[DDI-SRG] [DDI-UOG-Chair] [Alliance-experts] Call for input by Sep. 26, 2008: goals and projects for DDI-UOG

Wed Oct 1 09:12:11 EDT 2008

Joachim,

Thank you very much for taking the time to share your ideas with us (and I hope you're feeling better).

UOG, Stefan and I will take the time to incorporate these into the current list and still plan to have a final list for your consideration by Friday.

Kate

-----Original Message-----
From: ddi-uog-chair-bounces at ddialliance.org [mailto:ddi-uog-chair-bounces at ddialliance.org] On Behalf Of Joachim Wackerow
Sent: Wednesday, October 01, 2008 7:04 AM
To: ddi-uog-chair at icpsr.umich.edu; Stefan Kramer
Cc: DDI Structural Reform Working Group.; ddi-uog at icpsr.umich.edu
Subject: Re: [DDI-UOG-Chair] [Alliance-experts] Call for input by Sep. 26, 2008: goals and projects for DDI-UOG

Hi Stefan,

Sorry for the late reply. Last week I was travelling and then I caught a
bad cold.

Here are my thoughts, probably nothing really new:

Descriptions on DDI / slides / posters / glossy brochures

These materials should have different focus for for different target
groups: archive/data librarian, researcher, questionnaire
designer/survey manager, organisation head/manager/large scale business
level, software developer, metadata people.

These materials are useful for information stands at conferences etc.
for short presentations on DDI. Additionally they can be provided at the
web site.

The descriptions should have not more than one or two pages.

The posters should be provided in landscape and portrait format. The
place for posters is often restricted.

With the slides everybody of the DDI Alliance should be able to make a
10 minute presentation on the main features of DDI.

The current brochure is on a very general level which cannot answer many
questions.

Levels of information

One issue should be especially focused on: people can often not make a
difference between the content (documentation on data), the data, the
metadata structure and the software application. For the common user
this seems to be often one "object". For example: some people think DDI
provides access to data. Clarification for this issue would be a great
help in communication the purpose of DDI.

Kind of data

DDI is known as format for social science data. But it can be used for
other kind of data as well, when the similar data/metadata structures
and the requirements are similar. This should be more promoted in all
materials and perhaps related examples mentioned.

Diagrams

A diagram on data life cycle related to DDI 3 modules/schemes seems to
be important. Something similar is already available in one of the
workshop materials. The data life cycle approach is very important for
DDI 3. Therefore the illustration of the data life cycle and the
relationship to the DDI structures should be improved.

Organisational issues

Overall it would be great, when all material is organized and developed
like a tool box, where the single items can be combined in different
ways. For example: a specific presentation can be based on a general
slides package, on some technical details from the developer package.

Copyright issues

A general copyright policy should be developed for using and citing
these materials. Author statements should be clarified. For example
similar to the XML Schemas: copyright at the DDI Alliance and a readme
document, where all supporting people and their roles are mentioned. The
official DDI documentation is under a Creative Commons License. I think
this would be a good choice for the outreach materials.

Technical issues

All diagrams, posters, logos should be provided in a scalable technical
format (or at least in several fixed size pixel formats). This way they
can be easily reused for different purposes. For example: this is
important for the data life cycle diagram. In the current official
documentation the DDI logo doesn't look professional (in a technical
manner).

The DDI logo is currently available only in two fixed size pixel files
and one scalable TIFF file. But the TIFF seems to have technical
drawbacks (regarding transparency?). It cannot be easily included in
documents.

All documents should be available in a reusable source format (like
Powerpoint, Word etc. and in a PDF version.

Using a wide margin on documents helps to deal with different paper
formats (US and DIN).

A common storage for all files should be provided. Either publicly
available on the web site (which I would recommend) or with restricted
user access for Alliance members.

For slides it seems to make sense to use the older Powerpoint format
2003. The new one is not already everywhere used.

All documents should use a common layout and fonts.

Web Redesign

Finding the right information on the Alliance web site seems to be still
not easy for people. The navigation seems to be not always clear. It
should be considered to invent a so-called crumb trail for each page
like "About the Alliance > Charter". This way users know on each page
where they are  in the hierarchy. Additionally a site map with the
titles of all pages in hierarchical or alphabetical order can be a help.

BTW: On the Dublin Core conference I met Andreas Gros from KIM and the
Max Planck Digital Library.

On this conference I presented a poster on DDI. The description on DDI
is available in the proceedings at page 206
Proceedings of the International Conference on Dublin Core and Metadata
Applications, 22-26 September 2008
http://www.univerlag.uni-goettingen.de/content/list.php?q=dublin+core&cat=result&details=isbn-978-3-940344-49-6
The draws heavily on already published documents on DDI.

Achim

Kramer, Stefan wrote:
> Dear DDI Alliance members,
>
> A gentle reminder to please send us any suggestions for DDI-UOG activities by Friday.
>
> Sincerely,
> Stefan Kramer & Kate McNeill
> DDI-UOG Co-chairs
> ddi-uog-chair at icpsr.umich.edu
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: alliance-experts-bounces at icpsr.umich.edu [mailto:alliance-experts-bounces at icpsr.umich.edu] On Behalf Of Kramer, Stefan
> Sent: Friday, September 12, 2008 16:57
> To: alliance-experts at icpsr.umich.edu
> Subject: [Alliance-experts] Call for input by Sep. 26, 2008: goals and projects for DDI-UOG
>
> Dear DDI Alliance members,
>
> Kate McNeill and I, as the co-chairs of the DDI Usability and Outreach Working Group (DDI-UOG), have just asked the members of the group for their ideas for projects and goals that the DDI-UOG should be working on over the next year (i.e. through 2009), in order to refine and prioritize the DDI-UOG goals discussed at the DDI Alliance Expert Committee Meeting on May 31.
>
> We appreciate the suggestions you've sent us thus far and would like to again invite the input of you, the other DDI Alliance members, on projects you would like our group to consider doing.  We will do our best to consider undertaking your ideas (given limited time and resources, of course).  Please send any ideas you may have for projects to ddi-uog-chair at icpsr.umich.edu by Friday, Sep. 26, 2008.  Of course, we welcome your ideas at anytime, but those submitted by then will get the most consideration for our work.
>
> Then in October, we will prioritize the goals and projects, so that the DDI-UOG members can select those projects that are the highest priority and can be accomplished within the next year.  We hope to have that process completed by the end of October, so that the different DDI-UOG project groups can start their work in November.
>
> Sincerely,
> Stefan Kramer & Kate McNeill
> DDI-UOG Co-chairs
> ddi-uog-chair at icpsr.umich.edu
>
>
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