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Linking and Persistence

I’m currently working on a deliverable which relates to the provision of ‘persistent links’ to resources. This is part of that report and I’d be interested in feedback. As well as the text I’ve inlcuded a specific question at the end – I’d be very interested in responses:

When providing links to online resources it is clearly desirable that the links will work over long periods of time. However, it is common for resources to be identified and located by multiple URLs over time. This creates a challenge when forming a reference to an online resource.

This report will not attempt to cover all aspects of persistent identifiers, which are well covered elsewhere, particularly by Emma Tonkin’s 2008 article on the topic in Ariadne . However, it will consider approaches discussed within the TELSTAR project.

Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs)

A DOI name “provides a means of persistently identifying a piece of intellectual property on a digital network and associating it with related current data in a structured extensible way.” (from http://www.doi.org/faq.html#1)

On the web, a given DOI can be ‘resolved’ via a DOI System proxy server – the most commonly used being http://dx.doi.org. A DOI can be resolved by appending the DOI to the proxy server URL. For example:

DOI Name: doi:10.10.123/456
URL for resolution: http://dx.doi.org/10.10.123/456

In the majority of cases such a URL will resolve to the full text of the resource on a publishers website. However, there are examples of a DOI resolving to other services – such as a page listing a number of different URLs for the identified resource when it is available through multiple routes.

DOIs are being widely adopted to identify journal articles with a smaller amount of use to identify books, book chapters and other types of resource (see http://www.crossref.org/06members/53status.html for a breakdown of the different resources being identified by DOIs). The DOI has become part of some commonly used Citation styles such as APA .

Linking to online versions of articles using the DOI has a major drawback. Because the standard behaviour of DOI resolution services is to link to the ‘publisher’ version of the paper, it does not take into account the ‘appropriate copy’ problem . In brief the ‘appropriate copy’ problem is the issue that there may exist a number of different routes to a resource, but typically members of an institution will only be able to use a subset of the overall routes, depending on institutional subscriptions and services. It was the ‘appropriate copy’ problem that led to the development of the OpenURL standard.

PURLs (Persistent URLs)

A PURL is “an address on the World Wide Web that points to other Web resources. If a Web resource changes location (and hence URL), a PURL pointing to it can be updated.” (from http://purl.oclc.org/docs/faq.html#toc1.5)

PURLs were created in recognition that web resources can change location (and so URL) . A PURL can be assigned to a web resource and if the web resource changes location the PURL can be updated to point to the new location (URL) for the resource.

PURLs can be created through the use of appropriate software, either by hosting the software or by using a public PURL server such as that hosted by OCLC.

OpenURLs

Unlike DOIs and PURLs, OpenURLs are not specifically persistent identifiers for a resource. The OpenURL framework standard (ANSI/NISO Z39.88) enables the creation of applications that transfer packages of information over a network. The only significant implementation of the standard is to transfer metadata related to bibliographic resources.

OpenURL has seen widespread adoption by University Libraries in combination with ‘OpenURL resolver’ software. This ‘resolver’ software typically uses the metadata available from an OpenURL (transported over http) and provides a link to the ‘appropriate copy’ based on the library’s subscription information.

OpenURLs are also commonly used by ejournal platforms to enable inbound links to specific resources (typically journal articles).

As the metadata related to a publication tends to be persistent over time OpenURLs can be seen as ‘persistent’ in one sense. However, OpenURLs in themselves simply provide a transport mechanism for metadata, and how they are ‘resolved’ and what they resolve to depends on the resolver software and the information available to that resolver. This means the result of resolving an OpenURL can change over time.

Managed URLs

It is possible to enable ‘persistence’ of links to online resources by introducing and managing a level of redirection. Using a ‘managed’ URL which in turn redirects to the location of the resource it is possible to then use the managed URL in place of the current location of the resource. If the resource is moved the managed URL can be updated to point at the new location of the resource.

The Open University currently uses a number of different types of Managed URLs depending on the type of resource being linked to. These mechanisms are described below in the section on the “Current Linking strategy at the Open University”.

[the following paragraphs are not part of the report, but conclude with some questions which I’m looking for answers to, so comments would be welcome]

An example of a ‘managed URL’ at the Open University is the use of a system called ROUTES. ROUTES is an implementation of the Index+ software from System Simulation.

This is used to give a ‘managed URL’ to freely available web resources. When a resource is added to ROUTES, its URL is recorded in the record. For example see the ROUTES record for the BBC Homepage.

Once a resource has been added to ROUTES, a ROUTES URL is used in place of the resource primary URL in Open University course material. This ROUTES URL results in a http status 302 being returned (i.e. a redirect) to the resources primary URL as recorded in ROUTES. Then, if the resource moves in the future the ROUTES record can be updated, but the ROUTES URL being used in OU course material does not change. For example:

So, my questions are

  • Can we talk about ROUTES URLs as PURLs, or are there important differences between what the PURL software is doing and what ROUTES does?
  • If so, what are these differences?
  • Does the more generic term ‘managed URL’ fit the bill?

Service Usage Model (SUM) for Citation Management

One of the workpackages in the TELSTAR project involves working towards development of a Service Usage Model (SUM) that will be offered as a contribution to the e-Framework.

The e-Framework for Education and Research is “an international initiative that provides information to institutions on investing in and using information technology infrastructure. It advocates service-oriented approaches to facilitate technical interoperability of core infrastructure as well as effective use of available funding. …The e-Framework maintains the content to assist other international education and research communities in planning, prioritising and implementing their IT infrastructure in a better way.”

We feel that it is quite important to attempt to model the work that is being done in the TELSTAR project by describing it in a controlled and systems-neutral way in order that other F/HEIs that have a similar business need have the opportunity to adopt similar methodologies regardless of the technical systems they may have available.

We are using the templates provided by the e-Framework to describe the business-level capabilities, the business processes or workflows, the technical functionality, the structure and arrangement of the functions, applicable standards, design decisions, data sources and services used.

We have started with a ‘top-level’ SUM which is a broad view of the whole area of what we have called “Citation Management”. We aim to follow up with 6 more detailed SUMs that represent the 6 business processes that the project is addressing. These are:

  • Add references
  • Aggregate references
  • Import/export references
  • Create bibliography
  • Manage bibliography
  • Recommend resources

We would welcome any comments on the top-level SUM over the next few weeks, and will add drafts of the detailed SUMs as they are developed. You can read and comment on the Citation Management SUM at https://e-framework.usq.edu.au/users/wiki/CitationManagement.

User Requirements

The TELSTAR project has a range of deliverables, many of them are in the form of documentation or reports. As we approach the end of the project, I will be posting drafts of various deliverables to this blog for public comment. This is the first of these posts.

Although this document is aimed at the requirements for software developed for the Open University, I hope it will prove useful to others, and as such I’d like to make sure it is understandable and possibly applicable to other situations. With this in mind I’d like to invite comments on the document, whether there are any parts that don’t make sense to you (especially those outside the Open University) and also if there is anything missing from these requirements that you would have expected to see there.

Introduction

Purpose of this document

This document formally describes the functional user requirements for the TELSTAR project at the Open University. It is part of the Prototype Technical Documentation which is a key deliverable of the project.

The Telstar Project is looking at how to integrate references to resources into a VLE, making it as easy as possible for students to access the referenced resources, while encouraging students (and teachers?) to adopt good practice in referencing and citations – e.g. Using an appropriate reference/citation style).

Scope of this document

This document is specifically focussed on the requirements of the TELSTAR project which is in turn based on the needs of stakeholders at the Open University.

Definitions

Course Website A protected website accessible only to those taking the course. Course Websites at the Open University are created using the Moodle VLE software
DOI “A DOI® (Digital Object Identifier) is a name (not a location) for an entity on digital networks. It provides a system for persistent and actionable identification and interoperable exchange of managed information on digital networks.” http://www.doi.org/overview/sys_overview_021601.html
ePortfolio “A purposeful collection of information and digital artifacts that demonstrates development or evidences learning outcomes, skills or competencies “(http://www.eportfolios.ac.uk/?pid=174)
ISBN International Standard Book Number – “a … number that uniquely identifies book and book-like products published internationally” http://www.isbn.org/standards/home/isbn/us/isbnqa.asp#Q1
Structured Content (SC) An XML schema used by the Open University to author course material for publication in both print and online formats.

General Description

Stakeholders

The Stakeholders for these user requirements are:

  • Course teams (authors, administrators and clerical staff)
  • Editorial staff
  • Librarians
  • Students

Common tasks

Course teams:

  • Add a new reference to a piece of structured content
  • Add new references to a Resource page on the Course website
  • Create an RSS feed of references and add this to a Resource page on the Course website
  • Add a new reference to an existing RSS feed of references
  • Request ‘persistent’ URLs for resources from the library

Editors:

  • Manually adjust the display format of a reference in structured content
  • Check links from References to online resources work
  • Request ‘persistent’ URLs for resources from the library
  • Correct incorrect links from References to online resources

Librarians:

  • Add a new reference to a Resource page on the Course website
  • Create an RSS feed of references and add this to a Resource page on the Course website
  • Add a new reference to an existing RSS feed of references
  • Check links from References to online resources work
  • Correct incorrect links from References to online resources
  • Supply ‘persistent’ URLs for resources to Course teams and Editors

Students:

  • Follow a link from a reference on the Course Website to a resource
  • Add reference to their personal environment, from the Course Website and other sources
  • Orgainse references by a variety of criteria
  • Bookmark useful resources found online (via the Course Website or through other routes)
  • Add references or citations to assessed pieces of work
  • Create a bibliography for assessed pieces of work

Methodology

The requirements listed here were compiled through a number of routes:

  • Interviews with individual stakeholders
  • Focus groups with stakeholders, specifically library staff and students
  • Usage statistics from existing systems that provide relevant functionality
  • Anecdotal feedback provided to the library over time

Functional Requirements

1. References within Structured Content

Number

Requirement

Mandatory (M)/Desirable (D)/Future Enhancement (E)

1.1

It should be possible to enter new reference details via a simple form

M

1.2

It should be possible to capture new reference details by supplying minimal metadata such as a DOI or ISBN

D

1.3

It should be possible to format the references within SC (Structured Content) to follow the OU Style Guide specification for references

M

1.4

It should be possible to format the references within SC (Structured Content) in a variety of other citation/referencing styles

D

1.5

It should be possible to manually adjust the reference text as displayed (i.e. the style) while maintaining the link to structured reference data

M

1.6

It should be possible to indicate if reading/viewing a resource is required or optional

D

1.7

Links to online versions of printed references should be created automatically where possible

M

1.8

It should be possible to manually insert a link into a reference and use this in preference to the automatically created link

M

1.9

It should be possible to suppress the display of a link from a reference to an online resource

D

1.10

Any links to online versions of resources should be persistent over time

M

1.11

Any links to online versions of resources should be accompanied by a full reference to the resource (in the style agreed for the course)

M

1.12

Students should be able to export all references, or a subset of references, to their ePortfolio

M

1.13

Students should be able to export all references, or a subset of references, to other formats of their choice

D

1.14 It should be possible to check all links to online resources from structured content are valid, preferably by some automated process M

2. References to Resources on Course Websites (excluding structured content)

Number

Requirement

Mandatory/Desirable

2.1

It should be possible to enter new reference details via a simple form

M

2.2

It should be possible to capture new reference details by supplying minimal metadata such as a DOI or ISBN

D

2.3

Links to online versions of printed references should be created automatically where possible

M

2.4

It should be possible to manually insert a link into a reference and use this in preference to the automatically created link

M

2.5

It should be possible to suppress the display of a link from a reference to an online resource

D

2.6

Any links to online versions of resources should be persistent over time

M

2.7

Any links to online versions of resources should be accompanied by a full reference to the resource (in the style agreed for the course)

M

2.8

It should be possible to link references to the relevant courses

M

2.9

It should be possible to display all the references linked to a specific course, within the relevant course context

M

2.10

It should be possible set the order in which references appear when displayed within a course context

M

2.11

It should be possible to group references under different headings when displayed within a course context

M

2.12

It should be possible for a student to export a subset of, or all, references to their ePortfolio

M

2.13

Students should be able to export all references, or a subset of references, to their ePortfolio

M

2.14

Students should be able to export all references, or a subset of references, to other formats of their choice

D

2.15

It should be possible to manually adjust the reference text as displayed (i.e. the style) while maintaining the link to structured reference data

M

2.16 It should be possible to check all links to online resources from resource pages are valid, preferably by some automated process M

3. References in ePortfolios

Number

Requirement

Mandatory/Desirable

3.1

It should be possible to enter new reference details via a simple form

M

3.2

It should be possible to capture new reference details by supplying minimal metadata such as a DOI or ISBN

D

3.3

It should be possible to capture reference details from Resource pages on Course Websites

M

3.4

It should be possible to capture reference details from Structured Content on Course Websites

M

3.5

It should be possible to edit references previously added to the ePortfolio

M

3.6

It should be possible to organize references into groups (e.g. by tagging or organization into folders)

M

3.7

It should be possible to add references to existing organizational groups

M

3.8

It should be possible to remove references from existing organizational groups

M

3.9

Where a link is automatically generated to an online versions of the resources that is not available to the student, they should be directed to a page explaining the problem and offering further support.

D

3.10

It should be possible to create a list of references from the ePortfolio in a variety of citation/referencing styles

M

3.11

It should be possible to export a set of references from an ePortfolio to an appropriately styled bibliography in a Word compatible file format

D

3.12

It should be possible to export a set of references from an ePortfolio to a file that could be imported into other bibliographic management systems

M

3.13

It should be possible add comments to a reference within an ePortfolio

M

3.14

It should be possible to share a reference from an ePortfolio with other students

M

3.15

It should be possible to add comments to shared references

D

3.16

It should be possible to automatically import references relevant to the student’s current course registrations

E

3.17

It should be possible to add files as attachments (e.g. PDFs) to references

E

3.18 It should be possible to see local library service options for references that are not available online. E.g. Option to see if a local public or University library has a copy of the resource E