September 2007

Many thanks to Gale for all her hard work on Visual Resources over the past eight years.  She will be missed.

General updates:

• Danielle made open-call to group for suggestions on VRWG.  Please feel free to email dkm26 with any ideas on how
  to improve the effectiveness of VRWG.

Projects:

• Still awaiting copyright info from Lab of O- this project needs to wrap up NOW!  Yesterday...
• KVRF running smoothly
• MacDougall-
  • Margaret finalizing metadata
  • final batch of images (700-1000) to be shipped to DMG by end of year-- some issues with dust that need to be
    discussed in person
  • We will look for a springtime upload of additional content-- contingent on time availability of programmers in DLIT

Luna 6.0 (!)

• early January- Surinder will bring up in test

• Mid January- Surinder will present to VRWG and pull in people for testing as needed
  • Susette will bring to Usability group
  • We will want to get faculty and staff feedback
  • Webfeat integration? /no more webfeat?
  • Glen may get involved from Documentation perspective
• We will plan on actual implementation in Summer 2008 (no upgrades during semester)

Help pages-- we will discuss/present Help pages during first VRWG meeting in Jan

•  Susette and Lance are working on help for general image searching (Find It)
•  Glen & Karen are working on Luna documentation and general clean-up of existing resources
•  Gale will pull together a general FAQ for desktop problems for Amy to use in LIBIT
•  We need to determine the best/most visible place to put help pages.

NEXT MEETING AGENDA:

• Luna 6.0
• Help pages
• Include Amy from Desktop (LIBIT-L) Karen, Martha, and Margaret and possibly HFJ folks 

VRWG Meeting Agenda & Notes: 9-11-07

Project Updates:

• Lab of O
  • We are in the final phases of development- still awaiting approval from Lab before final release.
  • Susette & Gale conducted Usability Studies on the collection and came up with a list of recommendations (see Usability Results)
  • The following recommendations fell within the "feasible" realm:
    • Copyright: 
      1. Displaying size one when user clicks on an image-- Mira investigating
      2. Fix "image unavailable" statement to "Image may not be further enlarged due to copyright restrictions"
      3. Activate link for copyright statement.
      4. Investigating link option in background
    • Metadata
      1. Investigate issues with search/index (so that user can search on "robin" and get results -- not "American Robin"
    • Help Pages
      1. Glen, who is on the documentation committee, will work with team to create new help documentation.  Eli agreed to send on documentation related to this.
  • MOU for ongoing maintenance-- this is in its final phases and will be shared with group upon completion (likely next meeting)
• MacDougall
  • Anticipated load TBD-- likely late fall/early winter.  Stay tuned.
• KVRF
  • Done!  Things seem to be progressing smoothly with regards to weekly uploads.  Hopefully we can post documentation regarding workflow on wiki (Mira/Surinder?)
• Luna 6.0
  • Release date still TBD, but Surinder will keep us informed.  Sounds like there will be significant changes.

 Patron/Client Support

• Contact list on web (who to contact for what)--
  • We agreed to keep LunaSupport-L as the primary outlet for help. 
  • We DO need to determine who will monitor the list to make sure that things are responded to within a reasonable time-frame.
  • Proposed point person with back-up TBD-- (please feel free to volunteer!)
• Personal collections
• Passwords update
  • Awaiting recommendations from Martha Walker...

General

• Subgroups? Discontinue?  (Go back to monthly  meetings)
  • There is still a list of "to do" on front page of this wiki- we need to determine what we WILL do and what we can't do... next meeting agenda item.
• Consultants
• Vision for the future

************************************

June 2007
2-3:30, Olin 703 (new action items in red!)

 New Items:

• USERS The group discussed the necessity of DEFINING our users-- from Cornell Community (faculty, students, and curators) to the broader users (www, walk-ins, etc) to clients             (HFJ/KVRF/RMC).  We need to determine a multifaceted approach to covering and discovering their needs.  It is likely that we will institute bi-yearly meetings with faculty to see how they are using current resources.  We would also like to reinstate workshops for Luna and other visual collections.

• Revising Documentation on wiki---(Nancy H. noticed some things)  The group has been asked to continue to document their work using the wiki.

Updates on following projects:

• Lab of O  
  • Status Report-- There is some question regarding status of copyrighted images in collection, and whether we are ready to move to production.
     A course of action will be determined in coming weeks.  Rhea Garen and Susette Newberry are still working on user testing, etc.
  • Maintenance contract: Elaine has put out a MOU for review to DLIT management.  Elaine will work to finalize the agreement and will present to VRWG group at next meeting. 
• KVRF       
  • Gale, Rick, and Margaret finalizing development.  Anticipated completion date of July 1 for Phase 1 will be met.
  • Need to determine course of action for promotion/use of site/ and quality testing.
• HFJ
  • Mira update on clean-up work done
  • Mira will work with technology subgroup to determine whether the Asian virtual collection needs to be updated.
  • Upcoming meeting
• MacDougall
  • Status:  Margaret and company will finalize metadata by fall; upload of new material into CURRENT VRA schema anticipated for mid fall.

Follow-up

• WebFeat: Rick's Gateway Solution!
  • Rick has developed a way to create a single index for all Luna collections which can then be searched by Webfeat.  This should signficantly speed up the search process, as instead of hitting nine separate databases, Webfeat need only hit one. 
• Find Images
  • Still questions as to whether Find Images will be maintained over the long-term.
• Outsourcing to Luna
  • Gale will document (on VRWG wiki) scanning requirements should we choose to outsource derivative processing to Luna (avoiding problems encountered with KVRF collection).
• IPTC metadata
  • A number of institutions are now requesting that Luna maintain metadata embedded in images.  Rick is investigating options for implementing IPTC embedded metadata into our master and derivative image files.
    Rick will report back to the group with his findings at our next quarterly meeting.
• Luna 6.0
  • Luna plans to do away with java client version in 6.0.  Also promising collection index for searching. 
  • Strong possibility that Cornell with be a beta test site for new Luna server this fall.  Surinder is working withLuna to move collections to this new server.

SubGroup Action Items:

• Metadata
  • For the next quarter, the metadata group will work on migrating from VRA 4.0 alpha to VRA 4.0 beta.  This should
    resolve many of the data mapping problems we have been encountering during collection development.
•  Technology / Development
  • Continue work on KVRF/HFJ/MacDougall Collections.
•  Promotion and Usability
  • Will work with Lab of O Collection to document procedures for providing access to collection (NERF form, etc), testing
    testing collection, and promotion.

*******************

February 2007
2-3:30, Olin 703 (new action items in red!)

Project Updates

• Lab of O  
  • Collection is in the final development stage. 
  • New metadata should be in by 17 April. 
  • Elane finalizing details of maintenance contract. 
  • Susette, Lance, & Rhea will meet to discuss user testing and promotion of collection.
• KVRF       
  • 13,000 images currently in test mode.  Still issues regarding image data mapping.
  • Lance & Susette will work with Margaret on collection description and background image. 
  • Still questions regarding public access and integration. 
  • Estimated time of completion? 
• HFJ
  • Still questions from HFJ staff regarding database integrity.  Danielle will provide examples
    to Luna dev team and set meeting to determine course of action
• MacDougall
  • Metadata team meeting with Margaret to determine metadata scheme for new material.
  • Danielle will call larger team meeting in mid-May to develop plan to complete project.

Other Updates

• WebFeat: Rick's Gateway Solution!
  • Rick has developed a way to create a single index for all Luna collections which can then be searched
    by Webfeat.  This should signficantly speed up the search process, as instead of hitting nine separate
    databases, Webfeat need only hit one. 
  • Still questions as to whether Find Images will be maintained over the long-term.
• Outsourcing to Luna
  • Gale will document (on VRWG wiki) scanning requirements should we choose to outsource derivative processing
    to Luna (avoiding problems encountered with KVRF collection).
• IPTC metadata
  • A number of institutions are now requesting that Luna maintain metadata embedded in images.  Rick
    is investigating options for implementing IPTC embedded metadata into our master and derivative image files.
    Rick will report back to the group with his findings at our next quarterly meeting.
• Luna 6.0
  • Luna plans to do away with java client version in 6.0.  Also promising collection index for searching. 
  • Strong possibility that Cornell with be a beta test site for new Luna server this fall.  Surinder is working with
    Luna to move collections to this new server.

SubGroup Action Items:

• Metadata
  • For the next quarter, the metadata group will work on migrating from VRA 4.0 alpha to VRA 4.0 beta.  This should
    resolve many of the data mapping problems we have been encountering during collection development.
•  Technology / Development
  • Continue work on KVRF/HFJ/MacDougall Collections.
•  Promotion and Usability
  • Will work with Lab of O Collection to document procedures for providing access to collection (NERF form, etc), testing
    testing collection, and promotion.

VRWG Meeting Notes: 2-1-07

• We have agreed to break into sub-groups, which will meet monthly, and meet as a larger group quarterly.
• During quarterly meetings, we will share sub-committees work/findings with larger VRWG group
• During our quarterly meetings, we will also invite key stakeholders to give us feedback on their Visual Resources Collections
• We will notifiy the group of our sub-group meetings, in the event that anyone ourside of subgroup should feel compelled to attend
• We will utilize Confluence site to document our work.

Action Items:

• Usability Group:
  • Gale will set up meetings to discuss testing documentation, PSEC's role, and follow up on Taj/Andean Collection Usability Tests
• Technology Group:
  • Group will continue to work on KVRF & HFJ/TMS projects
  • Gale will contact WebFeat team to determine what is causing problems with "hanging" Luna Collections
• Metadata Group:
  • Group will meet to discuss MacDougall metadata
  • Elaine will continue to work on contract for Lab of O
• Promotion & Access
  • Lance will set meetings to review current promotion documentation (Fiona's)
  • Group will begin to determine roles of VRWG & VRAG