OVERVIEW
Purpose
The D-Lib Test Suite is a group of digital library testbeds that are made available over the Internet for research in digital libraries, information management, collaboration, visualization, and related disciplines. The Test Suite: (a) lowers the barriers to entry for new researchers, (b) provides standard sets of data for quantitative and comparative research, (c) is a platform for experiments in interoperability and distributed systems.
Testbeds
Digital library research needs large testbeds to evaluate and demonstrate new concepts. In recent years, several excellent testbeds have been created in conjunction with federally funded research projects. To maximize the benefit from this previous work, a selected group of testbeds are being made available to other researchers. The initial testbeds and the testbed partners are:
- Informedia Digital Video and Spoken Language Document Testbed
Carnegie Mellon University - Networked Computer Science Technical Reference Library
Cornell University - UC Berkeley Environmental Digital Library
University of California, Berkeley - Alexandria Digital Library
University of California, Santa Barbara - DeLIver: Desktop link to Engineering Resources
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
Research Program
The D-Lib Test Suite will be used for a wide variety of research. Initially three categories of research are envisaged:
- Individual research projects
- The test suite and the individual testbeds are available for a wide range of research projects in digital libraries. The aim is to encourage wide use of the testbeds, but there may be some limitations because of resource constraints.
- D-Lib Metrics Working Group
- The D-Lib Metrics Working Group is developing a number of metrics that can be used for quantitative research in digital libraries. It is anticipated that they will lead to controlled experiments using several of the testbeds.
- Interoperability
- The members of the test suite plan to carry out experiments in interoperability amongst the testbeds and with other digital libraries.
How to Use the Test Suite
Researchers in digital libraries who wish to use the test suite, should contact Bonnie Wilson at CNRI, or, to use one of the university testbeds, the named contact person at the testbed.
The test suite is a general resource for researchers in digital libraries and related fields. Subject to DARPA approval, it is available to all U.S. government-funded researchers and other not-for-profit groups in the U.S.. Non-U.S. and for-profit researchers will be accommodated whenever possible. However, resources are limited. Research projects that will require significant support should contact the test suite team. Some of the materials in the collections are licensed to the testbeds; researchers may be required to sign licenses before using these materials.
Organization
The D-Lib Test Suite is coordinated by the Corporation for National Research Initiatives with support from DARPA. The development of the testbeds has been supported in part by the NSF/DARPA/NASA Digital Libraries Initiative, and by grants from DARPA, the National Science Foundation, and others.
prepared by Larry Lannom
last modified 8/21/00 bw