Chris, Terry, Fil, and Friends,
This is a quick follow-up to my earlier offer. I've had a chance to
take my offer up with our Vice Chancellor, Ian Young, and with our
Deputy Vice Chancellor for Research, Andy Flitman. Both support the
idea of creating and hosting a digital design research repository at
Swinburne University.
Terry's note has me a tiny bit worried -- I'm not sure how many
Swinburnes worth of energy we'd need. We have a Centre for
Astrophysics and Supercomputing, for example, and we've got some
experience in managing large computer arrays.
The challenge is going to be setting parameters and defining what we
upload to make it easily accessible. We may, for example, decide to
upload only one defined version of any paper, rather that three
versions as Terry suggests. We need a good key-word system, and work
on this may in fact prove useful to the entire field -- perhaps
involving journal editors and others. We've got to define the scope
of what we upload ... perhaps we want everything from all possible
fields and all commercial producers, but perhaps we don't. Since most
commercial design research is proprietary, that would tend to limit
the material that Microsoft or Shell might wish to place with us.
Whatever we do, it is clear that we must create rich links to current
repositories and work as a field to make everything easier to find,
where ever it is.
There are challenges to solve.
The point is that it is a good idea. Swinburne University is now
prepared to explore the idea of a digital design research repository
to see what we can do to make this happen. I must now begin the
roll-up-your-sleeves tasks of locating a group of activists who will
join us in making this possibility real.
Let me take this on. I'll report back in six months to see where we stand.
Yours,
Ken
--
Ken Friedman
Professor
Dean, Swinburne Design
Swinburne University of Technology
Melbourne, Australia
+61 3 92.14.68.69 Tlf Swinburne
+61 404 830 462 Mobile
email: [log in to unmask]
email: [log in to unmask]
|