Muddiest Point

Is week 13, our last week of readings?

Week 13 Legal Rights and Future of Digital Libraries

This week we should be able to walk away with an understanding of copyright and copyright protection, identify how digital libraries may violate copyright laws, and privacy issues.

I focused on the following readings:
1. Joseph E. Stiglitz, “Intellectual-property rights and wrongs”, Daily Times, Aug19, 2005.
2. Clifford Lynch, “Where Do We Go From Here? The Next Decade for Digital Libraries”, D-Lib Magazine, Volume 11 Number 7/8 July/August 2005
3. Knowledge lost in Information. Report of the NSF Workshop on Research directions for digital libraries

I am going to start with the Report on the NSF Workshop on Research. Basically, this report covers, in written form, everything of importance that went on during the workshop. As the report states, “this report details the nature of the federal investment required to sustain the pace of progress” in terms of research and investment in digital libraries. The sections of the report include things such as transforming the information landscape, the framework for digital library research, the future of research, emerging research opportunities and knowledge at hand, among other things. The report also includes charts and graphs. It also has helpful boxes of information as well as a list of acronyms used and their meanings.

Overall, this report was clear, concise and informative. It was written in a very clear writing style that made the somewhat overwhelming amount of information easy to understand. I especially found the ‘Knowledge at Hand’ section interesting. It is amazing how much digital libraries and the research pertaining to them have transformed over the last ten years.

Next up is, “Where do we go from Here? The Next Decade for Digital Libraries” by Clifford Lynch. The aim of this article is to discuss the history and past of digital libraries as well as bring an understanding of what is to come in the future. The article covers how the history of digital libraries can be traced back to as early as the 1960s, something people rarely realize. Lynch also discusses the period o f 1994-2004, and how this was the first real time for digital library research. This article actually really finds a theme in collaboration with the NSF Workshop report, as it makes many mentions of the NSF and their help towards digital library research.

The article also talks about the huge impact digital preservations will have in the future, it will be a very hot topic. The author asserts that in his opinion, in the future digital preservation has the potential to be hugely commercialized. Lynch also points out the areas of research he asserts need to be further expanded.

This article provided some very interesting information about the history of digital libraries and how they have progressed. I also found all the information about research possibilities interesting. I also enjoyed how the author infused his own thoughts and opinions into the article, giving a clear idea as to where he thinks digital libraries are going.

The final article I examined, “Intellectual-property rights and wrongs”, by Joseph E. Stiglitz is a brief article discussing intellectual property protection. This article was a brief deviation from the previous two readings as its focus was much more intellectual protection. Stiglitz goal is explain the issues related to intellectual property rights, including monopolies, patents, and issues related to that. He also discusses how WIPO was considering a development oriented intellectual property regime.

I found this article to be very interesting; I never before had considered the issues related to intellectual property rights. The author’s writing style was both informative and interesting.

another muddiest point

In agreement with others, I think it would be great to have a portion of class as a lab using greenstone and its interface.

Muddiest Point

I am confused about the idea of robustness in terms of digital library interface design principles. It is just the "support from recovery of errors"?

Week 12: Security and Economics

This week I focused on the following readings:

William Arms, “Implementing Policies for Access Management”, D-Lib Magazine,1998.

ARMS, chapter 7

ARMS, chapter 6

The focus of this week is issues with access management, economic implications and access vs. ownership.

First I am going to address my thoughts on William Arms, "Implementing Policies for Access Management"

The goal of this reading was to address the problems with managing access to online information, a problem that affects many different applications. The paper then runs through a conceptual model and its implementation. Including a pilot project being run, using the model, the Library of Congress's National Digital Library Program.
I think that this paper did an excellent job of describing the model, its implementation and all of the fine details including the issues with user interface, etc. It was really an added benefit that the paper included actual illustrations and charts, it made the concept of the model much easier to wrap my head around.
I think this reading explained a lot in terms of the importance of establishing a successful program or way to manage information access.

Next, I examined Chapters 6 and 7 from the 1999 manuscript of Digital Libraries, by William Arms, (c) 2000 M.I.T. Press

Chapter 6: Economic and Legal Issues

Basically this chapter is addressing how with the rapid pace of change happening with digital libraries, legal and economic changes need to occur just as quickly. Everything needs to adapt at an equal pace. Arms points out that there is a need for "social customs for using information that are widely understood and generally followed." Arms then goes on to explain open access with information and open access with digital libraries, and economic considerations among other things. He also examines a case study about electronic journals which is a pioneer at retaining revenue from libraries and users.

Arms whole point of this chapter is to discuss some of the legal and economic ramifications when it comes to digital libraries and information. I think this article worked well in attempting to explain some of the the issues involved. I especially found the case study of electronic journals both relevant and informative to my work as a library student as well specifically a student building a digital library.

Chapter 7: Access management and security

This chapter examines the methods for controlling who has access to materials in digital libraries, and techniques of security in networked computing. This chapter also ties in with economic issues discussed. This chapter also examines topics such as security of digital libraries and also describes at length encryption. Once again, I really enjoyed Arms writing style. He consistently clearly explains detailed issues without intimidating the reader.

I really enjoyed the readings this week. I thought it was interesting to read about economic, legal, security and access issues. I really cannot say enough how refreshing it is to read Williams Arms writings. He has the rare ability of bringing complex information to a level that a person unexperienced in the field can still read and understand.

Week Eleven Readings: Social Issues

This week's readings are: Social Aspects of Digital Libraries. The final report of UCLA-NSF Social Aspects of Digital Libraries Workshop
The Infinite Library, Wade Roush, Technology Review, 2005.
William Y. Arms, “A Viewpoint Analysis of the Digital Library”, D-Lib Magazine, Volume 11 Number 7/8, July/August 2005.

The first article I examined was The Infinite Library by Wade Roush. This article, written in 2005, begins by talking about the Google book digitization project and goes on to basically cover the discussion and debate that has gone in the library world on over the past few years. Is Google's project a good idea or a bad one?
Overall, I found this article to be very engaging. It explained concisely and clearly the possible ramifications of the digitization of materials and the different aspects of information access.
This article did lend me some insight into each side of the Google Book Project issue. Previously, I had been leaning towards not being very pro-Google because I do not like the idea of one corporation having control of all that information. Especially when looking at situations like Corbis. I think this article presented each side without favor, however, the information provided led me to believe that maybe Google's intentions are not that bad. On another note, this article also opened my eyes to the thought that without metadata or the proper metadata, a digitized item could be lost or useless.

The next article I examined was A Viewpoint Analysis of the Digital Library by William Y. Arms. Once again, Arms does an excellent job of clearly explaining his subject. His articles are always informative and detailed without being dry. Arms covers the three viewpoints of organizational, technical and user.
I like that Arms calls for a new thought process on evaluation. I also like that he brings a focus to the user viewpoint, something I can really relate to. I really think that progress does need to be made in digital libraries from a user viewpoint. Things need to be found and found easily, the interface should be consistent and clear, otherwise user's will be uninterested.

Lastly, Social Aspects of Digital Libraries, a report based on workshops that focused on the need for more research on the social aspects of libraries. The article started with a description of the two agreed upon definitions of digital libraries. It also discusses research framework, cycle models and research issues among other things. The group identified two problems that they found to be urgent 1". indentifying real information needs and developing digital libraries to meet those needs and 2. designing digital libraries in which it is possible to find the right information in a glut of information."
Overall, what I took from this article was an appreciation that their are people in the information science and librarianship world (among other disciplines) who are far smarter then me, brainstorming and working on the issues.

Overall, all three of these readings expressed to me that in the future, both digital libraries and physical libraries will really need to meld technology with what the user needs and wants. The user viewpoint, is quite possibly be, the most important aspect for the future.

Week Ten Readings...

This week I examined the following three readings: Chapter 8 from Digital Libraries, by William Arms, (c) 2000 M.I.T. Press. Rob Kling and Margaret Elliott "Digital Library Design for Usability" and Tefko Saracevic, “Evaluation of digital libraries:An overview".

This week's focus is on interaction and evaluation of Digital Libraries. First up, William Arms Chapter 8: User interfaces and usability. This chapter discusses computer system's usability in terms of interface, components and design. Arms points out that all components of computer systems should effectively run together so that a user can properly search and use a digital library. The article also discusses the conceptual model of interface design, browsers and mobile code as well as functional design of interfaces. Interface is discussed at length.
Prior to reading this chapter, I never realized the importance of interface design or that it can be viewed as an art. As a user, I think that interfaces can be taken for granted. Users may not always realize how revolutionary interfaces are and how much they have changed the way we use and view digital libraries.

Next up, Rob Kling and Margaret Elliott "Digital Library Design for Usability". This paper discusses two forms of Digital Libraries usability. The two forms are, interface usability and organizational usability. Kling and Elliot state, " Organizational usability refers to the ways that computer systems can be effectively integrated into work practices of specific organizations." Five models of computer system design are examined: the traditional functional life-cycle model, the user interface model, and the usability engineering model, medical Informatics Model,and highly Automated Model of DL Design as well as the Organizationally Sensitive Model of "Design for Usability".
I found this article to be informative, clear and concise. The authors did a really great job of explaining their ideas for organizational usability as well as describing the typical models of computer systems. I also found their suggestions to be thoughtful and intelligent, I agree that now is a great time for the Digital Library community to "appreciate the importance of "design for organizational usability" to develop significantly more effective systems."
Now for my notes on Tefko Saracevic's , “Evaluation of digital libraries:An overview".
This report is a data filled evaluation on works of digital libraries. The introduction discusses the explosive growth of digital libraries in the last decade except in the area of evaluation. This reading basically breaks down corpus, approach, construct, context, criteria, methodology of dl lit. I really enjoyed this article, I think it is a very helpful breaking down and explaining evaluation of digital libraries.