[Dspace-general] [Dspace-devel] DSpace 2.0 Direction

[Robert Tansley]

All good points, though our situation is a little different from HTTPD
which is essentially infrastructure implementing a known standard;
we're still in the process of figuring out exactly what an
institutional repository 'is' and 'does', and we have a multi-tier
community with little intersection between tiers (devs, institutional
'curators', end users) as opposed to HTTPD where the developers are a
subset of the users.  I think this means the DSpace dev community
needs to cast a rather wider net than HTTPD for input in priority
setting and so forth.  (Not disagreeing about what you say w.r.t.
developer community self-organisation, just contrasting our situation
with Apache + HTTPD, where I think the DSpace Foundation will offer
more in terms of input for functional direction than Apache would for
HTTPD).

Rob

On 06/07/07, Mark Diggory <mdiggory at mit.edu> wrote:
> As Peter Morgan has directed the thread to the General list, I do
> want to "cool things down a bit" before they get "out of hand". The
> comments are showing up here out of the context of the original
> thread. Here is some context by associating my my most recent post to
> the thread on dspace-devel. If you wish to view the thread, you may
> do so here:
>
> https://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?thread_name=35F78A53-
> CAD6-4EFC-9D54-0A80A14064B1%40MIT.EDU&forum_name=dspace-devel
>
> The only comment I would make to Peters post is that one would
> unequivocally agree that the Apache Foundation's flagship product
> (Apache HTTP Daemon) will always be an HTTP daemon, but that how it
> is implemented will change over time. ASF works to foster and support
> the continued development of the product, but doesn't stipulate to
> the developers to "how" it is to be implemented, just that it has to
> be implemented and implemented "well". HTTPD has certainly gone
> through different incarnations over the years (some more
> controversial that others), but it is and will always be, an HTTP
> daemon.  I think we can rest assured that DSpace will always be a
> Institutional Repository System, but that to be a healthy project,
> DSpace (the software) will certainly change in how it is implemented
> over time and that there are a number of forces that drive this
> evolution on many different levels.
>
> Cheers,
> Mark
>
> > I just want to comment on something I posted initially in the email
> > thread.
> >
> > On Jul 5, 2007, at 11:02 AM, Mark Diggory wrote:
> >>
> >> "In my humblest of opinion", I do not think that the Foundation
> >> leadership should be at all involved with the requirements, specs or
> >> development effort behind 2.0. But that they should rather take a
> >> stance (not unlike that of the Apache Foundation) to be supporting
> >> and protecting the rights of the DSpace developer community and
> >> fostering the developers role deciding the direction that the DSpace
> >> code-base will go in.
> >
> > My statement here could be interpreted as rather caustic towards the
> > idea of Foundation involvement and I want to correct that. I am very
> > supportive of Foundation involvement and don't want to suggest that
> > it is at all an issue.  So I hope I'm clearing any misinterpretation
> > here.
> >
> > I do feel our developer community itself has to take a greater roll
> > in its own internal leadership and that is interdependent with (or in
> > concert with) the foundation.  That rather than folks asking, "When
> > are they (whomever they are) going to create/release 2.0?", that
> > instead we ask ourselves, "How can we (the community) work together
> > in the creation of DSpace 2.0?".  To have a healthy OS community, you
> > need to feel totally empowered to participate and that it is you that
> > creates the software.
> >
> > I think I can speak for the community in saying that; If your a
> > developer working with DSpace anywhere in the world, the community
> > welcomes your participation at any level and needs your participation
> > to continue to maintain a bright future for DSpace.  That if
> > motivated, anyone can can take on a developer role, have their voice
> > heard within our community and be pivotal in the direction that we go
> > in.
> >
> > I want to reiterate that we are very much in need of the Foundations
> > assistance in many ways to support DSpace moving forward. I think I
> > can speak for the whole developer community when we say that we
> > welcome all efforts to enable the community in evolving the software
> > towards the goals we've outlined in our communities Architectural
> > Roadmap.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Mark
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Mark R. Diggory - DSpace Systems Manager
> MIT Libraries, Systems and Technology Services
> Massachusetts Institute of Technology
>
>
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