Enhancing Science Education through a

Partnership of Digital Libraries

Presentation for the

Indo-US Workshop on Digital LibrariesNational Science Foundation, Washington, DC, USA

Dave Fulker, NSDL Executive Director24 June 2003

SLIDE 2

Outline of Presentation

Sketching the NSDL (a US-centric view) Background and mission Open questions (drawn from the mission) Current status (as reflected by annual meeting) Addressing definitional and strategic matters

- Goals for each of 4 facets of the NSDL- Developing common infrastructure

Thoughts on common India & US interests

SLIDE 3

Background Information on

The NSDL Funding agency: The National Science Foundation/

Education and Human Resources Directorate (EHR)

Scope: Education, for all ages and all venues, in Science, technology, engineering and mathematics

Construction: Distributed holdings and services, provided and maintained by many players Joined by a “Core Integration” team (led by presenter)

Status: Funded for 2001, 2002, 2003 and continuing Over 100 awards granted, so far, along 3 tracks:

- Collections

- Services

- Directed research

SLIDE 4

The NSDL Mission

Enhancing science education through a partnership of digital libraries joined by common technical and organizational frameworks.

In greater detail: The NSDL mission is to enhance science, technology, engineering

and mathematics education through a partnership of digital libraries joined by common technical and organizational frameworks.

Individually and collectively these partners engage and inform multiple clienteles, using shared resources to serve many communities of users, each with its own level of knowledge and learning model.

The NSDL also embodies longstanding library traditions of service, longevity, equal access, fair use, and privacy, as well as innovations that foster a spirit of inquiry and the accessibility of science to all.

SLIDE 5

Open Questions (Drawn from the Mission)

Definitional matters What precisely are the common technical and organizational

frameworks on which to build effective partnering? What shared resources will “serve many communities of users,”

even where learning modalities differ? What do library traditions of service, longevity, equal access, fair

use, and privacy actually mean in the digital world? What innovations will in fact foster a spirit of inquiry and the

accessibility of science to all?

Strategic matters, especially phasing & scalability What capabilities should be addressed first? What is the best use of (limited) human effort in joining large

numbers of collections, services, and specialized views? What is the operational definition of an NSDL “partner”

SLIDE 6

The NSDL All-Projects Meeting Third annual, held 2-4 December 2002 Featured 76 posters from 109 NSF-funded projects Initial release of the NSDL (at nsdl.org) Focus sessions

Collection building: metadata, OAI, & other issues Service integration & creation, incl. portal development Authentication, authorization, & IP rights Longevity & preservation Evaluation Building content & quality control Effective/emerging uses of NSDL in learning & teaching Integrating NSDL into formal & informal learning

SLIDE 7

The Flavor of the All-Projects Postersorganized along 3 dimensions of specialization

DisciplineAnatomy

Anthropology

Astronomy

Astrophysics

Biology

Chemistry

Computer Science

Earth System Science

Environmental Science

Engineering

Kinematics

Microeconomics

Mathematics

Oceanography

Physics

Technology

Data TypeApplet or Application

Article

Collection-building Tool

Course

Database

Graph

Handheld Software

Image or Animation

Learning Object

Movie or Video

Observed or Simulated Data

Ontology

Pedagogy Case Study

Review or Annotation

Strand Map

Surrogate (book, specimen...)

Learning ContextInformal K-45-89-12UndergraduateTeacher PreparationCourse DevelopmentCommunity of PracticeCataloging

many of theseare relatively

languageindependent

SLIDE 8

A Framework to Address Definitional & Strategic Matters

Four Facets of the NSDL

Collec

tions

Collec

tions

& S

ervic

es

& S

ervic

esEducational

Educational

Innovation

Innovation

Technical

Technical

Innovation

Innovation Lever

aged

Lever

aged

Partn

ersh

ips

Partn

ersh

ips

A library of exemplary educational collections

and services

A center for innovation in

science education

A locus of technical innovation for educational

digital libraries

A leveraging partnership among

resource/service providers

SLIDE 9

Goals for NSDL as a Library of Exemplary Collections and Services

Dependable, useful collections, eventually of great breadth & depth

Services that enhance usability General-purpose & specialized views

(i.e., a multiplicity of digital libraries) Increasing numbers of satisfied users,

eventually spanning all of science education Well-monitored, operational infrastructure

SLIDE 10

Goals for NSDL as a Center of Innovation in Science Education

Collaboration environment as “community center,” with knowledge & resource sharing

NSDL users as contributors Evaluative feedback, influencing advances Partners with educational strength & reach Collaboration on effective applications of

educational digital libraries Influence on education context & policy

SLIDE 11

Goals for NSDL as a Locus of Technical Innovation in Educational Digital Libraries

Large-scale distributed architecture Environment for user contribution &

collaboration “communities of practice” Widespread use of NSDL standards

& guidelines NSDL as a premier vehicle for investigating

& testing the practicality of innovation in large-scale educational contexts

SLIDE 12

Goals for NSDL as a Leveraging Partnership among Resource & Service Providers

Well-defined participation model, fostering educational excellence

Inclusion of all NSDL-funded projects Inclusion of publishers, professional societies,

& other educationally oriented partners Constructive discourse on the partnership A plausible strategy for sustainability

SLIDE 13

Users

Collections

Metadata repository

Services

The “Initial Release” NSDL—Built on a Centralized Metadata Repository & OAI

The metadata repository is the primary basis for service provision.

It provides information about every collection & item in NSDL including “branding” & “inclusion” relations:

Item A is contained in Collection B

Items in Collection B should be displayed with brand X

OAI

OAI

SLIDE 14

Strategy for Extending the Metadata Repository:

A Data Warehouse, Specialized for Relationships

Base Web Graph

NSDL Selections

Descriptive Metadata

Annotations

Branding

Collection (Semantic)

People and Organizations

Equivalence

DataStores

DocumentRepositories

Databases

Other WebResources

PublisherOfferings

Harvesting, Gathering, Normalization

Specialized Mining

Digital Sources

NSDL Data Warehouse:Entities and their

Relationships(wholesale)

Diverse Network of Partner Libraries

and Services(retail)

Data Annotation

SLIDE 16

Preliminary Thoughts on

Common India and US Agenda

Open questions (slightly reframed) What technical frameworks will support international partnering? What shared resources will “serve many communities of users,”

even where learning modalities differ greatly? What do library traditions of service, longevity, equal access, fair

use, and privacy actually mean in the global Internet age? What innovations will foster an spirit of inquiry and the accessibility

of science to all on trans-national scales What is the best use of human effort in joining highly diverse

collections and services, including digital libraries specialized to meet the needs of greatly differing communities?

- How does this differ from traditional librarianship?- Can it build trans-cultural understanding