ePADD version 9 alpha now available
The ePADD+ Phase 4 project team is giddy to announce the alpha release of ePADD Version 9!
ePADD is a free and open source software originally developed by Stanford Libraries Department of Special Collections and University Archives. It uses natural language processing and machine learning to support archival appraisal, processing, discovery, and delivery for email records of historical or cultural value. The ePADD+ project is a collaboration between Harvard Library, the University of Manchester, and Stanford Libraries to enhance ePADD with support for the long-term preservation of email records. This project is graciously supported by the Email Archives: Building Capacity and Community regrant program, administered by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and funded by the Mellon Foundation.
Full Capture of Email Records and Metadata for Preservation Management
Version 9 enables both the automatic and manual capture of a more complete set of email data and metadata. This includes the full set of header information for the email records, all multi-part bodies and attachment, and accompanying technical, preservation, and provenance metadata. All metadata is stored in a single exportable XML file.
Export of Variable Assets for a Preservation-Ready Package
ePADD now supports the export of an assortment of assets from both the Appraisal and Processing Modules that users can select to create a more comprehensive package for long-term preservation. Optional assets for export currently include the previously available appraised and/or processed MBOX files, as well as the unprocessed canonical email file(s), metadata file, and any additional “sidecar” files that users might choose to include in their preservation package.
Upcoming Work in Phase IV
A volunteer group of ePADD users test this Alpha release over the next two weeks. The final version of the software, incorporating any bug fixes identified by the testers will then be released.. All users are welcome to download and utilize this alpha version in the meantime, and report any issues they encounter by creating a l github issue.
The ePADD+ project will continue through December 2022. The next phase of work will include investigating the integration of an optional format conversion tool into ePADD. This will enable users to ingest and export a broader range of email formats while recording the conversion process as a preservation event in the collection metadata. For more information on the ePADD+ project, including the full set of functional requirements, please visit the ePADD Phase IV page. Further questions can be directed to Paul Carlyle (paul.carlyle@manchester.ac.uk) and Tricia Patterson (tricia_patterson@harvard.edu), co-project managers for the initiative.
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to our community testers as well as all of our wonderful project partners: our software development team Ian Gifford, Jochen Farwer, Tom Higgins, and the rest of the Manchester team, Paul Caryle, Jessica Smith, and Jan Whalen; our Harvard team Stephen Abrams (PI for the project), Tricia Patterson, Andrew Woods, Simone Biver-LeBlanc, Julie Weatherill, Janet Taylor, and DeeDee Crema; the Stanford team Sally DeBauche, Glynn Edwards, and Michael Olsen; and our code consultants and original ePADD developers Dr. Sudheendra Hangal and Chinmay Narayan.
