Installation: Almost Impossible

OK, Jim, I chose to accept my mission and installed eprints. And I'm glad I did. But, boy, I earned my paycheck!

I think I had more trouble installing this than Drupal. And I kept making the same mistake over and over, entering one password when I should have been entering the other. So, I guess I'm the goof-up, but it doesn't mean it took me any less time to install.

I also pretty much sucked at branding eprints into something cool, though I will say that I really got to know the files and directories, having to go through them to look for all mentions of the "logo.gif" and changing them to my new logo, Luke Skywalker. Oh, I guess Jim Phelps wouldn't know anything about Luke Skywalker. He's an orphan who carries a sword that shoots laser beams, almost kissed his sister, discovered his dad was really alive when his dad cut his hand off, and then saved the galaxy. Anyway.

After having looked at other eprints sites, I know that a lot of cool things could be done with the branding, look, and feel. I hate to say it, because I still have a grudge against Drupal that goes beyond this class, but Drupal has the best look and feel to it. DSpace is still the most intuitive from the administrator end for me, and eprints the least. I do feel that if I worked with eprints a while, I could do pretty well with it. But if I had to work with one right now, and be pretty much responsible for it, I'd probably put eprints at the bottom of the list and go for DSpace.

A gaggle of CMS options

Wow-- I don't think I ever realized how many CMS options were out there. When I first started the DigIn program, I heard a lot of people talking about Fedora. I wasn't sure what it was, though I was pretty sure it had nothing to do with hats. I'm still not sure I understand exactly what Fedora is, though at least I understand it better, as well as other content management systems as well.

It's pretty exciting to see the work being done to help store, organize, preserve and allow access to content. Digital objects that might otherwise remain in obscurity are now (potentially) available for others. Not only that, but the CMSs I've seen can add value as well. As much as DSpace is more intuitive to me, I see that Drupal really has a lot of flexibility and functionality, a combination website / CMS. It offers various modules and allows people to interact with the objects and each other.

It's also pretty daunting. With so many CMSs out there, interoperability is a big issue. As is preservation, of course. But the glimmer of hope in the data deluge is that we're aware of the problem and trying to stay ahead of the danger.

DSpace Rocks! DSpace Rocks!

Unbelievably, I had absolutely no troubles with the installation. Bruce's directions are always dead on, but I don't always follow them without making mistakes... heh heh heh. In fact, when installing Drupal, I had so many problems and had to clog up D2L with all kinds of goofy questions. This week was a breeze. I think it was partly due to the fact that I broke up the installation-- I didn't try to do it all in one sitting. Also, partly luck.

As for whether I could do it without any IT help, heck no! That is, I would have to have some kind of help, even if it were to Google the instructions. Hopefully I won't lose the instructions Bruce made, because they may come in handy some day.

How do I feel ambivalent about thee?

Oh, Drupal. I hardly knew ye. Really. I just don't get you.

That's because I'd have to spend months with you just to understand how to even talk to you. And then months after that for things to really work between us. And I just don't have the time, Drupal. Not now, anyway.

You're a confusing piece of work, Drupal. I managed to download a few modules, and even a theme. But did it work? No.Well, yes and no. I found the modules, I configured them, but they just sit there, stupidly, not knowing that I want them to do something. And you didn't tell them to do anything, did you, Drupal? Because I didn't know how to tell you to tell them. So my plans of allowing "Top Terms" to show users the most popular terms used on the site went up in smoke. So did the thesaurus I thought I was building with the module "Similar by Terms." They would have been useful, I think. Especially if my collection were bigger. But, it was not meant to be.

And the theme. We could have had a grand time with CleanFolio, with its professional-looking colors of green, cocoa and brown. But you ruined that, too, didn't you, Drupal?

I'm sorry.I shouldn't lash out. It was just as much your fault as mine. I don't really understand you, not like I should. Can you provide interactivity to users? Can users group and collect items into their own, personal gallery? Can you be that flexible, Drupal? If you can, maybe we can get back together some day. But for now,

see ya.

Drupal for Heroes?

I've got five items uploaded to my website.They're described per the metadata profile that I set up. (Which took way longer than I thought... isn't that always the way?) I'm honestly not sure yet if Drupal is right for my collection. I think I want users to be able to create their own hero page-- by that I mean, select objects from those I have on the website and have them appear on their own pages. So they create a mini-collection. Maybe Drupal can do this; I don't really know.

I am getting to understand Drupal a little better. I had worked with it previously and thought it was HORRIBLE but I didn't really understand that it is a content management system, not just a "website." I'm liking it much better now and do find it more intuitive, once I knew what I was dealing with. However, there is still a very negative aspect to Drupal. Whenever I hear that word, Drupal, this image pops into my head:

It's Droppo from the stupidest movie in the history of mankind: Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. As you might guess, that is no hyperbole. So pity me and despise Droppo for what he has done to me.

Ice cream... or study?

I feel really good about the pacing for the tech assignments-- it's just enough to be challenging but not so much that it's stressful. This week was an anomaly for me in that I usually get my assignments done before the last minute (*cough*), but I was sort of co-opted into babysitting my nephew on Friday and went to the other nephew's birthday party on Saturday, which ate up a lot of my usual study time. However, I did partake in a very scrumptious cherry soda with vanilla ice cream at Swenson's, so maybe it was worth it.

It is a little tough for me so far to make strong connections between the management portion and the tech portion of the class, though the connections are definitely there and I think will be stronger with time.

I'm pretty anxious because I haven't done my SIRLS mid-point portfolio yet, and it's past due. I'm also anxious because it costs a lot of money to go to school, so I should hurry up, but when I graduate, will I get a job? Eeek.

But as far as the class goes, I'm enjoying it and learning from it.

Weeping and screaming

A summary of the article "Building a collection development CMS on a shoestring budget," by Regina Beach and Miqueas Dial, published in Library Hi Tech, vol. 24, no. 1, 2006.

The authors work at Texas A&M in Kingsville (TAMUK)-- a satellite of the central campus in San Antonio. The Southern Association of Colleges found deficiencies in the library system, especially regarding the availability of appropriately challenging resources. Both faculty and students felt that the curriculum was necessarily "dumbed down" as a result of the inadequate resources provided by the library.

It was decided that a Content Management System (CMS) could be implemented to help faculty and other appropriate TAMUK employees order resources more efficiently. Beach and Dial envisioned the CMS also being integrated with distance-learning instructional software, such as Blackboard, and eventually allowing instructors to use online textbooks for class.

A significant portion of the article was devoted to explaining how the CMS would improve efficiency in the technical services department of the library by reducing the number of times bibliographic data would need to be entered-- to one. This would be entered by the requester. At the time the article was written, the authors used Microsoft Access to create a relational database with resource information and user interface to order the resources. They were also concerned with compatibility; for example, they had initially wanted to use the ISBN as a unique identifier, but Baker & Taylor do not print ISBNs on their invoices.

The most significant portion of the article to me came when the authors implemented their plan and "the primary author took order cards away from the acquisitions production environment. There was literally weeping and screaming." One take away here is, as the authors point out, change is sometimes a slow and painful process. The other take away is, how much collaboration was there in this plan? How much input did the acquisitions people have? Could this plan have been implemented differently so that most people were walking with them, as opposed to digging in their heels?