Ed Fay | Andrea Gibbons | James Reid

Fourth International M-Libraries ConferenceOpen University, September 2012

PhoneBooth:‘mobilising’ library-owned maps

and manuscripts for use in teaching

Introduction• Charles Booth survey of London• LSE Digital Library• GY244: London’s Geographies• Technical approach• Demo of the PhoneBooth prototype• Conclusions/next steps

Charles Booth’s survey of London• Systematic survey of living and working

conditions in London, 1886-1903• Charles Booth Online Archive

http://booth.lse.ac.uk/• Developed c.2000, containing:– Maps, Descriptive of London Poverty– Police notebooks containing eye-witness,

street-by-street observations

Charles Booth’s survey of London

Charles Booth’s survey of London

LSE Digital Library

• Mobile usageo 9.8% from mobile devices

• Device uptake in student cohorto 59% own smartphone (2011, student survey)

“working practices, skills and infrastructure to support the collection,

preservation and dissemination of digital material added to Library collections for

which we have sole preservation responsibility”

http://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/

GY244: London’s Geographiesan introduction to social and

cultural geographyusing London as a kind of laboratory• 2nd/3rd year undergraduate• Visit to the physical archive– “a little intimidating”– still weren’t entirely sure how to access them

on an every day basis– felt a trip to the library might dissuade them

GY244: User requirements• Engagement with technological opportunity...

...to augment the usability of the archive• Walks built into app, with podcasts • What about streets that no longer exist? Need an overlay• Photos/ sketches available, combine with other resources• Link to census data (ie animated graphs from the economist)• Link to crime maps• Link to Mayhew• Access handwritten/ transcribed records – issue with legibility, should be able to access both • Be able to access data in different ways / categorise the contents • Stations and transport

• Audio quotes of choice passages, to switch to audio as you walk• Make maps also available on line for those without phone, able to print out etc• ‘on this day’ quotes• Street view (where you can hold your phone up and overlay a picture with what is currently there…)• Alternative to street view, be able to toggle back and forth with google earth – you can easily see what is there now• Things that still exist as they were in that time – ie pubs –Booth pub crawl• Alert system that sends you a message when you pass something of interest – tag alerts• Create your own map and save it, publish it not only to homepage but also facebook, other social media• Users can interact with each other – can see popularity of certain places or entries, other users comments and the ability to add links and etc augmenting

the info with additional sources• Second class used the example of YELP, user comments can be pasted, could see level of interest of that particular entry or location• For comments, should be able to make public or keep private and save them• Ability to save your maps, journal entries, notes – email to self • Alternative is to be able to bookmark things via a login process, 2nd class didn’t see either as preferable

GY244: Pedagogic impact• New interactions with the content:– Research tool integrated with everyday

movements– A community of users

• Inspiration and imagination• Assessment (assigned papers):– To include a walk around an area– Incorporate notebook entries into research

Technical issues and challenges• Extracting content from the legacy

(c.2000) application– lack of organisational knowledge or adequate

documentation• Georeferencing– missing data from ‘master’ (stitched) map– variable quality results on ‘master’ map– second attempt using 13 ‘pre-master’ maps

Technical issues and challenges• Base map choice– proofs-of-concept with each option– default decided through user testing

Technical issues and challenges• Registration (‘georectification’)– improved through use of ‘pre-master’ maps

Technical issues and challenges• Multiple device support– Variable experience (browser rendering,

caching, screen resolutions)• Optimisation– Compressing images for transmission over

mobile networks– Selecting image resolution to ensure enough

detail for display on small devices

Technical approach• Postgres (with PostGIS extension) – to hold

point data about the notebook entries• MapServer – to serve the Booth map at

required zoom levels• TileCache/MapProxy – to cache the tiles

from MapServer for delivery• Open Layers – to combine: 1) notebook

points, 2) the Booth map and 3) a base map of LSE choosing

Native vs Open Web vs Hybrid• “Native”– platform-specific for iOS/Android/etc.

• “Open Web”– for use in most mobile browsers

• “Hybrid”– wrapping open Web stack in a cross-platform

compiler such as PhoneGap

Native vs Open Web vs Hybrid• Started with Open Web application– Increased sustainability (open standards,

minimal additional skill set)• Investigating Hybrid approach– Performance issues running map layers and

overlays in mobile browsers– Doesn’t seem to be bandwidth problem on 3g

• Possibility of a future Native app– Best performance?– User expectation, profile on app stores

Conclusions/next steps• Impact of mobilisation

o Student engagement and enthusiasmo Innovative teaching and assessment

• Mobile and geo library serviceso New ways of surfacing contento Open technology enables reuse elsewhere

• Technology skills in libraries are essentialoMobile is an increasingly important aspect

http://lse.ac.uk/PhoneBooth

Ed Fay, LSE Digital Library Managere.fay@lse.ac.uk | @digitalfay

Andrea Gibbons, Graduate Teaching Assistanta.gibbons1@lse.ac.uk | @changita

James Reid, Geoservices Development Managerjames.reid@edina.ac.uk | @sixfootdestiny