Technology 13 ways of looking at … Lorcan Dempsey Solinet Meeting, May 2

CBS school, Ennis

Libraries – and the network space

Libraries

Shared cataloging – 70sA shared network space

Resource sharing – 80s

A shared network space Article discovery and delivery – 90s

A shared network space Collaborative reference, Digital content management, Digitisation, Scholarly communication

Progressive entry into a network space … Early stages of ‘digital’ libraries Being digital suggests reorganisation to best leverage individual and collective strengths Move away from vertical organisation around collection to horizontal organisation around process … And ….?

Generations

Social Business/policy Service Technical

Co-evolution

Active reshaping in a new medium Scholarly communication: –Moving from author-publisher-distributor-library chain to –… web in which all are potentially in contact with each other. –Co-evolution of new institutional forms with the support the network provides

A shared network space

A shared space – on campus The Digital Library, providing access for staff and students, wherever they are located, to networked information resources, which may in turn be disclosed to the outside world. e-Learning systems, providing the University with the capacity to enable learning and teaching in a flexible, place-independent, online environment, and enhancing the existing campus learning experience. The public Web site, providing a means of marketing the University and of communicating with students, potential students, alumni and others. The Corporate Intranet, providing staff with access to information and communication resources, and to means of conducting their business in a secure, online environment. A Student Intranet, providing students with access to student-centred information, learning resources, course management and communication facilities, as well as the ability to conduct financial and administrative functions online. And lots of other stuff. Hull

A shared space - the creative user Digital scholarship Digital research Digital learning Cultural heritage

Clash of Cultures Source:

Journal of Molecular Spectroscopy Supplementary Material Archives Source:

Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design (ACCAD) Motion Capture Lab Source:

Architectures

Towards an information environment - services No single resource is the sole focus of a user’s attention In a distributed environment resources can be specialized to provide particular function Leverage communication between resources to add value to user’s experience Need a shared view and vocabulary

creation shared services portals content brokers and aggregators provision mediation infrastructure presentation Directories Registries Terminology S Resolution Authorisation Citation linking Which? Who? Which? Who?

So far.. Library operations progressively entering network space Generations of change shortening Co-evolution We are not alone with our users in this new shared space We need to begin to architect High acronymic density … Google is for finding out what acronyms stand for! Now..

Learning management systems

Learning management Fold information into the learning experience Relationship between library systems and learning systems Electronic reserve, reading lists, learning objects, … Own standards framework (IMS, IEEE/LOM, SCORM)

Directories Vocabulary Competency Metadata Repositories OrganizationsTraders Access Management MANAGE RIGHTS OBLIGATIONS CONTROL ACCESS AUTHENTICATE AUTHORISE AUDIT Procurement NEGOTIATE TRADE MAKE PAYMENT SEARCH Learner CreatorInfoseeker Repositories Assets Metadata Resource Utilizers DISCOVER REQUEST USE Presentation Mediation Provision People Agent RESOLVE Registries STORE EXPOSEMANAGESTOREEXPOSEMANAGE DELIVER (Query, Browse, Follow Path) ACCESS GATHER PUBLISH MANAGE ALERT EXPOSE

Interoperability as recombinant potential

Interoperability Traditional views of interoperability depend on pre- coordinated agreements about every aspect of syntax, structure, and semantics In the new shared space, this degree of coordination is harder to come by How do we address this? –Simplify? OAI –Complexify? Objects, services, metadata Pre-coordination gives way to recombinant systems?

OAI OAIHarvesterOAIHarvester WebBrowserWebBrowser UnionCatalogUnionCatalog DC/MARC HTML OAI Server#1 DC & EAD OAI Server#1 DC & EAD OAI Server#2 DC & MARC OAI Server#2 DC & MARC OAI Server#3 DC & VRA OAI Server#3 DC & VRA DC MARC DC

OAI “low-barrier” sharing of metadata Many potential uses –E-prints –Learning materials –Cultural heritage –… Model of the web … simple design supports multiple uses

Metadata

Data which supports operations on entities Life cycle –Creation, discovery, assembly, administrative, contextual, preservation, rights, … Domain –Learning, library, archives, etc Here come those acronyms (9) –MARC, MODS, ONIX, Dublin Core, IEEE/LOM, FGDC, EAD, TEI, METS, … Interoperability –Registry –RDF (resource description framework)?

Information objects

From atomic to recombinant Structure –Document images –SGML/TEI –XML –METS/content packages Collectible resources?

Services

Web services Web services are interfaces that describe operations that are network accessible through XML messaging. (IBM) Have a web of functional components as we now have web of pages.

OCLC web services examples e-Prints UK RDN gateway/portal service RDN gateway/portal service RDN gateway/portal service RDN gateway/portal service RDN gateway/portal service RDN gateway/portal service Institutional e-print archives Personal e-print archives OAI-MHP Non-institutional e-print archives Subject classification service Name authority service Citation analysis service SOAP Javascript/HTTP Z39.50

YAP

?

Some issues – lack of shared architecture No agreement on functional components. No shared vocabulary … middleware, portal, personalisation,…. Individualised solutions. Accelerated generational turnover (e.g. Z39.50 and OAI). Disagreement on technical approaches.

Some issues Different requirements –Breadth – demand side economies of scale –Depth – selective disciplinary depth –Projection – surface resources in other environments New technologies –Web services –Portlets –RSS –Directories/environment intelligence

shared services infrastructure Directories Registries Terminology S Resolution Authorisation Citation linking brokers and aggregators mediation Portals/portlets……api/web service content provision presentation

Preservation and archiving

Quick run OAIS –Conceptual framework within which to consider archival systems which manage materials over the long term –Many projects implementing OAIS Emulation/Migration Levels