The arXiv roadmap is a living document and communication tool to accommodate continuous prioritization throughout the year. Items Items are listed in approximate priority order, subject subject to change based upon consideration of input from arXiv stakeholders, consideration of new opportunities and initiatives as they arise, and progress on next generation arXiv development.
Technical
Moderator Web UI: Implement enhancements to the existing moderation Web UI to improve the proposal system based on moderator feedback. Also, enable moderators to take multiple actions and commit them together as a set of actions. Develop a new alternate moderator user experience to offer an efficient way for moderators to work on multiple submissions on a single responsive web page. The alternate moderator user experience will provide new paradigm for category management, improved proposal features, and an improved notification scheme to decrease email volume for moderators.
Moderation API: Define and implement a new API that provides a service endpoint for all essential operations necessary to support the moderation workflow. The API will be brought forward in to the new arXiv-NG architecture with the intention of it being able to support new applications and user interfaces in the future to support moderation in arXiv-NG.
Upgrade database infrastructure: This is a system operations priority.
PHP/tapir to PERL/Catalyst: Complete the conversion of PHP code to provide modularity, consistency, and improved maintainability of key parts of arXiv codebase. Migrate functions away from old PHP/Tapir codebase and into Perl/Catalyst (will mostly be done by end of 2016 but a few tasks remain).
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Systematize arXiv's individual archive pages: The "home" pages for individual archives within arXiv have grown organically over time and are inconsistent with each other and in some cases outdated.
Process Improvement
Stakeholder communication improvements: Improve the support ticketing process for Admin and SAB for making requests that need development. Provide a means for stakeholders to submit requests in a consistent way. Define best practices for prioritizing and ensure that requests do not not get lost in the action or become stale. Improve process of communicating with stakeholders to ensure that the loop is closed on each request and that the submitter receives updates on status and closure.
Continuous prioritization of development priorities: Modify the planning process so that the Roadmap becomes living document that can incorporate changes on a quarterly basis. Coordinate the communication between the SAB, the arXiv development and admin teams to ensure a transparent process that engages key stakeholders in a new prioritization process. Evolve development team tactical process to manage backlog effectively and enable continuous evaluation of priorities and resources to maximize impact.
arXiv Workflow and Moderation analysis: Embark on a fresh analysis of workflows for moderators, appellate moderators, and Chairs. Identify and implement process improvements. This will inform both classic arXiv and arXiv-NG. Improve communication to moderators regarding system updates, process improvement, guidelines for moderation, and recruitment. Expand documentation on roles, relationships, and workflows between moderators, appellate moderators, committees, and Chairs.
Business Model, Governance, and Partnership
Recruit a Scientific Director: In 2014, we created the Scientific Director position to provide intellectual leadership for arXiv and appointed Dr. Chris Myers as the interim Scientific Director to test and refine the role. After Chris Myers's departure in April 2016, we have started to revise the job description with the goal of filling the position in 2017. The Scientific Director (.5 FTE) will collaborate with the arXiv staff and the arXiv's Scientific Advisory Board in providing intellectual leadership for arXiv's operations.
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Another source of funding in support of arXiv-NG came from the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI2). An initial gift of $200,000 for 2017 will support a collaboration between the Cornell University Library and the Cornell Computing and Information Science (CIS). This donation will allow us to hire a Research & Innovation Fellow to collaborate with the arXiv team in designing and integrating a series of updated, research-oriented features for arXiv. The ultimate goal is to integrate tools that emerge from research into the production system to improve user and moderator experience.
Special Projects (under consideration)
A number of special projects from previous roadmaps are being incorporated into next generation arXiv planning and development.
The current 5-year business plan represents a baseline maintenance scenario. It was developed based on an analysis of arXiv's baseline expenses during 2010-2012. It does not factor in any new functionality requirements or other unforeseen resource needs. Although a development reserve was established to fund such expenses, it is not sufficient to subsidize significant development efforts through surplus funds.
Selected interoperability initiatives
Improve ORCID integration
- Reference linking
Other initiatives
- Search
- Mobile app for moderation