Project Hydra: Designing & Building a Reusable Framework for Multipurpose, Multifunction, Multi-institutional Repository-Powered Solutions

4th International Conference on Open RepositoriesThis presentation was part of the session : Fedora User Group PresentationsDate: 2009-05-20 03:30 PM – 05:00 PMThere is a clear business need in higher education for a flexible, reusable application framework that can support the rapid development of multiple systems tailored to distinct needs, but powered by a common underlying repository. Recognizing this common need, Stanford University, the University of Hull and the University of Virginia are collaborating on "Project Hydra", a three-year effort to create an application and middleware framework that, in combination with an underlying Fedora repository, will create a reusable environment for running multifunction, multipurpose repository-powered solutions. This paper details the collaborators' functional and technical design for such a framework, and will demonstrate the progress made to date on the initiative.JIS

Hydra: A Technical and Community Framework For Customized, Reusable, Repository Solutions

While repositories provide obvious benefits in hosting and managing content, it is equally clear that there is no "one size fits all" solution to the range of digital asset management needs at a typical institution, much less across institutions. A system that supports the submission, approval and dissemination of electronic theses and dissertations, for example, has demonstrably different requirements than a digitization workflow solution, an e-science data repository, or media preservation and access system. There is a clear need in the repository community to readily develop and deploy content-, domain-, and institution-specific solutions that integrate the flexibility and richness of customized applications and workflows with the underlying power of repositories for content management, access and preservation. Hydra is a multi-institutional, multi-functional, multi-purpose framework that addresses this need on twin fronts. As a technical framework, it provides a toolkit of reusable components that can be combined and configured in different arrays to meet a diversity of content management needs. As a community framework, Hydra provides like-minded institutions with the mechanism to combine their individual development efforts, resources and priorities into a collective solution with breadth and depth that exceeds the capacity of any single institution to create, maintain or enhance on its own

Hydra: A Technical and Community Framework For Customized, Reusable, Repository Solutions

While repositories provide obvious benefits in hosting and managing content, it is equally clear that there is no "one size fits all" solution to the range of digital asset management needs at a typical institution, much less across institutions. A system that supports the submission, approval and dissemination of electronic theses and dissertations, for example, has demonstrably different requirements than a digitization workflow solution, an e-science data repository, or media preservation and access system. There is a clear need in the repository community to readily develop and deploy content-, domain-, and institution-specific solutions that integrate the flexibility and richness of customized applications and workflows with the underlying power of repositories for content management, access and preservation. Hydra is a multi-institutional, multi-functional, multi-purpose framework that addresses this need on twin fronts. As a technical framework, it provides a toolkit of reusable components that can be combined and configured in different arrays to meet a diversity of content management needs. As a community framework, Hydra provides like-minded institutions with the mechanism to combine their individual development efforts, resources and priorities into a collective solution with breadth and depth that exceeds the capacity of any single institution to create, maintain or enhance on its own

Sustaining your Open Source project through training: a Hydra case study

Presentation at Open Repositories 2014, Helsinki, Finland, June 9-13, 2014General Track Papers and PanelsThe session was recorded and is available for watching (this presentation starts at 0:01:22)Bess Sadler and Mark Bussey present their experiences and thoughts as the training coordinators for the Hydra community. In particular, the presentation will address • Working practices for developing training materials • Sharing the work when there are no dedicated resources • Inviting community (and student) input to create higher quality content • Strategies to keep training docs up-to date • Strategies to make training materials available to the widest-possible audience • Using surveys to assess the effectiveness of your training program We conclude by discussing how training strategies tie into broader communication and sustainability initiatives for repository projects.Bussey, Mark (Data Curation Experts, United States of America)Sadler, Bess (Stanford University, United States of America

Feminism and the Future of Library Discovery

This paper discusses the various ways in which the practices of libraries and librarians influence the diversity (or lack thereof) of scholarship and information access. We examine some of the cultural biases inherent in both library classification systems and newer forms of information access like Google search algorithms, and propose ways of recognizing bias and applying feminist principles in the design of information services for scholars, particularly as libraries re-invent themselves to grapple with digital collections

Introduction to Hydra for Developers

Workshop at Open Repositories 2014, Helsinki, Finland, June 9-13, 2014Workshops and TutorialsThis four-hour workshop will provide an introduction to developing Hydra-based repositories using the Hydra technology framework. Developers will have a hands-on opportunity to implement a very simple Hydra repository. Attendees will leave with the core technical information needed to start building their own local repository solutions.Bussey, Mark (Data Curation Experts, United States of America)Cozine, Alicia (Data Curation Experts, United States of America)Sadler, Bess (Stanford University, United States of America)Giarlo, Michael (Pennsylvania State University, United States of America