Comments on: Virtual Library Collection Management http://library.gameology.org/2008/01/30/virtual-library-collection-management/ A chronicle of work in UF's Digital Library Center Sun, 06 Jul 2008 04:03:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 By: Laurie N. Taylor http://library.gameology.org/2008/01/30/virtual-library-collection-management/#comment-1132 Laurie N. Taylor Mon, 04 Feb 2008 01:28:10 +0000 http://library.gameology.org/2008/01/30/virtual-library-collection-management/#comment-1132 Andy Oram has written on a <a href="http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2008/01/two_tools_we_ne.html" rel="nofollow">cross-reference management system</a> for improving online information and on <a href="http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2008/02/developing_an_i.html" rel="nofollow">developing an improved online environment for educating computer users</a> that combines wiki, faq, newsgroup, and other functionality while allowing for credit for authors. This is, in many ways, exactly what we want for the virtual libraries because we want something we can add to, but that everyone else can also edit and use. The other great part of this idea is the recognition for authorship. While, as the first comment notes, this can be difficult to implement in some settings, it's ideal for academia because academia is a gift or reputation culture. Simply giving authors credit for their gift of work returns a tangible good to the authors because so many people--like me--are evaluated based on their research and service, so credit for writing is part of the way we prove we're doing our jobs. Academia also means students, students who need to show the work they've done to get jobs and to get into graduate school and who need to do work for their classes. So if we provide the framework for the system and if it's easy enough, some students and academics will contribute and others can then be assigned to contribute. This would be useful for Oram's intended group with computer science and many. I'm excited to see powerful groups like O'Reilly thinking about systems for cross-referencing and for learning. There's a great deal of work to be done, and creating a system that makes information flexible, modular, and interoperable would be a boon for everyone. This sort of system also builds toward the need for methods of information architecture and organization as more information goes online and the connections need to be better forged between relevant and contextualizing information sets. Andy Oram has written on a cross-reference management system for improving online information and on developing an improved online environment for educating computer users that combines wiki, faq, newsgroup, and other functionality while allowing for credit for authors. This is, in many ways, exactly what we want for the virtual libraries because we want something we can add to, but that everyone else can also edit and use. The other great part of this idea is the recognition for authorship. While, as the first comment notes, this can be difficult to implement in some settings, it’s ideal for academia because academia is a gift or reputation culture. Simply giving authors credit for their gift of work returns a tangible good to the authors because so many people–like me–are evaluated based on their research and service, so credit for writing is part of the way we prove we’re doing our jobs. Academia also means students, students who need to show the work they’ve done to get jobs and to get into graduate school and who need to do work for their classes. So if we provide the framework for the system and if it’s easy enough, some students and academics will contribute and others can then be assigned to contribute. This would be useful for Oram’s intended group with computer science and many.

I’m excited to see powerful groups like O’Reilly thinking about systems for cross-referencing and for learning. There’s a great deal of work to be done, and creating a system that makes information flexible, modular, and interoperable would be a boon for everyone. This sort of system also builds toward the need for methods of information architecture and organization as more information goes online and the connections need to be better forged between relevant and contextualizing information sets.

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