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Fabulous work Stuart and co.! On Mon, Jun 30, 2014 at 3:48 PM, Stuart Snydman <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > I am happy to announce the release of Spotlight v0.1.0, available at > http://github.com/sul-dlss/spotlight. > > Spotlight is a plugin for Blacklight, that enables libraries and other > cultural heritage institutions to build online exhibits from content in > their repositories to better highlight their digital collections. It > extends Blacklight by providing a self-service, forms-based user interface > that allows exhibit-builders, such as librarians or faculty, to customize > the search interface and homepage, and to build media-rich feature pages to > better contextualize their collections. > > We've completed our first engineering phase, which consisted of 10 > sprints, and have been working with our Digital and Rare Maps Librarian to > build out the first production instance of a Maps of Africa exhibit. > > If you are interested, have a look at two video screencasts: > > * a brief 4-minute tour of the completed site (http://youtu.be/_A7vTbbiF4g > ) > * a slightly longer 8-minute demonstration of how to build a new site once > a Spotlight instance has been associated with an index ( > http://youtu.be/qPJtgajJ4ic) > > The 0.1.0 release is ready for you to download, install and take for a > test-drive. We've already received detailed feedback from a few of you who > have tested the setup, and that feedback has been most valuable - thank > you! We'd greatly appreciate feedback from a few more early adopters. > > The engineering team has taken a pause on development as we work with our > curators to build the next few exhibits. But there is certainly much work > left to be done. There is a well populated backlog, and in the fall we > intend to get back to work with a focus on the following areas: > > * Selection and indexing : the tools and workflow for adding new content > to a Spotlight index and updating metadata as it changes in the metadata > source or repository. > * Support for more content types : Spotlight currently supports digital > still image collections, and we intend to add support for audio, video, > PDF, datasets, geospatial objects, web archives and more. > * Theming : the ability for builders to choose from multiple visual themes > to apply to an exhibit or collection, and to add custom header images and > branding. > * Repository integration : currently, a Spotlight exhibit can be built on > top of any Solr index. Work has begun to more easily create new Spotlight > indexes directly from digital repository systems, and to save > exhibit-specific metadata and supporting content into repositories. Or > initial integration efforts are focussed on Fedora, but we expect > integration with other platforms will follow. > > We'd welcome your involvement and contributions in this next phase of > work, so please email us at [log in to unmask] when you > are ready to jump in. > > -Stu Snydman > > **************************************** > Stuart Snydman > Head of Digitization & Web Development > Stanford University Libraries > http://dlss.stanford.edu > > > Links: > > Spotlight github project: http://github.com/sul-dlss/spotlight > Project Blacklight: http://projectblacklight.org/ > Maps of Africa exhibit: http://exhibits.stanford.edu/maps-of-africa/ > Video tour of a completed exhibit: http://youtu.be/_A7vTbbiF4g > Video demo of how to build a new exhibit: http://youtu.be/qPJtgajJ4ic > Blog post about Spotlight release: http://stanford.io/1k6QDWF > > **and of course, please forgive the cross-post** > -- Tod Robbins Digital Asset Manager, MLIS todrobbins.com | @todrobbins <http://www.twitter.com/#!/todrobbins>