DPLA staff attend LDCX at Stanford University

Four DPLA staff members — Mark Breedlove, Tom Johnson, Mark Matienzo, and I —  recently attended LDCX at Stanford University. The annual conference is a chance for those in the library, archive, and museum (LAM) communities who work with technology to collaborate on solutions to common problems. Since most the staff attending live on the East Coast and have been weathering the last dregs of winter, the trip injected a much needed dose of sunshine too!

LDCX is an “unconference” meaning the agenda is decided on by the attendees on the morning of the first day. Topics are ad hoc discussions and geared towards coming up with actual solutions using shared standards and infrastructures. This year’s conference saw work on emerging standards like the Portland Common Data Model (PCDM), the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF), along with more general and perennial topics like mentoring and training and the use of standard technologies like Ruby on Rails.

DPLA staff in particular were heavily in discussions on data quality and methods for analysis, the use of the DPLA’s Metadata Application Profile (MAP) and how it fits into the broader scheme of data models in the cultural heritage community, such as Europeana’s Data Model (EDM) as well as PCDM. Further discussions of DPLA MAP explored the possibilities of further extensions and adoption of DPLA MAP in other venues. (For more information about DPLA’s MAP, please see http://dp.la/info/developers/map/).

In general, one of the best things about LDCX is the chance to meet face to face with colleagues and collaborators in the LAM technology community to discuss our challenges and work together on our shared opportunities.

Several other staff members joined the group starting on Wednesday for a series of meetings related to the Hydra open source repository system. Dan Cohen, Rachel Frick, and Audrey Altman are all part of the Hydra-in-a-Box project and came out to participate in team meetings. More information about the outcomes of that work will be posted soon to the Hydra-in-a-Box blog. Not only was the “Hybox” team in high-gear, but Thursday and Friday also saw meetings of two Hydra-related groups: the Hydra Developers Congress and the Hydra Power Steering Meeting. The Developers Congress is a regular event in the Hydra community, held in different locations around the country, that provides a chance for developers in the Hydra Open Source community to work together on code for Hydra and its components. The Hydra Power Steering meeting is an annual meeting of the Hydra Steering group dedicated to strategic planning for the community.

It was a productive and fun week for those DPLA-ers that attended — a chance to recharge our creative batteries for some, work through vital and important topics with trusted colleagues for others, and maybe to chase away the winter blues for a week as well!