6.4 OU Stakeholders and Requirements
6.4.1 Stakeholders
The Stakeholders for these user requirements are:
- Course teams (authors, administrators and clerical staff)
- Editorial staff
- Librarians
- Students
6.4.2 Common tasks
Course teams:
- Add a new reference to a piece of structured content
- Add new references to a Resource page on the Course website
- Create an RSS feed of references and add this to a Resource page on the Course website
- Add a new reference to an existing RSS feed of references
- Request ‘persistent’ URLs for resources from the library
Editors:
- Manually adjust the display format of a reference in structured content
- Check that links from References to online resources work
- Request ‘persistent’ URLs for resources from the library
- Correct incorrect links from References to online resources
Librarians:
- Add a new reference to a Resource page on the Course website
- Create an RSS feed of references and add this to a Resource page on the Course website
- Add a new reference to an existing RSS feed of references
- Check links from References to online resources work
- Correct incorrect links from References to online resources
- Supply ‘persistent’ URLs for resources to Course teams and Editors
Students:
- Follow a link from a reference on the Course Website to a resource
- Add reference to their personal environment, from the Course Website and other sources
- Organize references by a variety of criteria
- Bookmark useful resources found online (via the Course Website or through other routes)
- Add references or citations to assessed pieces of work
- Create a bibliography for assessed pieces of work
6.4.3 Methodology
The requirements listed here were compiled through a number of routes:
- Interviews with individual stakeholders
- Focus groups with stakeholders, specifically library staff and students
- Usage statistics from existing systems that provide relevant functionality
- Anecdotal feedback provided to the library over time
6.4.4 Functional Requirements
1. References within Structured Content
| Number | Requirement | Mandatory (M)/Desirable (D)/Future Enhancement (E) |
| 1.1 | It should be possible to enter new reference details via a simple form | M |
| 1.2 | It should be possible to capture new reference details by supplying minimal metadata such as a DOI or ISBN | D |
| 1.3 | It should be possible to format the references within SC (Structured Content) to follow the OU Style Guide specification for references | M |
| 1.4 | It should be possible to format the references within SC (Structured Content) in a variety of other citation/referencing styles | D |
| 1.5 | It should be possible to manually adjust the reference text as displayed (i.e. the style) while maintaining the link to structured reference data | M |
| 1.6 | It should be possible to indicate if reading/viewing a resource is required or optional | D |
| 1.7 | Links to online versions of printed references should be created automatically where possible | M |
| 1.8 | It should be possible to manually insert a link into a reference and use this in preference to the automatically created link | M |
| 1.9 | It should be possible to suppress the display of a link from a reference to an online resource | D |
| 1.10 | Any links to online versions of resources should be persistent over time | M |
| 1.11 | Any links to online versions of resources should be accompanied by a full reference to the resource (in the style agreed for the course) | M |
| 1.12 | Students should be able to export all references, or a subset of references, to their ePortfolio | M |
| 1.13 | Students should be able to export all references, or a subset of references, to other formats of their choice | D |
| 1.14 | It should be possible to check all links to online resources from structured content are valid, preferably by some automated process | M |
2. References to Resources on Course Websites (excluding structured content)
| Number | Requirement | Mandatory/Desirable |
| 2.1 | It should be possible to enter new reference details via a simple form | M |
| 2.2 | It should be possible to capture new reference details by supplying minimal metadata such as a DOI or ISBN | D |
| 2.3 | Links to online versions of printed references should be created automatically where possible | M |
| 2.4 | It should be possible to manually insert a link into a reference and use this in preference to the automatically created link | M |
| 2.5 | It should be possible to suppress the display of a link from a reference to an online resource | D |
| 2.6 | Any links to online versions of resources should be persistent over time | M |
| 2.7 | Any links to online versions of resources should be accompanied by a full reference to the resource (in the style agreed for the course) | M |
| 2.8 | It should be possible to link references to the relevant courses | M |
| 2.9 | It should be possible to display all the references linked to a specific course, within the relevant course context | M |
| 2.10 | It should be possible set the order in which references appear when displayed within a course context | M |
| 2.11 | It should be possible to group references under different headings when displayed within a course context | M |
| 2.12 | It should be possible for a student to export a subset of, or all, references to their ePortfolio | M |
| 2.13 | Students should be able to export all references, or a subset of references, to their ePortfolio | M |
| 2.14 | Students should be able to export all references, or a subset of references, to other formats of their choice | D |
| 2.15 | It should be possible to manually adjust the reference text as displayed (i.e. the style) while maintaining the link to structured reference data | M |
| 2.16 | It should be possible to check all links to online resources from resource pages are valid, preferably by some automated process | M |
3. References in ePortfolios
| Number | Requirement | Mandatory/Desirable |
| 3.1 | It should be possible to enter new reference details via a simple form | M |
| 3.2 | It should be possible to capture new reference details by supplying minimal metadata such as a DOI or ISBN | D |
| 3.3 | It should be possible to capture reference details from Resource pages on Course Websites | M |
| 3.4 | It should be possible to capture reference details from Structured Content on Course Websites | M |
| 3.5 | It should be possible to edit references previously added to the ePortfolio | M |
| 3.6 | It should be possible to organize references into groups (e.g. by tagging or organization into folders) | M |
| 3.7 | It should be possible to add references to existing organizational groups | M |
| 3.8 | It should be possible to remove references from existing organizational groups | M |
| 3.9 | Where a link is automatically generated to an online version of the resources that is not available to the student, they should be directed to a page explaining the problem and offering further support. | D |
| 3.10 | It should be possible to create a list of references from the ePortfolio in a variety of citation/referencing styles | M |
| 3.11 | It should be possible to export a set of references from an ePortfolio to an appropriately styled bibliography in a Word compatible file format | D |
| 3.12 | It should be possible to export a set of references from an ePortfolio to a file that could be imported into other bibliographic management systems | M |
| 3.13 | It should be possible add comments to a reference within an ePortfolio | M |
| 3.14 | It should be possible to share a reference from an ePortfolio with other students | M |
| 3.15 | It should be possible to add comments to shared references | D |
| 3.16 | It should be possible to automatically import references relevant to the student’s current course registrations | E |
| 3.17 | It should be possible to add files as attachments (e.g. PDFs) to references | E |
| 3.18 | It should be possible to see local library service options for references that are not available online. E.g. Option to see if a local public or University library has a copy of the resource | E |
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