Blog Site Changes!

I am experimenting with hosting this blog within my website. It will now be available at http://www.robincpike.com/socialavarchivist/.

Website Plan

Step one of my website update is relatively complete--I have created a new site under a new host.

Step two of my new site is is progress. I have switched http://www.robincpike.com/ to a new host. The DNS/CNAME switch was less tricky than last time, and has already been confirmed! I plan to maintain my Google Sites original site as an example of a free site under the generic URL http://sites.google.com/site/robincpike/, which is why I originally bought my domain, to have an example of this site for my project.

Step three will include migrating the rest of my content and migrating my blog. The current URLs should transfer, but it will all be under the robincpike.com domain. I've also migrated the Google Analytics tracking code. Let's hope that transfers smoothly.

Step four, create web tutorials.

New Look Coming Soon

I'm in the process of giving robincpike.com a makeover and it will soon be moved to a new hosting server (not free, but totally affordable even for an archivist) so I can add "Web Tools For Archivists" tutorials that Google Sites (free) makes a bit clunky to create. You get what you pay for. This blog, which is currently separate from my site, will also be integrated into the main site. I'm also looking to add feeds onto my homepage--my blog, what blogs I like to read, etc.

What does this mean?

The URL for this blog will be changing, though the hosting service preserves old URLs, so those should (in theory) still work.

robincpike.com and social a/v archivist should still be indexed by search engines, and should still appear in their normal ranking. Google me. You'll see. Well, not yet.

I've already created an entire new section so I can add web tutorials for archivists, and might even integrate video. We'll see.

I will be blogging about these changes for the benefit of archivists or other people who'd like to do something similar.

A/V Website

After 1.5 years of work, developing my skills, and using two student assistants, the CUA Archives A/V Website went live today! The previous website is available as a screenshot in this post, for comparision.

SEO

I've been experimenting with SEO, that is Search Engine Optimization, for my website and blog. I have figured out Google (not hard since my site and blog are built using, and hosted by Google), and I now appear in the first page of results on Yahoo (when searching "Robin C Pike" and "Audio Visual Archivist"). I have yet to figure out Bing, even though I've submitted my site a few times, but I might be having problems with it because I'm hosted by their competitor.

SEO is important for website constuction because search engines can't find your site without it! It's easy enough to learn the basics, and this guide has helped me.

Professional Portfolio

I created http://www.robincpike.com/ a few months ago, and have been slowly developing my professional portfolio. I was wondering if my readers had any advice on new additions to this site?

Audio Progress

I made some progress (with the HUGE help of the Music Library Tech) today. He was able to re-wire the audio visual area for me, and hook up the reel to reel player again (it has not been hooked up since I received my new Mac). I can't wait to mess around with iLogic Express and the player next week.

The next step is getting an analog to digital converter and mixing board so I can have multiple media plugged in at once (the tech also recommended some of those for me)!

I was also able to finish the first draft of the audio preservation guidelines I'm writing and get some feedback on some edits.

I also heard back from the Library website manager and I have a test site for my audio visual webpage! We made some edits today so it should hopefully be online next week!

And in addition to all of this, I had some photo requests!

I'm just so glad that I made so much progress today because it's a short week--no work tomorrow on account of DC Snowpocolypse (part deux)!

If I was creating a fun site, I would use these http errors by Adam Koford, and found via the Practical Archivist's blog. But no... http://www.robincpike.com/ should probably remain professional. Besides, errors aren't really good.

Website Woes

The moral for today is "WYSI(not always)WYG." After spending the morning fixing errors, I feel the pressure to learn real coding. I guess I'll do that right after I master audio engineering.

More Multi-tasking

I spent a large portion of the day training my practicum student. I started her on the acetate discs from the School of Music. We went over Dublin Core, Library of Congress subject headings, degredation signs of acetate discs, and re-housing. I sort of felt bad diving in so soon, especially because she had so many questions, and I hope I answered all of them. The first time I had to do that sort of thing, practically, I had already done it in class, and I've been around acetates from my grandparents' collection since I was a child. She asked a lot of good questions, and I hope I did a decent job explaining things today.

I also reviewed folder-level processing for photograph collections with my part-time assistant. I've been having her read Roe, and I have finally found a decent example of organization within the large collection I'm having her work on (after I spent so much time in the unprocessed sections last week). My next concern for this project is this: limited to an EAD finding aid, how do I accurately organize and describe digital folders of digital photos that have been taken by the day or week, without moving the photos around. I know the most effective way to do this would not use EAD, but Dspace, or another database system, but that is not an option--what has been established as a standard at the Archives is what will be used.

I have ordered supplies for several projects over the last two days, and will have to continue that tomorrow.

The rest of my day was spent trying to validate the A/V website pages. I'm having problems with and

tags that somehow appeared on some pages when I edited the pages in a WYSIWYG view. I don't know coding proficiently enough to write an entire page in code, but now I'm paying for my shortcuts. Or rather, I will continue to pay tomorrow...

A/V Website, Update

I have finished my first round of coding on the new a/v website! I have eight webpages and two new finding aids (that previously didn't really have a place on the Archives website). I have also included one new policy--A/V media request fees. I can't wait until it's approved and posted! I know I'll probably have to make changes, but I feel good about the first draft!

Until then, browse the sad little webpage that exists now:

Introducing Snap Shots from Snap.com

I just installed a nice little tool on this site called Snap Shots that enhances links with visual previews of the destination site, interactive excerpts of Wikipedia articles, MySpace profiles, IMDb profiles and Amazon products, display inline videos, RSS, MP3s, photos, stock charts and more.

Sometimes Snap Shots bring you the information you need, without your having to leave the site, while other times it lets you "look ahead," before deciding if you want to follow a link or not.

Should you decide this is not for you, just click the Options icon in the upper right corner of the Snap Shot and opt-out.

Website in the Works

On Friday I almost completed the audio visual section of the Archive's website. The only thing I have yet to complete is the collection listing for the manuscript collections or series. I have completed the first half of the alphabet. When I return in January, I will finish and be able to submit all of the changes to the website administrators. I expect there will be some changes. My goal is to have the eight web pages up by February.

My next step is to get some kind of blog capability so I can do a "Featured Collection" page, and either list the most recently processed collection, or list collections that have had recent work performed (such as the Department of Athletic films). Currently, we do have a news section on the main Archives website, though the entries are only text, with no option for imbedded images or streaming video (http://www.lib.cua.edu/newsevents/category/acua/). Not that these features are revolutionary in the Archives website world, but these features, because it would be able to keep us competing with the most web-savvy academic archives: http://www.lib.unc.edu/blogs/news/index.php/category/exhibits/
(like this but more interactive).

Access and Promotion

We preserve, we process, we make sure everything looks pretty in their Hollinger boxes, but when it comes to access, what do we do? How do we make sure people find out about our work?!

I am spending the next week finalizing changes to the current A/V website, which current needs a TON of updating. Yep. That's it. Just that one little paragraph. It definitely does not represent my collections, and does not represent any of my work. I need to finish the lists of collections, and then it's ready to go live!