[DDI-SRG] DDI regional users group?

[Nikos Askitas]

Hi Achim, (everybody),
thanks for the reply. I have some comments on these things I am
injecting at the right places.
> Nikos and others,
> Probably my answer focused mainly on the communication over a forum
> like the email list.
> Don't understand me wrong: I also think the idea is good. But I'm just
> thinking about the right time and form. For a more differentiated
> communication and/or meeting structure a critical mass is important.
The critical mass idea is one way to go the other is to go with "if you
build it they will come".
Usually the ciritical mass idea works in nature for things like global
warming etc.. but people
work in emerging ways I think:  You start doing little things and before
you know it they are huge.... ;)

You see I look at the enormous success of the stata user groups (and the
product...!) on the
one hand and the  DDI situation on the other and I am thinking:

Why is it that such a natural, reasonable, "sine qua non" for data
mngmt, well developed, historically
evolved and matured initiative and spec like DDI is not as accepted and
well known as it deserves?

My answer is there is a lot of confusion around, a lot of noise on the
line (some of which is inherited
from the more general xml situation perhaps) and most people don't know
where to start with it.


> Normally the IASSIST conferences in May are a good place to meet other
> DDI users and to hear or present DDI papers. Also the DDI Expert
> meeting (members of the DDI Alliance) takes place after the conference.
The regional or continental ones would culminate to this meeting. You
can send more people to the
regional meetings than to a transatlantic meeting which is absolutely
reasonable. This way you can
educate your younger people and give them a chance to grow in the
community but also GROW THE
community. This can create critical mass eventually. Without it I don't
think so.
> Additionally we had an informal ("regional European" ) DDI Expert
> meeting in October 2006 in Mannheim. October 2007 we had an intense
> workshop on DDI 3.0 in Dagstuhl, Wadern.
I heard about this after the fact but I am just starting myself so I
missed it. My other colleagues had
other engagements and could not attend either.
>
> We are already planning for autumn 2008 another intense workshop in
> Germany and an informal DDI Expert meeting in Europe or Germany.
This is great. They are probably centered around DDI3 which is just
fine. All of these can coexist and provide peaks of both excitement and
activity when needed. What I am talking about though is user groups to
not only meet for transitioning 2.* to 3.* but discussing the 3.1.2 to
3.1.2epssilon
variant if necessary. Communities are good at that. This community would
need the senior people to come and say a few things and would give a chance
to the others to voice their concerns or suggestions to the seniors. A
community like regional or continental DDI user group will be there rain
or shine...
>
> Looking at all these conferences/meetings my impression is that only a
> handful Germans are present at these meetings. So maybe the idea of
> regional users group is a bit too early.
Well then European. Many people had a similar reaction. That would be great.
>
> But in general we should take the idea of regional (or subject) users
> groups and discuss it at the next DDI Experts meeting in Stanford in
> May: Which users groups can make sense, in which form should they
> organized, etc.
Great.
>
> Hopefully the IZA will be present at the IASSIST conference to discuss
> issues like that.
I will be present there. I will be sending an abstract soon on our own
experience with DDI
and more within IdZA (our data enclave). I think that maybe we should
start coordinating
an informal, inclusive and open discussion starting maybe with us both
and start involving more
people as we go along (it'd be great for me to also get to know people).
We can then bring
an already granulated and refined vector of issues/ideas at the IASSIST.
What do you think?

Best,
Nikos

>
> Cheers, Achim
>
> Nikos Askitas wrote:
>> Joachim hi,
>> thanks for the quick reply. I still think it a good idea because I see
>> that in the German space there is
>> a lot of activity which is not always (properly) connected to the
>> world.... For example we have been
>> working on and with DDI for the last 3 years and know not many people in
>> the center of the DDI
>> development.
>> Moreover the people who need it or use it or want to use it do not know
>> each other. Also there appears to be a
>> discrepancy across the board between those who know why they need it
>> (data oriented people) and those
>> who would know how to use it (IT). Such a forum would bring people
>> together.
>> They can continue to communicate virtually  the rest of the year but
>> once a year there could be a European meeting
>> to re enforce the bonds and create a community of persons...
>> I had this idea I must say based on what stata does with their Regional
>> User Group meetings (we are hosting it in 2009)
>> which are well attended and allow the users to lobby the direction in
>> which the software develops.
>> I think the gathering and interaction on a person-level are more
>> powerful and will result in more active and more
>> meaningful virtual interactions since not everybody can survive the
>> virtual abstraction layer and make it
>> onto a discussion group...
>> I have seen a lot of engaged young people around the places I have
>> visited so far in Germany and I am sure
>> they could use the meetings to start growing themselves and grow their
>> output and contribution. They can also
>> be helped to bring interesting views back to base once a year or so. I
>> assume the case is similar elsewhere.
>>
>>
>>
>> What do you think?
>>
>> Nikos
>>
>>> Pascal and Nikos,
>>>
>>> We discussed this issue already at the last TIC conference call. In
>>> general I welcome the idea of regional DDI groups and the willingness
>>> of the IZA to support this kind of groups.
>>>
>>> I think in the current state we should stick to one global user group
>>> communicating by the DDI users email list. When this group is too
>>> active or the subjects have too much regional concern, we can switch
>>> to regional groups. Similar we can invent new subject groups when
>>> specific subjects are discussed intensively on the general interest
>>> group and the subjects are of interest only for sub-groups of users.
>>> (On the other hand a non-active discussion forum doesn't look
>>> attractive to the community)
>>>
>>> Currently - looking at the activity of the global user group
>>> discussion - I don't see the necessity to make a step into this
>>> direction. First we need more activity on several levels, then it
>>> makes sense to think about a finer grained communication structure.
>>>
>>> Cheers, Achim
>>>
>>> Pascal Heus wrote:
>>>> Achim:
>>>> as you know I was at IZA in Bonn a couple of weeks ago. We had very
>>>> productive discussions and IZA will soon join the DDI Alliance as
>>>> well as come to IASSIST 2008 to share their experiences using DDI in
>>>> an RDC environment.
>>>>
>>>> One of the activity that IZA would like to put forward as an initial
>>>> contribution is the establishment of a Germany or European DDI Users
>>>> group. The idea would be to not only have a virtual space but for
>>>> members to get together on a regular basis for sharing experiences
>>>> and technical discussions. This would be hosted by IZA (or possibly
>>>> other locations in Germany). Such initiative will of course be
>>>> conducted in close partnership with the DDI Alliance. Given your
>>>> extensive knowledge of DDI and  familiarity with the DDI landscape in
>>>> Germany, your input on this topic would be most valuable. So far, we
>>>> have only mentioned this to Mary as we want to stategize it right
>>>> before sharing the idea with a broader audience. Nikos Askitas, my
>>>> primary contact at IZA , has asked me to put him in touch with you to
>>>> further discuss the idea. As a newcomer to the DDI community, he
>>>> would also in general greatly benefit from your general DDI expertise
>>>> and knowledge.
>>>>
>>>> all the best,
>>>> Pascal
>>>
>>
>>
>
>


-- 
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Dr. Nikos Askitas

IT Specialist

IZA - Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH
IZA - Institute for the Study of Labor
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