At this moment in time, uploading massive amounts of files through a HTML5/JS interface might not be practical. Especially resuming such an operation if it is "hard-paused" (as in, the web page is closed) would be challenging. Modern browsers can store the meta-data locally, but the link to the files on disk might be lost.

That said, it would be feasible now using a staging area such as labs or the toolserver. And file APIs are improving constantly.




On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 11:04 AM, Ed Summers <ehs@pobox.com> wrote:
So if you are able to use the Commons API to upload materials from the
GlamWiki Toolset to the Commons it could be written using any Web
framework correct? I guess I'm just wondering if you are constraining
yourself a little bit too much by limiting the development to being
done as a MediaWiki plugin. If you develop your project as a Mediawiki
plugin, I imagine that the more you tailor it to GLAM institutions,
the less likely it will be deployed on the commons, since that
environment isn't just about GLAMs. But maybe I am being overly
pessimistic?

Does the Wikimedia Labs environment prescribe or strongly encourage
you to use Mediawiki as a framework? Are they unwilling to deploy Web
applications that are deployed using different technologies, e.g.
Rails, Django, etc. Or do some people involved in the GlamWiki Toolset
project have a lot of experience developing with MediaWiki, so that is
their preference?

I guess I was thinking a stand alone application that talked to the
commons via the API would be easier to tailor to the GLAM community,
without worrying about the politics of getting it deployed. But
perhaps you need to do things that aren't possible via the API?

Sorry for all the questions, I work as a software developer at the
Library of Congress in the United States, and I definitely see the
need for what you are trying to do. In particular the statistics
gathering functionality that I saw outlined at [1] would of great use.

//Ed

[1] http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:GLAMToolset_project#Goal_2:_Report_on_requirements_for_usage_and_re-usage_statistics_for_GLAM_content

On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 5:47 AM, Maarten Zeinstra <mz@kl.nl> wrote:
> Hi Ed,
>
> This is as of yet unsure.
>
> We are now developing on Wikimedia labs and use the architecture of an extension. This extension will either keep on running on WIkimediaLabs and use Commons' API to upload materials or run as an extension on Wikimedia Commons. Our team is aiming for the latter. However this is something that the sysadmins of Commons need to approve. This also a reason why we are looking for more eyes on the project. To ensure the quality of our code and avoid any possible security risks.
>
> Does this answer your question?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Maarten
>
>
> On Jan 24, 2013, at 11:24 , Ed Summers <ehs@pobox.com> wrote:
>
>> Sorry, by "Wikimedia instance" I of course meant "Mediawiki instance" :-)
>>
>> //Ed
>>
>> On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 5:23 AM, Ed Summers <ehs@pobox.com> wrote:
>>> I guess I'm confused about the expected deployment of the GLAM
>>> Toolset. Is the idea that the plugins you develop will be deployed on
>>> the commons? Or will the GLAM Toolset be deployed in a separate
>>> Wikimedia instance, and then (somehow) the data will be migrated from
>>> it to the commons? Or something else entirely?
>>>
>>> //Ed
>>>
>>> On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 4:09 AM, Maarten Zeinstra <mz@kl.nl> wrote:
>>>> Hi Ed,
>>>>
>>>> The short answer is no.
>>>>
>>>> Mass uploading files from cultural institutions has always been a tailor
>>>> made process. Most of it thanks to the work of Maarten Dammers/ Multichill.
>>>> We are now seeing that more and more cultural institution want to add parts
>>>> of their collection online which makes this original process not manageable.
>>>> This is mainly because there are different standards used within WIkimedia
>>>> Commons and within the cultural institution. This project tries to solve
>>>> that project by giving an interface for these institution to upload data and
>>>> map their internal standard to the standard that Wikimedia Commons uses.
>>>> Also it gives these institutions the option to do it without much assistance
>>>> from a Wikipedian, which speeds things up in the long run.
>>>>
>>>> Does this answer your question?
>>>>
>>>> Cheers,
>>>>
>>>> Maarten Zeinstra
>>>> Project member of the Wiki GLAM Toolset project
>>>>
>>>> On Jan 24, 2013, at 3:42 , Ed Summers <ehs@pobox.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Is it not possible to upload metadata via the API?
>>>>
>>>> On Wednesday, January 23, 2013, Maarten Dammers wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Hi Ed,
>>>>>
>>>>> Op 23-1-2013 11:14, Ed Summers schreef:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Thanks for the update. I was wondering why you need to develop this
>>>>>> new functionality as a mediawiki extension. Is there not enough
>>>>>> functionality in the commons Web API [1]? Or is the plan to create
>>>>>> plugins that will be deployed on commons.wikimedia.org?
>>>>>
>>>>> It's not about uploading large amounts of images (that's easy), but it's
>>>>> about uploading it with metadata properly sorted out.
>>>>> For this handling of metadata the extension will be the interface. Please
>>>>> take a look at the sprint demo's at
>>>>> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:GLAMwiki_toolset_project to get
>>>>> an idea.
>>>>>
>>>>> Hope that that answers your question,
>>>>>
>>>>> Maarten
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> //Ed
>>>>>>
>>>>>> [1] http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/api.php
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Tue, Jan 22, 2013 at 7:50 AM, Geer Oskam <Geer.Oskam@kb.nl> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hi all,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> As you might have heard Wikimedia Nederland, Wikimedia UK, Wikimedia
>>>>>>> France
>>>>>>> and Europeana are collaborating to provide a set of tools to get
>>>>>>> material
>>>>>>> from GLAM institutions onto Wikimedia Commons. The Wiki GLAM Toolset has
>>>>>>> to
>>>>>>> be created in a way that re-use can easily be tracked, and that Commons
>>>>>>> materials can easily be integrated back into the collection of the
>>>>>>> original
>>>>>>> GLAM. You can find more about our the Wiki GLAM Toolset on our project
>>>>>>> page.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Currently we are looking for developers who can help us in this process,
>>>>>>> if
>>>>>>> you are interested please let us know. You can find more specific
>>>>>>> information about our needs on our discussion page.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thank you!
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Geer Oskam
>>>>>>> www.europeana.eu
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Phone: +31 (0)70 31 40 972
>>>>>>> Email: geer.oskam@kb.nl
>>>>>>> Skype: GeerOskam
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Over 20 million cultural records for re-use via Europeana API: find out
>>>>>>> more
>>>>>>> and register for an API-key on http://bit.ly/Reuse_API
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Disclaimer: This email and any files transmitted with it are
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>>>>>>>
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>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
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