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→PhantomJS+Selenium: Easy Automated Testing of AJAX-y UIs
* Martin Haye, California Digital Library, martin.haye@ucop.edu
** Previous Code4Lib Presentation: [http://code4lib.org/conference/2012/collett Beyond code: Versioning data with Git and Mercurial] at Code4Lib 2012 (Martin co-presenting with Stephanie Charlie Collett)
* Mark Redar, California Digital Library, mark.redar@ucop.edu
**No previous presentations at national Code4Lib conferences (excluding Ask Anything sessions, 2012 & 2013)
In 2011 2007 the California State University system started a project to provide a hosted institutional repository system for it’s individual campuses using the DSpace repository system. With limited technical staffing dedicated to the project, the result was a single server hosting seventeen individual and separate instances (including tomcat, databases and indexes). This lead to resource instability and lack of parity between versions, features and support. In order to overcome the shortcomings of this structure, a custom multi-tenant configuration was developed using the DSpace platform. This posed several technical challenges related to campus branding, authentication and deposit workflows. During the development and testing of the multi-tenant structure of DSpace for the California State University system, constituent campuses continued to digitize works and create metadata in anticipation of a reliable system to insert these works. This created a situation where several campuses have created a lot of content and are looking for time saving measures for DSpace ingestion in order to continue work on the digitization projects. Development of a SWORD interface for bulk submission presented an attractive opportunity to provide a portal for bulk submission while avoiding the bottleneck of the provided method of FTP and DSpace scripting. Aaron Collier will talk about the technical challenges, and Carmen Mitchell will discuss the institutional needs: captioning, access copies vs display copies, workflow issues like batch uploading, embargoes, etc.
During the development and testing of the multi-tenant structure of DSpace for the California State University system, constituent campuses continued to digitize works and create metadata in anticipation of a reliable system to insert these works. This created a situation where several campuses have created a lot of content and are looking for time saving measures for DSpace ingestion in order to continue work on the digitization projects. Development of a SWORD interface for bulk submission presented an attractive opportunity to provide a portal for bulk submission while avoiding the bottleneck of the provided method of FTP and DSpace scripting. Aaron Collier will talk about the technical challenges, and Carmen Mitchell will discuss the institutional needs: captioning, access copies vs display copies, workflow issues like batch uploading, embargoes, etc.
== Curate Cloud: The role of cloud computing in expanding the impact of digital curation ==
*Erik Mitchell (http://erikmitchell.info) University of California, Berkeley
*Jimmy Lin (http://www.umiacs.umd.edu/~jimmylin/) University of Maryland, College Park
Digital curation skills are a multidisciplinary and pressing need in public, academic and corporate environments (Yakel, 2007 336). By 2018, the United States will have a shortage of 140,000 -190,000 people with the deep analytical skills needed to manage large holdings of digital assets (Manyika et al., 2011). At the same time our information organizations will increasingly rely digital assets in making effective decisions (Ibid.). Despite advances in digital curation technologies, institutions create far more information than they curate in large part due to a gap in skills and perceived financial and technical barriers to entry (Heidorn, 2008). These barriers can seem insurmountable for smaller and under-represented information and cultural heritage institutions. However, new cloud computing based digital curation technologies reduce many of the financial and technical barriers so that the greatest challenge remaining is a need for updated skills and digital curation competencies.
Our information and cultural memory institutions require a new generation of professionals engaged in the preservation of digital resources and prepared to deploy curation tools that are not dependent on local technology infrastructure. In order to develop these competencies, Curate Cloud, a project being led by Dr. Jimmy Lin at the University of Maryland, College Park seeks to educate the next generation of information professionals using a curriculum integrated, cloud-based virtual learning environment.
The environment, designed using Amazon Web Service infrastructure and deployed in a “zero-configuration” environment lowers barriers of entry to students when learning about new technologies and cultivates a new level of cloud-based IT literacies in these students. This project draws on the successes of similar programs and pushes further by developing and deploying a novel cloud-based, open source virtual research and learning environment (VRLE) that embraces the on-demand, self-service model of cloud computing and features cloud-based curation tools that will enable the exploration of digital curation across the education, library, archive, and museum (LIS/LAM) community.
The presentation will focus on the research findings from the use of the VRLE in Library and Information Science education arenas as well as the challenges and opportunities that relate to delivering complex IT instruction using cloud computing platforms. The codebase for the VRLE is available at https://github.com/mitcheet.
This project is supported by the Institute for Museum and Library Services and Amazon Web Services through the Amazon Educational Research program.
Resources
*Heidorn, P. B. (2008). Shedding Light on the Dark Data in the Long Tail of Science. Library Trends, 57(2), 280–299. doi:10.1353/lib.0.0036.
*Manyika, J., Chui, M., Brown, B., Bughin, J., Dobbs, R., Roxburgh, C., & Byers, A. (2011). Big data : The next frontier for innovation , competition , and productivity. McKinsey Global Institute, 364(May), 156.
*Yakel, E. (2007). Digital curation. OCLC Systems Services, 23(4), 335–340. doi:10.1108/10650750710831466
== Creating a better web experience ==
* Katie Bertel, bertelks@buffalostate.edu, SUNY Buffalo State
* Chris Parana, paranacj@buffalostate.edu, SUNY Buffalo State
**No previous presentations at Code4Lib
The web has become much more dynamic and interactive in recent times. Sites more closely resemble full-blown applications, rather than static information resources. We see an opportunity for libraries to adhere to the same design principles used by popular websites, to create a more intuitive and enjoyable user experience.
In our presentation, we will discuss the results from usability testing after a website redesign in 2012 (library.buffalostate.edu), our guiding design principles, and showcase some of our solutions that enhance user experience, such as responsive web design, unified searching (Knowledge Base, Summon, website documents), and transitional interfaces.
Frameworks can be exploited to significantly reduce the time needed to develop powerful and engaging web applications. For example, we can use motion and transitional interfaces to help convey the sense of “space” in web design.
The goal is to create an engaging experience to draw our users in. When this is achieved, it encourages usage and creates an enjoyable place that is more than just a tool, but also a place for discovery.
== Responsive Web Design - A Paradigm Shift ==
* Jenny Brandon, Web Designer/Librarian, Michigan State University Libraries (jbrandon@msu.edu)
No previous presentations at Code4Lib
RWD is the biggest paradigm shift in web design in the last decade. This presentation will begin with a brief overview of responsive web design (RWD), elements of RWD, what types of frameworks are available and why you should choose one. Examples of library websites that have already implemented RWD will be analyzed to compare and contrast design methods. The remainder of the presentation will provide details on the Michigan State University Libraries' implementation of responsive web design using the Drupal Omega theme, and solutions adopted to transform an existing, fixed width library web site to a responsive design.
Topics included:
* flexible grids
* media queries
* mobile first
* images
* design considerations
* collaboration
== The Smithsonian Transcription Center ==
eChing-hsien Wang, Branch Manager
Library and Archives Systems Innovations
Office of the Chief Information Officer
Smithsonian Institution
In 2013, the Smithsonian Institution - the largest library, archive, museum and research center complex in the world - launched transcription.si.edu, the first release of the Smithsonian's Digital Volunteers platform. With the ambitious goal to engage varied audiences, enrich collections and enable discovery in ways never before imagined, the Transcription Center enlists the "crowd" to transcribe millions of pages of handwritten documents from across the Institution's vast and diverse collections. We will share our goals, strategies, and experiences as contributors and developers of this collaborative initiative among librarians, archivists and museum curators. Design, workflows, user analytics, templates, and discoveries will be demonstrated and discussed for formats as varied as botanical specimen files, diaries, ledgers, field notebooks, letters, and photographs. We will also showcase the benefit of using open source technology in building our system architecture and we will share our technical challenges and lessons learned along the way.
Ching-hsien Wang has not presented at Code4Lib conference before, but have participated in other conference presentations before.
[[:Category:Code4Lib2014]][[Category:Talk Proposals]]
