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I've been using Omeka for about a year now in my information organisation and metadata classes. I have the students enter metadata using the normal entry form, but also installed the GenericXMLImport plugin and have them upload hand-created XML files to Omeka through this plugin. I think it depends on what sort of XML work you want to do in the class. Omeka also has plugins for OAI-PMH (harvesting and acting as a harvestable repository). I usually have students create OAI-PMH query URLs by hand as well as through the provided form. I have also had them run this through Yahoo Pipes since it has a simple XML parser. I'm currently trying out a copy of a Koha Virtual Appliance (http://kylehall.info/index.php/projects/koha/koha-virtual-appliance/) to see if this will give students a chance to work with MARC records, but I've only just started looking at this so I can't comment on its usability for class yet. Blacklight sounds like an interesting alternative though. Margaret -- Margaret E.I. Kipp, PhD Assistant Professor Information Organization Research Group School of Information Studies University of Wisconsin Milwaukee [log in to unmask] https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/kipp/public/ http://www4.uwm.edu/sois/research/iorg/ On 4 August 2012 10:30, john passmore <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > What about something from the archives/museums world? Something like > CollectiveAccess or even Omeka? > John > > On Fri, Aug 3, 2012 at 11:45 AM, Owen Stephens <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > >> On 3 Aug 2012, at 15:56, Joseph Montibello < >> [log in to unmask]> wrote: >> > search, you could probably do worse than to install Blacklight. It >> > probably doesn't really meet the "simple" criteria - there's a lot more >> to >> > it than I could talk about. But getting it out of the box, turned on, >> and >> > searching against a few records is something that you and students could >> > probably manage. I've got a year of unix/ssh/command line experience and >> > with a bit of mucking about, googling, and asking for help I was able to >> > get a local (non-production) instance up and running, so it's definitely >> > easy enough. >> >> I'd agree - either Blacklight http://projectblacklight.org or VuFind >> http://vufind.org are straightforward to get running. I've found >> Blacklight setup using the Ruby Gem very easy both on Windows and OS X. >> Since they are both powered by Solr and use SolrMARC there are a lot of >> similarities on the indexing/searching side. However on the interface side >> they differ in terms of setup - so it might be this that would sway you one >> way of the other (or a preference for PHP (VuFind) or Ruby (Blacklight)). >> >> >> >> >> >> >> Lesson: Interfaces, usability, accessibility >> >> Exercise: Use the OPAC, populate it with some data, assess its usability >> >> Once you've got VuFind/Blacklight setup populating with data is a matter >> of uploading some MARC21 records - Blacklight comes with some test records >> bundled, I suspect VuFind does to but can't remember >> >> >> >> >> Lesson: HTML/CSS >> >> Exercise: Use CSS to skin the OPAC, customize the HTML for your "site" >> >> This is slightly more complex I guess - both systems can be highly >> customised, but in either case it isn't necessarily just a matter of >> editing CSS or HTML. Both use templating systems and both have >> configuration files that control certain aspects of the interface (e.g. >> what is searched, how facets display). CSS is probably more straightforward >> - VuFind you can just drop in CSS to override the default - not sure about >> Blacklight >> >> >> >> >> Lesson: Data management, search, IR >> >> Exercise: See if we can peak under the hood about how the OPAC's search >> >> works >> >> >> >> I think this would be the real strength of using Blacklight/VuFind - >> Solr/Lucene is a powerful combination, and used widely outside the library >> sector. You can also configure the indexing to a high degree - lots of >> options, the most basic of which I explore in >> http://www.meanboyfriend.com/overdue_ideas/2012/07/marc-and-solrmarc/ >> >> The thing I really like about this is students would see some of the >> complexity of MARC as well as some of it's utility - and where it doesn't >> work well >> >> >> Lesson: Interfaces to data: databases, XML, SQL >> >> Exercise: Use the OPAC as an living example to work with those >> interfaces >> >> This is less well served by Blacklight/VuFind - no database, no SQL. >> >> >> >> >> This idea primarily came from trying to get some simple XML/SQL >> >> exercises that didn't suck (the setup for these environments is almost >> >> as involved as any exercises itself), and the fact the previous classes >> >> really liked dissecting the nextgen catalogs we've explored from a >> >> software selection and 2.0 integration perspective. >> >> Unfortunately it may be that Blacklight/VuFind don't work for your >> scenario because they don't provide an environment for SQL. You could do >> some XML stuff (there is configuration files, and Solr can be updated via >> XML messages) - but I'm not clear whether this is the kind of XML work you >> want. However, I do think they open up some other avenues that are well >> worth exploring, and use technologies that are going to become more >> relevant in the future. >> >> Another option might be BibServer, which uses elastic search rather than >> Solr - but I've never tried installing it >> http://bibserver.readthedocs.org/en/latest/install.html >>