Community News
Call attention to accomplishments, events, news items or "resources of interest" right now by contributing news and information to NSDL. Items submitted will go through a review by the NSDL Resource Center before being published to this website. 
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Mar 10, 2010Call for Participation
The Museum Computer Network 2010 Conference Program Committee is delighted to announce the call for proposals for MCN's upcoming conference in Austin, Texas, Oct 27-30, 2010. We'll be accepting proposals from April 5 - May 3, so start sharpening up your ideas!
This year's innovative program will include not just a great line-up of papers and panels on the theme of I/O: The Museum Inside-Out/Outside-In, but also a
"slow un-conference": Seizing the Tiger by the Longtail. If the topic or problem you most urgently need to discuss with your
peers and experts in the field is not covered by the scheduled papers
and sessions, then propose an un-conference session through this wiki
and MCN will help bring together the conference's brightest and most
experienced minds for your un-conference session.If you have any questions, please record them on the MCN conference wiki so we can answer them for all.
We look forward to hearing from you!
On behalf of the MCN 2010 Program Committee,
Nancy Proctor, Program Chair
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Mar 05, 2010News
The National Science Foundation (NSF) released the 2010 program solicitation (request for proposals) for the National STEM Distributed Learning (NSDL) program on February 25, 2010: NSF 10-545.
NSDL is a program of the Division of Undergraduate Education, in the Directorate for Education and Human Resources. The optional Letter of Intent deadline is April 24, 2010. Full Proposal deadline is May 26, 2010.
If you are interested in submitting a proposal to NSF under the NSDL solicitation, see also NSDL's About pages and Partnering with NSDL, on this site.
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Mar 04, 2010News
The NSDL community has recently approved revision of the NSDL Collection Policy and Resource Quality Guidelines. Together, these documents articulate the intended scope of NSDL collections, communities served, quality and technical standards for inclusion in NSDL, and roles and responsibilities of various parts of the NSDL community for implementing the policy.
In related news, we are very pleased to announce membership of the new NSDL Accessioning Board (NAB) which will review and approve collections prior to accessioning and deaccessioning into NSDL. The NAB is responsible for ensuring that collections meet the policy requirements and guidelines. NAB members are:
- Marcia Mardis, will
serve as NAB chair. Marcia is Assistant
Professor in the College of Information at Florida State University and is also the Associate Director for the
Partnerships Advancing Library Media (PALM) Center. Marcia has been involved with NSDL for over
a decade and has extensive experience in educational digital libraries.
- Richard H. Audet, a STEM education consultant from Nashville, Tennessee, was formerly a classroom science teacher and science methods professor. He has extensive experience in the use of digital media and developed the review process for StemResources.com
- Elizabeth Brown is the Scholarly Communications and
Library Grants Officer and Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Material Science
Librarian at Binghamton University Libraries. She has served as selector
and liaison for academic departments in chemistry, physics, mathematics,
materials science, nursing, engineering, geology, and science Reference. She
has experience selecting at the popular, academic and professional levels and
experience with undergraduate and graduate curricula as well as K-12 curricula
in Chemistry.
- Robert
Payo has recently assumed a new position at
the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. He was formerly the Education and
Outreach Specialist at the NSDL Resource Center where he coordinated NSDL’s
presence at national meetings, conferences and events. He also conducted
professional development programs and presentations across the country on NSDL
and its resources.
- Luti Salisbury is university professor/librarian and head of the Chemistry and Biochemistry Library at the University of Arkansas Libraries. She has extensive experience in collection development in the sciences and in digital collections assessment and review in all areas of science and technology, engineering, mathematics, chemistry, physics, etc.
- Marcia Mardis, will
serve as NAB chair. Marcia is Assistant
Professor in the College of Information at Florida State University and is also the Associate Director for the
Partnerships Advancing Library Media (PALM) Center. Marcia has been involved with NSDL for over
a decade and has extensive experience in educational digital libraries.
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Mar 03, 2010News
The DuraSpace organization recently announced the long-awaited release of DSpace 1.6, the popular turn-key open source application for managing and providing access to digital content used to create more than 800 repository instances worldwide. The release of DSpace 1.6 was led by Stuart Lewis, community release manager and IT Innovations analyst and developer at the University of Auckland Library. Lewis worked closely with DSpace developers, community members and DuraSpace staff to make the best possible version of DSpace 1.6 publicly available.
Download DSpace 1.6 here: http://www.dspace.org/current-release/latest-release/
Bram Luyten, @mire (http://atmire.com/), who is an active DSpace community member commented, "Both from an end-user perspective, as well as the administrator side of things, this release is a great leap forward."
Community-requested features in the new release include an enhanced statistics package which provides more information about how your repository is being used, an embargo facility so items can be kept dark for a period of time, and a batch metadata editing tool which can be used to change, add, find/replace metadata as well as facilitate mass moves, re-order values or add new items in bulk. And there's more such as authority control which contains an integration with the Sherpa Romeo Service for publisher names, as well as the Library of Congress Nameservice. Other new features include:
•Delegated administration
•OpenSearch
•Command launcher
•OAI-PMH harvesting of items from remote repositories
•Configurable OAI-PMH dublin core output
•Move item functionality in XMLUI
•If-Modified-Since / Last-Modified header support in XMLUI
•Change to logging behaviour to ensure better log retention and management
•Update to the latest handle server library
•Ability to perform batch imports and exports from zip files of items
•New test scripts to test database and email settings
•Ability to set legal jurisdiction in creative commons licensing
Ina Smith, University of Stellenbosch Repository Manager, explains what the release of DSpace 1.6 will mean for her institution:
"The University of Stellenbosch (www.sun.ac.za), one of the top research institutions on the African continent, has been using DSpace since 2007. We take the digital preservation of our most valuable asset – i.e. research output by our researchers – very seriously. Our focus on digital preservation made DSpace an obvious choice as a platform to host our varied digital assets. As part of our digital preservation management strategy we regard upgrading to DSpace 1.6 as a given, thereby guaranteeing continued access to digital objects. At the same time various instances of DSpace running at our institution will be integrated into this new DSpace version. We are proud to be one of the early adopters of DSpace 1.6, and together with add-on’s obtained from @mire are looking forward to providing new functionality to benefit our researchers and the rest of the international research community. Thank you to the DSpace community for the work you do, and for sharing DSpace with those who do not necessarily have expertise and resources. You can visit the ‘new’ repository of the University of Stellenbosch – SUNScholar – at scholar.sun.ac.za. Currently DSpace is used by 12 South African institutions (http://ir.sun.ac.za/wiki/index.php/List), which includes the major research institutions."
More Information About DSpace 1.6
• Join Stuart Lewis, the DSpace 1.6 community release manager, who will offer an overview of the lastest release and how it can help you manage your repository. This free DuraSpace/SPARC "All About Repositories" web seminar will highlight new Fedora 3.3 and DSpace 1.6 features on March 17, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. ET. Register for the web seminar here: http://www.arl.org/sparc/meetings/event_registration.shtml.
• Lewis has published a blog post explaining what key changes and improvements in DSpace 1.6 will mean for you. Read the post here: http://blog.stuartlewis.com/2010/02/10/dspace-1-6-what-will-be-in-it-for-me/.
• The February issue of the DSpace Newsletter features in-depth information about DSpace 1.6.
About DSpace
DSpace (http://Dspace.org) is an out-of-the-box open source repository application for delivering digital content to end-users. Globally it is the most widely used open source repository software for institutional repositories and open access repositories. DSpace has been installed all over the world by organizations, especially libraries, as a way to provide access to research output, scholarly publications, library collections, and more. The DSpace application has many features and tools for managing digital content and enabling digital preservation. DSpace stores any type of content and offers built-in workflows for content submission and review. Organizations can easily make their digital collections available on the Web using DSpace's customizable end user interfaces along with many community-developed features and utilities.
About DuraSpace
DuraSpace (http://DuraSpace.org) is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. DuraSpace software and services are used worldwide as solutions for open access, institutional repositories, digital libraries, digital archives, data curation, virtual research environments, and more. DuraSpace provides leadership and innovation in the use of open source and cloud-based technologies to serve libraries, universities, research centers, cultural heritage institutions, and other knowledge stewards. The organization’s open source technology portfolio includes the DSpace open access repository application, the Fedora open repository platform, and the Mulgara semantic database. DuraSpace is the home of DuraCloud, an emerging cloud-based service that leverages existing cloud infrastructure to enable durability and access to digital content. The DuraSpace team includes recognized leaders and experts in the management of digital information. The team works with an active and diverse international community committed to the durability of digital resources.
The DuraSpace technology portfolio inherently addresses the issue of durability of digital content. Our values are expressed in our organizational byline, “open technologies for durable digital content.” -
Mar 02, 2010Call for Participation
The Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) announces competition for the Science Prize for Online Resources in Education (SPORE). Established to encourage innovation, excellence, and use of high-quality online resources in science education. Details about the prize, Rules for Eligibility, and nominating process can be found on the AAAS web site at http://aaas.org/go/spore. Nominations must be received by 31 March 2010.
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Mar 02, 2010Call for Participation
Indiana University invites position papers for the National Science Foundation (NSF)-sponsored workshop, Campus Bridging Technologies, to be held April 7-8, 2010 at University Place Conference Center on the campus of IUPUI in Indianapolis. The deadline to submit position papers is March 8, 2010. This workshop will explore networking and data centric issues that currently challenge U.S. researchers and generate a set of recommendations for the identification and implementation of processes, tools, and solicitations to achieve better coordination of cyberinfrastructure. Improved coordination of cyberinfrastructure will serve to optimize innovation and discovery by the U.S. science and engineering communities.
Workshop organizers aim to produce a document of best practices in areas including but not limited to:- General process of bridging to national infrastructure
- Interoperable identification and authentication
- Dissemination and use of shared data collections
- Suggested policy documents for all research universities
- Identification of solicitations to support this work
The workshop will also explore specific suggestions to implement the recommendation made in the EDUCAUSE CCI/CASC report regarding adoption of a uniform authentication scheme for U.S. research (or at least that which is conducted at NSF facilities).
Workshop topics and outcomes are expected to be interesting and useful to the networking, engineering and science communities, with the following observations to be used as starting points for the discussion:
- The nation’s existing cyberinfrastructure – broadly considered – is not adequate to meet the needs of the current U.S. science and engineering community, nor adequate to foster the level and breadth of innovation that will be required to sustain U.S. competitiveness in the future.
- The proliferation of distributed devices (such as high throughput sequencers, gene expression readers, and time-of-flight mass spectrometers) that produce relatively large streams of data exacerbates the cyberinfrastructure problem and increases the gap between existing cyberinfrastructure and the nation’s needs.
- Simply stated, we are not using the existing cyberinfrastructure effectively or efficiently enough.
Workshop organizers seek position papers from the networking and scientific community. This process is intended to serve two purposes: to collect input from the community at-large, and to serve as an opportunity for individuals to indicate a desire to attend and participate in the workshop. A number of expert leaders in appropriate areas of network architecture, engineering, research, identity management are participating by invitation. Between 10 and 20 additional attendees will be invited on the basis of position papers submitted. Individuals submitting papers by March 1 may indicate that they would like to be considered for inclusion in the workshop.
Submission of position papers is open to the general community. Papers should be submitted via the workshop web page at http://ndcampusbridging.iu-pti.org/. Position papers must be limited to three pages.
Daphne Siefert-Herron
Manager of Strategic Initiatives
Pervasive Technology Institute at Indiana University
2719 E. 10th Street
Bloomington IN 47408
(812)856-1242 FAX (812)856-1537
dsiefert@indiana.edu -
Feb 23, 2010News
MatDL Pathway and The Minerals, Metals & Materials (TMS) Society co-hosted two Integrated Computational Materials Research and Education roundtables at the TMS Annual Meeting held February 14-18 in Seattle WA. Participants included materials code developers and faculty members interested in integrating materials codes into appropriate undergraduate courses. Roundtable participants represented interests of government labs including the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Sandia National Laboratories, and Los Alamos National Laboratory; universities such as Northwestern, University of Michigan, and Carnegie Mellon; and industry including Ford Motor Company.
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Feb 20, 2010Call for Participation
A Learning Content Registries and Repositories Summit, organized by the US Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative (ADL) and other partners, will be held in Alexandria, VA on April 13-14, 2010.
About ADL:
In late 2003, the U.S. Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative (ADL) began initial work on learning content registries, yielding both the CORDRA model and the ADL-Registry (ADL-R). Numerous other organizations worldwide have undertaken similar modeling and registry work. The demand for discovery of, and access to, learning content and related learning materials continues. While progress on business drivers, policy issues, modeling, specifications, crossing organizational and community boundaries, and eliminating technical impediments have been made, problems in all areas still remain.
The purpose of the Summit is to bring together experienced leaders across the broad community to review past work and chart future activities. The Summit will coalesce thinking and understanding of current business drivers and requirements; the state of practice in registries and repositories for learning content; business, policy, and technical issues; and seek to build consensus on next steps and directions for the content repository/registry community.
Topics
- State of the practice in learning content repositories, including open source and commercial offerings, e.g., DSpace, e-Prints, Hive, IntraLibrary, Jorum, ORE and more
- State of the practice in learning content registries, ADL-Registry, Aspect, CORDRA, Globe, Global Registries Initiative
- Systemic initiatives in other domains, e.g., NSF DataNet, NSF NSDL, ANDS, Bamboo
- Registry Models, e.g., NISO 2146
- Standards and Specifications, e.g., IMS LODE, Metadata (LOM, DC, MLO), Repository Harvest and Publishing (OAI-PMH. OAI-ORE, APP, Sword), Query and Search (CQL, SRW/SRU, SPI, SQI), Vocabulary (XVD, VDEX, SKOS, ZTHES, CEF), Packaging (CP, CC,)
- Technical Issues, e.g., harvest/publish, search/discovery, multi-lingual support, content formats, metadata, identifiers, services, tracking/analytics, recommender systems, LMS/VLE/VW/EI integration
- Use and adoption of registries and repositories, e.g., uptake, impediments, business requirements
- Crosscutting
themes:
- Registry and Repository Analytics and Usage/Tracking Models
- Rights Management
- Identity and Access Control
- Policy Issues
Who Should Attend
- Government policy makers and program managers
- Registry and repository project teams
- e-Learning content producers and consumers
- Standards and specifications experts
Format
- Invited
panel discussions along with collaborative working/breakout sessions
- There
are no planned formal project or technical presentations
- Projects and initiatives are welcome to prepare posters describing their work
- Participants will be asked to prepare a 1-2 page white paper outlining their views on one or more of the summit topics
For more information or to express interest in attending, contact Dan Rehak at ADL.
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Feb 20, 2010Call for Participation
If you are going to the National Science Teachers' Association (NSTA) conference in Philadelphia from March 18-22, don't miss the opportunity to register for and attend SC-13: Making the Most of NSDL's Science Literacy Maps (short course). Presented by Ted Willard, of Project 2061, American Association for the Advancement of Science, you'll come away with a keen understanding of the NSDL Science Literacy Maps, how they support the sequencing, teaching, and learning of benchmark conceptual knowledge within primary areas of instruction (e.g. the physical setting, the nature of science, the living environment, the nature of mathematics), as well as become attuned to common misconceptions that students often harbor about key concepts. This session will be well worth your time and effort!
Session Description:NSDL Science Literacy Maps are a tool teachers and students can use to find resources that relate to specific science and math concepts. The maps are based on the strand maps in The Atlas of Science Literacy and address topics such as biological evolution, weather and climate, chemical reactions, energy transformations, describing change, and materials science. The maps illustrate connections between concepts as well as how concepts build upon one another across grade levels. Clicking on a concept within the maps shows NSDL resources relevant to the concept, as well as information about related AAAS Project 2061 Benchmarks and the National Science Education Standards. In addition, information about research on common student misconceptions can be accessed from the maps. This short course will describe how science literacy maps are derived from national standards, let participants explore the connections between ideas on science literacy maps, and teach best practices in using the maps to improve the resource discovery process as well as the entire teaching and learning process. This Ticketed Event is $37 in advance; $42 on site. Session location: Doubletree Philadelphia, Area A/B.
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Feb 15, 2010News
Engineering Pathway PI Alice Agogino is the author of a fascinating article about the history and evolution of the Barbie doll and the forthcoming release by Mattel of a computer engineer Barbie. Even if you never had a Barbie (like me)—or your older brother(s) routinely tormented you by breaking off her arms (just the impetus, perhaps, that may have sparked some girls to pursue engineering?)—the article is a great read: Engineering Education "Today in History Blog: First Barbie doll goes on sale and the recent announcement of the first computer engineer Barbie. Additional links to EP's resources on Barbie creator Ruth Handler, toy design, women inventors, and links to resources on women in computing and information science, are also available.