WolfWalk:A Mobile Digital Collections Projectat NCSU Libraries

Markus Wust and Brian DietzASERL IT/Digital Initiatives Interest Group

WebinarNCSU Libraries

August 11, 2010

Outline

• Background• Demo• Implementation Challenges• Technology• Alternative Approaches• Final Thoughts

Background

MobiLIB

• Launched in early 2007• Pre-iPhone• Few similar services• Designed for devices with

basic web capabilities

Apple iPhone (2007)

Source: Flickr user shapeshift

Next Generation Devices

New Features• (Assisted) GPS• 3G/Wi-Fi Internet Access• Touch screen interface• Camera• Compass• Accelerometer

NCSU Libraries Mobile

• Launched 2009• Built on MIT Mobile

Web framework• Collaboration with

campus IT• Part of library mobile

initiative• m.lib.ncsu.edu

Question:

• How can we use the unique affordances of mobile devices to provide innovative services and access models to library resources that we cannot implement otherwise?

Our answer:

Location-aware Digital Collections

How we used to access our special collections

Todd Kosmerick and Adam Berenbak, NCSU Libraries

Access to Physical Materials

• Requires on-site presence• Request materials in advance (24-48 hours)

• Optimized for• Intensive research• Analysis of original

• Affords an intimacy with the object

How we access (some of) those collections now

Markus Wust, NCSU Libraries

Access to Digital Materials

• Access materials from anywhere

• Curator determines what you see• Exhibit approach to digital collection building

• At a remove from the original

How we might experience our collections…

Jason Casden, NCSU Libraries

Location-aware Mobile

• Optimized for on-site use

• Curator determines what you see

• Affords• In-situ learning• Returns the intimacy to the experience

The WolfWalk Project

The WolfWalk Project

• A historical guide to the NC State campus

• Small, curated subset of University Archives Photo Collection

• Location-aware• Two versions• Mobile web site (March 2010)• iPhone app (July 2010)

About the Collection

• 90 campus sites• 600 images sourced

from existing digital image collections

• Newly authored site descriptions

WolfWalk Demo

WolfWalk Mobile Web

http://m.lib.ncsu.edu/wolfwalk

Web App

Web App

Web App

Web App

Web App

Web App

Web App

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

Implementation Challenges

Metadata Issues

Is metadata created for one form of access adequate or appropriate for

others?

What is this image of?

This guy

This guy

…and these guys.

Digital Collections (Of)

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

But what is this image about?

D. H. Hill Library

D. H. Hill Library

…and who cares about these guys?

WolfWalk (About)

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.

Digital Collections (Of)

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.]

Image Processing

• Existing image files (TIFFs and JPEGs)• No image server• Manually created derivatives• Show view images• Featured images for site descriptions• Thumbnails for site list

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

Location-aware mobile interfaces assume some level of data connectivity, which

may vary in quality from one geographic location to the next.

Technology

Initial Question

• Should content (images, text) be bundled with application or downloaded on demand?

Answer

Download Data On Demand• Smaller download for app• No need to go through Apple’s review

process if content is updated or revised• Reuse same data

Downsides:• Users can incur data charges• Requires data connection

Web Service

• MySQL + PHP• Returns XHTML document• Site index• Site details

• “Near Me”:• Web: SQL → Server• App: Objective C → Device

• Images stored in filesystem

Geodata (most sites)

Geodata (some sites)

Architecture Overview

WolfWalk Web

• MIT Mobile Web framework• PHP• Javascript• Google Maps v3• WURFL (device detection)

WolfWalk App

• Objective C• Cocoa Touch Framework• Map Kit Framework (Apple, Google)

Web or App?

Web

• Pros• Existing staff expertise• More devices• Integration into other

services• Fewer legal hurdles

• Cons• Performance limitations

(e.g., map zooming)• Testing on many devices• Users seem to expect apps

App

• Pro• Performance & UI• Promotion through popular

outlet (App Store)

• Cons• Learning curve• Restricted to one device

platform• Must pass Apple’s review

process• Requires developer license

What We Are Playing With…

Source: Wikimedia

• Solr data service• Faceting (decade,

building type, …)• Image browsing• Suggestions?

Alternative Approaches

Alternative Approaches

• You don’t have to build your own WolfWalk

• Growing number of existing location-aware frameworks

• Some are close to providing the necessary functionality

• Others are already there

Gowalla Trips

Gowalla Trips

Gowalla Trips

Gowalla Trips

- Cannot upload images yet (only images taken with your phone’s camera)

LookBackMaps

LookBackMaps

LookBackMaps

LookBackMaps

[Blend historic photograph and image taken with iPhone camera]

LookBackMaps

- No grouping of images by collections or sources

Layar

Layar

Layar

Layar

Layar

Layar

- Apps for iPhone and Android devices- Requires separate data service

- BYODS (Build Your Own Data Service)

or- Use third-party service providers

- We used Hoppala (http://www.hoppala.eu)- Currently in beta and limited to 100 items- Currently free

Layar / Hoppala

Final Thoughts

The only constant is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in mobile development today.

Isaac Asimov (sort of…)

All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

• Be flexible; the mobile environment changes quickly

• Be willing to experiment• Make sure you have a good mobile use

case• Think about how you can adapt

emerging technologies to anticipate future user needs and expectations

Thank You!

Markus Wust

Digital Collections and Preservation Librarian

markus_wust@ncsu.edu

Brian Dietz

Digital Program Librarian for Special Collections

brian_dietz@ncsu.edu

WolfWalk

Web: http://m.lib.ncsu.edu/wolfwalk

iPhone App: search for “WolfWalk” in App Store

More Information: http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/dli/projects/wolfwalk/