Defining Digital Public Spaces

Pam Ryan & Alex Carruthers

10/16/2014

Netspeed

October 16, 2014

Outline

• What is a digital public space?

• How’d we get here and where are we

going

• EPL Local Music Project with examples

from other sites

2

The Challenge

3

Digital Public Spaces Intern

4

• Engage in research and community consultation

to define Digital Public Spaces

• Determine potential roles for EPL

• Investigate, recommend, and help plan EPL’s

next steps in developing digital projects that

meet community-defined needs

• Investigate the role of EPL in supporting Open

Data initiatives

Business Plan Goals

5

Business Plan Goals

6

Digital Public Spaces

Trendspotting Report

7

Goals of the Report:

• To meaningfully define the term “digital public space”

for EPL

• To identify trends in the development or improvement

of digital public spaces in libraries or other cultural

institutions

• To investigate specific digital public space projects in

more detail, learning about their successes,

challenges and technical and administrative

infrastructure

• To recommend service directions for EPL

8

Research Methods

9

76%

10%

14%

Library Websites Reviewed (n=81)

Urban American Libraries

Non-urban American Libraries

Canadian Libraries

23Interviews with

librarians

20

36

Libraries

Programs and

services discussed

26Additional

projects profiled

Who’s talking about digital public spaces?

• BBC Archives with their new digital platform, The Space

• The Creative Exchange, public/private research institute for civic innovation

• FutureEverything publications

“A digital public space is a wholly collaborative web through which anyone, anywhere, anytime can

access, explore and create with digital content.”

10

Trends

11

Crowdsourcing

NYPL Labs What’s On the Menu?

• ~ 1,304,533 dishes transcribed from

17,389 menus since 2012

• Menus arereviewed

and mapped

12

CrowdsourcingSeattle Band Map

Maps the

relationships

between over

2000 bands

13

Livestreaming Video

14

Online Book Discussions

15

Local History Apps & Civic Hacking

16

Civic Hacking and Open Data

17

The Helsinki Metropolitan Library System

Most Wanted Books

Ari Hamara

Data visualization

installation at the Seattle

Public Library George

Legrady

EPL’s Digital Public Space

Demonstration Project

18

Local Music Project

• Crowdsourcing project

• Appeals to an identifiable but non-exclusive community

• Other libraries are experimenting with similar ideas

• Other Edmonton groups and institutions have expressed interest in projects on the same theme

• How will we find out what the community is interested in?

19

20

• Unconference

• Planned with Populus Community Planning

• March 22, 2014

What is an unconference?

21

SOMETHING

NEW!

SOMETHING

NEW!

Why did we choose to host one?

EVOLVE OUR DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT

22

OBJECTIVE 1:

EPL HAS DEFINED AND CREATED A DIGITAL

PUBLIC SPACE IN COLLABORATION WITH

COMMUNITY AND PARTNERS. DIGITAL

ONLINE SPACES ARE INTENDED TO

PROVIDE A VENUE FOR SHARING THE BEST

THAT EDMONTON HAS TO OFFER.

• Host a major event to engage Edmontonians in

developing digital public spaces and to inspire

demonstration projects

(2014)

23

How did we plan one?

The day itself:

World Cafe

24

The day itself:

Open Space Technology

25

What information were we able to draw from YEG BandCamp?

26

27

Celebrity

playlists – what

does Don Iveson

listen to?

Encourage

feedback,

but avoid

just being a

forum

Multigenerational

collaboration

Lots of tags – bands can tag

and users can too

Representation

of diversity

Contemporary Local Music Collection

28

• Edmonton music from the last

5 years

• Selected by small committee

of interested local music fans

• 100 new contributions a year

• Music available for download

and streaming

• Create playlists to stream,

save and share

• Direct traffic to options to

purchase content

• yaharamusic.org

Local Music History Archive• Crowdsourced

audio, video, images and stories related to local music history

• For streaming and download when relevant

• Audio content included in playlist tool

• History preserved and made accessible

• gdao.org

29

Transcription Tool• Digitized local

concert posters

• Posters contain info on who performed where, when and with who can – they show us local music history through time and space

• Posters offered to us from Union Events, Steve Derpak, Parker Thiessen, ‘Fat Dave’ Johnston and Beverley Jackson

• menus.nypl.org

30

Database

• Metadata from all three tools in one spot

• Accessible via API for the public to create visualizations, tools and games

• dp.la/apps

31

What We’re Working On Now

32

Questions

33