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Finding Our Way in the Crowd

Finding Our Way in the Crowd. Locating and cultivating communities of knowledge. John Mark Ockerbloom University of Pennsylvania Libraries NFAIS Annual Conference Philadelphia, PA – February 27, 2011. Overview. “Information overload” has been with us for a long time

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Finding Our Way in the Crowd

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  1. Finding Our Way in the Crowd Locating and cultivating communities of knowledge John Mark Ockerbloom University of Pennsylvania Libraries NFAIS Annual Conference Philadelphia, PA – February 27, 2011

  2. 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

  3. You aren’t going to read everything in here, are you? [Photo by Sebastia Giralt; CC license: BY-NC-SA]

  4. 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

  5. Communities curate content

  6. Twitter curation

  7. Communities create conversation

  8. Some conference tweets

  9. Communities curate concepts

  10. PennTags

  11. Folksonomies

  12. Wikipedia: The web’s most popular concept catalog

  13. 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

  14. Aggregating journals

  15. Aggregating new books

  16. Information organization?

  17. Library of CongressSubject Headings [From id.loc.gov ]

  18. “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>

  19. Linking subjects together

  20. From the Battle of York…

  21. …to the War of 1812

  22. …or to Toronto

  23. The linked data world [Linking Open Data cloud diagram, by Richard Cyganiak and Anja Jentzsch. http://lod-cloud.net/ ]

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

  25. Which Hamlet is right for you? • (Show Hamlet summary page)

  26. 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

  27. A “social” catalog • (Show LibraryThing Shakespeare page)

  28. 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

  29. 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

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