Developing Best Practices for the DDI The Business Best Practices A. Michelle Edwards, Ph.D.

Suggested Business BPs Topic Area 1: Domain- and Community- Dependent Usage of DDI A. Governance B. Workflows C. Controlled Vocabulary

Suggested Business BPs Topic Area 2: Optimization of Metadata Sets for Reuse A. DDI 3.0 Schemes (Tech & Bus) B. Versioning and publication (Tech & Bus) D. DDI as content for registries (non-DDI registries) (Tech & Bus)

Suggested Business BPs Topic Area 4: High Level Architectural Model of DDI 3.0 Applications B. Layered Architecture (Tech & Bus)

How did the BPs come about? 5-8 people assigned / volunteered for each topic Tackled three topics / day No distractions – although beautiful surroundings – NOTHING around us for miles!!!

How did the BPs come about? Brainstorming took place on a variety of media: Paper Laptops Chalkboards Whiteboards

How did the BPs come about?

Brainstorming needed some fuel Latte macchiatos

Topic 1A - Governance What is governance? Several ways to look at this Can we impose governance on folks? Who was this BP directed to? New, experienced users? What was the goal of this BP?

Topic 1A - Governance Jotting everything Drew parallels and made connections Checklist for anyone looking at implementing DDI

Implementation and Governance This best practice covers the process of developing agreements and guidelines of implementation and governance of DDI as a metadata scheme for a community. The best practice recognizes that different communities will, by necessity, have different processes for this, and offers a checklist for communities to consider before implementing DDI.

Topic 1C – Controlled Vocabulary This group had a bit of an advantage Some members were also members of the DDI Alliance Controlled Vocabularies Working Group Great connection and linking between existing tasks and this task

Topic 1C – Controlled Vocabulary This BP does not address creating CVs themselves Technical aspects (for example): –CV publication format –Management of the CVs content Business aspects (for example): –Selection of a platform for publishing CVs –Documentation of CVs

Controlled Vocabulary The benefits of using controlled vocabularies within DDI metadata creation are the primary underlying principles behind this Best Practice document.

Controlled Vocabulary Use of a CV enhances consistency and efficiency in the production of DDI metadata, gives precision in searching the DDI metadata, and allows semantic and technical interoperability between organizations creating DDI instances

Topic 2B – Versioning and Publication A great example of where the Business and Technical aspects of the BPs met From the business perspective – when do we version, what do we version, why would we version From the technical perspective – how and where does DDI deal with versions and publications

Topic 2B – Versioning and Publication Definitions: Versioning Minor vs. Major revision Versioning before publication When is a DDI document deemed published ? Bug submission for a final flag

Versioning and Publication One of the objectives in creating DDI 3.0 was full machine-actionability. This requires strict versioning of objects so that users understand the change history of the resources they are using. This Best Practice is designed to provide some guidelines to metadata creators and publishers about how to version metadata and publish it for others to use.

Topic 1B - Workflows Many were interested in working on this one We all have a vested interest in this topic since many of us are in the middle of a DDI workflow. Extremely large topic area

Topic 1B - Workflows After our first meeting on this topic it was decided to break it up into 3 components:

Topic 1B - Workflows 1.Archival Ingest and Metadata Enhancement 2.Metadata Creation Regarding Recoding, Aggregation and Other Data Processing Activities 3.Discovery and Dissemination: User Perspective

Topic 1B - Workflows Archival Ingest and Metadata Enhancement Metadata Creation Regarding Recoding, Aggregation and Other Data Processing Activities Data Discovery and Dissemination

Workflows The three Best Practices provide guidelines for setting up metadata creation processes within different environments, identifying organizational and application features that impact the process structure, addressing salient questions / issues in setting up the process, and determining the implications of various starting points and process orders.

Archival Ingest and Metadata Enhancement Begins at the point of the handoff between the data provider and the archive The BP highlights three cases where the archive receives: Complete DDI 3.x metadata DDI 1.x or DDI 2.x metadata Documentation which is not DDI conformant

Metadata Creation Regarding Recoding, Aggregation and Other Data Processing Activities Discusses the capturing, in DDI metadata, of the processes of data aggregation, recoding and data processing. Identifies different points in the data life cycle where activities occur that can trigger metadata creation.

Data Discovery and Dissemination: User Perspective Describes the best practices for metadata producers to provide end users with the resources for data discovery and dissemination.

Data Discovery and Dissemination: User Perspective Provides a list of overarching metadata principles - example: Metadata may be used in ways not anticipated at the time of generation. Producers need to look beyond their own goals and uses of their metadata, and be good citizens to the general user community to support data discovery and dissemination.

Data Discovery and Dissemination: User Perspective – The End User Model

Data Discovery and Dissemination: User Perspective BPs need to be developed in each phase of the Life Cycle to meet the discovery and dissemination requirements of the end user However, the Data Life Cycle phases do not have a one-to-one correspondence with the audiences that produce metadata – gaps in metadata may exist.

Business Best Practices – April 2009 Implementation and Governance Workflows: Archival Ingest and Metadata Enhancement Metadata Creation Regarding Recoding, Aggregation and Other Data Processing Activities Data Discovery and Dissemination: User Perspective

Business Best Practices – April 2009 Controlled vocabulary Versioning and Publication