2024-02-12 Avalon User Roundtable Meeting

Owned by Emily Lynema
Last updated: Feb 12, 2024
3 min read

Meeting Time

Monday, February 12th at 1 PM EDT

Zoom Link

https://iu.zoom.us/j/84620830059?pwd=bWo3R081M3BtaytFMjZnS0FzQkd2dz09

Agenda/Notes

  • Avalon user survey

  • MSU theming demo from Sruthin

    • dml.test.lib.msu.edu

    • still in the process of ingesting content

    • really wanted Avalon to look very similar to their main website

    • heavily customized the look and feel of the main menu

    • also customization on search results page - theming of facets matches other uses of facets on MSU site, search results

    • Changed “select” and “selected items” to “bookmark” and “bookmarked items” and using a bookmark icon, rather than trying to select with a checkbox and then trying to find an action or submit button to actually do something

    • Also themed the playlist page

    • Challenge: how to merge updates from Avalon with custom local theming

      • made a them within the blacklight themes folder and all their .scss files are within that folder. These will live independent of upstream changes

      • still had to modify template files that come from Avalon, for example, calling MSU footer instead of Avalon footer. Probably changes like this sprinkled into 6 or 7 template files. This will require a merge of local changes when upstream files change

      • The goal was to touch the least amount of files possible

      • What would make this easier for MSU?

        • ArchivesSpace is an example - can install custom theme as a plugin, so all custom code is in a plugin that sites on top of ArchivesSpace code, with that done in a config file. All they need to change is one setting in a config file.

        • ArchivesSpace also uses Ruby on Rails / Solr, so similar stack

    • No set date for go live yet, but at least hoping for end of semester

  • Use of PBCore

    • Anyone use PBCore as part of their workflows for AV materials?

    • Interest in export as PBCore (in bulk) from Avalon? Other bulk export?

    • PBCore survey from GBH - not related specifically to Avalon, but general questions about future development / educational opportunities for PBCore.

  • 7.7 update

    • hope to tag next month

    • PDF transcripts (UMD)

      • UMD is adding PDF transcripts

      • batch ingest of PDF transcripts didn’t work; this is known issue - not able to batch ingest transcripts or supplemental files

      • think it is typed transcript

      • Have a future project planning phase to add transcript for all video and audio files in Avalon

  • Updates/questions from other institutions

    • Sruthin: is there any written documentation for specific steps needed to install Avalon on m1 Mac chip? They are also having some issues with a colleague who has a Mac but does not have an m1 Mac.

      • If default containerized install doesn’t work on Macs, then perhaps we should have some documentation for that.

    • Kee-Young (UMD): Found that sometimes the time showed by Avalon after upload for duration does not quite match the actual duration of the media item in the player.

      • duration display (on the results list) is metadata that is stored from ffmpeg on upload

      • the duration in the player is coming from the streaming server; this is always correct for the actual media playback.

      • Jon reports that sometimes the file may say it is one length but after transcoding, it is not quite that length.

      • Jason has noticed something similar at NEC sometimes

  • Future agenda items?

    • Discussion of transcript searching for next release

    • Demo of LTI integration with course management system

    • Potential conversation around upgrade process for institutions that have been using Avalon for awhile (how to handle code customizations, etc.)

    • Bulk metadata editing discussion - what are the needs for this in Avalon? Are there tools in the community that could be re-used to help?

    • Summary of survey responses

Attendees

  • Jeannette Ho (Texas A&M, cataloging & metadata)

  • Chris Wammes (BGSU, IT manager)

  • Sruthin Gaddam (MSU)

  • Kee-Young Moon (UMD)

  • Jon Cameron (IU)

  • Emily Lynema (IU)

  • Jason Coleman (NEC)