Our May Instructor Spotlights are Blake Carver and Jonathan Green. Blake and Jonathan are teaching Github for Everyone on May 11.
Blake Carver is Systems Administrator at Lyrasis Digital Technology Services, where he manages the servers and infrastructure that supports our hosted ArchivesSpace, Islandora and CollectionSpace.
Jonathan Green was on the original team that wrote Islandora 7.x, and as a technical lead at Lyrasis, is responsible for making sure all the behind-the-scenes servers and software are running smoothly and securely so that our hosting clients can focus on their core mission.
We recently chatted with Blake and Jonathan as part of our Instructor Spotlight Series to learn more about Github and their upcoming class.
For those new to Github, what is the primary reason librarians should explore it?
BC: One primary reason librarians should explore Github is there is already so much good stuff! Obviously anyone coding or working with any digital projects or collections, Github is one of the best places to manage code or scripts. Librarians have always been very collaborative, and GitHub makes it easy to share stuff and collaborate with other librarians and developers on their projects. It's a great place to find new projects as well. The huge community of devs means you can find most open-source projects on GitHub. You'll be able to find, learn, contribute and start your own projects.
Many libraries use open-source software for various library functions, such as cataloging, circulation, and interlibrary loan. Koha and Evergreen are there. Along with ArchivesSpace, DSpace and Duracloud. There's endless tutorials, code samples, and documentation for various projects and tools.
Not to spoil any of your content for the class, but is Github free to use?
BC: Github has both free and paid plans. The free stuff will probably cover any personal projects, small teams and open-source projects. For larger projects that need higher limits on things there are a few paid plans. You get more stuff like storage, testing, security features and more extensive collaboration options.
How can Github support open access systems for galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAMs)?
BC: The most obvious way GitHub supports us is hosting open-source software. With all the tools and code already there it makes it easy for GLAMs to find folks to work with, and learn from. Along with sharing code, it's a nice place to share data and metadata. I don't have any examples, but it seems like you could use Github to do some kind of digital exhibits via the basic hosting/sharing offered. There's also a bunch of open data standards orgs that use GitHub. IIIF, Schema.org and The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative are just a few.
For fun, what are you reading, listening to, or watching these days?
JG: I’ve been working on The Palace Project at Lyrasis, which is our ebook and audiobook lending app. It's been a wonderful opportunity for me to indulge my interest in reading and listening to audiobooks. Recently, I've listened to two fascinating books: "The Knowledge Machine" by Michael Strevens and "Chip War" by Chris Miller. "The Knowledge Machine" explores the origins and meanings of science, while Chip War traces the development of microchips and their influence on modern life and military systems.
BC: I spend most of my time reading documentation and monitor web pages, I don't do much reading for fun. I've been listening to Bully, Tugboat Annie and PONY lately. I'm in the middle of watching "Unstable" on Netflix now.