MDID Users GroupVRA Conference 2009

Toronto

Updates

Please help us out by writing down your◦ Name◦ Institutions◦ If you are using MDID

Survey

Mailing List Subscribers in 48 States

Eight shared collections with over 10,600 images:◦ Art Images for College Teaching◦ American Sheet Music of the early Twentieth

Century◦ Historic Illustrations of Art and Architecture◦ John Tenniel and the American Civil War◦ Madison Art Collection◦ Otis Artists’ Books Collection◦ Battles and Leaders of the Civil War◦ English Architecture

Shared content

43 institutions 154 individual connections

Institutions using shared collections

New collection byAllan Kohl coming soon◦ La Gazette du Bon Ton

provides a uniquely beautiful reflection of the elegant realm of Parisian fashion and high society from the last years of the Belle Epoque to the dawn of the Art Deco era

New Content

Blog for news and announcements◦ http://mdidnews.blogspot.com/

Facebook group◦ Four members (including Andreas)◦ Linked from blog

New Communication Channels

MDID 3

Support for additional media types Interoperatibility

◦ Flickr integration◦ PowerPoint export

Slideshow presentation improvements ◦ Predefined split screen and zoom◦ Text slides◦ Online galleries

Customizable meta data Work/image record distinction Image tagging Better content management tools Usage statistics

MDID 2 – Sample Feature Requests

(About 150 more)

MDID 2 – Sample Feature Requests

MDID 2 core developed in 2001 Design decisions no longer support current needs

◦ Basic architecture is difficult to extend and modify◦ There is no support for work-image distinction ◦ Access control is inflexible◦ No support for digital media formats other than images

User interface falling behind Web 2.0 expectations◦ Even open content is hidden behind a login page◦ Images and slideshows cannot be bookmarked or linked

to◦ ImageViewer technology no longer supported on modern

operating systems

Development Challenges

New requirements considered from the start◦ Support for different media types◦ Flexible meta-data structure and access rights◦ Bookmarkable pages◦ Customizable page layout and design◦ API support

New development platform◦ Completely Open Source◦ Cross-platform support for Windows, Linux, MacOS◦ Significantly shorter development times

Advantages of Complete Redesign

Allow students and faculty to manage, discover, and aggregate digital media for intuitive, flexible delivery and presentation

Affirm our commitment to support the use of digital media in the JMU curriculum through ongoing MDID development

Continue to promote adoption of MDID beyond JMU

MDID 3 – Vision

Build using open source software Share through open source license Embrace Web 2.0 and open access Encourage content sharing between

individuals, institutions and the public Leverage collective intelligence through

comments, ratings and tagging Involve students by allowing them to add,

create, share and manage content

MDID 3 – Guiding Principles

Implement most commonly requested features Simpler and more powerful content discovery Simpler and more flexible cataloging Simpler access control options Ubiquitous data exchange mechanisms Fully compatible with MDID 2 remote collections Easy migration path from MDID 2 Compatible with major operating systems

MDID 3 – Goals

Google Code Development site◦ Code repository◦ Development wiki◦ Simple issue tracker

MDID 3◦ http://code.google.com/p/rooibos/

MediaViewer◦ http://code.google.com/p/mediaviewer/

New Communication Channels

Initial feature goals◦ MDID 2 functionality◦ support for audio and video files◦ enhanced discovery interface◦ interoperability components

JMU timeline◦ Evaluation and Testing – Spring/Summer 2009◦ Migration to MDID 3 – Fall 2009

MDID 3 – Timeline and Milestones

MediaViewer Initial version will

be compatible with MDID 2 to replace current ImageViewer

Ready early summer 2009

Summer/Fall 2009 Looking for institutions willing to run MDID 3

in trial mode◦ Should be able to diagnose, report and fix simple

problems◦ Ability to contribute to development a plus

Anybody will be able to get the latest code from development site

MDID 3 Beta Test

Demo

Now available at http://demo.mdid.org/ Log in using “demo” for both username and

password Limited functionality and content

Discovery Interface

JMUtube allows JMU faculty and staff to store and deliver video and presentations

Allows creation of playlists that are easily embedded in Blackboard and other web sites

Built on same technologies as MDID 3

JMUtube

JMUtube is a subset of MDID 3 functionality Interface is focused on a specific task Goal:

◦ Make JMUtube available to MDID community as an extension (alternative user interface) to MDID 3

◦ Optionally: Design a plug-in architecture to facilitate development of specialized interfaces and fit JMUtube into this architecture

MDID/JMUtube Convergence

Technical Details

Control access for collections and storage areas

Collections can be bundled together into parent collections

MDID 3 Access Controls

Art

PaintingsMona Lisa

Storage High

Res

Storage Low Res

Waterlilies

Storage Low Res

SculptureDavid

Storage High Res

Storage Models

Data structure (simplified)

Technology

Application

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Solr

Jetty or other Java server

Database

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Windows Mac OS Linux

Accessibility and Customizability

Accessibility

All browser-based features usable without JavaScript or mouse

Enabled JavaScript will allow for easier use and enhanced features

All pages can be bookmarked, including search results

Accessibility Goals

All layout and appearance is controlled with easily editable HTML template files

Adjusting color, header, footer, logos, etc. is straightforward

Customizability

Context-sensitive Help link on every page Individual help links next to critical page

elements All links point to pages in a wiki Wiki provides tooltips for buttons

Help and Documentation

?

?

JMU will host a global MDID Help wiki◦ Wiki editing permissions to be determined

Other institutions can host their own if needed, e.g. for non-English speakers

Additional documentation, guides, tutorials can be linked from relevant wiki pages

Help and Documentation

API Development

Now hiring contractors to work on some or all of these projects:◦ ARTstor connector◦ Flickr connector◦ Blackboard building block◦ PowerPoint import/export

More information will be available as soon contract is awarded◦ Target award date: April 1, 2009

IMLS Grant Update

Initial test versions of connectors by June Final versions by end of grant in September Coincides with general MDID 3 development

schedule

Development Timeline

Information

Andreas Knab, Lead Software Developer, CIT Kevin Hegg, Assistant Director of Systems,

Research and Development, CIT Tina Updike, Visual Resources Specialist, SAAH Grover Saunders, Web Media Developer, CIT Mary Ann Chappell, Educational Technologies

Librarian Sarah Cheverton, Director, CIT Sandy Maxfield, Associate Dean, L&ET

MDID 3 – JMU Project Team

MDID wiki at http://mdid.org/ MDID users list at

http://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/mdidusers-l.html MDID project on SourceForge at

http://sourceforge.net/projects/mdid Email: mdid@jmu.edu

Support

Product and company names mentioned in this presentation may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Authors:◦ Kevin Hegg (heggkj@jmu.edu)◦ Andreas Knab (knab2ar@jmu.edu)◦ Christina Updike Visual Resources Specialist

(updikecb@jmu.edu)

Further Information:◦ Visit http://mdid.org/◦ Email mdid@jmu.edu

Information

Stay for the “Ask the Experts” session immediately following this presentation

Questions?

Connect external data sources without having to import data into MDID?

Getting data from VCat into MDID Searching for internal data elements like IDs

and filenames

Submitted Questions