The Cumulus program was developed to address the needs of management and cataloging of information sources across various fields of knowledge. The idea originated within the course «Specialized Information Sources in Science and Technology», part of the Documentation studies at Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), which initially lacked the necessary updates to identify the most current primary information sources.
It is evident, however, that the high rate of obsolescence in scientific literature—particularly in the fields of pure sciences, technology, and engineering—rendered any printed manual obsolete within a few months. To help resolve this issue and enable students and researchers to access a comprehensive analytical guide to information sources, a program was conceived capable of cataloging and classifying not only documentary sources but also their original institutional sources. This entails defining a hierarchical cataloging model based on the identification of corporate and personal authorities and their functional competencies, ultimately leading to the identification of documentary sources and resources.
Versions
2.0 – 2011-04-21 – [version with integrated web crawler]
1.0 – 2010-03-13 – [base version]
Specifications
- Cataloging and classification of institutional and documentary sources
- Editing of authorities and thematic categories integrated into the information source cataloging interface
- Query and retrieval via directories and full-text search
- Automatic syndication channels for all cataloged information sources, authorities, and thematic classifications
- Automatic semantic web in well-formed and W3C Consortium-validated RDF format
- System configuration interface for directories, search engine, and syndication channels
- Web crawler system for automatic updating of cataloged information sources
Screenshots
Figure 1. Cumulus program homepage
Figure 2. Information sources cataloging screen
Figure 3. System configuration screen
Figure 4. Thematic directory of information sources
Figure 5. Syndication channel for information sources classified by thematic categories
Figure 6. Graphical view of the semantic web of cataloged information sources
Figure 7. Validation of the RDF schema used for resource identification
Figure 8. Relational schema used in the Cumulus program's semantic web
Publications
- Blázquez-Ochando, M. 2010. Management of information sources in science and technology: Development of the Cumulus program. In: 7th Hispano-Mexican Seminar on Research in Library and Information Science. UNAM: Mexico City. pp.447-460. Available at: http://132.248.242.3/~publica/archivos/libros/7o_seminario_hispanomexicano.pdf
- Blázquez-Ochando, M. 2011. Experience applying the Cumulus program in the course on specialized information sources in science and technology. In: Documentation of Information Sciences. Vol.34, pp.307-317. Available at: http://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/DCIN/article/view/36460