Shaping Our Digital Future: Collaboration Across Cultural Institutions
•
1 gefällt mir•1,336 views
The document discusses trends in digital information and digitization, including convergence through collaboration between libraries, archives and museums. It provides examples of collaborative digitization projects and how they help inspire new kinds of research. Open source and open access models are also discussed as important trends. Professional competencies must evolve as the roles of librarians, archivists and curators converge in the digital realm. Global organizations have a role to play in encouraging partnerships and training.
![Shaping our Future: Digitization Partnerships Across Libraries, Archives, Museums Ingrid Parent, University Librarian University of British Columbia [email_address] Enhancing the Culture of Reading and Books in the Digital Age National Diet Library Tokyo, Japan December 2, 2010](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/parentndlpresentationdec10final-101122180741-phpapp02-110131181256-phpapp02/85/shaping-our-future-digitization-partnerships-across-libraries-archives-and-museums-1-320.jpg)
![Introduction: Vision ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Empfohlen
Empfohlen
Weitere ähnliche Inhalte
Was ist angesagt?
Was ist angesagt? (20)
Ähnlich wie Shaping Our Digital Future: Collaboration Across Cultural Institutions
Ähnlich wie Shaping Our Digital Future: Collaboration Across Cultural Institutions (20)
Mehr von UBC Library
Mehr von UBC Library (16)
Shaping Our Digital Future: Collaboration Across Cultural Institutions
- 1. Shaping our Future: Digitization Partnerships Across Libraries, Archives, Museums Ingrid Parent, University Librarian University of British Columbia [email_address] Enhancing the Culture of Reading and Books in the Digital Age National Diet Library Tokyo, Japan December 2, 2010
- 5. Trend: Convergence Through Collaboration From: Zorich, Waibel, Erway. (2008). Beyond the Silos of the LAMS: Collaboration among libraries, archives and museums.
- 6. Trend: Convergence Through Collaboration Examples of Convergence in Digitization Projects UBC ’s Museum of Anthropology has launched the Reciprocal Research Network (RRN) in partnership with First Nations groups, to digitally repatriate cultural objects and share with institutions around the globe http://www.rrnpilot.org/
- 7. Trend: Convergence Through Collaboration Examples of Convergence in Digitization Projects Reciprocal Research Network, http://www.rrnpilot.org
- 8. Trend: Convergence Through Collaboration Examples of Convergence in Digitization Projects World Digital Library, http://www.wdl.org
- 11. Trend: Inspiring New Kinds of Research Examples of Research Sloan Digital Sky Survey, http://www.sdss.org/
- 12. Trend: Inspiring New Kinds of Research Examples of Research Enrich Manuscript Project, http://enrich.manuscriptorium.com
- 14. Creative Commons, http://creativecommons.org Trend: Open Source, Open Access Examples of Open Access Creative Commons, http://creativecommons.org SIOC, http://sioc-project.org/
- 16. Mataphi, http://www.matapihi.org.nz/ Trend: Moving Beyond Print Examples of non-print Digitization projects
- 17. Sample audio: http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/country-schooling/3/3 Trend: Moving Beyond Print Examples of non-print Digitization projects
- 18. Trend: Changing Professional Competencies in the Digital Realm “ We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist…using technologies that haven’t been invented…in order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet.” - Did You Know? (2009)
- 23. Domo Arigato! Ingrid Parent, University Librarian University of British Columbia Library [email_address]
Hinweis der Redaktion
- Shaping our Future: Digitization Partnerships Across Libraries, Archives and Museums Enhancing the Culture of Reading and Books in the Digital Age National Diet Library Tokyo, Japan December 2, 2010 Ingrid Parent University Librarian University of British Columbia Digitization Panel: International and Regional digitization efforts I am very pleased to be a part of this panel on digitization.
- Introduction “ The number one benefit of information technology is that it empowers people to do what they want to do. It lets people be creative. It lets people be productive. It lets people learn things they didn't think they could learn before, and so in a sense it is all about potential.” - Steve Ballmer, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Microsoft Corporation Collections of the future will integrate access to traditional print, museum and archival materials, with digital and three-dimensional objects, media formats and onsite broadcasting and telecommunications. Perhaps more importantly, collections of the future will reach across traditional boundaries and blur the boundary lines between libraries, archives, and museums, monuments, and sites, or LAMS for short. Our users have evolved from cultural consumers to knowledge producers, partners and cultural citizens. And libraries and librarians, archives and archivists, museums and museologists are changing from being cultural guides and custodians to being knowledge facilitators. Again, this is a world where the edges have begun to blur – and this blurring will only continue. I am currently the President-elect of IFLA and I am developing my theme for my presidency from 2011 – 2013. My theme will soon be finalized, but I expect it to be “ Libraries Shape the Future ” with the sub-themes of Innovative, Creative, Transformative and Convergent. I think that the new technologies we now have at our disposal to create and disseminate information will greatly facilitate the mission of libraries to transform and make a difference in people ’ s lives. And one of those technologies concerns the transition of information from analogue to digital form through the process we all know as digitization. I think everyone in this audience knows what digitization is and also is familiar with several digitization projects locally and internationally, so I would like to focus on some trends that I see happening in the digitization arena, trends that will in most cases push libraries to be able to provide more and better services to their users to transform them in many new ways.
- There are five growing trends that can be seen in this evolving landscape of digitized information. Convergence Through Collaboration Inspiring New Kinds of Research Open Source, Open Access Moving Beyond Print Changing Professional Competencies in the Digital Realm
- Trend 1 - Convergence through Collaboration A story I often use to present the case for convergence involves James Cook’s second voyage around the world in 1772, one of history’s epic journeys. The scientist on that expedition was Johann Reinhold Forster, a German clergyman, who brought along his teenage son Johann Georg. When Cook and his crew returned to England in 1775, the Forsters, father and son, brought with them a veritable treasure trove of materials, including cultural artifacts and natural history specimens from the Pacific region. They also brought drawings and paintings, manuscript notes, papers, correspondence and books. Back on terra firma, the Forsters gave away much of the material by donating it to various museums and archives. Some of the material was auctioned off, or given as gifts to heirs, including their valuable personal libraries and their own work on the natural history and cultures of the Pacific. Needless to say, tracing those items, or their provenance and description, would challenge even the most dedicated researcher. So the sense of a common source, a common history of the material, was lost. I begin with this story because I think it helps to illustrate why today, more than ever, libraries, archives and museums – also referred as LAMs – must work together if they wish to reconfigure the past and prepare for the future. While LAMs are different in various respects, I think it’s crucial to remain focused on our commonalities. Libraries, archives and museums are all collection-based, service-oriented organizations. They tend to have mandates that support learning, education, scholarly study and research, the advancement of knowledge, and the collection, preservation, organization, use and enjoyment of the collections in their care and custody.
- Convergence through Collaboration Convergence, in its truest sense, is the merging of distinct technologies, industries or devices into a unified whole. Some use terms such as collaboration and convergence interchangeably. Others, such as [Zorich, Waibel, and Erway] the authors of an OCLC report entitled Beyond the Silos of the LAMs: Collaboration among libraries, Archives and Museums , view them as steps along a continuum that begins with contact, evolves into co-operation, to co-ordination, to collaboration and finally, convergence. However, as an alternative to true convergence, digitization projects done by separate institutions can be linked through various portals that provide a unified view of disparate collections. And in the evolution of digital oriented service models, we all see the potential for digitization projects – cultural artifacts, oral histories, objects, manuscripts, books, and more. We have similar mandates to provide these collections to the public, and we aim to increase the research value for our users. And lately this aim has included not only users of our institutions, but across disciplines, across national boundaries, across international boundaries as well.
- The University of British Columbia’s (UBC’s) Museum of Anthropology has recently launched an online resource called the Reciprocal Research Network (RRN). Linking together over 300,000 Northwest Coast cultural objects from several different First Nations groups, the RRN partners with LAMs from around the globe, including Cambridge, Oxford, and the Smithsonian. This technology brings together museums, libraries and archives and is an excellent example of a collaborative cultural heritage research project. Dubbed a virtual repatriation project by some, the RRN allows culturally sensitive objects to be seen only by certain parties, allowing the public access to a large variety of research materials without infringing on cultural sensitivity. This digital repatriation has united communities with materials and objects that were “previously scatted around the world, and inaccessible to the communities that created them.” http://www.rrnpilot.org
- In this screenshot from the RRN website, you can see the results of a simple search for objects made of leather. Each object in the catalogue is photographed from several viewpoints, including with a size measurement, so researchers can easily visualize the items.
- The World Digital Library, or WDL, which had a public launch in April of this year, is another good international example. This project was developed by joint partnerships and funding from the U.S. Library of Congress and UNESCO (the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization). According to the World Digital Library site, the project “makes it possible to discover, study and enjoy cultural treasures from around the world on one site, in a variety of ways.” The World Digital Library now features nearly 50 partners – consisting largely of libraries, archives and other institutions that contribute cultural content to the WDL. An open approach is key – as the site says, “The WDL emphasizes openness in all aspects of the project: access to content; technology transfer for capacity building; and partner, stakeholder and user participation.” http://www.wdl.org/
- Trend 2. Inspiring New kinds of Research Digitization has not only created new technologies to aid research, but it has inspired new kinds of research as well. One prime Canadian example of this begins with the origins of ice hockey. Nova Scotians have long prided themselves in not only being the first province to spread the play of hockey in Canada, but also the first province where the word “hockey” was used. During a digitization project of Sir John Franklin’s diary, Library and Archives Canada discovered the word “hockey” being used earlier, in 1825. Without the digitization of this diary, we might never have learned that the origins of hockey in Canada needed more thorough research. This type of example illustrates the value of a true digitized version of Franklin’s diary – more than a glorified photocopy, the digital version offers text recognition and transcription, enabling researchers to browse through the diary like a website. This one diary can now be linked to similar documents, audio files, maps, and research notes across Canada and around the world. Truly the digital version can be more valuable than the physical one. The extraction of knowledge from digitized and digital information is aided by semantic web technologies.
- Slide 10. The Semantic Web provides a “common framework that allows data to be shared and reused across application, enterprise, and community boundaries.” (W3C Semantic Web Activity). Simply put, frameworks such as the Resource Description Framework (RDF) and ontologies such as the Web Ontology Language (OWL) allow us to interact with data in new ways. Computers are no longer isolated devices, they are parts of an exponentially growing, inter-connected network. For those who are not well versed in ontologies and languages, simply put, the RDF helps express relationships between resources. For example, the sentence “The sky has the colour blue” could be expressed as three notes. One would be an object for the colour blue, one would be a subject, which is the sky, and lastly, one would be a predicate part which denotes the value of only one colour. In essence, a subject, which is the sky, is one colour, and that colour is blue. Being able to relate this information in a meaningful way allows new relationships to be created where computers can make connections instead of humans. In fact, based on the example, the computer would now understand that the sky is blue. "Basic semantic web technologies have been defined and are starting to be more widely deployed…however there has been little work in understanding the impact of this new capability: how it truly enables the connections of the Web of people who will use it." - Hendler, J. and Berners-Lee, T. (2009). Artificial Intelligence, 174 , 156-161. Libraries have been working with vocabularies for a long time, but in the future the computer will help us make connections and relationships. The semantic web has the potential to change how we make these connections, and how we relate information together. In fact, the semantic web is here, and these new technologies are already empowering humanity in new and transformative ways. [As Hendler and Berner have identified, Social Machines are alive and well.]
- Examples of Research A great example of collaboration in the Sciences is the Sloan Sky Survey The initial goal of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey in 1998 was ambitious. « The ultimate goal of the Sky Survey, an international collaboration of … scientists and engineers, is to map one quarter of the sky and create a systematic, three-dimensional picture of the universe 100 times larger than in previous surveys .” The project now includes 150 scientists from over twenty partnering institutions. Using telescopes and computers, astronomists were able to digitally map the sky. They set out to map only one quarter of the sky, and are on their way to cataloging and classifying the known universe. To date they have photographed over 230 million celestial objects, twice the data they originally expected. In the first two days of their project alone, they discovered more about astronomy than was known in human history. But the recording of these celestial objects is not the only research output of this project. The Digital Sky Survey launched some of the first frameworks for digital curation – not just the digitizing of the object, but the storage of the data related to it. This project started a national collaboration on sharing the data collected, and resulted in a data management plan that was used in later projects across the partnering institutions. The data started some of the early open access initiatives in the US, and has led to hundreds of publications by its scientists, and potentially thousands across the globe. http://www.sdss.org/iotw/orion_neb.jpeg
- Enrich Manuscript Project In the arts and humanities, the Enrich Manuscript Project (European Networking Resources and Information concerning Cultural Heritage) is working across national boundaries to provide free access to European documentary heritage. The online webportal offers one stop searching to manuscripts, incunabula, and rare books from over 46 different institutions in Europe, including collections from National Libraries. The integration of these collections offers researchers a new level of access to these collections – some of which were never before seen, or under utilized due to poor condition of the original. This project offers a wealth of potential research simply through the digitization of historically and culturally valuable works, including religious works from the early 1400s. http://enrich.manuscriptorium.com
- Trend 3. Open Source, Open Access Open Source and Open Access are a part of the information consumption trends now and in the future: information can and should be freely available wherever possible. Europeana, an online webportal linking to 4.6 million digital items provided by Europe’s libraries, archives, museums and galleries, and audio-visual collections, is emerging as a leader in European content aggregation. As a simultaneous searching portal, in terms of open access, can Europeana truly compete with Google Books? The European Commissioner, Neelie Kroes, has advocated for a new approach to copyright that not only creates a "une Europe des cultures" but also appeals to the "real essence of art, which has no frontiers." With this in mind, European libraries are calling for academic-friendly “copyright frameworks” to ensure that digital libraries can compete with content providers such as Google. It has been estimated that only 2-3% of European collections in national libraries are digitized (2008). Europe’s copyright framework needs to be updated to allow digitization to take place with orphan works, which we will hear about in a moment. In addition to this information consumption through Google Books and similar providers, information production is multiplying exponentially. Information consumption is still as relevant. However, in today’s society, information consumers are shifting into “ prosumers. ” These hybrid users are both producing, classifying, and distributing content as well as consuming content from others. (term from Tom Evens, University of Ghent).
- Examples of Open Access Creative Commons and to a lesser degree, Wiki Commons, are facilitating the use of open access information - these open content licenses have been a source of debate for publishers and content creators alike for sometime. Open source software such as Drupal and Word Press have revolutionized the way that we utilize websites from even just ten years ago. In the next step of open access, developers will not only be sharing their code as open source, but come into convergence as they develop applications for LAMs in partnering institutions. http://creativecommons.org/ SIOC (pronounced Shock) (Semantically-Interlinked Online Communities) is a way for prosumers to connect with each other. Using a framework built on RDF principles, SIOC connects and creates online communities that may have been operating in isolation through searches of blogs, mailing lists, discussions, and forums. The goal of SIOC is to interconnect these online communities. The benefit of this software is to facilitate groupings of relevant information. Relationships such as this would truly aid research in opening connections never made before. However, not all would agree that open access should extend to mailing lists and blog entries. Perhaps the utility of some aspects of the semantic web is best saved for a future discussion. http://sw.deri.org/2004/12/sioc/index.pdf
- Trend 4. Moving Beyond Print While many libraries have focused on solely digitizing print collections, many other LAMs have engaged in digitizing objects, ephemera, art, and of course, audio files. Now that print collections can be digitized in an efficient manner for most libraries, it is time to consider the benefits of digitizing non-print collections. As it is complex and costly, the digitization of these collections varies widely by institution. For a non-print item such as a ceramic pot, can this item ever be fully digitized? Are digital photographs of the top, bottom, and sides enough? Or do we require a 3-D model as well? In addition to the complexity of digitizing objects, consider the challenges of audio digitization. Audio files, without accompanying transcriptions or translations, can be deemed meaningless, and present their own unique challenges. The Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation (VHF) collected 116,000 hours of video testimonies in 32 different languages. These testimonies from over 50,000 people were catalogued in a streamlined process, but required thousands of hours of human labour. A linguistics based digitization project might include the same transcripts broken into parts of speech and grammar. A cultural based digitization project might include audio files with transcriptions of stories restricted to only certain members of the public, while a second version, redacted and edited would be available for all to listen to. As we consider digitization projects for audio material, we need to look at why we are preserving them, and also, who we are preserving them for. Researchers listening to audio files out of context may find that the digital files are meaningless. It is important to contextualize, streamline and standardize the digitization process to make non-print objects more widely accessible. The reality is that many non-print objects are found in smaller institutions, many of whom do not have the resources to digitize their collections. Libraries and other cultural institutions do collaborate and work together so that dying languages, fragile clay pots, and 3D art can be digitized and preserved.
- Example of non-print Digitization projects On the opposite side of the globe in New Zealand, the Mataphi web portal offers a seamless online catalogue featuring digital content from libraries, archives, museums, and galleries across New Zealand (http://mataphi.org.nz) Some 16 partners have combined their digital collections featuring moving images, photographs, drawings, paintings, sculpture, texts and some 3-d virtual museum objects, as well as audio files. Here we can listen to Sallie Foodie, describing her experience in boarding school. http://www.matapihi.org.nz/
- Audio File This audio example illustrates how researchers can link old photographs and oral histories to create an integrated perspective of a historical period Sample audio: http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/country-schooling/3/3
- Trend 5: Changing professional competencies in the digital realm Main points: preparation for jobs that don't exist yet, using technologies not yet invented, requires well-rounded, flexible individuals with unique skill sets. “ We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist…using technologies that haven’t been invented…in order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet.” - Did You Know? 3.0, 2009 version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHmwZ96_Gos As the needs of our users have changed, information professionals have evolved and adapted to meet new needs. Professional skill levels have evolved to include interpretation of content, understanding of metadata schemas, technologies and their applications, and digital curation. How we access and interpret data is changing rapidly, and information professionals must constantly adopt to evolving tools and conditions.
- Examples of new skill sets needed « We must all become librarians, archivists and museum curators » - From Sayeed Chodury, Director, Digital Research and Curation Center at the Sheridan Libraries of Johns Hopkins University. As our digitization projects require collaboration across libraries, archives, museums, and more, we must learn to adapt our skill sets to include new areas. Librarians must learn about archival rules for description, archivists must become curators, and curators must become librarians. By adjusting our core competencies to be more collaborative, we are allowing ourselves to be more open and flexible to collaborative opportunities. We are all becoming more skilled at engaging with the community and promoting our information resources. We have the opportunity to continue our journey of life-long learning and utilize new skill sets to fully leverage our unique collections. We can leverage our collections, but by increasing our skills, we can also leverage ourselves.
- Careers in digital technologies are growing, and not just for libraries. The 2010 Best Jobs in America survey, done annually based on the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, showed that 26 of the top 100 careers are in information technology. The top jobs include software engineering, database administration and information systems design and maintenance. Within the library field, metadata librarians are on the rise, and digital initiatives librarians and directors are highly sought after. Our information universe is evolving, and as we engage in more digital research and digitization projects, we are also developing our core competencies to include all aspects of digital technologies.
- IFLA’s Role in Global Digitization Efforts To face the challenges of libraries in the digital age and to stronger advocate for role of libraries in the information society, IFLA seeks to set up strategic partnerships with relevant partners. In addition to these partnerships, IFLA provides tools, standards and guidelines, and training to libraries to improve their operations. IFLA also has a strategy to prepare manifestos, often in collaboration with other groups, on various topics of interest and concern. The manifesto’s are meant as a lobby instrument for libraries at the regional, national or international political level, in order to create support for certain initiatives, projects or concepts. In 2007 IFLA drafted a Manifesto for Digital Libraries. It is in the process of being officially endorsed by UNESCO (you can see how long it can take to get agreement at the Unesco level!). This manifesto aims at supporting the important issue of Bridging the Digital Divide: making the world’s cultural and scientific heritage accessible to all. See: http://www.ifla.org/publications/ifla-manifesto-for-digital-libraries To empower libraries to enable their user communities to have equitable access to information, IFLA will support libraries to improve access to information to stimulate the creation of knowledge. One of the goals over the next five years will be to encourage the library and information sector to work with partners and users to maximise the potential of digital technology, and to deliver services that enable seamless and open access by users to cultural and information resources.
- Summary and Conclusion Successful convergence across disciplines also demands a new set of diverse skills and competencies, people who combine subject-matter expertise with knowledge of digital technology and information management. Perhaps we need to create a new LAM professional, someone who is comfortable in functioning in this increasingly cross-border landscape. And we as LAMs must continue to be open to collaboration and convergence as we move forward with digitization projects globally. Information is global, and digitization projects can and should be linked to each other to facilitate access to that information by all who require it.
- Thanks Domo Arrigato! Ingrid Parent, University Librarian [email_address]