Extending the conversation on the new invisibility/visibility of the library in the digital age begun by Tom Scheinfeldt in Nobody Cares about the Library, we (Mary Isbell and I) would like to discuss if/how creating a digital archive requires the scholar to step back as  “the author” and instead become a curator of data and content. In his post, Scheinfeldt argues that the library should embrace invisibility by encouraging access to content through better search interfaces, APIs, and social media. How does this notion of visibility/invisibility help us think about the challenges facing DH scholars for whom visible authorship is the means to tenure and promotion? Is it fair to say that tools like Omeka have prompted a trend in curatorship amongst scholars who would otherwise rely on the library for that work? Has it also provided a way for the library to become more visible?

This session will show users how the content management system of he Cuban Theater Digital Archive (cubantheater.org) works. It will allow artists, scholars, and librarians to test it out and consider its use for other theater/performance digital archives. The platform is built upon a relational database structure that guides the creation of a modular system architecture, built using existing open source software to ensure interoperability with other tools or modules being developed elsewhere to support digital humanities initiatives. This infrastructure provides rich interaction and easy navigation of site content, facilitates contributions of text and multimedia content from geographically dispersed partners while placing intellectual property rights at the forefront of the content submission work flow, increases capacity to create and deliver video content along with appropriate metadata, and allows for the peer review, approval, and innovative scholarly interaction with and publication of site content.  works.

For the technologically savvy: This content management framework, named Romeu after the Cuban musician Armando Romeu, was made live at cubantheater.org in early 2012, with access to the system opened to all significant content contributors. In addition, the Romeu software powering the CTDA was made available as open source software at github.com/umdsp/romeu. Romeu is built on the Python-based Django framework and it aims to be a simple but powerful content management system for multilingual theatrical archives. Vaunting itself as a “web framework for perfectionists with deadlines,” Django allows for the quick, elegant deployment of textual data-driven websites. As another plus, the Python programming language which underpins it has always been at the forefront of internationalization, a distinct advantage when compared with certain other options on the open source market.