As part of the Digital Services Programme, we want to rebuild the TU Delft repository.
Part of this is a technical challenge. The current system runs on Islandora 7, as well as various other bits and pieces, and needs an overhaul
But it’s also a strategic and visual challenge. What new functions can we actually offer users with the repository of the future? And what will it look like?
We were delighted to get help with this question from a Masters student from the faculty of Industrial Design, Ashley Hendrik.
Ashley did detailed work on assessing future directions for the repository, in particular for Masters Theses. The specific questions she posed were the following:
- What types of (interactive) media can be useful for reporting for published theses?
- How do we encourage students and alumni to add (interactive) media to their reports / the repository?
- What do these new (interactive) multimedia reports look like?
- Is there a way to (programmatically) add multimedia elements to already published reports?
- How do different users use the repository? What are their wants and needs?
- How can the design of the repository and its search engine support those use cases?
- Does this new repository design fit the wants and needs of its stakeholders?
Ashley’s answers to this as a prototype on her website (and also as a pdf on the current TU Delft repository:)