The Digital Library from Information Superhighway to the Semiotic Web
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The Digital Library from Information Superhighway to
the Semiotic Web
Suzanne C. Pilsk
and
Martin R. Kalfatovic
Smithsonian Institution Libraries
The Scarecrow
Dedicated Terminals vs. the Personal Computer
Dedicated Terminal
• Proprietary• Single function• Expensive• The vendor’s dream
machine
The Personal Computer
• Client/server paradigm
• Multi-use• Open (as defined by
Microsoft)• Can be expensive• Bill Gates and Andy
Groves’ dream machine
Munchkinland
Early Internet Experiments
Finger
• Weather Conditions• Checking the status
of the Coke machine down the hall
“Finger” is a simple protocol used to retrieve information about users and return the information in a simple string
Anonymous FTP• Transfer of large file
sets that the user could reassemble
• Mastering the art of spelling “A-N-O-N-Y-M-U-S”
Though still useful for various technical operations, as an “end-user” Internet experience, Anonymous FTP’s life is at an end
Telnet
• Fast, even with a “slow” Internet connection (the remember 2400 baud modem?)
• Efficient (the telnet client was usually quite “lite”)
• Blinking white letters on a black screen!
Gopher
• The first widely accepted Internet “publishing” tool
• Librarian friendly (who doesn’t love a strict hierarchy of information?)
• Acronym friendly
LC MARVEL
• Library of Congress
• Machine
• Assisted
• Realization (of the)
• Virtual
• Electronic
• Library
SI Library Gopher: SILENUS ?
• Smithsonian
• Institution
• Libraries
• Electronic
• Node (of)
• Useful
• Stuff
Rescue of the Tin Woodman: Libraries Go Online
Rescue of the Tin Woodman: Libraries Go Online
Rescue of the Tin Woodman: Libraries Go Online
Rescue of the Tin Woodman: Libraries Go Online
Rescue of the Tin Woodman: Libraries Go Online
Rescue of the Tin Woodman: Libraries Go Online
• Dewey to LC classification (ca. 1965)
• Input of data into OCLC (1974)
• GEAC (1984)• NOTIS – TELNET
(1994)• Web access to the
catalog (1996)• Horizon (1998-1999)
Rescue of the Tin Woodman: Libraries Go Online
The Cowardly Lion
Communication is King of the Jungle!
Communication is King
• Bulletin Boards: in the early days of the personal computer, one of the wonders of having a computer in your home was the ability to plug an acoustic coupler into the machine and snug your telephone handset into the device and connect to a bulletin board. Bulletin boards allowed communities to form around topics, buy and sell things
• Email: the next step was direct communication with others in a nearly asynchronous manner. Soon the ubiquitous “@” became a regular part of our language.
Communication is King
• GEAC Mail: Many of our fist experiences with email were not the global email we’re used to today, but instead, in-house or system dependant “electronic messaging systems”.
Communication is King
• BITNet: BITNet hit the Smithsonian around 1988 and suddenly email went beyond the walls of the library (SI used that now primitive IBM system, PROFS, I still remember my BITNet email: libem071@sivm.
Communication is King
• Webmail: Now, with web accessible email, email systems are available on any web enabled PC, and of course, cell phones and PDAs
Communication is King
• Listservs: with “beyond the walls” email, the world of listserv where, again, communities coud form simply by typing “sub me listserv x”. Communication became a “Push Technology” where people’s opinions, thoughts, questions, and even rants (remember “flame wars”?) came into our in box.
Communication is King
• BLOGS: and now, here we are again. How many of you have participated in some sort of BLOG? Once again we see the concept of the bulletin boards rising in the form of the BLOG.
Communication is King
Deadly Poppy Fields of Jargon
From Smithsonian Libraries On Display: Seed Catalogs
Deadly Poppy Fields of Jargon
• Firewall• Surfing• Link• Link rot• Burn• Web Master• Rip• Zip and Unzip
• Online• Java• Googling• Metadata• 24/7• HTML• XML• Taxomony
Taxomony
• Merriam Webster Online1) The study of the general principles of scientific classification : systematics2) Classification; especially : orderly classification of plants and animals according to their presumed natural relationships
• WebopediaTaxonomy is the way it organizes its data into categories and subcategories, sometimes displayed in a site map
• InformationWeekTaxonomy-creation tools that scan documents and suggest logical categories based on common themes that occur across an organization's data
Deadly Poppy Fields of Jargon
• Cataloging• Classification• Thesauri• Metadata• Schemas• Ontologies
Dublin Core Metadata
Open Archives Initiative
Open = Not Supported
Archives = Means “Repository”
Initiative = Yet Not Ready
Open Archives Initiative
MARC and METS and MODS
MARC
MARC XML
MODS
Oh My!
http://mapageweb.umontreal.ca/turner/meta/english/indexacroeng.html
The Emerald City of Oz
Building and Maintaining the Library Website
The Library Website
• Mosaic marries graphics, text, and the hyper text transfer protocol
• Information becomes less linear and more relational
• Librarians become graphic designers (ack!)
The Library Website
The Library Website
The Library Website
The Library Website
The Library Website
The Library Website
The Library Website
The Library Website
The Library Website
• The “public site”• The “library staff site”• The “scholars’ portal”• The “Intranet site”• The “fully
customizable with features that only I can find and find useful site”
The Search for the Wicked Witch
Internet on Your Desk: A Long Hard Battle
Internet on Your Desk: A Long Hard Battle
• “I don’t see why any one needs access to the internet at their offices or in the library because they can come to the central Smithsonian computer office and use it there. What would they be doing on this “internet”?”
Internet on Your Desk: A Long Hard Battle
The Discovery of Oz, the Terrible
Taking Content Online
Taking Content Online
• The Library Catalog• Citation Databases• Full-text Databases• Electronic Journals• Digital Collections• Digital Books• Online Exhibitions
Taking Content Online
• ASCII text• HTML• SGML• EAD• XHTML• XML
The Discovery of Oz, the Terrible
You see Scarecrow, you
always had content, you just need acronyms!
Library Science vs. Rocket Science
• Case Study: “Sewing Machines: Historical Trade Literature in Smithsonian Collections” - inches and centimeter mix up leads to confusion
Library Science vs. Rocket Science
• Case Study: NASA Mars Climate Orbiter (1999) - The peer review preliminary findings indicate that one team used English units (e.g., inches, feet and pounds) while the other used metric units for a key spacecraft operation.
The Magic Art of the Great Humbug
The Changing Position Title
The Changing Position Title
• Deck Attendant• Collections
Improvement Assistant
• ILL Technician• Reference Librarian• Information Access
Coordinator• Digital Projects
Librarian• Head, New Media
Office
The Changing Position Title
• Information Specialist
• Librarian• Cataloger• Metadata Specialist
• Cybrarian• Webmaster• Knowledge Manager• Metadata Mistress
The Changing Position Title
Where’s Toto?Building the Digital Yellow Brick
Road
The Digital Library from Information Superhighway to
the Semiotic Web
Suzanne C. Pilsk
and
Martin R. Kalfatovic
Smithsonian Institution Libraries
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