Catalog_Discussion

Catalog Implementation Discussion (back to Relational Structure Page)

The Team (invited to initial online meeting in April 2014):

 * 1) Liza Loop - Vision Keeper - working hard, extending my all too scanty knowledge
 * 2) Bill King
 * 3) Tom Trimbath (coordinating people)
 * 4) Bob Speray - Omeka consultant currently volunteering for HCLE and working on a book for Omeka users
 * 5) Rick Collette - Volunteer on hold (who came through Craig's List)
 * 6) Stan (pcguy)
 * 7) Kate Greenway
 * 8) Dick Karpinski (nitpicker77)
 * 9) Ron Wickersham

** Set up an online meeting: **
Please post possible times for a synchronous, online meeting to be held between now and Jan 6. Include the technologies (Skype, Google HangOut, GotoMeeting, etc) you are willing to use. Hopefully a few mutually acceptable times, dates and techniques will emerge.

** Target Users **
Each group needs a different web interface but will draw on a common catalog and repository. The **user community** will consist of:

1) //Browsers// who just want to scroll through our images. Omeka, once modified, will do for them.

2) //Community Contributors// who want to upload individual pictures, stories, academic papers, software, web links, etc. with appropriate metadata for us to include in our collection. Omeka, once modified, may work for this too.

3) //Scholars// who want to do detailed search and select from our collection. They will need to be able download those items with appropriate copyright permissions.

4) //More serious contributors// who will want to batch upload their collections after having scanned their images and added metadata according to our template.

5) //Exhibit Builders// who want to use our material to create web pages that will serve as galleries or exhibits in our virtual museum

6) //Programmers// who will identify or modify or create the tools we need to do 1 through 5.

There are three places you need to know about on the HostGator service:
1. @http://loopcntr.net/hclecatalog/ is at IP address 198.57.149.88. This is an open source software package called Omeka that we are exploring as a display tool for our archive.

2. @https://gator3102.hostgator.com:2083 is at 50.87.144.136 (expired 16/11/13) This gets you to our cPanel login on HostGator. I've given each of you the login name and password.

3. There are two relevant MySQL databases you will find under the Databases Menu once you log in to cPanel. They are lizaloop_HCLEcatalog and lizaloop_Omcat. The data for @http://loopcntr.net/hclecatalog/ is in Omcat. lizaloop_HCLEcatalog is supposed to be the main catalog. The naming is an unfortunate consequence of my not understanding what I was doing a few months ago.

I would like to have a single (although backed up) accessible directory (on HostGator to begin with ) that contains all the image, text, and code files that are referenced by the various display tools (like Omeka) that we use to make the collection available to the public.I'm confused as to which directory @http://loopcntr.net/hclecatalog/ actually gets its images from at the moment. The image files are duplicated - one set in the public_html|HCLEcatalog|files directory. The other in public_html|repository directory. Straightening this out is going to be drudgery.

Please look at the structure of the tables we have in each database so far and at the wiki page http://hcle.wikispaces.com/Relational+Structure and http://hcle.wikispaces.com/Catalog_Discussion Remember that you have to "join" the wiki to edit the page.

Tools available:
loopcntr.net/hclecatalog administrators' site on HostGator MicroSoft Access 2000 - on Liza's PC laptop TeamworkPM - an online project management tool to help keep us organized Omeka - Open source museum, exhibition and archive content management software HostGator "cloud" hosting service

Omeka/hclecatalog installation discussion: Click on the link above to get to our working notes and discussion on how to make the catalog work in Omeka. It will probably take the month of October 2013 to learn enough to decide whether the Omeka platform is right for our virtual museum. It's too limited out of the box but it is highly extendable so we may be able to get the functionality I (Liza) envision for the final virtual museum. Omeka will certainly suffice for our "Proof of Concept" stage development.

Older Discussion Notes... ....needed for Omeka installation on HostGator:
 * Apache with mod_ftp protocol - got it.
 * MySQL version 5.0 or greater required - got it.
 * PHP version 5.2.11 or greater recommended (with mysqli and exif extensions) - seems to work.
 * PHP version 5.3 or fileinfo extension prefered - still checking - LL20130928
 * ImageMagik - couldn't find it but Omeka works anyway. Time will tell if there are problems - LL 20130928

HostGator account on the web with;
 * cPanel
 * phpMyAdmin
 * Remote MySQL
 * WordPress
 * possibly CiviCRM
 * Joomla
 * Drupal

We are looking for volunteers who can help with the last 4 items (content or contact management systems). They are the vehicle through which our catalog access screens will be implemented.

Here's the email trail (highly edited) so far

Some thoughts on catalog //database structure. //

[ Jump to Relational Structure]

The MS Access Database has 4 tables
 * 1) tblHCECatalog
 * 2) Pull-down Menus
 * 3) tbl HCE Catalog Field Names
 * 4) tble HCE Inventory Check Sheet

All the important information is in tblHCECatalog which might as well be a simple spread sheet. It has 96 fields most of which are currently empty. There are maybe 150 records. We anticipate having more than 10,000 records (items in the museum) by the time all of Liza's collection has been processed. Access won't support this much data online so we're trying something that can grow with us.

On 20130820, SD wrote to Liza:

Before starting the process of migrating MS Access to MySQL, I would like to further discuss the structure of the MS Access database you emailed to me.

As you mentioned in our last conversation, the MySQL database will be the repository of the online catalogue about HCLE. If the MS access database in its current format is migrated to MySQL, I believe that the process of retrieving the needed data will not be smooth enough for the party that will develop the user interface. Thus, I would like to suggest restructuring the MS Access database.

In order to be able to restructure MS Access database or built MySQL database with structure different from MS Access database, I would like to understand the purpose of the tables and the columns (fields).

LL (20130821) I believe my use of tabs in the Access Object, frmTabbedDataEntry - use in 2006, corresponds to the tables we need in SQL. Look at the Access field name table. It has a column for "Tabs". These are


 * I -- for Item, Identify or Initial Cataloging** - these fields let us make the connection between a physical item on our shelves and the record in the data base. Should the tag on the item showing the ID number get lost there is enough description here to recognize the item. For digital items the description gives us a pretty good idea of which image goes with the record in case the file name gets corrupted.


 * P -- for preservation information** - these fields tell us the condition of the physical item and how to insure that it does not deteriorate further.


 * S -- for subject or topic** - these fields indicate why we are bothering to preserve this item, categorize it for search purposes and suggest how we might use it in virtual exhibits.


 * D -- for technical Data** about the item whether physical or digital. This information is necessary for both software and digital files which are often in obsolete formats.


 * B -- for Bibliographic information** - standard for books, periodicals, and unpublished documents. We have physical copies of some of these documents but we also need fields so that we can point to libraries, archives and web sites that contain relevant material that is not in the HCLE collection.


 * A -- for Acquisition or provenance** - these fields tell where we got the item and where it went after we scanned and cataloged it. There is no tab for these fields yet but the fields are in the Access structure.

On 20130820, SD wrote to Liza: Since people will provide various items (article, video, etc…), I think that we had better create a table to store contributors’ names. This table will be related to a table holding data about the items. This is an example of restructuring MS Access database.

LL (20130821) I think we should explore CiviCRM for the people and organizations tables.

Three other features of the Access system I set up, the FieldNames Table, the PullDown Menus and the Inventory Check Sheet can be handled by the SQL user interface - correct?

On 20130820, SD wrote to Liza: I believe that the tblHCECatalog is the main table in MS Access file. But, what is “tbl HCE Inventory Check Sheet” table’s purpose? Are the two tables “tblHCECatalog” and “tbl HCE Inventory Check Sheet” supposed to be related?

Do we need “tbl HCE Catalog Field Names” and “Pull-down menus” tables in MySQL?

LL (20130821): tbl HCE Inventory Check Sheet is a temporary report (or should be a report) generated to help a staff member figure out whether the physical item s/he is looking at has been cataloged. It's not part of the underlying data base structure. The same is true for tbl HCE Catalog Field Names.

tbl Pull Down Menus is the way MS Access limits what can be entered into a given field in the data base. Since this function is done differently in MySQL we don't need this table.

//To be continued...//

Nitpicker (Karpinski) offers this: (please extend or repair or discard or ...)

Considering the catalog as a project, we can ask about its goals, stakeholders, and known tasks.

Then we could build an impact estimation table to help choose which tasks to undertake next. Does it seem that such considerations as these might clarify what we wish to do?

What goals do we have for the Catalog? 1. Record information about the artifacts in the HCLE virtual museum. How can we measure progress toward this goal?

2. Provide easy ways to discover what artifacts are available in the museum.

3. Provide a convenient method to add new artifacts to the collection.

4. Provide reports on holdings and how they have been used.

Whom do we consider to care about the catalog? (Who are the Stakeholders?) 1. The staff of the museum. 2. Potential and actual users of the museum. 3. Educators who care to know what has been tried and what worked well?

What tasks would help advance the goals we have?

Task Impact estimation table: How much effort will each task involve, as a guesstimate? How much progress will each task make toward each goal, guessing?

The Team (as of 20 Dec 2013):
 * Liza Loop - Vision Keeper - working hard, extending my all too scanty knowledge
 * Jon Greene
 * Bill King
 * Tom Trimbath (coordinating people)
 * Bob Speray - Omeka consultant currently volunteering for HCLE and working on a book for Omeka users
 * Rick Collette - Volunteer on hold (who came through Craig's List)

The Team (as of 21 Sept 2013):


 * Liza Loop - Vision Keeper - working hard, extending my all too scanty knowledge
 * Deirdre McGrath - old friend and early data base programmer (remember PL-1?) - on hold
 * Richard Karpinski - another old friend with data base administration experience (and on a quest to find a cure for cancer)
 * SD - Active Volunteer (who came through Volunteer Match)
 * Bob Speray - Omeka consultant currently volunteering for HCLE and working on a book for Omeka users
 * Rick Collette - Volunteer on hold (who came through Craig's List)