Hello! My name is Mengyu Zang and I am a third year Computer Science student at the University of Prince Edward Island. I am currently working with the Islandora RDM Team as a Student Developer. For me, the most exciting part of this job is to participate in this local born project and to contribute to an ever-growing international community. I would like to share my learning experience during my first 8 days on the Islandora RDM project.
My first step was to gain a basic understanding of Islandora [1]. I spent a few hours Googling it and found some useful materials [2] among which there was one picture[3]:
This picture reminded me of what I have learned in my UPEI Database class. In this case, the collection of data is the database; MySQL and Fedora are the database management system; Drupal is the database application; our clients are the users; and Islandora is a set of tools that enable Drupal to communicate with a different data provider.
My second step was to set up a local development environment on Windows and to get familiar with Drupal. Since Islandora was built to work on Ubuntu, I downloaded it from the Microsoft Store and followed the set up instructions [4]. I then watched training videos for Drupal beginners on the O'Reilly Online Learning Center [5] and developed my first Drupal module “Hello World” [6].
I am still learning about Drupal modules [7], themes, and additional files. If you are also a beginner and want to develop complicated functions, PHP and JavaScript is the next thing to learn.
The last thing I want to share is about communication. I am lucky to work with great team and a patient supervisor, who provides me with the time to answer my questions. If you are a beginner like me, don't be afraid of asking questions.
Some sources and examples I mentioned above:
- Islandora Website: https://islandora.ca/
- Islandora Intro Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCpktVpfCiw
- Islandora Overview: https://www.canarie.ca/wp-content/uploads/Islandora-Overview-Islandora-Anez.pdf
- How to Set up a Development Environment: https://github.com/roblib/rdm- playbook/blob/master/README.md
- Drupal 8 for Beginners from the O'Reilly Online Learning Center:https://learning-oreilly-com.proxy.library.upei.ca/videos/drupal-8-for/9781787122895
- Drupal Modules: https://www.drupal.org/project/project_module