Topics discussed in ADC & UIC Re AIP

• Multiplicity of clearinghouses• End-to-end discovery• How to make the searches “better”• Usability testing results• Comments & recommendations on pilot process

On the multiplicity of clearinghouses

• Currently different results when searching different clearinghouses– Each clearinghouse is augmenting its database with different

community catalogs and resources– Different information model per clearinghouse

• Multiplicity currently useful for testing but can be confusing– User shouldn’t have to know about clearinghouses and registries

and shouldn’t have to select a clearinghouse to search (portals offer drop down for selecting clearinghouse to search)

• Task Force should recommend one clearinghouse for the operational phase

On End-to-End Discovery

• Emphasis on rigor of registration for better discovery

– Also discussion about current small number of registered components/services (with ~ half of them web sites)

• Proposal to add sub-categories for SBAs

– Pro: More targeted discovery; better user experience

– Con: Higher registration burden

• Discussion regarding level at which data should be registered

– E.g. one entry for all of the climate change db? (emphasis on the system of “systems”

• Areas for improvements

– Increase content and quality of GCI

– Improve user interface of geoportals per usability testing

– Continue working on and testing the architecture

– Reach out and involve user communities

– Support “better searches”

On “better” searches

• Distributed searches across multiple catalogs/clearinghouses

• Different proposals for searching beyond the registries– Sitemaps from catalog and Google Search

(Marten)– Google Search on content of websites registered

(Robert)– Tags for services for ease of discovery in regular

Google searches (Herve)

On Usability Testing

• Usability Testing of geoportals– Higher than expected participation (120 participants)– Most of them (~86% will use portals again)– One of the easiest features to use: Mapping– One of the most difficult features to use: Simple Search

• Discussion in ADC about user types and definitions– UIC to work on those so that other committees can use them– Discussion about target audience (casual user vs.

experienced user)• Discussion regarding cost of maintenance of geoportals

– To keep in mind that content management is time-consuming

On Pilot Process

• Efficient way to exercise and evolve architecture– Especially with respect to cross-community exchanges of

information– Need to continue working with UIC to engage communities of

practice• Need for how-to guides, cookbooks and/or recipes

– Good response to how-to user guides deliverables of AIP-2– Good response to Publish, Register, Test and Monitor video

• Recommendations– Develop glossary of terminologies– Propagate results and process to users and technical committees

• Publish videos to youtube• Cookbooks for using the GCI for discovery (geoportals) and for

tactical guidance on registration of resources