Digitizing Development: Do the Greenstone Documentation Manuals Explain to Developing Countries How to Create Good Digital Libraries?
Kristina K. Garner · Carolina Digital Repository (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) · 2019
Free and Open Source Software is becoming increasingly popular, especially as a tool for international development. One type of open source software getting more notice is Greenstone. Greenstone is a suite of software for building and distributing digital library software and developed by the New Zealand Digital Library Project at the University of Waikato in cooperation with UNESCO and Human Info NGO of Belgium. The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) created A Framework of Guidance for Building Good Digital Libraries for developing organizations and donor organizations to ensure the creation of high quality digital libraries. This paper presents an evaluation of the Greenstone documentation manuals for evidence that they instruct readers of various technological ability on the concepts illustrated by NISO's Framework. The documentation manuals covered just over half of the principles. A major issue with the documentation is that though it may mention a term or task, it does not explain the importance of it. Improving the documentation manuals could potentially influence Greenstone users to create digital libraries that are of a high quality, and consequently make Greenstone an even more useful tool for international development.