[openbiblio-dev] BibServer and approaching contacts

Thu Feb 2 17:57:01 UTC 2012

On Thu, Feb 2, 2012 at 5:45 PM, Naomi Lillie <naomi.lillie at okfn.org> wrote:

> All,
>
> Please see below from Jim which follows the discussion from Wednesday's
> stand-up - see line 15 of http://openbiblio.okfnpad.org/catchup - all
> comments welcome:
>
> We discussed some of this after Jim's machine dropped... Please correct if
I get it wrong.

> Before approaching BibSonomy, DBLP, or any other major biblio data
> provider, we should confirm between us what we are asking, and have a
> roadmap for technical communication and a clear sequence of steps to
> proceed. We should have a fairly standard email communication, which e.g. I
> or someone else with previous contact could send the right person, and
> there is a clear sequence of actions that person can take, and responses
> that can be expected on our side. Strategic issues are: do we write a
> parser first and show them a demo?
> I am concerned about raising expectations of our performance until we are
> sure we can deliver. Can we embed all of BibSonomy or DBLP in BibSoup?
> Would we want to do that?

I think we limited this in the first instance to approaching Bibsonomy
about adding BibJSON output.

> Or do we only want to embed selected subsets? Or allow users to curate
> selected subsets? This issue arises generically with any large source.

If there is an Open licence then the issues is primarily of being good
citizens (e.g. responsible downloading and giving credit). If not, then the
licence issues are the most immediate ones

> With DBLP we have an open license already, so I think we should demo
> capability before asking for anything more.

Agreed.

> I already wrote a crude DBLP parser, and this could easily be
> improved/installed. We should have a plan for these things, before we open
> up negotiations. I think our strategic aim should be to recruit DBLP and
> BibSonomy as early nodes of the BKN which will  provide proof of concept
> and demo the value of BibJSON and BibServer installations over BibJSON. I'd
> like to hear what Mark thinks about the technical feasibility of our
> operating on this scale before continuing.
>

Sound reasonable. My view is that we should have something new and
complementary to offer. Some sites may welcome additional means of
distribution, while others may see this as an extra burden.

>
> > secondly, re Rufus's discussion points and your following comments, 'a)
> installation of at least one public facing bibserver on a machine not
> controlled by cottagelabs/OKF', please could you follow up with people @
> Berkeley about getting a BibServer installed there, as this is an easy win
> if that can be sorted!
>
> This is easier said than done. I can keep pushing on this, but I cannot
> promise you a time line. My own personal interest puts higher priority on a
> SaS arrangement with Mark for the Probability Web. I am sick and tired of
> pleading with sys admins and other dept staff to provide adequate support.
> Peter is familiar with the problem.

We shouldn't push too much at closed doors. I think there will soon be a
number of opportunities. I am talking with Open publishers (in the most
general sense) and we are mutually keen to explore what this type of
technology can offer.

> I just want a BibServer that I can easily manage and control and that will
> serve the communities I care about. I continue to hope Mark can provide
> that on a SaS basis. I think Mark you need to be looking at other places
> for installs so you get direct feedback with about what the obstacles are
> to be overcome. I do have a number of possible places we could consider
> approaching.
>

My understanding is that it is possible to run this from the cloud? What
are the issues involved?
* Money.
* updates
* customisation

These are all addressable when there is funding - we need to get an idea of
scale.

  But there will be some parsing/scripting work to be done.

Yes. I have just looked at the Pubmed RIS. It needs work.

> Probably we should proceed in parallel on these and others. But I am
> unclear what the steps are, because we have not even done one yet.
>

the Pubmed is a good place to start.

>
> --
Peter Murray-Rust
Reader in Molecular Informatics
Unilever Centre, Dep. Of Chemistry
University of Cambridge
CB2 1EW, UK
+44-1223-763069
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