Dspace (Unit 6)

I had problems finding the webapps line during the dspace installation, the first time I used the control-w command (so happy to know about this search command!), it could not locate the file. So I went back a few steps in the install and edited the additions to the /etc/default/tomcat6. This time I left a space between the last line and the beginning of the additions (tomcat user & security). I saved, and when I got back to the stomcat6/server.xml I was able to locate the file for editing.

I think that some of my confusion stemmed from the fact that I didn’t know where to stop in the standard install and then begin in the Dspace configuration. Also I experienced some issues with the static IP I initially assigned. I'm not sure if this was behind my connectivity issue, however I was able to ping successfully after using the IP I originally used for the last VM.

I really like the Dspace interface overall, especially the organizational hierarchy of creating a community, then a collection, and then adding your items. However collaboration too is inherent in the organizational structure in that communities can share collections. I'm looking forward to adding all of my metadata fields as established in my application profile. I think this will make my collection items that much more accessible and the item records much more robust.

Lastly, I liked how easy it was to add a logo & images to my Dspace site. I had to reformat my logo a few times, and the process was very straightforward and quick. Perhaps it's just me, but I felt that Dspace was far more customizable, and that the administrative functions were clearer - there was one point during the Drupal customization that I felt the page looked very crowded and confusing to navigate. I did not have this experience with Dspace, but perhaps that's because at this point my metadata is pretty sparse. We will see...