Application profiles and metadata for repositories
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  • Welcome to the AP Support project blog

    Posted on March 12th, 2009 admin No comments

    At present we are working on practical evaluation and user testing of SWAP, the first and most fully developed of the DCAPs funded by JISC. The aim of this work is to enable us to report on how well SWAP fits the real needs of repository managers in their day-to-day work. On this basis, we intend to organise further practical events, both for repository managers and for repository platform developers. The hope is to provide an impetus for SWAP to be supported by the major repository platforms in an appropriate form. This feedback should provide a sound basis to continue the development cycle of SWAP and improve it over time.

    We are not forgetting, however, the needs of the other resource types for which DCAPs have been developed, and the process is intended to be an iterative one, learning from the experience of SWAP in the first instance and inviting domain specialists for each resource type to help adapt the process for the needs of the section of the repository community involved with that particular resource. We invite those user communities and specialists to engage with us in the same process as outlined for SWAP above.

    Web resources have living, changing needs and user communities, so we believe that their application profiles should reflect this. Obviously, there is a balance to be struck between developing and maintaining useful standards that can be relied upon, and meeting these changing requirements. The only way to do this properly is to use inclusive methods, consulting domain specialists and real users as much as possible.