMX)
- To encourage adoption of these emerging data documentation standards
See the course brochure (PDF 118K) for further information.
Please RSVP to Timothy M. Mulcahy by November 17, 2008,
or call 301-634-9352.
2008-OCT-30
DDI 3.0 training, sponsored by German Social Science Infrastructure Services, Centre for Survey Research and Methodology (GESIS-ZUMA), will again be offered at Schloss Dagstuhl, Leibniz Center for Informatics, November 3-7, 2008. This workshop is geared toward the staff of archives and data producing agencies. The multi-day structure of the workshop provides participants with an opportunity for in-depth assistance on the specialized features of DDI that are important to their organizations' activities. For more information, see the course description.
2008-AUG-08
The DDI Alliance is pleased to announce that the
Institute for Quantitative Social Science (IQSS) at Harvard University has joined the Alliance. Ann Starkey will serve as the representative to the Expert Committee.
The DDI Alliance has approved the latest version of the DDI specification, DDI 3.0, and the specification has now been officially published. The Alliance reviewed the specification and related use cases and implementations during the month of April and then voted to ratify DDI 3.0 officially. A Web page devoted to DDI 3.0 is available for those who are interested in learning more about the specification.
2008-MAY-01
The latest version of the DDI specification, the DDI 3.0 Candidate Release Version 3, is now available. Until publication of DDI 3.0 in April 2008, some new versions of Candidate Release Version 3 may become available. They will be labeled as Candidate Release Version 3 but with different dates. A final version of the Candidate Release is scheduled for April 3, 2008, with official publication of DDI 3.0 scheduled for April 28, 2008.
2008-FEB-28
The DDI Alliance has recently published a new brochure to be used in promoting the DDI initiative. The trifold brochure is in 8-1/2 by 11 format and a PDF version is available. The brochure is a product of the DDI Usability and Outreach Working Group and is targeted at a general audience to raise awareness of the DDI project. To order print copies for distribution, please contact ddi@ddialliance.org.
The first issue of the DDI newsletter called DDI Directions is also now available for download as a PDF file. The newsletter will be issued quarterly, and suggestions for content can be sent to Mary Vardigan, DDI Alliance Director, at vardigan@umich.edu.
2007-NOV-20
The latest version of the DDI specification, the DDI 3.0 Candidate Release version is now available. This version corrects some bugs discovered in the development of use cases. A final version of the Candidate Release is scheduled for the end of December, with official publication of DDI 3.0 scheduled for first quarter 2008.
2007-NOV-20
GESIS is sponsoring a workshop on "Using DDI 3.0 to Support
Preservation, Management, Access, and Dissemination Systems for Social
Science Data," to take place in Wadern, Germany, on October 24 - 26,
2007. Course Instructors are Arofan Gregory (Open Data Foundation,
Tucson, Arizona, USA); Wendy L. Thomas (Minnesota Population Center,
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA); and Joachim Wackerow (GESIS-ZUMA,
Mannheim, Germany).
For more about the workshop, see the Web site.
2007-08-16
The latest version of the DDI specification, the DDI 3.0 Candidate Release version
is now available, following a vote of the DDI Alliance at its annual meeting, held this year in Montreal, Quebec, on May 19.
The release of the Candidate Version signals the beginning of an Implementation Period not to exceed nine months during which developers can use the
Candidate Version for software development. The specification will remain stable during this period, although bugs that are discovered should be reported and
will be fixed. The Candidate Release period is tentatively scheduled to end early in 2008. The DDI Alliance requests that current and prospective implementers
who are interested in working with the Candidate Version register with the DDI's Technical Implementation Committee (TIC).
2007-JUL-02
Two new members have joined the DDI Alliance, beginning July 1, 2007. The new members are University of Guelph (Michelle Edwards is the Expert Committee
representative) and the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago (Eric Jodts is the representative). The Alliance extends a sincere
welcome to these institutions and their representatives.
2007-JUL-02
The DDI Alliance has produced an updated Strategic Plan (PDF 149K) to provide guidance to the
Alliance in coming years.
2007-JUL-02
An informal meeting of the Expert Committee of the DDI Alliance
was held in Mannheim, Germany, at the offices of ZUMA, the Zentrum
fuer Umfragen, Methoden und Analysen, on October 16 and 17. The first day of the meeting was devoted to
general DDI issues and was led by Wendy Thomas (University of Minnesota), Chair of the DDI's Technical Working Group. The second day provided time for various
working groups to meet. Minutes of the meeting are available.
2006-NOV-02
The Technical Review period for the new DDI specification Version
3.0 will continue into January 2007 to give the Alliance
time to prepare additional items for the period of Public
Review. Members of the Alliance are working
to complete internal documentation of the specification and create
simple tools for evaluation of the new specification. The move to
Public Review is planned for February 2007.
2007-JAN-08
The Expert Committee of the DDI Alliance met
in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on Saturday, May 27, 2006, following the IASSIST annual
conference on the University of Michigan campus. Minutes of the meeting
are now available.
The latest version of the DDI specification is now in the period of Public Review, and a special Web site devoted to
Version 3.0 is now available.
The Public Review period is tentatively scheduled to end in mid-April. The DDI Alliance requests that current and prospective users of the DDI take some
time to explore Version 3 and to send comments. Feedback from the social science research community is greatly appreciated.
2007-FEB-16
The DDI Alliance will meet in Montreal on May 19, 2007, in conjunction with the annual meeting of the International Association of Social Science Information
and Services Technology (IASSIST). The agenda for the meeting will be posted in coming weeks.
2007-FEB-16
The Annual Report (PDF 182K) of the DDI Alliance for Fiscal Year 2006 is now available.
2007-FEB-16
