Cornell testers:
Liz Muller, Mira Basara, Todd Clary...[more to join]
Beta test period: July 1 - August 13, 2010
Training: Several remote, web-based demonstrations will be available for beta testers to attend prior to beginning their testing. The demonstrations will provide a high-level overview of Shared Shelf Beta v 0.1, and it is intended to provide beta testers with general familiarity with the features of the software. It will not be exhaustive, hands-on training, because part of the beta process is to test how intuitive the software is to use after having just brief exposure to the major functionality of the tools. The session will be conducted via remote web-meeting in demonstration mode, which means that each attendee must have a computer with high speed Internet access to view the demonstration. The audio portion of the session will be conducted by conference call requiring telephone access. During the demo, we will cover how to use Shared Shelf beta v 0.1 to upload images, add new or edit existing records, perform bulk editing, search, sort, and filter content, and release content to a hosted collection in ARTstor.
Please forward the following schedule to your beta testers and ask that they sign up for a session by clicking the link below to register. If you would prefer to schedule a private session for beta testers from your institution only, please let me know your preferred date and time, and we'll do our best to accommodate. Tuesday, July 6, 2010; 10:00 am - 11:00am
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/202870872
Wednesday, July 7, 2010; 3:00 pm - 4:00pm
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/716562664 Thursday, July 8, 2010; 10:00 am - 11:00am
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/745997736 Tuesday, July 6, 2010; 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/505142673
Support:
Support will be provided by ARTstor during the beta test period. For all support questions, please contact Elizabeth Berenz (Elizabeth.berenz@artstor.org or 212-500-2426). If you prefer, you can ask that all beta testers funnel their questions to a local point of contact who then liaises with ARTstor to resolve issues. Alternatively, we are happy to respond to calls or emails directly from beta testers and will log all inquiries.
Feedback:
We ask that each beta tester provide feedback about their experience using the Shared Shelf beta software. A feedback button will be visible on the log in page when users enter Shared Shelf, which will open an on-line test script that guides the testers' actions and prompts them to enter feedback about the tasks they performed (e.g. did it work as expected, was anything confusing or unclear). By no means will beta testers be limited to performing only the functions outlined in the test script; they will be encouraged to use Shared Shelf as much as time and interest allows to fully explore its features. However, we do ask that, at a minimum, each beta tester complete the activities outlined in the test script and submit written feedback. ARTstor will collect the feedback throughout the beta process and consolidate all input for review and analysis at the end of the beta period.
Set up / Configuration of Shared Shelf Beta v 0.1:
Much of the functionality that will allow users with administrative privileges to set up and configure Shared Shelf is coming in future versions. Therefore, ARTstor will pre-configure Shared Shelf for this initial beta test period. What follows below is a description of the default settings you can expect to see within the beta version of Shared Shelf. Some settings, such as KVP fields and controlled lists, may be customized. If you require any customization, we ask that you provide us with your input by June 16 so we can properly configure Shared Shelf prior to the start of the beta test period.
- Shared Shelf Projects and hosted collections in ARTstor
An empty, sample project will be set up prior to the start of the beta, and all best testers from your institution will work on the same project (e.g. all users will be adding and editing records within the same sample project). Similarly, an empty, sample, institutional hosted collection will be set up in a test version of ARTstor so that beta testers can publish content from the sample Shared Shelf project into the sample hosted collection in ARTstor to see how content flows from the cataloging tools (Shared Shelf) to the end user access and use software (ARTstor).
The sample project in Shared Shelf will be named "Sample [institution name] Project" (i.e. "Sample Yale Project"). The sample hosted collection in the test version of ARTstor will be named "Sample [institution name] Digital Image Collection" (i.e. "Sample Yale Digital Image Collection").
- Cataloging screens
During the beta period, all beta testers will use the same cataloging screens to add new or edit existing records. A cataloging screen is the data entry form that users see when cataloging a record. Multiple cataloging screens can be set up per project; however, for the beta period, ARTstor will set up just "brief" and "full" cataloging screens. The "brief" cataloging screen will contain a sub-set of the full list of the available cataloging fields while the "full" cataloging screen will contain all possible cataloging fields. These are sample screens to provide beta testers the opportunity to experiment with choosing different data entry formats to perform their work; in future versions of Shared Shelf, users with administrative privileges may create their own custom, cataloging screen(s) for each project.
- Custom fields
Shared Shelf Beta v 0.1 will provide a default set of 32 metadata fields (see attached Data Dictionary document in Excel). If you would like any additional "custom" fields (commonly referred to as key-value-pair fields or KVP), please let us know and we will add them to the sample project for your institution prior to the start of the beta period. In future versions of Shared Shelf, users with administrative privileges will be able create unlimited numbers of custom fields per project; however, for the beta, ARTstor will need to set up the fields for you prior to the start of testing.
Please provide ARTstor with a list of the custom fields you would like added to Shared Shelf Beta v 0.1 by June 16.
- Controlled lists
Each custom field added to Shared Shelf beta version 0.1 can be set up to restrict data entry to only values contained within a controlled list. If you would like any custom fields to be restricted to use a controlled list, please provide a list of the fields that should be controlled plus an Excel spreadsheet of the controlled values by June 16.