[WebPub] MIT Libraries and web development

[Edmund Carlevale]

I had been looking for ways to increase the involvement of MIT Libraries in web development across the Institute, and just now by chance I started looking at their Dome repository platform <http://dome.mit.edu/>  and have since spent the last hour finding all sorts of services and news that I for some reason had never associated with the Library. They’re so far ahead of what I thought was happening that I don’t know if I’m completely out of the loop or they simply don’t publicize enough of what they’re doing. But good golly! It’s exciting to see how engaged they are in this work and the developments that are coming along.

First of all, they’re posting great news content relevant to web development, so simply using some of their feeds (http://libguides.mit.edu/rss/mit-feeds <http://libguides.mit.edu/rss/mit-feeds>) is a great way to stay on top of things you might not otherwise come across.  On this demo site, for example, I’m pulling in their art/architecture content <http://dev-sap-distro.pantheon.io/sdl/news/mit-libraries-news-art-architecture-planning>, and I love the fact that (ahem, unlike the MIT News Office), they actually put the photos in the feed as well.

But honestly, Python programming classes! Beginning, Intermediate… 

This is an event that just happened: “Working in the Digital Academy <http://libraries.mit.edu/news/jobs-roles-skills/20402/>.”  To some extent, this is relevant to all web developers and Communication Managers at MIT. In an academic context, web developers are part of the digital academy as well. The day is long since past when a website can spit out a calendar, a list of people, and a few news headlines, then call it a day.  The reason I was looking at the Library site in the first place is because I’m trying to find a way to create a “library” around the digital content that a research center produces. I’m really intrigued by what the DOME project does <http://dome.mit.edu/>  but I want that functionality to be integrated within the website, not external to it.

And apparently the Library has a new director, Chris Bourg. I think we all owe something to Ann Wolpert, who did such a great job for so long. I just read her obituary in MIT News and I’m somewhat shocked that everything I thought was my own private feeling about her contribution to MIT, was in fact what she was celebrated for. I have no idea what she was like to work for, but interacting with the Library staff and services is always such a positive experience that that has to reflect positively on her leadership.

Now I’m intrigued to see where things go with Chris. I just emailed Chris to ask if I could be a part of their task force on the future of digital learning. The various groups look really solid, yet I didn’t see anyone who could specifically speak to web development, and it’s the individual sites around MIT that need to step up their game in terms of managing and making available their digital content. New metat aggings systems are coming along that need to be coordinated by the Libraries, and of course managing publications remains a needlessly complicated task. 

But bottom line, Libraries are going to have a leading role in managing web development across academia and it’s just tremendous to see how much is going on at MIT Libraries.

Cheers,

Ed
_________________________







Ed Carlevale
Communications
Front-End Web Development

MIT Energy Club <http://mitenergyclub.org/>
MIT Drupal Group <http://drupalgroup.mit.edu/>
MIT Energy Conference <http://mitenergyconference.org/>
Clean Energy Prize <http://cep.mit.edu/>

MIT Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems <http://canes.mit.edu/>
	
Penny Chisholm Research <http://chisholmlab.mit.edu/>
Martin Polz Research <http://polzlab.mit.edu/>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.mit.edu/pipermail/webpub/attachments/20151117/f0952f4d/attachment.html
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: edc-initials.png
Type: image/png
Size: 755 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://mailman.mit.edu/pipermail/webpub/attachments/20151117/f0952f4d/attachment.png
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: smime.p7s
Type: application/pkcs7-signature
Size: 1844 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://mailman.mit.edu/pipermail/webpub/attachments/20151117/f0952f4d/attachment.bin