Image directories by RSS aggregation

Image directories by RSS aggregation Phil Barker (1) , Lisa Rogers (2) (1) Engineering Subject Centre & (1&2) ICBL, Heriot-Watt University. Phil Barker, Jan 2007. You may reproduce all or any part of this presentation but please retain acknowledgement of authorship & copyright. Also I would appreciate it if you let me know how you are using it and sent me any feedback <philb@icbl.hw.ac.uk>.

Background
CLIC (Community Led Image Collections) Report:
Exist many (sometimes small) image collections run by enthusiasts / specialists focussed on narrow topics
Visual image directories might be useful in disseminating information about these
Kick-start interoperability using RSS feeds
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/uploaded_documents/CLIC_Report.pdf

Background
JISC offered funding to (some?) subject centres to test this idea.
We agreed to
Appraise value of the image collections CLiC had found
Build a demonstrator
Try to get collections to implement RSS to populate demonstrator
... 22 days work
(work done in middle of 2007)

Value of engineering image collections
Commissioned reviews from engineering academics of relevant collections in CLiC report.
Did want to use images
Want series of images or animations showing current technical practice: processes
Found static images of historic interest

Value of engineering image collections
“ Really the only use for these images would be in giving a historical perspective on civil engineering and the types of projects which were undertaken.
There is not much to excite a prospective student, nor to assist in the learning process for current undergraduates. In my view, only around five or six of the images [out of the 50 available online] would be useful for teaching and learning purposes”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thepatersonsphotos/457035018/

Demonstrator
No problems finding tools to create and aggregate RSS feeds
Most of the aggregators didn’t handle images well
Image as enclosure, as in podcasts ... but don’t want “play” icon instead of image being displayed.

Demonstrator
Found RSS2HTML (JavaScript) will handle images well http://www.rss2html.com/
But only from a single feed per page
So used iFrames to several pages in one window
http:// www.icbl.hw.ac.uk/images/images.html

Demonstrator
Gives good visual overview of image collection
Slooooooow
for each page need
Real-time connections to multiple sites
Download many images (which aren’t always thumbnails!)

Demonstrator
Asynchronous approach to downloading images (AJAX)
Grazr (http://www.grazr.com/)
http:// www.icbl.hw.ac.uk/images/engimages.html

Demonstrator
Faster
But less effective at giving quick overview of collection
Since have to look at images one by one

Demonstrator
If doing this now would looked at slideshow / carousel widgets, but didn’t find any at the time
E.g. http:// billwscott.com /carousel/
Technology of demonstrator qualified success

Getting feeds
We couldn’t get any. Not one.
Most collection owners (all the ones we could find) were agreeable to concept (though they didn't all see the point)
but
They had no time,
or no money,
or it had to be done by someone else within/outwith their organization.

Conclusions
A simple technical solution is possible ... if a little limited.
Loads of possible enhancements
No way to implement interoperability after development
Need commitment from the right people at the right time
Organizational issues matter

Image directories by RSS aggregation

by Phil Barker on Jan 24, 2008

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Image directories by RSS aggregation — Presentation Transcript