This page describes work completed on the mPach project so far.
October 2012
Staff at the University of Michigan completed a prototype of the Prepper module (see a list of all modules), as well as enhancements to PageTurner to display journal articles encoded in JATS XML, in time for a presentation and demo at the 2012 Digital Library Federation Forum.
September 2012
Staff at the University of Michigan created a mockup of PageTurner changes that will be needed to navigate the XML-based journal articles that will be submitted via mPach. Work also continued on modifications to PageTurner to display JATS XML and embedded media and on refinements to the METS specification for mPach Submission Information Packages. Staff completed wireframes and began coding the Dashboard module (see the list of mPach modules for more information). Michigan staff members will present on mPach at the 2012 DLF Forum.
August 2012
The mPach team at the University of Michigan updated the project timeline on the HathiTrust project page. Work continued on modifications to the HathiTrust PageTurner to display JATS XML, and on refinements to the METS specification for mPach Submission Information Packages. Michigan staff made progress on enhancements to the Norm tool (part of content preparation), specifically enhancements to normalize bulleted lists, figures with captions, and tables. Wireframes are nearly complete for the Dashboard module (see the list of mPach modules for more information on mPach modules). Michigan staff will be presenting on mPach at the 2012 DLF Forum.
July 2012
University of Michigan staff completed a diagram of the mPach system architecture, which has been added to the mPach website. Staff also refined the schema for mapping bibliographic data from JATS XML (the format to be used for encoded text) to MARC records, which are required for ingest into HathiTrust. Work continued on wireframes for the Dashboard module (see a description of all modules), on the profile for the METS file that will accompany digital objects in Submission Information Packages, and on rendering XML articles in the HathiTrust PageTurner.
June 2012
University of Michigan staff rewrote the list of modules to be included in mPach, a package of tools Michigan is developing for publishing open access journal content in HathiTrust. Staff divided modules into three categories: Editorial Workflow and Peer Review, Content Preparation, and HathiTrust. Work continues to adapt PageTurner to handle full-text XML content and to develop wireframes for the Dashboard module. Staff began developing code to validate the Submission Information Package.
May 2012
University of Michigan staff continued work on modifications to the HathiTrust PageTurner to display JATS XML. Staff began development of wireframes for the Dashboard module and are close to the completion of a specification for mapping JATS metadata elements to MARC fields to create analytic records for journal articles.
April 2012
University of Michigan staff continued work on modifications to the HathiTrust PageTurner to display JATS XML. jPach’s Norm module (see descriptions of all jPach modules) can now extract 15 common components of a journal article, plus embedded media, from a DOCX file and create valid JATS with references to associated media files. A specification for a Submission Information Package for jPach content is nearly complete and will be posted to the jPach website soon. Work has begun on developing wireframes for the Dashboard module. A timeline for the project is available on the HathiTrust jPach project page.
March 2012
Staff of the University of Michigan have given a name to the journal publishing platform Michigan will use in conjunction with HathiTrust: jPach. Information about the platform, including design principles and requirements, and a description of modules is posted on the University of Michigan Library website. The project page on the HathiTrust website now includes a full project timeline.
Michigan staff continue work on generating valid JATS XML from DOCX files, rendering JATS XML files in PageTurner, and creating a METS profile for the jPach Submission Information Package.
February 2012
Staff at Michigan completed the first iteration of a tool that is able to create valid JATS XML from simple DOCX files, and continued development on PageTurner to render JATS XML. Staff clarified the goals of the project to include implementation of a publishing system (allowing management of an editorial workflow) in addition to mechanisms for ingest, display, and discoverability of born-digital journal materials in the HathiTrust repository.
January 2012
MPublishing staff at the University of Michigan Library created a timeline for work through early 2013. Work continued on a process to convert styled Word documents into JATS XML, focusing on extraction of metadata, and on adaptation of the HathiTrust PageTurner application to display JATS XML.
December 2011
Staff at the University of Michigan revised the goal statement for HTPub and plans for system architecture. Staff also began work on establishing a project timeline.
November 2011
Staff in MPublishing began work in November on a tool to convert DOCX files to JATS XML and worked with broader stakeholders at the University of Michigan Library to specify additional design requirements and agree on a set of design principles for HTPub. MPublishing staff also reviewed notes from a session at THATCamp Publishing 2011 dedicated to shared infrastructure for publishing, to consider how such an infrastructure might affect the architecture of HTPub tools, and services that might be offered in the future using those tools.
October 2011
MPublishing staff at the University of Michigan gathered input from colleagues in library-based publishing programs in October as they worked to finalize requirements, architecture, and design principles for the new publishing system, and archival package specifications for the published content. Michigan developers began adapting the HathiTrust PageTurner to display the new content based on initial specifications.
September 2011
A project manager from the University of Michigan joined the team working on HTPub, a two-year project to develop a system that will enable MPublishing at the University of Michigan Library to use HathiTrust as a publishing platform for its journals. The team has refined the project goal and requirements and is formulating design principles, a use case specification, and the system architecture. A full-time software developer has joined MPublishing, focusing on the content ingest and publication management components of this system.
July 2011
The University of Michigan has been examining schema options for representing encoded text journal content in the HathiTrust archival package. An investigation of publisher XML formats has yielded a recommendation to use the Journal Archiving and Interchange Tag Set of JATS (an application of NISO Z39.96) as the XML format for encoded text. UM staff are currently researching Portico’s use of a custom profile of an earlier version of this standard in content normalization.
June 2011
The University of Michigan hired the first of two programmers to work on the HTPub project. Interviews will take place in July for the second opening. Meanwhile, Michigan continued to examine schema options for representing journal content in the HathiTrust archival package, and questions surrounding interoperability of the envisioned HTPub software components with the HathiTrust repository.
May 2011
Michigan filled one of two programmer positions advertised for the new HathiTrust publishing initiative, led by the MPublishing division at the University of Michigan Library. The new hire will start on June 27th. The search continues for the second position.
MPublishing recently hired an intern who will be working over the summer to explore potential archival XML schema solutions for electronic journal content.
April 2011
MPublishing recently hired a summer intern who will be working with Michigan staff to define requirements for archival objects to be published using the system. Michigan is in the process of hiring two full-time positions to support the work of the initiative.