WolfWalk: A Mobile Digital Collections Project at NCSU Libraries

1. WolfWalk:A Mobile Digital Collections Projectat NCSU Libraries Markus Wust and Brian Dietz ASERL IT/Digital Initiatives Interest Group Webinar NCSU LibrariesAugust 11, 2010

2. Outline • Background • Demo • Implementation Challenges • Technology • Alternative Approaches • Final Thoughts

3. Background

4. MobiLIB • Launched in early 2007 • Pre-iPhone • Few similar services • Designed for devices with basic web capabilities

5. Apple iPhone (2007) Source: Flickr user shapeshift

6. New Features (Assisted) GPS 3G/Wi-Fi Internet Access Touch screen interface Camera Compass Accelerometer Next Generation Devices

7. NCSU Libraries Mobile • Launched 2009 • Built on MIT Mobile Web framework • Collaboration with campus IT • Part of library mobile initiative • m.lib.ncsu.edu

8. Question: • How can we use the unique affordances of mobile devices to provide innovative services and access models to library resources that we cannot implement otherwise?

9. Our answer: Location-aware Digital Collections

10. How we used to access our special collections

11. Todd Kosmerick and Adam Berenbak, NCSU Libraries

12. Access to Physical Materials • Requires on-site presence • Request materials in advance (24-48 hours) • Optimized for • Intensive research • Analysis of original • Affords an intimacy with the object

13. How we access (some of) those collections now

14. Markus Wust, NCSU Libraries

15. Access to Digital Materials • Access materials from anywhere • Curator determines what you see • Exhibit approach to digital collection building • At a remove from the original

16. How we might experience our collections…

17. Jason Casden, NCSU Libraries

18. Location-aware Mobile • Optimized for on-site use • Curator determines what you see • Affords • In-situ learning • Returns the intimacy to the experience

19. The WolfWalk Project

20. The WolfWalk Project • A historical guide to the NC State campus • Small, curated subset of University Archives Photo Collection • Location-aware • Two versions • Mobile web site (March 2010) • iPhone app (July 2010)

21. About the Collection • 90 campus sites • 600 images sourced from existing digital image collections • Newly authored site descriptions

22. WolfWalk Demo

23. WolfWalk Mobile Web http://m.lib.ncsu.edu/wolfwalk

24. Web App

25. Web App

26. Web App

27. Web App

28. Web App

29. Web App

30. Web App

31. 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 Project Team

32. Implementation Challenges

33. Metadata Issues Is metadata created for one form of access adequate or appropriate for others?

35. What is this image of?

36. This guy

37. This guy …and these guys.

38. Digital Collections (Of) 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

39. But what is this image about?

40. D. H. Hill Library

41. D. H. Hill Library …and who cares about these guys?

42. WolfWalk (About) 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.

43. Digital Collections (Of) 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.]

44. Image Processing Existing image files (TIFFs and JPEGs) No image server Manually created derivatives Show view images Featured images for site descriptions Thumbnails for site list

45. Geo Metadata Issues How do you geotag very large digital collections in a scalable way?

46. 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?

47. Geo Metadata Issues Do you geotag individual objects, such as photographs, or groups of objects representing the same geographic place?

48. Practical Considerations Location-aware mobile interfaces assume some level of data connectivity, which may vary in quality from one geographic location to the next.

49. Technology

50. Initial Question Should content (images, text) be bundled with application or downloaded on demand?