future of the past: digital libraries in the age of social software

The Future of the Past

Digital Libraries in the Age of Social Software

History : There Will Be More Of It

• More information being recorded

• Ubiquitous photography

• More complex written record: e-mail, blogging, wikis, social networking, Twitter, IM, SMS, etc.

People Will Be Interested In It• But not as passive consumers

• Comments, conversation and stories

• Contributions and crowdsourcing

• Creativity through remixing and mash-ups

• Say goodbye to “look but don’t touch”

Commercial Sites

• CardCow – Online postcard store, but note the tools and social features

• Francis Frith – Local history publishers in the UK, many social features including shared memories

Comments and Conversation

Many sites, groups, forums for people to share memories, information and

• Gone But Not Forgotten – Worcester memories, sponsored by the local newspaper

• Shorpy – “The 100 Year Old Photo Blog”

Includes member-contributed images

Flickr

• “Historical” Images :

Edgemere Diner | Swift’s Beach

• Groups :

North Shore | Diners | 100 Years Old

Using Flickr

• Use Flickr as another way to share (with links to digital library or website)

University of Delaware

• Use Flickr as a way to invite contributions

Boston Swan Boats

Contribution Projects

• Picture Australia – Uses Flickr as a way to encourage sharing of images

• BBC Memory Share – Project to collect movies of the past, oral history

Map It

• Think geographically

• Geocoding – Longitude and latitude

• How about the address?

• New York City Photo Map – A Google map from Shorpy

• Google Maps Google Earth

Google Earth

• 3D Globe : Fly around the world

• Download free program

• Google Earth Gallery – A collection of some of the best KML files

• Phillis Wheatley -- Combines map data with images and text (by LuciaM)

Ideas from Social Sites

Make it easy for people to save and share

• Bookmarkable links

• Code for embedding images

• Badges and other tools

• Multiple RSS feeds

• Widgets, gadgets, plugins, apps

Encourage Participation

• Encourage users to share their own photographs, home movies, memories, and more…even though it means giving up some control

• Encourage people to use your material and create new tools…even though it means giving up some control

Questions?

Elizabeth Thomsen

http://wordpress.noblenet.org/ethomsen/

et@noblenet.org