Start date: 1 September 2007
End date: 28 February 2008
Funding programme: Repositories and Preservation programme
Project website:
http://sneep.ulcc.ac.uk/wiki
JISC theme(s): Information environment, e-Resources, e-Research
Rapid Innovation Project
One of the most talked-about recent developments on the Internet, and the World Wide Web in particular, has come to be known as "Web 2.0" (O'Reilly, 2005), and represents a new approach to using the web as an increasingly interactive platform. This has led to a plethora of "social networking" web sites and applications, where users can, for example, share bookmarks, or add comments or tags to online objects such as photographs or blog posts. The SNEEP project will investigate and demonstrate the extent to which these approaches are relevant to Institutional Repository software, through developing plugins to add commenting, bookmarking and tagging features to Eprints.
Overview
SNEEP is a 6 month "rapid development" project to develop extensions adding further key Web 2.0 features to Eprints, and demonstrate their use in an Institutional Repository. This is in part a response to the recent recommendation by Franklin and van Harmeln that projects be undertaken to investigate how institutional repositories can be made more accessible for learning and teaching through the use of Web 2.0 technologies. The project will develop and demonstrate fully working models of web software to incorporate these functions into Eprints, and report on its outcomes and findings. The output will be made openly available for reuse and further development by the community.
Aims and objectives
To develop plugins for Eprints that add functionality for commenting, bookmarking and tagging objects in the repository.
Project methodology
- Research current practice and trends in the field of social networking through use of comments, bookmarks and tags.
- Consult repository users (through existing mailing lists) about expectations and requirements
- Develop draft specifications on wiki
- Develop plugins, and install on test Eprints server, and invite comment and review.
- Refine plugins based on review feedback.
- Publish plugins in public domain
- Report on activities and outcomes
Anticipated outputs and outcomes
- A suite of plugins for Eprints implementing commenting, bookmarking and tagging
- A report describing issues encountered relating to social networking and institutional repositories
Technology / Standards used
Eprints 3; Perl; SQL; XML; RSS; RDF;
Lead Institution
University of London Computer Centre