Information System Development in the “E-Age”

Abstract

Audio-visual content plays increasing role in cultural and scientific life, however preservation and accessibility methods of such objects is still under research and development in all over the world. The problem arises from the multidisciplinary and heterogeneous nature of content on the one hand, and the continuos and high speed change in infocommunication technology on the other hand. Successful co-operation of several different kinds of multicultural, multilingual repositories require the use of widely accepted open standards and systems, however tailored collaboration among the project participants, the institutes and experts of information technology, media and regulation is an exciting challenge for project management.

The project for the initiation of the National Audio-visual Archive (NAVA), Hungary was founded in 1999 by the Ministry of National Cultural Heritage, and planned to be completed in December 2001. Now the theoretical and modelling aspects are already cleared and described in details, a test-bed is established, appropriate contacts with co-operating institutes are made. Further research is needed for the extending and propagation of metadata scheme, and the experimental integration of existing archives. This case study emphasises the importance of a manageable system development method, however concrete development results and technological problems related with management functions and decisions are also mentioned. The project is an edifying case of information system development in the beginning of the new “e-age” - when fundamental rules become unstable.

The paper introduces an extended model of the Controlled Iteration Method. Real example shows, that a proper information system can be designed and realised rapidly even if the functional requirements are modifying in the late phases of the project and the specification have to be defined in a very complex space.