Introduction to DDI Moving Forward Dagstuhl Seminar October 22-26, 2012

Organizers Arofan Gregory – Open Data Foundation Wendy L. Thomas, Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota Mary Vardigan – DDI Alliance Achim Wackerow, GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences

Introductions About yourself: – Who you are? – What organization are you with? – Do you consider yourself a technical person in terms of IT? – Do you have other relevant non-IT technical skills? About your work: – What do you do? – What other metadata standards have you worked with? What do you hope to get out of this workshop?

Welcome Thank you to everyone for traveling many miles to get here And especially to Achim for providing this wonderful venue Special dinner on Thursday evening courtesy of the DDI Alliance to thank you in a more tangible way

Purpose of Meeting Begin to develop a model-driven next- generation DDI specification – Understand new context in which we are working – Incorporate feedback and lessons learned – Simplify and rationalize -- and address user needs This is the start of a process that will continue beyond this workshop to include the community

Workshop Outcomes Recommendations to the DDI Alliance based on detailed discussions of experts Documentation of the reasoning and discussion around proposed approaches – So the broader DDI community understands what we’ve discussed – So the DDI Alliance can make informed decisions on the eventual result of this process Timetable and process for development

Core Deliverables Clear documentation of discussions on and recommendations for: – Design principles – Scope of coverage – Requirements – Proposals for Modeling Overall design Production process Technical approaches

How do we get there? Presentations kick off the work to ground us in what needs to be done Subsequently we decide on themes to pursue in small groups or in plenary Writing and documentation ongoing during the week with goal of finishing papers soon after Dagstuhl Papers to be packaged for different audiences

Fun Facts About Wadern! Population: 16,406 State: Saarland District: Merzig-Wadern Mayor: Fredi Diewald Elevation: m above sea level Area: square km URL: Number of radioactive boars: unknown, but likely quite high Number of interesting things to do at night: 1* * We will tell you about this later

Setting the Stage It has been decided that DDI in future will become a model-driven standard with multiple syntax implementations (XML, RDF, etc.) Specific changes are envisioned…

Documenting the Discussion We are not here to make decisions on specific issues – we are here to have discussions and to create detailed proposals/approaches – We may define more than one approach for any specific thing: that’s OK It is critical that we document the reasoning and discussion around proposed approaches – So the broader DDI community understands what we’ve discussed – So the DDI Alliance can make an informed decision on the eventual result of this process

Specific Changes (1) Abstraction of data capture/collection/source. The current data collection module is questionnaire-centric. New content on sampling, survey implementation, weighting, and paradata coming out of the Survey Design and Implementation Group New content developed by the Qualitative Working Group Framework for data and metadata quality Framework for access to data and metadata

Specific Changes (2) Process (work flow) description across the data life cycle, including support for automation and replication Integration with existing standards like GSBPM/GSIM, SDMX, CDISC, Triple-S Disclosure review and remediation Data management planning Development of standard queries and/or interface specifications (such as REST) which are needed to allow for interoperable services

Proposed Deliverables  Design principles and scope  Requirements  Modeling and technical approaches (like syntax binding)  Overall design of the standard Development and maintenance process (collecting ideas) Content and coverage in the data life cycle context (recommendations) – Detailed data life cycle model (i.e. GLBPM) Relationship to other standards (emphasis on GSIM, SDMX, ISO/IEC 11179) and related strategy (additionally archival standards)

Design principles and scope Guidelines for the development of the standard, to be used when questions arise as to whether or how something should be done Explicitly state the intended coverage of the DDI standard – what it is supposed to do and what it is not supposed to do

Requirements A statement of the requirements which a future version of DDI is intended to meet

Modeling and technical approaches Document recommending the specific style of modeling that will be used in a DDI conceptual model suitable for binding to various syntaxes and technologies – XML – RDF – Data bases – Programming languages (Java, C#, etc.)

Overall design of the standard Overall design of DDI at a high level specifying how the standard can be made modular, how it can be extended, and how it can best be organized to minimize the pain of users and achieve other stated goals. Specify the relationships among the conceptual model, documentation, and standard syntax implementations.

Development and maintenance process (collecting ideas)/Work plan Documentation of ideas about how the development and maintenance of DDI might be performed – In the face of limited resources – In the face of expanding coverage and increasing numbers of technical implementations Proposed plan and dates for how and when the next major version of DDI will be developed – Should agree with scope and requirements

Content and coverage in the data life cycle context (recommendations) A document outlining what the DDI Alliance might do to better support and define the data lifecycle – What gaps exist in the current version of DDI in terms of content? – Could we have an expanded lifecycle model that could provide more detail on specific areas, such as the archival process? – What are the interactions between the metadata content and the lifecycle?

Relationship to other standards and related strategy What types of approaches should DDI use when aligning or otherwise positioning itself vis-à-vis another standard? – Profiles of interaction What standards are most important for DDI to consider? For what applications? User communities?

Other ideas?

Working Process

Plenary Discussions We have a number of interesting presentations from participants – These are intended to stimulate discussion and ideas – They do not cover all of the issues that are important to this workshop Following the presentations we will have an initial plenary discussion to focus the work for the rest of the week

Breakout Groups Work will be carried out in a number of smaller groups – Some participants have been tasked with serving as note-takers, editors, and facilitators – You may be asked to perform some specific task during workshops Many participants will be interested in the work of more than one group – At the end of every day we have planned a 90 minute plenary discussion so that all participants can contribute/understand the work of all the groups

Administrative points… When are you leaving? Thursday dinner Do you know this man?

Daily Schedule