Webinar Recording and Ways to Try Out Variations (March 2009)

On March 4, 2009, over 90 participants attended a Variations open source informational webinar. If you missed the webinar, you can watch a recording of it, view the slides, or read through the webinar chat Q&A on the webinar page.

If you would like to try out Variations, you can use the new browser-based audio player or download a demo client from the Try Out Variations page.

Variations System Released as Open Source (February 2009)

The Variations3 project is pleased to announce the availability of the full Variations software system as open source. Now any interested institution can download the Variations system to use for online delivery of streaming audio and scanned scores. For more information, see the links below.

Batch Loading Algorithm Available (December 2008)

The Variations3 project has performed a series of experiments designed to maximize the information we can map to our work-based metadata model from MARC Bibliographic and Authority records. The biggest strength of our "batch loading" algorithm is better identification of Works that are represented in bibliographic records. The output of our batch loading work is data that conforms to the current Variations work-based metadata model, although we will be updating our specifications to output fully FRBRized data in the future. The full algorithm and supporting documents are now available.

New Variations Project funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (September 2008)

Indiana University's Digital Library Program has received a federal grant of $481,987 to demonstrate the benefits of an emerging form of cataloging using IU's vast collections of sound recordings and scores at the Cook Music Library. Responding to a challenge by the Library of Congress to test standards in the way libraries catalog and describe materials with multiple formats, IU's Digital Library Program will provide the nationwide library community a real-world case for testing and evaluation. This new project builds upon the work of the Variations2 and Variations3 projects in developing and testing work-based metadata models, and will result in the entire score and recording holdings of the Cook Music Library being searchable through the Variations system.

More information:

Demos Available (July 2008)

Some new demo movies of Variations are now available on this site. Just click on the demos tab.

Phase 2 FRBR-Based Metadata Model Document Available (July 2008)

A new report, Definition of a FRBR-based Metadata Model for the Indiana University Variations3 Project, Phase 2: FRBR Group 2 & 3 Entities and FRAD, is now available. This report extends the work previously reported to include an analysis of FRBR Group 2 & 3 entities as well as to the entities and attributes described in FRAD. Please send comments to Jenn Riley.

Variations3 Metadata Guide Released (November 2007)

The Variations3 team is pleased to announce the release of a preliminary version of the Variations3 Metadata Guide, aimed at providing documentation of cataloging practices for the Variations3 test sites. Stay tuned as we continue to add content to the Metadata Guide website.

New Metadata Model Document Available (September 2007)

A new report, Definition of a FRBR-based Metadata Model for the Indiana University Variations3 Project, is now available for review. This report defines, for the purposes of discussion, what a FRBR-based metadata model for digital musical audio recordings, bitmapped score images, and encoded score notation would look like. Please send comments to Jenn Riley.