ORE: The OLAC Repository Editor

This document describes a version of ORE which is no longer supported. Please see http://www.linguistlist.org/ore for the current system and documentation.

(I) Introduction:

The OLAC Repository Editor (ORE) is an online tool designed for language archivists who wish to create an OLAC data provider. ORE is a particularly suitable option for potential data providers who have no existing catalog database and who do not have a local website or XML capacity.

Before using ORE, the archivist should become familiar with the goals of OLAC, and the notions of metadata, OLAC Data Provider, and OLAC Service Provider. The following items will be helpful:

The interaction between the archivist and ORE may be broken down into three primary stages:

The archivist uses a simple forms-based editor provided by ORE to enter information about their holdings. The metadata is saved in a database maintained by ORE, so the archivist may edit and modify the metadata as often as necessary.
At any time, the archivist may choose to "dump" the metadata into an XML file. Dumping simply involves clicking on a link; ORE does the transformation of the metadata into an OLAC-compliant XML file automatically.
Finally, the archivist may choose to activate an XML file that was created in step (2), making it available for harvesting. After harvesting, the metadata of a repository will be public and available to the OLAC community.

The prototype of ORE is located at:

http://www.language-archives.org/tools/ore/

The rest of this help page will guide the user through the various pages found in ORE. It is recommended that the user have ORE running while reading through this guide.

(II) Login

The login page is displayed at each fresh entry into the ORE web page (when the web browser is restarted). To use ORE, each user must have a unique email address and password.

A new user needing to register an email address and password should click on the "please register first" link on the login page.

(III) Registration

To register with ORE, provide a Contact email, Contact person and password. Note: Since ORE repositories cannot be shared between users, multiple maintainers of a single repository must share the same account, and must avoid editing the same record simultaneously.

Once a user has registered, a confirmation notice will be sent to the address provided as the Contact email. At the same time, the newly registered user will be redirected back to the login page and may then log in.

(IV) ORE Main Page

The ORE Main Page is the "home" page which a registered ORE user sees upon logging in. The Main Page lists all the repositories (if any) for a particular user, and provides a link for reserving a new repository identifier (see below for explanation).

The various links and buttons accessible from the Main Page are as follows (but note that only the first item will appear if there has been no repository created):

Click here to reserve a new repository identifier
To begin creating a repository, a repository identifier must first be reserved. This will allow OLAC to uniquely identify the repository. The user will be directed to a form to select a repository idenfier. ORE maintains a record of all identifiers and will provide error messages should the user select an existing identifier.
View
Provides a view of the XML file of an activated repository (this link will only appear if a repository has been activated).
Save
Prompts the user to save the XML file of an activated repository to the user's local hard disk (this link will only appear if a repository has been activated).
Activation
Goes to the ORE Activation Area for the selected repository. From the Activation Area, the user may choose to activate one of the XML files that has been created, or to deactivate an active file.
Work Area
Goes to the ORE Work Area for the selected repository. From that page, users may create, edit or delete records within the repository, edit metadata information about the repository, or dump records into an XML file.
Delete Repo
Removes the repository from the ORE database. Note that the repository must be EMPTY before it can be deleted.

(V) ORE Work Area

The ORE Work Area is accessed by clicking on one of the "Work Area" buttons for a particular repository identifer listed on the Main page.

If a newly-created identifier is selected, the Work Area will provide a "Click here to create a repository for this identifier" link. By clicking on this link, the user will be forwarded to a Create/Edit Repository Information page. This page contains a form which the user fills out, providing metadata information about the repository to be created.

Once the form is submitted, the user is returned to the Work Area. The Work Area wil now provide more options for the user:

Create/Edit Records
Sends the user to the Create/Edit Records page. From there, the user will have various options of working on the records within the selected repository.
Edit Repository Information
Sends the user to the Create/Edit Repository Information page, where metadata information about the repository may be edited.
Dump Repository in XML
Writes repository metadata into an XML file. The user will then be automatically forwarded to the ORE Activation Page, where the recently dumped XML file may be activated if so desired.
Upload XML File into Repository
Allows users to upload an OLAC-compliant XML file into the repository. The metadata will be parsed and stored in the ORE database. All subsequent metadata editing and activation may be done within ORE.

(VI) Create/Edit Repository Information

This page provides a form which a user fills out in order to create a repository. Elements marked * are mandatory, as required by OLAC. The user may subsequently edit the information on this page from the Work Area page by clicking on the "Edit Repository Information" link.

Short explanation for each field is provided and the names of most elements are also clickable links which will pop open a description help page explaining the expected information for each element.

(VII) Create/Edit Records

From the Create/Edit Records page, the user may choose to carry out various record level operations for the selected repository. This includes creating, editing, copying, renaming and deleting records within the repository:

Create
Creates a new record for the repository. Each record must have a Record Id that is unique to the repository. The user may choose to enter a unique personalized Record Id in the text field provided, and then clicking the "Create" button. Alternatively, the field may be left blank, in which case ORE will automatically assign a unique numerical Record ID when the "Create" button is clicked. Clicking the "Create" button will send the user to the Record Editor page.
Edit
Enters the Record Editor page to edit the metadata for the selected record.
Copy
Sends the user to the Copy Record page. To copy a record, provide a new unique record ID to copy to. Alternatively, leave the field blank and a numerical Record ID will be automatically assigned.
Rename
Sends the user to the Rename Record ID page. To rename a record ID, provide a new unique record ID.
Delete
Sends the user to the Delete Record page. Confirm the deletion by pressing the "Delete" button, or press the "Cancel" button to return to the Create/Edit Records page without any changes.

(VIII) Record Editor

The ORE Record Editor page provides a form which allows the user to create and edit metadata information for a record within a repository. The fields on the form correspond to the OLAC metadata elements. Read more about OLAC metadata set here.

None of the elements are mandatory and may be left blank. Multiple entries are permitted for every element. To key in multiple entries for an element, fill in the information for one entry, then click on the corresponding "More" button provided on the right hand side. An additional blank field will appear immediately below.

Each element name is clickable and will pop open a description help page explaining the expected information for each element.

The buttons below the form serve the following functions:

SAVE AND EXIT
Saves all form data to the ORE database, and returns the user to the Create/Edit Records page.
EXIT WITHOUT SAVING
Returns to the Create/Edit Records page without saving.
CLEAR FORM
Clears all values from the form.
[VIEW XML]
Sends the user to the View Record in XML page.
View Record in XML:
This page displays an XML version of the information entered on the form (This is intended solely for users interested in viewing the XML output of their records. Knowledge of XML is however not required for using ORE. It should be noted that the XML displayed here is only for one record, and is not a full representation of the XML file that ORE will generate for the entire repository).
To return to the Record Editor page without saving, click on the "Back to Form" button.

(IX) Upload XML file into Repository

The upload facility is designed for users who have their own OLAC-compliant XML files but who might wish to edit and activate the files through ORE. This page provides the user with an upload form. The appropriate XML file on a local server may be selected by clicking on the "Browse" button. Assuming that the file is valid, ORE will parse the XML and store the metadata on the ORE database, and the user will be forwarded to the Create/Edit Record page. The user may then edit the uploaded repository in the usual way through ORE.

To upload an XML file, the user must have already reserved a Repository Identifier through ORE. See the Reserve Repository Identifer section for further details. The <repositoryIdentifier> element in the XML file MUST be the same as the reserved identifier in order for the upload to succeed.

Furthermore, ORE will validate all XML files uploaded to make sure that they are OLAC-compliant. Non-compliant files will be flagged and the upload aborted.

(X) ORE Activation Area

The ORE Activation Area is accessed by clicking on one of the "Activation Area" buttons for a particular repository listed on the Main page. A user is also automatically directed to the Activation Area after "dumping" a repository in XML, an operation which is done from the Work Area.

If the user has yet to dump any repositories into XML, the Activation Area will be empty.

Otherwise, the user will see a table listing all the XML files that have been created for the particular repository. Also listed are:

Date and Time of Dump
This lists the date and time of the XML dumps for each file.
Date and Time of the latest record update
This lists the last time one of the records belonging to the repository was updated using the ORE Record Editor
Status
- A file is listed as UP TO DATE if the XML dump is more recent than th latest record update
-A file is listed as ACTIVE if it is the activated file
View
Sends the user to the View Repository in XML page.
This page displays the OLAC-compliant XML file for the repository.
Save
Prompts the user to save the XML file to the local hard disk.
Delete
Deletes the corresponding XML file. An active file cannot be deleted.

The user may select a file to activate by clicking on the radio button next to a particular file, and then pressing Submit. The selected XML file will then be flagged as the "active repository" and displayed above the table.

ORE permits users to "harvest" an active repository on demand. After harvesting, the metadata of the active repository can be searched alongside metadata from other active repositories, using an OLAC service provider (see the TOOLS page). Note that each OLAC service provider will harvest the active repository according to its own harvesting schedule. It may take a day or two before the metadata appears in these service providers.

To harvest the active repository, simply click on the "Harvest Active Repository" button that is provided. Once a harvest is complete, a link will be provided to the OLAC Service Provider at U.Penn.

Note that this on-demand harvesting is slow, and users will usually not need to do this more than once or twice.

Please address comments and questions to: ore@language-archives.org.