CultURIze Idea

The CultURIze workflow has usually 4 different components:

1. A CSV-file in which links between the PIDs and the URLs are defined.
2. The CultURIze desktop tool, which converts the CSV-file into a server configuration file (.htaccess) and interacts with GitHub.
3. A GitHub repository that stores the configuration files
4. An Apache server that gets the configuration files periodically from the GitHub repository and executes the redirections from the configuration files.

The control of each of these components is independent. This makes it possible to outsource any component to different organizations.

1. CSV-file

In the CSV-file users maintain the link between PID’s and URL’s, this creates the possibility of linking data to a persistent URI that will be activated by the tool. The columns of the CSV file should look like this:

• PID
• Document type (optional)
• URL
• Enabled (optional)

More columns can be added but will be ignored by the culturize application. The CSV-file will mostly be edited by personnel of the museum itself, they can use a trusted environment to modify the CSV and keep the URL's to which the persistent URI’s redirect up to date.

2. CultURIze tool

The CultURIze tool is a desktop application that will be used to convert the previously mentioned CSV files into server configuration files (.htaccess) that give instructions to an Apache Server to execute redirections. The files will be pushed to GitHub via the GitHub API. The application will probably be used by museum personnel but could also be used by only one maintainer of an organization. It’s up to the users to choose their workflow.

A more detailed and technical explanation of the tool can be found here.

3. GitHub repository

The GitHub repository is used to store the .htaccess-files used for the redirections. The repository could best be maintained by a person with knowledge of git. His/her task would mainly be revising new/updated .htaccess-files into the repository. This component will probably be outsourced by museums who don’t have people with these skills in their ranks. It is easy to centralize this part for multiple museums. It is however also possible for a museum to maintain their own repository if they wish to.

4. Redirection server

The server will handle redirection of the persistent URI’s to their respective URL’s. Culturize uses .htaccess-files which means that an Apache Server is required. The server needs to watch a GitHub repository to detect incoming changes to repository, pulls and immediately deploys the changes. Provision andmaintenance of a server will mostly be outsourced by museums who don’t have the required equipment and/or people. Again, it is also possible for a museum to host the server themselves.