1. Jane Fry, Carleton University Michelle Edwards, University of Guelph Jane Fry, Carleton University Michelle Edwards, University of Guelph Best Practices Document Best Practices Document

2. Where did we start? <Guelph & Carleton tagset documents <Queen’s started working on their document <A number of other institutions interested wanted to join and contribute

3. Did NOT want to re-invent the wheel and Did NOT want to duplicate efforts

4. International DDI “Standard” <All three documents began with the complete DDI 2.x codebook <Each document contained the required tags for DDI Light <Therefore, didn’t need to start from scratch

5. Summer 2007: How we joined efforts <Three meetings: June – Guelph July - Queen’s August - Carleton

6. Goal of our meetings <To produce one document Consistent and easy to interpret tag definitions – based on DDI “bible” Consistent formatting for Ontario files

7. Process (Logistics) <Tag by tag – each of 5 DDI sections Definitions Examples Formatting

8. Collaboration <Three different points of view <Two different servers to view <Three different documents to examine

9. And then … Lots of discussion … more discussion … DDI break … a few of us lost our minds along the way … more discussion … emails to DDI … more discussion … eventually a decision … more discussion … and then … The Best Practices Document

10. Structure of the Document (BPD) <Introduction <Main document Five sections of DDI <Appendices

11. BPD Introduction project <Overview of DDI 2.x <What is a tag and how to set it up <Questions, comments and contact info

12. Structure of Each DDI Section <Overview of each section <Table of all tags <Each tag Mandatory / optional & repeatable & attributes Description Formatting notes Examples

13. Structure of Each DDI Section <Same structure for each of the 5 DDI codebook sections Document Description Study Description File Description Variable Description Other Material

14. Tag Formatting <BPD recommends common formatting for all tags <Any unique formatting highlighted with

15. Tag Example: Formatting Note: Format for Agency/Institution and Place of Work/Department: Name of Agency/Institution. Name of Place of Work/Department (yes, that is a period between the two place names!) Format for Names: Last name, First name

16. Many examples for tags: Edwards, Michelle Fair, Aaron Brett, Jan

17. To end each DDI section <Complete html example at the end of each section <Why? To show how all the tags fit together

18. BPD Appendices: 1.Glossary 2.Related Information 3.Data Documentation Initiative

19. 1. BPD Glossary <Always helpful for a quick reference <Contains: DDI CDATA OntarioBuys XML Schema …

20. 2. BPD Related Information <Two sections: Statistics Canada Sources – where to find tag content Nesstar a list of Nesstar-related issues Tag number differences

21. 3. BPD Data Documentation Initiative <An overview of the Data Documentation Initiative (DDI) <Basis of this project

22. Where is the BPD? <Document is loaded and available on a Wiki http://www.odesi.ca

23. BPD Feedback <Received some feedback to date <Looking for more <More feedback and community participation = a more comprehensive document

24. BPD Updates Coming <Appendices to be revised to include information on other DDI tools <Additional tags to be included, especially variable format

25. Version 2 of BPD to be released by the end of January 2008

26. Please contact us with your comments & feedback odesi@uoguelph.ca