Finding Our Way in the Crowd

John Mark Ockerbloom Feb. 27, 2011

Finding Our Way in the Crowd

John Mark Ockerbloom

University of Pennsylvania Libraries

NFAIS Annual Conference

Philadelphia, PA – February 27, 2011

Locating and cultivating communities of knowledge


Overview

• “Information overload” has been with us for a long time

• Communities of knowledge play essential roles in alleviating information overload

• Many communities exist, in different forms• Combining features of “new” and “old”

communities (with help of automation) can bring best of both worlds


You aren’t going to read everything in here, are you?

[Photo by Sebastia Giralt; CC license: BY-NC-SA]


Alleviating overload:Basic functions

• Filtering: selection ; refinement• Sorting: categorization; ranking• Sense-making: context ; explanation

• All different aspects of curation

• Curation can be done by pros, amateurs, machines; sometimes all of them together.

• The human element is essential


Communities curate content


Twitter curation


Communities create conversation


Some conference tweets


Communities curate concepts


PennTags


Folksonomies


Wikipedia: The web’s most popular concept catalog


Two overreactions

• “New online information channels represent a fundamental degradation of knowledge”– Whither professionalism, peer review, etc.?

• “New online information channels make publishers, libraries, etc. obsolete”– Who needs middlemen, credentials, payment, etc.?

• In fact, new and “traditional” channels have more in common than one might think…– And they can inform each other


Aggregating journals


Aggregating new books


Information organization?


Library of CongressSubject Headings

[From id.loc.gov ]


“Information organization”as structured, linked data

<rdf:Description rdf:about=http:/id.loc.gov/authorities/sh99001059#concept”> <dcterms:created rdf:datatype="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime">1999-02-12 […] <dcterms:created> <dcterms:source xml:lang="en">Work cat.: 98-53625: Taylor, A.G. The organization […] </dcterms:source> <dcterms:source xml:lang="en">Velluci, S.L. Cataloging across the curriculum: a syndetic […] </dcterms:source> <skos:narrower rdf:resource=“http://id.loc.gov/authorities/sh85000256#concept”/> <skos:narrower rdf:resource="http://id.loc.gov/authorities/sh85048210#concept"/> <skos:narrower rdf:resource="http://id.loc.gov/authorities/sh85026719#concept"/> <skos:narrower rdf:resource="http://id.loc.gov/authorities/sh85064867#concept"/> <skos:broader rdf:resource="http://id.loc.gov/authorities/sh85066150#concept"/> <skos:inScheme rdf:resource=http://id.loc.gov/authorities#conceptScheme”/> <skos:inScheme rdf:resource="http://id.loc.gov/authorities#topicalTerms"/> <skos:scopeNote xml:lang="en">Here are entered works on identifying, […]</skos:scopeNote> <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#Concept"/> <skos:related rdf:resource="http://id.loc.gov/authorities/sh85066163#concept"/> <skos:prefLabel xml:lang="en">Information organization<skos:prefLabel> <skos:altLabel xml:lang="en">Information storage and retrieval<skos:altLabel> <skos:altLabel xml:lang="en">Organization of information<skos:altLabel> <owl:sameAs rdf:resource="info:lc/authorities/sh99001059"/> <dcterms:modified rdf:datatype="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime">1999-03-15 […] </dcterms:modified></rdf:Description>


Linking subjects together


From the Battle of York…


…to the War of 1812


…or to Toronto


The linked data world

[Linking Open Data cloud diagram, by Richard Cyganiakand Anja Jentzsch. http://lod-cloud.net/ ]


Hamlet, Hamlet, Hamlet…[& some other revenge dramas]


Which Hamlet is right for you?

• (Show Hamlet summary page)


Catalogsin an open linked data world

• More than just the books in your library building• More information than just what fits on a card• Can include contributions from many people, e.g.:

– Publisher provides initial information (metadata)– Cataloger (or program) creates new relationships– Teacher adds notes for choosing suitable edition– Readers tag, annotate, aggregate specific items of

interest to them or others

• The truly “web-scale” catalog is just starting to develop


A “social” catalog

• (Show LibraryThing Shakespeare page)


Cautions

• Communities need cultivation– If you build it, “they” don’t always come– If they do come, you need to deal with

agendas, noise, spam, misinformation• One community or system isn’t enough

–Different communities, tools work for different people

–Many interesting questions span multiple disciplines (and multiple communities)

–Seek contrasting, dissenting viewpoints»Avoid confirmation bias» Take advantage of diversity, outreach


Conclusions

• Communities are essential to managing information– They filter by curating content– They sort by curating concepts– They make sense by creating conversation

• Both informal and established communities play important roles– Twitter and blogosphere; publishers and libraries;

conferences and schools• We can combine knowledge, strengths of different kinds

of communities – With linked data, automated analysis, openness

• Want to continue this conversation? @JMarkOckerbloom | everybodyslibraries.com

Finding Our Way in the Crowd

Documents

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