Wow... after a good week with Drupal, I'm feeling a little disappointed with DSpace. The installation went fine - as usual, the directions were clear and I had no issues. Now, could I have figured the installation out on my own? Certainly not. I recognized many of the commands and could follow what was going on about 85-90% of the time, but no way I could have completed the install without help from a systems specialist. Basic steps I get, but others - like editing files - leave me bewildered. Just not confident I would have ever known to do that on my own...
Drupal I found fairly easy to use and manipulate. DSpace seems much less user friendly. Many of the tutorial instructions seem more complex than I expected, and it looks like some require more code than Drupal. I haven't fooled with "look and feel" yet, but I'm already wondering if Drupal is more focused on presentation, and DSpace more about content. I also prefer how Drupal allows the administrator to assign metadata categories, whereas DSpace uses DC by default - which is fine - but I prefer the flexibility of Drupal. Plus, at first glance, editing categories in DSpace seems a bit difficult.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Final thoughts on Drupal?
If this was the final week we use Drupal, then I at least wish to report how much I enjoyed the experience. It was actually kinda fun - a new feeling for me since (especially before DigIn) I used to approach new computer applications with apprehension. But everything went smoothly, worked, and the results were quite satisfactory. I look forward to using Drupal again in the future.
I don't have a lot to say, so I'll briefly address both issues presented in the blog assignment. First, I decided to install the Imagemenu module for assignment 2. I'm not sure it enhances my collection in any meaningful way at this point. I chose it because it seemed relevant to a collection of images, and appeared to be an easy install without dependencies. It allows images to be arranged in a menu, and supports "optional mouseover behavior". I'll have to play with it a bit more to realize it's full potential, but for now I'm satisfied that the install worked and the module is functional.
Finally, it's clear (as I stated last week) that Drupal is a great application for managing digital collections. It's a popular choice among institutions for obvious reasons. Of course, we've barely scratched the surface, but this novice feels informed enough to recommend Drupal to libraries/archives and I hope to work with it again in earnest. One thing we didn't really discuss is how to manipulate the appearance of our sites. I know this is secondary to learning how to manage content, but I'm still interested to discover how the attractive Drupal sites I've seen online were created.
I don't have a lot to say, so I'll briefly address both issues presented in the blog assignment. First, I decided to install the Imagemenu module for assignment 2. I'm not sure it enhances my collection in any meaningful way at this point. I chose it because it seemed relevant to a collection of images, and appeared to be an easy install without dependencies. It allows images to be arranged in a menu, and supports "optional mouseover behavior". I'll have to play with it a bit more to realize it's full potential, but for now I'm satisfied that the install worked and the module is functional.
Finally, it's clear (as I stated last week) that Drupal is a great application for managing digital collections. It's a popular choice among institutions for obvious reasons. Of course, we've barely scratched the surface, but this novice feels informed enough to recommend Drupal to libraries/archives and I hope to work with it again in earnest. One thing we didn't really discuss is how to manipulate the appearance of our sites. I know this is secondary to learning how to manage content, but I'm still interested to discover how the attractive Drupal sites I've seen online were created.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Impressed with Drupal
Drupal is the first CMS I've used, so my impression lacks the benefit of meaningful comparisons. I mentioned in a discussion post that Drupal reminds me of DotNetNuke, an open-source web management system (I guess it might be considered a CMS), which I have some novice experience using. In any case, I'm impressed with Drupal. It's fairly easy to use, and is clearly powerful for the development and maintenance of digital collections as evidenced by the number of institutions using it for their own collections.
Of course, based on my limited knowledge, I consider Drupal well suited to managing my 675 collection. There's a great deal of flexibility in defining categories - in fact, it appears any desired category can be created. I'm curious to know how to affect the presentation of the collection, since it currently exists in the default view only. Likewise, I look forward to using some of the "contrib modules" to expand the features currently available.
I'm not sure I have well-defined criteria yet for what features are important to me in a CMS. As I stated, Drupal is the first real experience I've had with this, so I need further exposure to really know what I'm looking for in terms of features and usability. It's natural to trust Drupal because so many institutions (including UofA) use it. I will say that an intuitive interface is important to me, and will be for users as well. Additionally, a variety of stable and powerful modules are important to ensure the site looks professional and the features work correctly.
Of course, based on my limited knowledge, I consider Drupal well suited to managing my 675 collection. There's a great deal of flexibility in defining categories - in fact, it appears any desired category can be created. I'm curious to know how to affect the presentation of the collection, since it currently exists in the default view only. Likewise, I look forward to using some of the "contrib modules" to expand the features currently available.
I'm not sure I have well-defined criteria yet for what features are important to me in a CMS. As I stated, Drupal is the first real experience I've had with this, so I need further exposure to really know what I'm looking for in terms of features and usability. It's natural to trust Drupal because so many institutions (including UofA) use it. I will say that an intuitive interface is important to me, and will be for users as well. Additionally, a variety of stable and powerful modules are important to ensure the site looks professional and the features work correctly.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Short one this week...
Everything has been going smoothly for me so far in 675, so I don't have much to report this week. The instructions have been clear for all tech assignments, and I've encountered no major problems. My only concern at the moment comes when I contemplate the Capstone course next summer. I'm afraid that without the instructions, I won't remember how to do each process in setting up a LAMP server, or installing/using Drupal. I'm not sure if that's a real or imagined fear - I'm not exactly sure what Capstone involves yet - but I do find myself worrying about it occasionally. In any case, since 672 I've printed out and saved the tech instructions each week for future reference, but I expect having the processes committed to memory will be more beneficial during the final course.
In short, the pace has been fine and my results satisfactory... no complaints or issues at this point.
In short, the pace has been fine and my results satisfactory... no complaints or issues at this point.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Small college CMS
The article "Building a collection development CMS on a shoe-string" by Regina Beach and Miqueas Dial (Library Hi Tech, 2006, vol. 24, issue 1) highlights the efforts made by the small campus of Texas A&M University-Kingsville to digitize their book ordering process.
Before this project, faculty at this small college of 5000 students continued to rely on physical order form cards to request acquisitions from library staff. The process was slow, unreliable, and difficult to track. Often books were ordered, but no follow-up was forthcoming to inform faculty of their arrival. Additionally, library holdings were considered insufficient to promote scholarly competitiveness, and professors frequently found themselves "teaching down to the library resources".
In partial remedy of this situation, the library instituted a small CMS designed to streamline the book ordering process. Created using Microsoft Access, the new database provides faculty with a one-stop platform to submit and track orders. A secondary goal, through collaboration with the acquisitions and cataloging staff, is to consolidate information by allowing bibliographic data to be entered into the library system only once (instead of multiple times across platforms).
I chose this article for two reasons. First, I was curious to see what CMS solution a small college (with limited staff and resources) would implement. Secondly, because it's quite likely my first position post-graduation will be with a smaller institution, I was interested in learning how they approach such issues. Quite frankly, I was expecting an open-source solution, and was a little surprised to find they used Access. Most likely they already had it on their systems, and didn't expend resources to acquire it solely for this purpose. I was also surprised by the limited scope of the project. I often imagine CMS' being very large and comprehensive, but this project addressed such a modest issue that the term "CMS" almost seemed too broad in relation to the problem being solved.
Before this project, faculty at this small college of 5000 students continued to rely on physical order form cards to request acquisitions from library staff. The process was slow, unreliable, and difficult to track. Often books were ordered, but no follow-up was forthcoming to inform faculty of their arrival. Additionally, library holdings were considered insufficient to promote scholarly competitiveness, and professors frequently found themselves "teaching down to the library resources".
In partial remedy of this situation, the library instituted a small CMS designed to streamline the book ordering process. Created using Microsoft Access, the new database provides faculty with a one-stop platform to submit and track orders. A secondary goal, through collaboration with the acquisitions and cataloging staff, is to consolidate information by allowing bibliographic data to be entered into the library system only once (instead of multiple times across platforms).
I chose this article for two reasons. First, I was curious to see what CMS solution a small college (with limited staff and resources) would implement. Secondly, because it's quite likely my first position post-graduation will be with a smaller institution, I was interested in learning how they approach such issues. Quite frankly, I was expecting an open-source solution, and was a little surprised to find they used Access. Most likely they already had it on their systems, and didn't expend resources to acquire it solely for this purpose. I was also surprised by the limited scope of the project. I often imagine CMS' being very large and comprehensive, but this project addressed such a modest issue that the term "CMS" almost seemed too broad in relation to the problem being solved.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)