This is the September 2016 edition of the Fedora Newsletter. This newsletter summarizes the most significant activities within the Fedora community over the last month.

Fedora Camp in NYC

We are pleased to announce that Fedora Camp in NYC [1], hosted by Columbia University Libraries, will be offered at Columbia University’s Butler Library in New York City November 28-30, 2016. Training will begin with the basics and build toward more advanced concepts–no prior Fedora 4 experience is required. Participants can expect to come away with a deep dive Fedora 4 learning experience coupled with multiple opportunities for applying hands-on techniques working with experienced trainers and Fedora gurus. 

Register today [2] and join us in New York!

Call for Action

Fedora is designed, built, used, and supported by the community. An easy and important way that you can contribute to the effort is by helping resolve outstanding bugs. If you have an interest in gaining a better understanding of the Fedora code base, or a specific interest in any of these bugs [3], please add a comment to a ticket and we can work together to move your interest forward.

Membership

Fedora is funded entirely through the contributions of DuraSpace members that allocate their annual funding to Fedora. The 2016 membership campaign has so far raised $494,750 from 62 members. The annual goal this year is $580,000, so we are over 85% of the way there. We will continue to coordinate with members of the Fedora Leadership Group to expand the pool of DuraSpace members supporting the Fedora project and build a sustainable funding base for the future. If your institution is not yet a member of DuraSpace in support of Fedora, please join us [4]!

Upgrades

We would like to thank Princeton University for upgrading their annual membership from Bronze to Platinum in support of Fedora this year. For more information on membership and benefits please see the DuraSpace website [5].

Software development 

Fedora 4.6.0 Release

The Fedora 4.6.0 release furthers several major objectives:

  • Tighten the definition of the RESTful application programming interface (API)
  • Refining the messaging service
  • Use performance test fixtures to examine the effects of different backends
  • Improve durability by encouraging the use of MySQL and PostgreSQL backends
  • Deprecation of legacy Transform service
  • Fix bugs

This release will be the last release built against a version of Modeshape that uses Infinispan for data storage.

Release notes [6] and downloads [7] are available on the wiki.

Standards

Fedora API Specification

The Fedora community is working to establish a clearly defined specification for the core Fedora services [8]. This specification will detail the exact services and interactions required for a server implementation to be verified as "doing Fedora". 

You are invited to comment on and contribute to the draft specifications [9].

Community-driven Activity

Import/Export Tooling

One of the design goals of Fedora is to simplify the process of both getting your resources into and out of Fedora in a standardized way. This enables the reuse of Fedora resources in other contexts, such as exporting to a separate preservation system, as well as provides a pathway for migrating across Fedora installations, such as migrating from a LevelDB backend to PostgreSQL. Half of the problem is solved with the existing GET/POST interactions for RDF and non-RDF resources provided by the Linked Data Platform API. The other half should be addressed by tooling external to Fedora. In addition to the basic import/export of simple RDF and non-RDF resources, there is also significant community interest in supporting import/export of BagIt bags.
The work has been broken into phases - phase 1 priorities [10] will be addressed in the first sprint [11], which runs from August 29 to September 9. Stay tuned to the mailing list for updates on this initiative, and join in to contribute use cases, development effort, and testing.

API Extension Architecture 

The API-X group has completed the review process for the non-developer overview document [12], which will be moved to the main design page [13] on the Fedora wiki. The technical design documents have now been moved to GitHub [14].

If you are interested in the API Extension Architecture, please join the discussion on the fedora-community mailing list [15] and attend the next meeting.

Performance and Scalability

The Performance and Scalability group met on August 15 [16] to review a summary of all the tests that have been performed so far and note any tests that should be re-run using different parameters. Tests will be re-run in order to maximize the number of resources created and test the current upper-limits of Fedora.

If you are interested in Performance and Scalability, please join the discussion on the fedora-community mailing list [17] and attend the next meeting [18] on September 26.

Conferences and events

Upcoming Events

TPDL

The 20th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Digital Libraries [19] will take place in Hannover, Germany September 5-9. TPDL constitutes a leading scientific forum on digital libraries that brings together researchers, developers, content providers and users in the field of digital libraries. The conference will feature an introductory, hands-on tutorial on Fedora 4 [20] delivered by David Wilcox, the Fedora Product Manager. The tutorial is open to all conference attendees.

DC Area Fedora User Group Meeting

The next DC Area Fedora User Group Meeting [21] will take place on September 22-23 at the USDA National Agricultural Library. Please register in advance [22] - the event is free to attend. The meeting on September 22 will feature presentations and discussions on topics selected by members of the DC area Fedora community. The workshop on September 23 will focus on Fedora 4 but we are still looking for feedback on particular areas of interest. Please use the registration form to suggest topics for the workshop.

Hydra Connect

Hydra Connect [23] will take place October 3-6 in Boston, MA. It is a chance for Hydra Project participants to gather in one place at one time, with an emphasis on synchronizing efforts, technical development, plans, and community links. The meeting program is aimed at existing users, managers and developers and at new folks who may be just "kicking the tires" on Hydra and who want to know more. Tickets [24] for the event can be purchased online.

iPRES

The 13th International Conference on Digital Preservation (iPRES) [25] will take place in Bern, Switzerland from October 3-6, 2016. iPRES is the longest standing digital preservation conference in the world. This important event brings together key theorists, researchers and practitioners to explore the latest trends, innovations, policies and practices in digital preservation. An introductory Fedora 4 tutorial [26] will be offered on October 6, and a Fedora User Group Meeting [27] will take place on October 7. Please register in advance for the tutorial and user group meeting.

Islandora Camp Missouri

Islandora Camp [28] will be visiting Kansas City, MO this Fall. October 12 - 14. The camp will be held at the University of Missouri-Kansas City for three days and will include Islandora sessions, workshops, and community presentations. Register online [29] to attend the camp.

DLF

The 2016 DLF Forum [30] will be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, November 7-9, 2016. Digital Preservation 2016 [31] will be held in conjunction with the Forum, from November 9-10. An Introduction to Fedora 4 workshop [32] will be offered on November 8, along with a project update [33] on November 7.

Previous Events

Code4Lib New York State

The Code4Lib New York State [34] regional meeting & unconference took place on August 4-5, 2016. This meeting was held at Mann Library, Cornell University. The event included a mix of scheduled/planned and impropmtu sessions, workshops, lightning talks, and break out sessions. A Fedora 4 workshop, led by Esmé Cowles and Andrew Woods, took place on Thursday, August 4.

Archivematica Camp

The first ever Archivematica Camp [35] was hosted by the University of Michigan School of Information in Ann Arbor, Michigan, August 24 – 26, 2016. Inspired by similar events like Hydra Camp, Islandora Camp and Fedora Camp, this event provided a space for anyone interested in or currently using Archivematica, to come together, learn about the platform and share their experiences. The last day of the camp was dedicated to hacking on integration(s) with Hydra/Fedora/Islandora and Archivematica.

References

[1]  https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/Events/Fedora+Camp+NYC+-+28-30+November+2016
[2]  http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07ecup3dqg1c82f3d5&llr=5iy95gcab
[3]  https://jira.duraspace.org/issues/?filter=13122
[4]  http://www.duraspace.org/become_a_member
[5]  http://duraspace.org/about_membership
[6]  https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/FF/Fedora+4.6.0+Release+Notes
[7]  https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/FF/Downloads
[8]  https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/FEDORAAPI/Fedora+Specification
[9]  https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/FEDORAAPI/Specification+Draft
[10] https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/FF/Design+-+Import+-+Export
[11] https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/FF/Import+-+Export+Sprint+Meetings
[12] https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XzkD6OZOrEblBjsWXuWuzwPSgvgfv7igQlBSbGAo-Ls
[13] https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/FF/Design+-+API+Extension+Architecture
[14] https://github.com/fcrepo4-labs/fcrepo-api-x/tree/master/src/site/markdown
[15] https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/fedora-community
[16] https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/FF/2016-08-15+Performance+-+Scale+meeting
[17] https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/fedora-community
[18] https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/FF/2016-09-26+Performance+-+Scale+meeting
[19] http://www.tpdl2016.org/
[20] http://www.tpdl2016.org/tutorials
[21] https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/Events/Washington+D.C.+Area+Fedora+User+Group+Meeting%3A+22-23+September+2016
[22] https://goo.gl/forms/Vxek7FUEXx5gTv8h1
[23] https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/hydra/Hydra+Connect+2016
[24] http://www.eventbrite.com/e/hydra-connect-2016-tickets-25488441615?ref=ebtnebtckt
[25] http://www.ipres2016.ch/
[26] http://www.ipres2016.ch/frontend/index.php?page_id=2833
[27] https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/Events/Bern+Fedora+User+Group+Meeting%3A+7+October+2016
[28] http://islandora.ca/camps/mo2016
[29] http://islandora.ca/camps/mo2016/registration
[30] https://www.diglib.org/forums/2016forum/
[31] http://ndsa.diglib.org/meetings/
[32] https://www.conftool.pro/dlf2016/index.php?page=browseSessions&form_session=36&presentations=show
[33] https://www.conftool.pro/dlf2016/index.php?page=browseSessions&form_session=21&presentations=show
[34] http://code4libnys.github.io/2016/
[35] https://wiki.archivematica.org/Community/Camps/UMSI2016
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