[Dspace-general] Week 3: Good Repository Software

[Graham Triggs]

Simon Brown wrote:
> Now, in a way, I can understand why fixing these things hasn't been  
> high on anyone's list - my institution has things it would rather I do  
> with our system in the same way that anyone else's does. What I'm less  
> sure of is why a better architecture (which would benefit everyone who  
> works with the codebase and therefore, indirectly, everyone else who  
> uses DSpace) hasn't been more of a priority for the federation.

This isn't intended to be rude, but I think this deserves a response and 
the only way I can see to do so is simply state the facts.

Two years ago, the foundation didn't even exist, and HP and MIT were 
only starting that process around mid-to-late 2006 (as far as I recall).

The first thing that that process did was to get funding to gather a 
group of committers and interested parties for a week-long discussion on 
the architecture, with a number of suggestions and things to investigate 
(the output of this meeting was documented on the Wiki)

That was October 2006. The foundation didn't exist in any real sense 
though until after Michele Kimpton came on board (the press release 
announcing the formation of the foundation is dated July 2007).

The foundation was immediately seeking funding for important development 
work. By October 2007, potential funding had been found and some 
resources earmarked.

Although this funding wasn't confirmed, some resources for the project 
had still not been found, and there was no technical director for the 
foundation. All of that wasn't finally resolved for another six or so 
months.

That brings us up to two months ago, which is where the work to define 
the scope and priorities of the funded development has begun.

As you say, without the foundation doing all the above, there are very 
few people that are in a position to address even part of the 
architectural problem. But even with the best will in the world, those 
are the timescales to making it a practical reality.

 
 
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