Flexible Digital Libraries

Period

2004-2005

Description

Digital libraries (a.k.a. electronic libraries, electronic information management systems, networked information systems, etc.) are new to most developing countries, yet we in developing countries have the most to benefit from an unfettered sharing of electronic resources. As collections begin to emerge from the research, library and archive communities, tools and guidelines need to be available in a timely fashion to guide future digital libraries to better meet the needs of local communities while still participating in and contributing to global efforts. This project aims to investigate techniques, models and tools for constructing flexible digital libraries to address the question of how we can effectively and efficiently build flexible digital libraries based on simple components arranged into a network of services. Prior work has already demonstrated the usefulness of developing parts of a digital library as Web-based service components. However, it remains to be shown that the reusability and simplicity inherent in that approach can be also applied to the design of complete systems. This project proposes to investigate the following issues that need to be addressed before a component approach can be adopted holistically by production- quality digital libraries:

1. how to create visual interfaces to compose components into complete systems, as well as the specification of such connections between components,
2. testing techniques and module registries to support the translation from individual components to systems of components,
3. packaging of systems for use at remote sites and how flexibility can be maintained while promoting rapid deployment, and
4. techniques for specifying and designing user interfaces to component systems based on the specification of workflows.

Resources

• Proposal to NRF

Team Members

hussein, Gary Marsden, Linda Eyambe, Kevin Feng, Siyabonga Mhlongo

Publications

Suleman, H., G. Marsden and Kevin Feng (2006). "Customising Interfaces to Service-Oriented Digital Library Systems", in S. Sugimoto, J. Hunter, A. Rauber and A. Morishima (eds): Proceedings of 9th International Conference on Asian Digital Libraries (ICADL 2006), 27-30 November, Tokyo, Japan, Springer-Verlag, pp. 503-506. ISSN: 0302-9743. ISBN: 978-3-540-49375-4. Available http://pubs.cs.uct.ac.za/archive/00000327/01/icadl_2006_carl.pdf

Suleman, H., and Siyabonga Mhlongo (2006). "A Flexible Approach to Web Component Packaging", in Judy Bishop and Derrick Kourie (eds): Proceedings of Annual Research Conference of the South African Institute of Computer Scientists and Information Technologists (SAICSIT 2006), 9-11 October, Somerset West, SAICSIT, pp. 257.266. ISBN: 1-59593-567-3. Available http://pubs.cs.uct.ac.za/archive/00000326/01/saicsit_2006_packaging_revised.pdf

Suleman, H., Kevin Feng, Siyabonga Mhlongo and Muammar Omar (2005). "Flexing Digital Library Systems", in E. A. Fox, E. J. Neuhold, P. Premsmit and V. Wuwongse (eds): Proceedings of ICADL 2005, 12-15 December, Bangkok, Thailand, Springer-Verlag, pp. 33-37. ISSN: 0302-9743. ISBN 3-540-30850-4. Available http://pubs.cs.uct.ac.za/archive/00000277/01/icadl_2005_paper_revised.pdf

Muammar Omar, Afzal Dalwai and H. Suleman (2005). "An Evaluation of QT E-Learning Standards in Resource-Limited Environments", in P. A. van Brakel (ed): Proceedings of 7th Annual Conference on World Wide Web Applications, 29-31 August, Cape Town, Cape Peninsula of Technology, pp. 3-17. ISBN 0-620-35079-2. Available http://pubs.cs.uct.ac.za/archive/00000275/01/www_2005_qti_final_edited_hs.pdf

Linda Eyambe, and H. Suleman (2004). "A Digital Library Component Assembly Environment", in G. Marsden, P. Kotzé and A. Adesina-Ojo (eds): Proceedings of SAICSIT 2004, 4-6 October, Stellenbosch, ACM Press, pp. 15-22. ISBN: 1-58113-982-9. Available http://pubs.cs.uct.ac.za/archive/00000274/01/p15-eyambe.pdf

Suleman, H. (2004). "Analysis and Evaluation of Service-Oriented Architectures for Digital Libraries", in M. Agosti, H. Jorg-Schek and C.Turker (eds): Pre-Proceedings of 6th DELOS Workshop on Digital Library Architecture: Peer-to-Peer, Grid and Service-Orientation, 24-25 June, S. Margherita di Pula, Italy, Edizioni Progetto Padova, pp. 163-174. ISBN: 88-87331-60-X. Available http://pubs.cs.uct.ac.za/archive/00000272/01/delos_2004_paper_eval_full.pdf

Linda Eyambe, and H. Suleman (2005). A component assembly approach to digital library systems, South African Computer Journal, Vol. 35, pp. 59-68. ISSN 1015-7999. Available http://pubs.cs.uct.ac.za/archive/00000307/01/sacj_2005_blox_revised.pdf

Suleman, H. (2005). Analysis and Evaluation of Service-Oriented Architectures for Digital Libraries, in Can Turker, Maristella Agosti, Hans-Jorg Schek (Eds.), Peer-to-Peer, Grid, and Service-Orientation in Digital Library Architectures, 6th Thematic Workshop of the EU Network of Excellence DELOS, Cagliari, Italy, June 24-25, 2004, Revised Selected Papers. Lecture Notes in Computer Science 3664 Springer 2005, ISBN 3-540-28711-6, pp. 130-146. Available http://pubs.cs.uct.ac.za/archive/00000278/01/delos_2005_paper_eval_full_revised.pdf