This week it was Scotty’s turn to be on the road, so in the absence of our DA (Designated Adult), the RDC crew did some experimenting with Steven’s new auto-downloader program and looked at how to create a collection for the XO. We ran a few tests downloading some of the subject groups in our target collection – and the program is working splendidly! We also spent some time looking at the new S3 API recently released by the Internet Archive as yet another alternative means of downloading the IACL collection (in addition to the Open Library Bulk Access Downloader). We plan to use our auto-downloader – but it is always good to have a backup plan.

Ideally, we want to make the creation of these bundles as automated as possible, and extend the ability of the downloader to retrieve materials from any source so anyone who wants to can start creating bundles for the OLPC XO. Right now, Steven is exploring to see if he can get his auto-downloader to create the bundles according to the structure format outlined on the OLPC wiki, auto-generating the necessary directories and library files. He is also developing a roadmap of pre- and post-launch deliverables for his app so he can continue development beyond the RDC Summer Mentoring program. We plan to host his code and continue to help him with his quest! Levi is pitching in with the first order of design business: creating a custom icon that will represent our IACL-4-OLPC bundle like the ones at wiki.laptop.org.

We also brainstormed the idea of downloading the books in bulk (IACL-complete) as well as in the organized sub-collections (IACL-by-topic) as represented in our target collection. As we mentioned previously, our target collection is essentially a subset of the IACL. This target collection was also used in another open source project called the Virtual Shelf, created by two talented developers from the Berkeley School of Information (their prototype application only runs in Mozilla Firefox 3. If you cannot view it, you can read more about it in the developer’s master thesis). We want to retain the meta-information if possible (at this point, just the sub-collection information from the Internet Archive), but also give others the ability to build their collection from scratch. The idea is to pass this collection on to others – not just the OLPC, but to other folks with XOs – and they should be responsible for their own librarianship. We do want to do as much as possible to help get them started.

Speaking of passing on the collection … we will be picking up some of the area XOs this week. First stop: our friends at the Port Orford Library!