the archives forum - the national archives - 02 march 2011
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TRANSCRIPT
Presenter or main title…
Session Title or subtitle…
2 March 2011, The National Archives
What lies between archives and the future…
David F. Flanders
Digital Infrastructure Innovation Team
Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)
Learning Objectives (by the end of this presentation you will want to ask questions about...)• ...how has JISC allocated its budgets in the past and how is this applicable to archives (e.g. how could you get involved in a JISC funded project?)• ...how does JISC know what future technologies are coming down the pipeline?• ... what innovations can archives achieve in the next 2-3 years with a zero or minus budget change?• ... what innovations can archives start to prep so they are ready to bounce back once the economy recovers in 3-5 years?• ... what innovations are on the horizon in 5-10 years that will inevitably change the way we do everything?!
Easy and widespread access to information and resources, anytime, anywhere; a vision with technology and information management at the heart of research and education.
Cost effective infrastructure
Efficient and effective institutions
Enhanced learning experience
Research quality, impact & productivity
JISC Vision & Strategy
JISC Budget 2010-11
Partner with an HEI and
Bid!
Follett Review = eLib ProgrammeSpecial collections & Archives
£45M
Archives Hub
Collection Description
ISAD(G) aka DACS
EAD
Z39.50 for Archives
Digitisation
SEO
Semantic Web / Linked Data
AIM 25
RDTF – 2010 - 2012
OAI-PMH
What has JISC invested in Archives over the years?
Repositories & Preservation Programme
£14m Semantic Infrastructure
£??
But what makes *good* technology?
The technology will fail if not directly motivated by users.
“There is a significant difference between what users actually do versus what they should do; in short, the web is not a science… At best the Web is a social science and even then it is subject to very disturbing psychological flaws!”
Experiment Time!
archives
vs.
Users and trust
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/briefingpapers/2010/bpdigitalinfoseekerv1
good info later
vs.
bad info now
Users and patience
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/briefingpapers/2010/bpdigitalinfoseekerv1
browse
vs.
search
Users and search
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/briefingpapers/2010/bpdigitalinfoseekerv1
full text
vs.
chunks of text
Users and completness
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/briefingpapers/2010/bpdigitalinfoseekerv1
text
vs.
video
Users and media
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/briefingpapers/2010/bpdigitalinfoseekerv1
natural lang
vs.
specific bits
Users and media
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/briefingpapers/2010/bpdigitalinfoseekerv1
friends
vs.
experts
Users and thinking
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/briefingpapers/2010/bpdigitalinfoseekerv1
authoritative
vs.
communal
Users and wisdom
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/briefingpapers/2010/bpdigitalinfoseekerv1
essay
vs.
blog
Users and expression
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/briefingpapers/2010/bpdigitalinfoseekerv1
delivery
vs.
discovery
Users and finding stuff
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/briefingpapers/2010/bpdigitalinfoseekerv1
praise
vs.
criticise
Users and opinion
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/briefingpapers/2010/bpdigitalinfoseekerv1
Experiment Conclusion:
You are NOT your user!
The archive of the future must begin to embrace technologies that engage users in any given web situation:
Go to them wherever they are…
Work at “Web Scale”, not as a 19th century established institution.
Dig into the data you do have – especially user activity data
Embrace all content available to you – especially user content
Approaching real time is approaching success.
Above from ‘Thrive or Survive’ workshop
If you are not the user how do you choose technology for users?
=SKILL-UP!
Skills for how Archives become "of the web" not just “on it”?
JISC Advance
JISC Advance
JISC TechD
is
JISC TechD
is
OSS WatchOSS
Watch
JISC Infokits
JISC Infokits
Strategic Content Alliance(SCA)
Strategic Content Alliance(SCA)
UKOLN & CETISUKOLN & CETIS
Resource Discovery Taskforce
Resource Discovery Taskforce
Short term innovation (next 1-3 years)
What innovation archives can do for free or with a zero cost spend“efficient innovation”
Your URLs are the coat hooks by which your organisation can hang future digital content, get the slashes “/” right and your content will be found, e.g. what/is/the/address/on/the/envelop?
Short term innovation (2-3 years):Build user pathways w/ URIs
http://linkingyou.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/
A ‘Cool URI’ will mean your message will have a
chance of finding its user.
A ‘Cool URI’ will mean your message will have a
chance of finding its user.
Make your website appear 10 years younger!
Short term innovation (2-3 years):Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
http://sca.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2010/01/16/download-new-seo-report-with-case-studies//
Register with Google Webmaster
Install Google analytics
Set Google Alerts
Read all the advice on the web re “SEO”
Know thy keywords and their placement.
The Freeze Frame project went through every UK undergraduate course, identifying which would be interested in their collection of polar images – geology, geography, fashion, health, nutrition, history, etc.
...and tagged them with those keywords accordingly!
SEO+ build it and they will come? – Nope, users need to be actively
engaged if they are to use a resource
http://www.freezeframe.ac.uk/
The coolest thing to do with your data will be thought of by someone else...
Short term innovation (2-3 years):Application Profile Interfaces (APIs)
http://www.flickr.com/groups/greatwararchive/
APIs are now free:
Flickr
Google Docs
CSV via Dropbox
Delicious
RSS/ATOM via Blogs and Wikis!
the First World War Poetry Archive asked members of the public to digitise and
comment on their own collections – the pool of content and expertise was hugely increased. Plus a whole trench recreated
in Second Life
Do you have a strategy for enabling your content to be easily discovered and delivered (i.e. URIs, APIs & SEO), if not check out the Resource Discovery TaskForce (RDTF).
http://rdtf.jiscpress.org
PS ‘digitisation’ is a bottomless pit
Medium term innovation
(next 3-5 years)What can you do to prepare for when budgets are on the increase?
Building up your community so you can utilise their skills *is* a worthwhile investment.
Medium term innovation (3-5 years): Crowdsourcing content
http://www.digitalnz.org
Worrying about the metadata later and focusing in on engaging users participation so they both create, modify and consume.
See also Scottish Wills and Testaments & Australia Newspapers Online.
Community is the new Empire Building...
Medium term innovation (3-5 years): Crowdsourcing metadata
http://sounds.bl.uk
The Archival Sound Recordings has over 44,000 audio files on wildlife, oral history, the Holocaust, artist’s testimonies, lectures. Each recording is scrupulously catalogued, so the rights are clearly labelled, and the recordings findable via Google.
#Locah Project
Medium term innovation (3-5 years): Linkeddata
http://blogs.ukoln.ac.uk/locah/
Exposing Archives Hub Data as LoD
Creating an EAD to RDF transform (crosswalk model)
Prototype Demonstrator due July 2011
+Linked Data...
Real world experimentation in doing the full “5 Stars of
Linkeddata”:Library & Archives Data, Humanities Data, Music Data, Geography Data &
Science Data
http://code.google.com/p/jiscexpo/
PS ‘digitisation’ is a bottomless pit
Long term innovation (next 5-10 years)
What disruptive innovation is going to change everything all over again!?
Lorum ipsum doler
Long term innovation (5-10 years): Why is Digitisation a Bottomless Pit?
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2007/03/10/business/11archive.chart.ready.html
Prioritisation...
Cost options...
...
The biggest problem with the web at the moment is that there is no way to know the spacetime context of the things you are looking at...
Long term innovation (5-10 years):Are there constants in an ever changing world?
Spacetime Camp
Geospatial Working Group (GWG)
Geospatial Programme
– 12 Projects (8 months – Products in Nov 2011)
– £1 million investment
– #jiscGECO Community
http://code.google.com/p/jiscgeo
In a world where change is constant the only way to not continually loose the capability of reusing content due to near sighted licensing is by licensing it as open.
Long term innovation (5-10 years):Open as a business model for change?
The Open Agenda:
Open Social Scholarship
– Open Access
– Open Bibliography
– Open Citation
– Open Bibliogrpahy
Open Education Resources (OER)
Augmented Reality
3D Printing
Long term innovation (5-10 years):Are you ready for the next change?
#streetmuseum
#reprap #pif3D
In Summary...Ok what should I remember about this
presentation?
Now: put your data on the web using “hooks” (URIs, APIs, SEO)
Soon: create community, link your data and license everything!
Anon: invest in skills that enable you to work with your user so you will choose the right technologies.
Innovation can be the most productive thing you do during times of economic down turn.
Subscribe to JISCs Funding Roadmap!
Questions?
@dfflandersGoogle: “David F. Flanders”