Building Future-proof Digital Publications at the Getty. A talk from the 2015 conference of the Museum Computer Network.

1. Building Future-Proof Digital Publications at the Getty
Eric Gardner
Digital Publication Developer, Getty Publications

2. The Problem
• As museum technologists, we occupy an uncomfortable
intersection between two very different timeframes.
• Technology changes very rapidly, while scholarship unfolds
over years or decades.
• This contradiction is even sharper where cultural heritage is
concerned; the timeframe we are concerned with is potentially
endless.

3. The future becomes the past far more
quickly than we expect it to.

5. When is the last time you used a
20-year-old piece of software?

6. The Domesday Project
BBC, 1986

7. Photos: Chris Whytehead
chrisacorns.computinghistory.org.uk/Computers/Domesday.html

8. Photo: Regregex (Wikimedia)

10. How do we avoid creating another
“obsolete future”?

14. Photo: CERN

15. The birth of the World Wide Web
• Created by Sir Tim Berners-Lee in 1989
• Originally envisioned as a platform for sharing
research data at CERN in Switzerland
• Amazingly the first web page still works!

16. Party like it’s 1989?
• A lot has changed since the early web
• Documents become Sites become Apps
• Today’s web can:
- Drive you somewhere
- Take you shopping
- Deliver your groceries
- Find your life partner
- etc…

17. Restatement of the Problem
• Our tools have become much more powerful, but they
have also become tremendously more complex.
• This complexity, when not carefully managed, ensures that
our projects are going to have a limited shelf-life.

18. Structure of a modern website (c. 2010)
Data
Relational
Database (SQL)
CMS
Web CMS engine (PHP)
Templates, accounts,
security, live 24/7
Client
Desktop web
browsers. HTML, CSS,
JS. Some interactivity

19. Structure of a modern website (c. 2010)
Database CMS Client
Human-Readable

20. Structure of a cutting-edge website (c. 2015)
Multiple
Data Sources
Traditional DBs,
NoSQL, remote
APIs and services
Network of
micro-services
Distributed across
different hardware,
languages, locations
Multiple devices
& platforms
Responsive design,
Internet of Things,
native apps

22. Complexity Blues
• Complex, dynamic web applications are capable of
amazing things, and they can deliver an incredible
experience to users.
• However, keeping the machinery running is a complicated
task, often requiring a team of specialists. Once created,
each new product is really a process: it must be fed,
watered, and actively maintained.

23. Do publishers need to turn into software
developers in order to survive the 21st century?

24. Feature or bug?
• Dynamic, real-time updates (up to the minute)?
• A platform where non-technical users can easily create or
edit content?
• Ability to handle thousands or millions of active users?
• Ability to show all those users different things by
anticipating their interests, tracking their activity, etc?

25. Feature or bug?
• Dynamic, real-time updates (up to the minute)?
• A platform where non-technical users can easily create
or edit content
• Ability to handle thousands of millions of active users?
• Ability to show all those users different things by
anticipating their interests, tracking their activity, etc?

27. Static Site Generators
• Plain Text files + command line program = HTML files
• Became popular among developers who wanted a simple
(and cheap) way to host personal websites and blogs
• One of the first was Jekyll, created by Tom Preston-Werner
(founder, Github); now there are many others
• Virtually all are open-source

28. Static Site architecture
Text Files
Markdown, YAML,
ASCIIDOC, etc.
Generator
Run from the command
line, no need for server
Web Pages
Static HTML, CSS, JS.
Host anywhere

29. Popular Generators
Jekyll (jekyllrb.com) Middleman (middlemanapp.com)

30. There are many more!
StaticGen Directory (staticgen.com)

31. Advantages
• Data remains in a simple, human-readable format will
remain accessible for the foreseeable future (plain text)
• Formats like Markdown allow authors to focus on
semantics, as opposed to presentation
• Working in plain text gives us access to many powerful
tools, like Git (version control)

32. Advantages (continued)
• No server software means no updates, security patches, or
vulnerabilities that can be hacked
• Performance (nothing is faster than serving static HTML)
• Set and forget (but you can still update when needed)
• “Static” is not the opposite of “interactive”

33. Key Technologies
• Markdown (Text content)
• YAML (Data)
• Git & Github (Version Control)

34. Key Technologies
• Markdown (Text content)
• YAML (Data)
• Git & Github (Version Control)

35. # This becomes a <h1> Tag
## This becomes a <h2>, etc.
This is regular text. _Italicize
this_. [Here’s a link](www.google.com)
Many engines also support notes[^1].
[^1]: Not all of them, though.
Simple Markdown Example

37. –John Gruber (creator of Markdown)
https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/
“The overriding design goal for Markdown’s
formatting syntax is to make it as readable as
possible. The idea is that a Markdown-formatted
document should be publishable as-is, as plain
text, without looking like it’s been marked up with
tags or formatting instructions.”

38. Key Technologies
• Markdown (Text content)
• YAML (Data)
• Git & Github (Version Control)

39. ---
title: Back to the Future
date: 10-21-2015
tags: hoverboards, flux capacitors
---
# Time-travel Report
## By Marty McFly
You guys won’t believe what the year
2015 is like!
Simple YAML Example

41. Key Technologies
• Markdown (Text content)
• YAML (Data)
• Git & Github (Version Control)

44. Static Publishing at the Getty
• Convert author texts into Markdown, and data into YAML
• Use Github for collaborative editing
• One set of source content produces multiple output
formats (web, ePub, PDF, print on demand)

45. Octavo (coming soon)
• A printer’s term from the Renaissance for a small, portable
format of book (half of a quarto), popularized by Aldus
Manutius of Venice (c. 1501)
• A set of open-source tools to facilitate digital publishing in
multiple formats with static tools. Based on the Middleman
static site generator. Will be released next year.

46. Demo Time

47. Further Reading
Domesday Article (2002): http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/mar/03/
research.elearning
Domesday Reloaded: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/domesday
CERN and the WWW: info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html
Markdown: https://guides.github.com/features/mastering-markdown/
Static Site Generators: Jekyll, Middleman, StaticGen directory
Git Tutorial: try.github.io

48. Acknowledgements
Animated GIFs: giphy.com
Domesday Project info: Chris Whytehead,
chrisacorns.computinghistory.org.uk/Computers/Domesday.html
XKCD comic: https://xkcd.com/1597/
Icons courtesy of the Noun Project (Austin Condiff, iconsmind.com, Ian
Kirkland, Leonardo Schneider)