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Prometheus
- About
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In
Greek mythology, Prometheus (Ancient Greek: "forethought") is a Titan
known for his wily intelligence, who stole fire from Zeus and gave it
to mortals for their use. He was then punished for his crime by Zeus.
Prometheus
is pictured to the left in Heinrich Füger's Prometheus
Brings
Fire to Mankind (1817).
Wikipedia
News
Click
here to read
latest Prometheus news on SourceForge...
The Digital Preservation
Workflow
Project
was set up to develop a suitable workflow system for long-term
preservation, storage and access to digital collection items received
on physical carriers or as discrete files. This initiative supports the
Library's Process perspective, relating specifically to Strategic
Objectives for developing and managing the collections, in responding
to the challenge of digital resources and storing and preserving the
collection.
Presentations
Digital collecting and Prometheus - Update
2012
Session 1:
- an
overview session designed for a general audience including senior
managers – this provided a background to the Prometheus project to
existing and newer users and
set it within the context of Cataloging workflows and Digital
Preservation within the Library
- improvements
over the 3 1/2 years since its release were also outlined
Session
2:
- coverage
of a number of examples of workflows for specific content types
such as single electronic publications, adding to an existing series,
mixed collection items, and problematic media.
- outline
and brief descriptions of various supporting resources available
- possible
avenues for follow-up sessions with various collection areas prior to
initiating the third targeted sessions of hands-on with specific
collection areas and their content types
Digital collecting and Prometheus - Update 2012
DigCCurr2009
[dij-seeker 2009]
(University
of North Carolina, Chapel
Hill, NC USA)
http://ils.unc.edu/digccurr2009/
Digital
Curation Tools and Demos - April 1st, 2009
Session
3 - Invited Demo: Prometheus:
Managing the Ingest of Media Carriers - Nicholas del Pozo, Douglas
Elford & David Pearson (presenter). [Page 73 of Proceedings]
Click
here to see this
demonstration video
World Library and Information Congress
74th IFLA General Conference and Council (Quebec City, Quebec Canada)
Preservation
and Conservation - August 11th,
2008
Session 1
- Digital objects on physical carriers
Media
Matters: developing
processes for preserving digital objects on physical carriers at the
National Library of Australia. DOUGLAS ELFORD, NICHOLAS DEL POZO,
SNEZANA MIHAJLOVIC, DAVID PEARSON, GERARD CLIFTON and COLIN WEBB
(National Library of Australia, Canberra, Australia)
Click here
to read this paper
Background
The
National
Library of Australia has a relatively small but important collection of
digital materials on physical carriers, including both published
materials and unpublished manuscripts in digital form. To date,
preservation of the Library's physical format digital collections has
been largely hand-crafted, but this approach is insufficient to deal
effectively with the volume of material requiring preservation.
The
Digital Preservation
Workflow Project aims to produce a semi-automated, scalable process for
transferring data from physical carriers to preservation digital mass
storage, helping to mitigate the major risks associated with the
physical carriers: deterioration of the media and obsolescence of the
technology required to access them. The workflow system, expected to be
available to Library staff from July 2008, also aims to minimise the
time required for acquisition staff to process relatively standard
physical media, while remaining flexible to accommodate special cases
when required. The system incorporates a range of primarily open source
tools, to undertake processes including media imaging, file
identification and metadata extraction. The tools are deployed as
services within a service-oriented architecture, with workflow
processes that use these services being coordinated within a customised
system architecture utilising Java based web services. This approach
provides flexibility to add or substitute tools and services as they
become available and to simplify interactions with other Library
systems.
A
high level view of the
general system processes, many of these activities are performed
automatically by the system, with few user tasks required.
This
Digital
Preservation Workflow (DPW) system allows Library staff to associate
digital holdings to Catalogue Bibliographic records in a distributed,
semi-automated and scalable process which includes transferring data
from physical carriers [CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs], via customised
mini-jukeboxes attached to their SOE workstations, to the Digital
Preservation area of the NLA's digital mass storage system, including
the harvesting of technical metadata all of which helps to mitigate the
major risks associated with the physical carriers: deterioration of the
media and obsolescence of the technology required to access them for
collection items.
The Prometheus Team
The
Workflows Project, and Prometheus,
would not have been possible without the input of many people. The
following team statistics and data was extracted from the Prometheus
Head Quarters central database.
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Newsletters
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Newsletter #16
Prometheus Release Update 1.5.2 - 17/2/2012
Hello
Prometheus Users and Associates,
We would like to inform you of a scheduled update to Prometheus that
will take
place early on Monday morning [20/2/2012]. This will involve restarting
the
Prometheus server and the associated web application you access thru
your
browser on Our Web. It should only take a few minutes when performed
very early
in the morning and should not affect any existing jobs and be completed
at the
latest by 9 am. Therefore, we are asking you to hold off on processing
material
until after 9 AM.
This
is part of our ongoing scheduled maintenance releases, to improve the
functionality
of Prometheus both in the user interface and the back-end processing
and
delivery of your collection materials.
Should
you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask,
especially if you currently have some work in progress.
What
is in this release 1.5.2?
Firstly,
for those who may have been on summer leave
over the past few months, we would like
to remind you of the new feature released last month:
·
a
beta version of the Downloading Tool to
enable retrieving collection material from Prometheus [http://mediapedia.nla.gov.au/prometheus/workflow.html#downloading].
·
the
Search functionality has also been greatly improved both in terms of
speed and
quality of information.
This
1.5.2 release carries those improvements forward with further
improvements in
the speed of opening individual Jobs by optimising the service calls to
the back
end Catalogue and Copyright services.
Another
improvement is related to the processing of DVD video discs. We found
that
there was an inconsistency in the system’s internal permissions
which impacted
in a somewhat random way on our ability to successfully process DVD
video
discs.
We
are currently working and testing further improvements and should you
have any
suggestions please do not hesitate to put them forward.
Cheers,
The
Prometheus Team
Further update information can be found at the Prometheus
wiki site.
http://ourweb.nla.gov.au/apps/wiki/display/DPWP/Prometheus+Release+Roadmap
or the About page on the Prometheus
Help site.
http://mediapedia.nla.gov.au/prometheus/about.html
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Newsletter #15 - 23/01/2012
Hello
Prometheus Users and Associates,
Apologies for the delay in this update, we have just been informed that
the
scheduled update to Prometheus can go ahead this morning. This will
involve
restarting the Prometheus server and web application. It should only
take a few
minutes when performed and should not affect any existing jobs.
Could
I please therefore ask if you could delay
any processing til noon today 23/1/2012.
Should
you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask
especially if you currently have some work in progress.
Further update information can be
found at the Prometheus
wiki site.
http://ourweb.nla.gov.au/apps/wiki/display/DPWP/Prometheus+Release+Roadmap
or the About page on the Prometheus
Help site.
http://mediapedia.nla.gov.au/prometheus/about.html
What
is in this release 1.5.1?
Snezana,
our developer has been quietly working through a number of errors we
have been
having on submitting material over the past year including
the Search functionality.
The
following items
have been updated or enhanced within this release:
Searching
Prometheus
The
following fields displayed
within the Prometheus user interface are now 'searchable fields' within
this
release. The searching has also been improved via optimisation and
additional
indexing.
Note: User
may like
to suggest other fields to be prioritised in future releases,
although
some fields may have a detrimental impact on search times.
Data
Element
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Yes/No/-
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Implications
if Added
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BIB ID
[Voyager Number]
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Yes
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BIB
Holdings Number
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Yes
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BIB-Catalogue:
Title
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Yes
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BIB-Catalogue:
Author
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Yes
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BIB-Catalogue:
Description
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No
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BIB-Catalogue:System
Details
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No
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BIB-Catalogue:
Notes
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No
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Prometheus
Job: Number
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Yes
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Prometheus
Job: Digital Holding Number
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Yes
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Prometheus
Job: Name
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Yes
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Prometheus
Job: Owner
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No
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Prometheus
Job: Date Added
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No
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Prometheus
Job: Last Updated
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No
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Prometheus
Job: Priority
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No
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Prometheus
Job: Status
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No
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Prometheus
Job: Annotations - various
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No
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Prometheus
Part: Number
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Yes
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Prometheus
Part: Name
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Yes
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Prometheus
Part: Status
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No
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Prometheus
Part: Media Type
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No
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Prometheus
Part: Annotations – System Details
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No
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Prometheus
Part: Annotations – File Format
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No
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Prometheus
Part: Annotations – various others
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No
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Sprightly
Copyright Info: Type
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No
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Sprightly
Copyright Info: Published
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No
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Sprightly
Copyright Info: Copyright
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No
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Sprightly
Copyright Info: Policy
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No
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cheers,
Douglas & Somaya
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Newsletter #14 - 25/11/2011
Hello Prometheus Users and Associates,
This is just a brief update to firstly, let you know that our developer
Snezana has been quietly working through the errors we have been having
on submitting material over the past year and longer. For example, 11
outstanding errors, going back to our initial launch, have been
rectified, submitted and the Jobs are now finished.
The three most prominent submission errors too have had 'patches'
applied to the ingest service this week. Therefore Jobs with this error
type will be 'quietly' transferred from your Working Folder to the Digital Preservation team for restarting at a very
specific point before being tested for completion and final submission.
We intend to notify you upon their successful outcome or should
additional Part annotations are required. This will move successfully
submitted/ ingested jobs that were in error in your Working to your
Finished folder, along with assigning you credit for processing that
Prometheus Job. Should you note that the Parts are missing Annotations
in terms of System Details and File Formats you can still add these
annotations to the Part but will not be able to rename the Part or the
Job. Should you have any further questions please do not hesitate to
ask us.
Further error rectification on other submission or analysis errors along with tweaks for speeding up the system will
continue into the new year. We also welcome any suggestions for tweaks
to make the system easier or less confusing for you to use.
Also of note, I will be on leave from Dec.1st to Dec.16th so
please during this time, or any time, to direct any queries or problems
to Somaya Langley - slangley@nla.gov.au 6262-1319.
Thank you for all your support over the past year, Somaya and
I wish you all a safe and happy holiday season.
cheers,
Douglas & Somaya
Newsletter #13 - 12/9/2011
Hello Prometheus Users and Associates,
This is just a brief note to introduce you to our new
Digital
Preservation team member Somaya Langley - slangley@nla.gov.au 6262-1319
Some of you may remember Somaya from her previous work
here at the
Library.
One of Somaya’s roles within Digital Preservation
will be assisting me
with managing the Prometheus application and any user problems.
Also, returning to the Library is our Prometheus
developer Snezana
Mihajlovic.
Snezana has been initially assisting with the
rectification of a
permissions and access issue with the new HP desktops optical drive by
Prometheus.
She has now turned her attention to the large number of
Jobs stuck in
Ingest along with a number of other documented errors such as
Analysing.
Should you have any niggling issues that you have noticed about
Prometheus that you feel we can rectify, please pass them along to
Somaya or
myself so that we can research and lodge an issue for rectification.
cheers,
Douglas
Newsletter #12 - 3/6/2011
Hello
Prometheus
Users and Associates,
This
is just a short
note to update you about using Prometheus with the new NLA workstations.
So what is
new?
The
new HP 8100
workstations have much more power and RAM, hence this should make the
initial
stage of copying the physical media carrier much quicker for you. These
workstations are currently being rolled out in stages to various
sections.
You
will be notified
of a timeframe for switching over your workstation to the new one.
Once you
have
received your new workstation, could you please contact me to organise
the
finalisation and setup of the Prometheus software application on your
new
workstation.
Should
you have any
questions on how this may affect your current work, changes/updates to
your
section’s on-line workflow procedures or any questions at all,
please do not
hesitate to ask, either via the ServiceDesk
or directly to me at delford@nla.gov.au. We
appreciate your
feedback.
cheers,
Douglas
Newsletter #11 - 17/12/2010
Hello Prometheus Users and Associates,
This is
just a short
note to wish you all a Joyous Noel along with a safe and happy holiday
season.
I will
also be on
leave from Dec 24th to January 17th. Should you
have any urgent
issues my colleague Nick del Pozo will be back from Dec 30th
and may be able to assist, although our
IT Digital Library support person will be away til Jan 10th.
Although
possibly appearing
a bit slow to access, Prometheus has been running much faster and more
successfully
on the back end side, due to a change to a less overloaded database
server, at the end of October. This has dramatically reduced the number
of
Analysing errors and enabled more successful restarts, if required too.
Interestingly
over 78
jobs were completed in November, almost more than double any previous
month.
There are still a few glitches from time to time of course, but
generally over 95% of
jobs are now finishing without a glitch. Hopefully this will also carry
over through the holiday season and into the new year. :-)
Some of
the glitches can still be caused by discs
not correctly written to documented standards
of formatting ,
occasional unusual
font utilisation or memory errors during processing. For example
deletion of a Part on
some CD formats can still cause an ingest error too. I would appreciate
your
assistance in documenting the cause of these errors so that they can be
logged and hopefully scheduled
for rectification by IT.
I have
tested Prometheus on the forthcoming Windows 7 operating system,
included in the Library's new Standard Operating Envirnoment (SOE) with
good success. The newer hardware is yet to be tested, but should enable
easier copying of some physical media, especially large USB flash or
hard drives.
Best Wishes!
Douglas
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Newsletter #10 - 15/4/2010
Hello Prometheus Users and Associates,
This is just a short note to mention that I have been informed of an
upgrade to Prometheus, as of today, Thursday April 15th, on the
Prometheus server applications..
So what is new?
Even though the version number on the opening page is still listed as
v1.3.0, there have been behind the scenes changes.
These changes include:
• a
major upgrade to the Unpack Service, which has caused some errors on
specific format media carriers;
•
implementation of recognition and processing of VCD video discs;
•
building reporting capabilities;
•
rectification of error messages in Transfers;
•
improvement in the capture of a single file;
•
rectification of Ingest Service errors, on specific format media
carriers;
•
system stability and code refactoring.
These changes will be seamless to the user.
Those who have yet to take up the offer for the
installation of the new desktop software client, as outlined in the
last newsletter of 9/3/2010, will need that update installed before
proceeding with any Prometheus work.
Should you have any questions on how this may affect
your current work or any questions at all, please do not hesitate to
ask, either via the ServiceDesk or directly to me at
delford@nla.gov.au. We appreciate your feedback.
cheers,
Douglas
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Newsletter #9 - 9/3/2010 -
Prometheus 1.2 now available
Hello Prometheus Users and Associates,
This is just a short note to mention that we are about
to perform an
upgrade to Prometheus on Thursday March 11th, on both your desktop
application and the network Prometheus server application..
As a consequence of this Prometheus will be off line for all of that
day, returning on-line again on Friday the 12th of March.
Please do not attempt to process material on the 12th.
Action: During this down period I will need to update
the
application on your user desktop computer which you use to run
Prometheus on, so if you could please e-mail me to arrange with me a
time for this update to take place at your convenience -
delford@nla.gov.au .
So what is new?
Well other than a new version number on the opening page of v1.3, most
of the changes will be behind the scenes.
These changes include:
•
capturing and reporting meaningful error message and the ability to
restart and recover from system errors,
•
system stability,
•
indexing,
•
optimisation which should speed up some of the processes.
For more specific details please see the Upgrade Details
section at the bottom of this e-mail.
Also in terms of assistance and on-line Help, there are two new
announcements to make too.
• Firstly, the NLA Service Desk
on OurWeb has been update to enable
users to place requests for Setting up a New User, Training bookings,
Updating Help Documentation or for general enquires about digital
preservation issues.
• It
also allows users to report incidents with processing media, Prometheus
errors message actions or Prometheus jukeboxes.
•
Please follow the link: http://servicedesk.nla.gov.au/
and
select Digital Preservation in the Service Group listing. A detailed
FAQ for using this new service for Digital Preservation requests or
incidents can be found at: http://servicedesk.nla.gov.au/otrs/customer.pl?Action=CustomerFAQ&Subaction=Explorer&CategoryID=3
•
Secondly, the Prometheus on-line Help has been updated to
assist in clarification of any of the newly introduced Error Messages
and what appropriate action to take upon their occurrence. http://mediapedia.nla.gov.au/prometheus/index.html
Should you have any questions at all, please do not
hesitate to ask,
either via the ServiceDesk or directly to me at delford@nla.gov.au.
cheers,
Douglas
x1366/x1365
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Update - 5/6/2009
Howdy All,
An updated version of the Prometheus has been placed
on-line and linked to the Help link within the Prometheus user
interface. This greatly expanded resource will be easier to update and
custonise to various collection area needs hence it will replace the
current 'hardcopy' Users Guide.
http://mediapedia.nla.gov.au/prometheus/index.html
cheers,
Douglas
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Newsletter #8 -
5/12/2008
Howdy All,
Just a short note to mention that I, and most of the team, will be on
leave from the 15th of December [back Jan. 5th].
In order to assist with your Prometheus use though, I have completely
re-written the online help guide and turned it into a handy hardcopy
booklet.
I have printed and bound 20 copies. It should also be noted that the
existing online help is presently 'out of date' and not easy to access
for any further updating.
I have also attached a DRAFT copy of 'Prometheus - Digital Preservation
Workbench Users’ Guide – Sectional Notes'. It is intended
to enable the development of specific Sectional Notes for utilising
Prometheus for each collection area - akin to those found in Div1
Procedures section on ourWeb, where they and the Users' Guide are
anticipated on finally living.
Should you wish to obtain a copy of the 'Prometheus - Digital
Preservation Workbench Users’ Guide' booklet, assist in
developing Sectional Notes for your area, have any outstanding
questions, or require further assistance please do not hesitate to ask.
On behalf of the Digital Preservation Team, we wish you all a Happy
(and Safe) Festive Season!
cheers,
Douglas
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Update - 28/10/2008 -
UPDATE: Prometheus 1.2 now available
Release 1.2 of the 'Prometheus' Digital Preservation
Workbench is now live and available for use.
The application is available at the following location: http://ourweb.nla.gov.au/apps/digipres-web/
Please advise of any issues you encounter or contact Douglas Elford
(x1366) or Gerard Clifton (x1381) for assistance.
Help documentation for the application is available at: http://ourweb.nla.gov.au/apps/digipres-web/help/help.html
(and via the Help link in the application.)
Release Notes - Digital Preservation Workflow - Version 1.2
This is an update to the 'Prometheus' Digital Preservation Workbench.
Recent enhancements
This release includes:
• Integration of the Ingest
Service. Users can now use the "Mark Job as Complete" button to
complete the transfer of material to preservation storage.
Successfully ingested Jobs will attain a "Finished"
status.
• Improved media recognition for
CD / DVD
• Minor adjustments to the user
interface.
• Amendments to technical
metadata collection during analysis and recording of Ingest events.
Known Issues
• Firefox 2 is recommended -
there are some small issues with IE7, and the recently released Firefox
3 is not currently supported.
• Asian characters and VCDs are
not currently supported
• Annotations can be added and
edited for submitted and finished jobs, but finished jobs cannot yet be
transferred. (This will require some change to the flow of statuses,
and will be addressed in a later release). Currently, only the job
owner who submitted the job for upload can edit annotations for these
jobs.
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