MDID Curation (Part 1)

This document is a work in progress.  Part 2, covering storage and file management, is coming in early January.

How is MDID Organized?

Everything in MDID is organized under two main sections: Metadata and Media.

Metadata

• Collections: All photos in MDID are organizes within a collection. Collections can also be organized within a larger collection group, if desired.
• Records: hold information about the collections.

Media

• Storage: this is a directory on the server where the files are kept.
• Files: these are media files, for example: audio or video files. Each media file has one record that corresponds to it. It is important to note that files always have to be associated with a record.

Getting Started with MDID

Creating a New Collection & Editing an Existing Collection

1. First, login to MDID with your username and password.
2. After you log in, there will be a gray navigation bar above the MDID homepage. Click on the Management option in the navigation bar.
3. On the next page, click on the Manage Collections link to begin creating or editing a collection.
4. Before you begin to create a new collection, let’s take a quick look at how MDID organizes your collections. Collections are organized in alphabetical order by their title. Other basic information about the collection is located next to the Collection title. Under the Hidden column, you can see whether or not the collection is available to students. The next column, entitled Records, displays how many records are associated with that collection. In MDID3, users have the option to create larger collection groups. The Children column shows all the collections that are available within a specific collection group.
5. Click on the Create a New Collection link on the top of the page.
6. On this page, enter a Title for the collection and select whether or not to hide the collection. Enter a description for the collection in the Description field. Scroll down to the Children option. In MDID3, users have the option to create larger collection groups. You can create a collection group by selecting Children to add to the collection. This ensures that your collection group will house these specific collections. If you do not wish to create a collection group, then simply ignore the Children option.
7. Finally, click the Create button to finish creating your collection.
8. To edit a collection after you have created it, follow these steps: First, select Management in the gray navigation bar.
9. Next, select the Manage Collections link.
10. On the next page, choose which collection you would like to edit and click on the Title of that collection.
11. On the Edit Collection page, make any necessary changes to the collection and then click Update to save your data.

Modifying Permissions in a Collection

1. When creating or editing a collection, you also have the option to modify Permissions for that collection. Permissions allow you to add other users to the collection and give them certain capabilities, such as the ability to Read the collection, Write the collection, and Manage the collection.  All Permissions options are located in the box on the right side of the Edit Collection page.
2. To modify Permissions, click on the pencil icon next to the Permissions title. This will bring you to the Modify Permissions page.
3. The first options available to you on the Modify Permissions page are the Read, Write, and Management options. Here is a brief description of each permission:

• Read: users can see the content, but cannot make any modifications to it.
• Write: users can edit the content. For example, users can modify the metadata or create/remove records.
• Management: users can do anything within the collection. For example, they have the ability to change permissions for others.

Importing Metadata (Records)

1. The Metadata that you wish to upload should already be created in an Excel spreadsheet. The spreadsheet will be very simple:  (coming soon)

The first row contains headings for the individual data fields. The two required fields are Identifier (which needs to match the file name) and Title. Other fields can be added as needed. Once the spreadsheet is created, save it as a CSV (Comma Separated Value) file by selecting File>Save As and choosing CSV (*.csv) from the Save as type dropdown menu.

1. In MDID, go to Management and click on the Import Data link.
2. Select the Browse button and locate the CSV file on your computer.
3. After you have selected the CSV file, click the Upload and Analyze File button to upload the file to MDID.