Developing Best Developing Best Practices for the DDIPractices for the DDI

The Business Best PracticesThe Business Best Practices

A. Michelle Edwards, Ph.D.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?

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 GovernanceThis 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 CV’s 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 PublicationA 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 - WorkflowsArchival 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 EnhancementBegins 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 ActivitiesDiscusses 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 2009Implementation 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 2009Controlled vocabulary

Versioning and Publication