1

Interoperability of Content:one view from the UK

Dr. Paul Miller

Interoperability FocusUK Office for Library & Information Networking (UKOLN)

P.Miller@ukoln.ac.uk http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/

UKOLN is funded by Resource: the Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries, the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the Further and Higher Education Funding Councils, as well as by project funding from JISC and the EU. UKOLN also receives support from the Universities of Bath and Hull where staff are based.

2

Some examples…

3

Further and Higher Education…

4

JISC

• Joint Information Systems Committee– “…to stimulate and enable the cost–effective

exploitation of information systems and to provide a high quality national network infrastructure…”

– ‘development’ not ‘research’– Funded by ‘top–slice’ from the Further (college)

and Higher (university) Education Funding Councils for England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland

– Funds the Network, eLib, the JISC Data Centres, UKOLN, the Focus posts, DNER Programme, etc..

See www.jisc.ac.uk/See www.jisc.ac.uk/

5

eLib

• Electronic Libraries Programme• Over $CAN30,000,000 of funding for a large number of

small/medium–size projects in three Phases– Plus supporting work such as the MODELS workshops

• Phases 1 & 2 (now complete) explored– Electronic Publishing

– e.g. intarch.ac.uk/

– Access to Network Resources (the Subject Gateways)– e.g. www.sosig.ac.uk/

– Training services (e.g. Netskills), Pre–print services, etc..

See www.ukoln.ac.uk/services/elib/See www.ukoln.ac.uk/services/elib/

See www.ariadne.ac.uk/See www.ariadne.ac.uk/

6

eLib Phase 3

• Building upon success• Hybrid Libraries• Large scale resource discovery

(Clumps)• Preservation• Turning successful Phase 1 & 2

projects into sustainable Services.

See www.ukoln.ac.uk/services/elib/See www.ukoln.ac.uk/services/elib/

7

The D… N… what?

Distributed National Electronic Resource• Policy aspiration of the Joint Information

Systems Committee• Intended to provide greater access to JISC’s

Current Content Collection– RDN– AHDS– MIMAS, EDINA, BIDS/Ingenta, Data Archive– EDUSERVE– COPAC– eLib projects

etc.

See www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/ See www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/

8

Building the DNER

Construction of various Portals to facilitate user–centric access• ‘JISC Portal’ ?• Data Centre Portals (EDINA, MIMAS…)• Subject Portals (the RDN, ADS, etc.)• Data Type Portals (images, movies, sound…)• Institutional Portals (a Hybrid Library?)• Personal Portals (Paul’s web!)

Also providing other access to discrete resources.

See www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/ See www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/

9

Building the DNER

See www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/ See www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/

• Z39.50 as the ‘glue’• Thus, JISC funding of Bath Profile development, working

closely with NLC and others around the world

• Also looking at Open Archives model within overall architecture

• Technical Standards document prepared by UKOLN and JISC• applies immediately to the projects started by a

$CAN20,000,000 funding allocation last summer; intended to make the DNER useful for learning and teaching

• Technical requirements for external contributors also written

10

Lifelong Learning…

11

nof–digi

• New Opportunities Fund receives money from the UK’s National Lottery• nof–digi programme committing

$CAN100,000,000 over 2–3 years to digitisation of learning materials for use in lifelong learning

• UKOLN providing coordinated (and partially mandatory) technical guidelines across the programme, and a support service.

See www.peoplesnetwork.gov.uk/nof/technicalstandards.htmlSee www.peoplesnetwork.gov.uk/nof/technicalstandards.html

See www.ukoln.ac.uk/nof/support/See www.ukoln.ac.uk/nof/support/

12

Culture OnLine

• Announced September 2000

“Culture Online’s remit would be to use digital technologies to widen access to the resources of the arts and cultural sector, for the purposes of learning and enjoyment both at school and throughout life.”

• $CAN 10,000,000 available just to scope issues!• Building directly upon NOF, and the lessons it

teaches• New Culture Bill expected to establish an agency

for Culture Online and associated funding stream; possibly on a par with current NOF funding.

See www.cultureonline.gov.uk/See www.cultureonline.gov.uk/

13

Reaching the Citizen…

14

Government

• 100% of government services available online by 2005• e–Envoy ensures compliance• Focus upon services• Focus upon the citizen• Focus upon the Joined Up approach• Recognition of multi–channel architecture

• UK currently eighth globally, but strong belief that framework being established now will serve to support 1st class services.

See www.accenture.com/xd/xd.asp?it=enWeb&xd=Industries\Government\gove_study.xml

See www.accenture.com/xd/xd.asp?it=enWeb&xd=Industries\Government\gove_study.xml

See www.e-envoy.gov.uk/See www.e-envoy.gov.uk/

15

Focus on services

• Deliver services to the citizen• Services rather than resources

– ‘transactional’ web sites

• Not just about finding documents on a web site

• Change of address pilot now (quietly!) live;–https://www.addressingthechange.com–www.ihavemoved.com/–www.simplymove.co.uk/.

See www.iagchampions.gov.uk/portals/address.pdfSee www.iagchampions.gov.uk/portals/address.pdf

See www.gateway.gov.uk/See www.gateway.gov.uk/

16

Focus on the Citizen

• Move away from the ‘silo mentality’• Citizens need/want access

to information/services/resources– These exist in different parts of local and

national government, organised according to internal needs or procedures, and packaged according to particular house styles and conventions

– None of which helps the citizen who just wants a new wheely bin (a.k.a ‘Garbage can’/ ‘trash can’/ ‘dumpster’ ?)

See www.ukonline.gov.uk/See www.ukonline.gov.uk/

17

Recognise a multi–channel future

• The web is not the only game in town…• Mobile phones/ WAP/ 3G• PDAs• Digital TV• Telephone call centres• One stop shop drop–in centres• High street information kiosks• The Post Office• Banks• Traditional access mechanisms

• So… create content once for near–automated repackaging and repurposing• XML Schema/ XSL, etc… .

18

UK Online

• Umbrella brand for• e–Government portal developments

– formerly me.gov

• Government efforts to promote e–Commerce– DTI’s Information Society Initiative (ISI)

• Government–funded IT training for the Citizen– learndirect, NGfL, etc.

See www.ukonline.gov.uk/See www.ukonline.gov.uk/

19

The e–GIF

• e–Government Interoperability Framework• Technical standards and policies at the heart

of e–Government• Conformance is mandatory across the Public

Sector• Adoption of Internet and Web standards across

government• XML/XSL, plus government–specific schemas

• Change of Address service, for example, utilises XML Schemas to pass details between participants

See www.govtalk.gov.uk/See www.govtalk.gov.uk/

20

Metadata Framework

• Core plank of e–Government strategy• e–Envoy working group

• Whitehall and Devolved Administrations• I&DeA• Resource• UKOLN

• Scope includes metadata guidelines and the Pan–Government Thesaurus project.

See www.govtalk.gov.uk/See www.govtalk.gov.uk/

21

Metadata Framework

• Mandates the Dublin Core• Some elements are made mandatory• Probably adds Audience from AGLS, plus UK

elements Disposal, Location, Preservation• Endorses many of the recently approved DC

Qualifiers•mirrored.ukoln.ac.uk/dc/documents/rec/ dcmes–qualifiers

• Draft released early 2001.

See mirrored.ukoln.ac.uk/dc/See mirrored.ukoln.ac.uk/dc/

22

Some conclusions…

23

Common themes…

• …whether actual or desirable…• A vision

– Access, Access, Access

• Effective scoping– Nothing can be all things to all people

• User rather than institutional focus– Are historical organisational structures really

relevant?

• A managed programme– Requires funding, staff, and the power to

mandate/ co–ordinate for the common good

24

Common themes…

• Considered deployment of standards– Bath Profile, Dublin Core, terminological

controls, procedural controls, etc.– Don’t just adopt; help to shape

– Interoperability Focus is active across a range of initiatives.

25

A proposal…

26

Let’s work together…Modernising Government

ukonline / gateway.gov.uk

NOF/ Culture Online

etc.

Government Online

canada.gc.ca/

Canadian Cultural Portal

etc.

And that’s just the UK and Canada…

So: ––can we find ways to effectively share experiences, and to seek out common solutions to those commonproblems that we face?