Data Modeling Workshop at SAA Annual Conference

At the 2015 SAA Annual Conference in Cleveland, OH, the Hydra Archivists Interest Group staged a workshop for archivists on data modeling (see entry in the SAA Conference Program).

Agenda and Description

The Hydra Archivists Interest Group is composed of archivists working at institutions affiliated with Project Hydra and engaged in repository development using that community’s suite of tools. Archivists at these institutions meet regularly to discuss ways in which they can advance archival technology needs through better communication and understanding of software development activities. During this three hour working meeting, we will discuss data modeling -- what it is, why archivists should care -- and then start a conversation around developing a data model for archives. This meeting is co-sponsored by TS-DACS , and is open to anyone interested in the technical standards that inform archival description, including not just EAD, DACS, and EAC-CPF, but emerging standards like the Portland Common Data Model and the work of ICA’s Expert Group on Archival Description . We welcome all who are interested, but our room size is limited to 60. We also respectfully seek attendees who are prepared to participate, since a significant portion of this meeting will be composed of break-out discussions and activities.

• Welcome -- Ben (1:05-1:10)

• Overview of Hydra Archivists

• Why this topic for a meeting

• Review Agenda -- reminder about participation

• Attendee Introductions -- All (1:10-1:15)

• Introduction to data modeling -- Mark Matienzo, Tom Johnson, Aaron Rubinstein, Hillel Arnold, Maureen Callahan (1:15-2:00)

• What is data modeling and why archivists should care -- Mark Matienzo, Tom Johnson, Aaron Rubinstein

  • Slides used by Tom

• Relation to archival descriptive practices -- Hillel Arnold, Maureen Callahan, Aaron Rubinstein

• Data modeling explained -- Tom Johnson

• Breakout group instructions (Ben) and Break (2:00-2:15 mins)

• Breakout groups (2:15-3:45) -- 4-5 groups; 7-12 people per group

• ALL: Model an archival collection from scratch and report back; facilitators share PCDM archival diagram for comparison purposes

• Group 1: Define relationships between objects in PCDM and report back

• Group 2: Define core set of classes and report back

• Group 3: Define descriptive elements for each of the levels in PCDM archival diagram and report back

• Group 4: Map descriptive elements to DPLA MAP and report back -- printing out DPLA model and having people draw on it

• Wrap-up and next steps -- Ben (3:45-4:00 mins)

Notes