LIB 121: Week 15-16 (December 3, 2013)

Our final project in this class was to use Content DM to attach metadata to the 25 images that we had scanned for the midterm. We also had to add information about our process and metadata into the Digital Project summary document. I knew that the most time consuming aspect of the project would be to write descriptions and assign controlled vocabulary to each image. During the weekend before class, I drafted a spreadsheet that contained all of the metadata elements that were required for the assignment and filled in the data so that I could spend more class time working with the functionality of ContentDM.

Essentially, when I arrived in class and began working, different aspects of my work were held in three different places. My metadata spreadsheet and images were on my jump drive, from there I uploaded images and entered metadata into the “Project Client” which was held on the computer lab desktop; and then I uploaded those images and metadata to the Content DM server for public viewing. I could see how in a regular archive environment, Content DM workflows and permissions would need to be established early on to ensure accurate information and prevent redundancy. Once information was uploaded to the server, I had to verify that I wanted those images and that vocabulary to be added to my collection, and then the program “indexed” the content and made it available for viewing.

The system was relatively simple for me except for a few snags. For my first attempt to move images from the jump drive to the desk top, I did not elect to sync the Project Client files to my jump drive, which meant that the images and metadata that I did not upload to the server deleted from the Project Client when I closed the application. Luckily, it was less than 10 images, and I had the metadata information saved in my spreadsheet. My other issue involved the use of commas rather than semi colons to separate terms in my controlled vocabulary. Using commas made each list of terms a unique term in the controlled vocabulary list. On the web server, I had to go into the controlled vocabulary edit field, delete all of the long strings and enter all the individual terms. Then I had to go into each image and separate the terms with semi-colons. Once again, my spreadsheet helped me see which terms I was considering without opening every image in the first step.

We had week 15 and week 16 to use the computer lab to finish our project, with the work that I was able to do at home; I finished within 10 minutes of our last day of class.  I was grateful for the early session, and left Pasadena City College with the satisfaction of making a worthwhile investment in this program. My completed collection can be found at: http://cdm16693.contentdm.oclc.org/ , under my last name, Powell.