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• We do NOT plan to rewrite DSpace from scratch, for the following reasons:
  • We have a highly active (and global) development community on the existing platform. We are averaging 50+ contributors in recent major releases. We also have a very active and healthy set of service providers.
  • A complete rewrite would require significant funding / centralized resources, neither of which are currently available. There also seem to be few (if any) grant opportunities to rebuild existing, established platforms.
  • A complete rewrite is very risky in the open source world. While in some cases it can succeed, it also can run the risk of fragmenting or fracturing a user community or developer community.
• We ARE aiming for a potentially substantial leap forward in user experience / web user interface.
  • We've heard the feedback that neither of the two UIs (JSPUI or XMLUI) provides an optimal user or administrative experience. So, a UI rewrite or major refactoring would be "on the table".
• The below actions and goals are ambitious, but we believe they are achievable provided that 1) we can also achieve our Sustainability goal of increasing project revenue to hire a Product Manager. If we are unable to achieve our goal of hiring a Product Manager, it is very likely only a portion (e.g. highest priority) of the Technology goals and actions below will be attainable. In such a situation, the remainder of the Technology goals may need to be rescheduled, unless someone in the broader community steps forward to drive them., and 2) institutional stakeholders are willing to commit developers to spend time working on organized development sprints under the direction of the DSpace Technical Lead to achieve the deliverables. 

Based on this proposed value proposition and assumptions, the Steering Group recommends the following actions corresponding to each goal:

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