name: Newcastle University — API lifecycle posture
aid: newcastle
generated: '2026-08-30'
method: derived
x-evidence-method: probed
source: live probes and specification reads, 2026-08-30
summary: >-
  Newcastle publishes no central developer portal, no API changelog, no deprecation policy and no
  status page for any of its institution-operated APIs. Versioning is present but is expressed only
  in the URL path and the specification version field. There is no communication channel through
  which a consumer would learn that one of these APIs had changed or gone away.
apis:
- aid: newcastle:digitised-objects
  x-operator: institution
  versioning: URL path prefix /v1 plus a semantic version in info.version and a separate build number
  current_version: 1.27.0
  build: 1.35.3
  version_endpoint: https://api-dor.ncl.ac.uk/info
  spec_endpoint: https://api-dor.ncl.ac.uk/info/open-api
  deprecation_policy: none published
  changelog: none published
  status_page: none published
  assessment: >-
    The best-run surface here. The API serves its own OpenAPI and its own version and build numbers
    from a machine-readable /info endpoint, which is more lifecycle transparency than most
    institutions in this cohort offer. What is missing is any forward-looking commitment — nothing
    tells a consumer what happens when /v1 is retired.
- aid: newcastle:urban-observatory
  x-operator: institution
  versioning: URL path /api/v2.0a
  current_version: 2.0a
  spec_endpoint: https://api.usb.urbanobservatory.ac.uk/openapi.json
  deprecation_policy: none published
  changelog: none published
  status_page: none published
  succession_note: >-
    The specification says of itself that the v2.0a API "is currently in operation for the Urban
    Sciences Building and some of the newer data sources across the city" and that "it is
    anticipated that this schema, once complete, will replace the existing API." That is a stated
    intent to supersede an older API, published inside the contract, with no date and no migration
    guidance. The "a" suffix on 2.0a signals alpha; it has carried that suffix since at least 2026.
  predecessor_status: >-
    The older Urban Observatory portal at newcastle.urbanobservatory.ac.uk now serves a
    single-page-application shell for every path probed, including /api/v1.1/sensors/json/ and
    /api_docs/ — HTTP 200 with 661 bytes of JavaScript bootstrap and no data. The v1.1 REST API and
    its documentation are effectively gone from that host, without a redirect, a tombstone, or a
    notice. api.newcastle.urbanobservatory.ac.uk answers but returns nginx 403 at the root.
- aid: newcastle:ecppec
  x-operator: institution
  versioning: none — no version in the endpoint, the schema, or a header
  deprecation_policy: none published
  changelog: none published
  project_status: >-
    ECPPEC is a completed research project. The website footer reads "© 2026 Newcastle University
    (Version 1.1.1)", which versions the website rather than the API. Research-project APIs of this
    kind are typically maintained only as long as their grant, which is a real availability risk a
    consumer cannot read anywhere on the surface.
- aid: newcastle:etheses-oai
  x-operator: institution
  versioning: OAI-PMH protocol version 2.0
  software: DSpace 6.3
  software_note: >-
    DSpace 6.3 reached end of support upstream; the deployment is the institution's to maintain.
    Recorded as an operational fact about the deployment, not as a conformance failure.
  earliest_datestamp: '2008-09-18T12:48:45Z'
- aid: newcastle:eprints-website
  x-operator: institution
  finding: >-
    eprints.ncl.ac.uk answers 200 and is a live Newcastle University service, but it is no longer
    EPrints software and it exposes no API at all. /cgi/oai2, /oai2 and /api all redirect to
    error_page.aspx. Any catalog entry claiming an OAI-PMH interface at this host is claiming
    something that does not exist; the institution's working OAI-PMH endpoint is at
    theses.ncl.ac.uk.
observability:
  status_page: none found
  incident_history: none found
  uptime_commitment: none found
  support_channel: >-
    Per-service, via named humans and library/IT contact pages. There is no central developer
    support address, no developer forum, and no issue tracker for any of these APIs.