The ImageStore Project Plan

From ImageWeb

This document is a plan for The ImageStore Project. It is a work in progress and may be updated at any time.

Creator: Alistair Miles

Contents 1 Introduction 2 Project Approach 2.1 Requirements and Constraints Phase 2.2 Analysis and Evaluation Phase 3 Work Plan - Deliverables 3.1 Deliverable: Contributions to DCC SCARP Literature Reviews 3.2 Deliverable: Case Studies Report Part 1 - Attitudes, Requirements and Risks 3.3 Deliverable: Case Studies Report Part 2 - Strategies, Feasibility and Recommendations

Introduction

The DCC SCARP Project aims to investigate digital curation practices within specific scholarly disciplines. During the initial phase of the project, we intend to learn more about attitudes to sharing and requirements for preservation and re-use of scholarly works, especially scientific data, within different scientific communities. Then, the intention is to explore how current best practice could be applied within these communities to improve support for digital curation within the scholarly life cycle. Where best practice currently falls short, we hope to at least identify where innovation is required, if not to provide those innovations ourselves.

ImageStore is a sub-project within DCC SCARP, focusing on digital curation within the domain of image and video bioinformatics. Links have been established with a number of research groups within Oxford University's Zoology Department that create and analyse images and video (both analogue and born-digital) in the course of their work. We intend to contribute to the overall goals of the DCC SCARP project by working with these research groups to understand their normal working practices, their attitudes to sharing data, and their requirements for preservation and re-use. We then intend to study the feasibility of various possible strategies for curation of images, video and associated data within these groups. Ultimately, we hope to suggest ways of unobtrusively integrating curation support within the scientists' working environment.

Project Approach

A number of case studies are underway, involving research groups within Oxford University's Zoology Department whose work involves the creation and analysis of images and video.

Each case study is broken down into an initial phase during which we work directly with researchers to understand their normal working practices and their requirements for curation and re-use, followed by an analysis phase during which we propose and evaluate strategies for curation.

Requirements and Constraints Phase

Each case study is initiated by identifying specific collections of images and/or video that are of potential value to the research group and to other researchers within their domain.

We look at the problem of curating these images/video, first from the point of the producer.

@@TODO constraints

We then look at the problem of curating these images/video from the point of view of the consumer.

@@TODO requirements for re-use, via re-use cases

Finally, we talk to the researchers about their attitudes to sharing and re-use of their images/video and associated data.

Analysis and Evaluation Phase

@@TODO

Work Plan - Deliverables

Deliverable: Contributions to DCC SCARP Literature Reviews

This deliverable is a survey of literature relevant to digital curation within the selected case studies.

Due date: November 2007

Deliverable: Case Studies Report Part 1 - Attitudes, Requirements and Risks

For each case study, this report gives an overview of typical working practices in the creation and use specific collections of images/video and associated data, a risk analysis of current curation practices for these collections, and a summary of attitudes to publication and re-use. This report also analyses requirements for re-use of images/video in specific collections. These requirements are extracted from genuine or plausible re-use cases developed in conjunction with researchers as part of the case study.

Due date: November 2007

Deliverable: Case Studies Report Part 2 - Strategies, Feasibility and Recommendations

For each case study, this report describes possible strategies for integrating support for curation of images/video and associated data into the scholarly work flow. This report also provides an assessment of the feasibility of these approaches, leading to recommendations for enabling curation support and the identification of areas where innovation is required.

Due date: December 2007