Systems & processes; making order out of chaos.

Digitisation Open Day, January 2014 Dave Thompson

Digital Curator, Wellcome Library

Digitisation – process overview

Plan projectIdentify

material

Identify resources

Plan

process

Digitise

processDeliver

Refine & review processes document & share

Document & share

Funding, staff, equipment, IT, storage, data management

planning

Digitisation Open Days

Lets be clear. Sticking something under a

camera or on a scanner is the last step in a

longer process.

Thinking conceptually … OAIS

http://www.fachlabor-gubler.ch/eng/consulting/underlying-principles/the-oais-reference-model.html

There are simpler models…

http://www.library.cornell.edu/dlit/MathArc/web/StoryFrameset.html

We have three basic systems…

1. Workflow management system – ‘Goobi’ – production.

2. Digital object repository – ‘Safety Deposit Box’ – storage.

3. Front end - ‘the player’ – access.

Remember, this doesn’t include cataloguing or bibliographic systems. Here we’re just talking about the process of creating, storing & delivering digital content. You have to assume that those other systems are also in place.

The formats

• JPEG2000 is our master image format.

• Create dissemination images (JPEG) on the fly.

• Also use PDF, MPEG2, MP3

We don’t have a system of ‘preferred formats’ for digitisation. We use a small number of ‘master’ formats for efficient data management but we give consideration to the way in which we disseminate information. JPEG2000 is a flexible format that allows us to present digitised content in a variety of ways, whilst allowing for the automated creation of different sizes of JPEG.

Goobi

• Manages & tracks the production of content.

• Workflow driven. Highly automated. Project based.

• Allows us to set very granular access conditions.

• Scalable & highly adaptable to different projects.

Goobi is our workflow tracking & management system for the production of digital content. Automating as many of Goobi’s processes as possible allows our work to be both efficient & scalable. Goobi is also the system with which humans interact the most.

How Goobi works – a workflow

How Goobi works – METS editing

Pagination as per original

Descriptive metadata from imported MARC

Structure

Safety Deposit Box

• Workflow based easily ‘talks’ to other systems.

• Content agnostic.

• Creates administrative metadata on ingest.

• Preservation orientated.

How SDB works

How SDB works – behind the scenes

• No public access to SDB.

• Little direct staff access to SDB content.

• High levels of automation of ingest, Goobi.

• Platform for dissemination mediated by the player.

A centralised repository of & for digital content is a key part of both preservation of & access to your content. It’s a single place where we both store & manage our content.

The player

Wellcomelibrary.org/player

How the player works

• Makes HTTP request to SDB for content based on SDB PUID (Objects unique & permanent ID).

• Draws & implements access conditions from METS file.

• Permitted user actions drawn from METS.

• Draws DMD from live catalogue.

The player acts as a single point of access to our content, we have a unified delivery mechanism through which all content is delivered. Aim is to provide as seamless & as easy as possible access to all digital content. Easy for the user to understand & an interface with which they can quickly become familiar.

The systems overview

• Goobi. Manages & tracks the production of digitised content.

• SDB. Repository that stores digitised content along with its DMD & AMD.

• Player. User interface to view digitised material.

Lessons from Goobi

• Design your workflows (Human & digital) in advance. But be flexible.

• Automate as much as possible, saves time & more efficient.

• Document processes & procedures.

• Share what you learn.

Lessons from SDB

• Plan your systems integration, which system talks to which, and how.

• Plan workflows & processes.

• Data management plan. Your eggs in one basket.

• Plan what you’ll do when it all turns to custard.

Lessons from the player

• The point of digitisation is access & managed access is part of preservation.

• Automate access in terms of what a user can do with content.

• Single point of access for all digital content.

• Test user interface & develop with user in mind!

So, to wrap up…

• Digitisation is an end to end process that brings together objects & metadata.

• Have to think about the whole system to deliver results. Process is one of combining metadata from different systems.

• Document plans & document process.

• Be prepared to be flexible & to change as necessary. But try to stick to the plan!

Thank you

Questions now, questions later…?

Dave Thompson, Digital CuratorWellcome Library

d.thompson@wellcome.ac.uk - @d_n_t

http://wellcomelibrary.org/