W1: A Gentle Introduction to DDI: What's in it for Me?

This workshop is Part 1 of a two-part workshop, with the second part offered in the afternoon as Workshop 5 (Hands-On DDI 3.0 - Concept, Structure, and Tools). DDI Version 3.0 is currently under review by the DDI Expert Committee and expected to move into public review following the DDI meeting during IASSIST. This long-anticipated move toward a modular approach based on the data life cycle brings increased coverage of comparative data, an instrumentation/questionnaire module, and data management provisions. The new version also raises questions as to what it means for current users of DDI 1 or 2 and what it means for data archivists and programmers. This two-part workshop will cover the broad questions of version differences, new 3.0 features, and the future of the DDI and data documentation (Part 1, Workshop 1, classroom format), and then address the practical aspects of migration to 3.0, metadata creation, and available tools (Part 2, Workshop 5, lab format). Attendees can register for the full-day workshop or either half-day session, depending on their needs and interests. Topics to be covered: Conceptual differences between DDI and traditional documentation (including codebooks and DDI 1 and 2)Utility, functionality, and uses of DDI (parse-ability, re-usability, flexibility, use over the life cycle of data, human-usable documentation, software-usable documentation, metadata as data, etc.), with many examplesKey features of DDI 3DDI LiteThe future of DDI and data documentation Intended Audience: Anyone interested in DDI; no prior knowledge of DDI or XML is required. The morning workshop will present basic concepts of DDI.