Overview of content related to 'web 2.0'

Editorial Introduction to Issue 63: Consider the Users in the Field

editor — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 23:00:00 +0000

Richard Waller introduces Ariadne issue 63.

For those who can either remember or are battling still to make the technology work, be it coding, integration or test, it is easy and understandable enough if the technology assumes an overwhelming profile on the horizon of one's project and daily work. It is very understandable when they privately grumble that colleagues unburdened with the minutiae of such work display a breath-taking insouciance to the consequences of asking for a change in spec because there has been an unexpected development in the requirements of the users.

Archives in Web 2.0: New Opportunities

editor — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 23:00:00 +0000

Marta Nogueira describes how three Web 2.0 applications (Facebook, Flickr, YouTube) can work as a virtual extension for archives and other cultural organisations, by identifying benefits obtained from the use of Web 2.0 applications.

Archives are using Web 2.0 applications in a context that allows for new types of interaction, new opportunities regarding institutional promotion, new ways of providing their services and making their heritage known to the community. Applications such as Facebook (online social network), Flickr (online image-sharing community) and YouTube (online video sharing community) are already used by cultural organisations that interact in the informal context of Web 2.0.

Usability Inspection of Digital Libraries

editor — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 23:00:00 +0000

Lorraine Paterson and Boon Low highlight findings from the usability inspection report conducted for the UX2.0 research project.

Balancing Stakeholder Needs: Archive 2.0 As Community-centred Design

editor — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 23:00:00 +0000

Jim Ridolfo, William Hart-Davidson and Michael McLeod present a case example on building a digital archive with cultural and scholarly stakeholder groups - to provide a model for balancing stakeholder needs.

Archive 2.0 is relatively new concept for us, one that we have only worked with since 2007 and the beginning of our Samaritan Digital Archive Project at Michigan State University (MSU). Our project started with the intention of building a digital archive; the Archive 2.0 nature of the project surfaced when we realised that in order to build a useful archive, we would need to engage multiple stakeholder communities. In our project this meant working with the cultural stakeholders, the Samaritans, as well as academic stakeholders, including Samaritan and Biblical scholars. Initially we thought that applying Web 2.0 technologies such as social networking, image tagging, etc, to a digital archive would be our most important contribution to the project. As the project unfolded and we identified stakeholder needs more precisely however, we realised that our role was as much about balancing stakeholders' representational needs as much as it was about the application of Web 2.0 technologies.

The project began in December of 2007 when Writing in Digital Environments (WIDE) Research Center [1] Research Assistant Jim Ridolfo was browsing the digital MSU Special Collections catalogue, and discovered the library index for the MSU Chamberlain-Warren collection of Samaritan texts. While investigating the history of the collection, Ridolfo learnt that in 2003 a Samaritan elder had travelled to MSU and had spoken to the Board of Trustees. The elder, Binyamim Tsedaka, had 'encouraged the university to utilise the collection to promote Samaritan studies.' [2] On learning of Tsedaka's speech, Ridolfo e-mailed Tsedaka and enquired about the community's possible interest in collaborating on a digitisation project. Tsedaka responded with his full blessing and an offer of collaboration [3].

Who Are the Samaritans?

The Samaritans have existed as a community for thousands of years. They are an ancient biblical people living primarily in Holon, Israel and Mt. Gerizim, West Bank. Their Torah is similar in content to that of Jewish people, but with several major theological differences. For example, the Samaritan Torah maintains that Mt. Gerizim rather than Jerusalem is holy. The Samaritan Pentateuch also contains thousands of textual differences from the Masoretic Hebrew text; consequently, their theological interpretations and practices differ from common Jewish interpretations and traditions. In addition, the script of the Samaritan Torah is written in Samaritan Hebrew, which includes a unique script, pronunciation scheme, and grammar. Starting at a very early age, all Samaritan children learn to read, write, and chant in Samaritan Hebrew.

The Samaritan community includes 712 members, with approximately half the population living in Holon, Israel, and the other half living in the Mt. Gerizim village of Kiryat Luza. The community in Holon speaks Modern Hebrew as a first language, while the community in Kiryat Luza speaks Palestinian Arabic as a first language. The Samaritans living in Kiryat Luza maintain a delicate relationship with the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority. Being few in number and vulnerable to larger political trends, they seek a peaceful relationship with both authorities. For example, the residents of Kiryat Luza possess both Palestinian Authority and Israeli passports, vote in both elections, and work, travel, and study on both sides of the Green Line. Since the Samaritans of Holon and Kiryat Luza commemorate all festivals, holidays, and life cycle celebrations together on Mt. Gerizim, they are very keen to maintain contact between both communities [4][5].

News and Events

editor — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 23:00:00 +0000

Ariadne presents a brief summary of news and events.

Engagement, Impact, Value Workshop

University of Manchester
Monday 24 May 2010
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/engagement-impact-value-201005/

Book Review: Information Science in Transition

editor — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 23:00:00 +0000

Michael Day reviews an edited volume published to commemorate the founding of the Institute of Information Scientists in 1958.

Until it joined with the Library Association in 2002 to form the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP), the Institute of Information Scientists was a professional organisation for those primarily working in scientific and technical information work. The chapters in this volume were first published in 2008 as a special issue of the Journal of Information Science to commemorate the founding of the institute in 1958. In accordance with this, many of the chapters provide a retrospective - sometimes even anecdotal - overview of developments in information science in the UK since the 1950s. While the approach of the volume is thematic, a major focus is on key initiatives and individuals, the latter including such luminaries as Jason Farradane, Cyril Cleverden and Karen Spärk Jones.

Following a guest editorial by Brian Vickery, there are sixteen chapters in the book. While each chapter stands alone, conceptually the volume moves - with some exceptions - from largely retrospective reviews of past progress in information science by scholars of the older generation to overviews of current trends and technologies by their younger colleagues. Vickery's editorial tries to place information science in its historical context, explaining how the advent of digital computers and the Internet has transformed the discipline dramatically while simultaneously making its future more uncertain. This is also a view articulated by several of the volume contributors.

The opening chapter is an attempt by Jack Meadows to discern the main research themes in UK information science over the past 50 years. A survey of the Journal of Information Science and other journals showed that the predominant theme was information retrieval, but that there was also important research being undertaken into information seeking, communication and bibliometrics. The chapter also tries to delineate some of the factors affecting information science research in the UK, for example noting the negative consequences of the demise of the old British Library Research and Development Department in the 1990s [1]. He concludes, however, on a positive note, pointing out that 'activities that were relatively marginal decades ago - such as automated information retrieval - are now at the heart of major growth industries' (p. 17). He also notes that the widening interest in information science concepts has brought in researchers from other disciplines - which is probably one of the key lessons of the whole book. In the second chapter, David Bawden (City University) again uses the Journal of Information Science as a means of exploring the development of the information science discipline itself, focusing on the underlying philosophical bases of the subject proposed by scholars like Bertie Brookes and Jason Farradane.

The third chapter is by Stella Dextre Clarke. This is a retrospective of fifty years of knowledge organisation work in the information science domain that takes a partly anecdotal approach, attempting to illustrate 'how it felt to work in those times' (p. 45). Perhaps the best aspect of this is that it enables Dextre Clarke to give the reader a feel for what information retrieval could be like in the card-based pre-computer age. The chapter opens with a brief overview of the state of subject classification in the late 1950s, noting the continued practical predominance of enumerative schemes like the Dewey Decimal Classification while the theoreticians S. R. Ranganathan and Henry E. Bliss were still working away developing their (then) revolutionary ideas of 'faceted classification.' The focus then changes to the development of thesauri, noting the importance of Jean Aitchison's pioneering work on thesaurus construction. Dextre Clarke then provides a very brief overview of the role of controlled vocabularies in the early information retrieval tests conducted as part of the Aslib-Cranfield Research Project, a topic covered in more detail in the following chapter. Finally, moving to the present day, Dextre Clarke notes the continued importance of controlled vocabularies in the form of taxonomies and provides some pointers for a future Semantic Web.

Book Review: Library Mashups

editor — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 23:00:00 +0000

Aldalin Lyngdoh reviews a book on the basics of mashups and how they have been used in libraries worldwide.

This book is intended for readers who have some knowledge of computers, computer programming and libraries.

Book Review: Supporting Research Students

editor — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 23:00:00 +0000

Brian Whalley reviews a work which helps Library and Information Science Staff at Higher Education Institutions to support their research students.

The purpose of this book is to support Library and Information Science (LIS) professionals at Higher Education institutions (HEIs) who may be involved with doctoral students. Supporting Research Students emanates from Dr Allan's own experience in gaining a PhD and as a Senior Lecturer in Student Learning and Management Learning at the University of Hull. She thus has considerable expertise in seeing postgraduate research from the student point of view and from support provision by LIS staff. I came to this review with interest and I should lay out my own credentials.