Customer: Collections Council of Australia
http://www.collectionscouncil.com.au
Country or Region: Adelaide, Australia
Industry: Cultural
Customer profile: The Collections Council of Australia is a not-for-profit organisation, established in 2004, that focuses on the collections sector throughout Australia, including archives, galleries, libraries and museums. The Collections Council was established to ensure nation-wide stability of collections by consulting with key stakeholders to resolve common issues and promote value of the sector. The Collections Council employs 3 staff in its main office in Adelaide, South Australia.
Project: Exposure Draft - Collections Law
http://legal-issues.collectionscouncil.com.au/
Project summary: Exposure Draft of Collections Law: Legal Issues for Australian Archives, Galleries, Libraries and Museums is a free online publication, authored by Shane Simpson. It is being released in stages, as chapters are completed.
Version 0.1 of the book is an Exposure Draft. The book can be read online where the reader is able to add comments throughout each chapter. Alternatively, individual chapters (or the book in its entirety at the time) in PDF format can be downloaded and printed.
Technologies: Live Services, WordPress
Services: Development, Training
Problem
The Collections Council of Australia received a grant from the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts to produce Collections Law: Legal Issues for Australian Archives, Galleries, Libraries and Museums as an online publication.
This publication, authored by Shane Simpson, focuses on the subject of the business and law of public collecting organisations in Australia. It is intended that the book be suitable as a reference guide for public museums, libraries, archives and galleries in Australia.
The aim is to release the publication for free on the website in PDF format as either individual chapters or the book in its entirety. Though a set of Exposure Drafts, the Collections Council wanted an easy way for readers of the publication to add comments and feedback throughout each chapter with the goal to update chapters based on comments provided by the public.
Solution
Soul Solutions created a hosted, WordPress 2.7 site with a custom skin incorporating supplied design elements. A CommentPress 1.0 them was applied to allow paragraph-by-paragraph commenting in the margins for the public. This created a multi-page site whose content could be controlled by the client and a discussion opened with the public for comment and feedback on th publication as it is written.
To make the creation of the content as easy as possible, Windows Live Writer was chosen as the tool for the creation and editing of all of the site content.
Benefits
Time to Market
The choice of technologies allowed the creation of a prototype site for client evaluation to be setup in one day. Using a proven, cost effective solution that leveraged existing platforms allowed the project turnaround time to be greatly reduced with increased confidence in its stability and fit for purpose.
Comment/Spam Management
Leveraging an existing platform makes the job of creating, reviewing and responding to comments as well as managing spam much simpler.
Content Publication
The use of Windows Live Writer provides and online and offline ability for creation and editing of content while offering a familiar What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) interface that the client is both comfortable and familiar. This makes content publication easier and less error prone.