[DDI-SRG] DDI Foundation Tools Program Update - December 2007

[Pascal Heus]

Dear all:
Please find below a brief progress report for activities related
to the  DDI Foundation Tools Program (DDI-FTP).
Let me know if you have any question or comments.
best regards,
Pascal



DDI Foundation Tools Program Update - December 2007
===================================================

(1) Membership
The Foundation Tools Program (FTP) program officially started last
September with 8 member institutions, an initial budget of $30K, and
various in-kind contributions. About $10K has been spent so far,
primarily for the development of the new Web site (see below). Interest
is being sparked in other institutions and additional members and
resources are expected to emerge in the near future.

(2) Web site
A new Web site is being designed to host the DDI Tools (all versions of
DDI) and is available for preview at
http://tools.diialliance.org/index1.php. The main feature of the site is
a database-driven library that users can search for DDI-related
applications/utilities, components for software developers, XML
examples, XSL transformations, and reference documentation/tutorials.
The database is being populated with the tools currently listed on the
DDI Alliance Web site along with new components coming out of the
DDI-FTP. Remaining to be completed are the following tasks: finalizing
the database content, deploying community tools (such as FAQ and mailing
list), making technical adjustments to the user interface, and going
through a round of review. We will then have a public launch early
January 08. Comments, suggestions, and contributions would be most
appreciated. The site is hosted by ODaF with most of the development
sub-contracted to Metadata Technology.

(3) Tools development
(3a) The development of core libraries was initiated over the summer by
Jannik Jensen (DDA), J Gager (Metadata Technology) and Pascal Heus (Open
Data Foundation/Metadata Technology). A set of core Java libraries based
on the Apache XML Beans technology is now available to developers for
all official versions of DDI 1/2.x and for the DDI 3.0 Candidate
Recommendation 2 (CR2).  These components are listed on the new Web site
and can be downloaded from the File section of the project repository at
http://forge.opendatafoundation.org/gf/project/dditools/.
Work is in progress for a utility to perform second level validation
on DDI 3.0 documents.

(3b) UKDA DExT
The UKDA / ODaF DExT project is slightly behind schedule but has seen good
progress and resulted in several contributions to the DDI-CR. A
sub-component allowing Java developers to read SPSS data files and
export metadata in DDI 2.0 and 3.0-CR2 versions has been released
separately for beta-testing and is available in the File section of the
project repository at
http://forge.opendatafoundation.org/gf/project/ukda_dext/. The utility
also allows for the export of data to ASCII formats. This could be used
to develop export utilities or Web-based SPSS/DDI conversion services.

(3c) Other tools
We are aware of the following ongoing efforts:
- An SPSS exporter for DDI 3.0 has been developed by Achim Wackerow and
is available at 
http://db.zuma-mannheim.de/DDI/StatsProgs2DDI/StatsProgs2DDI.html
- The company Algenta is developing a DDI 3.0-based questionnaire design
tool. This was presented during the workshops in Germany with release
expected in the first half of 2008 (this is a commercial product).
Developers are Jeremy Iverson and Dan Miller.

(4) Road map
The technical road map document is being drafted and the first version
will become available around mid-January. This road map will present a
list of needed tools for DDI in order of their importance to the effort.
The content is also being adjusted based on ideas that emerged during
the candidate release period, new needs identified through various
meetings/talks, and recently discovered technologies.