Digital Libraries Lillian N. Cassel Spring 2011

A digital library An informal definition of a digital library is a managed collection of information, with associated services, where the information is stored in digital formats and accessible over a network. -- William Arms, Digital Libraries, 1999 A focused collection of digital objects, including text, video, and audio, along with methods for access and retrieval, and for selection, organization, and maintenance of the collection. -- Witten and Bainbridge, How to Build a Digital Library 2003

Overview of this course This course is about presentation of information on the Web, with special attention to Digital Libraries. Required coursework will include –Readings, discussion (in class and online), and projects. There will be quizzes, but no examinations, unless circumstances indicate a need for one. Class web page and Blackboard

Goals for Class 1 Introduce the concept of a digital library Introductions: Who are we and what do we want to achieve in this class? Review the course structure –Look at Blackboard –Describe assignments, projects to be expected –Look at the calendar Introduce some tools – Concept maps Make sure we know what a traditional library is! Introduce the 5 S model for digital libraries

Some tools - concept maps Concept Maps –A graphical representation of concepts, ideas, topics, entities and relationships among them. –A useful tool: cmap from IHMC See Explore the cmap page, including a concept map about concept maps Do a pencil & paper concept map on a subject of interest to your group -- a sport, a season of the year, a career interest, whatever. Use at least 20 nodes. We will look at a selection of these and offer suggestions.

What is a library? An active exercise to explore what we know about, and think about, traditional libraries. How do we translate these characteristics to the digital world? –Is that the right model? Are we unnecessarily constraining the digital environment? Are there things that do not translate?

The 5 S model There are many details to digital libraries The 5S model gives us a base to work from in creating a new DL The 5S model is the work of Edward A. Fox and his students at Virginia Tech. These slides rely heavily on that work.

The 5S model Streams –The flow of information in various formats Structures –Organizational aspects of the DL Spaces –Views of components; real or abstract images Scenarios –Services and behaviors Societies –Communities and relationships among them

ModelPrimitives Formalisms Objectives StreamText; video, audio, software program Sequences, typesDescribes properties of the DL content, encoding and textual material or particular forms of multimedia data. StructureCollection, catalog; hypertext; document; metadata; organizational tools Graphs; nodes; links; labels; hierarchies Specifies organizational aspects of the DL content SpaceUser Interface; index; retrieval model Sets; operations; vector space; measure space; probability space Defines logical and presentational views of several DL components ScenariosService, event; condition; action Sequence diagrams; collaboration diagrams Details the behavior of DL services SocietiesCommunity; managers; actors; classes; relationships; attributes; operators Object-oriented modeling constructs; design patterns Defines managers responsible for running DL services; actors that use those services, and relationships among them 5S Summary Source:

Some examples The Etana project –Nice because the things that are “in” the digital library are real (not digital) objects CITIDEL and computingportal –These are projects with local involvement –You may want to connect to these American Memory –Library of Congress project

Etana - A DL for archeology

An example application of 5S - Etana: A DL for an archeological site Text Video Audio *Site *Sub-partition *Container*Artifact*LocusRegion Taxonomies Temporal Artifact-specific Space model Structure model Metadata DrawingPhoto3D Stream model *Partition Society model Archaeologist General public Geographic space Service Manager Information Satisfaction Value added Repository building Scenario model Services Domain specific User interfaceMetric space Spatial Source: E. A. Fox

CITIDEL The Computing and Information Technology Interactive Digital Education Library Located at Villanova Built in DSpace

Ensemble ComputingPortal.org A larger example of what a digital library can be. –A real community center –Upcoming events, things to share, meeting places Underlying repository was Fedora, but that was removed because Drupal provided all that we needed. Front end through Drupal

Class 1 summary Course plan described and discussed Class members surveyed Tools – concept maps -- introduced Concept mapping practiced The idea of a library, and of a digital library, explored. The 5S model introduced Some example digital libraries explored

Next week: Check the calendar –Readings and an assignment due The 5 S model for digital libraries (and other information retrieval systems) Introduction to the hardware and software systems to be used for projects.