ROADS is a two year collaborative development project to design and implement a user-oriented resource discovery system. ROADS will allow users to find and use networked resources of interest to them (both interactive services and documents) without leaving their routine work environments. This system will be piloted on the following services:
Other subject based services within the Electronic Libraries Programme will be supported, and the ROADS system made available to them in due course. These include:
The current generation of WWW navigational tools often suffer from a combination of problems, which may include a lack of information and description, a lack of organisation and classification, and information overload. ROADS seeks to overcome these problems in a number of ways:
A ROADS based information gateway is based on a database that contains information about internet resources. The records in the database contain information such as the title of the resource, who maintains the resource, how to access the resource, a classification number, and a description and keywords. The user is given access to this information while either browsing or searching the database. This allows the user to make an informed decision on whether the resource is likely to be of use before attempting a connection. This is particularly important for geographically distant resources that might require some time and effort to access.
The classification number allows a subject tree to be automatically created allowing the resources to be efficiently browsed. The publisher of the information gateway can define which classification scheme to use. Because standard classification schemes such as the Universal Decimal Classification scheme can be used, a structure can be imposed on the information gateway that is familiar to the user.
A significant problem with current navigation tools is the problem of information overload. The search results from a service such as Lycos may result in many hundreds, or indeed thousands, of hits. The problem of information overload is handled in a number of ways. Firstly, the services that are being set up using ROADS are subject based, i.e. the resources they catalogue are limited to a particular subject, e.g. SOSIG for the social sciences, and OMNI for medicine. Secondly, these subject services are being encouraged to thoroughly vet the resources they include to ensure that only valuable and useful resources are included. Thirdly, the use of familiar classification schemes allows users to quickly find exactly the resources that will interest them.
ROADS provides a number of tools designed to make the creation and management of an information gateway a task that can be undertaken by someone with fairly limited technical skills:
Creation and management of resource records.
Each record about a resource is essentially just a text file. The format of the text file is based on the Internet Anonymous FTP Archive Template (IAFA Template). Together these text files form the database on which a ROADS based information gateway is built. ROADS provides a series of WWW forms to simplify the creation and editing of these records. Using WWW forms has a number of advantages. Firstly the WWW forms are easy to use. A number of boxes are provided into which the relevant text is entered, and when the submit button at the bottom of the form is clicked, the record is entered into the database. Secondly the distributed nature of the WWW allows a widely dispersed group of people to contribute records to the database. A modified search facility is provided to enable records to be found for editing.
Processing of records:
Further tools automatically process the database records to create HTML pages that allow the user of an information gateway to browse the resource descriptions efficiently, allowing the user to home in quickly on the resources that interest them. This includes creating a subject menu according to the selected classification scheme.
Search facilities:
As soon as a record is entered into the database, it is automatically indexed. This allows for very quick and efficient searching of the database. An easy to use search WWW search form is provided to allow the database to be interrogated.
For the information gateway provider
The major benefit of using ROADS is that it keeps the publishing of information gateways with the subject specialists who have the knowledge they contain. The provision of a set pf user-friendly WWW forms for the creation and management of a database underlying an information gateway, means that the subject specialist can be directly involved in the publishing of an information gateway. Using the WWW for the management of the gateway allows a widely distributed team of subject specialists to contribute. Furthermore, once the database is established, the process of creating the WWW pages that allow the information gateway to be browsed and searched is largely automatic.
ROADS is based on emerging standards. Using the IAFA template as a basis for the database records allows them to be easily stored and exchanged. Further into the future ROADS will provide a common platform for searching the information stored across multiple gateways with a single search term.
For the user of an information gateway:
The user will benefit from the organised nature of a ROADS based information gateway, allowing resources in a particular area to be found quickly and efficiently. The description will reduce the frustration of spending a considerable amount of time connecting to resources that then turn out to be of not use. The fact that a ROADS based gateway is selective, rather than comprehensive is also very important. Users don’t want to be bombarded with a multitude of useless information, but want some of the sifting done for them.
Another important aspect of using ROADS based gateways will be consistency of interface. Although individual providers of gateways will have room to provide an individual identity when using ROADS , the basic structure of will be the same. In this way, once a user has learnt to navigate one information gateway, it will be very simple to navigate other gateways. In the future this will be extended to being able to search across multiple gateways with a single search term.
The advantages of ROADS can be summarised as follows:
It is also worth pointing out the flexibility of the ROADS system; although it is primarily intended for use in the publication of information gateways, it can also be configured to perform a wide range of cataloguing tasks.
Christopher J. Osborne
Email: c.j.osborne@bristol.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)117 928 8472
Fax: +44 (0)117 928 8473