Stephen Rhind-Tutt, President, Is Reference Dead? Is Collecting Dead? November 10th, 2007

Stephen Rhind-Tutt, President, Is Reference Dead? Is Collecting Dead?

November 10th, 2007

Overview

• The demise of reference and collections?

• What lies behind this?

• Evaluating reference collections

• Next generation

• Summary

CollectionDevelopment

ReferenceCollections

RIP RIP

The Reference Collection

“This collection, refined and built over the past 90+ years…represents the totality of human thought and experience”

Dave Tyckoson , Facts Unfiled: Are Reference Collections Still Relevant?

• Ulrich’s – ‘I just go to the journal web pages to find this information’

• Books-in-Print – ‘mostly use Amazon.com’

• American Library Directory – ‘go to the individual library web page’

• U.S. Government Manual – ‘find the agency on the web’

• Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations – ‘only after searching the web’

• Million Dollar Directory – ‘corporate web site gives you much more information’

• Encyclopedia of Associations – ‘go to the organization web page’

Facts Unfiled: Are Reference Collections Still Relevant?

• It’s all going to be available on Google, Amazon, Microsoft…

• Fully searchable, lots of functionality, well mined

• Information strives to be free…

• The author as publisher – what need for publishers?

• The universal electronic library – what need for small libraries?

Collections

We’re doomed…

Reference and Collections

• Never been more alive…

• 61 billion searches conducted on the Web

• Unique visitors in September 2007:

• Google – 112m

• Yahoo – 108m

• MSN/Windows Live – 94m

• Wikipedia – 47m

• The wonder of Wikipedia

• Many more collections being created in digital form

• Journal Archives

• Web sites

What lies behind this?

Paper vs. Electronic

UbiquityFreeAutomatedBuilt into WorkflowAnalyzeExplore24 hour updatesExternal content linksAuto-generated contentUser generated contentAnswer a questionFind a fact

Answer a questionFind a fact

Electronic Paper

Va

lue

What is reference in electronic form?

Traditional Paper Model

Books

CDs, LPs, Audio

DVDs, VHS, Films

Prints & Photographs

Journals (Articles)

Microfilm Collections

Archives

Reference

ReferenceReference

Reference

Reference

Reference

Unidirectional

Nature of electronic publications

• Everything interconnected• Everything refers to everything else

Photograph Page Image

Gallery

Website Book Journal

Chapter Article

Nature of electronic publications

• Atomic• Interconnected • Interdependent• Connection vs. the object

• Pliable• Constantly evolving• Without place • Practically unlimited in size

Page Page Page

Page

Page Page Page

Page Page

Blurring of boundaries

• All electronic products are reference

• They all answer questions

• They’re packed with references

• They’re all interlinked

• The Web is essentially a referential medium

• Distinctions like ‘reference’, ‘journal’, ‘dictionary’, ‘collection’, ‘library’,

are borrowed from the paper world

• The boundaries are blurred…

• Is JSTOR not a reference tool?

• How useful is an A&I database without full-text?

Refer-ence is essential to the electronic world.

•No one site will contain all information

•Effective publication is a function of delivering the right content, in the right way to the right people.

•To do this we will need high quality access to content across different publishers, libraries and websites.

Refer-ence is critical to doing this…Google, Yahoo, etc… can help

It’s about the links…the refer-ences

•Links document intellectual pathways through data

•Indexing links adds value substantially

•Links

• Prevent duplication of indexing, content and commentary

• Links are expensive to create and maintain

• Versioning is critical to scholarship.

• Some links confer authority

• ‘Links are intrinsically bidirectional’ (Ted Nelson)

Blurring of ‘Collection’

• Collection = Selection of material for a particular purpose

• What does it mean when

• Many items are universally accessible?

• Many items can only be accessed on a particular site?

• When there are numerous surrogate versions?

• When annotations, links and notes can be added?

• Most websites are collections

Need for organization, vetting, quality control, selection…etc

Evaluating ‘reference’ and ‘collections’

Wiki & Web vs. Traditional Reference

Evaluating Reference

Search Engine

Wikipedia JournalAggregatio

n

For FeeEncyc.

Subj.Encyc.

Currency Up-to-date Y Y N Y N

Completeness All facts included Perhaps Perhaps N N Y

Relevance No irrelevant material Poor Poor Medium Good V. Good

Authority Most facts correct Y Y Y Y Y

Has ‘bad’ information Y Little None None None

Expert Editor/Provenance

N N Y Y Y

Neutrality/Bias Unknown Unknown Defined Defined Defined

Writing Conciseness N N N Y Y

‘at the right level’ ? N ? Y Y

‘persuasive analysis and interpretation’

? N Y Y Y

Bibliography Organized references Too many Patchy No direction

Y Y

Cost Price per article None None High High High

Usage V. High V. High High Less Less

Evaluating Reference

Search Engine

Wikipedia JournalAggregatio

n

For FeeEncyc.

Subj.Encyc.

Currency Up-to-date Y Y N Y N

Completeness All facts included Perhaps Perhaps N N Y

Relevance No irrelevant material Poor Poor Medium Good V. Good

Authority Most facts correct Y Y Y Y Y

Has ‘bad’ information Y Some None None None

Expert Editor/Provenance

N N Y Y Y

Neutrality/Bias Unknown Unknown Defined Defined Defined

Writing Conciseness N N N Y Y

‘at the right level’ ? N ? Y Y

‘persuasive analysis and interpretation’

? N Y Y Y

Bibliography Organized references Too many Patchy Too many Y Y

Cost Price per article None None High High High

Usage V. High V. High High Less Less

Evaluating Reference

Search Engine

Wikipedia JournalAggregatio

n

For FeeEncyc.

Subj.Encyc.

Currency Up-to-date Y Y N Y N

Completeness

All facts included Perhaps Perhaps N N Y

Relevance No irrelevant material Poor Poor Medium Good V. Good

Authority Most facts correct Y Y Y Y Y

Has ‘bad’ information Y Little None None None

Expert Editor/Provenance

N N Y Y Y

Neutrality/Bias Unknown Unknown Defined Defined Defined

Writing Conciseness N N N Y Y

‘at the right level’ ? N ? Y Y

‘persuasive analysis and interpretation’

? N Y Y Y

Bibliography Organized references Too many Patchy Too many Y Y

Cost Price per article None None High High High

Usage V. High V. High High Less Less

Wikipedia as a type of reference

Wikipedia as a type of reference

• Personal essays, dictionary entries, critical reviews, ‘propaganda or advocacy’ and original research are excluded…

• ‘No original research’ – doesn’t break new ground

• Denigrates expertise – no points for being an expert on a topic

• Avoids bias – aims for a neutral view

• There is no ‘objective history’

• “He is a controversial figure, both praised and condemned by other commentators.”

• Historical scholarship is characterized by possessive individualism – we need to know whose history it is

Lincoln Example

• Not just factual accuracy but also a command of the scholarly literature, persuasive analysis and interpretations, and clear and engaging prose.

Roy Rosenzweig, “Can History be Open Source? Wikipedia and the Future of the Past”

“Lincoln’s death made the President a martyr to many. Today he is perhaps America’s second most famous and beloved President after George Washington. Repeated polls of historians have ranked Lincoln as among the greatest presidents in U.S. history.”

Wikipedia Entry

“The republic endured and slavery perished. That is Lincoln’s legacy.”

Jim McPherson, Oxford University Press, ANB Entry

• Wikipedia is more anecdotal, colorful, more popular, more factual – (e.g. 10 pages on Lincoln’s sexuality)

Reference Evaluation

Search Engine

Wikipedia JournalAggregatio

n

For FeeEncyc.

Subj.Encyc.

Currency Up-to-date Y Y N Y N

Completeness

All facts included Perhaps Perhaps N N Y

Relevance No irrelevant material Poor Poor Medium Good V. Good

Authority Most facts correct Y Y Y Y Y

Has ‘bad’ information Y Little None None None

Expert Editor/Provenence

N N Y Y Y

Neutrality/Bias Unknown Unknown Defined Defined Defined

Writing Conciseness N N N Y Y

‘at the right level’ ? N ? Y Y

‘persuasive analysis and interpretation’

? N Y Y Y

Organization Bibliography, links etc… Too many Patchy Too many Y Y

Cost Price per article None None High High High

Usage V. High V. High High Less Less

Organizing Duke Ellington

How many capsule biographies do we need?• Over 6,300 books contain biographical entries about Ellington• 460,000 web pages in response to “Duke Ellington” +biography• Wikipedia doesn’t point to ‘for fee’ items • “Duke Ellington was attracted to girls and they were attracted to piano players”

Organizing Duke Ellington

Short Medium Long

Life

Discography

Works About

Contemporaries

How does a monograph fit?

Encyclopedia of Homelessness

• Subject Coverage: Abeyance theory, Child care, Gentrification, HIV and AIDS, Images of homelessness in contemporary documentary film, Low-income housing, Marginality, Panhandling, Safe havens, and Salvation Army.

• Bibliography of autobiographical and fictional accounts• Filmography• Directory of street newspapers, • 23 documents related to the history of homelessness• Extensive cross-referencing

Selection, Organization, Authority, Completeness of Purpose

Electronic value added

• A collection or task focus is critical• The right information always trumps more information • What ‘the right information’ is depends on the task at hand

The ‘right’ information

CAB – (Husbandry)

Agricola (Agriculture)

OSH-ROM(Occupational Health and Safety)

Biosis (Species)

Long term factors influencing combustion and burn rates in North American forests. David Jones, Journal of Forest Husbandry, Sept 1999.

Utility of information

Semantic Indexing…

Battle Author Event Source

Where ?When ?Who ?DeathsLeadersEtc…

Birth ?Death ?Where ?When ?OccupationEtc…

DayEventEtc…

SourceEditorPublisherPlaceEtc…

DocumentBattle IDAuthor IDEvent IDSource IDDateAge writing

Reference/Collection

Civil War Research Database

Civil War Research Database

Whom did he serve with?

Where did they fight?

What happened to him?

Extract from ‘A fortnight with the Sanitary’ Atlantic Monthly, Feb 1865

The American Civil War Online

Letters & Diaries

Websites

Photographs

Music

Newspapers

Workflow

• Interactive Tables• Graph Digitizer• Equation Plotter• Diagram Viewer

• Integrated Periodic Table• Unit Converter• Slide Show Viewer• Browsable Tables of Contents

Train

Develop

Evaluate

Commission

SelectCompare

Integrate

License

FundPromote

Publisher and Librarian Tasks

Where we’re headed

After Data, Information, Knowledge, and Wisdom, Gene Bellinger, Durval Castro, Anthony Mills. http://www.systems-thinking.org/

Who, What, When, Where?

Therefore

Why?

Workflow and the automation of reference

• SDI and RSS Alerts• Link resolvers• XML Gateways• eScience• Nanohub• Data mining tools• Expert Systems

Summary

Summary

• Everything electronic is reference

• Most electronic destinations are collections of sorts

• High volume, first step reference works such as Google and Wikipedia can be turned to our advantage

• We can’t beat them on

• Price, size, usage, general comprehensiveness

• Hard to beat them on

• Currency, factual accuracy

• Easy to beat them on selection, authority, specificity of purpose

• Requires humans to create, judge, evaluate, train, promote, cite…

Friends and allies…

Is print reference dead?

Fred Jones’ Somewhat Complete Guide

to Common Topics Everyone

needs to know (1998 Hardcover)

RIP

Not really…

Sources

• Facts Unfiled: Are Reference Collections Still Relevant? by Dave Tyckoson (originally published as Facts Go Online: Are Print Reference Collections Still Relevant? in Against the Grain 16(4), September 2004.

• Can History be Open Source? Wikipedia and the Future of the Past by Roy Rosenzweig, in Journal of American History, June 2006.

• Data, Information, Knowledge, and Wisdom, Gene Bellinger, Durval Castro, Anthony Mills. http://www.systems-thinking.org/