Hi all,

It would also be great to discuss earlier non-internet DH projects (e.g.,
works designed as interactive CDs). At UF, I'm co-chair of the campus-wide
Data Management/Curation Task Force (Libraries, Research Computing, and
Office of Research) and we're data gathering on the range of digital/data
needs. In meeting with folks from the English Department, many materials
created and used by faculty are in need of support (e.g., software,
electronic literature, digital film, etc.). Many also mentioned the
importance of early electronic works that no longer run (e.g., Laurie
Anderson's Puppet Motel,
http://www.amazon.com/Puppet-Motel-PC-Mac-CD-Rom/dp/1581250401, The Rebecca
Project CD-ROM for Hitchcock’s Rebecca,
http://www.hitchcockwiki.com/wiki/MacUser_(1996)_-_The_Rebecca_Project).
These are likely beyond the current task force , but we always look for
opportunities and there are many productively relevant projects (e.g.,
ELO’s Acid-Free Bits, Born Digital Bits, new NEH DH grant,
http://eliterature.org/; Preserving Virtual Worlds,
http://pvw.illinois.edu/pvw/; Preservation & Access Framework for Digital
Art Objects,
http://www.neh.gov/files/grants/cornell_universitypreservation_and_access_framework_for_digital_art_objects.pdf).
We're hoping to learn more about the scope and variety of these needs and
hopefully to take advantage of new resources and methods in development. It
would be great to participate in a larger discussion on CODE4LIB.

In addition to existing materials, we’re working on supports for all
data/digital curation, including digital scholarship projects, for the full
campus (all fields and types: scientific, artistic, humanities, etc.) and
full socio-technical supports (e.g., people, policies, technologies, etc.).
Whenever possible and appropriate, we're looking to leverage existing
capacity, which includes existing subject repositories as well as
developing work on DH data curation with grant-funded projects and the
like.

Tim specifically mentioned the need to expand the discussion beyond digital
libraries/repositories. This is definitely needed. In the UF Libraries,
we're doing outreach to promote the fact that we're available and happy to
collaborate on digital scholarship. We don’t constrain what this means or
lead with the technology. We’ve found that our existing digital library
systems and methods (SobekCM Digital Repository and tools;
http://ufdc.ufl.edu/sobekcm; http://dloc.com; library liaisons, technical
experts, other team members for all projects; etc.) are often ideal as-is
for DH works.

For the process, the collaborative team from the libraries and the
scholar(s) meet and the scholar explains the project and immediate and
future goals to then be able to discuss appropriate existing resources and
to scope out new needs or define areas for more research and discussion.
The library team emphasizes that technology does not dictate policy and
academic choices and that we're there to work (within parameters and
limited resources) to serve all campus needs and the greater institutional
mission by using technology in order to serve the greater goals.  In some
cases, we collaboratively develop new first-of-kind (as opposed to
one-of-kind) to develop infrastructure that supports the first and ongoing
needs. This often means collaboratively writing grants in order to secure
resources. The open offer to help and collaborative team approach has been
very successful for starting productive conversations on DH projects.
Libraries are often called the “labs of the humanities,” so the
conversations and next steps have been excellent for us in terms of being
great opportunities for engaged and productive collaborations.

I’d love to hear more about how folks are working for DH and data/digital
curation within the libraries and in working with faculty overall. I’m
especially in collaborative teams within libraries that aren’t within a “DH
Center” and what those models are or what’s being done as current practice.
I’m happy to share more on what UF is doing. I work closely with Mark
Sullivan ([log in to unmask]), the UF Libraries’ Head of Digital
Development & Web Services, who is on the list.

Best wishes,
Laurie N. Taylor
UF Digital Humanities Librarian
352.273.2902


On Sat, May 18, 2013 at 12:24 AM, Roy Tennant <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> On Fri, May 17, 2013 at 7:14 AM, Robert Forkel <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> > Good questions.
> > Or
> > once the web framework is no longer supported, there should be an export
> > mechanism to create a set of static resources which can be hosted with
just
> > a webserver.
>
> Completely agree. This should be relatively simple with Omeka
> installations, as the URL for any given item is along the lines of
> http://server.org/items/show/41 , so presumably it would be possible
> to "crawl" the site and write out the responses to static files. And
> any images are not stored in the database but in the filesystem, so it
> is at least in the realm of possibility that they could be lashed up
> as appropriate. I always thought that a database for most Omeka
> installations was overkill and only added another layer of complexity.
>
> Of course other software platforms would likely pose other challenges,
> but if you could at least reach a point where it is agreed a site will
> no longer maintained, there may be some options for turning it into a
> set of static files through either a process like that above or a web
> site harvester so that you never need to upgrade the software again.
> Roy