location-aware digital collections: opportunities and challenges
DESCRIPTION
Recent advances in mobile computing have created enormous opportunities for libraries to provide innovative user experiences with library services and collections. New mobile device platforms include technologies that enable the creation of location-aware services that utilize the user’s current location to enhance information discovery or content filtering. This presentation will focus on the application of these technologies to archives and special collections, using the recently developed NCSU Libraries WolfWalk project as a case study. We will examine the opportunities and challenges of building location-aware digital collections in the near term, and highlight possible future directions. Delivered at the TRLN Annual Meeting in 2010.TRANSCRIPT
Location-aware Digital Collections: Opportunities and Challenges
Tito Sierra, Brian Dietz, and Markus WustNCSU Libraries
TRLN Annual Meeting 2010July 19, 2010
Outline
• The Mobile Opportunity• Location-aware Digital Collections• The WolfWalk Project• Background• Demo
• Implementation Challenges• Future Directions• Final Thoughts
The Mobile Opportunity
Guessing Game
Source: Flickr user ted.sali
23rd Century Star Trek Tricorder
(designed in the 1960s)
Source: Flickr user clarksworth
24th Century Star Trek Tricorder
(designed in the 1980s)
Star Trek Tricorder
• Location scanners• Data communication (to/from starship)• Holographic messaging• Touch screen interface• Universal translator (alien languages)
Star Trek Tricorder
• Location scanners• Data communication (to/from starship)• Holographic messaging• Touch screen interface• Universal translator (alien languages)
SCIENCE FICTION
fast forward several years…
Apple iPhone (2007)
Source: Flickr user shapeshift
Apple iPhone 4 (2010)
Source: www.apple.com
The Future is Now
Star Trek Tricorder• Location scanners• Data communication
(to/from starship)• Holographic messaging• Touch screen interface• Universal translator
(alien languages)
Apple iPhone 4• Assisted GPS• Data communication
(3G and wifi)• Video calling• Touch screen interface• Multi-lingual support
(human languages)
Apple iPhone 4 (2010)
• Camera• Audio microphone• Digital compass• Accelerometer• Photo and video
geotagging• High-definition
screen display
Not Just Apple
• Google Android• Palm Pre• Blackberry
Today’s mobile computing technology provides a rich toolset for significantly enhancing the user experience with
library digital collections.
How should libraries approach this opportunity?
Location-aware Digital Collections
Defining ‘Location-aware DCs’
An emerging model for providing access to digital collections and archives that
leverages the user’s current location to enhance information discovery, access,
and interpretation.
Defining ‘Location-aware DCs’
An emerging model for providing access to digital collections and archives that
leverages the user’s current location to enhance information discovery, access,
and interpretation.
An approach for creating in situ learning experiences with library collections.
‘In Situ Learning’ Concept
Learning that happens within a real-world physical context.
‘In Situ Learning’ Concept
Learning that happens within a real-world physical context.
Not a new concept!
Traditional Examples
Source: Flickr user Corey Ann
Source: Flickr user garryknight
Source: Flickr user unforth
Technology Enhanced Examples
Source: Flickr user opacity
Source: Flickr user HowardLake
Source: Flickr user inju
Source: Flickr user inju
Location-aware Examples
PhillyHistory.org
PhillyHistory.org
PhillyHistory.org
LookBackMaps
LookBackMaps
LookBackMaps
LookBackMaps
Gowalla Trips
Gowalla Trips
Gowalla Trips
The WolfWalk Project
The WolfWalk Project
• A historical guide to NC State campus
• University Archives Photo Collection
• Location-aware• Two versions• Mobile web app• iPhone App
User Perspective
Make it easy for the NC State campus community to learn about the history of
campus while on campus.
User Perspective
Jason Casden, NCSU Libraries
Library Perspective
Increase the impact of library archives and special collections by creating a
new access model for people to access and interpret this content.
Access Models
• Physical materials access• Digital library website access• Location-aware mobile access
Todd Kosmerick and Adam Berenbak, NCSU Libraries
Albums from UA023.005 Campus Views and Facilities Sub-Group
Markus Wust, NCSU Libraries
Jason Casden, NCSU Libraries
WolfWalk Project Scope
WolfWalk is a curated collection of new and existing content organized around campus sites to enable a self-guided
walking tour.
WolfWalk Project Scope
WolfWalk is a curated collection of new and existing content organized around campus sites to enable a self-guided
walking tour.
Target audience is the NC State community (alumni, students, parents)
and visitors to campus.
About the Collection
• 90 campus sites
About the Collection
• 90 campus sites• Newly authored site
descriptions
About the Collection
• 90 campus sites• Newly authored site
descriptions• 600 images sourced
from existing digital image collections
NC State University Archives Photographic Collection
About the Collection
• 90 campus sites• Newly authored site
descriptions• 600 images sourced
from existing digital image collections
Edward T. Funkhouser Photographs
WolfWalk Project Scope
WolfWalk is not designed to be a comprehensive interface to all of our
digitized collections.
DukeMobile Library Collections
Source: news.duke.com
WolfWalk Demo
WolfWalk Mobile Web
http://m.lib.ncsu.edu/wolfwalk
WolfWalk iPhone App
Search the App Store for ‘wolfwalk’
Project Team
• Tito Sierra, Digital Library Initiatives• Jason Casden, Digital Library Initiatives• Markus Wust, Digital Scholarship and Publishing Center• Brian Dietz, Special Collections Research Center• Todd Kosmerick, Special Collections Research Center• Steven Morris, Digital Library Initiatives• Joseph Ryan, Digital Library Initiatives
Break for Q&A
Implementation Challenges
Content Copyright and Reuse
How does providing a new access method to digitized collections affect
terms of use?
Content Copyright and Reuse
How does providing a new access method to digitized collections affect
terms of use?
Were the original terms of use clear to begin with?
Metadata Issues
Is metadata created for one form of access adequate or appropriate for
others?
Historical State
Title: President D. H. Hill and staff, North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts.
Subjects: College presidents; Hill, D. H. (Daniel Harvey), 1859-1924; North Carolina State University; People; Teachers
Site: [D. H. Hill Library (Raleigh, N.C.)]
Description: [D. H. Hill Library is named for Daniel Harvey Hill (1859-1924), an English professor at North Carolina State University and one of the college’s first five faculty members. He was president of the University from 1908-1916. The Library was built in four stages, the east wing first in 1953, the Erdahl-Cloyd Student Union or west wing second in 1954, the old book stack tower third in 1971, and the new book stack tower fourth in 1990. In 2007, a major renovation of the east wing of the library was completed. D. H. Hill Library is the main library of the NCSU Libraries system, which is composed of five library facilities.]
WolfWalk
Title: D.H. Hill (with pocket watch) and NC State staff
Site: DH Hill Library
Description: After the first library, located in Brooks Hall, became too small, a new D.H. Hill Library was built in 1953. It was expanded in 1954 and towers were added in 1972 (Bookstack North) and 1990 (Bookstack South). Its namesake, D.H. Hill, was appointed professor of English and bookkeeping in 1889 and became one of the university's first five faculty members. He selected most of the library's books and served as the university's vice president from 1905 to 1908 and president from 1908 to 1916.
Media Formatting for Mobile
How best to provide high quality images/audio/video without bogging
down a device?
Media Formatting for Mobile
Two options for mobile apps: Bundle media with the downloaded app or
serve media over the network.
Geo Metadata Issues
How do you geotag very large digital collections in a scalable way?
Geo Metadata Issues
How do you geotag very large digital collections in a scalable way?
How does geotagging fit into existing digitization workflows, if at all?
Geo Metadata Issues
Do you geotag individual objects, such as photographs, or groups of objects representing the same geographic
place?
Practical Considerations
The mobile device landscape is diverse, and will continue to be so in the
foreseeable future. The costs of testing mobile applications increases with the
number of devices supported.
Practical Considerations
Location-aware mobile interfaces assume some level of data connectivity, which
may vary in quality from one geographic location to the next.
Future Directions
Organizational Collaboration
• Cross-institutional collaboration to create metadata aggregators
• Greater geographical coverage• Greater content density• Example:• Location-aware interface to all available
historical postcards in North Carolina
Growth of Geo Platforms
• Commercial, location-aware social platforms (e.g., Foursquare, Gowalla) are becoming increasingly popular
• Additional features (e.g., creation of tours/trips, uploading/linking images) may provide libraries, archives, and museums an option to reach a broader audience
Growth of Geo Platforms
• New models for promotion of collections• Get “rewards” for visiting physical locations
of images• Move up in site visit rankings, become
“Mayor” of a place of interest• Share images with and recommend to
other people in network
New Access Models
• Augmented Reality• Blending the real and the virtual• Overlay virtual content on top of real-time
images of physical environment
• Simple augmented reality already possible
Layar
Source: layar.eu
Situated Simulations
Situated Simulations
Final Thoughts
The Future is Too Bright
We've only scratched the surface of what is already possible technologically, let alone what will be possible in the next
year or two.
Adaptability
The current “state-of-the-art” in mobile computing will become commonplace in
only a few years time. How do you keep up with evolving technology and
user expectations?
Learn by Doing
Mobile and location-aware access to collections is an emerging area with few existing models. Working in this space
requires a willingness to experiment and openness to new ideas.
Thank You!
Tito Sierra
Associate Head, Digital Library Initiatives
Brian Dietz
Digital Program Librarian for Special Collections
Markus Wust
Digital Collections and Preservation Librarian