location-aware digital collections: opportunities and challenges

Location-aware Digital Collections: Opportunities and Challenges

Tito Sierra, Brian Dietz, and Markus WustNCSU Libraries

TRLN Annual Meeting 2010July 19, 2010

Outline

• The Mobile Opportunity• Location-aware Digital Collections• The WolfWalk Project• Background• Demo

• Implementation Challenges• Future Directions• Final Thoughts

The Mobile Opportunity

Guessing Game

Source: Flickr user ted.sali

23rd Century Star Trek Tricorder

(designed in the 1960s)

Source: Flickr user clarksworth

24th Century Star Trek Tricorder

(designed in the 1980s)

Star Trek Tricorder

• Location scanners• Data communication (to/from starship)• Holographic messaging• Touch screen interface• Universal translator (alien languages)

Star Trek Tricorder

• Location scanners• Data communication (to/from starship)• Holographic messaging• Touch screen interface• Universal translator (alien languages)

SCIENCE FICTION

fast forward several years…

Apple iPhone (2007)

Source: Flickr user shapeshift

Apple iPhone 4 (2010)

Source: www.apple.com

The Future is Now

Star Trek Tricorder• Location scanners• Data communication

(to/from starship)• Holographic messaging• Touch screen interface• Universal translator

(alien languages)

Apple iPhone 4• Assisted GPS• Data communication

(3G and wifi)• Video calling• Touch screen interface• Multi-lingual support

(human languages)

Apple iPhone 4 (2010)

• Camera• Audio microphone• Digital compass• Accelerometer• Photo and video

geotagging• High-definition

screen display

Not Just Apple

• Google Android• Palm Pre• Blackberry

Today’s mobile computing technology provides a rich toolset for significantly enhancing the user experience with

library digital collections.

How should libraries approach this opportunity?

Location-aware Digital Collections

Defining ‘Location-aware DCs’

An emerging model for providing access to digital collections and archives that

leverages the user’s current location to enhance information discovery, access,

and interpretation.

Defining ‘Location-aware DCs’

An emerging model for providing access to digital collections and archives that

leverages the user’s current location to enhance information discovery, access,

and interpretation.

An approach for creating in situ learning experiences with library collections.

‘In Situ Learning’ Concept

Learning that happens within a real-world physical context.

‘In Situ Learning’ Concept

Learning that happens within a real-world physical context.

Not a new concept!

Traditional Examples

Source: Flickr user Corey Ann

Source: Flickr user garryknight

Source: Flickr user unforth

Technology Enhanced Examples

Source: Flickr user opacity

Source: Flickr user HowardLake

Source: Flickr user inju

Source: Flickr user inju

Location-aware Examples

PhillyHistory.org

PhillyHistory.org

PhillyHistory.org

LookBackMaps

LookBackMaps

LookBackMaps

LookBackMaps

Gowalla Trips

Gowalla Trips

Gowalla Trips

The WolfWalk Project

The WolfWalk Project

• A historical guide to NC State campus

• University Archives Photo Collection

• Location-aware• Two versions• Mobile web app• iPhone App

User Perspective

Make it easy for the NC State campus community to learn about the history of

campus while on campus.

User Perspective

Jason Casden, NCSU Libraries

Library Perspective

Increase the impact of library archives and special collections by creating a

new access model for people to access and interpret this content.

Access Models

• Physical materials access• Digital library website access• Location-aware mobile access

Todd Kosmerick and Adam Berenbak, NCSU Libraries

Albums from UA023.005 Campus Views and Facilities Sub-Group

Markus Wust, NCSU Libraries

Jason Casden, NCSU Libraries

WolfWalk Project Scope

WolfWalk is a curated collection of new and existing content organized around campus sites to enable a self-guided

walking tour.

WolfWalk Project Scope

WolfWalk is a curated collection of new and existing content organized around campus sites to enable a self-guided

walking tour.

Target audience is the NC State community (alumni, students, parents)

and visitors to campus.

About the Collection

• 90 campus sites

About the Collection

• 90 campus sites• Newly authored site

descriptions

About the Collection

• 90 campus sites• Newly authored site

descriptions• 600 images sourced

from existing digital image collections

NC State University Archives Photographic Collection

About the Collection

• 90 campus sites• Newly authored site

descriptions• 600 images sourced

from existing digital image collections

Edward T. Funkhouser Photographs

WolfWalk Project Scope

WolfWalk is not designed to be a comprehensive interface to all of our

digitized collections.

DukeMobile Library Collections

Source: news.duke.com

WolfWalk Demo

WolfWalk Mobile Web

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

WolfWalk iPhone App

Search the App Store for ‘wolfwalk’

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

Break for Q&A

Implementation Challenges

Content Copyright and Reuse

How does providing a new access method to digitized collections affect

terms of use?

Content Copyright and Reuse

How does providing a new access method to digitized collections affect

terms of use?

Were the original terms of use clear to begin with?

Metadata Issues

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

others?

Historical State

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.]

WolfWalk

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.

Media Formatting for Mobile

How best to provide high quality images/audio/video without bogging

down a device?

Media Formatting for Mobile

Two options for mobile apps: Bundle media with the downloaded app or

serve media over the network.

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

The mobile device landscape is diverse, and will continue to be so in the

foreseeable future. The costs of testing mobile applications increases with the

number of devices supported.

Practical Considerations

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

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

Future Directions

Organizational Collaboration

• Cross-institutional collaboration to create metadata aggregators

• Greater geographical coverage• Greater content density• Example:• Location-aware interface to all available

historical postcards in North Carolina

Growth of Geo Platforms

• Commercial, location-aware social platforms (e.g., Foursquare, Gowalla) are becoming increasingly popular

• Additional features (e.g., creation of tours/trips, uploading/linking images) may provide libraries, archives, and museums an option to reach a broader audience

Growth of Geo Platforms

• New models for promotion of collections• Get “rewards” for visiting physical locations

of images• Move up in site visit rankings, become

“Mayor” of a place of interest• Share images with and recommend to

other people in network

New Access Models

• Augmented Reality• Blending the real and the virtual• Overlay virtual content on top of real-time

images of physical environment

• Simple augmented reality already possible

Layar

Source: layar.eu

Situated Simulations

Situated Simulations

Final Thoughts

The Future is Too Bright

We've only scratched the surface of what is already possible technologically, let alone what will be possible in the next

year or two.

Adaptability

The current “state-of-the-art” in mobile computing will become commonplace in

only a few years time. How do you keep up with evolving technology and

user expectations?

Learn by Doing

Mobile and location-aware access to collections is an emerging area with few existing models. Working in this space

requires a willingness to experiment and openness to new ideas.

Thank You!

Tito Sierra

Associate Head, Digital Library Initiatives

tito_sierra@ncsu.edu

Brian Dietz

Digital Program Librarian for Special Collections

brian_dietz@ncsu.edu

Markus Wust

Digital Collections and Preservation Librarian

markus_wust@ncsu.edu