Category: Clients

Categories
Clients News SWORD v2

Extending DMPOnline with SWORDv2

Cottage Labs have written a blog post about their project to add SWORD v2 deposit functionality into the DCC’s DMPOnline tool.  This new feature allows data management plans that have been created to then be deposited into a central repository using SWORD v2.  By using SWORD v2 (rather than SWORD v1), the data management plans can be re-deposited and updated within the repository as they change.


The code for DMPOnline with Repository Integration is available from: https://github.com/CottageLabs/DMPOnline Cottage Lab’s project page for the project is http://cottagelabs.com/projects/oxforddmponline

Categories
Clients News

Project: SWORD and Archeological Research Data Management

A new project using SWORD to deposit archaeological digital research data at the University of York has just been funded by JISC:

The ADS is the mandated repository for archaeological digital research data funded by the AHRC, NERC and other non-HE bodies. In SWORD-ARM we will work with a number of HE institutions to refine and enhance ADS’s ingest and charging process by creating a SWORD client to streamline and automate deposit. This will strengthen the ADS data management systems and business infrastructure, and deliver real benefits to depositors in terms of their ability to deposit data, create and validate metadata, engage in selection and retention, manage multiple deposits and, crucially, to manage cost estimate and charging processes. SWORD-ARM therefore represents an enhancement to ADS’s role as a discipline-based repository, and an embedding of our role in a number of HE institutions. SWORD-ARM will significantly improve the ability of ADS to handle increasing volumes of data and to charge directly for deposit. It will improve the service offered to our depositors in terms of cost transparency, ease of use and speed of deposit.

Further details can be seen at https://pims.jisc.ac.uk/projects/view/2279

Categories
Clients News SWORD v2

OER Publishing Client Project

We recently announced one of the clients that the SWORD v2 project has been able to fund (the ‘right-click deposit‘ project).  This blog post describes the other project that was funded: “A SWORD-V2 Client for Publishing Open Education Resources (OER) to Connexions”.

Kathi Fletcher is a Shuttleworth Fellow who is focusing on how to foster an ecosystem of innovative tools and services around an education highway (metaphorically) made of open education resources (OER).  Part of this involves implementing a SWORD v2 deposit interface for the Connexions repository of OERs.  Connexions (cnx.org) is a globally available repository of educational materials that can be freely shared, reused, and adapted.

In order to make the deposit of new OERs into the repository even easier this project has been funded to create a deposit tool that will load and convert word document files into CNX-compatible packages, and then deposit them using SWORD v2.  The SWORD interface will then be able to be used to update, augment, and make new versions of the OER modules contained within the repository.

This project will be a good showcase of the applicability of SWORD for all types of content repositories, not just traditional ‘Institutional Repositories’.

We’ll post updates on this blog as the project develops.

Categories
Clients News SWORD v2

Right-Click deposit project

The SWORD project recently published a call for project proposals to create new SWORD v2 clients.  We are happy to announce that two projects have been funded which we’ll introduce in some blog posts.

This blog post introduces the first of the two: Right-click deposit by Kim Shepherd.  The project proposal aims to:

Create a configurable Windows SWORD v2 client which offers quick access to repository deposit via the Windows right-click context menu.

It would be developed with a focus on easy and non-intrusive installation to allow easy large-scale deployments. It will be designed to take advantage of the familiarity most Windows users have with right-click menus and actions, so that users do not have to learn how to use “yet another app”.

Some usage examples include:

  • Pre-configure repository/collection settings and deposit any file with one click
  • Configure repository settings and select collection at time of deposit
  • No configuration, select all options at time of deposit
  • Configure a range of deposit profiles which can be selected via the context menu

We’ll post updates on this blog as the project develops.

Categories
Clients News SWORD v2

SWORD v2 – request for project proposals

The JISC funded SWORD v2 project has been working to extend the original SWORD protocol that facilitates the deposit of materials into repositories.  Based on the Atom-Pub protocol, SWORD v2 enhances the power of SWORD by taking the existing ability of deposit, and adding the ability to retrieve, update, or delete deposits as they pass through the deposit lifecycle.

The project has developed SWORD v2 implementations for DSpace, EPrints and Fedora.  In addition it has developed client code libraries (APIs) for Java, PHP, Ruby and Python.

In order to increase the number of SWORD v2 client implementations, the JISC have donated over £5,000 to fund new SWORD v2 clients.  The majority of this money is being made available in a contested request for projects.  We are seeking developers or development teams to submit ideas for creating new SWORD v2 clients, either by upgrading existing SWORD clients, building SWORD functionality into other scholarly communications tools, or developing entirely new deposit tools.  In addition a small amount of the money will be used to provide technical support to the winning developers by the original SWORD v2 team ensuring that the projects have access to all the help and support they need.

Entrants are encouraged to make use of the existing SWORD v2 client code libraries.  Using the existing client code libraries will lower the development effort needed, enabling rapid, efficient, and cost-effective development.  Proposals to add SWORD v2 into existing well-adopted and mature systems are particularly welcome.

To enter, please tell us the following, in no more than 3 pages:

  • What you plan to develop
  • How this will have a positive impact on repository deposit rates
  • Who will be part of the development team, and some information about their skills
  • How much money you request to perform this development
  • Contact details for the developer(s), including any institutional affiliations

Entries will be judged by a panel of staff from the SWORD v2 project, UKOLN, and JISC.  It is anticipated that 2 to 5 projects will be funded, depending upon the quality of submissions, and the amount of money that each submission requests.  The decision of the judges is final, and the project reserves the right not to spend the whole amount of money if not enough entries of sufficient quality are received.

By submitting a proposal you additionally agree to the following:

  • The completed project will be delivered within 3 months of being notified of their success.
  • The code created will be licenced with an appropriate Open Source licence (to be discussed and agreed with the project), and the source code published online.
  • All liability for tax, local or foreign on the money is the responsibility of the developers.

To enter, submit your proposal to info@swordapp.org by 5:00pm Friday 12th August BST.  Winners should be announced by the end of August.  Proposals are welcome from any country.

Categories
Clients News Repositories SWORD v2

SWORD v2 development effort starts

Following a meeting of the SWORD v2 developers earlier this week, development work to implement the proposed SWORD v2 standard has now started.  Our aim is to have things to show by the time of the Open Repositories 2011 conference in June this year.

The SWORD v2 standard is not yet finalised, however it is hoped that lessons learned during the implementations will allow the final wrinkles to be ironed out and agreed upon.

Thanks to generous funding from JISC, the project is able to fund multiple repository and client implementations.  Each of these will be made openly available, and are listed below.  Once development locations or code repositories for these become available, links will be added to this post.

In addition, a Python Simple SWORD Server (http://sword-app.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/sword-app/sss/trunk/) has been developed to aid initial testing, and a further automated validation test suite will be developed.

Categories
Case studies Clients Repositories SWORD v1

SWORD and the Open Journal Systems (OJS)

As part of the ongoing SWORD development process, we’re hoping to bring you a set of short case studies demonstrating the wide variety of different resource deposit use cases that SWORD enables.  In the first of these case studies, we have a quick chat with the technical architect for the Public Knowledge Project, Alec Smecher.

Alec is the lead developer of Open Journal Systems (OJS), Open Conference Systems (OCS), Open Harvester Systems (OHS), and the PKP Web Application Library (WAL).

SWORD: Alec, could you give us a bit of background about what OJS is, and why it was developed?
Alec: Open Journal Systems is a journal management and publishing system that has been developed by the Public Knowledge Project through its federally funded efforts to expand and improve access to research.  OJS assists with every stage of the refereed publishing process, from submissions through to online publication and indexing.  Through its management systems, its finely grained indexing of research, and the context it provides for research, OJS seeks to improve both the scholarly and public quality of refereed research.

OJS is open source software made freely available to journals worldwide for the purpose of making open access publishing a viable option for more journals, as open access can increase a journal’s readership as well as its contribution to the public good on a global scale.

SWORD: How and why did you decide to use SWORD with OJS?
Alec: Our SWORD support came about via a bit of proof of concept funding from the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) for a project called the Big Digital Machine (BDM).  We worked with DuraSpace and cnx.org on interoperability so that the apps could feed each other data via SWORD. For example, OJS can deposit to Fedora or DSpace for archiving, or into cnx.org as a way of spinning a journal article into textbook content.

SWORD: What different options do OJS administrators have for making use of the OJS SWORD functionality?
Alec: We implemented a number of ways for SWORD deposits to work, in the interests of giving users the flexibility to experiment with different models:

  • Administrators can deposit articles at any time
  • Authors can deposit pre-prints into their own institution’s repository when they’re accepted by the journal (green road open access)
  • Authors can deposit into Journal Manager-specified deposit points
  • Automatic deposits can be configured so that articles are deposited on acceptance, e.g. for journals backed by a repository for archival purposes

SWORD: And how about the future, where do you think OJS and SWORD interoperability could go in the future?
Alec: Ideologically, one of our primary interests is open access (OA), including so-called “green road”, whereby authors are free to deposit articles into their institution’s repository for public consumption, even though the journal might be subscription-based. This is a good idea but authors often don’t follow through, because they don’t trust OA, or don’t have the initiative, etc.  We thought that semi-automating the process might push them towards green OA — when they receive an acceptance email from a journal, they also receive one from the SWORD facility within OJS prompting them to follow a link to specify their repository’s deposit point and complete the deposit.

Of course, authors will almost certainly have no idea what their deposit point is, so a typical thing to do would be to involve their institution’s librarian — a common practice might be for the journal prepare the email that the author receives automatically to include instructions for them simply to forward it to their librarian.

We just write the software, and are at best at arms’ length from the journals themselves, so we typically have to follow an iterative process with new and experimental tools like this — we’ll make some assumptions, some will turn out to be incorrect, and with feedback from users, we’ll refine things from there. By providing tools without prescribing a workflow, we also ensure that journals will have the freedom to try things that we haven’t foreseen.

If you would like to know more about OJS and its SWORD interface, please visit http://pkp.sfu.ca/?q=ojs.  For further information about SWORD, please explore the rest of the SWORD website: https://sword.cottagelabs.com/

Categories
Case studies Clients News Repositories SWORD v1

WANTED: SWORD case studies

We’re looking to improve the SWORD website and inspire new uses of SWORD by collecting and publishing a collection of SWORD case studies.  We’d love to hear from you if you’ve written a SWORD client, or made use of an existing client in a new way.  There is a lot of good work being undertaken that uses SWORD, and we want to make sure that everyone knows about it.

If you have a case study, please either email it to us (info@swordapp.org), or get in touch. If you’d prefer we could arrange to interview you instead.  We’ll publish the case studies on the SWORD website, and we’ll look into other options for disseminating them further.

Categories
Clients News Repositories SWORD v1

The SWORD Course

The complete slides and videos from the SWORD course are now online. To access the course materials use the ‘The SWORD Course‘ link in the menu bar at the top of the site.

Here is an overview of the materials available:

  1. An Introduction to SWORD: Gives an overview of SWORD, the rationale behind its creation, and details of the first three funded SWORD projects (Slides | Video)
  2. SWORD Use Cases: Provides an introduction to use cases, and examines some of the use cases that SWORD can be used for (Slides | Video)
  3. How SWORD Works: A high level overview of the SWORD protocol, lightly touching on a few technical details in order to explain how it works (Slides | Video)
  4. SWORD Clients: The reasons for needing SWORD clients are shown, followed by a tour of some of the current SWORD clients (Slides | Video)
  5. Create Your Own SWORD Client: An overview of the EasyDeposit SWORD client creation toolkit, including the chance to try it out (Slides | Video)