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DRS Futures Focus Groups Topics

Overview

Following the introductory meetings and the stakeholder survey, several remote focus groups are being offered in which community members will be invited to have facilitated discussions about DRS Futures. It is a priority to engage underrepresented communities as well as already engaged participants.

The timeline for focus groups is during the months of March and April 2023.

Registration information is available at the following link: https://sites.harvard.edu/drs-futures/2023/03/09/drs-futures-focus-groups-invitation/

Goals

  1. Articulate the preservation services and functions that should stay the same, the challenges and pain points, and the aspirations and opportunities for growth in the next generation of DRS.
  2. Create exchanges between user communities (or potential user communities) — networks of engagement that will give a birds-eye view of how DRS users are engaging with the service.
  3. Collect user stories for different functional areas of the DRS system that can be codified into user requirements.

Focus Groups Topics

  1. Curatorial topic: Curators and Administrators – this group is intended for those that rely on content getting into the DRS and for those who are interested in exploring the DRS but do not currently use the service. Topics for this group discussion may include:
    • How well does the DRS system support your departmental workflows?  Are there needs that you have for your data that are aided or impeded by the current DRS? What would you envision to help solve these problems?
    • Where does digital preservation fit into your collection development strategy?
    • How does Harvard’s digital preservation service help or hinder your fulfillment of donor agreements, grants, etc.?
    • Governance or storage fees comments are welcome via the DRS Futures Feedback email (drs-futures-feedback@HU.onmicrosoft.com) but will not be the focus of this discussion.
  2. Functional Topic: Deposit – this group will be focused on the needs and desires for deposit in the DRS Futures system. Topics for this group discussion may include:
    • What is the range of materials that you would like to submit to the DRS?  How much discretion do you have regarding the specific format and structure of these materials?
    • What interface enhancements would help streamline support for single and bulk deposits?
    • How important are automated deposit workflows from external feeder systems (e.g., Dataverse, DASH, ECM, etc.) and the DRS?
    • What are the specific, repetitive tasks that you find yourself doing as part of your deposit workflow that you would like to automate?
  3. Functional Topic: Managing content – this group is intended to provide DRS stakeholders with an opportunity to discuss their needs and concerns around how to manage content in the DRS. Topics for this group discussion may include:    
    • What are your requirements for altering content (updating metadata, adding files, deleting files, flipping images, etc.) that is already deposited in the repository?
    • What sort of administrative views of your content would you like to have?
    • What are your requirements for content retrieval at the aggregate, individual object, and individual file level?  What about primary content versus accompanying metadata?
    • What enhancements are needed for more effective access policy and enforcement?  What is the proper unit of granularity for designating access rules regarding content, users, and time?
  4. Functional Topic: Reporting – this group is intended to focus on the information and reporting needs of repository users. Topics for this group discussion may include:   
    • Do you generate repetitive reports? Are there scenarios in which automated reports would be valuable?   
    • When compiling report data, how current do you need the data to be for the reports?  
    • Preservation reporting: What information do you require in relation to preservation actions?
    • Content reporting: What information do you require in relation to content deposited into the DRS?
    • Usage reporting — How can the DRS support the usage reporting you need to have generated by other access or data systems? 
  5. Functional Topic: Access Policies — this group is intended to provide DRS stakeholders with an opportunity to discuss their needs and concerns around DRS access policies. Topics for this group discussion may include:   
    • What kinds of flexible access policies are needed for batches, individual objects and files uploaded to the preservation repository?
    • Currently, three access levels are available for deliverable content: public, restricted, or no access. Which other more nuanced policies are required, possibly involving user group-level policies?
    • What kinds of time-based access policies are needed to facilitate content sharing and access?
    • What kinds of resources need access from specific environments or locations (such as reading rooms for example)?