SETF meeting - 24. October 2014

Time: 11:00 UCT (13:00 local)

Location: Museum of Natural History, Stockholm

Agenda

1. DINA REST API standard (DINA_API_Standard_Discussion_Notes)
2. DINA UI Standard - example http://dina-collections.github.io/style.html
3. roadmap for official adoption
   • DINA module map – API blueprint for each of the components, to help define tasks for the different teams.
   • Thorough technological evaluation of the modules in Pluto-F, Canadian system, DINA, etc.
4. presentation at TDWG
5. Specify 7 updated beta version: http://54.228.209.187, username: testuser1, password: testuser1
6. Other items?

Minutes

List of participants

DINA Licensing

• this had already been discussed at the last face-to-face meeting; this is not yet resolved, requires further consultation and the DINA license policy needs to address both licensing of code and content
• "code" license(s):
  • some members are still in the process of clarifying their institutional requirements/constraints with regard to new or existing modules contributed to DINA
  • it will be necessary to collect currently used licenses with a view on arriving at an (ideally) single or harmonised DINA license
  • we need to assemble a list of "best practices" with regard to licensing
• "content" license(s):
  • this is also not yet resolved
  • the meeting participants expressed that it would be desirable if content would be shareable within the consortium
• next steps: consultation of individual institutions to obtain licensing guidelines
• the SETF aims to provide at a licensing recommendation for the Steering Committee

User management module

• a shared user management module used by DINA modules was discussed as one possible collaborative development project
• such a module requires a shared model regarding
  • DINA identities
  • user permissions
  • authentication
• more research is necessary before partners can commit to details
• an approach by which only parts of this model are used by each partner is imaginable, i.e. a central DINA user identity service could be used to issue identities for all local DINA assemblies, but permissions are managed by a custom module developed and used by individual partners
• furthermore, it may not be desirable to enforce the full identity/authentication routines within local DINA module assemblies
  • this could be addressed by offering public and private endpoints for the provided DINA modules
  • this needs to be added to the DINA Web API standard

DINA graphical identity

• It was discussed if a shared graphical identity and a set of UI templates could improve usability and overall adoption of DINA.
• Concerns:
  • conflicts with existing corporate identity
  • potential conflicts with other developments and projects
• However, similar to the agreement on providing UI reference implementations for modules, it was agreed that recommended graphical templates could be provided.

Core module strategy

Structure

• The core module is the web-bases collection manager. Wrt to development efforts this can be split into a framework (module manager) and data capture and management component.
• Starting point?
  • Focus should be on data capture or "collecting event".
  • In order to drive this forward a useful subset of functionality and related subset of the data model have to be defined; while inspired by experiences with the Specify data model it is independent of this and can incorporate already collected new requirements (details provided by James)
• In order to plan for development the following packages of the core module, addressing specific functions and concepts with distinct boundaries, were identified:
  • Core collecting event (covering the key functions for data capture and editing associated with e.g. accession events)
  • Agents (covering managing, linking and reconciling agents; registry of agent services, etc)
  • Taxonomy (supporting both mechanisms to structure collections as well as capturing scientific work on classification)
  • Determination event
  • Geography
  • Transactions
  • Preparation and storage
  • Media

Implementation strategy

• pending further discussions it was agreed that partners should start implementation on the core module collaboratively and package by package rather than in parallel
• this requires a shared development infrastructure
• Next steps:
  • define a module and core module package map, including separate APIs for the latter
  • decide on shared infrastructure (repo, issue tracker, planning strategy and tools, integration services)
  • decide on common implementation technology (?)
  • agree on specific contributions (resources and expertise) from each partner
  • setup agreed infrastructure

DINA Web API

• several comments are awaiting incorporation in the current API standard draft document
• testing of compliance turned up as a major issue
  • a proposal for further investigation was to include a "module manager" in the development of the core module from the start; this module manager would implement at least large parts of compliance testing functionality
  • as the quickest workable approach it was suggested to identify compliance reviewers from other teams
  • finally, it would be possibel to simply let the community of users enforce compliance

Data migration problems

• several data migration projects (to Specify) are underway; experiences with this will be valuable input for DINA migration efforts and should be collected on the Wiki

Action items

Licensing

• collect a list of currently used licenses (code & content) within member organisations
• clarify pending policies on code and content licensing (some members where waiting for this)
• make a licensing recommendation to the DINA Steering Committee; with view of planned collaborative development and public shared repos this is a fairly pressing issue to resolve

DINA API standard

• continue consultation on this and ideally complete and adopt the standard by the end of 2014

Core module

• see points outlined in the minutes above

Data migration problems

• setup up wiki page and structure to collect information on migration experiences (Who?)

Next meeting

• Tentatively: Wednesday, 19.11.2014 - 14:00 UCT (call)