Fostering and supporting creativity through digital libraries

1. Fostering and supporting creativity through digital libraries Shalini Urs Professor and Chairperson Department of library and Information science Director: Vidyanidhi Digital Library University of Mysore, India

2. Outline • Context : Convergence and integration • Information cycle • Digital libraries: role in the information cycle • Creativity • Digital libraries role in supporting creativity : cases and examples

3. Digital revolution • Key word-Convergence • Convergence of activities and processes • Roles are converging- what is the role of Libraries? • Technologies are converging • Result: confusion and creativity

4. Digital libraries for creativity • Two facets • Digital Libraries supporting creativity • Creativity in developing Digital libraries

5. Information cycle • Creating information • Fixing the information in a medium • Storing the information • Distributing information • Archiving information • Accessing information • Using information

6. Information cycle • The cyclic nature of information has not been explicitly studied and exploited • Link between creating information and using information is not taken into consideration in our discussions of knowledge creation and use

7. Digital libraries • Digital libraries : what are they? • Digital libraries are a focused collection of digital objects, including text, video, and audio, along with methods for access and retrieval, and for selection, organisation, and maintenance of the collection • Operative words : • Focused collection • Digital objects: text, video, audio etc • Methods for- • Access and retrieval • Selection, organisation and • Maintenance of collection

8. Role of digital libraries • Enhancing access : breadth and depth • Enlarging audience : breadth and depth • Improving retrieval : locating hidden treasure • Preservation and archiving Has always been recognised and efforts are made to develop and design digital libraries for the above functions

9. Digital libraries as dynamic landscapes for • Creating • Accessing • Storing • Retrieving • Distributing • Archiving Knowledge

10. Role of Digital libraries • In fostering and supporting creativity is not recognised and understood • Digital libraries play a significant role in the creation of knowledge

11. Creativity • Creativity is ability to create ideas and artifacts-knowledge, information and other artifacts • Creativity also ‘called in’ to solve wicked problems

12. Creativity : Perspectives and frameworks • Three frameworks for creativity • Inspiration : the Eureka kind • Structural : based on exhaustive exploratory approach • Situational : based on social and intellectual context

13. Inspirational creativity- revolutionary kind- intuitive variety • Breakthrough discoveries :Illuminatory moments • Archimedes’ Eureka • Kekule's Benzene ring discovery • Newton’s gravitational theory

14. Points to ponder • Luck favors the prepared mind • Key is the prepared mind • 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration • Though it might happen at one moment, behind that breakthrough is the hard work and the persistent and focused attention to find solution

15. Breakthrough discoveries • The critical factor is the sudden association between seemingly unrelated issues or factors • Creativity is also defined as ‘seeing relations’ or associations where none is apparent • Such association of seemingly unrelated factors for solving problems has led to some great discoveries • The key is ‘seeing’ relations between unrelated things

16. How do Digital libraries support the inspirational creativity? • Free association • Today digital library technologies support free association • Example : traditional classification vs Free association • Search engines support free association : example many advanced features support exploratory approach • Diverse categorizing techniques offered by some search tools such as Vivisimo categoriser

17. Hypertext linking • The very word hypertext and hyper media refers to non linear presentation of information • Early hypertext systems such as Engelbrat’s Augment was the first to recognise the potential of technology for augmenting human intellect • Human mind does not think in a sequential manner but works in a ‘Hyper’ mode

18. Some Examples: • Search for ‘communal problems in India’ • Throws up Kashmir issues • Click on Kashmir – leads to Kashmir Carpets • Click on Carpets leads to Persian carpets • Write up on carpets leads to an anecdote about Cleopatra wrapped in a carpet seducing Caesar

19. Some more examples • Search Nose jobs led to cosmetic surgery • Surgery leads to caesarean section • That leads to Caesar- the first one to be borne by C section

20. Creativity is fostered by: • Searching and browsing digital libraries • Thinking by free associations • Consulting with peers and interactivity • Visualizing data and processes • Exploring possibilities • Intuition supported by instant access to knowledge and information

21. Structuralism : • Emphasis on exhaustive exploration of previous work and possible solution • Studying previous work • Methodological techniques • Understanding the problem • Devising a plan • Carrying out the plan • Looking back

22. Levels of creativity • Classification of creativity • Breakthrough types- revolutionary • Evolutionary : day to day tasks –simple and routine jobs improved upon with creative ideas such as doctors doing their jobs and architects designing buildings, and librarians finding relevant information for their users

23. The focus- Evolutionary creativity • Beliefs: • Knowledge or creativity is- • Cumulative-built on previous knowledge- both societal as well individual • Is a continuous process-Improvement is creative • Creativity is a integrative or integration process • Technology supports and fosters creativity • Libraries and digital libraries support the above

24. Focus: • Some simple examples and how they could be used and applied to improve things or makes things better • The development of digital libraries and ICTs to foster the simple tasks

25. Word Processing software and creativity • Yesterday : the word processing software only supported simple creation, editing and text formatting, with minimal support for creativity • Today : ability to integrate text with diagrams, pictures , sound etc • Support ofr creativity –quite high • Some examples: spell checking, synonymous words, thesauri etc • Tomorrow: when a new word is presented, it is linked to its meanings, definitions, translations, hyperlinked to picture libraries, usages in different contexts etc

26. Another example: • Multitasking- windows and tool bars today support multitasking – fostering creativity • Tomorrow- integration with other software tools, we can expect support for example synchronized scrolling of related documents to support comparisons • Simple tools such as style sheets , windows wizard foster creativity

27. Power Point presentations: another example • Windows wizard helps creativity • Animations help express ideas better • Slide layouts and slide transitions and such other features foster creativity • Use of facilities for creating drawings, tables, cuing and many other features • Innovative use of colors and other features • Most applications now being multimedia helps foster creativity in idea generation

28. National Libraries and digital domain : Two main dimensions • Building digital collection of traditional materials such as old books, rare book collections, newspapers, printed music, maps, manuscripts, photographs, paintings and others • Preserving digital heritage This is re defining a tradtional role Shaping a new role-reasserting old responsibilities

29. XML HTML TCP/IP Connectivity Presentation Programmability FTP,E-mail, Gopher Web Pages XML Web Services Decades Of ChangeWaves Of Internet Evolution Technology Standard Innovation Browse the Web Program the Internet

30. ICT and DL support for disadvantaged groups • Use of icons- support illiterates and oral culture • Touch sensitive screens • Text to speech functionality • Insets to elaborate further • Insets- to special groups- ex- dumb people- special features • Elderly and children

31. Ebooks: Another example • eBooks today maybe easily created with software tools such as MS reader • One can easily create cover designs • Convert any text into a book form • Text to speech functionality allows one to make the ebook suitable for visually handicapped. illiterates • Customization- of fonts, size and other features • Turning pages- metaphor • Annotating, book marking and other features

32. Creativity through collaboration • Simple tools for collaborative creative processes • DLs are called as collaboratories • Simple tools- Review feature in Word • Net meeting – allowing people to meet on line • Another example Wiki – fosters collaboration • Specialized tools to foster collaborative writing-many examples

33. Invisible college concept • Virtual college • Brining like minded and similar thinking people to share and collaborate • E-mails, Videoconferencing, teleconfercing and many other tools • Listservs • Closed interactive workspace-allowing members to share and create works collaboratively

34. Digital Libraries for children • Visual Query specification • Example : children wanting some pictures of fish eating other animals • But children are not able to articulate their query • Digital libraries created for children can incorporate innovative query interfaces

35. Right: This is where children search.They can search in four ways. 

36. The query results for fish that eatother animals.

37. Browsing • Browsing has been one of the well known process that supports creativity • Open Access was introduced with the idea of supporting browsing rather than searching • Digital libraries with their rich linking features support browsing • Browsing also promotes recognition rather than recall • Traditional IR tools supported Recall but recall is not easy, while recognition is easier

38. Personalization and customization • People need to seek, use, re-use, create, maintain, and preserve information in support of their work and life activities. In a world of print and hard-copy documents, the process of creating new works involves copying, rewriting, cutting, pasting, and rearranging prior works of one’s own and of others, while adding ideas, data, analysis, effort, and other forms of value • In the digital world, creators are dependent upon digital tools to perform tasks that once could be accomplished with scissors and paste, pencil and paper calculations, and later with photocopiers and other reproduction devices

39. Digital libraries and education-from asynchronous to synchronous mode • Learning moving beyond acquiring facts and data • Learning can be more interactive with the support of DLs • DLs support rich interaction • Classrooms are becoming creative work spaces • Teacher’s lectures linked to supporting materials, tools and resources • Blending of library support with classroom teaching in a synchronous rather than asynchronous manner • Practical training, visits to museums, galleries and all other activities may be made synchronous today with the help of DLs

40. Visualization processes and creativity • Visualization is a powerful tool especially in some fields- such as chemistry, medicine / surgery, design, architecture etc • Today, many software tools support converting data to visual representations • Simple to complex tools have made these processes very simple and leading innovations • Visualization software; Examples-http://www.spotfire.com

41. Some more examples • http://www.thebrain.com • Taps the power associations by visualizing information flow and relationships between words , concpets etc • http://www.mindman.com • Creates relationships among information easily, identify relationships between items and branches • http://singnet.com.sg/%7Eaxon200/ • A sketchpad for visualizing and organizing ideas

42. Exploring tools-simulation tools • Supporting methodological exploration of solutions • Simple tools-electronic spreadsheets-what if tools that allow business planners to try out different strategies and approaches • More complex tools- flight simulators, traffic flow models, weather models

43. Creativity and digital libraries • Many simple tools can be effectively used to support creativity • Different tools may be effectively integrated to support higher level of creativity • Using these helps better digital libraries • Good digital libraries support creativity in the end-users- who are the creators of ideas, knowledge in other fields

44. Be Creative

45. Thank U For contact shalini@vidyanidhi.org.in