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Eye to the Telescope: Future-Gazing & Current Projects from OCLC Research. 2006 Amigos Conference 11 May 2006 Dallas, TX Eric Childress OCLC Research. Outline. The Big Picture Pattern Recognition Brand, Data, Technology trends The Library - next phase Selected OCLC Research work.
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Eye to the Telescope: Future-Gazing & Current Projects from OCLC Research 2006 Amigos Conference 11 May 2006 Dallas, TX Eric Childress OCLC Research
Outline • The Big Picture • Pattern Recognition • Brand, Data, Technology trends • The Library - next phase • Selected OCLC Research work
Pattern recognition • Production anywhere, Global distribution • Make products anywhere, ship them everywhere • Offshore business processes & research centers • Big brands & micro channels • Mega-publishers, -media, -retailers, -search engines • Niche markets exploited via AdWords & affiliate programs • Portable devices, digital content, interactive Net • iPods, now with video; Are iPhones next? • Ringtones, iTunes, Podcasts, Vlogs/Google Video, online gaming, etc. • Self-service, micro-consumption • The “convenience” society – 24x7 stores, ATMs, click-n-buy • Disaggregation – consume by the news story, song, etc. • Intellectual Property issues • Big business not-so-secretly wants all transactions billable • Open Source & Open Content rising (e.g., Apache, Creative Commons)
Voices carry • Old media losing to new media • Broadcast radio vs Satellite & Internet radio • Newspapers vs Google News, Craigslist, etc. • Brand & voice through new channels • Blogging by top execs & by staff • Personal branding – “Webcred” is key to one’s fortunes • Individual-driven content rising: • Personal web pages • Blogs (a new one each second!) • Digital images/video (flickr, Picasa, YouTube) • Bookmarks, etc. (e.g., del.icio.us, furl, digg, technorati) • Infotainment increasingly social & peer-to-peer • Community authorship, open content (Wikipedia) • Myspace, Facebook, etc. personal presence services
Blog Trends Source: David Sifry
Data rules • Deep indexing: • Amazon’s “Search Inside” and “Statistically Improbable Phrases” • Google, Yahoo, Microsoft underwriting library digitization work • Library space: NetLibrary, Alexander Street, many others indexing content • Custom search feeds: Google Alerts, News topic RSS, etc. • Instant verification: • Many voices, many fact-checkers widely-distributed – Spin doctors beware! • Recommendation systems: • Amazon, Apple iTunes, other retailers – “people like you chose…” • Novel concepts: Pandora – suggests music based on intrinsic patterns of music you like (the “music genome”) • Empowered consumption • My iPod, my tags, my playlists • Reuse, derive, mix content from many sources (e.g. Mashups)
Techscape • Web 2.0: • The Network spans all attached devices (e.g., iPods, phones, etc.) • Software resides on the Net, not the workstation • “Participative Net” – social environment, shared content reused • Everywhere Net • Internet, GPS, cellphone, municipal wireless… • System refactoring • Modularity (micro-services, remixing, multiple sources) • Layering (loosely-coupled systems) • Interoperability (low-friction, high reuse) • Lightweight protocols gaining favor (e.g., SRW/SRU, microformats) • Machine-oriented services (web services)
Libraries - next phase • Surfacing seamlessly • Point-of-need delivery (e.g., library content in non-library apps such as the Web, course management systems, etc.) • Open WorldCat, RedLightGreen, OAIster, etc. • Open standards, easy integration of data from many sources • Re-thinking, re-engineering • Library 2.0 changes systems & services • Moving towards “Lego”-like modularity in systems & data • User-tasks-oriented designs (e.g., NCSU catalog) • Adding means for users to contribute, shape their own experiences • Supporting Library 2.0 will mean changing organizations & operations • More building space for people-to-people interaction, less for books • Process & operational changes • Example: Choose-acquire-catalog vs Acquire-choose-catalog
Library Systems Workplace applications - points of need Mobilize - to put into action Mobilize Specialize Specialize - involve specific knowledge in order to serve a particular purpose; to apply or direct to specific end or use. • Local service • Local added value • Local context • Local knowledge Synthesize - to combine often diverse conceptions into a coherent whole. Synthesize Atomic Library Services Atomic ‘non-Library’ Services Robin Murray [ppt]
Selected OCLC Research work • Making data work harder • Data mining of WorldCat (e.g., FRBR (Functional Requirements of Bibliographic Records) clustering of related records) • FictionFinder – browse/search all fiction works in WorldCat • Audience Level – assigns an audience indicator value based on data in bib records for a work, or – alternatively – by inferring audience from the type and number of libraries holding a work • xISBN – send OCLC an ISBN, receive all ISBNs for the same work • New views, new uses • DeweyBrowser – Dewey-based visualization of WorldCat, more • Live Search – An AJAX-based search interface that leverages FRBR, advanced relevance, and rank-by-holdings to provide fast results • Terminology Services – Controlled vocabularies searchable in a sidebar
Is embodied in Manifestation Is exemplified by Item FRBR Group 1 Entities Work A distinct intellectual or artistic creation Is realized through The intellectual or artistic realization of a work Expression The physical embodiment of an expression A single exemplar of a manifestation
OCLC FRBR work set algorithm-based cluster of related WorldCat records Original English Translation Illustrated edition Abridged edition Adaptation e¹ e² e³ e¹ Expressions Work² Work¹
Works in WorldCat Works with between 2 and 5 manifestations: 12% Works with > 5 manifestations: 1% Manifestations By Holdings Works with > 5 manifestations: 17% of total holdings Works with 1 manifestation: 87% Works with between 2 and 5 manifestations: 40% of total holdings Works with 1 manifestation: 43% of total holdings
An OCLC experimental prototype Supports searching & browsing of fiction materials cataloged in WorldCat Fiction records — 2.8 million Unique works — 1.4 million Total holdings — 130 million Employs FRBR to: Build a “work” view & cluster related records Support the creation of special indexes OCLC Research team: Diane Vizine-Goetz (lead) Roger Thompson Carol Hickey Lance Osborne J.D. Shipengrover New version: Available later in 2006 Improved navigation & work-based displays FictionFinder
Questions? “I used to talk, With honest conviction, Of how I predicted my world. I'm gonna leave it to stargazers, Tell me what your telescope says.” - K.T. Tunstall (“Through the Dark”)
Further reading • OCLC Reports • http://www.oclc.org/reports • OCLC Research • http://www.oclc.org/research • OCLC-related blogs: • Lorcan Dempsey http://orweblog.oclc.org • Thom Hickey http://outgoing.typepad.com/outgoing • Stu Weibel http://weibel-lines.typepad.com • It’s All Good http://scanblog.blogspot.com