Universal Access to All

This past week in class, we read about and discussed digitization and digital libraries and the great potential that technology affords us in the area of information access.  I watched a Ted Talk given by Brewster Kahle, a digital librarian, inventor, and philanthropist.  In his presentation, he argues that through our current technological capabilities, "universal access to all knowledge is within our grasp", which is a truly encouraging and promising thought.  He works his way through each major format (print, audio, and video) illustrating that comprehensive digitization of each is currently a technological and financial possibility. 

Mr. Kahle also touches on the fact that many people prefer a physical copy of a book as opposed to reading on a computer or even on a smaller electronic reader of some sort.  His answer to this dilemma is a print on demand (POD) machine, that prints, collates, and binds a book in a matter of minutes.  An example of this is the espresso book machine...

 So, conceivably, a child in Uganda, or another developing country, can visit a bookmobile equipped with a POD machine, chose a digitized book online, and leave with a physical copy.  Pretty darned cool, if you ask me.

Mr. Kahle ends his talk with a question for us all... we clearly have the capacity to provide universal access to information and knowledge, but is this access going to be public or private?  We, as a society, must make the social and political decision to grant universal PUBLIC access to knowledge in the pursuit of a freer and more just world.

Here is the Ted Talk by Brewster Kahle....

More on Summon

I learned a bit more about Summon by reading my fellow classmate's review of the discovery layer.  She commented in her summary that Summon provides libraries with social media integration and allows tagging.  As I did not identify these features during my review, I referred back to the University of Sydney Library's catalog for further exploration.  I immediately noticed social media links near the top of the page, and am left wondering how on earth I missed them before.  I was not, however, able to locate the option to tag an item or a list of tags associated with an item.  Perhaps my fellow student was referencing another catalog which made use of this feature.  I did discover that Summon allows for the use of QR codes, which is pretty cool and state of the art.  The QR code stands for the permanent link, or the permalink, of the mobile version of the webpage for a particular item.  This eliminates the need for patrons to go through the archaic act of writing down the physical location of the item, as they can simply read the QR code with their mobile device and take that with them on their search through the stacks.  Finally, Summon allows users to rate an item, which simulates Amazon's user reviews.  Here is a screen shot containing the features I have discussed (click on it for a larger view)...

Adding social media integration and user contribution to the list of features offered by Summon means that it actually rates a 10 1/2 out of 12... not bad at all.  Libraries have realized that in order to remain relevant in the current technological landscape, the searching experience must be simple and intuitive, and must produce relevant results that are easy to navigate.  It seems that discovery tools are, if rather slowly, rising to the challenge of meeting the needs and expectations of users.

Discovery Layers and Summon

In class, we have been discussing the somewhat antiquated online discovery tools used to search library catalogs and the idea of a "next-generation" library catalog.  Both Proprietary and open source discovery layers are lagging behind commercial search engines in usability, web 2.0 features, and modern design, and are not meeting the expectations of the tech savvy library patrons of today.  We have all grown accustomed to the user friendly Google search box that corrects our mistakes and understands our intentions.  In order to remain relevant and competitive in the current and future information market, libraries desperately need to have these next generation catalogs that offer the user a method to easily search all library holdings through a single point of entry, faceted navigation that allows the user to easily and quickly refine her search, and additional features that enhance the user's experience.

As a part of this discussion, we were required to explore and analyze one particular discovery tool.  I chose to examine Summon 2.0, a commercial discovery layer created by Serials Solutions.  It is primarily intended for use by academic and research libraries, and is used by Dartmouth College Library, University of Sydney Library, and Western Michigan University.  Unlike most other discovery tools, in Summon, all incoming metadata is translated to a common schema before being entered into a single index for discovery.  This allows for highly relevant search results, which are easily navigated, regardless of the source provider.  By my calculations, Summon is pretty close to a next-generation catalog based on the twelve requirements outlined by Yang and Wagner, in their 2010 article Evaluating and Comparing discovery tools: how close are we towards next generation catalog?  Although Yang and Wagner credited Summon with having a state-of-the-art user interface, I'm not sure that I agree wholeheartedly with this assessment.  Really, none of the available discovery tools possess a truly technologically current and engaging user interface, but I guess that Summon's is as about as good as they get.  Three unique features that I found to be especially useful are:  1) an eye-catching bright yellow bubble indicating if a resource is accessible online 2) the recommendation of relevant specialized collections and databases based on a user's search and 3) a "keep search refinements" option under the search box, which allows the user to modify their search terms without having to reset chosen filters. 

All Serials Solutions products and services comply with industry standards and adhere to many common protocols and guidelines.  Some of these include: Dublin Core, MARC, OAI-PMH, Open URL, SOAP, SRU/SRW, XML, and Z39.50.

Here is a screen shot of one of my searches on the University of Sydney's Library site:

Notice the recommendation to use the database CINAHL for nursing and health information.

Examining Summon 2.0 was a helpful way to gain a deeper understanding of how discovery tools work and which features are most valuable to the user.

My Misadventures in Website Creation

So, as you learned from my previous post, I had to create a mock library website for the 2nd assignment in my Emerging Technological Trends in Information Access class.  I went into the project with very limited experience in website design and development, only having created one other mock website in my Media Productions class over the summer.  For that assignment, we used Google Sites, which I found to be fairly intuitive and user friendly, although I do remember having some difficulties getting my pages in the correct order.  In my opinion, the biggest drawbacks to Google Sites are user limitations on customization and personalization and the lack of added features (like social media buttons and mobile device plugins).  It is difficult to make a professional looking website specific to your needs with Google Sites.

For our website project in Emerging Technological Trends in Information Access, we used a host site... a concept that I was totally unfamiliar with.  Basically, WordPress is an open source blogging/website software that has to run on a server.  A web hosting service provides a user with space on their server and hosts the user's website in this way.  I also learned that WordPress.org and WordPress.com are two very different sites.  WordPress.org (which is what we used via BYET Host) is the website where the open source WordPress software is hosted along with thousands of free themes and plugins that you can use to modify and customize your website.  WordPress.com is a commercial website where a user can host a website for free, however there are limited themes from which to choose, no custom plugins, and limited storage space.  Also, your website created via WordPress.com will contain advertisements.  Blah.  WordPress.com does, however, relieve you from having to set up and maintain WordPress on your own server or through a web hosting site.  A library, small museum, or other such organization would want to use WordPress.org to power their website, either on their own server or through a host site, in order to take advantage of its increased functionality.

I created a mock website for the Edoras Community Library, with 5 pages including a library blog page.  You can check out my site here.  There is not a ton of content, but the point of the project was not to actually create a viable site but to simply master the skills needed to create a working website.  Here is a screenshot of the top part of the home page:

I can't stand websites that are too busy and chaotic; they just give me a headache.  So, it was important to me that my site be visually appealing but not so full of content as to scare potential users away.  I used lots of photographs and images because they add color and interest without creating a disorderly or jumbled page.

Although things went quite smoothly in the creation of my site, I did run into a few glitches in the process.  I had a difficult time selecting a theme, as I wanted a look that would catch the users attention (ie. not be too boring or generic) but that would also meet my specific needs.  I finally decided on the Two Thirteen, however I did change the heading design to another offered option.  I wanted the photo of the library to appear in the heading area as well, but after experimenting unsuccessfully with a heading widget, I had to settle for having the photo just below the heading in the right side widget area.  I didn't have any trouble inserting images via the Image Inserter plugin.  I did have some trouble getting them placed exactly where I wanted them on the teen page.  For some unknown reason, although there are spaces between the images when I edit the page, the hunger games image slightly overlaps the zombie image when I publish it.  I tried to remedy this for quite some time and finally gave up.  As I was moving widgets around, at one point, I inadvertently removed the Meta widget in the footer area, which left me with no way to login to my site!  After a few minutes of panic, I went to work trying to figure out how to access my site.  I finally realized/remembered that if I added /wp-admin to my website URL, I could access the login page to reach my dashboard.  Whew.  As I said in my earlier post, the most time consuming part of the process for me was experimenting with plugins.  I attempted to install the WP Smart Mobile plugin, but was unable to for some reason.  I ended up using the WP Mobile plugin instead, which seems to be working well when I access my site with my iPhone.  What I don't like about it though is that all the information in the right side column is displayed below the main information.  This means that the user has to scroll way down before getting to the photo of the library, the social media icons, and the library hours.  It is nice that the content fits on the screen though, and no sideways scrolling is necessary.  I also like that the pages are listed in a drop down menu, so the user can access the various pages but the menu is not always open and in the way.  I also used a business hours widget to display the library hours of operation.  I definitely wanted to have these shown on every page, but I wish that the widget presented this information in a more compact manner.  I do like that the hours for whatever day it actually is are listed at the very top. 

All in all, although I could have spent many more hours experimenting with and perfecting my website, I'm mostly pleased with my end product.  I do think that this was a valuable assignment, and I enjoyed getting a bit of experience with WordPress.  I do believe that I could now design and develop, through WordPress, a useful and aesthetically pleasing library website!

Website Creation Reflections

For a class assignment, I was required to create a mock library website via wordpress.  Here are my initial reflections on the process...

I did not encounter any difficulties in setting up my website, thanks to the explicit instructions of Dr. Oguz.  Once I had installed the wordpress script and reached my dashboard, I experiemented for quite a while with themes.  I decided that a two column layout would work best for my purposes.  After trying the Two Twelve, the Catch Evolution, and several others whose names I no longer remember, I chose the Two Thirteen.  The Two Thirteen is actually not set up as a two column site (although there is a side widget area provided), so I had to move the available widgets around to create a right side column.  Trying out the various plugins was by far the most time intensive part of the process for me.  I ended up installing quite a few plugins, but these are the ones that I ultimately used on the site:  Business Hours, Contact Form 7, Faster Image Insert, Image Widget, Slideshow, Social Media Icons Widget, and WP Mobile Plugin.  I had a difficult time getting a captcha plugin to work on my site, and I ended up installing three (SI Captcha Anti-Spam, Really Simple Captcha, and Captcha Code).  At this point, I'm not 100% positive which one is working, but I'm pretty sure it is the SI Captcha Anti-Spam.  I'm not sure why the first two that I tried did not work... I can only guess that they were perhaps incompatible with the theme for some reason.?.  I found it very simple to add users to the site and define their roles.  I made the home page a static page and created a separate blog page entitled Library News Blog.  I don't have a great deal of content on the site, but I do believe that I managed to naviagate the process of creating the necessary elements of a library website.

Does Digitization Equal Preservation?

I have been thinking a lot about the ephemeral nature of digital content, and I wonder whether or not artifacts, materials, and objects can be preserved through digitization.  I have long worried about having the majority of my photos, records of my children's growth and lives, stored in a computer.  I am not someone who is especially attached to material things; however, the loss of these would certainly cause me great sadness.  Memories, like digital content, are quite elusive and transient, and photographs provide us with a tangible access point to them.  The visible image carries our mind back to that moment in time and allows us entry to particular memories associated with the image.  Often, there must be some sort of a trigger that helps us to locate where a certain memory is stored in our brain, so, in effect, the loss of those photos would possibly prevent my access to the memories associated with them.

When my son was born, digital cameras where still a new and expensive phenomenon.  Therefore, all the pictures I have of him are what I like to call "real" photographs that were developed professionally in a darkroom using nasty chemicals to transfer the image from film to paper.  I have several very large photobooks containing the many (and, I do mean many) photos that were taken in the first two years of his life... and barring some tragedy like a fire or flood, I will always have these.  They will never fade away, and I will pass them on to my son when he becomes an adult so that his children can have a glimpse into our lives at those moments.  When my daughter was born, I had retired my "real" camera and plunged into the world of digital images.  There are two troubling results of my conversion to a digital camera.  First of all, I have very few printed images of my daughter.  I have lots of digital images stored in my computer, but I actually printed very few of these out for display or general viewing.  Of course, as is sadly always the case, there are just not as many pictures taken of a second child (and I really do feel for the third child, who is lucky to have a few photographs documenting their arrival into the world).  However, even taking that into account, there are a paltry number of physical images of my daughter.  Secondly, there are no "real" photographs of my daughter that will resist fading away to nothing and can be passed down to her and her children.  There are no physical photographs of her that will last the test of time.  I find this worrisome, given the unreliable nature of digital content.

Which brings me to the idea of digitization as preservation.  Smith says that digitization is not for preservation.  We agreed in my LIS 644 class that digital libraries are about providing access to objects, images, and sounds.  A digital library is all about user access.  We discussed ways that digitization might be viewed as a form of preservation... it can preserve an artifact that has deteriorated to an unusable degree, and it can also preserve an artifact that is in good physical condition by preventing it from being handled excessively.  I guess one's perception of the term determines whether or not they view digitization as a valid form of preservation.  The simplest definition of preservation is "to keep up, maintain", which can be interpreted many different ways.  A simple definition of historic preservation is "an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve, and protect buildings, objects, landscapes, or other artifacts of historical significance".  I tend to think of preservation in terms of a physical object or artifact; therefore, I can't say that I view digitization as preservation.  I do understand that digitization can offer users access to an item that they would not otherwise have, and there is certainly value in that.  However, it is not access to the actual item, and for me there is a difference.  In the absence of the original, it is better than nothing, but it is not equal to the original.  Digitization does nothing to preserve the original artifact, and actually diminishes it in some way.  Some information contained in an artifact is lost in each successive manifestation of it; therefore when a physical item is digitized, an inherently inferior item is created.  In my opinion, digitization does not equal preservation.

Folksonomies and Tagging

Along with crowdsourcing, we have also discussed the creation of folksonomies through social tagging as another means of creating a collective social intelligence.  Through tagging, users are able to add information about a digital object in the form of a keyword, thereby creating additional content and allowing increased access to the object.  This is an effective method of engaging the user with a collection as well as enabling an institution to expand on its description of a particular item.  A great example of this can be found at Steve Central: Social Tagging for Cultural Collections.  The site is a conglomeration of cultural objects from 21 institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which allows users to tag items with keywords that they believe to be an appropriate description of the object.

A fellow student, Ms. Crumpton, discussed the site in her blog, and reading her comments made me realize that tagging not only provides additional information to the user about the actual object, but it also allows us a glimpse into other users' minds.  As an example, she used this bust of a young boy titled "Gamin," from the Cleveland Museum of Art.

This object has been tagged by users, and a tag cloud has been generated as a visual "map" of the information.

I found it fascinating to read the diverse descriptions provided by users.  Two adjectives used to describe the sculpture are "inquisitive" and "engrossed," which imply, although perhaps nuanced, different perceptions of the boy's facial expression.  This illustrates the fact that tagging can be a way to learn about varying interpretations of a work of art.  Art is interactive, combining the creative process of the artist with the viewers perceptions and interpretations.  Artists often comment on the fluid nature of their work and the adaptability of its meaning to each viewers personal experience of it.  I am struck by the idea that tagging could potentially be used as a method to study the infinite and evolving nature of how people view art.

Crowdsourcing and the idea of a "Sharium"

Finally, this semester, I feel that all of the information I've been ingesting since I began graduate school is starting to come together and form the beginnings of a cohesive understanding of librarianship and the field of LIS.  All three of my classes this semester seem to be overlapping in some respects, which solidifies the impression of a general body of related information.  Many of the ideas presented in my Digital Libraries class are particularly relevant to, if not directly related to, Emerging Trends in Technology.

One example of this confluence is the idea of a "sharium".  In Emerging Tech., we have been discussing Web 2.0.... what it is, what differentiates it from Web 1.0, etc.  A predominant characteristic of Web 2.0 is the idea that it harnesses the "collective intelligence".  One particular way this is accomplished is through "crowdsourcing", which is when the collective mind of users is mobilized to solve a particular problem or achieve a particular task.  This practice coincides with the idea of a "sharium" (introduced in my Digital Libraries class), where people collaborate to help solve information problems.  Both can include user contributions to library or museum content, item descriptions, and, in the case of digital libraries, even the addition of items to a collection.  This kind of potential user participation in the creation of knowledge is exciting... it feels a bit like a science fiction, futuristic vision of what knowledge creation and sharing and a real "collective intelligence" could be.  However, it also raises some concerns with the authenticity and reliability of information.  When non-professional, non-scholarly users are permitted to add content to library and museum collections, the reputation and integrity of the institution may be compromised.  Research on crowdsourcing has shown that information provided by users is almost always accurate, but even the smallest amount of inaccurate information provided by a respected and trusted institution may call their authority into question.  Despite the potential questions that these ideas raise, the thought that, through collaboration, they both may facilitate the creation of knowledge is exciting.

Technolust vs. Thoughful Implementation

A new term that I learned, and love, is the idea of "Technolust", which is defined by Michael Stephens as the "irrational love for new technology combined with unrealistic expectations for the solutions it brings".  The indiscriminate implementation of technology without careful consideration of the actual benefits and costs seems to be a result of this technolust, that affects not only some of our comrades in librarianship but also many citizens at large.  One might suspect, perhaps rightly so, after reading my initial posts, that I am a technophobe.  I admit to even wondering myself, at times, if I simply have an unexplainable aversion to new technology and an extreme reverence for "the good old days" when children played outside after school.  Upon further contemplation, I have realized that what I dislike is not technology per se, but the thoughtless and wholesale application of it.  Daily, I watch my children gobble it up and swallow it whole, and I admit that this gives me pause.  Which is why I love the term technolust, and all that it implies.  I appreciate and enjoy, as much as the next guy, applying new technology to simplify my life and to save myself time and energy on tedious yet necessary tasks.  I also understand that new technologies can be used in innovative and creative ways to communicate, collaborate, and embrace the global environment in which we live.  However, as Stephens goes on to say, "technology is a tool", and in my opinion, is best used as such.

I heard an interesting story on NPR that lead me to ponder this topic further.  It's called "Amish Community Not Anti-Technology, Just More Thoughtful", and here is a link to the audio and the transcript of the story:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/09/02/217287028/amish-community-not-anti-technology-just-more-thoughful


References:
Stephens, M. Taming technolust: Ten steps for planning in a 2.0 world. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 47 (4), p. 314-317.

The Biblio-mat... cool new use of old-school technology

This is for all of you bibliophiles out there living in the land of Web 2.0 technology.  I'm a little late to the party here, which is no surprise given the chaos of my life, but it seems that a couple of innovative and hip guys created a vending machine that dispenses random old and obscure books for the ridiculously small price of a $2 coin. It's called the Biblio-mat, and is an incredibly cool idea.  What a great metamorphosis of the run of the mill vending machine, which usually contains some sort of processed food or drink product, into a conduit for ideas and knowledge.  I realize that the main purpose of this blog is to comment on Web 2.0 applications and their relevance to librarianship; however, I simply could not resist including this little gem floating in our sea of technology.  I would personally love to have the chance to experience the mystery and suspense of the Biblio-mat and am currently wondering how I can make that a reality.  Hmm.. Toronto in the fall?  Since that is definitely not going to happen, I guess I'll just have content myself by watching the video demonstration that follows (oh, and the Tom Waits, who I imagine is a bibliophile extraordinaire, soundtrack is an added bonus!)...

My very limited Web 2.0 experience...

As a frame of reference, I must confess to having very limited experience working with Web 2.0 technologies and software... although that is quickly being remedied by the many demands of a MLIS program.  When I was contemplating returning to school to get a Master's degree, I took an online class to test the waters and to see if I was up to the challenge of using my brain again after staying at home with two young children for several years.  In order to do this, I had to 1) Purchase my first laptop... my very own computer, not to be tampered with by any little fingers, and 2) Become proficient in using Blackboard Collaborate.  This was my first serious venture into the world of Web 2.0 and using computers and technology to achieve specific objectives.  I had, of course, dabbled with facebook, and read some blogs, but that was pretty much the extent of my experience.   As I embark on my second year in graduate school, I have already learned a tremendous amount about technology and the virtually infinite ways it can be employed to accomplish particular tasks and to connect with others in the electronic realm.  In my first post, I mentioned my concerns about the social and cultural implications of all this technology; however, I will also admit to, rather strangely, feeling exuberant at times as I cautiously investigate this phenomenon called Web 2.0.

As I enter the blogoshere...

It is with some trepidation that I enter the blogosphere today for the first time as a creator rather than a consumer.  I must admit now to being somewhat of a luddite and to wondering about the social and cultural implications of all this darn technology.  However, being a graduate student of Library and Information Studies seems to be changing my perspective on this as I learn about and experience the benefits of modern technology in the information age.  I do still have many concerns, which are raised nearly every day by my two children who are obsessed with playing on hand-held devices and who insist on engaging me in incessant and unrelenting negotiations on the matter.  But, I am also getting to see first hand how these technologies can be used in utilitarian ways to improve the flow of communication and information.  I am excited to continue exploring, learning about, and contemplating technology and its many repercussions.