CURIOSity  

Online  Collections  Wendy  Gogel,  December  12,  2013  

Revised  March  2014  

Cabinets  of  curiosities  

Agenda  

•  What  arena?    •  What  services?  •  Work  – What  kind  – Whose?  

•  Did  I  get  it  right?  -­‐  An  informal  discussion  •  Building  the  service  

WHAT  ARENA?  

Online  Collections  

Features  •  Searching    •  Browsing  •  Faceting  •  Result  sets  – Thumbnails  – Basic  descriptions  

•  Exhibits  – Narrative  

•  Mapping  •  Timelines  •  User  contributions  – Annotations    – Tags  

Library  Interoperability  Initiative  Wiki    

https://wiki.harvard.edu/conUluence/display/HLSLibraryInteroperability/Collection+and+Exhibition+Platforms  

WHAT  SERVICES?  

Services  

•  Collection  Tools  •  Hosting  – Sandbox  hosting  – Software  hosting  

•  Software  analysis  •  “Data  wrangling”  •  Integration  with  LTS  enterprise  technology  

Collection  Tools  

•  Multiple  platforms  – Different  needs  – Different  technology  requirements  – Different  skill  sets  (different  levels  of  support)  

•  E.g.:  – Omeka  – Exhibit  3  – Blacklight  

Pla$orm  

Skill  set  to  install  and  maintain  

Skillset  to  create  

collec2on  

Skillset  to  customize  look  and  feel  collec2on  

Skill  set  to  customize  features  

Ingest  Formats   Export  Formats  

Omeka  

Standard  IT  

opera0ons  

Administra0ve  interface  for  collec0on  managers  

Can  use  exis0ng  themes  for  look  and  

feel,  but  customiza0on  requires  HTML    CSS,  

and  PHP  

PHP  programming  required  for  plug-­‐ins  

CSV  DC_OAI  

Dublin  Core  CDWA  Lite  MODS  Atom  PB  Core  

Exhibit  3          Scripted  (client  version)  

Standard  IT  

opera0ons  Javascript,  

HTML  and  CSS  

Branding  and  customiza0on  requires  

HTML  and  CSS    Javascript,  HTML,  CSS  

CSV  JSON  TSV  

JSON  BibTeX  TSV  

RDF/XM  Seman0c  wikitext  

HTML  

Blacklight  

Standard  IT  

opera0ons  

Requires  Ruby  on  Rails  

programmer  and  ability  to  configure  SOLR  

index  Uses  SOLR  index  

Requires  Ruby  on  Rails  programmer  and  ability  to  configure  

SOLR  index  

Requires  Ruby  on  Rails  

programmer  and  ability  to  configure  SOLR  index  

MARC,  or  customized  for  other  

formats  such  as  MODS  

JSON  For  the  Solr  index:  

HTML    CSV  

Pla$orm  

Skill  set  to  install  and  maintain  

Skillset  to  create  

collec2on  

Skillset  to  customize  look  and  feel  collec2on  

Skill  set  to  customize  features  

Ingest  Formats   Export  Formats  

Omeka  

Standard  IT  

opera0ons  

Administra0ve  interface  for  collec0on  managers  

Can  use  exis0ng  themes  for  look  and  

feel,  but  customiza0on  requires  HTML    CSS,  

and  PHP  

PHP  programming  required  for  plug-­‐ins  

CSV  DC_OAI  

Dublin  Core  CDWA  Lite  MODS  Atom  PB  Core  

Exhibit  3          Scripted  (client  version)  

Standard  IT  

opera0ons  Javascript,  

HTML  and  CSS  

Branding  and  customiza0on  requires  

HTML  and  CSS    Javascript,  HTML,  CSS  

CSV  JSON  TSV  

JSON  BibTeX  TSV  

RDF/XM  Seman0c  wikitext  

HTML  

Blacklight  

Standard  IT  

opera0ons  

Requires  Ruby  on  Rails  

programmer  and  ability  to  configure  SOLR  

index  Uses  SOLR  index  

Requires  Ruby  on  Rails  programmer  and  ability  to  configure  

SOLR  index  

Requires  Ruby  on  Rails  

programmer  and  ability  to  configure  SOLR  index  

MARC,  or  customized  for  other  

formats  such  as  MODS  

JSON  For  the  Solr  index:  

HTML    CSV  

Sandbox  hosting  Server  space  and  support  for  experimentation  •  Mount  software    •  Try-­‐out  new  platforms  •  Develop,  test  and  demonstrate  custom  collections  

•  Make  decisions  about  production  services  – Host  centrally  – Maintain  locally  – Abandon  experiment    

Software  hosting  

Hardware,  software,  maintenance  support  for:  •  Local  or  shared  collections  – Colonial  North  America  – Open  Collections  Program  collections  

•  Custom-­‐built  software  or  boutique  collections  – Emily  Dickinson  Archive  

Batch  handling  of  data…  

Your  data  

EAD  MARC  

CSV,  TSV  MODS  DC  

Various  XML?  

 

WORK  !   Pla$orm  requirements  

…may  require  problem-­‐solving  

Your  data  

EAD  MARC  

CSV,  TSV  MODS  DC  

Various  XML?  

 

WORK  !   Pla$orm  requirements  

Software  analysis  

For  new  software  •  Platform  evaluations    – Technical  analysis  – Technical  requirements    – Feature  comparison  

Integration    

..with  LTS  existing  enterprise  technology  •  Harvesting  metadata  – HOLLIS  – VIA  – Harvard  Geospatial  Library  – OASIS  Uinding  aids  

•  Linking  to  content  in  DRS  •  Tools,  APIs,  etc.  

WORK  

Work:  for  each  platform  

•  Set-­‐up  and  conUigure  (hardware/software  license,  maintenance  and  support  requirements,  programming  language,  etc.)  

•  Customize  for  Harvard  users  (required  plug-­‐ins)  –  Integration  with  LTS  enterprise  systems  – Harvard  branding  and  design  – Methods  to  update  and  enrich  data    

Work:  for  each  collection  

Technical:  •  Set-­‐up  and  conUigure  collection  •  Automate  batch  metadata  conversion  and  ingest,  or    

•  Determine  data  wrangling  and  problem-­‐solving  needs  

•  Create  custom  look  and  feel  

Work:  for  each  collection  

Collection  manager/  curator  •  Identify  content  •  Rights  clearance  •  Narrative  and  context  •  Feature  selection  •  Branding  determination  •  End  user  testing  •  Reference  and  public  services  

Not  Just  LTS!  HL  Preservation  Services  •  Analyst,  liaison  and  interpreter  to  work  with    –  Programmers  and  other  technologists  –  Curators/collection  mangers  –  Other  library  staff  

•  Create  and  optimize  workUlows    •  Provide  –  Documentation  –  Instruction  –  Training  

•  Assistance  with  rights  management?  

Work:  examples  

•  Omeka:  Colonial  North  America    •  Exhibit  3:  Colonial  North  America  

DID  I  GET  IT  RIGHT?  

Services  

•  Collection  Tools  •  Hosting  – Sandbox  hosting  – Software  hosting  

•  Software  analysis  •  “Data  wrangling”  •  Integration  with  LTS  enterprise  technology  

Other  Services?  

Feedback  from  December  18  meeting:  •  HUIT  security  review  •  New  policies  re:  open  access  •  APIs  •  Data  exchange  (packaging  and  transfer  of  data)  •  User  enrichment  – Enable  and  save  user-­‐contributed  data  

•  Shared  Canvas  tools  

Other  Services?  

PROBLEM  STATEMENT/VISION  Charter  

The  Harvard  Library  (HL)  and  Harvard  University  Information  Technology  Library  Technology  Services  (LTS)  are  collaborating  on  a  new  service  to  enhance  the  online  collection  creation  and  presentation  capability  of  the  Harvard  community.  CURIOSity  will  enable  faculty,  students  and  staff  to  develop  online  collections  for  teaching,  learning  and  research.  The  core  of  CURIOSity  will  include  tools,  hardware  and  software  hosting,  and  “data  wrangling”  assistance  provided  by  LTS  to  enable  building,  searching  and  browsing  of  online  collections,  and  custom  exhibits.  Preservation  Services  (PCDI)  will  deUine  and  offer  CURIOSity  based  on  community-­‐deUined  needs  and  will  help  members  of  the  Harvard  community  select  and  use  the  services.    

BUILDING  THE  SERVICE  

Questions  

•  Do  you  want  this  service?  •  Would  you  advocate  for  it?  •  How  do  we  prioritize  the  work?  – Within  HUIT?  LTS/ATS?    – Within  the  Library  

•  How  do  we  fund  it?  

Thanks!  

To  you  and…  Ceilyn  Boyd  Randy  Stern  Michael  Vandermillen  Priscilla  Anderson  Maggie  Hale