2022-12-14 Digital Objects Member Discussion

Post-Discussion Resources

Digital Objects Module Survey (closes December 21, 2022)

Digital Objects User Documentation (available to ArchivesSpace members only)

Submit a digital objects feature request (check open JIRAs for Digital Objects listed at the end of this page first)

Contact the Usability Sub-team with feedback on the compatibility of the New School’s Bulk Importer plugin’s inclusion in core code.

Access the ArchivesSpace test server to test new features of the application when appropriate (username admin / password admin)

(If you wish to contact one of the sub-teams mentioned here, consult this year’s User Advisory Council roster or Technical Advisory Council roster for emails.)

Discussion Description

The discussion was facilitated by the ArchivesSpace Program Manager and Community Engagement Coordinator and attended by over 90 members. As with similar ArchivesSpace discussion events, the discussion was not recorded.

Members were encouraged to review some resources ahead of time, including current community-submitted feature requests for the digital objects module on the ArchivesSpace JIRA and the digital objects section of the ArchivesSpace user manual. A survey was circulated ahead of time to registrants and through other member communication channels to gauge experiences with the digital objects module and expectations for future development.

The discussion was open to ArchivesSpace members only in recognition of the crucial role that ArchivesSpace members play in directly financially supporting the sustainability and development of the application. Having input in large development projects and discussions is one of the member benefits of ArchivesSpace.

Discussion Highlights

There was some discussion about ArchivesSpace being mature as a tool but less mature in its use of digital objects, making it a good time to dig in and focus on some of these more areas.
Many attendees expressed an interest in expanding the current spreadsheet functionality to allow for more robust bulk ingest of Digital Objects, including an expansion of fields included in the spreadsheet and the ability to include multiple file versions (links). There was also significant interest in being able to do bulk editing with spreadsheets. It was noted that the Usability sub-team is currently reviewing the New School Bulk Updater plugin for addition to core code. Many users expressed their support of this.
There was also interest in resources that would help people learn and improve their API (and specifically Python) skills. Recommendations for learning included a DPC Python Study group hopefully coming in summer 2023: https://www.dpconline.org/blog/wdpd/python-groups-update and a Coursera class Python for Everybody , with a free version by the same professor: PY4E - Python for Everybody as well as ArchivesSpace API-specific instruction. A recording of trainings related to using the ArchivesSpace API and an introduction to ArchivesSnake are available on the ArchivesSpace YouTube. ArchivesSpace API documentation can be found at Technical Documentation - ArchivesSpace. The community generated ArchivesSnake API client library is available at GitHub - archivesspace-labs/ArchivesSnake: A client library for working with the ArchivesSpace API
Attendees expressed interest in expanded metadata import and export support including the ability to export data for both digital objects and their affiliated archival objects. Members of the Metadata Standards Sub-team requested feedback on the types of metadata support users would like to expand or include.
While many users expressed frustration with the complexity of digital object records and the ability to create standalone digital object records (vs. only creating them as an accession resource/archival object or repurposing the description from one of these), over 20% of survey respondents and some in attendance indicated a simplified digital objects module or removal of standalone digital objects would negatively impact their workflow.
There was general agreement that ArchivesSpace should continue to work with other systems that do digital objects rather than become a digital asset/preservation system itself, but some frustration with the current limitations of how ArchivesSpace digital objects play with other systems and the data in other parts of ArchivesSpace itself.
Many users expressed interest in training opportunities related to digital objects. The ArchivesSpace Trainers Corps recently offered a training on Digital Objects. The recording of this ArchivesSpace digital objects training is available at ArchivesSpace Digital Objects Module Training and Digital Object tutorial videos are available in the Help Center (ArchivesSpace members only) at https://archivesspace.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/ArchivesSpaceUserManual/pages/915341360.

Improvements or Feature Requests Mentioned

The ability to do more importing, editing and exporting in bulk (including expanded spreadsheet functionality).
The ability to bulk import Digital Objects in the staff user interface (and avoid using the API for batch work)
Digital objects lite mode (like the full vs. lite mode functionality in the agents module) to allow for minimizing the number of fields or hiding standalone digital objects for those looking to simplify the interface.
Better standards mapping for digital objects within the module.
Expanded requesting functionality for digital objects.
The ability to spawn digital objects from archival objects and in general repurpose description when creating digital objects within the system.
The creation of an Ad Hoc ArchivesSpace Advisory Council team to review standards support and functionality of the digital objects module. There was also discussion of exploring different customizations and supporting materials people have already created to support their own uses.