The Need for Interoperability

1
The Need for Interoperability

• Professor Neil McLean
• National Technical Standards Adviser
• Department of Education, Science and Training
• Email mclean_at_caval.edu.au
• November 2004
• Accessibility Standards Tutorial

2
Interoperability Dimensions

• Technical
• Semantic
• Political human
• Intercommunity
• Legal
• International

3
Technical Interoperability

• Main focus has been on technical interoperability
• Covers communication, transport, storage and
  representation
• Many competing standards and standards making
  agencies
• Standards selection a key to success
• Technical interoperability still a challenge

4
Semantic Interoperability

• Covers a host of issues relating to the
  description of a resource
• Many different concepts and approaches
• New approaches required for the development of
  metadata infrastructure

5
Political/Human Interoperability

• Availability of resources central to
  interoperability
• Many issues surrounding ownership and control
• Slow development of business rules for access
  management in many communities

6
Intercommunity Interoperability

• Institutions and communities of interest all have
  own rules of engagement
• Few mechanisms to facilitate cross-domain
  conversations
• Much repetition of effort in various domains

7
Legal Interoperability

• Different countries and different service domains
  require different legal obligations
• Many privacy, intellectual rights, archiving and
  accessibility legal requirements

8
International Interoperability

• International interoperability impeded by all the
  above and by language barriers

9
The Role of Standards

• Optimise interoperability between systems
• Facilitate information exchange across domains
• Permit sharing of common services
• Allow scalable solutions
• Provide orderly base for infrastructure
  developments
• Assist migration strategies
• Maximise return on investment

10
Conclusions

• Standards making is a process to facilitate
  interoperability
• Progress is incremental
• Engagement in process essential
• Accessibility standards depend on a range of
  technical and human factors