Variations Open Source Webinar Digital Library Program Indiana University March 4, 2009.

Variations Open Source Webinar

Digital Library ProgramIndiana University

March 4, 2009

Agenda What is the Variations system? – overview & demo How is it used currently, at IU and other institutions? What is the open source release and how can it be deployed?

technical and library staffing hardware requirements what's included in the release

Where is Variations headed? What support is available for the open source release, both

now and in the future? How can I try out Variations? Q & A

Today’s Voices Mark Notess, Variations Development Manager at IU Phil Ponella, Head, Cook Music Library, IU David Cartledge, Assistant Professor of Music (Piano), IU Sean Ferguson, Assistant Librarian, Metadata/Technical Services,

Music and Dance Library, Ohio State John Anderies, Coordinator for Collections & Head, Special

Collections, Haverford College

And at the Q&A keyboard: Jon Dunn, Variations3 Project Director and Associate Director for

Technology, Digital Library Program, IU Jenn Riley, Metadata Librarian and Variations/FRBR Principal

Investigator, Digital Library Program, IU

Variations OverviewCollectionMetadata

AccessControl,

Bookmarks

conte

nt

use

r in

terf

ace

use

rs

digitized audio scanned scores

faculty students librarians

What is the Variations System?

Online access to streaming audio and scanned score images

Analysis and annotation tools useful in music teaching, learning, and research

Flexible access control framework respects intellectual property rights

Content comes from your own collections—Variations provides ingest tools and access management

What is the Variations System?

Album-based, not track based: users see tracks in their album context

Does not use Digital Rights Management (DRM) Access limited to authenticated login based on IP

address and/or authorized group membership, such as a class roster

Search function requires additional manual cataloging and so it is not being used apart from metadata research projects

Demonstration of Variations

Variations at Indiana

Digital library of sound recordings and scores in IU Cook Music Library and born-digital IU performances

Online since April 1996 Current technology online since 2005 16,000+ complete recordings; 300+ scores Access to course reserves, general collection, and

special collections Full collection available at music library computers Outside music library, users must be enrolled in a

class requiring Variations use and have installed Variations client

Variations at Indiana:Classroom Instructor View

Not just a homework tool: provides improved access in classroom to listening assignments

Playback tools and environment superior to embedded commercial players

Provide timelines for all pieces in a course Students do listening study with the timeliner I can use the timeliner during class sessions Students come to class better prepared

The timeliner encourages active listening—even more than the score

During class, coherent random access to course content If I jump to a different part of the piece, it’s easy for students to see

what’s going on

Instruction Benefits

Students are… More easily able to sense musical form during listening Forced to develop aural analytical skills—crucial to good

performance

Variations3

Funded by Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) National Leadership Grant

October 2005 - September 2008 (extended through summer 2009)

Extends Variations beyond IU & explores sustainability models Test sites have each deployed full Variations system:

New England Conservatory The Ohio State University Tri-College Consortium: Haverford, Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr University of Maryland

Also exploring application- (not content-) hosting with University of Miami and others.

Variations at Ohio State

Variations is the primary source for required listening in multiple sections/offerings of five courses: Rock 'n' Roll History, Jazz History, The World of Classical Music, Music's Meanings, and Music on the Move in a Globalized World. Several sections have been taught entirely online. In total, over 1,000 students have used Variations during the past year (in use January 2008).

Approximately 2,000 complete CDs from collection have been digitized in Variations. Recently began scanning scores for use in Variations later this spring.

Access limited to students currently enrolled in a course using Variations; student access restricted to recordings used for their own class (no other Variations content). Students can access Variations on PCs in the Music/Dance Library or they can download the software and access the system on a personal PC or Mac, on or off campus.

At OSU, Variations has been a very effective solution for access-controlled streaming audio. Following the initial technical startup and period of familiarization for IT and library staff, the system has run smoothly and required minimal maintenance.

Variations at Tri-College Library Consortium

Since January 2008, Variations used in several courses at Haverford and Swarthmore Colleges, including Introductory Piano, Jazz and the Politics of Culture, Principles of Tonal Harmony II, Chopin, and Chorus. Legacy RealServer still used for other audio in other courses.

Digitized ~250 complete CD titles from the collections of Haverford and Swarthmore (Bryn Mawr has no music library or audio collection), including the complete Great Pianists of the 20th Century series.

In the Tri-Co, complete access to all content granted to all students, faculty and staff with network IDs. Access limited to IP ranges within the Tri-Co. Variations installed on PCs in the Haverford Music Library, PCs and Macs in the Swarthmore Performing Arts Library, and on PCs in the Bryn Mawr Main Library. Access model predicated on our similar model for the sharing of digital images.

Access and discovery through links or playlists in Blackboard and by 856 links in Tripod, the Tri-College online library catalog.

For the Tri-Co, Variations is a very effective solution for access-controlled streaming audio. Following the initial technical startup and period of familiarization for IT and library staff, the system has run smoothly and required minimal maintenance.

Variations Elsewhere

University of Maryland – using Variations to provide access to the International Piano Archives at Maryland (IPAM); using new browser audio player instead of Java client application

New England Conservatory – using for course reserves Hosted pilots – a different model aimed at faster

deployment time and use of new browser-based audio player; Spring 2009 pilot use

What is the Open Source Release?

Variations system release includes Server software Client software Source code Sample content for testing—two

recordings and two scores

Documentation available on the web

Everything you need to set up and operate your own Variations system! Except….

Free Puppy!

What’s not free?

Server hardware Necessary IT expertise to install, configure, and support

Variations server software and streaming server Digitizing/scanning hardware/software Digitizing/scanning staffing & expertise Computer workstations in library and/or client software

distribution mechanism Staffing & expertise for user support Intellectual property / copyright policy

Server Hardware

Linux operating system Tested on RedHat Enterprise Linux 4 and 5

RAM and disk space dependent on load and amount of audio and score content

Third-party software Java Runtime Environment 1.4.2 Apache HTTP Server Apple Darwin Streaming Server Perl MySQL

Cost: $0-25,000, depending on IT resources and ambitions (amount of content, user load)

IT Expertise

Critical success factor! Initial server config, installation, software config, network

troubleshooting, etc., is demanding Requires good partnership between library and IT Initial configuration is only a day or so of work, but that

day can easily take weeks of communication between different parties, with extra time for troubleshooting

IT Staff Requirements

Linux system administrator Database administrator Windows/Mac desktop support

Library desktops Student computing lab desktops Faculty desktops Faculty/student home use

Student information system staff If basing access on course enrollment

Network engineering staff Troubleshooting firewall/bandwidth issues

IT Staff Requirements Decisions that affect IT time requirement

Have to tie system in with an authentication system Access control policy—IP-based is easy; enrollment-based is more work to

construct roster-based groups Backup and Archiving policy

keeping backups of compressed files makes recovery faster but increases storage requirements

Keeping archival uncompressed files (wav, tiff) helps with future migration but increases storage requirements and adds a step (possibly automated) to the ingest process

Ongoing support Diagnosing and fixing (or reporting) problems Updating to new versions Restarting server software

One reason implementation needs to start early!

Variations Architecture

Variations cataloging

server

Variations production

server

MySQLproductio

ndatabase

MySQLcatalogin

gdatabase

ApacheHTTP Server

DarwinStreaming

Server

VariationsJava client

(Mac or Windows)

Variations score and audioLease Managers

RMIHTTP

RTSP/HTTP

Single physical server

VariationsDigitizer/

CatalogingJava client(Windows)

Variations Architecture

Variations cataloging

server

Variations production

server

MySQLproductio

ndatabase

MySQLcatalogin

gdatabase

ApacheHTTP Server

DarwinStreaming

Server

Variations score and audioLease Managers

Single physical server

Digitizer Station

Recent Windows Vista or XP computer High quality sound card or audio -> USB interface Flatbed scanner Audio capture/editing software

Commercial: Sound Forge, WaveLab Free: Audacity

Nero Digital Encoder software (free) for encoding .wav files to .mp4

ImageMagick, DjvuLibre (free) for encoding score .tif files to .djvu

Digitizer Staffing & Expertise

Work can be done by student hourly employees Workflow needs to be defined and documented Need basic skill with moving files around Audio skill level depends on whether you are

ingesting only CDs or analog media Scanning skill level can be low if workflow well

documented Ingesting a CD can take 10-20 minutes, beginning

to end (compression takes the most time)

User Clients

Windows Vista or XP 512MB+ RAM QuickTime 7.5 or later Internet Explorer or Firefox browser

Mac OS X 10.4 or later 512MB+ RAM Firefox browser preferred (limitations with Safari)

Installer for user client has to be configured and built; if users install client on own computer, installer has to be put somewhere for download

User Support

If users can install client, support load will be higher

90% of problems are solved by (re) install QuickTime (re) install Variations Restart computer “You’re not registered for a class authorized to use

Variations. Contact your instructor.” Support load heaviest at beginning of term

Access Policy Options

All authenticated users can access all content

Users can only access content on reserve for classes in which they are enrolled

Users who are enrolled in a class with reserve items can access all library content; “Personal reserves” can only be accessed by class members

Others…

Access Policy Determination

May require discussions with internal or external attorneys Changes to access policy rules require restarting server

software Some policy issues to consider

Who can access library content, from where, when? Classroom use Distance education use Recordings of institutional performances Instructor’s personal items or compilations Textbook companion recordings

Another reason why implementation planning needs to start early!

Variations Futures Have browser-based web application for player (using at Maryland, Miami,

maybe others) – will include this in the open source release before the Fall Have browser-based web application for access management – will add to

open source release before next Fall. Currently, access management is command line

Working to move more of the end-user tools to the browser (playlists, then scores)

Deploying web applications will require additional expertise in Tomcat and Java web application management.

Exploring hosted option this Spring – would like to be able to offer as an option

Are integrating DRAM (could have by Fall); would like to integrate CML and Naxos, but they won’t be interested until we have a large installed base

Browser-based search system w/mostly automated cataloging

Variations Sustainability Ideally, would have an independent

organization, “Variations Foundation”, where paid membership would provide influence over future feature development

Chicken and egg problem: need to have an adopter community of a certain size before an independent organization makes sense

Still exploring possible options and financial models. Test sites are committed to continuing with Variations, as is IU.

You can help us here!

Support Options

Self-support via open source IU will continue to update open source distribution IU will participate actively in the variations-discuss mailing list on

SourceForge

If enough institutions adopt Variations, 3rd party support or even hosting options could emerge; chicken & egg problem again

We are exploring options for paid support—you can help us figure out that equation!

Trying Out Variations

The new browser-based player:http://variations-host-dev.dlib.indiana.edu/demo-ui/Player.do?containerID=145587

Download and try out the Windows or Mac client application with a test database (2 recordings, 2 scores: search on Mahler, Beethoven, or Respighi):http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/projects/variations3/tryout.html

We will resend these URLs when we send out webinar recording announcement

More Information

Variations Open Source Sitehttp://variations.sourceforge.net/

Variations Documentation Sitehttp://wiki.dlib.indiana.edu/confluence/display/V3/

Variations 3 project info:http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/projects/variations3/

Questions?