the OAI: overview and historical context

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the OAI overview and historical context
Herbert Van de Sompel Carl Lagoze Cornell
University -- Computer Science
OAI Open Meeting Washington DC January 23rd
2001
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OAI origin
The Open Archives Initiative has been set up to
create a forum to discuss and solve matters of
interoperability between preprint solutions, as a
way to promote their global acceptance. Paul
Ginsparg, Rick Luce Herbert Van de Sompel
herbert van de sompel
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preprint solutions

• attractive building block in ongoing
  transformation of scholarly communication
• interoperability could increase impact of
  preprints
• amongst preprint solutions
• with building blocks that implement other
  functions of scholarly communication
• with the established communication system

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e-print accessibility
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e-print accessibility
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preprint solutions

• Santa Fe meeting improve accessibility of
  preprints
• by improving searchability
• via the provision of an interoperability spec

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Core concepts of Santa Fe convention

• low-barrier interoperability
• data-provider service-provider model
• metadata harvesting model
• shared metadata format and parallel,
  community-specific metadata formats
• acceptable use

Dienst subset
HTTP based
XML reply
OAMS
Gentelmens agreement
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metadata harvesting
metadata
e-print
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metadata harvesting
metadata
e-print
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interest from other communities

• Digital Library Federation meetings
• research library community has many materials
• for which they would like to expose
  metadata
• OAI San Antonio meeting
• interest from librarians, publishers, others,
  ...

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resulting actions organizational

• establish organizational stability for the OAI
• institutional backing from CNI DLF
• steering committee policy guidance
• technical committee technical specifications
• executive group day to day coordination
• workshops public dissemination, feedback

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resulting actions technical

• 09/2000 revise specifications to allow adoption
  beyond preprints technical committee
• 09/2000-01/2001 compile new specifications
  editing by Carl and Herbert
• 11/2000-01/2001 alpha-test specifications
  oai-alpha group
• 01/2001 discontinue the Santa Fe Convention
• 01/2001 release version 1.0 of the OAI protocol

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core concepts in OAI 1.0

• low-barrier interoperability
• data-provider service-provider model
• metadata harvesting model
• shared metadata format and parallel,
  community-specific metadata formats
• acceptable use
• flexibility

OAI 1.0 protocol
HTTP based
Dublin Core
Community specific
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low-barrier interop umbrella
metadata
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low-barrier interop umbrella
metadata
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communication re OAI

• lists subscribe via http//www.openarchives.org
• oai-general list replaces UPS list UPS-
• subscribers will be moved
• oai-implementers list
• web http//www.openarchives.org
• FAQ http//www.openarchives.org/faq.htm
• mail openarchives_at_openarchives.org

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revision of specifications

• freeze specifications for 12 -18 months
• stable for experimentation not definitive
• minimize risk for early adopters
• maximize chances for future interoperability
  across communities

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http//www.openarchives.org openarchives_at_openarch
ives.org
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new OAI mission statement
The Open Archives Initiative develops and
promotes interoperability standards that aim to
facilitate the efficient dissemination of
content.
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new OAI mission statement
The Open Archives Initiative has its roots in an
effort to enhance access to e-print archives as a
means of increasing the availability of scholarly
communication. Continued support of this work
remains a cornerstone of the Open Archives
program.
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new OAI mission statement
The fundamental technological framework and
standards that are developing to support this
work are, however, independent of the both the
type of content offered and the economic
mechanisms surrounding that content, and promise
to have much broader relevance in opening up
access to a range of digital materials. ...
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