[Dspace-general] Repost: DSpace Evaluation Information Request

[Christian Voelker]

Hello Louis,

most of your questions are answered in the docs:

<http://www.dspace.org/index.php? 
option=com_content&task=view&id=151&Itemid=116>

or the FAQ:

<http://www.dspace.org/index.php? 
option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=40&Itemid=88>

And for most of them, the answer is yes. I dont know
what SCORM is (sounds nasty ;-)) and no, a blackboard
is not part of the basic feature set. DSpace is done
in Java, so this is premier choice for extensions.
LDAP was there as a source for user authentication
since the early versions. Translate organization in
your question to community in DSpace lingo and there
you are. Yes, different layouts per community are
supported through manakin since the current version.

Copyright: You assign licenses to items during the
ingestion process. Drive space depends largely on
the data you want to store/preserver inside the
repository. Workflows are rather elaborate although
subject to constant discussion and improvement.

The amount of time it takes to customise depends
on experience. The system is powerful, not simple.
You shouldnt start tweaking functionality unless you
have a thorough understanding of the architecture.
Layout does not require such in depth knowledge of
course. Java and XML in the first place, but XSLT,
SQL, broad administrative knowledge of all kind,
postgres, ant, Tomcat are helpful. And understan-
ding of the metadata formats it is all about.

Search is available for everything inside your
repository thanks to lucene; you can import existing
data but DSpace is not a Search engine. It is very
focussed to digital long term preservation and you
will probably wrap some pages around to form a
whole site, combining it with a Web CMS or such.

I guess you should take time to set up a test
environment. Terms are interchangeable and if
you compare systems by a score card you dont
understand the different intentions behind their
development. DSpace is not a Framework or set of
building blocks but rather a ready to run system
for what it provides. You can get up and running
within a short time from the technical side, pro-
vided that the administrative aspects are prepared
thoughtfully.

Bye, Christian