This is one of the most challenging and interesting projects for me. I am developing a XML generation tool for the Inter University Consortium for Social and Political Research here at the University of Michigan. The main purpose of the tool is to generate DDI 3.0 format (Standard used for storing and reusing research data) XML code from a form like interface. The tool is being made both as a web application and also as a desktop application.
The technology that I am using for this excites me a lot. Flex 3.0 and AIR 3.0 from Adobe are tools with a lot of potential for applications which need fairly complex business logic. The tools also offer exciting options in interface design. You can check out the products at: www.flex.org.
Social Science data (from research) is collected and stored in a wide variety of forms and formats. It is difficult for researchers of today to reuse or analyze data from all these different forms. ICPSR is a data preservation institution and they find it extremely difficult to collect and distribute data in all these various forms. Thus DDI was launched.
The Data Documentation Initiative(DDI) is an international effort to establish a standard for technical documentation describing social science data. A membership-based Alliance is developing the DDI specification, which is written in XML.
Begun in 1995, the effort brings together data professionals from around the world to develop the standard. The DDI specification, written in XML, provides a format for content, exchange, and preservation of information.
The latest version of DDI – DDI version 3.0 was made available sometime in late 2007. DDI 3.0 represents a major advancement for DDI by fully incorporating XML Schemas and moving to a data life cycle approach. However, this leads to the standard itself becoming very difficult for normal, non XML users to use. Thus, researchers in general and the staff at ICPSR is finding it difficult to use the standard for data storage and reuse.
Solution:
This is where I come into play. After defining the problem and generating requirements, my job is to create a tool which would make it really easy for users to store data. The idea is for the users to enter data in a form like tool, which would then generate the correct DDI 3.0 XML document containing the data. The main goal is to free the users of knowing any XML for storing data in DDI 3.0 format.
The Impact:
The impact of this tool, when completed will be huge as data storage could be done by anyone, from college students to researchers themselves without the requirement of any special knowledge. The data could also be reused easily by all without having to know any special technologies.
Technology:
The technology being used for this tools is:
Adobe Flex 3.0
Adobe AIR 3.0
Process:
The process first started with me conducting a through contextual inquiry as to who the users were, what was their demographics and their needs. Depending on the contextual inquiry, the requirements for the project were generated and then validated with the stakeholders. Following this, various Proof of Concepts were done leading into a feasibility analysis. Once I received a go ahead, I created wire-frames and mock-ups. These were again validated by the stakeholders. I am now into the development phase of the tool.
In summary, the process followed was:
- Contextual Inquiry
- Requirements Generation
- Proof of Concepts
- Feasibility Analysis
- Prototyping
- Construction
Unfortunately, I cannot make the details of the tool or a preview available right now. However, I will try to update it as soon as possible.
Roles that I play:
- Requirements Analyst/Business Analyst
- Interface/Interaction Designer
- User Experience Professional
- Developer
