New Technologies Discussion Group New Technologies Discussion Group ! New Technologies/Novel Reference Services Discussion Group

 

Geoff Gwen Judy Kate Gwen Amanda Judy & Geoff (entered by Gwen) Gwen Rachel Gwen Gwen (again) Gwen

 

After an interesting free-for-all this morning February 1, we decided that prior to the next meeting (in about a month) each of us would try to post the following to the New Technologies/Novel Reference Services wiki:

 

1. Things we are working on that may be of interest to the group
2. Things we'd like to be able to do if we had the time, knowledge and/or resources
3. Existing resources that we'd like others to know about (I added this)

 

You're encouraged to comment upon and ask questions about any of the posted items, and out of this back-and-forth perhaps we'll figure out where we want to focus future discussions ;-)

 

Geoff

 

1. I'm currently investigating the use of Topincs to create distributed, cooperatively managed subject guides based on the ISO Topic Maps standard. Note: as of yesterday February 6, 2007 LTS loaded Topincs on their server -- so in my spare time I'll be moving forward on a shared subject guide to Missouri government.
2. I would like to be able to:
   1. transform XML Topic Map files into interlinked XHTML pages on-the-fly
   2. conduct interactive video reference interviews
   3. hold virtual instruction sessions using technologies like WebHuddle
   4. explore the use of tablet PCs in providing roving reference services
   5. explore the use of ebook readers like the iLiad  -- same electronic paper technology as the Sony Reader, but allows you to take notes -- to make ebooks more useful to scholars
   6. explore technologies that allow us to enlist the help of our users in making library services better, more authoritative, and useful
   7. convince On Demand Books to install their prototype ebook printer in Ellis -- their website gives more details: http://www.ondemandbooks.com/
3. LTS does have a development server that you can play around with. Contact Michael Bland.
4. A new category: other things of interest:
   1. The David Lewis paper Deb Ward sent around is quite good (it will be interesting compare this vision to the Jim Neal teleconference on May 11th). I especially liked strategy #4: "Reposition library and information tools, resources, and expertise so it is *embedded* into the teaching, learning, and research enterprises" (3). He expands on this by saying a)"libraries need to embed their resources and expertise into the systems and tools students and faculty use in the daily lives" (9), and b) "reposition in-person interactions so that they are used for the most complex and difficult interactions" (10). I've uploaded the article here: http://mulibraries.pbwiki.com/f/A%2BModel%2BAcademic%2BLibraries%2B2005%2Bto%2B2025.pdf
   2. I'm in the process of adding COinS (ContextObjects in Spans) to all my subject guides, and just noticed this COinS generator: http://generator.ocoins.info/. Nice.
   3. There's been a lot of talk about reference managers lately (EndNote, RefWorks, ProCite, etc.), but I haven't heard Zotero mentioned. It's a FREE Firefox plugin "to help you collect, manage, and cite your research sources." It will automatically detect COinS in blogs and such, and is compatible with a growing number of databases. I love it. http://www.zotero.org/
   4. An interesting summary of Lee Rainie's (Pew Internet and American Life Project) talk at this year's Computers in Libraries conference is available on the ALA TechSource blog. He discusses Web 2.0 in relation to usage data.
   5. See this very interesting discussion from OCLC's Lorcan Dempsey: http://orweblog.oclc.org/archives/001379.html.

 

 

(Rachel) Now that MU has licensed EndNote and Reference Manager, they are also free, at least to students. Starting in Fall 07 both programs will be installed in every lab on campus, and it's likely that students will be using them and probably expecting them to be installed on library computers as well. I looked at Zotero a while ago and, while it does stand up well to the commercial products in its basic functions, it does not have the "cite while you write" feature that is one of the main attractions of EndNote, nor does it have the more controversial but heavily used "connection files" feature, which lets the user search databases from within EndNote. Regardint connection files - if you don't think EndNote users are attracted to a single, familiar search interface for whatever database they're searching, that makes downloading citations into EndNote much, much easier...just ask Brenda about her experience with the Life Sciences folks, who ONLY use PubMed because that's the database that's now available to them via EndNote connection files.

 

Note I was NOT recommending this as an alternative to more full-featured options (I really like the features in RefWorks, for example, which I get for free through Illinois. And I was a ProCite user for more than twenty years). I think that Zotero is most interesting as an example of a lightweight open-source package from a development community committed to open standards and web 3.o technologies. It's something to keep an eye on. -Geoff

(Diane) I just noticed that Univ of Colo Health Sciences Library has a Firefox search plugin on their new website:

http://grinch.uchsc.edu/firefox/fj.html (I'm ashamed to tell you how long it took me to realize that the plugin was installed in a dropdown menu inside the Go box)

Gwen

 

Here's an article on Rollyo, a create-your-own search engine. Walt Mossberg (personal technology columnist for the Wall Street Journal) also profiles PubSub which I haven't played with.

 

 

 

You can read Mossberg's columns online without a subscription at http://ptech.wsj.com.

 

PubSub, Rollyo Offer Web Search Services The Big Engines Don't

By Walter S. Mossberg

936 words

2 February 2006

The Wall Street Journal

 

THE INTERNET SEARCH business is a hot topic. But most of the talk centers on the advertising revenue it generates, not on what is happening in the actual search process itself. And most of the attention is paid to the search giants, like Google and Yahoo, rather than to smaller companies that are tinkering with interesting new techniques.

 

These small sites are aimed at refining search, improving its accuracy and making it more convenient and more personal. I've been testing just two of them, PubSub and Rollyo, and I have found they add a dimension that goes beyond what the main Google and Yahoo search sites offer.

 

PubSub is an automated system that constantly matches your search terms against millions of blogs, online discussions, news releases and SEC filings, and notifies you when there is a match. Rollyo allows you to create your own little search engines, focused on topics you care about and sources you prefer. Both do things standard searches can't.

 

Rollyo stands for "Roll Your Own Search Engine." While it uses Yahoo's search technology, it allows you to target a query by limiting the Web sites that are searched to only those you think will yield the best results. Instead of searching the entire Web for "sourdough," you could limit your search to a collection of sites you believe have the best information about bread. These customized search engines are called "searchrolls."

 

TO CREATE A searchroll, you go to the Rollyo site (rollyo.com) and specify as many as 25 sites that you believe are the most relevant on any given topic. If you don't want to manually type in the Web sites to be included in a searchroll, you can upload your browser bookmarks to Rollyo and just select the ones you want to use.

 

Once you create a searchroll, you can use it over and over for anything you want to search on that topic, and so can others who visit the Rollyo site and are interested in the same topic. In return, you can use searchrolls others have created. If you don't find what you want when you perform a searchroll search, you can expand your search to the entire Web with one click.

 

Each searchroll gets its own Web address, so you don't have to wade through the whole Rollyo site to get to it, and you can email this address to others. You can even add your searchroll to the drop-down list of search engines in the toolbar of the Firefox Web browser, so you can search it without first navigating to the Rollyo site.

 

For instance, I created a searchroll about my beloved Boston Red Sox that includes 25 of my favorite Red Sox Web sites. You can try it out at rollyo.com/wmossberg/red_sox_nation.

 

Rollyo also features searchrolls created by what it calls "High Rollers" -- famous people or experts in various fields. For instance, there is a searchroll on online shopping created by the actress Debra Messing; a fashion searchroll by the designer Diane Von Furstenberg; and a searchroll of political blogs by the columnist and activist Arianna Huffington.

 

You wouldn't want to use Rollyo for every search you perform. But if you often search in a few specific topic areas, it might be worth it to use, or create, a searchroll covering that area.

 

PUBSUB IS something entirely different. It is a tool for staying constantly updated on references to a topic of continuing interest that appear in blogs, online discussions called news groups, SEC filings and news releases.

 

In a normal search, you type in a term and the search engine tries to match it against an index of Web sites. It's a one-time process. But in a PubSub search, your search terms stay constant and are continuously matched against a changing stream of data gleaned from PubSub's sources. When a match occurs, even if it's months after you entered your search term, it pops up in PubSub and you're notified.

 

PubSub calls itself a "matching engine," and it says that its business is "prospective" or "future" search -- searching against data that may not have appeared yet. For instance, last summer, I created a PubSub search that was still yielding results yesterday, returning information that hadn't been posted to the Web back when I started the

 

Judy

• Microsoft Desktop Search Software

Toolbars

• MU Libraries toolbar
• MU EL&TC toolbar

 

 

Kate

 

1. Okay, not a new technology...but one thing I do is take my laptop on the road to faculty offices. I've recently been helping several faculty with editing EndNote/RefMan output styles. I can bring up an example on my laptop to see what a setting should be, and then we fix on the faculty member's computer. Makes the whole thing easier.
2. I'm very interested in integrating the library into Electronic Health Records (EHRs or Electronic Medical Records--EMRs)--especially using "InfoButtons." Clinician is looking at a patient record, has a question about that case, can hit the InfoButton to send info request to librarian. Instead of going into a different system (e.g., email); retyping the basics of the case (I've got an 11 yo with x...), the librarian gets the basics of the case and the connected question. Similar theory behind everything else--be in their workflow.
3. Vanderbilt has a fairly mature model on the human side. Might be easier to break into the veterinary side (fewer privacy concerns; etc.). I'm on a grant to test out an InfoButton at the Vet school. Keep your fingers crossed.

 

Gwen

 

1. I read about using cameraphones to read the new bar codes (square versus rectangular) on http://resourceshelf.com. Apparently the technology has taken off in Asia where cellphones come with the software preloaded, but in the U.S. consumers have to download it. I thought it might be of interest to folks:

 

New Bar Codes Can Talk With Your Cellphone

http://www.wilmingtonstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070401/ZNYT01/704010482/1002/business

Cameraphone searching is beginning to get attention in the mainstream press. Those of you who have been with ResourceShelf for a while know that we’ve posted several items about cameraphone searching, including bar code searching, over the years.

 

This post (http://www.resourceshelf.com/2006/04/14/microsofts-camera-phone-search-project-and-other-camea-phone-search-tech/)from about a year ago discusses several of these projects as well as content-based image retrieval. You’ll read about:

+ Semacode and Semapedia (Bar Codes + Wikipedia)

+ Bar Code Searching from Amazon.com Dating Back to 2003

+ Mobot (Just point your cameraphone at an ad in a magazine).

+ Cameraphone Research from Microsoft

See Also: Demos from Qode (mentioned in article)

 

Source: Wilmington Star

 

Amanda

 

I find social software & many new technologies to be highly interesting--both as cool tools now and as indicators of where things are going--such potential for interactivity and convergence. And the intersection of the technologies and sociology can be fascinating... On one hand, I feel pretty savvy--I read about these things, I can use & (to some extent) create tools--it doesn't feel foreign to me. However, I also feel like a late adopter, especially to many folks younger than I am. I want to explore these tools & potential applications when I get around to it; it isn't second nature or ingrained in the way I do things. I'd heard of the 23 Things program (the incentive stuck out) but appreciated Judy's post to check it out further. I'd kind of set up an informal list of (many personal) goals for myself already like: set up an rss reader, create a feed from a blog, create a podcast, create a topical suprglu page hey Amanda, maybe you could talk about this! -Geoff to make available disparate sources in one place, make a tutorial in camtasia, actively use EndNote to manage citations, set up a profile on livejournal.com to communicate with friends, create a mash up with Teqlo or Yahoo Pipes, really learn using CSS for layout, create a digital short & upload it to YouTube, try editing some stuff at opensourcecinema.org.... These skills & many other reference-related topics are of great interest to me. I'll try to keep you apprised of my progress and/or present a topic for the group in upcoming gatherings. To end this post, let me share (big thanks to Brad Winter) two of the coolest mash-ups I've come across: http://www.tinymap.net/ & http://www.neighboroo.com/. Neighboroo, especially, leaves me in awe!!

 

Judy & Geoff (entered by Gwen)

This is the link to the Windows Desktop Search, http://www.microsoft.com/windows/desktopsearch/default.mspx

 

This links to Google Desktop: http://desktop.google.com/en/index.html

 

Gwen

Here are the links to the articles on Rollyo and similar products. The first link also covers Google Co-op, Yahoo! Search Builder, PSS: Personal Search Syndication, and Eurekster's Swickis.

1. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BCRC?vrsn=157&locID=morenetuomcolum&ste=5&docNum=A157839682
2. http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=6&hid=114&sid=d7ebcb1f-4dc6-4f3a-8c45-38795f73a89e%40sessionmgr109

 

http://rollyo.com/grayg/company_search/

 

Rachel

I've started talking talking with Gary Kremer (State Historical Society) who will be further talking with Carl Wingo (State Library) about initiating a Missouri Digital Library project in which we'd create map-based access tool for historical photographs of buildings, like this one Drake has put together for Des Moines using http://www.yourgmap.com.

 

The idea is, you'd click on a place on your city's street map marked with a pushpin (think frappr), and you'd see a photo of the house/business/statue etc. It seems like a really scalable project - one can start with a town for which there is an ample supply of historical photographs that can be or have been digitized, plus some available labor to get additional metadata on the buildings, historical street names & locations etc. as needed...and then maybe you start broadening the service to other places, maybe use it to solicit more recent as well as historical home photos, and so on. I think town websites (this is not for publication so I WILL spell it that way, dammit) would be interested in linking to an "added value" map like this.

 

Gwen

Beyond YouTube

Yesterday's WSJ had a couple of websites for videos on the net. Fora.tv has speeches and panel discussions from lecture societies, think tanks, and big book stores. ResearchChannel.org is a "consortium of major universities that banded together to put presentations by their top researchers on public-access cable channels." Those videos are also on their website. The UK has its own version, www.Research-TV.com.

 

Fora.tv

FORA.tv delivers discourse, discussions and debates on the world's most interesting political, social and cultural issues, and enables viewers to join the conversation. It provides deep, unfiltered content, tools for self-expression and a place for the interactive community to gather online.

FORA.tv is presenting or producing content from the world's leading public forums. The esteemed organizations that are working with us to build the FORA.tv vision include C-SPAN, the World Affairs Councils of Northern California, Dallas, Oregon, Philadelphia and Connecticut, the Commonwealth Club, Books, Inc., the Hoover Institution, Cody's Books, the Museum of the African Diaspora, the Asia Society, the New School, the Truman National Security Project, the New America Foundation, Politics & Prose Bookstore in Washington, D.C., Tattered Cover in Denver, the Heritage Foundation, the Magnes Museum, the Cato Institute, Link TV, Chatham House in London, Cambridge University, the Transatlantic Institute in Brussels, Egmont: the Royal Institute for International Relations, Book Passage, the Long Now Foundation, Americans for Informed Democracy and the Global Philanthropy Forum, among many others.

 

ResearchChannel.org

ResearchChannel is a nonprofit media and technology organization that connects a global audience with the research and academic institutions whose developments, insights and discoveries affect our lives and futures.

An intellectual community, ResearchChannel was founded in 1996 by leading research and academic institutions so they could share the work of their researchers with the public. These ideas are shared in their original form — unmediated and without interruption. Today, more than 50 participating members and affiliates provide all programming, and that number continues to grow.

ResearchChannel is a nonprofit media and technology organization that connects a global audience with the research and academic institutions whose developments, insights and discoveries affect our lives and futures.

An intellectual community, ResearchChannel was founded in 1996 by leading research and academic institutions so they could share the work of their researchers with the public. These ideas are shared in their original form — unmediated and without interruption. Today, more than 50 participating members and affiliates provide all programming, and that number continues to grow.

 

Research-TV.com

Research-TV was founded in 2003 when a consortium of universities, a research council and a regional development agency, led by the University of Warwick, piloted the use of video news releases as a means to communicate cutting-edge research with audiences around the world. By producing short video news items and distributing them to broadcasters to use freely in their programmes, Research-TV has been able to help over 30 research organisations communicate their research to people in more than 135 countries around the world.

 

Gwen (again)

ResourceShelf.com has a blurb today on Xerox's new search technology, FactSpotter. It can handle natural language, synonyms (unprompted) and pronouns. Example: FactSpotter knows that Bill Gates is the same as Microsoft founder or Microsoft chairman. Instead of consumer markets, the company plans to target law firms, corporations, etc. I can't help but think it would be very relevant for libraries and their patrons.

 

From the Forbes article:

 

Researchers at the document-management company’s European R&D center announced Wednesday that they’ve developed a new type of search technology, called FactSpotter, which can handle natural human phrases, and search for related results that include synonyms and pronouns within a document.

 

 

http://www.forbes.com/2007/06/20/xerox-enterprise-search-tech-intel-cx_rr_0620techxerox.html

 

Gwen

October 2, 2007

Thanks to Hunter and Diane for presenting this morning.  Except for Diane, it was an Ellis Reference group!

 

I handed out an article from last Wednesday's Wall Street Journal on a program/gadget from H-P called SmartPrint.  The new version (the one reviewed) is to come out later in October, but I downloaded the current version from http://www.hp.com/go/smartwebprinting.  It only works with IE (Firefox and Safari are coming).  After you install it, you'll see a little starburst next to the printer icon on the toolbar.  That means SmartPrint is enabled.  You can easily switch to standard printing by clicking the down arrow to the right of the icon.  However, with SmartPrint, webpages you print will be resized so that all text prints on one page.  Sometimes I'll print something and the text is cut off to the right.  SP prevents this.  Neat, huh?

 

For next month, if anyone looks at this wiki, let me know if you're interested in presenting on a topic.

 

 

 

 

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