Tools and Workspaces

Owned by Valerie Addonizio
Last updated: May 13, 2024 by Rachel Searcy
7 min read

One of the biggest challenges cited in Council work is familiarization with which activities take place in which workspaces. UAC and TAC members should read each section below but members of specific subteams will see their subteam mentioned for tools that are particularly useful or necessary.

 

Atlassian Accounts

  • All Council members will require an Atlassian Account

  • ArchivesSpace uses two services from Atlassian:

    • Jira, for reporting and tracking bugs and feature requests; and

    • Confluence, which is used as the wiki for providing pages for meetings, sub-team activities, and other ArchivesSpace programs. You are reading this article on the Confluence wiki space.

To access the above, you will need an Atlassian account. This account, if you do not already have one as a Member of ArchivesSpace, will be created for you at the beginning of term. If you don’t have an account, or an unsure whether you do, contact ArchivesSpace Program Manager, Christine Di Bella. 

More information on how to use these two resources is below. 

ArchivesSpace Jira

ArchivesSpace uses Jira as the issue and project tracking software for development of the ArchivesSpace application. Sub-teams that work with JIRA on a regular basis are Testing, Usability, Development Prioritization, but all members are encouraged to watch A Brief Introduction to JIRA, which is specific to the ArchivesSpace Jira environment. In that video you’ll find:

  • A brief explanation of Jira and its role

  • How to get an account if you don’t have one already

  • Simple search and advanced search

  • Reading a Jira ticket: Description, Status, Labels

  • Commenting on issues, Watching issues

Access and permissions related to Jira are managed within your Atlassian account. Different users in different roles will have different permissions in Jira.

Questions related to the ArchivesSpace Jira environment should be directed to Council Chairs and, in turn, to the ArchivesSpace Program Manager.

Confluence

Confluence refers to the wiki, the exact space you are in right now. All Council members will use the wiki, but Chairs and Subteam Leads will do the most editing of these pages, especially in the creation of meeting agendas and notes (See: Meeting Notes Template and the video linked below).

Logging in to Confluence

As you begin to navigate the wiki you may realize that you don’t have the options you’re looking for, like Edit permissions. Since so much wiki content is freely accessible, you may not realize that you are not logged in. Logging in will grant you additional permissions in the space.

Check whether you are logged into Confluence by looking in the upper-right hand corner. If you see an arrow and a door, you are NOT logged in:

Click that button to log in. All council members do have an account and it will be tied to your work address. Please let us know if you have any questions on your Confluence account and password.

Google Drive

Role

While it it generally preferred that all information be managed on the wiki, the Google Drive space can be used for sub-team work and projects. Some benefits include a private space for sensitive information; the ability to collaboratively contribute to draft documents; and access to tools (i.e. Google Forms and Google Sheets) that are not available through Confluence

  • Google Drive spaces are set up per subteam and permission is issued to individual accounts at the beginning of each term

Management and Access

Council chairs will ask for preferred email at the beginning of term and send invites to the various folders.

  • Please contact your subteam lead if you are unable to access your subteam’s Google Drive space. If you are yourself a subteam lead, please contact the ASpace Program Manager to for assistance in receiving access for yourself and your team

When to use Confluence vs. Google drive?

Confluence should contain Council and sub-team related information that is okay to be viewed by the public, that anyone should be able to reference to maintain workflows or sustain the business of the Councils and sub-teams, and that can serve as a record.

Google documents relating to Council activities should be stored in the ArchivesSpace Google Drive rather than Drive accounts owned by individual members. Council chairs will add council members to both their respective council and sub-team folders with edit access. Council members can use any email address they prefer to access the Google Drive -- please communicate this preference directly with your Council chair. (Same goes for the self-created Confluence accounts.) Keep in mind the permission status of individual files on Google Drive and set them appropriately. 

Example documentation and where they should be kept:

Confluence:

  • Rosters

  • Meeting minutes

  • Reports

  • Policy/process documents

Google Drive:

  • Internal working documents of a limited time value

  • Internal documents that are not appropriate for public viewing

  • Documents that require functionality not available in Confluence such as spreadsheets and forms/surveys.

If you have any issues accessing the Google Drive or Confluence, please contact your Council chair or the ArchivesSpace Program Team.

Zoom

Council Chairs and Sub-team leads can use the ArchivesSpace Zoom account for sub-team meetings. Information on using the Zoom, scheduling calls on the shared account, and how to get access is detailed below.

Note that Sub-team leads may elect to use their own meeting software accounts if they desire; the community account is provided for those members that may not have that access at their institution. Please ensure that all subteam members have access to, and are comfortable with, the meeting platform and tools that you select.

  1. Please read the Community Zoom Account Guidelines .

  2. This Zoom account is shared, which means you should check Conference Calls and Zoom Meetings calendar for available meeting times and pro-tips.

  3. Email the Community Engagement Coordinator to get started.

GitHub

The core code of the ArchivesSpace application is maintained in GitHub. Members of TAC are more likely than UAC members to require a deeper understanding of GitHub for Council work, but all AS users and contributors should familiarize themselves with the following links. Sub-teams that work with GitHub on a regular basis: Technical Documentation.

 

GitHub Repository Maintenance

Repositories managed by subteams or individuals must be maintained. This may range from a baseline level of maintenance to more active engagement. Baseline levels of maintenance include:

Active engagement with a GitHub repository may include the following activities, although this list is non-exhaustive:

  • Creating new content

  • Soliciting new contributions from the ArchivesSpace community

  • Reviewing the repository for broken links

  • Monitoring listservs and responding to relevant questions with links to documentation in the repository

  • Increasing the visibility of the content in the repository for the ArchivesSpace community

GitHub File Watcher

GitHub File Watcher is a third party service that will email you anytime changes are made to specific files inside any public GitHub repository that you configure. Few subteams may have a use for this service, but this demonstration video is being provided just in case. Please note that the context for the video linked below was for the TAC Metadata Standards Subteam, but this applies to any subteam with an interest in this tool.

Please watch the following video for a demonstration, and see additional resources below.

Video demonstrating the configuration of Github File Watcher

Other Applications

Airtable

  • Sub-teams have used Airtable to create forms for surveys and spreadsheets for various projects

  • Interested in using Airtable? Contact the Community Engagement Coordinator

Slack

  • ArchivesSpace has a Slack workspace set-up for informal communication. Council members can join the workspace to communicate with their sub-teams. Sub-teams can have channels created. ArchivesSpace has created guidelines on using Slack. For more information and to join the ArchivesSpace Slack workspace, contact the ArchivesSpace Program Manager.