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This chapter presumes that you have access to a running instance of Islandora, either via the online sandbox, or because you have installed a Virtual Machine Image on your local machine. If you have a full running instance of Islandora with solution packs installed, this chapter will show you how to perform basic functions. If you do not have access to an instance of Islandora, please review Chapter 2 - Accessing Islandora.
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This can be confusing, since specialized “objects” and their specialized “Datastreams” perform a number of different functions, and serve a number of different purposes. Datastreams may store a reference to the binary file being stored (such as PDF, or an image), they may declare the Content Model Object affiliations of an object, and they may store the relationships that an object has to other objects in the repository. Each object in Islandora has a default DC Datastream. This Datastream is a Dublin Core record associated with this object. Islandora uses other metadata schemas, and crosswalks relevant data to the DC stream. For more information about how Islandora utilizes crosswalks, please review Chapter 14 - Descriptive Metadata and Islandora.
For an overview of the Datastreams you will encounter in Islandora, see APPENDIX C - Datastream Reference.
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PID namespace prefixes do not need to be meaningful, they just need to be unique. However, we often make these namespaces meaningful in order to help us sort and find items in our repository. For example, a namespace might refer to the type of content (such as audio:) or it may refer to the name of an institution or collection (upei: OR stmatthews:). As you navigate Islandora, you will see PID namespaces mentioned frequently, and you will be prompted to choose PID namespace prefixes or PID namespaces.
Another way of understanding the PID is as the basis for your repository’s Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs) which uniquely identify items in your repository. To learn more about PIDs and PID namespace prefixes, visit consult the Fedora Commons documentation; specifically, the section on Fedora Identifiers.
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You should see any collections that are installed as part of a Solution Pack, and they will appear with a default “icon” folder, or a thumbnail image. These tutorials assume that you have installed one or more Solution Packs. Please review Chapter 5 - Islandora Solution Packs if you are not sure if you have Solution Packs installed. If no solution packs are installed, you will not be able to create collections of content in Islandora.
The following tutorials will guide you through the basics of managing and building your Islandora collections:
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The Collection Manager allows you to create new child collections (detailed above) but it also provides a number of advanced collection management functions. These functions will be explained in the following tutorials: