This course provided opportunities to build repositories and practice working within those environments. The four open source content management systems we worked with were dissimilar enough to practice different skills, yet parallel enough to have a continuity of learning.
Drupal was a robust platform, and offered much more than just the ability to develop a repository. At this particular time in my learning curve most of its features, like running intranets, portals and blogs, and managing websites was lost on me. I felt like I only scratched the surface during the practice time using it. My end impression was that it was flexible to use as a repository, but not the best choice for one. I did not like the way items and metadata were presented in a blog-like display, but this might have been overcome with a more in-depth exploration.
This was my second opportunity to use DSpace, the first was IRLS 671--Introduction to Digital Collections. The workflow was easier the second time, but I must admit my dislike of the interface that organized everything into communities. One repository I evaluated had close to 100 communities listed on their welcoming page, which was not welcoming at all to an end-user unfamiliar with the university’s administrative structure.
EPrints strength lay in its ability to archive and distribute scholarly publications. It was designed perfectly for that purpose, and was flexible enough to accommodate my collection of images. However its academic environment was a poor match for the touristy feel of my collection of photographs.
I especially liked Omeka, and felt it has a lot to offer. As opposed to the other three, I think its ability to host a collection in the clouds (for a fee, of course) is a positive feature that i might be able to use later.
I think one of the most important outcomes of this class for me was a better understanding of metadata; working with application profiles, ontologies and taxonomies. Overall I learned a lot about working with repository platforms and am looking forward to applying what I have learned.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Unit 12
As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I think we are only scratching the surface when it comes to understanding the workings of a repository. Realistically that’s about the best that a semester or two can do—the actual experiences of working day-to-day with digital collections (hopefully) will provide the depth of understanding needed for competency and productivity. So when questioned which should be considered for future classes, the continuation of a semester of quick forays into the installation and configuration of four different virtual machines, or a pre-configured VM, I would have to say I’m split evenly between the two choices.
On one hand, things have started to come together this semester during the CLI parts of the class. In IRLS 672 I blindly copied code like a transcriptionist reproducing a manuscript in a foreign language. Now as I type, I’m beginning to get a sense of what I’m actually trying to do. Unfortunately if something goes wrong all I can do is compare and look for typos—it will take many more courses before I can suggest to myself an alternative way of coding. But that’s the progression in learning.
On the other hand, since I have many obligations in my life beside this class (family and work are two) something has had to suffer. I have spent hours and hours staring at code that wasn’t working the way it should have. That time could have been used for a better purpose working with a collection in a pre-configured VM, and I would probably know more about managing digital collections.
I don’t know if it’s logistically possible, but perhaps a compromise would work. Rather than developing four virtual machines from the ground up (Drupal, DSpace, ePrints and Omeka), why not select two and use the remaining time working with a collection in depth in a pre-configured virtual machine? From my perspective Drupal and Omeka were the least like each other, and also offered unique learning experiences that could apply to other platforms used for repositories today. And learning to apply ontologies, metadata, crosswalks, several plugins, etc, in one environment, but more in-depth and consistently, might serve us learners better.
On one hand, things have started to come together this semester during the CLI parts of the class. In IRLS 672 I blindly copied code like a transcriptionist reproducing a manuscript in a foreign language. Now as I type, I’m beginning to get a sense of what I’m actually trying to do. Unfortunately if something goes wrong all I can do is compare and look for typos—it will take many more courses before I can suggest to myself an alternative way of coding. But that’s the progression in learning.
On the other hand, since I have many obligations in my life beside this class (family and work are two) something has had to suffer. I have spent hours and hours staring at code that wasn’t working the way it should have. That time could have been used for a better purpose working with a collection in a pre-configured VM, and I would probably know more about managing digital collections.
I don’t know if it’s logistically possible, but perhaps a compromise would work. Rather than developing four virtual machines from the ground up (Drupal, DSpace, ePrints and Omeka), why not select two and use the remaining time working with a collection in depth in a pre-configured virtual machine? From my perspective Drupal and Omeka were the least like each other, and also offered unique learning experiences that could apply to other platforms used for repositories today. And learning to apply ontologies, metadata, crosswalks, several plugins, etc, in one environment, but more in-depth and consistently, might serve us learners better.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Unit 11 Comparison of Home Sites
I’m not quite sure if this week’s blog assignment is to discuss the home site of the repository we were created using Drupal, DSpace, ePrints and Omeka, or the respective organizations’ home site.
Of the organizations’ home sites, I must admit I found Drupal’s marketing line the most compelling: Come for the software, stay for the community. It emphasizes that a novice repository developer would not be alone, but has a great deal of global support. Let’s make that an exceptional amount of company and support: “701,691 people in 228 countries* speaking 181 languages power Drupal.”
DSpace and ePrints, on the other hand seem to stress the fact that they are open-access, while Omeka labels itself a platform for “serious” web publishing. By having such terms prominently displayed on the homepage such as “Dublin Core,” “Linux,” “Apache,” “MySQL,” and “PHP” it is skipping the amateur website developer and marketing to users with a substantial bit of IT/Digital Content background.
All sites appeared as the top result when Googled, all sites were “busy” and required a lot of scrutiny to find the sections of interest. I would not determine a final selection for repository software by the home page of the platform. I am much more interested in how I can use it, rather than how the organization has chosen to use it—our needs and user base are probably much different.
Of the organizations’ home sites, I must admit I found Drupal’s marketing line the most compelling: Come for the software, stay for the community. It emphasizes that a novice repository developer would not be alone, but has a great deal of global support. Let’s make that an exceptional amount of company and support: “701,691 people in 228 countries* speaking 181 languages power Drupal.”
DSpace and ePrints, on the other hand seem to stress the fact that they are open-access, while Omeka labels itself a platform for “serious” web publishing. By having such terms prominently displayed on the homepage such as “Dublin Core,” “Linux,” “Apache,” “MySQL,” and “PHP” it is skipping the amateur website developer and marketing to users with a substantial bit of IT/Digital Content background.
All sites appeared as the top result when Googled, all sites were “busy” and required a lot of scrutiny to find the sections of interest. I would not determine a final selection for repository software by the home page of the platform. I am much more interested in how I can use it, rather than how the organization has chosen to use it—our needs and user base are probably much different.
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