Assignment 4: Digital Library Topic Paper
Through the group presentations in Assignments 1 and 2, the assigned readings, class discussion, and Assignment 3 project work, you've been exposed to many topics relevant to digital libraries and have seen many different examples of digital libraries. The purpose of this assignment is to give you the opportunity to focus on a specific digital library topic that has piqued your interest and write a short paper about it.
Assignment Goals
The goal of this assignment is to critically examine and discuss a topic related to digital libraries in a formal paper. This format will enable you to tie together ideas and examples from assigned readings and class activities with other published digital library research and examples. Although it is by no means required, you are encouraged to relate the practical experience you are obtaining with the Assignment 3 Rebecca digital library development to your paper's discussion.
Assignment Deliverable
This assignment is due as a formal paper of 6 to 10 pages exclusive of references and illustrations. Any topic related to digital libraries is acceptable. You might select a topic that relates to one of your Assignment 3 teams, or something you found particularly interesting in one of the digital libraries shown in class through the Assignment 2 presentations. Your topic for this assignment, however, should not be the same as your Assignment 1 group's topic. You don't have to tell me your topic before turning in the paper, but if you have any questions about the appropriateness or scope of your topic, by all means talk to me about it. Here are some specific ideas for coming up with a topic, though again, you are free to pursue any topic that relates to digital libraries:
- You've been part of multiple teams in building the Rebecca digital library. How does your experience and outputs for a specific team topic (e.g., metadata schema, mission statement, timeline, information architecture to support browsing, marketing) compare to how that topic is discussed in the digital library research literature and how it is implemented by other projects? Could we have done things better or differently? How do you suggest the Rebecca digital library be developed going forward in terms of that topic?
- The Rebecca materials we are working with are just part of the larger David O. Selznick Collection owned by the Ransom Center. This collection contains hundreds of boxes of materials similar to the Rebecca materials we're working with for other film productions. Given Ransom Center's description of the Selznick collection, how might a larger, David O. Selznick Digital Library be developed? How would you suggest the varied materials in this collection be organized? What sort of special exhibits might you include? What other digital library features do you think would be useful for people exploring or doing research within this large collection?
- There is a lot of recent interest in using "Web 2.0" (blogs, wikis, tagging, and other ways to promote user participation and sharing) technologies and services for digital libraries and museum web sites (see, for example, some of the papers in the Museums and the Web 2008 conference). Imagining our digital library becomes a semi-publicly-accessible web site, which of those technologies might be useful to add to it? How do you see these technologies or services being used in the context of the Rebecca digital library?
- A big limitation we face in the Rebecca digital library project is time. Given more time and resources, how would you suggest we better or further develop the digital library? Are there examples or research literature that support your suggestions?
- Document your experience in helping to create the Rebecca digital library. Describe why you signed up for the teams you did, what you learned by participating on those teams, what you think your team did well and what you could've done better. Having completed this project, does it make you more or less interested in digital libraries? Are there digital library topics in which you'd like to be more involved in the future? How has your involvement in the project changed or furthered your understanding of digital libraries?
- We started the semester by looking at the varying definitions of the term digital library. Based on the projects you saw in Assignments 1 and 2 presentations, the definitions and projects discussed in the assigned readings, and your personal experience with the Assignment 3 project work, how would you define the term digital library? What research literature and concrete examples support your definition? How do you think the definitions of digital libraries will evolve in the future? Given continued evolution of technology and interest in digital collections, what do you think digital libraries might be like in the future?
This is intended to be an individual assignment. However, if you know of someone else who is interested in the same topic and you believe you can accomplish more by working together, I will consider allowing this assignment to be done in groups of at most two people, but keep in mind that your paper should reflect the effort of two people, both in length and depth of discussion. Talk to me first if you are considering a group paper.
This assignment is due by noon on May 7th. You should turn in your hardcopy paper either by giving to someone in the iSchool main office to put in my mailbox, or by slipping under my office (562AA) door.
Grading
This assignment is worth 30% of your final grade. If you do this paper in a group, each member of your group will receive the same grade unless there are extenuating circumstances.