Information Structures: Standards Week 7 Lecture notes INF 380E: Perspectives on Information 1

Standards Generally speaking, a standard is simply an agreed-upon way of doing things What does this mean when it comes to: – the communication of information – information organization 2

Communication standards Standardization is at the heart of our ability to communicate. At one level, we agree upon the words for things. – and the ways of putting words together into sentences At another level, we agree that make making noises with our vocal chords is a way to send information. – as is making marks on paper – as is making certain kinds of movements 3

Communication over networks In order to communicate over electronic networks, certain standard protocols have been developed. As well as standardized models for how the pieces of a network fit together. 4

TCP The Transmission Control Protocol is a set of rules for transmitting data in a reliable way such that it can be transmitted over a network. 5

Internet addresses are standardized each internet address is a pattern of 128 bits – this can be represented in a decimal notation the pattern gives a blocked structure to network locations – internet service providers are allotted blocks and provide individual addresses to users there is then an addressing system that associates a domain name that can be used to access information at a particular network address 6

HTTP The Hypertext Transmission Protocol is a particular way to package text-like information and send/retrieve it over a network. 7

HTML is a standardized way to encode text-like information such that it is ready to be transmitted across the web. 8

Interoperability HIMSS – interoperability is the ability of different information technology systems and software applications to communicate, exchange data, and use information that has been exchanged 9

Three Levels of Interoperability (HIMSS) 1. foundational allows data exchange from one information technology system to be received by another does not require the ability for the receiving information technology system to interpret the data. System B can “receive” data from System A 10

Three Levels of Interoperability (HIMSS) 2. structural relies on the syntax of the data exchange. ensures that data exchanges between information technology systems can be interpreted at the data field level. system B can “read in” data from system A 11

Three Levels of Interoperability (HIMSS) 3. semantic ability of two or more systems or elements to exchange information and to use the information that has been exchanged relies on both the structuring of the data exchange and the codification of the data -- including vocabulary -- so that the receiving information technology systems can interpret the data. system B can “understand” data from system A 12

Activity Move into groups. Say hello to your group members and remind each other of your names. 13

Three Levels of Interoperability 1. foundational allows data exchange from one information technology system to be received by another does not require the ability for the receiving information technology system to interpret the data. System B can “receive” data from System A 2. structural relies on the syntax of the data exchange. ensures that data exchanges between information technology systems can be interpreted at the data field level. system B can “read in” data from system A 3. semantic ability of two or more systems or elements to exchange information and to use the information that has been exchanged relies on both the structuring of the data exchange and the codification of the data including vocabulary so that the receiving information technology systems can interpret the data. system B can “understand” data from system A 14

Development and implementation By developing shared standards we can have more universal descriptions A standard is an agreed-upon way of making a series of choices – some technical – some conceptual By documenting our choice of standards we make our descriptions more useful 15

Standards for Interoperability in Science Bowker and Millerand describe the development of a metadata system for ecological data to support the “frictionless circulation of data across diverse technical platforms, organizational environments, disciplines, and institutions” 16

Challenges Local practices for describing ecological data traditionally oriented around production of scientific papers – e.g. data recorded in units shaped for the research project at hand – organization and description of data by scientists Not around creation of shareable, universally reusable datasets – requires a system-level perspective – and orientation around datasets as products 17

Challenges of another sort Nunberg points to some problems in Google Books metadata. – This metadata is, in some sense, very standardized. – What are some of the problems? – Where do they seem to come from? Is this an over-application of computational thinking? 18

Principles and Practicalities Find partner and discuss: What are some of the principles discussed by Duval, et al.? What types of metadata do they discuss and how do those types interact with the desire for standardization? 19

The Europeana Data Model This data model for metadata is intended to provide a structure that can address some of the principles described by Duval, et al. The data model – separates a resource from descriptions of the resource – allow many separate descriptions of the same resource to be aggregated – then users should be able to access the version of the description that works best for them 20