Slides available at: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/Presentations/2007InfoOnline.pdf
Discusses the need to shift libraries from artifacts to conversations.
Scholar | Speaker | Writer | Teacher | Advocate
Slides available at: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/Presentations/2007InfoOnline.pdf
Discusses the need to shift libraries from artifacts to conversations.
“The Changing Face of Reference” Information Online Conference 2007, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Abstract: Discusses the need to shift libraries from artifacts to conversations.
Slides: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/Presentations/2007/InfoOnline.pdf
Audio: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/pod/infoonline.mp3
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.
Slides available at: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/Presentations/2007/ALA-OITP.pdf
Overview of the IIS/ALA project on participatory networks and participatory librarianship.
“Participatory Networks: The Library as Conversation” ALA Washington Office Update, ALA Midwinter, Seattle, WA.
Abstract: Overview of the IIS/ALA project on participatory networks and participatory librarianship.
Slides: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/Presentations/2007/ALA-OITP.pdf
“The K-12 Environment: A Compromised Setting for Studying Information Seeking” Panel Presentation, ALISE, Seattle, WA.
Abstract: Discussions of the restrictions and biases built into studying information seeking of youth in a school environment.
Slides: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/Presentations/2007/ALISE.pdf
Audio: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/pod/ALISE-k12.mp3
Slides available at: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/Presentations/2007/ALISE.pdf
You can also download and listen to an audio recording of the presentation here: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/pod/ALISE-k12.mp3
Discussions of the restrictions and biases built into studying information seeking of youth in a school environment.
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.
So I decided to check out second life for real. Even bought myself a piece of property and built a modest office (see movie below). Feel free to stop by and visit (search for “Virtual Dave’s Office”).
next week I’m actually teaching a class (my digital libraries class working on Massive Scale Librarianship) in Second Life. This should be fun.
Found a neat site that maps the sates in the US you have visited, and the countries you have been to. I thought I’d give it a try:
create your own visited states map
I have a little further to go internationally though: