Thursday, May 28, 2009

More vendor news

I learned today that Heritage Microfilm has a blog at http://digitization.heritagemicrofilm.com/

Also...someone sent in the negotiating advice to ask a vendor "is this your best price?" This reminds me of going to hotels and asking for their cheapest room (rack rate). They're not going to give you the least expensive room unless you ask for it. In the same way, a company isn't going to give you the best deal unless you ask for it.


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Enterprise Search Sourcebook 2009: An Info Pro's Federated Search Pros and Cons

Information Today Inc. each year publishes the Enterprise Search Sourcebook. This year's edition was published in print and digitally, with the digital edition actually having more content. On pages 18 & 19(in the digital edition) is an article I authored entitled"An Info Pro's Federated Search Pros and Cons". If you are interested in search (federated or otherwise), then you may want to thumb through the Sourcebook.

This has been out for a while and I am very remiss in not mentioning it sooner.


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Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Vendor news

I don't include a lot of vendor news in this blog, except if it really peeks my interest. Here, though, are a few things you might want to know:

Blogs --
  • Atiz, who manufactures and sells book scanners, has a blog, http://blog.atiz.com/
  • Sol Lederman continues to blog about federated search at http://federatedsearchblog.com/ Lederman has really found his stride and is blogging constantly about federated search. This blog is not geared towards one specific vendor's product.
  • MuseGlobal CEO Kate Noerr's is blogging about federal search at http://blog.museglobal.com/ (calling MUSEings)
  • Vivisimo is blogging about search at http://searchdoneright.com/
  • One blog that has floundered is Peter McCracken's blog for Serials Solution at http://blog.serialssolutions.com/ McCracken was co-founder of Serials Solutions and is now Director of Research at Serials Solution, which is owned by ProQuest. Too bad.
Deals --
  • I saw in email this morning that OCLC is offering a summer deal on microfilm digitization.
If you are going to outsource any digitization work, remember talk to your vendors about what they can do for you. Are they offering any deals? Can the work be bundled in a specific way in other to make the cost a bit better? I know, I know...we're all horrible negotiators, but you may be surprised what a few questions will get you.


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Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Brewster Kahle weighs in on the Google Book Search settlement

Last Thursday at the Society of Ohio Archivists Annual Conference, I spoke on Google and Flickr (I'll blog about that presentation later this week). During my talk, I mentioned the Google Book Search settlement and gave a very quick take on what it meant. I mentioned that many people have commented on it and am now pleased to see that Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive, has weighed in on it via an editorial published in the Washington Post on May 19. This comes after the Internet Archive and others being denied to intervene as a defendant in the lawsuit.

In his editorial, Kahle wrote:

Whereas the original lawsuit could have helped define fair use in the digital age, the settlement provides a new and unsettling form of media consolidation.

If approved, the settlement would produce not one but two court-sanctioned monopolies. Google will have permission to bring under its sole control information that has been accessible through public institutions for centuries. In essence, Google will be privatizing our libraries.

Later he said this about the second monopoly:

But the settlement would also create a class that includes millions of people who will never come forward. For the majority of books -- considered "orphan" works -- no one will claim ownership. The author may have died; the publisher might have gone out of business or doesn't respond to inquiries; the original contract has disappeared.

Google would get an explicit, perpetual license to scan and sell access to these in-copyright but out-of-print orphans, which make up an estimated 50 to 70 percent of books published after 1923. No other provider of digital books would enjoy the same legal protection. The settlement also creates a Book Rights Registry that, in conjunction with Google, would set prices for all commercial terms associated with digital books.
A growing number of people who have come out against this settlement. Unfortunately, those voices aren't being heard by the court because of the way court proceedings go. Yes, some have filed an amicus brief -- friend of the court filing -- but it is unclear if they will have any impact. Perhaps the Justice Department will decide to take action?!

By the way, the judge has given a fourth month extension for people to opt out of the settlement. While this will help many copyright holders, Kahle is correct in that some will never come forward due to death, ignorance, or resignation to what they may see as being inevitable.

One other quote from Kahle is worth repeating. He said:
For the cost of 60 miles of highway, we can have a 10 million-book digital library available to a generation that is growing up reading on-screen.
Given the emphasis on rebuilding our infrastructure and improving education, that is a powerful image. Let's hope the Administration is listening.

Related posts:


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Open Loops: Articles worth noting

"Open loops" can be defined as unfinished business or, in my case, blog posts never written. Here are three articles that I meant to write blog posts about, but didn't. At this point, this may be just good documentation for the future.


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Friday, May 22, 2009

Conversants & T is for Training

As announced here in March, there is a hybrid conference this year called Conversants. Conversants recognizes that we learn through conversations. Conversants is meant to be a conversation among library workers about libraries, with specific topic conversations being hosted both online and in person. One such conversation will happen on June 5 during the T is for Training podcast. That edition of T is for Training will focus on the topic "How to model appropriate and innovative use of technologies in libraries." The event is open to anyone who would like to participate on the call (voice) or in chat.

To participate live on June 5, anyone can call-in to the podcast or participate in the online chat during the show. Here is the show's site on TalkShoe, which it uses to facilitate the podcast. You do not have to have a TalkShoe account in order to participate. The resultant podcast will be available for download via the "T is for Training" web site, where comments -- and a continued conversation -- will be encouraged.

About How to model appropriate and innovative use of technologies in libraries: T is for Training's primary podcast participants and audience are those involved in library technology training. We interact both with library staff members and users, and help the understand and adopt new technologies. However, learning -- and information transfer -- doesn't just happen in the classroom; in happens every moment of every day. How can we model the use of technology for our constituents? How can our actions help them use innovative technologies? What does that mean for us and our technology use and adoption? What are the pros, cons, concerns and benefits?

I'm looking forward to June 5 and hope that you'll join in live or listen to the podcast after the fact.

Below is the keynote speech (57 min.) that R. David Lankes recorded for Conversants. I had the pleasure of being in the room with about 40 others when he recorded it, and he truly energized the room. (This is on the Conversants' Ning site, in addition to other background information.)

They Named the Building After Us: The Library as Conversation from R. David Lankes on Vimeo.




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Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Details for 4,000 document on/about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. now online

A news item in the Stanford Report last week announced that:
Details and descriptions of more than 4,000 documents on or about Martin Luther King Jr. will go public when Stanford's Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute launches a new online database on May 18. An additional 4,000 document records will be available by year's end.
Later in the press release it states:
Because of copyright issues with the King Estate, the documents themselves will not be available online, but scholars will be able to discover from the records which original documents exist and contact the participating institutions to get access to them.
Good news in general, but still a bit maddening that the full-text will not be online. While I totally understand why copyright exists, my heart believes that King's words would do much more good if they were in the public domain or available through a Creative Commons license.


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Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Event: Digital Preservation – the Planets way, June 22 - 24, 2009

This arrived in email....



You are invited to participate in the Planets Outreach and Training event, ‘Digital Preservation – the Planets way’ at the Royal Library in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 22-24 June 2009. The event will consider the challenges of digital preservation and how the Planets tools and framework can assist national institutions with digital preservation. Registration is now open, and a full event programme and registration form is available on the Planets website at: http://www.planets-project.eu/events/copenhagen-2009/

Day 1 of the event explores the challenges of digital preservation and introduces the Planets tools and services. On Days 2 and 3 delegates will gain hands-on experience of working with Planets and a scenario (sample collection) to develop a preservation plan and preserve digital objects. The event will include plenty of opportunity for discussion, sharing ideas and best practice and to ask questions.

The event is aimed at CEOs, Heads of IT, Curation and Preservation, IT staff, digital librarians and archivists, curators, policy managers and other staff preparing to or involved in preserving digital content.

You can register for either Day 1 only at a cost of 80 EUR, or for all three days at a cost of 175 EUR.

Due to the nature of the event there is an upper capacity of 60 delegates on Day 1 and 40 delegates on Days 2 and 3.

Final closing date for all registrations is 11 June 2009. This event is the first in a series of Planets outreach and training events to be hosted at venues across Europe between June 2009 and May 2010.

Planets (Preservation and Long-Term Access through Networked Services) is a four-year project co-funded by the European Union under Framework Programme 6 to address core digital preservation challenges. Planets is building practical tools and services to help ensure long-term access to our digital cultural and scientific assets.


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Monday, May 18, 2009

JPEG 2000 survey results

Michael Bennett & David Lowe released two emails this year about a JPEG 2000 survey that they did. The first email said:
First, thanks very much to those who responded this past fall to our survey of digital project staff regarding JPEG 2000 implementation at your institutions. We have made the results available via our institutional repository at: http://digitalcommons.uconn.edu/libr_pubs/16/

You may choose to download the survey results as a standalone .xls spreadsheet file or, if you prefer a somewhat smoother viewing experience, download and extract the .html version contained in the zip file at the same URL.

From our abstract:

The survey results reveal several key areas that JPEG 2000's user community will need to have addressed in order to further enhance adoption of the standard, including perspectives from cultural institutions that have adopted it already, as well as insights from institutions that do not currently have it in their workflows. Current users are concerned about limited compatible software capabilities with an eye toward needed enhancements. They realize also that there is much room for improvement in the area of educating and informing the cultural heritage community about the advantages of JPEG 2000. A small set of users, in addition, alerts us to serious problems of cross-codec consistency and they relate file validation issues that would likely be easily resolved given a modicum of collaborative attention toward standardization. Responses from non-users disclose that there are lingering questions surrounding the format and its stability and permanence, stoked largely by a dearth of currently available software functionality, from the point of initial capture and manipulation on through to delivery to online users.
And then (second email) they announced that they had presented their findings at IS&T Archiving 2009 Conference. The final report is available at http://digitalcommons.uconn.edu/libr_pubs/19/ and the presentation is online at http://digitalcommons.uconn.edu/libr_pres/21/

JPEG 2000 is being adopted by more and more organizations. Surveys and reports like this will help us understand who is using it and why, as well as the issues or concerns that they run into. One day, JPEG 2000 may be the norm. For now, it's still a decision that people must make. I hope more continue to say "yes" to it.


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Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Jill's May & June Schedule: Ohio, NYS, D.C. and Florida

National ArchivesSo where will you be over the next few weeks? My travel schedule is below. If one of these events interests you, please check your calendar and see if you can attend. The more people, the better the conversation!


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Press release: Cornell University Library Removes All Restrictions on Use of Public Domain Reproductions

In disseminating this announcement via email, Peter Hirtle, from Cornell, said:
Basically, the Library will continue to charge for services we provide, but we are not going to try to exert any downstream control over copies of public domain works. This applies to items that we digitize as well as items already in digital form, and it applies to both unpublished and published material.
Cornell's move reflects thinking that has occurred in regards to copyright including resolutions passed by the International Association of Research Institutes in the History of Art (RIHA) General Assembly in November 2008. Hopefully Cornell's move will pave the way for others to follow in their footsteps.

Below is the full-text of the press release, with bolding added for emphasis.

Cornell University Library Removes All Restrictions on Use of Public Domain Reproductions

ITHACA, N.Y. (May 11, 2009) – In a dramatic change of practice, Cornell University Library has announced it will no longer require its users to seek permission to publish public domain items duplicated from its collections. Instead, users may now use reproductions of public domain works made for them by the Library or available via Web sites, without seeking any further permission.

The Library, as the producer of digital reproductions made from its collections, has in the past licensed the use of those reproductions. Individuals and corporations that failed to secure permission to repurpose these reproductions violated their agreement with the Library. "The threat of legal action, however," noted Anne R. Kenney, Carl A. Kroch University Librarian, "does little to stop bad actors while at the same time limits the good uses that can be made of digital surrogates. We decided it was more important to encourage the use of the public domain materials in our holdings than to impose roadblocks."

The immediate impetus for the new policy is Cornell’s donation of more than 70,000 digitized public domain books to the Internet Archive (details at www.archive.org/details/cornell).

"Imposing legally binding restrictions on these digital files would have been very difficult and in a way contrary to our broad support of open access principles," said Oya Y. Rieger, Associate University Librarian for Information Technologies. "It seemed better just to acknowledge their public domain status and make them freely usable for any purpose. And since it doesn’t make sense to have different rules for material that is reproduced at the request of patrons, we have removed permission obligations from public domain works."

Institutional restrictions on the use of public domain work, sometimes labeled "copyfraud," have been the subject of much scholarly criticism. The Cornell initiative goes further than many other recent attempts to open access to public domain material by removing restrictions on both commercial and non-commercial use. Users of the public domain works are still expected to determine on their own that works are in the public domain where they live. They also must respect non-copyright rights, such as the rights of privacy, publicity, and trademark. The Library will continue to charge service fees associated with the reproduction of analog material or the provision of versions of files different than what is freely available on the Web. All library Web sites will be updated to reflect this new policy during 2009.

The new Cornell policy can be found at cdl.library.cornell.edu/guidelines.html.

About Cornell University Library One of the leading academic research libraries in the United States, Cornell University Library is a highly valued partner in teaching, research and learning at Cornell University. The Library offers cutting-edge programs and a full spectrum of services, rare books and manuscripts and a growing network of digital resources. The Library’s outstanding collections – from medieval manuscripts to hip hop and from ancient Chinese texts to comic books – preserve the past and pave the way for future scholarship. To learn more about Cornell University Library, visit library.cornell.edu.


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Monday, May 11, 2009

Events: Workshops from BCR

Received via email...



BCR DIGITAL AND PRESERVATION SERVICES TRAINING

Having trouble getting your digital projects off the ground? Wish you had somewhere to turn for information and advice regarding digital project management? BCR’s Digital and Preservation Services unit has expanded its program to include training related to the full range of activities surrounding the management of digital collections. Take advantage of these newest training opportunities from BCR’s expert staff and guest trainers to learn new skills, grow with the changes in the field and increase your expertise.

FREE FRIDAY FORUMS (FFF)

May 15, Introduction to Mark up Languages (10-11 am or 2-3 pm MT)

Did you know that the term “markup” has actually been around for centuries? It is historically a publishing term, where early original manuscripts were “marked up” in preparation for printing. What does markup mean in this present technical age? Come decode the coding of markup languages like SGML, HTML, CSS, and XML. More importantly, learn about their impact on library and patron services. No “techie” experience required!

IN-PERSON WORKSHOPS

May 12, Analog-to-Digital Video Migration and All That Goes With It: Who does What, When, Where and How? BCR – Aurora, Colorado offices (9:00 am -4:00pm MT)

Whether you're the custodian of an enormous moving image library, a few shelves of videotapes or something in between, digitization is probably on your horizon if not already on your plate. Technology matters of course, but so does workflow and your role in it. This workshop condenses the lifecycle of a typical analog-to-digital conversion project into one workshop day so that you can get a feel for the workflows involved, ask technology questions along the way, and consider a migration project plan that will work for you and your stakeholders.

July 29-30, A Race Against Time: Preserving Our Audiovisual Media – Denver Public Library, Denver, Colorado

Attend this two-day program presented by the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts (www.ccaha.org/) to learn how to maximize the life of all types of audiovisual materials, from wax cylinders and magnetic audiotapes, to LPs, audiocassettes and videocassettes. The program is funded by the Institute of Museums and Library Services (IMLS) and the Andrew W. Mello Foundation, in partnership PALINET and co-sponsored by the Denver Public Library and BCR. Event registration and program details can be found at http://www.ccaha.org/education/program-calendar.

WEBLIVE WORKSHOPS

May 19-20, Introduction to Digital Audio Projects (2 pm-4 pm MT)

This two-day online workshop will give museum, library and archive staff increased insight into all aspects of planning for a digital audio project. Participants will receive a strategy to help libraries and cultural heritage practitioners know what to expect when converting audio materials from analog to digital as well as how to create and serve born digital audio material.

July 7-9, Introduction to Dublin Core Metadata (10 am-12 noon MT)

This online workshop will concentrate on the creation of both simple and qualified Dublin Core metadata for digital objects. We will also explore the concept of devising best practices for cataloging, using the Collaborative Digitization Program’s Dublin Core Metadata Best Practices as a guide. Participants will have opportunities to practice with hands-on exercises.

July 14-16, Cataloging Sound and Moving Image: Introduction to Public Broadcasting Metadata Dictionary (PBCore) (10 am-12 noon MT)

This online workshop will explore the Public Broadcasting Metadata Dictionary (PBCore), a metadata schema that is based on Dublin Core. This schema is ideal for describing sound and moving image resources for rich discovery, retrieval, and archiving purposes. Participants will have opportunities to practice with hands-on exercises.

Register for all BCR Workshops: http://www.bcr.org/training/workshops/register.html

Learn about all the learning opportunities available from BCR. Subscribe to our BCReview online newsletter and Continuing Education RSS feed: http://www.bcr.org/rss.html


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Event: JISC Digital Content Conference, June 30 - July 1

From the JISC announcement...


Registration is now open for the JISC Digital Content Conference, to be held on 30 June - 1 July at the Cotswold Water Park Four Pillars Hotel, South Cerney, Gloucestershire.

The conference, as previously announced on this blog, has been organised in the the context of the completion of Phase 2 of the JISC Digitisation Programme and aims to discuss and decide the next steps that need to be taken to ensure the sustained integration of digitised content into research and education.

It will consider the issues facing the UK’s universities as they deal with creating, delivering, sustaining and using a whole range of digital content as well as looking into future opportunities and challenges. The following thematic strands will run throughout the conference:

o Managing Content
o Content Development Strategies
o Content in Education
o User Engagement
o Looking Into The Future

The event will be of interest to all decision makers involved in the provision and delivery of digital content to the education sector in the UK and internationally, including:

o Senior Librarians in further and higher education
o The librarians of the future - the new generation of librarians
o Managers of electronic resources and digital content provision
o Policy makers in charge of digital content strategies
o Government body representatives and policy makers
o Teachers, lecturers and researchers with an interest in digital content

The conference is free for delegates, including meals and accommodation.

For more information about the conference, a provisional programme and to register, go to the conference web site.


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Friday, May 08, 2009

Event: Upcoming AASLH workshops

Received via email from the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH)....



Digitizing Historic Collections

Dates: June 3-5
Location: Boise, ID

Cost: $200 members/$265 nonmembers

Register by May 11

Address and correct a wide-range of issues associated with digitizing primary source
materials. During this three-day information- packed learning experience you will:
  • Understand the value of digitizing
  • Learn how to define your audience
  • Protect your organization by learning legal issues
  • Determine what to digitize
  • Define and learn how to use Dublin Core Metadata
  • Discover best practices for processing digital images
  • Learn how to fund the project and write competitive grants
  • Discover the benefits from collaboration with others
  • Learn the best file formats and compression methods
  • Learn how to select the best imaging hardware
  • And more!

Collections Management and Practices

Dates: June 25-26
Location: Jackson, MS

Cost: $250 members/$315 nonmembers

Register by May 25 and save $20!

During this interactive workshop you'll learn the importance of proper collections management, the necessary policies and procedures, and the latest trends. You'll also explore these topics that every history organization should know:
  • Understand the role of collections in exhibition and interpretation
  • Learn the basic steps of collections management from acquisition to disposal
  • Learn professional standards and ethics
  • Learn conservation on a shoestring budget
  • Get access to multiple resources aimed at benefiting the collections management process
More Information:
For more information, contact Bethany Hawkins, Program Associate, at 615-320-3203 or by email to hawkins@aaslh.org.



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Event: Institutional Web Management Workshop 2009

Received this is email.....



We are pleased to announce that bookings for the Institutional Web Management Workshop 2009 are now open. This year's event will be held at the University of Essex, Colchester Campus, from Tuesday 28th to Thursday 30th July 2009.

The IWMW event provides an opportunity for those involved in the provision of institutional Web services to hear about institutional case studies, national initiatives and emerging technologies and to actively participate in a number of parallel sessions. There will be areas that are highly relevant to the digital preservation community. For example there is a workshop on Practical blog Preservation led by Richard Davis, ULCC.

To book please could you please read the booking details at:
http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/iwmw2009/booking/
and fill in the booking form.

You will be asked to select your parallel workshop sessions so may want to read up in advance on the sessions available:
http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/iwmw2009/sessions/

Note that the rate for the 3 days is £350 per person with two nights en suite accommodation or £300 per person with no accommodation. You can also book accommodation for the preceding night.


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Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Video: Copyright Basics

The Copyright Clearance Center has created a 6 1/2 minute video on copyright basics. It does a nice job quickly going over the facts and provides information in easy-to-understand language. Obviously, this is meant for people in corporations, but anyone can benefit from watching it.

One note, we always talk about documents from the U.S. federal government being in the public domain and that is true. However, documents from state and local governments may be protected by copyright. In addition, documents produced for the federal government by outside contractors may be protected by copyright. Therefore, don't assume that every government document is in the public domain.

URL updated 08/16/2013

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YouTube video(s) from DigitalPreservationEurope (DPE)

Quoting an email received yesterday:
As many of you will know DigitalPreservationEurope (DPE) are committed to making digital preservation materials available to the widest possible audience and to breaking down barriers to access. The release of a new series of short animations introducing and explaining digital preservation problems and solutions for the general public marks an important step reaching this goal.

We are delighted to announce that the first animation is now ready for viewing at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbBa6Oam7-w (See below for video)

We believe these cartoons encapsulate complex digital preservation issues and problems and explain them in a funny and easy to follow plot. Please fee free to make use of these animations as part of your own work to raise awareness and understanding about digital preservation.

Future animations will be released on our You Tube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/wepreserve

To learn more about DPE or to access our suite of preservation resources and tools, please go to http://www.digitalpreservationeurope.org.
The video below is indeed for the general public. I could see this being viewed by trustees and board members of cultural heritage organizations as well as by business people. In each case, it would be a fun way of teaching them about digital preservation. One might even approach this as "hey, I'm going to show this to our staff, but wanted you to see it first as an FYI." (With the implication that they don't need to see it -- they know this stuff, right?! -- but should view it so they know what they staff will be viewing. Of course, while they are smiling at the cartoon, they'll be learning.)




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Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Article: Patent reveals Google's book-scanning advantage

I was just talking with Jay Datema on Friday about Google's digitization efforts and what is not known, so this is timely. Quoting the article:
...a patent awarded to Google gives insight into how the search behemoth accomplishes the task.

In short, Google has come up with a system that uses two cameras and infrared light to automatically correct for the curvature of pages in a book. By constructing a 3D model of each page and then "de-warping" it afterward, Google can present flat-looking pages online without having to slice books up or mash them onto a flatbed scanner.

Of course, this is just a piece of the technology that Google is using. Maybe future patents will reveal more?

BTW information flows on the Internet in many different ways these days. The way I found out about this was through a Facebook status update by SivaVaidhyanathan.


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Article: Tech Tip: How much memory will my collection need?

This is a question asked in the latest newsletter from Backstage Library Works. The article provides a way of calculating the answer and provides a spreadsheet that anyone can use for the task.


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Monday, May 04, 2009

NFAIS Forum: Social Media and the Future of Scholarly Publishing - Part 2

Here are more notes from the NFAIS event on May 1.

Dr. Bay Arinze:

  • Dr. Arinze is the founder of MyNetResearch.com, which is a research management and collaboration network.
  • Currently the site has 6,500 users from 95 countries.
  • The site is geared to make researchers more efficient in their collaborative efforts. It can help them manage the collaborations as well as locate new collaborators.
    • 5% of U.S. researchers collaborate outside of the U.S.
  • The heart of MyNetResearch is project management:
    • Online project collaboration and management tools
    • Management of project teams, schedules and tasks
    • Management of documents, including version management
  • The site features blogs, wikis, forums, chat and messaging. There are RSS feeds which help with knowledge discovery. There are also specialized research tools.
  • PhD students can use the site to manage their dissertation process with the committees.
Reynold Guida:
  • Guida is from Thomson-Reuters.
  • In thinking about a researcher's identity, they realized that there were six areas where information should be known:
    • Who are you?
    • Where do you work?
    • What do you do?
    • Who do you know?
    • What do you want to know?
    • What do you create?
  • They are now building an identity system called ResearcherID.com which is a researcher registry.
  • ResearcherID consists of one record for each researcher that contains a unique identifier for each record.
  • The registry uses consistent metadata, persistent location (URL), and controlled permissions. It is global and secure.
  • They are working to connect to other registries.
  • Users control their identities.
  • Found that institutions want to create records for their research faculty, Have a way for institutions to do that, however, the individual faculty members own and control their records. Those records can change as the faculty members changes (e.g., location).
  • Note: Over the weekend, this blog post from May 2008 was passed along to me on ResearcherID. The lesson from the blog post is to understand what the product is, what benefits you are looking for, and whether this product will deliver those benefits.
Jill Hurst-Wahl:
  • Wayne Hay (below) and I were charged with talking about social media in public and academic library environments.
  • Many tools are being used in academic environments including Twitter, Meebo, Skype, RSS, Elluminate, Youtube, Flickr, Facebook, wikis, blogs, LibraryThing and tagging. (And those were just from a small informal survey in FriendFeed.)
  • On college campuses, the physical library is trying to be the "third place" for people. The library wants to be the "center" of the campus.
  • Online the lbrary is using tools to communicate, to publish information, and to allow people to interact with content.
  • In thinking about content, users want to share it, tag it, find it faster, use it more seamlessly, mix, and mash it.
  • Barriers eliminate use.
  • It has been said that the Internet is a "fourth place". Everyone who spoke at NFAIS is trying to create a specific fourth place for people. People don't want multiple fourth places. Can these places interoperate? Can people move easily from one to another?
  • Librarians want to implement more social tools on their sites, but they do not want to have to study an idea in-depth/to-death.
  • The libraries virtual presences needs to be everywhere.
Wayne Hay:
  • Hay is from the Westchester (NY) Library System.
  • He talked about the current practices occurring in his system in regards to web 2.0. Tools being used include Facebook, Twitter, blogs, Flcikr, MySpace and YouTube. He should screenshots of some of the pages.
  • One library is using Facebook events for event sign-ups (likely with teens).
  • He referenced this article, HOW TO: Track Social Media Analytics.
  • In talking about demographics, Hay used information from Nielson Wire.
  • He seem the iPhone interface as being simple visual navigation. For the most part, we haven't figured out simple navigation. The Birmingham Public Library has.
  • He mentioned an international m-library conference that will be occurring in June.
Jay Datema:
  • Datema, from Bookism, talked about the challenges to adopting social media.
  • The problem:
    • Social media is irresistible
    • Social media supplants and does not replace original content
    • The parasite needs a host
    • The Internet is a copy machine
  • The business model needs to address "content ownership" where rights are distributed not owned. Who is the ultimate owner of your stuff?
  • Scott McNealy - "Technology has the shelf-lfe of a banana."
  • Datema mentioned that 125 New York Public Library subject librarians are blogging. In Twitter, epistemographer responded to my tweet on the topic and noted that "We've got upwards of 50 librarians blogging now at nypl.org/blog (some more frequently than others). More to come!"
  • Datema noted that social media is a bridge...bridging, people, content, ideas...
Darin McBeath:
  • McBeath, from Elsevier, was the final speaker.
  • Right now he sees a tug of war between publishers and the community over information. Publishers want control. The community is attempting to take control. Is there an amicable middle-ground?
  • He asked which is better "less more" or "more less"? Is less more or is more less? Do users want all of these features?
  • Should (could) we let customers be the publisher?
  • Should (could) we let customers create communities within our platforms?
  • He believes that publishers should provide common APIs and common XMLs so that the community can develop applications and share those applications.
A few other sites mentioned during the day included:
One quick thought from these speakers:
  • No one is waiting for the perfect solution.

Although I've been to Philadelphia before (smile!), it was nice to stretch my legs, visit familiar spots and find some new ones. Here are a few photos...

Ben Franklin Bridge, Philadelphia at night South St. Philadelphia
State House Bell aka the Liberty Bell Entrance to China Town, Philadephia



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NFAIS Forum: Social Media and the Future of Scholarly Publishing - Part 1

Friday (May 1) I attended and spoke at the NFAIS Forum entitled Social Media and the Future of Scholarly Publishing in Philadelphia, PA. Participants at this event included content aggregators, publishers, and librarians who were all interested in the use of social media/web 2.0.

I was impressed by the efforts that are being undertaken. This was a wonderful opportunity to see what publishers are experimenting with and implementing. It was good to hear them talk about what was working well and what wasn't. Everyone is still learning, with perhaps the biggest lesson being that there is no magic solution.

Due to the length of my notes, I'm dividing highlights of the event into multiple blog posts.

Steve Paxhia:
  • The Gilbane Group publishes free reports on content and information technologies. Steve Paxhia, from the Gilbane Group, included information from their reports in his presentation. He sees the primary reasons people and companies are adopting web 2.0 tools are for collaboration and community.
  • Paxhia mentioned Eroom FacultyCafe at Wharton, http://technology.wharton.upenn.edu/facultycafe/ They have created 300 faculty cafe rooms.
  • According to Paxhia, the community must have the interpersonal dynamics of a student lounge or a pub in real time for remote participants.
  • SAP has used strategic communities in order to provide tech support for its products. Users are supporting each other. There are 1 million active participants (all volunteers). 60,000 wikis. Tech support questions are answered in 16 minutes. Recognition incentives drive success.
  • Quoting Clay Shirky:
    • Audiences are built. Communities grow.
    • Communities face a trade-off between size and focus,
    • Participation matters more than quality.
    • You may own the software, but the community owns itself.
    • The community will want to build. Help it or at least let it.
  • We need to put the platform back into the hands of the people.
  • This is a bottom-up tech revolution.
  • The challenge for librarian is to stay on top of the explosion of user generated content.
  • One question -- will there be market saturation of web 2.0 stuff?
Jeff Boily:
  • From BioWizard, which is UPenn-centric and venture backed. Founded in 2005.
  • A portal focused on life scientists, who want what they want when they want it.
  • In their research, they followed doctoral candidates to see how they searched for information. They found that people stick to a few key sites.
  • The portal contains web 2.o features some of which are "Digg-like". Trying to make the content on the site viral.
  • Scientists can post their own articles to the site.
  • BioWizard is also exploring Second Life. Bioly said that an amazing number of young life science students are in SL.
  • Found that users actually spend a limited about of time on the site. High usage in limited spurts of time.
  • Among the lessons learned - make the utility of the site immediately obvious.
Lettie Conrad:
  • From MethodSpace.com, which is owned by Sage Publishing. It is a new online community for research methods.
  • The site is focused around exchange and collaboration.
  • Contains discussion forms and ways for people to comment on materials.
  • They are posting one free book chapter and one free article each month.
  • They are providing Twitter and Facebook widgets.
  • The site was recently launched, so the number of users is still small. (1000+)
John Sullivan:
  • The American Chemical Society, which Sullivan considers a long-standing social networking, is not using online social media.
  • The underlying software is from Jive Software, Inc. (BTW Information Week had an article in the March 23, 2009 issues about enterprise social software, which contained a list of vendors.)
  • Believes that when you use social software that you need to "let go" and release the reigns. They users need to have control.
  • Believes that success equals engagement.
  • They are struggling with how to measure success in meaningful ways. (Something that the Information Week article touches on, "Can Enterprise Social Networking Pay Off?")
  • Their initiatives and experiments include message boards, file sharing, polls, groups, use of Facebook & Twitter, wikis, tagging, blogs....They are also using Second Life.
  • One way that they used to grow the networking initially was in-person marketing at a conference.
  • ~11,000 people pre-registered for the ACS Network before it launched.
Jason Wilde:
  • From Nature Publishing Group.
  • "Science happens not just because of people doing experiments, but because they're discussing those experiments..."
  • There are social networking tools on their site, and they are also using Twitter and Second Life.
  • Their blogs have received 1.5 million pages views per month. 150,000 users. 500 comments per month. Comments are moderated by Nature editors.
  • Nature Network connects scientists.
    • Launched in 2005.
    • Users can create blogs and groups.
    • Still experimenting with this.
    • 100 active bloggers --> 6,000 posts --> 35,000 comments
    • 22,000 regular users
    • 1000+ discussion groups
  • Connotea:
    • Social bookmarking tool launched in 2004.
    • 6.5 million tags
    • 150,000 active users
    • 1 million bookmarks
    • He discussed a user-generated add-on called HotCites.
  • Talked about areas where audience participation have been difficult (where it is not the cultural norm) and the use of conventional marketing to drive people to the social sites.
  • In looking toward the future, he sees the need to make science more interactive online. Wilde does not know if anyone will be making money from social media.
Quick thoughts from these speakers:
  • Organizations are trying a wide variety of tools, including Second Life.
  • They are experimenting and seeing what "sticks".
  • They are employing the crowd as well as their own staff in order to fuel these efforts.
  • While there was no discussion of money, it is clear that these organizations are making significant investments in social media/online social networking/web 2.0.


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Sunday, May 03, 2009

NFAIS Forum: Social Media and the Future of Scholarly Communication (tweets)

I attended the NFAIS Forum on Social Media and the Future of Scholarly Communication on May 1. A blog post full of notes will be published tomorrow, but for now here are the tweets (Twitter) that I sent out during the event. Please note that they are here in reverse chronological order. Each begins with a hashtag (#NFAIS) so that people had a clue what event I was twittering about. (Typos have been corrected.)


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