In December 2017, we provided an update about development of DDI work products to express continued support for our stable work products -- including DDI-Codebook (DDI 2) and DDI-Lifecycle (DDI 3) -- and to communicate a mid-2018 prototype release of a new work product called DDI 4.
We’re happy to announce the prototype release of DDI 4. This preliminary version is not intended for production but provides an opportunity to test and provide feedback on how the DDI 4 model describes and documents some basic research material, such as a dataset, an instrument, and a codebook.
DDI 4 is based on an information model that can be expressed in different technologies, including standard RDF vocabularies and XML structures. This form of model-based standard is a best practice in the standardization world, and several other domains have used this approach for years to structure their domain-specific standards. The development of DDI 4 will enable the standard to stay abreast of current technological changes and guarantee alignment across different technology implementations. More details about the history and origin of DDI 4 can be found on the “Work Products of the DDI Alliance” web page
We look forward to the DDI community testing this prototype release and providing constructive feedback on its future development. Links to the specification and use cases, as well as instructions for comment, are found at:
We would love to have as much feedback as possible for our next development meeting on November 26th, but the comment period will extend beyond that. We hope to hear from you! Please feel free to contact ddisecretariat@umich.edu with questions.