1. CONTENTdm vs DSpace vs Fedora
Ralph LeVan
OCLC Research

2. Data Support Arbitrary Bitstreams? Arbitrarily Complex Objects?
Versioning?
Local Metadata Elements?
Preservation Metadata?
Batch Input?
Rich Metadata Searching?
Full-text Searching?

3. Arbitrary Bitstreams? CONTENTdm DSpace Fedora yes
Can you stick everything in the repository?

4. Arbitrarily Complex Objects?
CONTENTdm
yes
DSpace
Fedora
Can you define objects as collections of arbitrary bitstreams?

5. Versioning? CONTENTdm DSpace Fedora no yes
Can objects in the repository be replaced with new versions and still have access to the older version?

6. Local Metadata Elements?
CONTENTdm
yes
DSpace
yes, but they can’t be searched
Fedora no
Can an institution define their own metadata elements

7. Preservation Metadata?
CONTENTdm no
DSpace
yes
Fedora
Does the repository support/generate metadata for preservation purposes?

8. Batch Input? CONTENTdm DSpace Fedora yes? yes
Can you import masses of records?

9. Rich Metadata Searching?
CONTENTdm
yes
DSpace
yes, but only on a few fields
Fedora
yes, but only on a couple of fields
Can you search all the metadata that was entered?

10. Full-text Searching? CONTENTdm DSpace Fedora
yes, by moving the content into the metadata
DSpace
yes, through Google (in development)
Fedora no

11. User Support User Roles With Privileges? Workflows?
Object Marshalling?
Arbitrary Bitstream Retrieval?
Arbitrary Object Retrieval?
Web Interface?
Content Easily Integrated Into Web Pages?

12. User Roles With Privileges?
CONTENTdm
User permissions on directories
DSpace
yes
Fedora no
Users, editors, members, guests, etc.

13. Mediated Workflows? CONTENTdm DSpace Fedora
no, but they have a three step commit
DSpace
yes
Fedora no
Can workflow processes be defined for object entry with handoffs between users?

14. Object Marshalling? CONTENTdm DSpace Fedora yes no
Are there tools for collecting together the components of an object?

15. Arbitrary Bitstream Retrieval?
CONTENTdm
Only file types recognized by the browser
DSpace
Fedora
What kinds of bitstreams can you retrieve?

16. Arbitrary Object Retrieval?
CONTENTdm
Only types defined by CONTENTdm (books, postcards, CDs, etc.)
DSpace
Web pages only
Fedora
yes
Can you get complex objects back out of the repository?

17. Web Interface?
CONTENTdm
yes
DSpace
Fedora no

18. Content Easily Integrated Into Web Pages?
CONTENTdm
yes
DSpace no
Fedora
possible
Can institutional web pages easily access the contents of the repository?

19. Miscellaneous Infrastructure
OAI-PMH?
Z39.50/SRW?
Open Source?
Open API’s?
Cross-Repository Searching?

20. OAI-PMH? CONTENTdm DSpace Fedora yes
Does the repository support standardized harvesting?

21. Z39.50/SRW? CONTENTdm DSpace Fedora Z39.50 can be added
SRW can be added
Fedora no
Does the repository support standardized searching?

22. Open Source? CONTENTdm DSpace Fedora no yes
Can the user community also change/fix/enhance the code?

23. Open API’s? CONTENTdm DSpace Fedora By license SRW for searching Yes
Do they have published API’s for searching and updating the repository

24. Cross-Repository Searching?
CONTENTdm
Yes
DSpace No
Fedora
Can you search multiple repositories (not just collections) with a single search?

25. Data Support CONTENTdm DSpace Fedora Arbitrary Bitstreams? ●
Arbitrarily Complex Objects?
Versioning?
Local Metadata Elements?
Preservation Metadata?
Batch Input?
Rich Metadata Searching? ○
Full-text Searching?
● = Yes ○ = Qualified Yes

26. User Support CONTENTdm DSpace Fedora User Roles With Privileges? ○ ●
Workflows?
Object Marshalling?
Arbitrary Bitstream Retrieval?
Arbitrary Object Retrieval?
Web Interface?
Content Easily Integrated Into Web Pages?
● = Yes ○ = Qualified Yes

27. Miscellaneous Infrastructure
CONTENTdm
DSpace
Fedora
OAI-PMH? ●
Z39.50/SRW?
Open Source?
Open API’s? ○
Cross-Repository Searching?
● = Yes ○ = Qualified Yes

28. Prioritized List Of New Features
Preservation Plan
Open Rendering Scheme
Open API’s
Workflow and User Roles
Versioning
#1 is probably critical to meeting many users expectations of a digital repository. The rest are desirable for various markets.