Dear all,

I'm a new aspiring GLAM-Wiki contributor; my interest in the community developed serendipitously through a collaborative software development project that we've been working on here at the University of Miami Libraries.

Initially, we wanted to find a way to do something with a new archival metadata standard called EAC-CPF (Encoded Archival Context-Corporate Bodies, Persons, and Families). One thing led to another, and before we knew it, we were working on an editing tool that could help librarians and archivists repurpose some of their existing metadata and descriptions by integrating them into Wikipedia pages.

The tool we developed is called the RAMP editor. "RAMP" stands for "Remixing Archival Metadata Project." It's a lightweight, web-based editor that was designed to do two things: first, generate authority records for creators of archival collections (using EAC-CPF) and then take that structured data and transform it into wiki markup to facilitate the creation or enhancement of Wikipedia pages for those creators. Along the way, it lets you pull in external data and URIs from WorldCat Identities and the Virtual International Authority File (VIAF).

We envision the tool as a platform that could be used to curate Wikipedia pages about the people and organizations in local archival and special collections, as well as to foster local Wikipedia edit-a-thons.

My colleague Matt Carruthers and I did a short presentation on the RAMP editor at the recent Cultural Heritage Archives Symposium at the Library of Congress, and Dominic McDevitt-Parks, who heard about the presentation via Twitter, encouraged me to share the project with the GLAM-Wiki list. We also have an article about RAMP in the next issue of Code4Lib Journal, due to come out in two weeks.

The source code for the RAMP editor is available for download on GitHub: https://github.com/UMiamiLibraries/RAMP. Although we're unable to provide dedicated technical support, I would be happy to assist anyone who would like a hand in getting it set up and running.

Looking forward to future collaboration and participation in the GLAM-Wiki community!

Best regards,
Tim


--
Tim A. Thompson
Metadata Librarian
University of Miami Libraries
1300 Memorial Drive
Coral Gables, Florida 33124
www.library.miami.edu

(305) 284-1827 (office)
(201) 423-9972 (mobile)
www.linkedin.com/in/timathompson
t.thompson5@miami.edu