Columbia Earthscape: Overview, Status

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Columbia EarthscapeOverview, Status Plans

• David Millman
• Columbia University
• dsm_at_columbia.edu

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Topics

• Earthscape
• business plan, content, technology
• current status
• Organizational Context the EPIC center
• Technical Context architecture
• Plans new applications, standardization

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Earthscape Goals

• to create a fully-integrated, interactive online
  resource for research and educational materials
  in Earth Science
• to evaluate the ongoing value and economic
  viability of providing these services on a
  subscription-based, cost-recovery model to
  schools, libraries and individual teachers and
  students via the Internet

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Earthscape Overview

• a publication in the Earth sciences
• editorial board
• no corresponding print edition
• subscription based, self-sustaining
• a collaboration
• Columbia University Press
• University library
• Academic Information Systems
• partner institutions

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Earthscape Business Plan

• startup funding from NSF, SPARC, internal
• subscription incomeinstitutional subscriptions
  pricing from 500-1500/year teaching edition at
  250/year
• 500 institutional subscriptions by end of year 3
  to become self-sustaining

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Earthscape Content Plan

• curricular materials for teaching about the earth
  from an interdisciplinary and interactive
  perspective
• reports of research projects and conference
  proceedings
• links to data sets and computer models of ongoing
  research
• a magazine, Earth Affairs, designed to educate
  students and the general public

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Earthscape Technical Plan

• extensive internal linkage
• citation framework
• multiple classification/term systems
• distributed data/metadata
• distributed security system

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Internal Linkage
Research Reports
Curriculum Modules
Earth Affairs
Resources
report
policy impact, commentary
virtual lab experiment
underlying research data
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Linkage technology

• Naming scheme
• Markup process
• DOI/Handle/PURL permanent identifier

New linkage uses

• Alternate views of site
• Portions as appropriate, per audience
• Citations

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Term Mapping
dataset
LC subjects
query
data dictionary (codebook)
thesaurus
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Distributed Architecture

• Deconstructing interface
• kinds of intermediary services
• resolution of location-independent names
• kinds of metadata (structural, descriptive,
  administrative)
• standards work
• Performance
• Access Management

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Distributed architecture
user
Earthscape site
content
?
partner site A
interface intermediary
content
content
content
content
?
partner site B
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Search across datasets
1
4
2
2
metadata
metadata
interface intermediary
3
3
data
data
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Status June, 2000

• Earthscape launched December, 1999
• 124 curriculum models in Climate Change and
  Hazards 50 links to external models
• 210 research reports, 60 books, 49 journals
  (abstracts)
• 2 (new preview) magazine issues (4-6 papers in
  each)
• contains approx 950MB text, still images,
  models, plus 30 hours video

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Status . . .

• subscriptions
• 200 institutions on free trial
• 55 subscriptions purchased, plus 3 consortia,
  plus Ohio
• 50 content-contributing partner institutions
• some outside of the academic community news
  organizations (CBS, NY Times), museums
• creates a rich resource for teaching as well as
  scholarship

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New Organizational Context

• EPICElectronic Publishing Initiative at Columbia
• formed by Exec-Vice Provost Sept, 1999
• formalize partnership among Columbia Press,
  Academic Computing, the Libraries

www.epic.columbia.edu
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EPICModels in Four Areas

• acquisition, review, and disseminations of online
  scholarly content
• development of a collaborative organization
  involving scholars, libraries, technologists, and
  publishers
• creation of standardized technology systems that
  can be used across projects
• evaluation of use and effects on research and
  teaching

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EPIC Publications

• Columbia International Affairs Online (CIAO).
  Launched September, 1997.
• Columbia Earthscape. Launched December, 1999.
• Gutenberg-E. In development. To be launched
  January, 2001.

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EPIC Staffing

• common
• management
• support, marketing
• evaluation
• technology development
• per-project
• editorial
• contribution to production
• technology as needed

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EPIC Technology
Uses Columbia Digital Library Architecture

• independent layers
• distributed
• modular combinations of facilities
• multi-purpose uses of content

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Architecture Overview
Interface
Index
Access Control
Naming
Repository
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1. Repository

• storage of bits
• content neutral
• priorities
• preservation
• integrity
• e.g.,
• backup, redundancy, signed objects

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2. Naming
Interface
Index
Access Control
Naming
Repository
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2. Naming

• persistent identifiers
• e.g., DOI, PURL, handles
• for consistent access
• for citations
• issues
• administration
• semantics
• granularity
• hierarchy/inheritance

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3. Access Control
Interface
Index
Access Control
Naming
Repository
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3. Access Control

• higher-ed is both consumer and provider
• broker architectureamong authentication
  (identity) and authorization (capability) systems
  (dlib.org, Sept 1998)
• certificate architecturefor both auth auth,
  highly distributed (dlib.org, Nov 1999)
• specialized local subscription systems
• toward no IP-based security

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Access Control
as campus infrastructure
unix uids
web server
kerberos
broker
ldap
unix gids
browser
organizational boundary
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Access Control
as publisher
unix uids
web server
kerberos
broker
subscriber database
organizational boundary
browser
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Access Control
as either customer or publisher
web server
C
organizational boundary
C
ldap
browser
cert issuer
C
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Access Control

• technology pilot using digital certificates, with
  DLF, UC System, U of Minn, OCLC, JSTOR
• policy pilot with CREN CA and enterprise
  stakeholders (counsel, controller, secretary)
• related work Internet-2 middleware

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4. Index
Interface
Index
Access Control
Naming
Repository
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4. Index

• classification, retrieval, collation
• full-text retrieval
• performance vs flexibility
• structured text retrieval
• specialized indexes
• master metadata file (MMF)
• traditional bibliographic/descriptive
• structural (pages, hierarchies)

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5. Interface
Interface
Index
Access Control
Naming
Repository
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5. Interface

• experience
• conception, description, funding
• vs framework enabling multiple experiences
• content re-use
• integrated content, not links to whole web pages

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DL Applications
browser
Interface
Index
Access Control
Naming
Repository
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DL Applications
browser
1
4
Interface
2 3
Index
Access Control
Naming
Repository
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DL Applications
browser
5
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1
4
Interface
6 13
2 3
Index
7 12
Access Control
8 11
Naming
Repository
9 10
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Applications--Interoperable
browser
Interface
Index
Access Control
Naming
Repository
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Scalability

• interoperable layers may be
• remote
• have different policies
• use different technologies
• have different audiences

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DL Applications
browser
a. history scholars
b. earthscape
c, local courses
Interface
d, maps
f. relational database
e, ultraseek
Index
h. local population
g. commercial
i. Yale community
Access Control
Naming
j. at Berkeley
Repository
l. Library of Congress
k.. UK mirror
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Further Work

• extend community pilots in scalable access
  management
• pursue collaborations in descriptive metadata
  interoperability (e.g., DLF, Open Archives)
• pursue collaborations in structural metadata
  interoperability (e.g., object types,
  harmonization of numerical dataset queries)
• follow preservation and archiving guidelines as
  they may emerge

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Further Work

• develop depository with formal properties
• rights assignment
• conditions of use
• mechanism for usage reporting
• mechanism for author/publisher credit/payment
• document authenticity

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Depository Funding Models

• institutional subscription model
• free use through support from funding agencies
• sponsorship by commercial organization
• access fees for some and free access to others
  depending on ability to pay

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Standards and Models

• technology
• staffing
• technology, design, production
• editorial
• business
• licensing, intellectual property management
• sustainability
• partnerships
• archiving and preservation

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fin