This is the code4lib lightning talk that Jeremy McWilliams and I did.
I'm including the first slide, which advertises our pretty well attended trail run up on Wildwood trail.
We're hoping that this project can demonstrate some of the advantages of using a digital asset management system "in the cloud," one that is part of a greater, participatory network.
Showing posts with label CODE4LIBCON2008. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CODE4LIBCON2008. Show all posts
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
the next generation library catalog phenomenon
When Casey Bisson gave an update of the Scriblio project as a lightning talk at code4lib last week, he made one comment that struck me: "Do we need another OPAC?" He was referring to the bevy of open source projects out there that support some kind of next generation search interfaces for library catalogs: eXtensible catalog, VUFind, FacBac, Scriblio, etc.
I recalled the first code4lib in 2006 when Casey's presentation on WPOPAC was one of the hot topics of the conference. NC State had just come out with their new Endeca based catalog then and people were pretty fired up about this idea of applying modern search features like faceting and relevance ranking to library catalog data.
Since then, many vendors and open source coders have jumped in to this area to make their play. Last year's code4lib conference also featured SOLR prominently and its potential role in the next generation OPAC.
I spent much of my time over the past couple years as Summit Catalog Committee Chair arguing for the need to move the Summit catalog over to a next generation platform. (Still hasn't happened.)
It's funny what a couple years can do. This area that was so cutting edge two years ago now seems overcrowded and almost passé.
I recalled the first code4lib in 2006 when Casey's presentation on WPOPAC was one of the hot topics of the conference. NC State had just come out with their new Endeca based catalog then and people were pretty fired up about this idea of applying modern search features like faceting and relevance ranking to library catalog data.
Since then, many vendors and open source coders have jumped in to this area to make their play. Last year's code4lib conference also featured SOLR prominently and its potential role in the next generation OPAC.
I spent much of my time over the past couple years as Summit Catalog Committee Chair arguing for the need to move the Summit catalog over to a next generation platform. (Still hasn't happened.)
It's funny what a couple years can do. This area that was so cutting edge two years ago now seems overcrowded and almost passé.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
broke breakout
I proposed a breakout at code4lib today but I didn't really get enough takers for it to fly. So here are some notes on it, DOA:
The topic was to be on "cloud computing and network level services" a discussion of the Nick Carr Big Switch thesis and its application to library environments; in addition, consideration of what library applications, services, and databases should be provided as network level services.
Cloud computing questions:
Examples of network level services floating around the conference:
The topic was to be on "cloud computing and network level services" a discussion of the Nick Carr Big Switch thesis and its application to library environments; in addition, consideration of what library applications, services, and databases should be provided as network level services.
Cloud computing questions:
- Is Nick Carr's thesis about utility style computing applicable to the library software world?
- Do some of our open source projects (eg LibraryFind, Vufind, Scriblio, eXtensible catalog, Evergreen, Koha) miss out on the network effects of a more centralized model of data/services provision?
- Should open source projects be approached differently from a cloud computing perspective?
- Who in the library world is positioned to provide utility-level services? OCLC? Talis? Internet Archive? What should they provide?
- Are there two visions of cloud computing out there, one more commercial another more open?
- How does the cloud computing model intersect with the semantic web?
- Are people using utility style computing as they build applications (Talis platform, OCLC web services, bibliocommons, Amazon S3, etc.)
Examples of network level services floating around the conference:
- OCLC grid services
- Talis platform
- LibraryThing
- OpenLibrary
- BiblioCommons
- Zotero 2.0
code4lib 2008 trends
Some observations regarding the first day of code4lib 2008:
There are a couple big players here from outside the library and library vendor worlds that are doing big, important library-related things: The Internet Archive and the Center for History and New Media.
The Internet Archive considers itself a library, a basically altruistic, nonprofit institution. But unlike any library I know, it has ambitions that are as far reaching as Google. It wants to create a digital archive of as much of the human record as it can get its hands on. I gotta say that I'm impressed with what they've done so far with the Internet Archive, and I support their other efforts with the OpenLibrary.
The Center for History and New Media comes at the perspective of research in the digital age from that of the humanities scholar. They've brought us Zotero, which I was impressed to learn has a user base of over 500K already. I'm also eager to here about their digital collections/digital exhibit software Omeka, which I see as a possible replacement for ContentDM at our shop.
It's really evident that there are a lot of competing solutions out there for solving various library technology problems. Throughout the day we heard of several solutions for catalog search/metasearch: the WorldCat API, VUFind, eXtensible catalog, and tangentially, LibraryFind. I can only wonder if there'll be a shakeout here sometime in the near future.
There are a couple big players here from outside the library and library vendor worlds that are doing big, important library-related things: The Internet Archive and the Center for History and New Media.
The Internet Archive considers itself a library, a basically altruistic, nonprofit institution. But unlike any library I know, it has ambitions that are as far reaching as Google. It wants to create a digital archive of as much of the human record as it can get its hands on. I gotta say that I'm impressed with what they've done so far with the Internet Archive, and I support their other efforts with the OpenLibrary.
The Center for History and New Media comes at the perspective of research in the digital age from that of the humanities scholar. They've brought us Zotero, which I was impressed to learn has a user base of over 500K already. I'm also eager to here about their digital collections/digital exhibit software Omeka, which I see as a possible replacement for ContentDM at our shop.
It's really evident that there are a lot of competing solutions out there for solving various library technology problems. Throughout the day we heard of several solutions for catalog search/metasearch: the WorldCat API, VUFind, eXtensible catalog, and tangentially, LibraryFind. I can only wonder if there'll be a shakeout here sometime in the near future.
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