Contribute to the DSpace Development Fund
The newly established DSpace Development Fund supports the development of new features prioritized by DSpace Governance. For a list of planned features see the fund wiki page.
Past Meetings of the UK & Ireland DSpace User Group
The UK & Ireland DSpace user group has held the meetings in the past:
The first official meeting of the UK & Ireland DSpace user group was held on Wednesday 17th May in London. The event was kindly hosted by BioMed Central. The meeting took place between 10am and 4pm, but did not get into full swing until 11am to allow people who lived some distance away to arrive.
Notes from the sessions are shown below.
Agenda
10.00 - 10.10 Welcome from BioMed Central (Matt Cockerill)
10.10 - 11.00 Refreshments and chat with informal discussion on the purpose, aims and future of the UK&I user group (facilitated by Amy Hale)
11.00 - 12.30 IRRA talk and discussion (Claire Knowles) See abstract below
12:30 - 13:30 Buffet lunch
13:30 - 13:50 DSpace update from HP (Nick Wainwright)
13:50 - 14:15 Discussion about the DSpace federation, and the way ahead (chaired by Stuart Lewis)
14:15 - 14:45 DSpace 2 - vision and issues (Jim+Downing)
14:45 - 15:30 Discussion about JISC funding and potential collaboration (chaired by Peter Morgan)
15:30 - 16:00 Informal 'networking' time (participants may leave early if they need to)
Venue
The venue was:
Globix Corp. Prospect House, 80-110 New Oxford Street, London, WC1A 1HB, UK Map
Presentation abstracts
Technical Overview of the IRRA Implementation for DSpace
As part of the JISC IRRA project on the use of Institutional Repositories for Research Assessment Edinburgh University has been developing a web application for the RAE in 2008 which utilises DSpace. The IRRA software is designed to hold all information required for the RA2 Research Outputs for submission to the RAE for an institution. The aim of this presentation is to discuss the technical aspects of the project and how to install and implement the software in your institution including:
Deployment of the IRRA web application
Database setup
Use of SRW to search DSpace
METS patch for Dspace 1.3.2 to return files
Import of publications into DSpace
Import of data into the IRRA web application
Authentication
This will be followed by a discussion on the use of Institutional Repositories for Research Assessment.
Participants
Philip Adams, DeMontfort University
Fereshteh Afshari, Imperial College London
Clare Allan, University of Stirling
Theo Andrew, The University of Edinburgh
Jon Bell, University of Wales Aberystwyth
Eddie Boyle, University of Edinburgh
Gary Brewerton, Loughborough University
Matt Cockerill, BioMed Central
Jim+Downing, University of Cambridge
Mark Ellingson, University of Bristol
Tom George, Imperial College London
Clive Gould, Bromley College
Amy Hale, HP
Ravinder Kalsi, Brunel University
Claire Knowles, The University of Edinburgh
Marie Lagerwall, London School of Economics
Stuart Lewis, University of Wales Aberystwyth
Liam Lynch, BioMed Central
Sandy MacKenzie, Imperial College London
Matt Martin, University of Birmingham
Elena Menendez-Alonso, University of Plymouth
Mark Merifield, BioMed Central
Peter Morgan, University of Cambridge
John Murtagh, Brunel University
Satu Nieminen, University of Bradford
Keith Nockels, University of Leicester
Martin Price, Swansea University
John Rae, BioMed Central
Barry Spencer, Bromley College
Graham Triggs, BioMed Central
Nick Wainwright, HP Labs, Bristol
Colin Watt, University of Edinburgh
Mike Whyment, University of Aberdeen
Notes
Notes from initial session (taken by Nick Wainwright, HP): Many views on how often to meet.
Quarterly / Six monthly / Yearly - with sub-meetings and phone/video conferences on specific topics
Where to meet
Move around
Scotland / N. Ireland / (no one mentioned Wales, but I assume Stuart will host us in Aberystwyth - (He glady will!))
Who should attend?
Technical (developers, architects)
Users
Project managers/policy makers
Need to ensure agenda addresses their (different) needs What should be on the agenda
Case studies of what people / institutions are doing
Early thoughts on what you (we) are planning on doing/developing in the future
Technical topics
Demonstrations of capabilities and extensions that have been developed
Discussion of integration with other platforms
How to drive 'use' (getting content in repo's)
Standards (for x, y, z - not specified)
Business models for repositories
UK specific copyright issues (some discussion of whether this was the right forum for this)
(this isn't an exhaustive list!)
Co-location
Yes, this could be a good idea.
Specific suggestion - co-locate with Fedora, Eprints!
What would we want to achieve
To have created a forums to address important 'functional areas' in DSpace
To have a forum for f2f dialog about key topics (technical and other areas)
To provide guidance and information for 'newcomers' to DSpace
To be able to address UK&I specific topics
To allow technical folk and developers to meet face to face
To build a 'support network' so we know who to call when we need help or support
To facilitate 'loose coordination' of projects and to identify and motivate collaborative development
To articulate needs of the DSpace users (projects, institutions, and UK community)
To share and influence DSpace development roadmap
To identify and agree upon shared 'standards'
Advocacy for DSpace adoption, development, and funding to funding bodies and institutions
To get to know each other
Notes from final session (taken by Jon Bell, UWA):
The DSpace Federation will bring into being a small Working Group (WG) to steer core development of DSpace 2.
The relationships between the Working Group, the community and the users were discussed. It was noted that the community was decentralised, meaning different people were using different version to save updating their adaptations. The UKIUG was happy with the idea of the working group.
Approaches to funding the federation were discussed, one possibility was getting old of "Framework 7" funding. Another approach was a subscription model, but support for this would be sensitive to the amount of the subscription.
It was asked whether the federation should be a formally constituted legal entity, allowing it to apply for funds. The federation would oversee core development. It was felt that the UKUIG might have a role as a conduit for discussions between user and the working group. Requirements can be discusses in the UKUIG and the level of support (and possibly their feasibility) considered before being brought to the WG.
There was some thought of setting up UKUG working groups. These might include representation from the people who have invested most in DSpace core activities.
The role of committed and informal developers (who can make less time available) was discussed. The WG could manage and co-ordinate these efforts.