ELPUB 2006 (Matei)1 Worldwide "Communitarian" Online Publishing: an exercise in wishful thinking Dan Matei

ELPUB 2006 (Matei)2 A. "amateur" AND "authority" content content (i.e. reference material, but also annotations to works) provided by the "general public": –(most of the time) valuable (see Wikipedia, see Amazon.com); –stimulate people to research, document and write. the institutional ("authority") providers (libraries, museums, universities, schools, etc.) – in Romania: not too productive (online content not yet in the mission statement).

ELPUB 2006 (Matei)3 The "ideal" scenario 3 layer resources: –"authority" core; –moderated (voluntary) contributions; –(voluntary) contributions. the "authority" should constantly upgrade the content, i.e. moving it "upward". Answers.com: almost there (entries from different sources are not merged).

ELPUB 2006 (Matei)4 Answers.com: example

ELPUB 2006 (Matei)5 Voluntary contributions: my problems the "code of behaviour"; the neutral point of view (for the reference resources) or an assumed point of view (e.g. a Christian perspective, a Muslim perspective); the anonymity and the "loose" pseudonym problem; what about pen names ? how to "force" a volunteer contributor to assume the intellectual responsibility ? how to check a "real name" ? it is fair to check with the police ?

ELPUB 2006 (Matei)6 B. Online "critical" editions the problem: how to publish online "problematic" resources (e.g. xenophobic texts by important authors) ? in a "physical book" we "wrap" conveniently the problematic text in a "critical envelope" (e.g. an explanatory introduction, critical footnotes). online: the lack of "physical" boundaries on the web makes less visible the critical apparatus.

ELPUB 2006 (Matei)7 An example

ELPUB 2006 (Matei)8 A "critical envelope" ?

ELPUB 2006 (Matei)9 "Repackaging" a resource to include in my page someone else's page: –it is legal ? –it is fair ?

ELPUB 2006 (Matei)10 C. The index (for reference resources) How to construct the (most profitable) index ? How to make most out of the lexicographic collocation ? How to serve best the Long Tail ? Close to ideal: Answers.com

ELPUB 2006 (Matei)11 The index: the "signature" problem (1)

ELPUB 2006 (Matei)12 "Casanova's Chinese Restaurant" ?

ELPUB 2006 (Matei)13 A better signature: Casanova's Chinese Restaurant [novel] / Anthony Powell (1960)

ELPUB 2006 (Matei)14 "giacomo": a good (enough) entry

ELPUB 2006 (Matei)15 Why "Benedict XV" ?

ELPUB 2006 (Matei)16 A better signature: Pope Benedict XV (Giacomo della Chiesa) [pope (1914–1922)] (1854– 1922) Britannica: Benedict XV - Pope (1914–22)

ELPUB 2006 (Matei)17 The name in PML (1) Pope Benedict XV Giacomo della Chiesa pope 1914– –1922

ELPUB 2006 (Matei)18 The name in PML (2)

ELPUB 2006 (Matei)19 D. The European Digital Library (EDL): the "political will" The European Commission should consider literally the first issue suggested by the Presidency (13392/2/05) and debated by the Council on i2010 digital libraries, that is: "the creation of a European Digital Library which would make European cultural content and information resources easier and more interesting to use in a multi-cultural and multi- lingual online environment".

ELPUB 2006 (Matei)20 The European Digital Library (EDL): my opinion The best way to secure the right presence in the cyberspace of the European cultural heritage is to finance the set-up of one (or several) European datacenter to host a large database with the digital cultural material supplied by the "national digital libraries". Not a portal, not a metasearch engine ! A "classical", centralised, online database. Good starting point: "The European Library":

ELPUB 2006 (Matei)21 EDL: my wish (1) establishing of a (small) set of technical standards. development/adoption of a suitable, open source, digital library software to handle and to expose (directly an the web and via web services) the database. an agreement between the "national digital libraries" to submit their content also to the European Digital Library.

ELPUB 2006 (Matei)22 EDL: my wish (2) actual gathering of digital material, on a continuous basis. The national repositories should keep also their material, as a natural backup and in order to expose it in a "vernacular" way. –good model: the Czech Manuscriptorium project -

ELPUB 2006 (Matei)23 EDL: my wish (3) Voluntary contributions accepted: –scanning; –OCR-ing; –proofreading; –adding metadata; –adding mark-up (e.g. encoding in TEI).

ELPUB 2006 (Matei)24 The Romanian digitisation wish-list (not yet!) (1) a (centralised) shared catalogue of works and expressions (not manifestations) in the FRBR jargon each entry: bibliographic attributes and: –(if not yet digitised) the priority class; –(if in process of digitisation) who is doing the digitisation and when it started; –(if digitised) the URL of the digitised version (manifestation).

ELPUB 2006 (Matei)25 The Romanian digitisation wish-list (not yet!) (2) The catalogue could: –help to avoid the duplicate digitisation of a work/expression; –act as the catalogue of the Digital Library; –suggest priority materials to be digitised. The priorities could be set by various mechanisms: academic committees, public voting etc.

ELPUB 2006 (Matei)26 Final remarks the online resource inherit most of the features of the paper text ? how to offer an online resource with a dedication ?