An integrated approach to preparing, publishing, presenting and preserving theses

An integrated approach to preparing, publishing, presenting and preserving theses

[Abstract]: This paper describes progress on a project funded by the Australian government to create Free
software; the Integrated Content Environment for research and scholarship (ICE-RS). ICE-RS is a
multi-faceted project which will add value to finished theses by making them available in both
HTML and PDF, as well as providing a mechanism for packaging multimedia theses. The project
will also concentrate on providing services for thesis production, with version control, automated
backup and collaboration services.
The paper begins with the established content management system that is the basis for the
project, ICE-RS , originally developed to create courseware packages. ICE includes distributed, version
controlled collaboration, using word processing software and works on multiple platforms, with
standard document formats. We survey other approaches to content authoring and publishing for
ETDs.
We showcase exploratory work on integration of the thesis writing process with Institutional
Repository software including publishing theses in both PDF and HTML with preservation and
descriptive metadata. The presentation will include demonstrations of thesis production at all stages
of development from proposal to completion.
In a more speculative vein, we will discuss opportunities for institutions to provide new levels of
support for candidates via automated thesis “dashboard” progress reports, supervisor and examiner
annotation and comment and support for copyright considerations as early as possible in the
process.