BEN Tools & Isovera Services

Isovera ConsultingCal Collins, Shakib Mostafa, Sergey Demidenko

Feb. 2008

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OverviewTable of Contents

• Introduction to the BEN Portal• BEN Architecture• Isovera Digital Library• Case Studies: ASM, ESA, APS• IsoveraDL Software-as-a-Service• Community Sign On• Isovera Services• Isovera Timeline• Interactive Demonstrations

– Portal Search & new features– IsoveraDL

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Introduction to the BEN Portal• New portal re-design released early 2007

– Advanced search feature allows filtering results by 10 different fields– New harvesting tools improve efficiency and lower maintenance cost– More stable and better performing

• Fall 2007, search and browse opened for non-registered users• Currently holds:

– 8,237 peer reviewed biology learning resources– 9,930 registered users– 26 BEN Collaborators

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BEN Architecture

BEN Portal

Metadata Database

HarvesterModule

Partner Collection

A

Partner Collection

B

IsoveraDLSaaS

Partner C

Partner D

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BEN ArchitectureBEN Portal

• Main Goal - Aggregate vast amounts of quality, peer-reviewed learning objects

• Aggregation of learning objects is done using internet standard Harvesting OAI-PMH technology

• Harvesting Needs:– Quality & error checking– Access to reports– Automation for low maintenance

• Newly developed harvesting tools on BEN portal:– Improved automation – all requests are handled by system– Improved quality assurance – higher detail reports– Easy of use – one click harvest launch

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BEN PortalDemo

http://www.biosciednet.org/

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Isovera Digital LibraryIsoveraDL aka “Dewey”

• What is IsoveraDL?– IsoveraDL is a digital library and peer review system– Defined BEN-LOM metadata fields– Use of controlled vocabularies– User manageable record submission forms– User manageable peer review system– These functions are customizable through a web interface by

administrative users

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Isovera Digital LibraryIsoveraDL

• Who can use IsoveraDL?– Anyone can download and use IsoveraDL– BEN Collaborator may subscribe to IsoveraDL Software as a Service

(SaaS)– Organizations can do their own implementations and customizations of

the software

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Isovera Digital LibraryIsoveraDL

• Which BEN partners use IsoveraDL?– Currently:

• The Video and Image Data Access (VIDA)• The Ecological Society of America (ESA)• BioQUEST Curriculum Consortium (BCC)

– In progress:• The American Physiological Society (APS) & Partners• American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG)• The Biotechnology Institute (BI)

– Upcoming:• Society of Toxicology (SOT)• BEN General Biology Collection• AIBS, Others?

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Isovera Digital LibraryIsoveraDL

• What is the status of IsoveraDL?– 1.0 release September 2006– 2.0 release December 2007

• Peer Review system• Harvester Module• XML import for records• Search and Browse interface

– 2.1 release March 2008• User guide• Advanced search by multiple fields• Authors management interface – save authors to system, select

from drop down menu when adding new records• Additional input types

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Isovera Digital LibraryIsoveraDL

• How much does IsoveraDL cost?– Free for download and installation to all internet users– Subscription to IsoveraDL SaaS at no cost to you– Isovera can provide personal customizations and implementation at a

cost

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Case StudiesBuilding your BEN Digital Library

• Multiple Models supported– Case studies show diverse approaches– Common requirements:

• Peer reviewed resources• Compliance with OAI-PMH and BEN Learning Object Metadata

specifications

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Case StudyThe American Society For Microbiology (ASM)

• Had many complex personal requirements and customizations• Memberships and subscriptions• Built in-house digital library collection• Metadata conforms to BEN-LOM specification• Harvesting to BEN portal is done using OAI-PMH

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Case StudyThe Ecological Society of America (ESA)

• Custom IsoveraDL implementation• Data Migration• HTML implementation• Search and Browse features• New feature: Generate thumbnail images on the fly

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Case StudyThe American Physiological Society (APS)

• More complex IsoveraDL integration• Data Migration from non-standard BEN database• Further customizations to search and browse, HTML

implementation• Authors management system• Additional input types for record submission forms• Hosts metadata from multiple collections:

– APS, SDB, HAPS, NAHSEP, Physiology for the 21st Century• Integrated Peer Review system

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New Model: Software as a Service(SaaS)

• Instead of buying software and paying for installation and maintenance, you just rent a fully functional instance of the software where installation, maintenance, and periodic upgrades are taken care of.

• What are the advantages of using IsoveraDL SaaS?– No cost, not even for the server– Constant monitoring and maintenance, also at no cost– Regular upgrades

• What are the disadvantages of using IsoveraDL SaaS?– Complex functionality customizations not free of charge or may not be

supported at all (e.g. Use of non LAMP stack platform, HTTPS, new core feature)

– No access to the back end

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Software as a Service(SaaS)

• Who should use IsoveraDL SaaS?– You should use IsoveraDL SaaS if you:

• Do not require extensive customization to IsoveraDL core functionalities, i.e. you do not need extra functionality or different workflow from what you can see in the IsoveraDL demo site

• Do not need access to back end, or do not have a policy to host your server internally

• Who should not use IsoveraDL SaaS?– You should not use SaaS if:

• Your organization policy is to host IsoveraDL in your internal server• You require complex customization of core IsoveraDL functionalities

and workflows

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Software as a Service(SaaS)

• How much does IsoveraDL SaaS cost?– No cost to set up or maintain. The only possible cost is associated with

data migration or additional features. If you have an existing system that you want to replace with IsoveraDL and the database schema for the existing system is not compatible with IsoveraDL database schema then funding is required for data migration. The cost depends on the complexity of the existing system and ranges from $2,000 to $10,000.

• If I use IsoveraDL SaaS, who owns my collection data?– You do. Goal is to provide a service while ensuring collections retain

ownership and control over their records.

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Community Sign On (CSO)Brief Introduction

• What is Community Sign On (CSO)?– NSDL’s Community Sign On technology supports a single login for

multiple websites within a community. This is one of our upcoming projects. When we implement CSO participating BEN Collaborators will be able to provide their users access to the websites of all other participating sites within BEN. CSO can provide great benefits for the user as he will only need to log in once to access all websites participating in the CSO federation.

– CSO is planned to be implemented for the BEN portal, IsoveraDL, and participating partner collections

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Isovera Services What does Isovera provide?

• BEN Portal Maintenance & Support– Harvesting: quarterly operation to aggregate collaborators’ learning

objects into the BEN Portal• Conduct harvest on staging database• Generate reports• Communicate with collaborator to resolve errors• Publish records to production database• Diagnose and troubleshoot harvesting software• Support for BEN-LOM – metadata conforms to spec

– Portal maintenance• Site content updates• General Biology Collection maintenance and support• User and server maintenance

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Isovera Services What does Isovera provide?

• Isovera Digital Library - IsoveraDL– IsoveraDL critical bug fixes and patches– Basic support on walkthroughs and hands on support including

installation, configuration, troubleshooting, diagnostics, and harvesting• IsoveraDL SaaS

– Isovera Digital Library Software-as-a-Service• Support for integration of Community Sign On for IsoveraDL

implementations

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Isovera TimelineIn Conclusion

• Initial Partners – collections software (2002)• 1st generation harvesting (2003)• BEN Portal (2003)• IsoveraDL 1.0 (2006)• BEN Portal re-design & improved search (2007)• IsoveraDL 2.0 Peer Review system (2007)• IsoveraDL SaaS (2008-09)• Community Sign On (2008-09)

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References• Demo of the Isovera Digital Library –

http://www.biosciednet.org/dewey/

• BEN Technical FAQ – http://www.biosciednet.org/project_site/docs/BENTechnicalFAQ.htm

• BEN Harvesting Process – http://www.biosciednet.org/project_site/docs/IsoveraHarvestingProcess2008.pdf