[Dspace-general] Comparison of EPrints, DSpace and Fedora (fwd)

[Sayeed Choudhury]

** Apologies for receipt of duplicate postings **

Arthur,

I have noted your message on more than one list, so I've taken the  
liberty of copying each of them to inform individuals who follow  
those lists.  Regarding a comparison of repository software, our  
group at Johns Hopkins is conducting a technology-based analysis of  
repositories and applications with funding from the Mellon  
Foundation.  Our choices include DSpace, Fedora, ePrints, Digital  
Commons (ProQuest's offering based on BePress), and applications  
include Sakai, and various e-publishing systems such as Open Journal  
Systems (OJS), and DiVA.  We are working with the DPubS team to  
include their software as well, and we're also considering if we can  
include Moodle and LionShare as well.  Finally, we have a strong  
emphasis on digital preservation capabilities for the repositories.   
The main purpose of our analysis is to examine each of these systems  
with a transparent, clearly defined methodology beginning with  
stories or scenarios that are mapped into use cases and what we are  
calling key events, from which we are defining functional  
requirements for repositories to support various types of content and  
uses.  In addition to the repositories and applications, we are  
examining whether JSR-170, OKI DR OSIDs and perhaps an implementation  
of IMS DRI can support integration of repositories and applications  
through a generalized interface layer that spans across different  
services without specific out of band agreements.

While we haven't included costs information, we have tracked  
installation issues, features, and other technology matters.   
Ultimately, we hope to develop a methodology that might allow the  
community to address the types of question you describe with an  
objective, rigorous approach, and a taxonomy of repositories that  
will allow us to identify gaps in functionality.

Our project wiki is available at https://wiki.library.jhu.edu/display/ 
RepoAnalysis/ProjectRepository

You can also find further information at http://ldp.library.jhu.edu/ 
projects/repository

 From this web page, you can find our original proposal to the Mellon  
Foundation and two presentations at previous CNI and DLF conferences  
under the "Documents" tab.

I would be happy to answer any questions you (or others) might have  
in this regard.

Sayeed


Sayeed Choudhury
Associate Director for Library Digital Programs
Hodson Director of the Digital Knowledge Center
Sheridan Libraries
Johns Hopkins University
sayeed at jhu.edu
http://ldp.library.jhu.edu


On Nov 19, 2005, at 6:53 PM, Stevan Harnad wrote:

>
>       *Forwarding: apologies for cross-posting **
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Sun, 20 Nov 2005 08:27:46 +1100
> From: Arthur Sale <ahjs at ozemail.com.au>
> To: AMERICAN-SCIENTIST-OPEN-ACCESS-FORUM at LISTSERVER.SIGMAXI.ORG
> Subject: Comparison of EPrints, DSpace and Fedora
>
> I am doing a comparison of functionality and adopter experiences  
> for the two
> most widely used institutional archive-creating software packages for
> repositories: EPrints and DSpace, and also Fedora (a minor player  
> globally
> but possibly important in Australia).  I am seeking your help in  
> collecting
> information. Information about other packages would also be welcome.
>
> (1) If you have used or compared any of this software, could you
> please take the time to let me know what you consider the respective
> advantages/disadvantages of each to be, and for what purposes? I am  
> also
> interested in features that you think are equivalent or readily  
> achieved
> in each.
>
> (2) The two major software packages explain their orientation as
> follows: EPrints puts a particular emphasis on OA content (preprints
> and postprints of institutional research output, plus theses), DSpace
> on digital curation in general. Fedora describes itself as repository
> storage layer software requiring custom front-ends for any purpose. If
> you have any specific comments on these overall orientations and
> whether they are appropriate, they would be very helpful too.
>
> (3) While all these packages are free and open source, I would also
> be interested in any cost estimates in implementing the one you chose,
> how many hours or dollars you spent on setup, how much maintenance you
> have to expend, and how reliable the software is (crashes, downtime,
> etc). Would you recommend it to someone else?
>
> I will post a summary of the results (and maybe an interim report)  
> on AmSci
> OA Forum, and may get back to you if I reed a bit more detail.  
> Thank you in
> anticipation of a prompt response and a flood of emails. Email  
> direct to me
> at Arthur.Sale at utas.edu.au if you want.
>
> Arthur Sale
> Professor of Computing (Research)
> University of Tasmania
> http://leven.comp.utas.edu.au/AuseAccess/
>
> _______________________________________________
> Dspace-general mailing list
> Dspace-general at mit.edu
> http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/dspace-general




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