Arbil is an application for arranging research material and associated metadata into a format appropriate for archiving.
Arbil is designed so that it can be used off-line in a remote location. The data can be entered at any stage in part or as a whole. When an internet connection is available the work can then be transferred to the main archive via Lamus.
Two steps are required in adding a corpus to the MPI Archive. The first involves creating the corpus, editing the metadata and converting it into an archivable format using ARBIL(Archive Builder) while the second involves exporting the created/edited corpus to the archive using LAMUS .
This manual describes in detail the first step, i.e. Arbil. For the second step, Lamus, please refer to the LAMUS manual).
Arbil allows you to view all the corpora in the archive or any other remote location (provided you have access rights).
Corpora from the archive can also be edited through Arbil. If the changes are to be implemented they have to go through Lamus.
In short, Arbil allows you to:
1) view the archive;
2) import metadata from the archive and edit them;
3) create new corpora, with new metadata and media files;
4) export the IMDI files, which are then ready to be archived.
Changes you make to corpora imported from the archive will not affect the archive directly, as Arbil merely allows you to make changes on a local level, and not to the archive itself. If you want to upload your changes to the archive, you must export them to LAMUS, which in turn, allows you to submit corpora into the archive.
Arbil is the next generation of the IMDI Editor with a more powerful user interface and functionality. This manual contains detailed information on how to use Arbil: how to create new corpus structures/session nodes, and how to modify existing corpora. It does not explain the internal structure of IMDI, though. For more information on the IMDI metadata set, please refer to the following link: http://tla.mpi.nl/tools/tla-tools/imdi_browser/.
For a less detailed description of the application, please refer to the Arbil User Guide.
You can access all the information present in this manual from the application itself, using the Help Menu.
We encourage you to provide feedback, comments, and suggestions, so that we can improve the documentation in order to better meet your needs. Also, in case of problems that are not addressed anywhere in this guide, please use the Arbil Forum.