[Dspace-general] DSpace development priorities: starting a discussion

[Dorothea Salo]

Greetings, DSpace community,

Apologies to those for whom this message is duplicated; Mark Diggory
asked me to bring dspace-tech into the loop. I've kept the original
message to dspace-general quoted below, for those who haven't seen it.

I want to thank everyone who has participated in this discussion
already, both on- and off-list; I've gotten quite a bit of valuable
feedback. Here's what I propose to do. If I don't hear objections or
suggested refinements, I'll come up with days and times and we'll get
started.

First, I'd like to toss out a weekly question to the dspace-general
group by way of gathering raw reactions and requirements that can
later be distilled into something actionable. I have a supply of such
questions, and I will be drawing more from the 2007 user survey,
though of course I'm very open to suggestions from other community
members. Responses can be on- or off-list; I will summarize off-list
responses to the list.

I would ask that responders to the weekly question answer immediately,
BEFORE they read any other responses. This is important! Reading other
answers tends to circumscribe one's own, reducing the overall breadth
of response. In fact, I am tempted to say that the week of the weekly
question should be reserved for immediate reaction, saving discussion
for the next week... so we could have reactions to one question and
discussion of another going on in different threads simultaneously.

I would also like to do online chats or similar synchronous
interaction at least biweekly. Timezones and language barriers are
obviously a problem with that, but I'll do my best -- and I would
appreciate hearing from potential chat hosts in Europe and Asia. I've
set up a room on Meebo, faute de mieux; if there are better ideas, let
me know.

Finally, I've heard some interest in an informal birds-of-a-feather
meeting on this topic at SPARC Digital Repositories 2008. I do expect
to attend that conference, and I'm quite willing to facilitate a BOF.

Let me know if this seems good -- have at it! And again, thank you.

Dorothea

On Wed, Aug 6, 2008 at 3:07 PM, Dorothea Salo <dsalo at library.wisc.edu> wrote:
> Greetings, DSpace community,
>
> For some time, I've been concerned that the DSpace development process
> hasn't enjoyed as much input from the broader community as would be
> desirable. The voices of less-technical repository managers and other
> staff associated with DSpace repositories have been particularly
> difficult to attract to the discussion. I'm hoping to gather
> impressions and suggestions from this specific segment of the
> community (though others are welcome as well!) to pass on to DSpace
> developers. With any luck, this process will build a stronger
> connection between developers and repository managers going forward.
>
> The DSpace development-priority survey done in 2007 was valuable and
> worthwhile, and if possible, I'd like to revisit some of the questions
> raised there. I'd also like to start "in your own words" discussions
> about what repository managers want and need from DSpace that it isn't
> yet providing.
>
> We can certainly talk here, and I welcome that! More than one DSpace
> developer has agreed to monitor these discussions, and I will be
> summarizing them back to the development list. But I'm completely open
> to other venues as well -- IM, group chat, Web 2.0, Skype, out-of-band
> email -- depending on what people tell me they want.
>
> So. How would you like to do this? Once we've sorted out the process,
> we can get down to business. Feel free to contact me off-list if you
> prefer.
>
> Dorothea
>
> --
> Dorothea Salo dsalo at library.wisc.edu
> Digital Repository Librarian AIM: mindsatuw
> University of Wisconsin
> Rm 218, Memorial Library
> (608) 262-5493
>



-- 
Dorothea Salo dsalo at library.wisc.edu
Digital Repository Librarian AIM: mindsatuw
University of Wisconsin
Rm 218, Memorial Library
(608) 262-5493