Sprints 49, 50, & 51 – April 18, May 2, & May 16, 2014

May 30, 2014

Since the release of Avalon 3.0, the team has focused on putting Avalon in production at Northwestern University as well as adding features needed for IU’s move to production. We expect to implement and release the latest features by the end of June as a minor release 3.1.

In our latest sprint we created the ability to assign a pre-existing persistent URL (PURL or Handle) to media that has been added to Avalon. We also developed a way for collection managers to choose or change a thumbnail image for a video even after the master file has been deleted or moved elsewhere. Using HLS to create thumbnails means that this image is made from the best available derivative rather than from the master file.

Now the Avalon team is working on the option to bypass (skip) transcoding for media files uploaded through the Avalon dropbox. This option may be used when a transcoded version of a file already exists and can be provided instead.

In 3.1, Avalon will be able to take advantage of LDAP groups to authorize access to users affiliated with campuses or departments or other LDAP-managed entities.

We have assessed the impact of upgrading to Hydra 7, Blacklight 4, Bootstrap 3, and Rails 4. The upgrades have been deferred to after our minor release due to the amount of user interface rework required, but the work will commence shortly. In addition to these dependency upgrades, our next major release is likely to include some of the following features:

Bulk operations to enabling publishing, access changes, or deletion of multiple items simultaneously
Ingest queue management, so high priority items can be processed quickly even if there is a long queue
Automated metadata ingest from OPACs
Additional descriptive and administrative metadata fields
Time limits on access permissions

What are your thoughts on our progress, ideas, and goals? We’re looking forward to your comments on our mailing list, avalon-discuss-l@list.indiana.edu. Our mailing list is also the place for our partners to share ideas and issues with existing Avalon pilots and implementations.

Sprints for Avalon 3.0:

Sprint 49 - April 18, 2014 Demo Recording

VOV-2396 - I want to install R3
VOV-2427 - I want have technical documentation for R3
VOV-2625 - I want to tryout R3 on the demo server
VOV-2629 - [design only] I want to be able to set time limits on sharing Avalon items with individuals, groups and courses.
VOV-2630 - I want manual instructions for how to set up Avalon with AMS
VOV-2631 - I want to have a technology training refresh after R3

Sprint 50 – May 2, 2014 Demo Recording

VOV-2625 - I want to try out R3 on the demo server
VOV-2630 - I want manual instructions for how to set up Avalon with AMS
VOV-2663 - I want to configure R3 features when I set up or upgrade Avalon
VOV-2664 - I want to use R3
VOV-2660 - I want to add an previously existing PURL or Handle to an avalon object
VOV-2633 - I want to configure dropbox privacy and access

First Sprint for Avalon 3.1:

Sprint 51- May 16, 2014 Demo Recording