Category: Publications News

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The Digital Reference Electronic Warehouse Project

I forgot to post that the DREW paper has finally been published in RUSQ:

Nicholson, S. & Lankes, R. D. (2007) “The Digital Reference Electronic Warehouse Project: Creating the Infrastructure for Digital Reference Research through a Multidisciplinary Knowledge Base.” Reference & User Services Quarterly 46(3). pp. 45-59.

The paper provides an outline for a digital reference knowledge base and some excellent data and theories on how to build one. However, the DREW project itself has never really materialized. I would hope that folks (Paula) could take this data and put up a repository and research service.

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Participatory Networks Paper to be Published in ITAL

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The Journal Information Technology and Libraries has accepted the technology Brief “Participatory Networks: The Library as Conversation” for publication in the December Issue. This will provide quick entry of the brief into the various databases and provide folks with a solid citation. For now it can be cited as:

Lankes, R.D., Silverstein, J.L., & Nicholson, S. (forthcoming). “Participatory Networks: The Library as Conversation.” Information Technology and Libraries.

Special thanks to John Webb and the editors of ITAL for working with a paper from a non-traditional origin. Also thanks to all who have (and continue to) provide input on the paper.

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Final Participatory Network is Released

Part
The final version of the ALA-OITP/IIS technology brief “Participatory Networks: The Library as Conversation” has now been posted online at:
http://iis.syr.edu/projects/PNOpen/

The site includes an executive summary, a PDF version of the final paper, and an experimental participatory interface to the document. Comments always welcome. From the document:

Knowledge is created through conversation. Conversations can take place between friends and colleagues in the â??here and now.â?? But, they can also take place over centuries, with the participants changing but the theme remaining the same, and the conversation being recorded in thousands of artifacts, like books, pictures, and digital files. In many conversations users need sophisticated processes to facilitate the conversation. Facilitation not only enriches conversations with diverse and deep information, it also serves as a memory keeper, documenting agreements and outcomes to facilitate future conversations. The library serves this vital role for many communities.

The implication of this rather abstract concept is that libraries are in the conversation business. This theoretical argument can be seen in traditional brick-and-mortar libraries as library speaker series, book groups, and even the collection development processes. Yet online, the library has fallen far short of this ideal of conversation facilitator. Key library systems, such as the catalog for example, are at best one-way conversations. Libraries have a great opportunity to provide invaluable conversational, participatory infrastructure to their communities online. By adopting concepts and technologies from Web 2.0 and tightly integrating them into their services, libraries can advance not just their communities but also their positions within them.

The opportunities inherent in participatory networks have not emerged because of current Internet developments such as Web 2.0, but, rather, these technologies make it easier to meet an identified and long-standing role of libraries. Wikis, blogs, and recommender systems replace dial-up bulletin boards and local databases as a means to empower our communities. Whatâ??s more, these technologies can bring the ideal of the participatory model to our most fundamental library systems. Libraries should adopt participatory network concepts and software not because they are new or sexy, but because they match our most fundamental mission: knowledge creation and dissemination.

This document describes the participatory model of libraries and provides an overview of current Web 2.0 technologies and a brief discussion of how current Library 2.0 efforts point the way to an even greater change in library as a facilitator of conversations. Specific challenges and opportunities of participatory networking are reviewed. Finally, the authors recommend the creation of a shared participatory test bed for libraries. This network would not only experiment with new collaborative Web technologies, but also work with library organizations and vendors to speed innovation in traditional library systems. Finally, the network test bed would create a shared infrastructure to provide participatory technologies â?? such as Wikis, blogs, and RSS feeds â?? to libraries for inclusion in their day-to-day services.

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Participatory Networks at Midwinter

The final version of the Participatory Network Technology Brief (http://iis.syr.edu/projects/PNOpen/) developed for the ALA’s Office for Information Technology Policy will be releassed at ALA Midwinter. The full brief will be available via the web. Many, many thanks to those who took the time to comment on the first public draft.

There was an active period of comments on the public draft of the Participatory Networks paper from mid-October to the first part of December. The comments came in three forms: e-mail to the authors, postings to a web based bulletin board systems, and comments and edits to the paper posted as a collaboratively edited WIKI. Commenters ranged from noted members of the library community, such as Karen Schneider, Walt Crawford and John Buschman to library science students. The most active mode of comments was the bulletin board and e-mail. Few actual edits were made to the WIKI site, with most participants choosing, instead, to leave comments via the WIKI.

The table below summaries the nature of the comments, and the anticipated effect in the final document:

Comment Thread Discussion Anticipated Effect
Library 2.0 Commenters felt the work of the Library 2.0 community was not well represented here, and that a lot of good work done was missed. The Library 2.0 section of the document will be reworked to acknowledge the work of Library 2.0, and discuss a participatory librarianship model as a means of advancing the work of the Library 2.0 community. Many of the commercial Web 2.0 examples have been supplemented or replaced with Library 2.0 examples.
Use of the term â??Conversationâ?? Several commenters felt the use of the word â??conversationâ?? was incorrect, or at best, straining the meaning of the word. Conversation was presented as an informal exchange of ideas between people. The authors clarified the use of conversation and highlighted the use of â??Conversation Theory.â?? A separate theoretical piece is anticipated.
Commercialization of Libraries The use of Web 2.0 technologies and the text seems to promote the use of commercial ideas in the library, and therefore seems to advocate for making the library online more commercial in nature. More library examples were used to highlight how commercially developed technologies does not require commercialization. It was also noted tht there are some libraries in commercial settings.

There will be two presentations on the brief at ALA Midwinter. The first Friday January 19, 2007 to the advisory board of ALA’s Office for Information Technology Policy and the second, an open meeting, on Saturday January 20, 2007. The Saturday briefing will be part of the “Washington Office Update Session” 8:00 A.M.â??10:00 A.M., Washington Convention Center, Rooms 611-614.

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Public Comments Welcome on ALA Participatory Network Draft

HomeGraph.jpgThe public is invited to provide input and feedback on the latest draft of “Participatory Networks: The Library as Conversation,” a technology brief being written for the ALA’s Office for Information Technology Policy. Read the draft, join the online discussion, or even WIKI the draft at:

http://iis.syr.edu/projects/PNOpen/

You will also find more information at the site on the project as a whole. To give you an idea of what’s in the draft here is the table of contents:

NOTE TO READER
Executive Overview
1. The Goal
2. Library as a Facilitator of Conversation
3. Participatory Networking, Social Network and Web 2.0
3.1. Web 2.0
3.1.1. Web 2.0 Characteristic: Social Networks
3.1.2. Web 2.0 Characteristic: Wisdom of Crowds
3.1.3. Web 2.0 Characteristic: Loosely Coupled API’s
3.1.4. Web 2.0 Characteristic: Mash Ups
3.1.5. Web 2.0 Characteristic: Permanent Betas
3.1.6. Web 2.0 Characteristic: Software Gets Better the More People Use It
3.1.7. Web 2.0 Characteristic: Folksonomies
3.2. Core New Technologies: AJAX and Web Services
3.2.1. AJAX
3.2.2. Web Services
3.3. Library 2.0
3.4. Participatory Networks
4. Libraries as Participatory Conversations
4.1. Challenges and Opportunities
4.1.1. Technical
4.1.2. Operational
4.1.3. Policy
4.1.4. Ethical
5. Recommendations

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Lankes 12th Most Productive LIS Faculty Member

A new article “Scholarly productivity of U.S. LIS faculty” by Denice Adkins, John Budd coming out in Library & Information Science Research, lists me as the 12th most productive LIS faculty member in terms of journal publications. Publish or Perish indeed.

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Lankes Selected to Write Chapter in New MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning

Lankes has been selected to write a chapter in the new foundation series on the credibility of information. The chapter title and initial abstract to be included on a volume on credibility are:

Trusting the Internet: New Approaches to Credibility Tools

Synopsis: This chapter looks at how new approaches to credibility on the Internet can make information more credible than traditional channels. Examples from online retail to the Katrina catastrophe will be used to illustrate the way in which the Internet has the potential to revolutionize how people judge credibility.

Here is some more on the series:

The New Media Consortium and the Monterey Institute for Technology and Education, supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, are soliciting abstracts for chapters to appear in a series of volumes entitled The MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning. The MacArthur Foundation Series will explore the intersection of digital media and learning from the perspectives of experts, visionaries, and thought leaders chosen from across the globe. Authors whose chapters are selected for inclusion in these volumes will receive an honorarium for their contribution.

The working hypothesis of the effort is that digital media tools have advanced significantly in recent years, enabling new forms of knowledge production, social networking, communication, and play. People who have grown up with access to these new digital tools are engaged in an unprecedented exploration of language, games, social interaction, and self-directed education that can be used to support learning. They are different as a result of this exposure to and use of digital media and these differences are reflected in their sense of self, and how they express their independence and creativity, and in their ability to learn, exercise judgment, and think systemically.

Six volumes of such work will be published in the first year of the MacArthur Foundation Series, each with a unifying theme that addresses a critical aspect of this emerging field of study. The themes are Identity and Digital Media, Credibility, Digital Media and Civic Engagement, the Ecology of Games, Incidental Learning and Unexpected Outcomes, and Race and Ethnicity. These volumes are intended for an informed but wide audience. Each volume will include an introductory chapter by the editor, and 7-10 additional chapters that will explore the topics from a variety of perspectives. A summary of each topic is attached.

Authors for the volumes will be chosen in a competitive process, with selections based on a peer review of an abstract of their proposed chapter. Submissions of abstracts are due April 28, 2006. Abstracts will be reviewed by a panel of scholars who will base their selections on the relevance of the content to the planned volume on the topic, the conceptual underpinnings and quality of the ideas represented in the abstract, the publication record or relevant expertise of the author in this area, and other related factors.