--- title: "About this infrastructure: Sandpoints" date: "2023-06-29T18:35:24+03:00" author: "anybody" contributors: ["constantinos-miltiadis.md"] draft: false keywords: - journal info --- [Hugo]: https://gohugo.io/ "Hugo is a free and open source static website builder." This project implements *Sandpoints*, an open source framework for open and collaborative publishing. It is developed by Marcell Mars since 2019, and built as a theme for the static website builder [Hugo][]. Both *Hugo* and *Sandpoints* are free, open source, and cross platform, and are developed in the programming language *Go*. Key features: 1. *Sandpoints* requires no programming. 2. Creating new content and compiling a website project are done with simple terminal commands. 3. Content is added with ![Markdown files](article:md-formatting), which are easy to read, write, and edit, and organized in folders by type. 4. *Sandpoints* implements hypertext, including backlinks (bidirectional hyperlinks), and allows non-linear content traversal, for example via browsing links, backlinks, and keywords. 5. *Sandpoints* is structured around a triadic hierarchy, here this is *Journal>Issue>Article*. 6. Collaboration, version control, and backup are achieved via Git. 7. *Sandpoints* projects are fully portable. They can be viewed as online webpages, copied via USB stick and viewed offline. 8. *Sandpoints* can generate printable and interactive PDFs for its content (for individual entries, issues, or all the content; see [print](/print/)) . 9. *Sandpoints* allows the integration of a library catalogue. The library is accessible at [Library](/library/BROWSE_LIBRARY.html), or by pressing the red icon at the top-right corner of any page. The implementation of *Sandpoints* in academic research publishing was outlined by van Gerven Oei in the editorial of *Dotawo* Journal issue 7 (2020): > Starting with the present issue, _Dotawo_ will design and publish its content via the [Sandpoints](https://git.sandpoints.org/UnionForNubianStudies/Dotawo) platform. _Dotawo_ contributions are formatted in [Markdown](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markdown) syntax, thus moving away from proprietary software such as Microsoft Word and Adobe InDesign. For collaboration and version-control we employ [Git](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Git) rather than Google Drive or Dropbox. The online issue is created via [Gitea](https://gitea.io/en-us/) and [Hugo][], which take the Markdown files from the Git repository and generate a static website from them. The result is a compact and fast website, which moreover can also be used offline. Also the typography of _Dotawo_ is now based on open fonts. The journal is typeset in [Gentium](https://software.sil.org/gentium/), which is released under an [SIL Open Font License](http://scripts.sil.org/ofl). The PDF output is generated by [PagedJS](https://www.pagedjs.org/) [...]. In short, all of the software used in the creation of _Dotawo_ is now open source. Although this process demands a certain amount of flexibility of the editors, it also shows that transitioning an open access journal to open infrastructure is not only possible but also feasible.[^vincent] [^vincent]: [Preface by the Editor (Vincent W.J. van Gerven Oei, Dotawo issue 7, 2020)](https://pages.sandpoints.org/dotawo/issue/dotawo7/). Flagship *Sandpoints* projects include: - The academic journal [Dotawo -- A Journal of Nubian Studies](https://pages.sandpoints.org/dotawo/journal/) (since issue 7, 2020), - [Machine listening](https://machinelistening.exposed/curriculum/), and - [Pirate.care](https://syllabus.pirate.care/) (that uses a different visual theme). # Notes - For an extended description of *Sandpoints* see [Sandpoints Portfolio (sandpoints.org)](https://pages.sandpoints.org/sandpoints/simplesandpoints-de47f813/draft/portfolio/), which includes descriptions of its implementation in different projects, and related bibliography. - [Sandoints (Gitea project repository)](https://git.sandpoints.org/Drawwell/). - See also Graziano, Valeria, Marcell Mars, and Medak Tomislav. ‘Learning from \Syllabus’. In _State Machines: Reflections and Actions at the Edge of Digital Citizenship, Finance, and Art_, edited by Yiannis Colakides, Marc Garrrett, and Inte Gloerich. Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures (Amsterdam, 2019. [http://www.statemachines.eu/books/state-machines-reflections-and-actions-at-the-edge-of-digital-citizenship-finance-and-art/](http://www.statemachines.eu/books/state-machines-reflections-and-actions-at-the-edge-of-digital-citizenship-finance-and-art/).