Dotting the I’s and Crossing the T’s

The beta release of the updated EaaSI UI is due for release in the coming month. As we approach this deadline, the teams at OpenSLX and PortalMedia are busy putting the final touches on the software and at the same time, developing new capabilities (e.g., support for BagIt packages, storage management for a hosted service, etc.) that will be rolled out in the near future. Internal testing is scheduled to begin soon, followed by testing with the EaaSI nodes and an opportunity for community members (like you, reader!) to help us review the software. Stay tuned for more details on how you can get involved and for a detailed look at the new UI in the coming months.

2019 EaaSI Webinar: Recordings and Transcripts

From July – October of 2019, the EaaSI staff ran a webinar series to introduce EaaSI and hear from Node Host teams about how EaaSI is situated in their existing practices. You can now access the recordings and transcripts for every episode:

July: “Why EaaSI? A System Overview

August: “Legal and Institutional Policy Framework for EaaSI

September: “EaaSI Metadata Model and Wikidata

October: “EaaSI Configuration Workflows

Node Symposia

Over the past year, the original nodes in the EaaSI Network began testing and, in many cases, using the software for local research and teaching opportunities. We are thrilled by the enthusiasm and drive of our partner institutions and wouldn’t be where we are today without them. To help raise awareness of their incredible work within their campus communities, EaaSI is sponsoring a symposium at several node institutions including Carnegie Mellon University, University of California – San Diego, Stanford University and Notre Dame University. These events will be designed and organized by Node Host teams; attended by local faculty, university leadership, researchers, colleagues, and students; and will illustrate how software curation and emulation can serve the mission of their institution.

Node Host Reflections

The the latest Node Host Reflections Blog in our ongoing series, Node Host team at Notre Dame writes about the ‘co-determinacy of user needs and preservation strategies,’ zeroing in the specific set of computing architectures reflected in their collections, and emulating Virtual Dig to address data that used to accompany monographs on CD-ROMs.


Promotional graphic advertising Notre Dame’s recent Node Host Reflection blog post

Software Prioritization

Following an initial software prioritization survey in Summer 2019, the EaaSI team requested community software stories in January. Software stories could include proprietary and/or open-source software with the caveat that if our participants submitted proprietary software, we would do our very best to find the closet open-source alternative to add to the sandbox.

Promotional graphic advertising EaaSI call for Community Software Stories

Promotional graphic advertising EaaSI call for Community Software Stories
We asked people the following:

“List specific software titles or types that have been particularly significant in your personal and/or professional life.”

“What did/does this software do?”

“What is one or more reason that this software is/was significant to you?”

Sincerest thanks to all those who submitted your stories! We are extending the deadline in the hope that more people will tell us what they would like to see in the EaaSI sandbox.

Here’s an example of one of the software stories that will shape our future work:

Specific title: “HexEdit”

What did it do? “Allows direct file editing (hexadecimal or ASCII values) in old versions of Apple OS.”

Why was it significant? “I discovered HexEdit when I was teenager in the late 90s. This was the first software that got me thinking about how computers work “behind the scenes” and it basically blew my mind—prior to this I had almost zero knowledge of programming or computer science. With the app you could do things like edit save files for the video game I was super into at the time <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_Velocity_(video_game)> or mess around with any file or app in OS7. Had lots of fun breaking things back then and learning how to fix the only computer in the house. HexEdit was a gateway!”

Preferred citation:

Vowell, Zach. (2019, November 1). EaaSI Update December 2019 – January 2020. Software Preservation Network. https://www.softwarepreservationnetwork.org/eaasi-update-december-2019-january-2020/