Content Services
Definition
Content Services are a set of web-based tools and web services for sharing, organizing, and storing content.
Goals/Vision
Vision: An environment for sharing, organizing and storing content, including..
- A coherent, complimentary, and secure set of Tools:
- Thalia for digital media management
- Thalia API providing media management capabilities to other applications
- QuickPages for publishing websites
..implemented in accordance with..
- core concepts:
- on-demand, user actuated provisioning wherever possible and appropriate
- simplicity and ease of use
- plug in other CCS tools where possible and appropriate (e.g. adding Clearspace 'Community Anywhere' functionality to QuickPages)
- make content and content services available to other applications
- we match the way users do their work
- simple, usable, useful
- we'll keep up to date with web application design patterns
- user requests/usability given significant weight in development plans
- we encourage content use and re-use
- e.g. exporting digital resource collections for other services to import (images in Stellar -> OCW -> Libraries)
- e.g. direct URLs for users to paste images etc. into their own blogs
- e.g. tagging, to help users discover items
- e.g. RSS feeds from Thalia and QuickPages, and RSS reader as a component on a QuickPages site.
- e.g. encourage use of good taxonomies by demonstration and education
..all integrated with IS&T's common services for user identity, group management, and authorization.
Value / Benefits
- Secure and stable digital resource storage
- Encourage use and re-use between applications
- Easier, more efficient creation and maintenance of web content for the community
- Sharing and privacy control
- Keep prestigious content in an MIT site, which adds credibility to the author and more prestige to MIT (i.e. don't make your Nobel prize winner use Flickr)
Current State
- Web page creation - current methods are inadequate
- do it yourself - AFS lockers, Dreamweaver, consultants
- consultants usually costs departments $2K-$7K
- DIY makes a big project out of a simple site
- Digital media management - no current production service; Thalia in pilot
- Departments currently each create one-off solutions
- Most common is a server under someone's desk
- No standards of metadata
- No means to collaborate, publish or share content
End State
- QuickPages is in production providing easy web page production for the community
- Digital media management - Thalia is in production
- Thalia back end services are consumed by other applications like Moodle
- Thalia goes open source and is further developed by outside community
Gaps
Approach - e.g., working with community and others in IS&T
- Work with Stellar and other IS&T teams on integration
- Work with academic, research, community and administrative stakeholders. At present these include PSB, DCAD, ACCORD and others.
- Use IAP, IT Partners, ACCORD and other venues to publicize content services for broader adoption.
- Assist MIT developers in building applications which consume our media APIs
- Consult with Kerberos team for best practices in making a project Open Source and building outside community involvement.
- Partner with DCAD, PSB and the Help Desk for customer interaction and support
Drivers (Tech trends/Biz trends, etc)
- need for stable, secure storage
- this is how people do their work now
- web is the medium of choice
- people throw up millions of images on flickr
- it's impossible to keep track of digital resources without tools
- these digital resources have an intrinsic value to the Institute
Dependencies/Assumptions
relies on:
- network operations being able able to support services at the level they need e.g. Thalia redundancy
- common services being available and stable
- where 3rd party software in use, presupposes that it may be adapted to use our common services
- users being aware of content services
Risks
- see above
- Shared services we integrate with might be confusing or difficult to users -- e.g. managing Moira groups is not intuitive or user friendly
- Standard risks from using third party or open source components
- Ability to scale to meet demand, given limited resources
- Losing focus - many customers with divergent needs
- Dependence on multiple services create more potential points of failure
- More consumers of our services requires more resources on our part for:
- maintenance
- new functionality requests
- support
- infrastructure: equipment, power, overhead
- Technologies change. That's a given, not a risk. We need to anticipate and plan for that.
Conceptual Architecture
not sure what's wanted here