The Archives Forum - The National Archives - 02 March 2011

Presenter or main title… Session Title or subtitle… 2 March 2011, The National Archives What lies between archives and the future… David F. Flanders Digital Infrastructure Innovation Team Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)

Learning Objectives (by the end of this presentation you will want to ask questions about...)
...how has JISC allocated its budgets in the past and how is this applicable to archives (e.g. how could you get involved in a JISC funded project?)
...how does JISC know what future technologies are coming down the pipeline?
... what innovations can archives achieve in the next 2-3 years with a zero or minus budget change?
... what innovations can archives start to prep so they are ready to bounce back once the economy recovers in 3-5 years?
... what innovations are on the horizon in 5-10 years that will inevitably change the way we do everything?!

Easy and widespread access to information and resources, anytime, anywhere; a vision with technology and information management at the heart of research and education.
Cost effective infrastructure
Efficient and effective institutions
Enhanced learning experience
Research quality, impact & productivity
JISC Vision & Strategy

JISC Budget 2010-11 Partner with an HEI and Bid!

What has JISC invested in Archives over the years?
Follett Review = eLib Programme Special collections & Archives £45M Archives Hub Collection Description ISAD(G) aka DACS EAD Z39.50 for Archives Digitisation SEO Semantic Web / Linked Data AIM 25 RDTF – 2010 - 2012 OAI-PMH Repositories & Preservation Programme £14m Semantic Infrastructure £??

But what makes *good* technology?
The technology will fail if not directly motivated by users.
“ There is a significant difference between what users actually do versus what they should do; in short, the web is not a science… At best the Web is a social science and even then it is subject to very disturbing psychological flaws!”
Experiment Time!

archives
vs.
google
Users and trust http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/briefingpapers/2010/bpdigitalinfoseekerv1

good info later
vs.
bad info now
Users and patience http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/briefingpapers/2010/bpdigitalinfoseekerv1

browse
vs.
search
Users and search http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/briefingpapers/2010/bpdigitalinfoseekerv1

full text
vs.
chunks of text
Users and completness http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/briefingpapers/2010/bpdigitalinfoseekerv1

text
vs.
video
Users and media http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/briefingpapers/2010/bpdigitalinfoseekerv1

natural lang
vs.
specific bits
Users and media http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/briefingpapers/2010/bpdigitalinfoseekerv1

friends
vs.
experts
Users and thinking http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/briefingpapers/2010/bpdigitalinfoseekerv1

authoritative
vs.
communal
Users and wisdom http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/briefingpapers/2010/bpdigitalinfoseekerv1

essay
vs.
blog
Users and expression http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/briefingpapers/2010/bpdigitalinfoseekerv1

delivery
vs.
discovery
Users and finding stuff http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/briefingpapers/2010/bpdigitalinfoseekerv1

praise
vs.
criticise
Users and opinion http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/briefingpapers/2010/bpdigitalinfoseekerv1

Experiment Conclusion:
You are NOT your user!
The archive of the future must begin to embrace technologies that engage users in any given web situation:
Go to them wherever they are…
Work at “Web Scale”, not as a 19 th century established institution.
Dig into the data you do have – especially user activity data
Embrace all content available to you – especially user content
Approaching real time is approaching success.
Above from ‘Thrive or Survive’ workshop
If you are not the user how do you choose technology for users?
=SKILL-UP!

Skills for how Archives become "of the web" not just “on it”? JISC Advance JISC TechDis OSS Watch JISC Infokits Strategic Content Alliance (SCA) UKOLN & CETIS Resource Discovery Taskforce

Short term innovation (next 1-3 years) What innovation archives can do for free or with a zero cost spend “ efficient innovation”

Your URLs are the coat hooks by which your organisation can hang future digital content, get the slashes “/” right and your content will be found, e.g. what/is/the/address/on/the/envelop?
http://linkingyou.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/
Short term innovation (2-3 years): Build user pathways w/ URIs A ‘Cool URI’ will mean your message will have a chance of finding its user.

Make your website appear 10 years younger!
http://sca.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2010/01/16/download-new-seo-report-with-case-studies/ /
Register with Google Webmaster
Install Google analytics
Set Google Alerts
Read all the advice on the web re “SEO”
Know thy keywords and their placement.
Short term innovation (2-3 years): Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

SEO+ build it and they will come? – Nope, users need to be actively engaged if they are to use a resource The Freeze Frame project went through every UK undergraduate course, identifying which would be interested in their collection of polar images – geology, geography, fashion, health, nutrition, history, etc. ...and tagged them with those keywords accordingly! http://www.freezeframe.ac.uk/

The coolest thing to do with your data will be thought of by someone else...
http://www.flickr.com/groups/greatwararchive/
APIs are now free:
Flickr
Google Docs
CSV via Dropbox
Delicious
RSS/ATOM via Blogs and Wikis!
Short term innovation (2-3 years): Application Profile Interfaces (APIs) the First World War Poetry Archive asked members of the public to digitise and comment on their own collections – the pool of content and expertise was hugely increased. Plus a whole trench recreated in Second Life

Do you have a strategy for enabling your content to be easily discovered and delivered (i.e. URIs, APIs & SEO), if not check out the Resource Discovery TaskForce (RDTF).
http://rdtf.jiscpress.org

PS ‘digitisation’ is a bottomless pit

Medium term innovation (next 3-5 years) What can you do to prepare for when budgets are on the increase?

Building up your community so you can utilise their skills *is* a worthwhile investment.
http://www.digitalnz.org
Worrying about the metadata later and focusing in on engaging users participation so they both create, modify and consume.
See also Scottish Wills and Testaments & Australia Newspapers Online.
Medium term innovation (3-5 years): Crowdsourcing content

Community is the new Empire Building...
http://sounds.bl.uk
The Archival Sound Recordings has over 44,000 audio files on wildlife, oral history, the Holocaust, artist’s testimonies, lectures. Each recording is scrupulously catalogued, so the rights are clearly labelled, and the recordings findable via Google .
Medium term innovation (3-5 years): Crowdsourcing metadata

#Locah Project
http://blogs.ukoln.ac.uk/locah/
Exposing Archives Hub Data as LoD
Creating an EAD to RDF transform (crosswalk model)
Prototype Demonstrator due July 2011
Medium term innovation (3-5 years): Linkeddata

+Linked Data... Real world experimentation in doing the full “5 Stars of Linkeddata”: Library & Archives Data, Humanities Data, Music Data, Geography Data & Science Data http://code.google.com/p/jiscexpo/

PS ‘digitisation’ is a bottomless pit

Long term innovation (next 5-10 years) What disruptive innovation is going to change everything all over again!?

Lorum ipsum doler
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2007/03/10/business/11archive.chart.ready.html
Prioritisation...
Cost options...
...
Long term innovation (5-10 years): Why is Digitisation a Bottomless Pit?

The biggest problem with the web at the moment is that there is no way to know the spacetime context of the things you are looking at...
Spacetime Camp
Geospatial Working Group (GWG)
Geospatial Programme
12 Projects (8 months – Products in Nov 2011)
£1 million investment
#jiscGECO Community
http://code.google.com/p/jiscgeo
Long term innovation (5-10 years): Are there constants in an ever changing world?

In a world where change is constant the only way to not continually loose the capability of reusing content due to near sighted licensing is by licensing it as open.
The Open Agenda:
Open Social Scholarship
Open Access
Open Bibliography
Open Citation
Open Bibliogrpahy
Open Education Resources (OER)
Long term innovation (5-10 years): Open as a business model for change?

Augmented Reality
3D Printing
Long term innovation (5-10 years): Are you ready for the next change? #streetmuseum #reprap #pif3D

In Summary... Ok what should I remember about this presentation?

Now : put your data on the web using “hooks” (URIs, APIs, SEO)
Soon : create community, link your data and license everything!
Anon : invest in skills that enable you to work with your user so you will choose the right technologies .
Innovation can be the most productive thing you do during times of economic down turn.
Subscribe to JISCs Funding Roadmap!

Questions? @dfflanders Google: “David F. Flanders”

The Archives Forum - The National Archives - 02 March 2011

by David F. Flanders on Mar 03, 2011

Accessibility

Categories

Tags

Upload Details

Usage Rights

Statistics

The Archives Forum - The National Archives - 02 March 2011 — Presentation Transcript