Early this month the INDI project team made the INDI Sandbox available so that archivists and others interested in the distributed workflow system could kick the tires and get a feel for how the Integrated Digital Special Collections works. Late last week team members completed the INDI Walkthrough that will guide first time users through the various features available in INDI. This document is available at http://www.lib.byu.edu/indi/indi-walkthrough/ and is meant to be used in conjunction with the INDI Sandbox. It features step by step instructions on how to use INDI Desktop, MyProjects, and MyContacts, as well as detailed instructions for creating appraisal and accession projects. We hope that the walkthrough will make using the INDI Sandbox an easier experience.

In other INDI news, the project team is wrapping up the documentation for INDI Phase I, and once the final bug is fixed and the source code has been appropriately packaged INDI Phase I will be made available to the archival community. Phase I is comprised of INDI Desktop, MyProjects and MyContacts as well as the Apprasial module and the Acquisition and Accession module. Please watch the Downloads page for links to the source code for these items.

With the completion of Phase I the project team is turning its attention to Phase II. Phase II will focus on the creation of the Arrangement and Description module of INDI. This module will gather descriptive data about archival collections and then make that data available for export in a variety of output formats (EAD, EAC, MARCXML, MODS, Dublin Core, etc.). The project team is currently creating the requirements statements that will serve as the basis for programming this module of INDI. The team is also comparing the various standards that will be available for output and working to create a comprehensive data model. This data model is seen as the key to enabling INDI to output the specified formats as well as INDI’s future extensibility.

We would like to invite any archivist or manuscripts curator interested in the automation of archival workflow processes to visit the INDI (Integrated Digital Special Collections) web site (http://www.lib.byu.edu/indi/) and to become more familiar with the INDI project. Recent INDI developments include the completion of the INDI core tools (MyProjects, MyContacts, INDI Desktop, and the Administrative Interface) as well as the Appraisal and Accession Modules. Planning is nearly complete for the Arrangement and Description module and the development of this key module will begin shortly.

A new feature of particular interest on the INDI website is the INDI Sandbox. If you would like to become more familiar with INDI functionality enter the Sandbox and experiment with the core tools and the various modules. Collection information for four hypothetical collections has been entered. To experiment with INDI, enter or input keyword information for any one of the following collections: 1. Westwood Architectural firm records, 2. Murphy family papers, 3. George Washington legends, and 4. Department of Social Work records. Within the INDI Sandbox, you can also create your own collections as well; all data for created collections is deleted at the end of the day.

There are several ways to create an INDI project; as you become familiar with INDI, experiment with the system and discover the various ways to create new projects. For first time users, however, we recommend that you first create a project by clicking on the MyProjects icon (a clock face and pencil superimposed over a graph) at the bottom of the screen. Next, locate the File menu item located in the upper left hand corner of the screen. Click on the File menu and a drop-down menu will appear. Follow the drop-down menu to New Project and then to Accession and from there just follow the instructions to create a new project.

As you become more familiar with INDI functionality, please share your impressions with us. We welcome your input and your suggestions.