How to Guide to CoCO
A VERSION OF THIS WAS USED HANDOUT DURING THE WORKSHOPS AND HAS SINCE BEEN UPDATED.
This guide is intended to help you get started with CoCo. If you are interested in a tutorial on more advanced use, please contact Rosemary at rosemary(@)mailb.org
Getting Started and Installing the Software
CoCo is known to work on Raspberry Pi's or Linux computers with Debian 12.
To install CoCo, follow the instructions at: https://git.collectionsofcollections.net/coco/coco/
Once the software is installed it can network with other nodes either in the local area network (LAN) or using a public key to find peer nodes outside the LAN.
Customising metadata
You can edit the metadata field of CoCo, however this involves some skills with Python and Java Script. If you want to customise the metadata of your instance please get in touch at rosemary (@) mailb.org.
Peering with other nodes
Once the software is installed it can network with other nodes either in the local area network (LAN) or using a public key to find peer nodes outside the LAN.
To add another Node, go to User -> Peers in the menu at the top of the window. This will bring up a dialogue box which shows you a public key which you can send to other nodes so that they can peer with you. Once you have another node public key you can add it in the below section of the dialogue box and also give the node a customised name.
When you are peered with another node, you can view their collection and download items from their collection into yours. This means each node can act as a backup for aspects of other nodes' collections, as well as facilitate collaborative annotation of items shared across different nodes.
Uploading your own material
The easiest way to upload items to a node from your computer is to drag and drop files from your file browser onto the CoCo interface.
Once you have uploaded your items, you will be able to see them in the main area of the interface. From there, you can edit the metadata associated with each item.
Viewing and editing items on your node
On the CoCo interface, you will see a sidebar displaying all the different nodes you are connected to, as well as others on the LAN network.
By clicking on each node, you can view the material specific to their collections. You can also get an overview of all the collections from the different nodes by clicking on Libraries, located at the top of the sidebar.
Under the node you are working from, you will also see an inbox in the sidebar. This is where other nodes can send you messages.
When you have selected a node or the Libraries overview, you can scroll through a thumbnail view of the collection.
Or a list view of the collection:
There are two small buttons on the top left-hand side of the filters that allow you to sort the collection by different fields, such as title, location, date, date of input, etc., using a dropdown menu.
Another way to sort the items is by using the different filters at the top of the preview area. The filter fields can also be adjusted by using the double arrow button to the left of each filter field name.
Creating reading list
CoCo allows you to create public reading lists from the collections, which other nodes can view
To create a list, go to List in the main menu bar. From here, you can either create a new list, to which you can add items later, or create a list from a selection of items. In the latter case, you need to select the items using Shift + Click before creating the list. The keyboard shortcuts are listed in the menu.
With the smart list options you are able to make lists based on different queries and their results (see below).
In the dialogue box, you can define different search criteria. You can add or remove conditions by clicking the plus and minus buttons next to the condition lists. Then, name your list at the top.
Please note that lists are public to other nodes that are connected to you.
Viewing an item
Once you click on an item, you will be taken to the single item view. There are two different item views depending on whether the item has been downloaded into your collection.
If the item is present on another node but has not been downloaded into your collection, it will appear as follows:
*Please refer to the "Downloading and Sharing Material from Other Nodes" sections below to learn how to download the book into your collection.
If the item has been downloaded into your collection, you will be able to view it in the document reader below the thumbnail and metadata, as well as see any annotations made by yourself or users from other nodes. You can also edit and add metadata for the item.
We are still working on a method to display changes or different versions of metadata for items. This feature was highlighted during the workshops as a useful tool for emphasising and being transparent about the changing nature of historical records.
Editing Metadata
At present, to edit the metadata of a record, you need to double-click in the field you wish to edit. Some fields, such as Title, can have only one entry, whereas others, like Subjects, can have multiple entries. Multiple entries should be separated by a comma.
Metadata descriptions (with reference to Sloane Lab and British Museum Data)
Record Name: Taken from the record's title in the BM catalogue.
Creator: An entity primarily responsible for creating the resource.
Place: A spatial region or named location.
Technique: The method used to create the object, such as painting or etching.
Object Type: The type or category of the object.
Inscription Type: This is derived from data from the BM and refers to different types of mark-making and methods of inscribing an item.
Subject: The subject fields from the BM and Sloane Knowledge Lab have been imported into this field, but it can also be used more freely for tagging the item.
From Dataset: Refers to which of Sloane’s collections the physical item originates from (see Sloane's Collections).
Sloane Lab Knowledge Base: A link to the item in the Sloane Lab Knowledge Base.
Source: The digital repository where the item originally comes from.
Historical Catalogue Entry: A link to the historical entry from Sloane’s written catalogue as detailed in the Sloane Lab Knowledge Base.
Description: An account of the resource. In the case of these CoCo nodes, this is taken from the description in the DM online repository.
Curator Comments: Additional notes added by the curator, in this case, from the British Museum.
Downloading and sharing material from other NODES
One of the key features of CoCo is its ability to interface with other collections on different nodes and download items from remote collections into your own. To do this, navigate to an item in another node’s collection and click the "Download Item" button at the top right of the single item view (see below). The item will then be transferred into your collection.
Once the item has been transferred to your collection, you will be able to view the item itself, rather than just the metadata associated with it.
Reading the PDF and Making Annotations
To read the document and make annotations, scroll down to the document viewer located below the item's metadata (see below).
You can scroll through the item in the viewer, zoom in on the document, and search within the document if it has been OCRed.
A sidebar should be visible alongside the document reader. If it isn't, go to View -> Show Annotations or press SHIFT+A. You can also hide the annotation sidebar using the same shortcut.
Once the sidebar is visible, click the "Highlight" button at the top right of the view (see above) and use the tool to highlight a section of the document.
After highlighting a section, click on the highlight, and it will appear in the sidebar.
You can then write your annotation below the image. Once you’ve finished, click off the annotation, and it will be saved automatically. While you cannot edit annotations made by other users, you can double-click on your own annotations to edit them later.
You can add multiple highlights to a single document. The highlights and corresponding annotations will appear chronologically under each other (see below).
