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Massive Scale Librarianship

“Massive Scale Librarianship” Plenary Presentation, Charleston Conference, Charleston, SC.
Thursday, November 9th, 2006

Abstract: There are two types of discontinuities faced by a field: those you expect, and those that you don’t. The Internet was an unexpected event in librarianship. Few could look at the early days of telnet, gopher, and even the web and truly appreciate its impact on libraries. Yet even so, library science has adapted. Not always elegantly, not always completely, but adapted. Unlike the Internet that had a largely unexpected impact, very large scale computing is an obvious coming challenge. We know computing power, storage and bandwidth are going to increase. Knowing this, it is incumbent upon the library and information science field to consider what is a world like where you can walk around with the entire contents of the Internet in your pocket.
Slides: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/Presentations/2006/Charleston.pdf
Audio: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/pod/Charleston.mp3

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“Massive Scale Librarianship” Plenary Presentation, Charleston Conference, Charleston, SC.

Slides available at: /rdlankes/Presentations/2006/Charleston.pdf

You can also download and listen to an audio recording of the presentation here (or through my Podcast): /rdlankes/pod/Charleston.mp3

There are two types of discontinuities faced by a field: those you expect, and those that you don’t. The Internet was an unexpected event in librarianship. Few could look at the early days of telnet, gopher, and even the web and truly appreciate its impact on libraries. Yet even so, library science has adapted. Not always elegantly, not always completely, but adapted. Unlike the Internet that had a largely unexpected impact, very large scale computing is an obvious coming challenge. We know computing power, storage and bandwidth are going to increase. Knowing this, it is incumbent upon the library and information science field to consider what is a world like where you can walk around with the entire contents of the Internet in your pocket.

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Upcoming Presentations

For those interested, here is a list of presentations I have coming up.

  • November 9: Charleston Conference, Charleston, SC “Massive Scale Librarianship“
  • January 16: ALISE, Seattle, WA “Information seeking behaviors: Habits of practice of K-12 educators and learners“
  • January 30: Information Online Conference, Sydney, AU “Changing Face of Service“
  • February 2: Information Online Satellite Event, Sydney, AU “Using Virtual Reference to Rule the World“
  • April 17-18: Connecticut Library Association’s Annual Conference, New Hartford, CT Speaking on IMLS Study on the Library Workforce in the 21st Century
  • May 2: Amigos Conference, Dallas TX Speaking on Participatory Librarians
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The Perils of Free Web Services

In case you hadn’t noticed, I MoBlog. For those who don’t know, MoBlogging is blogging from your mobile phone, and most folks use it to post pictures from their phone cameras right to the web (see the bottom of the menu bar on the left). To do this, I send the pictures (via MMS if you care) to a service called TextAmerica. And it has been a really good service and free. Easy to use, and some easy ways to integrate it into my regular blog.

Then, two days ago I got an e-mail telling me that they would now only allow free accounts to have 50 pictures in it (not unreasonable). They would delete free accounts with more (like mine). Now this wouldn’t be so bad if they let you download all your pictures off of the site….they don’t. Turned that option off a year ago. The only way to get your pictures (besides manually doing it one by one) is to pay an external service to burn them to CD or DVD and send it to you (about $30 for mine).

OK, this is far from a rant. I knew when I signed up for a free service things might change. I have never put any critical pictures there anyway (after all, I have yet to see a good camera in a phone). Just seems a little….um….crass to make you buy back the pictures you put on the free service if you want to keep them (or pay a monthly fee).

Meanwhile, I think I’m switching over to FLICKR to do this (not quite as easy on the phone side, but much cooler on the web side).

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MacArthur Investing $50 Million in Digital Learning

Today the MacArthur Foundation is rolling out a big push into digital media and youth. They are working hard to create a field in the area with researchers and practitioners from a wide range of disciplines. I’ve been a part of this effort as an author for their MacArthur book series devoted to the topic (mine is a chapter on technology and credibility in the credibility volume).

Here’s a snip from the press release:

New York, NY, October 19, 2006 â?? The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation today announced plans to build the emerging field of digital media and learning, committing $50 million over five years to the effort. The Foundation will fund research and innovative projects focused on understanding the impact of the widespread use of digital media on our youth and how they learn.

â??This is the first generation to grow up digital â?? coming of age in a world where computers, the internet, videogames, and cell phones are common, and where expressing themselves through these tools is the norm,â?? said MacArthur President Jonathan Fanton, who announced the new initiative today. â??Given how present these technologies are in their lives, do young people act, think and learn differently today? And what are the implications for education and for society? MacArthur will encourage this discussion, fund research, support innovation, and engage those who can make judgments about these difficult but critical questions.â??

More information is available here.

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Publishing on PSP

I got an e-mail from Brenda Chawner at Victoria University of Wellington’s School of Information Management (New Zealand) who sent me this image of how one of her grad students, Timothy Greig, is reading the Participatory Network paper.

I love this!

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Announcing the LISIG (Library and Information Science Interest Group)

The Syracuse University School of Information Studies is working with
the Onondaga County Public Library and Syracuse University Libraries to
create the Library and Information Science Interest Group (LISIG).

The goal of LISIG is to bring together:

– librarians,
– Masters and PhD students interested in LIS,
– faculty members, and
– other interested parties

together on a regular basis to talk about bigger issues in library and
information science. The goal is to connect academia with practice by
facilitating cooperative research projects that connect faculty and
students with the needs of CNY libraries. Librarians are invited to
attend and bring their research needs for presentation.

Meetings are open to anyone interested and will be held twice a month,
once at OCPL and once at Bird library.

Meetings will be on Tuesdays from 1-2:30.

The fall dates and tentative locations are:

Oct. 10 – Syracuse University, Bird Library, Hillyer Room
Oct. 31 – OCPL, Central Library, Board Room (in the Galleries)
Nov. 14 – OCPL, Central Library, Board Room (in the Galleries)
Nov. 28 – Syracuse University, Bird Library, Hillyer Room
Dec. 5 – OCPL, Central Library, Board Room (in the Galleries)
Dec. 12 – Syracuse University, Bird Library, Hillyer Room

Questions about the Bird Library meetings should go to [email protected]
and questions about the OCPL meetings should go to [email protected].

Other questions can go to Scott Nicholson at [email protected].

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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