ILS 599 Methods for Creating Digital Archives using Open Source Software

I know that it sounds like such a cliche, but as I think back on this past Saturday, everything fell into place quite quickly and smoothly as we began to sort out the design and display elements of the archive. With our collection fairly well populated, team members sorted themselves out, applying their unique skills to work on mapping the navigation and creating an esthetically pleasing design (Kyle), working on the back end of the MySQL database (Arianna), adding an image lightbox (Molly), training team members on the inner workings of the wiki (Frank) and the important task of adding content to the wiki (Kristie and Jamie).

In the coming week as our class deadline approaches, I anticipate seeing many elements fall into place quickly while experience tells me others will give us headaches (think Job Title vs. Occupation discussion). Interesting how it is easy to get hung up on certain decisions while others seem crystal clear.

This past week, whether it was listening to discussions about DC elements or watching problems with the database be resolved, I was continually impressed at the extent to which everyone ‘owns’ the knowledge base we have amassed over the past four weeks. Instead of memorizing DC Element schemas, you have the knowledge to make thoughtful decisions about what to include and why. You’re able to think through a problem, weigh the options, and reach a best practices decision based on the unique situation presented. You understand the scaffold upon which your collection will be arranged. And because you haven’t memorized situations but have come to own the knowledge needed to make decisions, I think you are demonstrating the confidence that you will be able to adapt to the rapidly changing situations that arise in most work environments.

I started to name this post ‘Paving New Territory’ as that is exactly what we are doing with this digital archive. In the first class, we began by looking at other collections, how they were organized and the way the Dublin Core elements were used (or not as we soon discovered). In the second class, you were confronted with the reality of gaining intellectual control of contributed material and the disparity in number and type of items that each family contributed for their loved ones’ Living Memorial. The third class saw us somewhat mired in the overwhelming scope of the task at hand. Now that our archive is getting populated, we are confronted with decisions as to where to devote the time remaining and the realization that we need to figure out the most esthetically pleasing presentation for our collections. And in addition to that, add the need to develop a system to ensure consistency and accuracy in our entries’ metadata.

Molly’s post this week addresses the issue of tags and includes a thoughtful look at the articles Kyle posted links to in her blog last week. And thanks to quick thinking from several of you, photos were taken of our ‘Issues’ page. Which brings me to Being Mindful. While we did tend to flog the copyright issue, it can be a make or break issue for any archive. The article on orphans’ records from the Unitarian Service Committee and the digitization project for the Holocaust Museum raised many issues to discuss, especially the need to seek legal counsel. Although the lawyer sided in this instance on access citing historical significance trumping privacy concerns, this may or may not support our right to post certain materials. Any archive should have legal counsel on privacy and copyright including a ‘Take Down’ policy in the event that the creator of any material objects to its inclusion in the collection.

So we are being provided with the scaffold for our archive (fluid as it is) and through our mindful discussions, are evaluating and deciding what makes the most sense for this project given our mission and the scope of our time and resources.

If you haven’t read Frank’s most recent post, please do so as he raises many good points that we will discuss in class this week. For the time being, I just wanted to address two that he raised, the subject headings and the contribution form. I just had a lengthy discussion with Will on Monday concerning Dublin Core elements, in particular the ‘type’ element and I think you will be interested to look at the document he is creating for VOICES FileMaker. As always, there was quite a bit of discussion and back and forth and ultimately two points of view as to how to (or even if one should) adhere to the DC elements.

Subject Headings - we will be creating a subject heading for each victim. Enter personal names in inverted form: Last Name, First Name, Middle Name or Initial., suffix(if one)., birth date – death date.
Ex. DeMartini, Francis A., 1952-2001
King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968
Please use this subject alone on the profile page. For other items associated with the person, use this subject first, add a field and use September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001
Add any additional subject headings that would be appropriate.

Contribution Form – This field will be filled out if someone has made the contribution online. In the future, families and friends will be able to contribute to the Omeka archive via the ‘contribution plugin’ . The archivist adding the files to the collection will then complete this field. If you haven’t seen the contribution page on the site, check it out from the link at the bottom of the site.

Compound Objects – Compound objects are to be cataloged as one object although they may have numerous separate pages. Remember, we are cataloging the digital surrogate of the object, not the object itself. Some software such as ContentDM allows you to bulk upload a complete book of individual scans and the software will generate a pdf that is then given an identifier (1). Omeka, on the other hand, will allow us to upload more than one file for an item but strictly speaking this is two items, not one. So, this will present a bit of a workaround challenge for us. In our case, we will need to list both identifiers with the one item (two files). Since each file needs its own identifier, we will use the naming convention:
LM2001.II.001a      LM2001.II.001b
Please do not add the extension after the identifier; that information is available under format (digital format in the Dublin Core element area as opposed to original format in the Item Type Metadata area).

So, to recap, add the victim’s name only in the subject field when you are creating a profile page. When you are adding items from their collection add their name first in the subject field, Sept. 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001 next and then any additional appropriate subject headings.

When adding two images (i.e. front and back of a prayer card) for one item, use a or b following the leading identifier ex: LM2001.II.001a  LM2001.II.001b

Hope this helps (in the last great words of some beleaguered archivist) for now.

Nancy