Re: library catalog as participatory network

Eric/

Thanks!

Folk may also be interested  in other manifestations of Dave's Participatory Frame of Mind
that I profiled in my _Friends_ blog a few weeks ago

[ http://onlinesocialnetworks.blogspot.com/2008/01/scapes-participatory-reference.html ]

/Gerry

Gerry McKiernan
Associate Professor
Science and Technology Librarian
Iowa State University Library
Ames IA 50011

gerrymck_at_iastate.edu

There is Nothing More Powerful Than  An Idea Whose Time Has Come
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Iowa: Where the Tall Corn Flows and the (North)West Wind Blows ...
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>>> Eric Lease Morgan <emorgan_at_ND.EDU> 02/01/08 3:00 PM >>>
In the most recent issue of ITAL, there is an article describing how
a library catalog can be participatory. [1] Specifically, the article
posits that knowledge is created through conversation, and by way of
extension, library catalogs -- as knowledge tools -- should
facilitate conversation.

The first half of the article justifies why knowledge is created
through conversation as well as provides definitions of Web 2.0
principles and "participatory networks". Participatory networks
"encompass the concept of Web 2.0 principles and technologies to
implement a conversational model within a community (a library, a
peer group, the general public, and so on)."

The second half of the article is the most interesting. It elaborates
on the definition of participatory networks. It describes how
libraries do this already though physical community spaces and
lecture series. It outlines how a library catalog can be increasingly
participatory through things like:

   * initiating conversations when no resources are found,
   * initiating conversations between users and books that they've read
   * changing the relevancy ranking algorithm to weigh things
differently
   * including a great variety of content (blogs, wikis, digital
repository, etc.)

I liked article because it emphasised people and communities. People
are the real sources of data and information, not books and journals.
Our information systems need to figure out how to integrate
individuals into them, and how to syndicate content to individuals.
This has always a necessity, but with traditional library
transactions happening over a computer network, the face-to-face
meetings have gotten lost in the shuffle.


[1] Participatory Networks: The Library as Converstaion by R. David
Lankes, Joanne Silverstein, and Scott Nicholson. Information
Technology & Libraries 26(4): 17-33 December 2007

--
Eric Lease Morgan
University Libraries of Notre Dame