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

...

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

...

• do it yourself - AFS lockers, Dreamweaver, consultants
• consultants usually costs departments $2K-$7K
• DIY makes a big project out of a simple site

...

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

...

See attachments.