NSDL Proposal: service track

Computer users create and manage collections of digital documents, employing many different applications. They store files in a rainbow of formats, and share information via Internet protocols. Most of the tools and utilities for file management are designed for single-person use, and not with collaboration in mind.

We propose to build an information management environment

At the core of this information environment is a desktop application to facilitate the management of the full range of digital materials. This consists of

  1. A database structure which houses the records for a digital library, equipped to record metadata for multiple media, allowing users to

  2. User interfaces designed for ease and flexibility, not requiring detailed knowledge of the middleware and back-end software , including a geographic search interface (using ArcIMS), conventional keyword and subject search utilities, Web capture capabilities, and facilities for metadata creation and editing.

  3. A composition environment to facilitate hypertext creation with automatic XML/RDF metadata extraction.

  4. Capability to track update history and check for changes and continued presence of remote resources

  5. Access control by levels, including personal-only, sharing with collaborators (on local network, or by IP control), and public. Items declared 'public', once provided with appropriate metadata and vetted, can be harvested by NSDL

In the interest of ease of use and rapid development, we will use existing and widely distributed software resources whenever possible, basing development in the Microsoft .NET environment and building conduits that link applications together. The project adapts and extends work done at W&L, including the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues and the Pirarucu Personal Digital Library.

Microsoft Access and ASP.NET will provide the basic engine for creation and storage of personal and local digital libraries. Records will include Dublin Core and RDF metadata for harvesters. The metadata harvester will be adapted from Alsos, as will the potential extension to SQLServer.

The application facilitates the management of a virtual repository consisting of pointers to information which may be physically located anywhere. It is intended to allow the connection of a personal and group information environment with emergent management strategies for institutions' digital assets, and to permit eventual integration with other digital library packages, such as DSpace when that finds its way to liberal arts environment.

While the fundamental structure of the personal and collaborative digital library can be adapted to many settings and circumstances, the focus of development will be creation of an information infrastructure for the Associated Colleges of the South (ACS) consortium. The objective is to provide access to spatial data within the consortium, including GIS coverages, datasets, text, images (remote sensing, digitized maps). The testbed for the developing system will be Environmental Studies programs of ACS institutions, which require support for development and deployment of spatial data. The project will facilitate the cooperative development of GIS as a teaching and learning tool, and the sharing of data resources among more than a dozen campuses.

Preliminary development and prototyping began with the Pirarucu personal digital library prototype in summer 2002, and will be carried further in a W&L-based Digital South project to build an ACS-wide teaching and learning resource which gathers and distributes multimedia resources on the Civil War.

Consortium-wide , eventually exploring mirroring, ArcSDE and other DB architectures

Half time for PI, full time for programmer/developer, funding for student programmers

Appropriate server hardware, including backup

Travel