A centre of expertise in digital information management Interoperability? We Must Have QA! Brian...

A centre of expertise in digital information management

www.ukoln.ac.uk

Interoperability? We Must Have QA!

Brian KellyUKOLNUniversity of BathBath

Email:[email protected]

URL:http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/qa-focus/

UKOLN is supported by:

About This Talk

This talk describes the work of the JISC-funded QA Focus:

• About the project• The QA methodology• QA Focus resources• Relevance to the archives

sector

A brief description of UKOLN will also be given

About This Talk

This talk describes the work of the JISC-funded QA Focus:

• About the project• The QA methodology• QA Focus resources• Relevance to the archives

sector

A brief description of UKOLN will also be given

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/meetings/archivists-2004-11/http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/meetings/archivists-2004-11/


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About Me / About UKOLN

About Me:• UK Web Focus: Web advisory post• Long-standing involvement with Web • Based at UKOLN since Nov 1996• UKOLN’s Policy & Advice Team leader • Team leader of Interoperability Focus team

UKOLN:• National centre of expertise in digital information

management• Based at the University of Bath• Funded by JISC and MLA to support the higher &

further education communities & cultural heritage sector

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UKOLN and Cultural HeritageUKOLN:

• Long-standing involvement in support for Higher Education & Public Library sector

• Have recently strengthened its Interoperability Focus team

• Due to changes in funding bodies increasingly working with:

• Further Education• Museums, Libraries and Archives

• Examples:• Workshops for MLA Regional Agencies• Participations at key national events e.g. mda

conferences, Museums & Web conference, …• Provided (with AHDS) the Technical Advisory

Service for the NOF-digitise programme• …

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Supporting Digital Library ProgrammesUKOLN has long-standing involvement in support for national digital library programmes:

• JISC's eLib programme (from about 1995-2000): development of eLib Standards document, hosting eLib central Web site, …

• The NOF-digitise programme: (2002-2004): development of NOF-digi Standards document, providing NOF-digi Technical Advisory Service, …

• JISC 5/99, X4L, FAIR (and other) programmes: (2002-2004): development of QA framework by the QA Focus project

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Promoting Open Standards

We have advocated use of open standards:• To provide application-independence – remember

when documents were trapped into particular word processing software

• To provide platform-independence – allowing migration across PCs, Macs, Unix boxes, PDAs, etc.

• To support interoperability – allowing data to be integrated across systems

• To provide long term access to data – avoiding the digital dark ages

• To provide a coherent architectural model – which allows for evolution and integration

• To provide an open marketplace – allowing users to choice their preferred solution

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Not As Easy As It Seems

Problems encountered:• What are open standards?

PDF, Java, Flash, MS Word, …

• Advantages of proprietary formats• Open standards:

• May not be used correctly (cf over 90% of HTML pages don't comply with standard)

• May not take off (cf. OSI & Coloured Books)• May be difficult to understand or require technical

expertise not readily available (cf RDF) • May change in light of implementation experiences

(wait until version 3?)

In light of such issues should we (a) leave it to the marketplace;

(b) have greater policing (penalty clauses for non-compliance or (c) develop an alternative approach

In light of such issues should we (a) leave it to the marketplace;

(b) have greater policing (penalty clauses for non-compliance or (c) develop an alternative approach

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Support For Digital Library Programmes The approaches taken in JISC’s digital library programmes includes:

• Use of open standards to ensure interoperability, wide accessibility and interoperability and long term access to resources

• Advice provided by funders covering reporting processes, project management, evaluation, sustainability, …

• Peer support infrastructure implemented to support sharing & collaboration (e.g. mailing lists for techies)

• No formal checking of compliance with technical standards and best practices

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Stronger Policing?

A lack of formal compliance checking:• Sensible in eLib days when standards still being

developed (Gopher anybody?)

Nowadays:• Web and XML acknowledged as key technologies• We’re no longer building self-contained solutions• Interoperability is key• Funders seek to ensure deliverables can be

repurposed

But:• Is a formal compliance checking service

appropriate?

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NOF-digitise Experience

NOF-digitise:• Lottery-funded programme to digitise cultural

heritage resources• Technical advice provided by UKOLN and AHDS• Compliance checking provided by BECTa

Comments:• Formal compliance checking probably needed

due to lack of experience by many projects• Compliance checking can be expensive • Compliance may be regarded as being imposed • Importance of open standards may not be

embedded within organisations• Approach is alien to culture within HE

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QA Focus

JISC:• Issued ITT for a “Digitisation and QA Focus” post

to support JISC’s 5/99 programme in 2001• Remit to develop QA methodology to ensure

project deliverables interoperable, accessible, …QA Focus:

• UKOLN and TASI proposal accepted by JISC• After first year provided by UKOLN and AHDS• 1 FTE split across two services• Built on UKOLN’s & AHDS’s experiences with

NOF-digi Technical Advisory Service• Addressed various technical areas including:

• Digitisation Web / Access Metadata

• Software Service Deployment ...

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A QA Approach

The approach taken by QA Focus was developmental:• Seek to ensure projects understand importance

of open standards• Encourage a culture of sharing experiences and

best practices• Appreciate difficulties projects may experience in

implementing standards and best practices• Develop a self-assessment approach for

monitoring compliance• Publish brief focussed advice for projects• Commission case studies from projects

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Why Do Things Go Wrong?

Networked services may go wrong (i.e. fail to be functional, widely accessible or interoperable) for a variety of reasons:

• Failure to understand the need for standards• Failure to use appropriate standards• Failure to use appropriate technical architecture• Failure to test • Failure to embed best practices • …

In addition there may be non-technical reasons (lack of resources, poor management, etc.) Such issues were out-of-scope for QA Focus – but there are overlaps with addressing technical problems

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Addressing These Issues

QA Focus sought to address these issues by providing brief focussed advice on:

• The importance of standards in general & an appreciation of standards in particular areas (e.g. Web, metadata, …)

• The pros and cons of particular architectural frameworks

• The importance of checking compliance and advice of different approaches to checking

But it's easy to provide advice. How do we ensure that the advice is actually implemented?

But it's easy to provide advice. How do we ensure that the advice is actually implemented?

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QA Methodology

We developed a light-weight QA methodology based on documented policies & systematic compliance checking

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Policy: Web Standards Standard: XHTML 1.0 and CSS 2.0 Architecture: Use of SSIs and text editor Exceptions: Automatically-derived files Checking: Use ,validate* after update Audit Trail: Use ,rvalidate monthly for reports

Mechanisms should be implemented to ensure the policy is being implemented. Findings may be used in-house, shared with peers or (possibly) reported to steering groups, funders, etc.

* Example of lightweight checking tool – append ,tool to URL


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Selection of Standards

Standards are important but may be immature, fail to take off, difficult to deploy, difficult to select, …

“Ideology Or Pragmatism? Open Standards And Cultural Heritage Web Sites” gives an approach for selecting standards

A checklist for selection of standards has been developed

An online toolkit version is also available

We envisage the toolkit supporting internal decision-making, with decisions documented (possibly for approval)

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Other Resources

We have also produced:• Over 70 briefing

documents• Over 30 case studies• A simple online toolkit

which can help projects in ensuring they have addressed appropriate best practices

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What Next?

QA Focus project funding finished on 31 July 2004

Plans for the future:• Seeking further funding to develop methodology

in more depth in other areas (e.g. metadata, service deployment, …)

• We intend to maintain existing resources as part of our core work activities

• We will seek to embed QA in our working practices

• We intend to support QA approaches across other communities (e.g. FE & HE, museums, libraries & archives)

• We intend to make QA Focus resources available under a Creative Commons licence

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QA For Other Digital Library ProgrammesNightmare Scenario

• Digital Library programmes in UK, EU, USA, … built on open standards (XML, DC, OAI, …)

• National developments across public sector (government, education, cultural heritage, etc.) built on similar open standards

• But standards not implemented correctly or consistently leading to problems

QA Across Digital Library Programmes • There is a need for QA in order to ensure

interoperability• QA methodology may be appropriate for national &

international DL community• QA Focus encourages other DL programmes to

may use of QA Focus methodology and resources

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Applicability To Archives

What applicability does all this have to:• The Society of Archivists EAD Group• The wider archives community

You may be thinking:• I'm an archivist – I don't do Web sites• I use a dedicated archivist package and export data

to the Web. Is this relevant?• I work on a volunteer basis and have limited time,

resources, technical expertise, …• My wonderful CMS, Wiki, PHP scripts, … will

guarantee it all works• It sounds very interesting. I'd like to implement QA.

Will you be addressing other areas?

You may be thinking:• I'm an archivist – I don't do Web sites• I use a dedicated archivist package and export data

to the Web. Is this relevant?• I work on a volunteer basis and have limited time,

resources, technical expertise, …• My wonderful CMS, Wiki, PHP scripts, … will

guarantee it all works• It sounds very interesting. I'd like to implement QA.

Will you be addressing other areas?

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Society of Archivists EAD Group Web SiteSimple checks of Web site indicate:

• Some HTML compliance errors• Small number of broken links (including link to

"EAD Best Practice Guidelines: from the Research Libraries Group" on links page)

• CSS is fine on home page

Issues:• Broken links should probably be fixed (esp. important ones)

as this relates to the functionality of the Web site. • HTML compliance is a policy issue and is affected by tools

and workflow processes. Survey shows that some errors are easy to fix, whereas others are due to saving from MS Word document.

Issues:• Broken links should probably be fixed (esp. important ones)

as this relates to the functionality of the Web site. • HTML compliance is a policy issue and is affected by tools

and workflow processes. Survey shows that some errors are easy to fix, whereas others are due to saving from MS Word document.

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Checking With Limited Resources

You may have limited resources, technical expertise, other priorities, …A technical audit may still be worthwhile:

• In order to scope extent of any problems• To see if simple tweaks to publishing process can

bring significant benefits• To avoid your boss making embarrassing public

statements ("Yes we have a fully accessible Web site" – you can't comply with WAI AA guidelines if your HTML is broken)

Simple approaches to auditing:• Use of Web-based checking services• URI interface to the services• Bookmarklet interface to the services

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Automated ToolsQA Focus toolkit provides access to various checking tools which are freely available on the Web

Appending ,tools to any UKOLN page will un tools (e.g. ,validate)

Note also that bookmarklets are available for use in most browsers (use in Mozilla Firefox browser is shown)

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/qa-focus/toolkit/web-01/http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/qa-focus/toolkit/web-01/


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You Will Want A Richer Web!

You will want a richer, more structured Web service:

• XHTML pages may display more quickly

• XML (e.g. XHTML) resources are more easily repurposed

• XHTML pages must comply with standard

RSS Example

RSS is a lightweight news / syndication standard which allows information to be repurposed (e.g. what's new pages displayed in pop-up alerts, bookmarks, email, …)

RSS is a lightweight news / syndication standard which allows information to be repurposed (e.g. what's new pages displayed in pop-up alerts, bookmarks, email, …)


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QA And Metadata (1)

Metadata• Not just for resource discovery – metadata

provides the "glue" for interoperable services• Metadata is data which is used by software• If the metadata is 'wrong' interoperable services

may break• Unlike data, we don't normally 'see' the metadata

– so visual inspection, user feedback, etc. won't spot errors

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Metadata is particularly important to the cultural heritage sector, who have long-standing experience in cataloguing, developing schemas, etc.There is a need to build on this expertise to help us build richer interoperable digital services

Metadata is particularly important to the cultural heritage sector, who have long-standing experience in cataloguing, developing schemas, etc.There is a need to build on this expertise to help us build richer interoperable digital services


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QA And Metadata (2)

TrainingCataloguing rulesInput validation toolsCentralised vs distributed

Data processing

Output

CMS, Wikis,PHP scripts, …

Data input

Work flowCleaning dataHandling exceptionsUnderstanding system

Compliance with output standards

Use by humans and software

Accessibility, usability & interoperability

QA Areas

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QA And Archives Standards

For you to think about:• Are these issues applicable to effective

use of archives standards?• Is the QA Focus approach applicable?Q

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Deploying QA Approaches (1)

If you wish to implement QA Focus methodology in your organisation:

• Resources on Web site and ideas free to use• You can download and tailor content of briefing

papers (subject to credit being given) Extending the work:

• We primarily addressed Web & digitisation and just briefly addressed other areas

• We'd like to cover other technical areas• We'd welcome case studies (you explain what

you did & we promote you as good practice) • We'd welcome contributions to the briefing

documents … this helps address the sustainability of the resources

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Deploying QA Approaches (2)

UKOLN provide a Benchmarking Web Sites workshop for the MLA sector:

• Has been hosted by MLA Regional Agencies• Hands-on workshop for 12-25 participants• Enables participants to check aspects of their

Web sites, compare with their peers and learn from best practices and mistakes to avoid

• Addresses QA approaches to help implement best practices

• No charge from UKOLN apart from expenses (you provide venue and audience)

• See <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/nemlac-2004-09/>

Would this workshop be of interest to the archives sector? If so, who could host it?

Would this workshop be of interest to the archives sector? If so, who could host it?

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Questions

Any questions?

A centre of expertise in digital information management Interoperability? We Must Have QA! Brian...

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