Repository deposit from the desktop
April 1, 2011 Leave a comment
Thinking about repository workflows for staff – put a deposit client where their resources live, on their desktop…
What I have:
A (slightly unwieldy) set of files comprising:
- (an earlier version) of the SWORD client available from http://sourceforge.net/projects/sword-app/ (an Executable Jar and related files)
- a Visual Basic Script
- a Windows Batch file
How it works:
The VB script was written by Boyd Duffy at Keele University and, as a non-developer, I know only that I need to edit sword_deposit.vbs with my SWORD DEPOSIT_TARGET. It’s then simply* a matter of dragging and dropping a file (or multiple files) onto the VBS icon for them to be uploaded into the repository (workflow can obviously be configured in the repository itself, to be published immediately**, for example, or, more likely, go into a workflow where metadata can be added according to a particular Application Profile).
** I think Keele use it as a quick and dirty method for image files to be transferred from desktop to repository from where they can be immediately accessed via a VLE PowerLink.
Here is a screen capture that I did a while ago: http://www.leedsmet.ac.uk/inn/repository/video/SWORD_drop_from_desktop/
* Re simple – I can, in fact, only make it work from a Leeds Met IP! Perhaps something to do with PROXY_HOST / wireless?
What I need:
METADATA of course!
The current tool is of limited use as it just pushes a file into the repository. In fact, it will quite happily push a Content Package – a Zip comprising a file and some metadata as XML – either an IMSMANIFEST (which I would need for intraLibrary) or METS for DSpace (i.e. Jorum.)
Though I don’t have the skills myself, I’m hoping someone can tell me how we might develop a desktop app to integrate a way of capturing the metadata associated with a resource, converting it into an IMSMANIFEST and/or METS, zipping the whole lot up and pushing it to a repository (or multiple repositories) via SWORD …
If we were to use our current ukoer AP we would need to capture:
- Title
- Description
- (Uncontrolled) Keyword(s)
- Author / owner / contributor
- Date
- Type of resource
- Technical format
- Licence information
- Subject classification (HEA and JACS)
Click link below for an example IMSCP:
Or link below for METS (with cut-down metadata); this package has been successfully deposited in Jorum (dev) via SWORD:
N.B. A practical issue with this approach might be including such an application on an institutional staff build and I have heard rumours that it might be possible to achieve similar drag and drop functionality with a web-based app using HTML5 – browser support still inconsistent though I think.
