AASHTO RAC Transportation Knowledge Networks Task Force
March 7, 2013
Agenda
- Roll call Present: Sue, JT, Laura, Louise, Renee, Ron, Karen, Diane, Ida, Jane, Leighton, Natassja, Lynn, Skip. Leni – Chair; Kathy -- Notes
Absent: Daniel, Mary, Andy E., Frances, Dale
2.Check in onFebruarynotes/agenda adjustments needed? Comments were received and adjustments to last month’s notes were made. They will be sent to Natassja to be posted. No adjustments to agenda.
3.Information Management R&D Framework and upcoming SCOR discussion (see attached document and the email excerpt below these meeting notesdescribing its development)
SCOR has received the attached framework and plans to discuss funding the problem statements at the March 26-27 meeting. The framework has also been sent to RAC members as an FYI and to let them know they can provide feedback for the meeting.
Leni asked if there was additional feedback on the framework and the problem statements. At the NTKN Coordinating Committee meeting there was a comment that the $500,000 amount on one of the proposals may have been too low. Leni commented that it is probably too low to build a common language, but that this proposal is the foundation work that will lead to building the language. There’s also the idea that the higher the dollar amount, the less likely it is that SCOR would fund it. RAC members are providing feedback (a little different than the usual scoring process) to Crawford. Leni has heard it’s positive, in general, so far. SCOR is meeting at the end of the month and will set up funding packages (by March 27th), so we will know their position by then. Official action takes place in June to approve. A state DOT person is preferred as problem monitor, though Leni would also recommend others.
4.NTKN Coordinating Committee aka National Coordinating Committee (NCC) – met last Friday 3/1
a. Guidance document -- Leni asked for feedback and a comment was made that it looks great and looks flexible enough to provide for future growth of the TKNs, among other things. Leni will send the document out after this meeting for those who have not seen it yet.
b. Plan for logo -- Reviewed previous logo ideas (verbally). Efforts right now are to create a nice, simple font with NTKN abbreviated and also spelled out; graphic image will come later. NTL graphics folks are working on this. Hope to have something by the next meeting. A communication plan will be a focus soon.
c. Webinar suggestions? -- NTKN Annual meeting – will not be in person after SLA this year; instead, will be a series of focused webinars. Leni asked for ideas on topics; she mentioned that it would be good to bring all the stakeholders together to go over the guidance document. Other topics mentioned: reauthorization; outreach to broader community. Laura commented that she liked the idea of the TKNs meeting to go over the guidance document. No other comments at this time; Leni asked the group to be thinking about this.
Other webinar topics of general interest: “Beyond Google” idea, from TRB Safety Workshop (to address the idea of “you don’t know what you don’t know)
Other items from NCC meeting: TRAIL project and wish list of technical reports to be digitized – no discussion yet
From now on, NCC will meet first Friday of each month.
5.Other updates
a.Calendars – Laura sent Leni a website link for Northwest Central ( ), a continuing education network for library staff in the Pacific NW, and Leni pulled up the site. It has many of the features we would like for the calendar website, so Laura is contacting Kendra Levine to see how we might use this for a model. Although the calendar project itself was not approved for funding by the Pooled Fund, the WTKN and ETKN website projects were, and have quite a bit of funding and Laura is hoping we might be able to add this into the Pooled Fund websites project. Laura has not heard back from Kendra yet, but will do some more investigation of the site to see what we might be able to use. Leni asked for feedback on the site – does it look like it would work? Comments were positive that the features looked good and the concept would be workable. Jane commented that it was a good idea to work this into the Pooled Fund project; she also mentioned that public libraries use calendar software a lot, so there are other options should this particular website not translate to WordPress, the platform being used by WTKN and ETKN. Ida commented in the chat box that NW Central is a Drupal site. Natassja had these comments: A key consideration is who will host the site, especially if using WordPress (backend requirements); also what will the cost be? She said WordPress is very easy to use and would be a good platform for members to be able to post things. We need to scope what the site needs to be, and have input from stakeholders on that; Natassja said she would be glad to work with Laura on that, and Sue said she would help, as well. Other volunteers should contact Laura.
There was a question about whether this effort could be rolled into one of the problem statements for SCOR? Leni said the problem statements have been drafted and this activity certainly ties into the efforts but should be separate for now.
b.Report distribution – Daniel and Dale are not on the call today. Karen reported that she and Jane met with the Pooled Fund folks and had a planning/logistical meeting. For this project and the technical report page project –– need to scope both more specifically, and no funding has been set aside yet. That is being figured out. Certain aspects may be contracted out. Leni asked Renee (from Pooled Fund lead state) if she had any more information on the possible contracting process.
Jane added that she has feedback from Ken Winter from his recent TranLib posting about the technical report documentation page, and she can share this. It is included here (thanks, Jane!):
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From: Winter, Kenneth A. (VDOT) [mailto:]
Sent: Thursday, March 07, 2013 10:52 AM
To: TRANLIB
Subject: [tranlib] Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72), Update
Colleagues-
On February 8th I sent an e-mail to TRANLIB seeking background information on Form DOT F 1700.7.
While my patrons were seeking specific guidance regarding field 17 (Key Word), and a better understanding of overall guidance/documentation, I noted my belief that a better understanding of current practices could help begin to establish "best practices."
I was surprised by the quantity of responses I got, and in the interest of good communication though I would follow up with TRANLIB to thank those who responded.
1.I discovered that leaders at FHWA and USDOT (those responsible for the development and implementation of the form) are intimately aware of the issues surrounding guidance for and use of the form, as well as options for updating the form or guidance documentation. So the folks responsible for the subject of conversation are on top of all relevant issues.
2.I discovered there are multiple initiatives afoot under the auspices of the AASHTO RAC TKN Task Force ( ) regarding reports. Regarding the form, I found out that that the Library Connectivity & Development () FHWA Pooled Fund Study TPF-5(237) members recently funded a problem statement, titled "Promoting more effective use of the Technical Report Documentation page, USDOT Form 1700.7" which seems to deal with the questions I was asking, and more.
3.The initiative will bring together multiple stakeholders who will be exploring issues through a paid consultant and releasing their assessment at some point. I suspect the meager summary of responses I offered to post to TRANLIB in my first message will pale in comparison with their deliverable, so I wanted to call your attention to it and reduce any duplication of effort.
4.Jane Minotti is one member of the group providing oversight for the research to be done, and she reached out to me to let me know that if others have questions or comments on the topic they can get in touch with her directly. Here's her contact information if you would like updates:
Jane Minotti
Sr. Librarian, Research Library
NYSDOT
50 Wolf Road, POD 3-3
Albany, NY 12232
518-485-2077
Finally, thank you to everyone on the list who responded to my initial question and for your follow up questions and discussions.
You helped me answer my patron's questions, which helped me get my job done.
Thanks.
Ken
______
Ken Winter, MLIS
VDOT Research Library
530 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville VA 22903 Visit the library's Web page at: (VDOT only)
Ph: 434-962-8979 | E-mail:
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Leni will follow up with UTCs to see if they have done anything about folks signing up to receive their reports, via their websites, etc.
c.Data management – Andy, Frances and Mary not on the call. Leni said the “data citation” issue was mentioned as a possible problem statement for SCOR. Elements of that were rolled into the findability problem statement. Ida said she had spoken with Mary at NTL about this and they will keep us posted on their efforts.
Leni said the SCOR research framework also went to chairs of data sections and there was interest – may want to build it into a more robust document to address more data issues.
d.Repository paper – Dale not on the call; no update
e.Communication plan – Lynn and Kathy went over draft plan. Mainly they have questions about who has been contacted so far, and who else should be contacted about the TKN video. Ron will check on the idea of putting the video on flash drives – he will see about the file size, etc. Leni said we need to research how folks would receive a flash drive vs. going to a link. Leni affirmed that she did send it to all the state research directors, and it was sent to SCOR, as well. We may want to investigate vimeo, too. It’s on AASHTO TV under Oklahoma.
f.Lit Reviews – what are the elements? Sue reported that there’s been an initial meeting to scope this out:
where and how to search for literature reviews, including defining the terms: reviews, searches, bibliographies, etc.
a smaller group has agreed to refine some of these elements
6. Thinking about the next transportation bill - Reviving the TKN request or something different?– AASHTO is starting to think about the next steps, and it includes some language for funding TKNs (there’s language for NTL about TKNs but no funding in MAP-21). We need to start thinking about this and how to advise AASHTO. Another issue is coordination and collaboration for transportation research. Leni has a document for us to look at and it will be included with the meeting notes.
Meeting adjourned at 9:57 am Pacific Time.
Next Meeting: April 4th, 2013 at 8:30 am Pacific Daylight Time
Referenced today and also attached:
- Technical Page
- Reauthorization recommendation (pre MAP-21)
- NTKN Coordinating Committee (NCC)
- Safety Information action plan
The Framework
The four page framework represents a review of transportation literature published in the last five years, research needs from the TRB Research Needs Statements database, and ongoing work in the Research in Progress database. It also incorporates information about transportation data and information workshops held within the last three years (such as Data for Decisions) and many discussions. The following five focus areas were derived from this review:
1.Strategic Information Management Policy and Practice
2.Information Technology & Architecture
3.Capture, Storage, Findability, and Retrieval
4.Distribution and Reporting
5.Human Elements
Who was involved? An early version of the framework concept was distributed for review to the Chairs or data-leaders of the AASHTO Subcommittee on Information Services, Standing Committee on Planning; members of the TRB Data Section and Chair of the TRB Library and Information Science for Transportation, as well as other individuals who have been leaders and active participants of the evolution of information management and content in the transportation community. Andy Lemer, NCHRP, provided tireless advice and editorial reviews. There is general agreement that the framework is sound and these are good first steps.
A modest amount of funding was made available to develop these products but we did not use it due to time constraints.
Problem Statements
Three problem statements were developed to address information management topics that can provide broad benefit to many information management needs and near term benefit to transportation executives and information users. I appreciate SCOR members’ interest in improving information management and hope you will consider these problem statements for funding in the 2014 program.
1.Guidance for Transportation Executives on Planning and Programming Information Investments, $250,000
2.Improving Findability and Relevance in Transportation Information, $500,000
3.A Knowledge Management Primer for Transportation Agencies, $175,000
Who was involved? Individuals that had experience and expertise on each subject: including: Lisa Loyo, TRB; Maureen Hammer, VDOT; Frances Harrison; SpyPond Partners; Mary Moulton, NTL; several WSDOT staff in IT, program management, and library services; and Reg Souleyrette, University of Kentucky.