Topic: Redevelopment Proposal
Topic type:
Proposal seeking funding support for Horowhenua Library Trust and Rabid to redevelop the Kete project to meet its current potential and grow the organisations using the software.
Today we are very pleased to announce a proposal to rally the community of Kete users to assure the future and walk down a path of improving the usability of Kete, and again make it attractive to the community serviced by our libraries.
The document represents our planning after discussions with many of the community, and we are now publishing this for discussion. The funding goals seem large, but we believe moderate funding contributions can kick-start a major upgrade. When we deliver Phase One, we will have a modern, well-tested software base to start rolling out features to get you excited about using Kete again.
We have some introductions to make. I am Josh Forde, co-founder of Rabid in Wellington. I have been talking with Joann and Walter since early 2012 about the prospect of working with Kete. We love the values of the project and really see the opportunity to realise the potential of the software. Breccan McLeod-Lundy, technical lead at Rabid has experience developing on the Kete project in previous iterations.
There is one quick request we have to make. Our proposal references research from the UK presented at a recent NDF event. It states that approximately 90% of the archives of value in our communities are actually in private hands, which is a major underpinning value of giving community access to store their repositories in a digital form. We think improving the storage capabilities will be a major driver for users increasingly using Kete, and that they can be placing these assets in trustworthy hands in the libraries. We would love your assistance in sourcing this research, as librarians are not going to abide my lack of citation! The closest discussion I can locate online is here : https://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~ssoy/pubs/assscotland.htm - but it's not quite the clarity that would help put the value of Kete into perspective.
Aside from that, we need your input and dialogue. I have spent many hours over the past 4 months talking to supporters of Kete and planning out a path for the software's future. But you are the users who understand where you would like this project to go. A successful outcome for us involves us modernising the software, but also activating local software developers in new territories to contribute to an improving system. Ruby on Rails has widespread adoption and significant interest from developers. Again having a robust open source offering is certainly achievable and would reflect well on the New Zealand contributors.
So, over to you... looking forward to your comments.
Josh Forde
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Smita
said Re: Hello!
Hi Josh
Let me introduce myself. I am Smita Biswas, Collections & Info Manager at Tauranga City Libraries. I have been a supporter of the Kete through my setting up and administering two ketes -Kete Hamilton ( one of first APNK ketes for Hamilton City Libraries ) and the Tauranga Memories ( an independent Kete , hosted by Katipo for Tauranga City Libraries- all inspired by Jo 's Kete Horowhenua.
I have done a lot of work to get the community involved and contributing, including running digitization workshops for libraries and the GLAM sector promoting the use of the Kete last year am very keen to see it develop. We don't have a separate digitization budget but can contribute some funds towards the development .
I would also like to join in any meetings/ conferences/ Kete user group meetings, so please do keep me informed
Smita Biswas
| Collections & Information Manager
Tauranga City Libraries | DDI 07 577 7260 | M 0275999241 smita.biswas@tauranga.govt.nz |
Posted on March 20th, 2013 at 11:41 AM
Joshforde
said Re: Hello!
thanks a lot, Smita,
I've also had some suggestions and discussion with Harley Couper in Tauranga.
That's great to hear and thank you for indicating support. I still have some emails to send out to properly inform the community and will then be organising some calls for feedback and questions.
Posted on March 22nd, 2013 at 4:46 PM
James Leech
said Re: Hello!
Hi,
I used to work with the State Library of Queensland, Australia and continue to be involved with community groups in regional Queensland.
Many of these would beneft from an easy to manage digital collection. I currently develop commercial sites using software such as Wordpress & Concrete5 and have considered playing with both Kete and Omeka - but without time or a budget, have kept thee both on my to do list. Considering the pace of software development and paltform surprises from the last few years, it's been a whirlwind for web development.
I would love to see some 'standing on the shoulders of giants' development if this was feasible.
Not sure what the user-base is of kete vs. Omeka or other CMS's such as Concrete5 , however with thousands of users working towards common goals some problems get resolved and additional software developed at a rapid pace.
Would love to join the teleconference...
Cheerio,
James
Tags: CMS, Omeka, Wordpress, Concrete5
Posted on April 26th, 2013 at 4:28 PM
Joshforde
said Re: Hello!
James - great perspective.
looking forward to chatting on the call. Your thoughts on engaging more broadly with developers (beyond Rabid) would be welcome. That's one of our goals - for me understanding some use-cases that would encourage devs to start trying Kete out would be useful.
Josh
Tags: CMS, Omeka, Wordpress, Concrete5
Posted on April 29th, 2013 at 11:30 AM
Joshforde
said Re: Hello!
thanks James,
I actually mislaid the Google hangout that had your email. Maybe you could email Irma [at] calyx.net.au for her analysis of Kete vs Omeka. I had a read through the feature list and it does look good, although doesn't have the collaborative metadata side of kete from what I could see. I suppose that's an option but it would be an exit of Kete to a different platform so would be interested in your thoughts.
Josh
Tags: CMS, Omeka, Wordpress, Concrete5
Posted on April 30th, 2013 at 4:30 PM
Rather than creating a Google Doc of various miscellaneous feedback on Kete, I'm posting it here do reference and sharing. I'm keeping contact details off but email me if you want me to connect you to the author.
Hi Josh, Thanks for the email about kete. I haven't had alot to do with it but have info about my Grandfathers war efforts on it. I will not be able to attend meeting on Tuesday, but will look forward to hearing the results.
Kind Regards from Ann Berry.
Tags: feedback, individual
Posted on April 29th, 2013 at 11:10 AM
Hi there, Annick sent this to me directly,
Dear Kete community
You have my full support for the proposal to upgrade and expand the Kete site. I am proud of our local Kete which is one of the only NZ-based dissemination platforms I know. I also know that amongst my circles (Academic: University of Waikato) and NGO/community development) this site is highly respected and there will be many users to take up this amazing opportunity.
My compliments to the developers and those who hold the vision for its future that will increase access across NZ as well as encourage knowledge sharing amongst services and people who need it to collaborate better. Looking forward to seeing you online:)
Posted on April 26th, 2013 at 4:30 PM
Peter Raymond Calvert
Message: I remain interested in the possibilities inherent in Kete as I have >1 million words transcribed from ~0.5TB of corresponding audio files to archive in perpetuity in publicly accessible form. Please keep me in this loop?
Thanks Peter,
Really good use-case.I'm also talking to archive.org about potential for Kete to automate an archiving backup of the items (in addition to the backup provided by the library or organisation maintaining the Kete install). In my opinion that perpetual archive would be a very valuable asset to Kete giving users trust that files will really be stored perpetually.Josh
Tags: feedback, individual
Posted on April 29th, 2013 at 11:13 AM
Joshforde
said Hello!
Hi there,
Just introducing myself on my own login whereas Joann and I published the above on the phone together. We are very excited about the big picture of the Kete project and are keen to hear your questions. We will give this a week to circulate and then publish some time for conference call Q&As.
Josh