Cross-Search Aggregation Service Management: a niche in the rep

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Introduction Aims

• Describe interactions in setting up and managing
  a cross-search service
• Show how the ecology view of these interactions
  enhances the architecture view
• Entities not in the architectural view
• Keystone species
• Habitat and niche in ecology
• Competition

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Introduction PerX

• Pilot Engineering Repository Cross Search
• develop a pilot service which provides subject
  specific resource discovery across a series of
  repositories of interest to the engineering
  learning and research communities
• Funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee
  (JISC) of the UK University funding bodies
• Working within the JISCs Information
  Environment

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The PerX Use Case

• An Engineer is engaged in some work...

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The PerX Use Case

• An Engineer is engaged in some work, when
  suddenly they require further information to
  complete their task

?
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The PerX Use Case

• So the Engineer goes to their computer and
  performs a search on the PERX website.

!
See http//www.icbl.hw.ac.uk/perx/
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The PerX Use Case

• The PERX systems cross searches a series of
  repositories of interest and as a result the
  engineer finds the information needed to complete
  the task effectively.
• The world is made a better place.

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The Architectural View
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JISC Information Environment

• Technical Architecture by Andy Powell

See http//www.ukoln.ac.uk/distributed-systems/jis
c-ie/arch/
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IE Architecture view of PerX
The website used by the Engineer is a
presentation layer connection to PerX. The PerX
service is an aggregator in the fusion layer of
the IE architecture, it cross searches
information about resources which is held by
several services in the provision layer. PerX
knows the nature of these content provider
services and how to search them because of data
provided by a service registry which is part of
the shared infrastructure. Other shared services
(not shown) may be involved in delivering the
resource.
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The Ecology View
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PerX Landscape analysis
The PerX service manager needs to identify
suitable content providers and set up connections
to them using the Perx Admin INterface
(PAIN). The Service Registry does not (yet)
contain reliable information to help him. No
machine to machine connection is implemented.
See http//www.icbl.hw.ac.uk/perx/sharedservices_I
ESR.htm
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PerX Landscape analysis
However, the PerX service manager is part of a
community active in providing information
resources for engineers (for example the service
managers of content providers other end user
services). This community is in contact with
the Engineering community in order to ascertain
the needs of Engineers and so can provide
information on providers of data about
information resources relevant to engineers.
See http//www.icbl.hw.ac.uk/perx/sharedservices_I
ESR.htm
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PerX Setup Maintenance
In order to set up and maintain a cross search of
a content provider the PerX service manager uses
information from the content providers website,
other resources provided by the information
community, and frequently, a great deal of direct
contact with the content provider service manager.
See http//www.icbl.hw.ac.uk/perx/setupmaintenance
.htmand http//www.icbl.hw.ac.uk/perx/casestudyox
ford.htm
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PerX Setup Maintenance
Sometimes it was not possible to establish
contact with any individual as the service
manager at the content provider. In such cases
we are left trying to work with a nebulous
community around the service provider. Only when
someone within that community had taken the time
to expose information about interoperability
services (e.g. on a website) was it possible to
establish a data feed.
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The Cross-search habitat
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Entities Interacting with PerX

• The ecology view adds the following entities to
  those in the architecture
• PerX service manager
• Information community
• Content provider service manager
• Content provider community
• (Others exist, e.g. funder and host institution)?
• Look at interactions between just two of these in
  more detail...

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Information required from the content provider...

• is there any way to limit the cross-search to
  just the information relevant to Engineers?

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Information required from the service provider...

• What classification scheme (if any) has been used
  to describe the subject of resources in the
  content providers collection?
• (please can we have something richer than the
  default simple DC metadata?)

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Information required from the service provider...

• What criteria are used to provide sets (if
  available) for an OAI-PMH data provider?

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Information required from the service provider...

• Why are some of the sets empty?

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Information required from the service provider...

• Why is the XML returned invalid?

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Information required from the service provider...

• Why has the service stopped responding?

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Information required from the service provider...

• Why is the number and range of resources
  available for discovery through the
  interoperability protocol different to what was
  available through the native interface?

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Information required from the service provider...

• Why does the metadata available to PerX not
  include any locator or identifier by which the
  resource could be obtained?

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Information required from the service provider...

• Time and context dependent
• Rich information,
• Not readily obtained by protocol identify or
  explain requests.
• Characteristic of immature implementations.
• Require action, maybe by both parties, in order
  for requirements of both parties to be met
  coevolution.

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Locality and Habitation

• "The habitation of a technology is its location
  within a network of relationships...
• "We cannot overemphasize a key point here only
  the participants of an information ecology can
  establish the identity and place of the
  technologies that are found there."
• Nardi and O'Day Information ecologies (1999) p
  55

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Habitat and Niche

• "The term ecological niche is often used
  loosely to describe the sort of place in which an
  organism lives as in the sentence 'Woodlands are
  the niche of woodpeckers'. Strictly, however,
  where an organism lives is its habitat. A niche
  is not a place but an idea a summary of the
  organism's tolerances and requirements"
• Begon et al Ecology from Individuals to
  Ecosystems (2006) p 31

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Tolerances and Requirements, 1.

• Require attention and commitment from content
  provider service manager.
• Either to answer questions or implement changes
• Can be person to person or mediated through.
  channels like website, explain function
  (ZeeRex).
• Currently a lot of the information required is
  rich and context specific.
• Content provider and cross-search provider might
  both need to change (co-evolution).
• Identify the service manager as a keystone
  species.

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Tolerances and Requirements, 2.

• Users. There's no direct need for users(!)
  however with users come
• Funding
• Attention and commitment from content providers
• Good contacts within the Information Community
• But users won't be interested in information
  obtained only by one interoperability protocol or
  from one type of repository...

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Competition

• Where two species (partially) occupy the same
  same niche in the same habitat they will be in
  competition
• Also competition from other individuals of the
  same species.
• Competition for
• Users
• Attention
• Funding

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Reflections

• An architecture is a static ideal design an end
  point. It is limited to technological entities.
• The ecological approach adopted here describes
• what actually exists / happens
• an evolving system
• it includes people explicitly ... the people turn
  out to be important.

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Reflections

• The people I spoke to about this work were far
  more able to engage with this approach than when
  I speak to them about architectures.
• they talk about what they do, who they interact
  with, not the big picture. Locality, habitat, and
  niche.
• process akin to enthological evaluations or
  action research?
• a description of the niche requirements should
  feed into the development of shared services

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Thankyou.

• questions....