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

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 [1], please add a comment to a ticket and we can work together to move your interest forward.

Fedora Camp in NYC

We are pleased to announce that Fedora Camp in NYC [2], 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! Attendance is limited to the first 40 registrants. Payment is due upon registration.  While an invoice option is available, please note that the invoice must be paid within 30 days of receipt or registration will be canceled. Local accommodations are available at a reduced rate.

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 $459,750 from 58 members. The annual goal this year is $580,000, so we are almost 80% 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 [3]!

New Members

We would like to thank the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries [4] for supporting Fedora at the Gold level this year. MIT has been a DuraSpace member for some time but this is the first year they have allocated funding to the Fedora project. We appreciate their commitment to the long term sustainability of DuraSpace and Fedora.

For more information on membership and benefits please see the DuraSpace website [5].

Software development

Standards

Fedora API Specification

The Fedora community is working to establish a clearly defined specification for the core Fedora services [6]. 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 [7].

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 first meeting [8] was held to come to a shared understanding of what we would like to achieve with this effort and review the use cases. The next meeting [9], which took place on July 29, was used to continue reviewing the use cases and requirements, and make a plan for the code sprints. Please attend the next call on Aug 5 [10] and contribute to the planning page [11] if you are interested and available to participate in this effort.

API Extension Architecture 

The API-X group has completed the review process for the Design Overview [12] and Extension Definition and Binding [13] documents. Two additional documents, Service Discovery and Binding [14] and Execution and Evoking Services [15] are now available for review. Additionally, a separate document on URIs in API-X [16] has been created to clarify the use of URIs in the API-X context.

If you are interested in the API Extension Architecture, please join the discussion on the fedora-community mailing list [17] and attend the next meeting [18] on August 4.

Performance and Scalability

The Performance and Scalability group met [19] to report on a number of test results from Virginia Tech, Princeton, and York University.

If you are interested in Performance and Scalability, please join the discussion on the fedora-community mailing list [20] and attend the next meeting [21] on August 15.

Conferences and events

Upcoming Events

Code4Lib New York State

The Code4Lib New York State [22] regional meeting & unconference will take place on August 4-5, 2016. This meeting will be held at Mann Library, Cornell University. The 2 days will be 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, will take place on Thursday, August 4.

Archivematica Camp

The first ever Archivematica Camp [23] will be 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 is intended to provide 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 will be dedicated to hacking on integration(s) with Hydra/Fedora/Islandora and Archivematica.

TPDL

The 20th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Digital Libraries [24] 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 [25] 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 [26] will take place on September 22-23 at the USDA National Agricultural Library. Please register in advance [27] - 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 [28] 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 [29] for the event can be purchased online.

iPRES

The 13th International Conference on Digital Preservation (iPRES) [30] 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 [31] will be offered on October 6, and a Fedora User Group Meeting [32] will take place on October 7. Please register in advance for the tutorial and user group meeting.

Previous Events

Islandora Camp BC

Islandora Camp [33] returned to Vancouver for the second iCampBC, July 18 - 20. Slides and presentation materials [34] are available on the Islandora website.

South Central States Fedora Users Group Meeting

The first annual meeting [35] of the South Central States Fedora Users Group took place July 18-19 in Norman, OK. The meeting included conversations regarding current implementations, work underway at peer institutions, discussion for users considering the tool, and a Fedora workshop led by Andrew Woods.

SHARE Community Meeting

SHARE held a Community Meeting at the Center for Open Science [36] in Charlottesville, Virginia, July 11–14, 2016, to build SHARE’s community and technology. The meeting also featured discussions on the Open Science Framework [37], including current and future work to integrate Fedora with OSF. Please subscribe to the fedora-community mailing list [38] for updates on this initiative.

References

[1]  https://jira.duraspace.org/issues/?filter=13122
[2]  http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07ecup3dqg1c82f3d5&llr=5iy95gcab
[3]  http://www.duraspace.org/become_a_member
[4]  http://libraries.mit.edu/
[5]  http://duraspace.org/about_membership
[6]  https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/FEDORAAPI/Fedora+Specification
[7]  https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/FEDORAAPI/Specification+Draft
[8]  https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/FF/2016-07-22+-+Import+-+Export+Planning+Meeting
[9]  https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/FF/2016-07-29+-+Import+-+Export+Planning+Meeting
[10]  https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/FF/2016-08-05+-+Import+-+Export+Planning+Meeting
[11] https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/FF/Design+-+Import+-+Export
[12] https://docs.google.com/document/d/1R9OymmIhsUv4yuWOMQO8MqBMW7PBezeiFWGbkHoXJP8/edit
[13] https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PMM7Q6WVF6QrsyQ2YKoJItfj4w8DDPPx8rpFJVxEXco/edit
[14] https://docs.google.com/document/d/1p1pMqVt8XjK7CJ7Ep_SXLV_AitgI9dkUTU9_nG1Lpy4/edit
[15] https://docs.google.com/document/d/1paxTnJb7jcELA1QfvNQrSaJiPnZ98derCAndkroz0b4/edit
[16] https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rWfG2bWcziWfmwwgSiYzsH4c3QCrzJsuvjV48WIfn-Y/edit
[17] https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/fedora-community
[18] https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/FF/2016-08-04+Fedora+API+Extensions+Meeting
[19] https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/FF/2016-07-18+Performance+-+Scale+meeting
[20] https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/fedora-community
[21] https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/FF/2016-08-15+Performance+-+Scale+meeting
[22] http://code4libnys.github.io/2016/
[23] https://wiki.archivematica.org/Community/Camps/UMSI2016
[24] http://www.tpdl2016.org/
[25] http://www.tpdl2016.org/tutorials
[26] https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/Events/Washington+D.C.+Area+Fedora+User+Group+Meeting%3A+22-23+September+2016
[27] https://goo.gl/forms/Vxek7FUEXx5gTv8h1
[28] https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/hydra/Hydra+Connect+2016
[29] http://www.eventbrite.com/e/hydra-connect-2016-tickets-25488441615?ref=ebtnebtckt
[30] http://www.ipres2016.ch/
[31] http://www.ipres2016.ch/frontend/index.php?page_id=2833
[32] https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/Events/Bern+Fedora+User+Group+Meeting%3A+7+October+2016
[33] http://islandora.ca/camps/bc2016
[34] http://islandora.ca/camps/bc2016/schedule
[35] https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/Events/South+Central+States+Fedora+Users+Group+Meeting%3A+18-19+July+2016
[36] https://cos.io/
[37] https://osf.io/
[38] https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/FF/Mailing+Lists+etc
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