Introduction ReDBox 2 represents a review and renewal of the ReDBox system. The program is driven by a number of things: - A lot has changed since the program started in late 2010:
- New initiatives have started such as ORCID and ISNI
- Standards such as RIF-CS have been improved upon
- We've also established a broader user base (from 1 to 12) in a brief amount of time:
- We've seen where parts of the system have stretched/broken
- As different groups have brought the system into their environment we've seen where they've had issues around integration, and skills.
Big-ticket itemsThere are a few areas that we know cause annoyance to our users and resolving them - Merge ReDBox and Mint into the one system
- There were reasons (long ago) that saw them stand alone - these reasons don't really exist anymore
- The underlying platform is the same
- Deliver a new harvest client
- This will replace both the harvester system (used in Mint) and alerts system (used in ReDBox)
- Key goals:
- Improve error handling on incoming data
- Improve the range of information sources that can be harvested
- Improve the configuration of the harvester
- Completely rewrite the curation sub-system
- Curation of a large network of relationships just fails.
- We want to create a more effective curation sub-system that also provides better levels of feedback
- Standardise the technology mix used in the application stack so that customizing the application to your needs is simpler.
- Make administration and upgrading of the system more user friendly
- Renew the dataset forms
- The current review forms use an older layout system that's difficult to maintain - it's time to drop that and move to the system created for Data Management Plans
- The forms themselves are in need of review
DeliveryThe elements described under the ReDBox 2 plan are quite broad and involve a substantial amount of work. We prefer to take bite-sized chunks so will take an approach that allows for - Delivering components that can be used in ReDBox 1 and 2
- A safer and more trouble-free upgrade process
The following roadmap has been proposed to meet the afforementioned requirements: Version 1.8 - New curation manger
- New harvest client
- New administration application to allow for configuration via web interface
- Simplification of the institutional builds concept by removing the requirement of using Maven
Version 1.9 - Merge ReDBox and Mint into the one application
- Implement a fully featured API to improve the capabilities of integration with external systems as well as the potential to easily create custom portals.
Version 2 - Re-working of back-end system (technology stack to be devised)
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