Pedagogical uses of CONTENTdm in the liberal arts
Scott E. Siddall
Denison University
This presentation is accessible at
  http://siddall.info/talks/

Two projects
REALIA project
http://realiaproject.org

Basic selection criteria
Software and workflow approaches
Proprietary, homegrown, open source, partnerships
Centralized versus desktop
Requirements
Metadata flexibility
Avoid vendor lock-in – exportable data
Distributed management with approval queue
Open standards
Support and continued R & D

Example: detailed software criteria
Allows collaborative and distributed collection development/management
Platform (hardware, operating system) agnostic – server and client
Web-based client with easy-to-use interface
Basic and advanced searching across collections, across sites (federated searches, virtual collections, stored result sets)
Common client-side players/viewers
Client tools for manipulation, comparison, per-user annotation
Flexible support for metadata standards
Support for many object formats, and developing formats (e.g., jpeg 2000)
Support for high-resolution, zoom-in features
Supports Unicode text for display and searching
URL access to objects
Customizable display interface
Based on open standards (database, metadata, etc.)
Flexible access control list features
Standards-based export functions to avoid “lock-in” and promote remote indexing

CONTENTdm
web-based presentation

CONTENTdm
web-based administration

CONTENTdm export functions
Thumbnail, service and full resolution images stored in directories in standard image formats

CONTENTdm export functions
Metadata exporting

CONTENTdm metadata flexibility
Metadata is expensive
Time required for content specialists to create and proof key fields of metadata
Balancing metadata quality with results
Risks of not finding materials
Risks of “dirty” results
Perfect can be the enemy of good

Indexing binary content (images)?

Metadata is expensive

CONTENTdm support
Distributed and supported by OCLC
Predictable costs
Continued development
JPEG2000
PowerPoint plug-in
Community open source developments

CONTENTdm and open source
Proprietary software + open standards has led to an open source community
Controlled vocabulary analyzer
Importable Library of Congress Subject Headings
E-commerce extension for ordering images
RSS feed generator to subscribe to collections
Direct linking to objects
XML Gateway for federated searching of CONTENTdm collections
Feedback tool for commenting/reviewing objects
OASIS – a web-based tool for organizing and importing images

Solicit feedback on images
On a “per image” basis
Insectary:
links to blogs for each image
REALIA:
feedback data sent via email to collection administrators

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Slide 17

Alternative to Acquisition Station
Midwest Instructional Technology Center
Associated Colleges of the South Technology Center

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Slide 21

CONTENTdm OAI harvesting

CONTENTdm Multi-Site Server

Adopted by colleagues

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