Archiving and Delivery of Student Portfolios JTS 2007 Toronto Dirk Matthews Assistant Director Portfolio Center Columbia College Chicago

Introduction About Columbia College Chicago www.colum.edu The Portfolio Center of Columbia College Defining Portfolios in Higher Education Educational vs. Professional

History of Portfolio Center Formed in 2004 Focused on college mission regarding student 'Body of Work' Collection of 500 digital portfolios and 100 physical portfolios Seven full-time staff

Portfolio Center Programming Educational Material Podcasts, workshops, etc. Topics include Portfolio Best Practices, Archiving Strategies for Students, and Compression for the Web Instilling need for student responsibility in preserving their own work

Portfolio Center Programming Portfolio Advising Portfolio Reviews 1 of 4 employers who visit / hire a student Portfolio Production Physical collection of 200 professional, student, and alumna portfolios and press kits Archive

Portfolio Center Programming Created a Wiki for Portfolios http://portfolio.wikia.com/ Winner 2006 National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) Silver Excellence Award in the Careers, Academic Support, Service Learning, Community Service category

Lessons Learned at JTS2004 Lesson 1 - It is easier to fund a method of delivery than a preservation system

Lessons Learned at JTS2004 Lesson 1 - It is easier to fund a method of delivery than a preservation system Lesson 2 - Collection must be under control BEFORE digitizing

Lessons Learned at JTS2004 Lesson 1 - It is easier to fund a method of delivery rather than a preservation system Lesson 2 - Collection must be under control BEFORE digitizing Lesson 3 - Labor is more expensive than hardware

Lessons Learned at JTS2004 Lesson 1 - It is easier to fund a method of delivery rather than a preservation system Lesson 2 - Collection must be under control BEFORE digitizing Lesson 3 - Labor is more expensive than hardware Lesson 4 - There is a difference between an archive and a collection

Lessons Learned at JTS2004 Lesson 1 - It is easier to fund a method of delivery rather than a preservation system Lesson 2 - Collection must be under control BEFORE digitizing Lesson 3 - Labor is more expensive than hardware Lesson 4 - There is a difference between an archive and a collection Lesson 5 - Toronto is a great city

Defining Needs for Preservation No digital repository on campus at start of project Worked closely with college Library Dublin Core Metadata standards Uncompressed copies of original files from students Only preserve the present, including current seniors and recent alumna Keep collection relevant Redundancy

Defining Needs for Digital Presentation Power of the web in finding work in Arts & Media Professional level web portfolio standards Content-driven websites

Stage One Fall 2004 Archive Management FileMaker Pro Database Stored on Mac G5 desktop Back up with DV tapes and silver coated CDs and DVDs All digital assets stored in uncompressed original formats Created workflow for digitizing and cataloguing assets

Stage One Web Presentation Menalto Gallery (version 1.4) http://gallery.menalto.com/ Static Web Galleries Formats: JPEG, MOV, MPEG No native audio formats Audio must be converted to QuickTime Mac G4 desktop as Webserver

Stage Two or, How to stop worrying and learn to find the money Commenced Fall 2006 Limited Funding Faculty act as consultants Programming by advanced student worker

Stage Two Archive Management Extensis Portfolio Migrate local storage to server Archive both uncompressed originals and web files Copies of each portfolio on silver CDs and DVDs Allows for export of asset and metadata in XML format

Stage Two Web Presentation WebPublish Beta Programmed in PHP with a MySQL database Dynamically updatable portfolios at admin level Unique URL for each site Example: portfolio.colum.edu/firstlast Design as a standalone website Variety of styles for students to choose between (currently 20) Sites searchable through Portfolio Search Page http://portfolio.colum.edu/search

Stage Three (Fall 2007 Release) Funding within Student Affairs secured for hiring professional programmers and additional staff Archive Management Upgrade of Extensis Portfolio into MySQL database Continue to Archive both uncompressed and web files Export of each portfolio into an XML file for archive and presentation http://portfolio.colum.edu/mfaircloth/ http://portfolio.colum.edu/zacklitwackdvd/dvdCase04.swf College Library starting Digital Archive in Fall 2007 (Fedora) Migrate asset management into Library's repository once complete Purchase back up server

Stage Three Web Publish 1.0 Sites are dynamically updated through user interface Sites customizable at a student level Sites searchable through Portfolio Search Page and metatagged for recognition by search engines Sites archived upon completion through HTTrack Store statistics of visits to site

Stage Three Web Publish 1.0 Additional functionality Storage area for internal documents as well as for public web pages. This will allow students to store optional work samples prior to posting to page Faculty login page allows faculty to comment on students design, layout, and choice of work.

Stage Three Web Presentation Purchase and set up of backup server to mirror current server Provide streaming server for quality and speed of media delivery Commenting features for faculty Integration of assessment questionnaires

Columbia College Chicago Conclusion Completion of system dynamically updated sites with interchangeable templates Symbiotic interface between archive and delivery of student work Exploring open source options Dirk Matthews Portfolio Center Columbia College Chicago dmatthews@colum.edu http://www.colum.edu/portfolio