Unit 6: DSpace Install

The install of DSpace actually went pretty smoothly. I had a problem early on with the connection which preventing me from running the aptitude commands, but that was just because I didn't realize based on the instructions that we had to put the system in bridged mode for the static IP address to work properly. After I sorted that issue out with Professor Fulton's help, everything was fine. I think understood the gist of the instructions and individual commands, i.e. it made overall sense what I was trying to accomplish. I still find that I am mainly demonstrating my ability to carefully follow instructions and pay attention to detail sometimes rather than fully comprehending what I am typing. In the "real world" though, I suspect that is frequently the position archival professionals are placed in, especially if working at institutions without adequate IT support. What matters is that it worked! The other two examples of instructions look different but familiar at the same time. It is not surprising to me that installations can be approached from slightly different ways. The overall components of the installs looked similar if in slightly different orders. They weren't as helpful as Professor Fulton's videos mainly because they lack the audio commentary patiently talking you through all the steps and what to expect next, but they still looked fairly simple and straightforward. I think it is important to remember that we are not alone and there is no need to reinvent the wheel. There are user communities and lots of resources out there to turn to for help in installing this kind of content management system, assuming of course that you have some basic IT infrastructure in place to begin with. I think this is something I could do on my own in a basic deafult sort of way. As I have learned from working with alot of different software systems, its when you want to get into customization or advanced functionality that the assistance of a systems specialist is usually needed.