Finding Our Way in the Crowd Locating and

Finding Our Way in the Crowd Locating and cultivating communities of knowledge John Mark Ockerbloom University of Pennsylvania Libraries NFAIS Annual Conference Philadelphia, PA – February 27, 2011 John Mark Ockerbloom Feb. 27, 2011

Overview • “Information overload” has been with us for a long time • Communities of knowledge play essential roles in alleviating information overload • Many communities exist, in different forms • Combining features of “new” and “old” communities (with help of automation) can bring best of both worlds John Mark Ockerbloom Feb. 27, 2011

You aren’t going to read everything in here, are you? [Photo by Sebastia Giralt; CC license: BY-NC-SA] John Mark Ockerbloom Feb. 27, 2011

Alleviating overload: Basic functions • Filtering: selection ; refinement • Sorting: categorization; ranking • Sense-making: context ; explanation • All different aspects of curation • Curation can be done by pros, amateurs, machines; sometimes all of them together. • The human element is essential John Mark Ockerbloom Feb. 27, 2011

Communities curate content John Mark Ockerbloom Feb. 27, 2011

Twitter curation John Mark Ockerbloom Feb. 27, 2011

Communities create conversation John Mark Ockerbloom Feb. 27, 2011

Some conference tweets John Mark Ockerbloom Feb. 27, 2011

Communities curate concepts John Mark Ockerbloom Feb. 27, 2011

Penn. Tags John Mark Ockerbloom Feb. 27, 2011

Folksonomies John Mark Ockerbloom Feb. 27, 2011

Wikipedia: The web’s most popular concept catalog John Mark Ockerbloom Feb. 27, 2011

Two overreactions • “New online information channels represent a fundamental degradation of knowledge” – Whither professionalism, peer review, etc. ? • “New online information channels make publishers, libraries, etc. obsolete” – Who needs middlemen, credentials, payment, etc. ? • In fact, new and “traditional” channels have more in common than one might think… – And they can inform each other John Mark Ockerbloom Feb. 27, 2011

Aggregating journals John Mark Ockerbloom Feb. 27, 2011

Aggregating new books John Mark Ockerbloom Feb. 27, 2011

Information organization? John Mark Ockerbloom Feb. 27, 2011

Library of Congress Subject Headings [From id. loc. gov ] John Mark Ockerbloom Feb. 27, 2011

“Information organization” as structured, linked data 1999 -02 -12 […] Work cat. : 98 -53625: Taylor, A. G. The organization […] Velluci, S. L. Cataloging across the curriculum: a syndetic […] Here are entered works on identifying, […] Information organization Information storage and retrieval Organization of information 1999 -03 -15 […] John Mark Ockerbloom Feb. 27, 2011

Linking subjects together John Mark Ockerbloom Feb. 27, 2011

From the Battle of York… John Mark Ockerbloom Feb. 27, 2011

…to the War of 1812 John Mark Ockerbloom Feb. 27, 2011

…or to Toronto John Mark Ockerbloom Feb. 27, 2011

The linked data world [Linking Open Data cloud diagram, by Richard Cyganiak and Anja Jentzsch. http: //lod-cloud. net/ ] John Mark Ockerbloom Feb. 27, 2011

Hamlet, Hamlet… [& some other revenge dramas] John Mark Ockerbloom Feb. 27, 2011

Which Hamlet is right for you? • (Show Hamlet summary page) John Mark Ockerbloom Feb. 27, 2011

Catalogs in an open linked data world • More than just the books in your library building • More information than just what fits on a card • Can include contributions from many people, e. g. : – Publisher provides initial information (metadata) – Cataloger (or program) creates new relationships – Teacher adds notes for choosing suitable edition – Readers tag, annotate, aggregate specific items of interest to them or others • The truly “web-scale” catalog is just starting to develop John Mark Ockerbloom Feb. 27, 2011

A “social” catalog • (Show Library. Thing Shakespeare page) John Mark Ockerbloom Feb. 27, 2011

Cautions • Communities need cultivation – If you build it, “they” don’t always come – If they do come, you need to deal with agendas, noise, spam, misinformation • One community or system isn’t enough – Different communities, tools work for different people – Many interesting questions span multiple disciplines (and multiple communities) – Seek contrasting, dissenting viewpoints » Avoid confirmation bias » Take advantage of diversity, outreach John Mark Ockerbloom Feb. 27, 2011

Conclusions • Communities are essential to managing information – They filter by curating content – They sort by curating concepts – They make sense by creating conversation • Both informal and established communities play important roles – Twitter and blogosphere; publishers and libraries; conferences and schools • We can combine knowledge, strengths of different kinds of communities – With linked data, automated analysis, openness • Want to continue this conversation? @JMark. Ockerbloom | everybodyslibraries. com John Mark Ockerbloom Feb. 27, 2011