Repository
- Status of this document: provisional noodling, subject to approval
- Motto: there are bigger repositories and better repositories, but this one is ours.
The UCLDH Repository is an archive/curation/compendium of digital stuff pertaining to UCLDH that is preferably (but not necessarily) hosted on UCL servers. The Repository has a finite but non-determined number of separate overview pages whose organising principle is the reverse-chronological, date-stamped timeline (ie most recent comes topmost).
The Repository currently consists of the following pages:
- Posters and leaflets [and flyers]
- UCLDH logo
- Family album
Uploading
To upload a file to the UCLDH Repository, simply go to dh/repo/edit/tab_edit, click the new... button and select Silva File for PDFs or Silva Image for bitmap graphics such as .gif, .png or .jpg.
Having uploaded a file, please check that the file retains its file extension (eg .pdf), as Silva has been known to lob them off under as-yet unidentified circumstances during the upload process (some operating systems rely on these extensions to identify the file type and open them in the correct application).
The UCLDH Repository does not currently have any subdirectories for any particular files. If you do have a batch of files you'd like to keep in a separate directory, do not hesitate to create such a directory.
The UCLDH Repository does not automatically index its holdings, so new additions need to be indexed manually. Thus, after uploading a new poster, for instance, the addition should be referenced from the Posters and Leaflets page (flyers should go on that page as well, presumably).
Linking
There's a preference for files to be hosted in UCLDH Repository, but no such requirement. Files hosted in other locations, e.g. Flickr and Slideshare, may be linked to from any of the Repository pages.
New Repository pages
Feel free to create them.
Preferences
The Repository has a few principles, such as:
Preference for UCL hosting
Don't distribute files via Dropbox or similar third-party storage services. Upload them to the UCLDH Repository.
Exceptions may be photo/graphics files and presentation slides (eg. Powerpoint, Keynote, OOo Impress), which stand to benefit from the nice interfaces offered by Flickr and Slideshare, respectively.
Preference for open file formats
Whenever realistic, the UCLDH Repository avoids proprietary file formats.
In particular: the UCLDH Repository distributes PDF rather than MS Word files.
Here's why:
- Jeff Goldberg: MS-Word is Not a document exchange format
- Richard Stallman: We Can Put an End to Word Attachments
Preference for HTML
Non-HTML files break the flow of browsing the Web. When linking to any information on the UCLDH site, say from the DH Blog, make sure you preferentially link to the HTML version, offering the PDF as an alternative for anyone who'd like to print it. In other words, it's nice to link to a PDF of an annual Events Programme, but not unless you link to the UCLDH Events in plain old HTML first (which, needless to say, should also be developed first).