Great questions, Lori. Thanks for prompting these clarifications.
We're using Drupal as a foundation and are going to be contracting with a
Drupal developer to integrate existing Drupal modules with any custom field
design, taxonomy creation, and plug-in development required to meet the goals.
One of the conditions we'll put on the development contract is that we can
release the code behind the registry as open source itself. My current
thinking is that once the core work done we'll put the code up on Google Code
or GitHub or a similar code hosting service.
Descriptive elements, being factual, wouldn't be subject to licensing. We'll
insist that comments and ratings be licensed to the registry under a Creative
Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License (same as used by Wikipedia) by their
authors. The specifications will say that RSS feeds will be possible based on
Drupal taxonomy classes (and iCal entries for the Event entities). I'd like to
go so far as to develop an RDF data model and publish entities, attributes and
relationships as RDFa, but that may not happen in the first development
go-around. Editing data can come from any user logged into the system, and
there will be a public stream of changes so malicious edits can be caught and
reversed.
Two things come to mind in supporting project specific lists of users and
providers. We can talk about direct, read-only (or perhaps even read-write)
APIs into the database itself. Or, as we'll probably do for DSpace, embed a
special case that redirects requests for users and providers to the DuraSpace
listings. And if there is special information that the Evergreen group would
like to capture, we can talk about modifying the data model to include it; now
is definitely the best time to be doing that before a database gets
instantiated.
In short, I'm definitely open to the conversation.
Peter
On Jul 26, 2011, at 10:15 AM, Lori Bowen Ayre wrote:
Hi Peter,
I'm working with the Evergreen community and we had discussed setting up an
Evergreen community directory that would contain a lot of the information you
are after in this application. We are evaluating whether we'd rather throw
our energy into what you are doing here so would like to hear more about
ownership, access, licensing and availability of the application and the data
that you are collecting.
I know you say the registry will be free for viewing and editing (all
libraries, not just LYRASIS members, and any provider offering services for
open source software in libraries) but could you tell us who will have
access to what, and who can edit what, and what kind of license you will have
on the application itself?
For example, what if we wanted to use the information collected in your
database about Evergreen users and service providers...could we export that
subset of data? On a regular basis (e.g. RSS feed?) Could we copy your
Drupal installation (and retheme it for our use on the Evergreen site?) What
if we wanted to capture some additional information about our Evergreen
community that others weren't interested in...would there be some flexibility
there?
Just trying to get a handle on the possibilities you are open to considering
or have already considered.
Lori Ayre
Evergreen Oversight Board
On Fri, Jul 15, 2011 at 11:42 AM, Peter Murray peter.mur...@lyrasis.org
wrote:
Colleagues --
As part of the Mellon Foundation grant funding the start-up of LYRASIS
Technology Services, LTS is establishing a registry to provide in-depth
comparative, evaluative, and version information about open source products.
This registry will be free for viewing and editing (all libraries, not just
LYRASIS members, and any provider offering services for open source software
in libraries). Drupal will be the underlying content system, and it will be
hosted by LYRASIS.
I'm seeking input on a data model that is intended to answer these questions:
• What open source options exist to meet a particular need of my
library?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of an open source package?
• My library has developers with skills in specific technologies. What
open source packages mesh well with the skills my library has in-house?
• Where can my library go to get training, documentation, hosting,
and/or contract software development for a specific open source package?
• Are any peers using this open source software?
• Where is there more information about this open source software
package?
The E-R diagram and narrative surrounding it are on the Code4Lib wiki:
http://wiki.code4lib.org/index.php/Registry_E-R_Diagram
Comments on the data model can be made as changes to the wiki document,
replies posted here, or e-mail sent directly to me. In addition to comments
on the data model, I'm particularly interested in answers to these questions
(also
