Category: News

The final version of the SWORD V3 specification has been released with no major changes from the Release Candidate. As expected, some details did need tightening up/clarification as a result of the Invenio implementation exercise last year. Links to the specification, code and other supporting documentation can all be found by clicking on the SWORD V3 (top right of the page).

If you are interested in developing SWORD V3 support for your preferred programming language/platform, please let us know at sword@cottagelabs.com.

Richard Jones presented SWORDv3: Deposit protocol, from draft to reference implementation at Samvera Connect 2020 Online in October 2020. Samvera is a leading framework for the development of Repositories based on the Fedora Commons platform.

A SWORD V3 Birds-of-a-feather session was held at the 12th RDA Plenary on 5-8th November in Gabarone, Botswana. An update on progress was given and discussion started on future plans. A copy of the presentation is archived in Zenodo.

The final draft of the SWORD V3 Technical Specification has been released for comment. You can find them in the SWORD V3 of this website along with guidance for reading the documents and other supporting materials.

To comment, please contact us to get onto the stakeholders list – details can be found here.

A SWORD Community Discussion document has been released for comment. You can find them in the SWORD V3 section of this website along previously released technical documentation.

To comment, please contact us to get onto the stakeholders list – details can be found an earlier previous post. We aim to start developing some firmer community recommendations in the new year.

The first drafts of the SWORD V3 Technical Specification have been released for comment. You can find them in the SWORD V3 of this website along with guidance for reading the documents and other supporting materials.

To comment, please contact us to get onto the stakeholders list – details can be found in the previous post. We aim to start work on a revised spec, taking into account your feedback, bythe end of the year.

The SWORDV3 project has been funded by Jisc with two key aims for the next generation of the SWORD Protocol:

• To bring SWORD up-to-date with the developments in the repository sphere in the last 5 years, with alignment to new protocols and new use-cases such as data publishing and complex objects.
• To establish community and governance mechanisms for the standard and supporting code libraries to ensure ongoing maintenance and evolution. This will include a technical validation process to allow third party libraries to be hosted under the SWORD brand.

in September, the project was formally announced at PASIG 2017 in Oxford and the RDA 10th Plenary in Montreal. We are looking for expressions of interest in becoming involved as stakeholders in the project: to make suggestions, review activities and meet as required over the coming months. In particular, we are interested in making contact with people who may wish to develop SWORD V3 libraries for their preferred platforms or languages since we aim to provide some support for such activities during the project. Please contact one of the project team  if you are interested in participating, and indicate if you are interested in the technical or community aspects of the project (or both!).

The key members of the project team are:

• Dom Fripp – Jisc (Funder) – Project Manager, SWORD user through the Jisc Research Data Shared Service
• Richard Jones – Cottage Labs Ltd – Technical Lead, SWORD contributor and implementer
• Neil Jefferies – Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford – Community Lead, SWORD user through Data2paper project (and internally within the Bodleian Library)

On the technical side, we are creating a document that brings together the change requests and new use cases that have collected since the release of SWORDV2, culled from the github site, message posts and preliminary discussions with some stakeholders earlier this year. This has also suggested a way forward that breaks with SWORD’s AtomPub roots in order to provide a more up-to-date and flexible protocol. We will circulate this to stakeholders soon.

On the community side, we will circulate a similar document outlining possible models for developing the SWORD community in the future. This is a much more open set of choices since the SWORD user-base has expanded considerably since its first conception, and we are open to further suggestions! The final arrangements must be aligned with community wishes in order to be an effective sustainable solution.

Neil Jefferies (neil.jefferies[at]bodleian.ox.ac.uk) @NeilSJefferies
Dom Fripp (dom.fripp[at]jisc.ac.uk) @Domicus
Richard Jones (richard[at]cottagelabs.com) @cottagelabs