megan forbes project manager & functional lead museum of the moving image
TRANSCRIPT
Megan ForbesProject Manager & Functional LeadMuseum of the Moving Image
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, Research and
Content Technologies, Information Services and Technology
University of Cambridge, Centre for Applied Research in Educational Technologies
Early Adopters Museum of the Moving Image
Statens Museum for Kunst
University of California, Berkeley Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology
University and Jepson Herbaria
History of Art Visual Resources Collection
Walker Art Center
Planning phase: Balboa Park Online Collaborative
Significant Releases
CollectionSpace Release 1.0: Eight core procedures and related functionality covered, including:
acquisition, cataloging, loans, vocabulary control, media handling, customization, security, and documentation.
CollectionSpace Release 1.8 Added support for media handling, hierarchical vocabularies, delete,
import, export, and groups. Significant changes under the hood include improvements to performance, increased support for localization, simplification of configuration, and upgrade of the core platform to use PostgreSQL.
CollectionSpace Release 2.0 An expansion of the system's support for core collections management
functionality to improve the functionality of all of the above; plus, list management, advanced search, reporting, templates, and batch processing.
Functionality Overview
Acquisition
Cataloging
Loans In and Out
Location
Movement
Media handling
Reporting
Import
Export
Advanced search
Core collections management system activities:
Working with Records
Functionality Continued Vocabulary and authority control Advanced search User management Roles and permissions
Procedure-level Vocabulary-level Admin-level
Multi-tenant capable (key to CSpace-as-a-Service) User centered design
Advanced Search
User Management
Roles and Permissions
Term List Management
Vocabularies and Authorities Follow standard set out in ANSI/NISO Z39.19-2005
, Guidelines for the Construction, Format, and Management of Monolingual Controlled Vocabularies
Types: Static term lists Dynamic term lists Controlled vocabularies (hierarchical) Authorities (combinations of controlled vocabs)
Currently support person, organization, and storage location, expanding to include place, concept, and work
Development Process
The CollectionSpace project team is composed of domain experts, designers, architects, and developers from each partner organization, and is structured around four main work areas:
Development Process Begins with the big picture Schema, user stories, and workflows (i, ii) are
created Designs are developed Scope is narrowed down based on what can be
accomplished during one development sprint Tasks for each layer are created Development (usually 2-3 weeks per release) QA – full or partial depending on release goals Release
Development Challenges Many moving parts Easy to have unrealistic expectations, both within
the project team and among early adopters Geography and isolation of roles/responsibilities
can lead to developer communication lag CSpace architecture occasionally requires
asynchronous development which can extend development times
Communication
Wiki
IRC
Video conferencing
Skype
Email lists
Jira (issue tracker)
Google calendar
Face-to-face
ALL OPEN!
Time and distance require a smörgåsbord of solutions:
Communication
Twice-weekly meetings with everyone so that all teams members know what’s going on
Define workflow and process and stick to it Which questions go to which list?
Who is responsible for follow-up?
Everyone must learn all tools, must participate, and contribute
Openness is key
Documentation is difficult, a drag for developers, and essential for deployers. Plan to spend time doing it on a regular basis to lessen the burden
Schedule communications and documentation sprints:
CollectionSpace Phase III began January 2012 Phase III will focus on the development of
CollectionSpace as a sustainable enterprise, with key activities:
Develop a business model and strategic plan Develop and deploy CollectionSpace as a
hosted service in two trial environments Complete initial core software development
cycle
What’s Next
Administration and Management Legal establishment and support Management of software intellectual property issues Maintenance of a repository of core software code and re-
usable components Financial management Administrative support Conference logistics Communications
CollectionSpace Organization
Software Stewardship and Governance Coordination of support for community-led design of new
features and functions Coordination of CollectionSpace hosting and service providers Coordination of quality assurance and distribution activities Maintenance of a repository of core software code and re-
usable components Guidance and processes for community code contributions Management and administration of a marketplace for tools and
other modules that will operate in the CollectionSpace framework
Management of relationships with other open source initiatives and support networks that have synergy with CollectionSpace
CollectionSpace Organization
Software Hosting and other External Services Managing and/or contracting with cloud-based computing
providers for storage, computation, and preservation services
Support to museum professionals who use CollectionSpace Technical and implementation support to organizations
using CollectionSpace as a stand-alone application or a hosted service
Software development services to end-users for enhancements to/refinements of existing functionality
Software engineering services, as required, for new feature development
CollectionSpace Organization
Key requirements: Schema extension model Domain-specific extensions Architecture that supports multiple tenants Software-as-a-service trials
CollectionSpace-as-a-Service
Schema Extension Model
Common Entity Schema(common semantics)
Domain-specific extensions(common across many institutions)
Deployment-specific extensions(specific to one deployment or workflow)
Domain-Specific ExtensionsPerforming artsWalker Art Center
Digital media Museum of the Moving Image
Fine ArtStatens Museum for Kunst
Herbaria University & Jepson Herbaria
Anthropology Hearst Museum of Anthropology
Visual resources History of Art Visual Resources
Collection
Common Entity Schema(common semantics)
Domain-specific extensions(common across many institutions)
Deployment-specific extensions(specific to one deployment or workflow)
Extensions in progress
Multi-Tenancy
CollectionSpaceServer
IdentityProvider Tenant 1
IdentityProvider Tenant 2
authenticate
DocumentRepositoryTenant 1
DocumentRepositoryTenant 1
Domain (default)
Workspaces
CollectionObjects
Locations
Domain (default)
Workspaces
CollectionObjects
Locations
Nuxeo Nuxeo is an open-source enterprise content
management system (ECM) Enterprise content management systems are
used to capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver content – in this case, collections management data
Nuxeo provides the model for our schema-based data, version support, search and indexing, a rules engine, and some default security (Auth and AuthZ)
Cspace does not require Nuxeo – an abstraction layer is built in that would allow us to swap in another ECM if recommended/required
Nuxeo Pros
Open-source Provides good support both from Nuxeo user community
and via fee-for-service at their .com arm Allows us to support much more complex schema than
other ECMs, a requirement with museum data Many services already exist that we can work from
rather than building from scratch Does the heavy lifting for our multi-tenancy framework,
one tech option behind CSpace-as-a-Service Provides a framework that includes other tools such as a
digital asset management system that may be of use to our community
Nuxeo Pros
Based in Europe They have recognized the importance of CollectionSpace
and became a supporter of the project in 2011 Very good communications between developers at
Nuxeo and CollectionSpace Cons
Have dependencies on their development schedule
SaaS Trials
CollectionSpaceOrganization
Walker Art Center
Museum of the Moving Image
Balboa Park Online Collaborative
University of California, Berkeley
Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of
Anthropology
University and Jepson Herbaria
History of Art Visual Resources Collection
cloudstorage
Start small and focus on deliverables Commit sufficient resources to user interface
design and development Commit sufficient resources to quality assurance Don’t underestimate administrative burden Manage expectations with early adopters Ensure that technical support for early adopters is
identified as a role/responsibility for all team members
Lessons Learned
Commitment to user-centered design Emphasis on configurability Focus on sustainable architecture and
components Open and transparent processes Emphasis on standards Documentation, documentation, documentation
Lessons Learned
Megan ForbesCollection Manager, Museum of the Moving ImageProject Manager, CollectionSpacemforbes@movingimage.uswww.collectionspace.org718-777-6834
Slides and links available on the Cspace project wiki, just go to wiki.collectionspace.org and click on “events” in the left menu bar.
Questions?