For my fourth assignment for 1311 Information Technology, I reviewed the software DSpace.
DSpace is a digital "repository" (fancy word for "archive") that is available as Open Source Software (software made accessible online for anyone to use, modify, and redistribute).
After taking a look at DSpace, and comparing it with EPrints (the first Open Source digital repository software) I decided that I like it. Although still fairly new in terms of its development, DSpace is secure, flexible, and stable.
EPrints (released in 2000 - currently available in version 3.0) did have several advantages over DSpace. For example, EPrints is easier to install, can support any form of metadata (data about data), and its extensive metadata fields can be searched in fine detail.
In contrast DSpace (released in 2001 currently available in version 1.4.2 and also in a test version 1.5), is not as intuitive to install, only supports one metadata format (Dublin Core), and its search results are not as detailed (due to its fewer metadata formats). However, DSpace has several advantages over EPrints. For example, it places emphasis on digital archiving not just on scholarly institutions but also on for community organizations, and individuals. It provides documentation that can be modified to enhance interoperation with organizations’ other systems. And it is specially designed to make multi-disciplinary archiving easy (each community has its own customized portal which allows the user to input its own terminology).
I was also impressed that DSpace's commitment to competitor analysis (checking out the competition in order to improve its own services), and its user's feedback. The new 1.5 test version was released Oct. 26, 2007 - only five months after the official release of its current version. The 1.5 version is a result of an ambitious user survey that DSpace undertook in order to improve its services; the new version encompasses test versions of many of these user requests.
DSpace, even though it is younger than EPrints, has an active community of developers and users. It also provides just as much support (general and technical mailing lists, wikis) as EPrints. DSpace also supports the same number of known institutions all over the world (both software programs support over 200 institutions). DSpace is used by a number of reputable government institutions and universities. For example, the
DSpace provides high level security through two levels of preservation: bit preservation, and functional preservation. Bit preservation ensures that the file remains exactly the same over time. Functional preservation allows the file to change in order to ensure that the file’s content remains accessible in current and future digital formats.
Since no one can predict future digital format, DSpace provides three levels of functional preservation: supported (i.e. PDF and TIFF), known (proprietary formats such as MS Word), or unsupported (including one-of-a-kind software programs) format migration.
I knew very little about DSpace, digital archives, or Open Source Software when I started this assignment. I still am hazy on the technical details but it was interesting to take a stab at reviewing this software.
Was anyone able to find similar commercial software? I didn't and it left me curious how DSpace would compare.
