collectionspace for museum and academic technology professionals october 29, 2009
TRANSCRIPT
CollectionSpace for Museum and Academic Technology Professionals
October 29, 2009
www.collectionspace.org
Speakers Carl Goodman, Principal Investigator, Museum of the
Moving Image Patrick Schmitz, Co-Technical Lead, University of
California, Berkeley Dan Sheppard, Co-Technical Lead, University of
Cambridge Erin Yu, Interaction Designer, University of Toronto Angela Spinazze, Senior Project Advisor, ATSPIN
consulting
CollectionSpace is an open-source, web-based software application for the description, management, and dissemination of museum collections information – from artifacts and archival materials to exhibitions and storage.
Project Partners Museum of the Moving Image, New York University of California, Berkeley, Information Services
and Technology Division University of Cambridge, Centre for Applied Research in
Educational Technologies University of Toronto, Adaptive Technology Resource
Centre, Fluid Project
Funding The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Program in Research
in Information Technology Program supports the creation of "enterprise" administrative and
infrastructural software by means of distributed, collaborative open-source development projects
Collaborations with RIT-funded projects ConservationSpace
Fluid Engage
Ole Project
OpenCast
Project Bamboo
Project TeamThe CollectionSpace project team is composed of domain experts, designers, architects, and developers from each partner organization.
Development teams work in cycles to issue regular software releases.
Initial Releases
CollectionSpace Release 1.0:
Eight core procedures and related functionality covered, including: acquisition, cataloging, loans, vocabulary control, media handling, customization, security, and documentation.
Incremental releases for testing and evaluation:
0.2: Released October, 2009. Allows user login, creation of intake records, and auto-fill intake and object identification numbers.
0.3: November, 2009. Includes ID service with choice of sequential identification numbers; vocabulary service, to provide access to controlled lists; and support for acquisition.
Implementations
MMI, UCB, Walker, more to come
S/M/L/XL
Different flavors, each made available to the community
Open Source Ability to modify, share, refine Can result in better software No vendor lock-in or licensing costs Incorporation of existing OS software
Community Source
Community Source
Benefits of Open Source +
Structured and coordinated development process
Designed WITH user community
Reduced total cost of operations
Doesn’t scare your colleagues
Benefits of CollectionSpace
Local or hosted
Open architecture
Standards-based
Customizable
Configurable roles and permissions
CollectionSpace Services
Patrick Schmitz
University of California, Berkeley
Co-Technical Lead, CollectionSpace
Dozens of world-class museums and research collections Range from small to very large Cover a very broad set of domains
Each has very different model, info needs Varying information around core activities Domain-specific information like stratigraphy
Research activities require easy access to CMS data and integration with other systems/apps
UCB and CollectionSpace
Services underlie the application, manage and provide access to all CMS data
SOA ensures clean architecture for CollectionSpace Enterprise standard for integration, reuse Exposes information as Web Services for re-use, enabling
mashups and new applications
REST-based services easy to use and integrate Services model common entities, and relations, but are extensible
to provide a flexible “data model” for each collection Provide permanent URI for objects for linking, citation, etc. Easy access to data for other applications, research projects, etc.
Services, SOA, and the Project
Schema model for a customized service deployment
Schema Extension Model
Example URIs, e.g., for loans, objects associated to one loan, and for a given collection object: your.museum.org/cspace-services/loans your.museum.org/cspace-services/loans/{id}/collectionobjects your.museum.org/cspace-services/collectionobjects/{id}
REST payload (XML content) includes core schema information, and your custom extensions
Dissemination and publishing tools have easy access to collections data
Research applications have access to data without compromising database security or access policies
REST Access to CollectionSpace
Doing 4 pilot deployments to gain experience PAHMA (Anthro) and a LifeSci collection at UCB MMI and Walker (Cultural Heritage collections)
Developing best practices with (ETL) tools for import Building templates for initial domains
Schemas and UI templates will be shared back to CollectionSpace Contributions from community ease future deployments Community provides forum for discussion/sharing experience
Planning more deployments across a range of domains in 2010
CollectionSpace Pilot Deployments
CollectionSpace Application
Dan Sheppard
University of Cambridge, CARET
Co-Technical Lead, CollectionSpace
Application Layer Why is it needed? What is it / isn’t it? How does it work? Where does it fit?
Configuration
Plugins and Configuration
Plugins and Paths
Plugins
Application Layer Why is it needed? What is it / isn’t it? How does it work? Where does it fit?
CollectionSpace User Interface
Erin Yu
University of Toronto, Fluid Project
Interaction Designer, CollectionSpace
CollectionSpace UX Goals A holistic product Designed by museums, not technologists Easy to use, but not simplistic Accommodates your workflow & collection Accessible to a wide variety of user needs
How We’re Making it Easy
2. Simple radio buttons allow users to choose which value of a repeatable field should be considered “primary”
1. Each information group can be collapsed to decrease screen clutter
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3. Markers in each field denote behavior - whether the field leads to a predictive text or dropdown pulled from a controlled list or authority file
35. Data entry screens each include a toolbar at the bottom that simplifies searching and saving
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6. Links to related procedures, objects, and collections can be created and managed
6 7. An integrated authorities list gives an index to all the authorized terms referenced in this record
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4. Repeatable fields can be added with a press of a button
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8. The time stamp for the last save or auto-save is displayed. At any time, changes can be reverted or cancelled
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Highly Configurable Museum collections are diverse CollectionSpace is built to be customized
Add new fields Change labels Take things away Skin it for your environment
“Schema-lessness:” no assumptions about data model baked into the user interface
Out of the Box Experience
Customized Museum Experience
A Web-Oriented Architecture No exotic technologies: just the Web HTML, CSS, and JavaScript Familiar and extensible Clean, simple URLs + useful data feeds Built using
Fluid’s Infusion application framework jQuery RESTful APIs and JSON
Flexible and Accessible Highly skinnable, even for users Can accommodate diverse user needs Works great with the keyboard Supports other assistive technologies Accessible, but still rich and dynamic!
Q+A
Angela Spinazze, Moderator
Getting InvolvedWe would like to: Learn more about your institution’s needs Help you gain support for implementation of CollectionSpace
within your organization Build a sustainable community of users and contributors
Contact Information
Carl Goodman: 718-784-4520
Email the team:
Visit the website: www.collectionspace.org
Browse the wiki: wiki.collectionspace.org