DRS Documentation/DRS Glossary

administrative metadata

Administrative metadata is information stored and used to manage a digital object. The DRS uses administrative metadata to record who has the right to view an object or what changes have been made to an object over time.

API

An API (application programming interface) is a set of specifications used to instruct technologies on how to interact with each other. Fedora, the architectural foundation of the DRS, has an API that allows other programs and interfaces, like Wordpress or Omeka, to access or display files stored in the DRS.

Blacklight

Blacklight is discovery interface for the Solr index. The DRS uses Blacklight to create facets and limits for search results.

http://projectblacklight.org/

Central Authentication Service

Central Authentication Service (CAS) is a protocol that allows users to sign in to one service that authenticates many different applications. Northeastern University uses Shibboleth as its CAS, and the DRS uses Shibboleth to authenticate users for the DRS.

collection

A collection is a container for files in the DRS, similar to a file folder. Collections can belong to people or communities, and only collections can contain files.

community

A community is a container for people and collections in the DRS. The top-level community in the DRS is the Northeastern University community. Communities can belong to other communities, and can contain collections and people, but no files.

data curation

Data curation is the process of maintaing and preserving data, in all formats, to ensure it remains useful and can accessed over time. Data curation, as a process, is closely related to data management

http://guide.dhcuration.org/intro/

data management

Data management is similar to data curation, but it typically refers to maintenance and preservation of data during the course of a project. Research projects are quite often required to establish a data management plan to document the strategy for collecting, organizing, sharing, maintaining, and preserving data collected during the life of the research project.

Managing Research Data at Northeastern

descriptive metadata

Descriptive metadata is information used to illustrate the general details of an object, like title, author, description, and keywords. Descriptive metadata is the primary metadata set indexed in the DRS, and descriptive metadata supplies the details that accompany each DRS object.

digital curation

Digital curation is the process of maintaining and preserving digital assets of all kinds (data, documents, audio, video, etc...) to ensure they remain useful and can be accessed over time. The process of digital curation for data is called data curation

Digital Humanities

Digital Humanities is the application of digital tools and resources in the pursuit of research, teaching, and learning in the Humanities discipline.

digital preservation

Digital preservation is the process of maintaining and storing digital assets (both digitized and born digital) so that they can be used over time, regardless of the currency of the file format or the availability of a physical medium to interpret the asset.

digital repository

A digital repository is a digital object storage solution that stores and maintains a broad range of digital files from various sources.

Digital Scholarship

Digital scholarship is an approach to traditional methods of scholarship that both teaches the use and value of digital tools and resources and uses digital tools and resources in the pursuit of traditional academic endeavors.

Digital Scholarship Commons (DSC)

The Digital Scholarship Commons is the physical space on the second floor of Snell Library for faculty and doctoral students to collaborate, study, or seek help with digital scholarship projects. The DSC is the home of the Digital Scholarship Group (DSG), the Center for Advancing Teaching and Learning Through Research (CATLR), and Academic Technology Services (ATS)

Digital Scholarship Group (DSG)

The Digital Scholarship Group (DSG) is a department in Snell library that supports teaching and learning with and about digital tools and resources.

Download Queue

A Download Queue is a temporary list of files in the DRS that can be downloaded as a compressed .zip file. Files added to your DRS Download Queue will remain in the queue until you sign out or close your browser.

DRS

The Digital Repository Service (DRS) is a secure digital repository system designed to store and share the scholarly work from Northeastern University’s colleges, departments, faculty, and staff. The DRS, which was developed and is maintained by Northeastern University Libraries provides a very high level of long-term security.

DRS dashboard

The DRS dashboard, also known as My DRS is the area of the DRS where users can view and manage their files and collection, and also view their files' use statistics.

DSG

The Digital Scholarship Group is a Snell Library department that supports digital methods of research, publication, and collaboration at Northeastern University.

http://dsg.neu.edu/

Dublin Core

Dublin Core is a widely used descriptive metadata standard that uses a very basic set of elements to describe an object (Title, Creator, Subject, Description, Publisher, Contributor, Date, Type, Format, Identifier, Source, Language, Relation, Coverage, and Rights). Every object in the DRS has a Dublin Core record.

embargo

An embargo is a ban on viewing or downloading a particular digital object. Objects in the DRS that are embargoed typically have an embargo date, which is the date the object will be come publicly available.

Exif

Exif (exchangeable image file format) is the formatting standard for digital images and sound. The DRS extracts some data stored in Exif, such as resolution and date captured.

Fedora

Fedora (Flexible Extensible Digital Object Repository Architecture) is the underlying storage architecture of the repository. Fedora software is open source, and is supported by a community of users, and by Duraspace.

http://fedorarepository.org/

http://www.duraspace.org/

Hydra

Hydra is a suite of tools and technologies that processes the files and metadata stored in Fedora so users can interact with them in a meaningful way. Hydra uses Ruby on Rails to program, Solr to index, and Blacklight to enable searching and browsing.

http://projecthydra.org/

institutional repository

An institutional repository is a digital object storage solution that typically maintains objects relating to the official record of the institution it supports, including historical photographs, newsletters, and publications.

MODS

MODS (Metadata Object Description Schema) is a Library of Congress

My DRS

The My DRS, also known as DRS dashboard is the area of the DRS where users can view and manage their files and collection, and also view their files' use statistics.

Set

Sets are curated compilations of DRS files, which can be created and maintained by DRS users.

Shibboleth

Shibboleth is Northeastern University's Central Authentication Service, which allows users to sign in to one service that authenticates many different applications.

Shibboleth is also referred to as "Shib".