breathing new life into old data - how opening your collection can spark imagination and inspire...
DESCRIPTION
This presentation was given by Doug Holland and Trish Rose-Sandler at the Missouri Libraries Association conference held in St Louis MO in Oct 2013. There is a significant online literature and image repository called the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL). Content from this repository has inspired a range of users to re-contextualize the BHL data in new, previously unimagined roles including: scientists creating visualizations of species names publishing; citizen scientists blogging about fascinating creatures; designers incorporating marine life into wedding invitations, artists creating collages of animal illustrations and nature photography ; and home decorators adding punch and wit to the walls of their kids bedrooms. Using the example of BHL and its open data principles, the presentation will discuss what open data is and how libraries can expand the impact and reach of their collections through open data methods.TRANSCRIPT
Breathing new life into old data: How opening your collection can spark imagination and inspire creative re-
use
Doug Holland, Library Director, Missouri Botanical GardenTrish Rose-Sandler, Data Project Coordinator, Missouri Botanical Garden
10/4/13 Missouri Library Association conference, St Louis MO
Missouri Library Association conference, St Louis MO
10/4/13
What is BHL?
• A consortium of natural history, botanical libraries and research institutions
• An open access digital repository for historic biodiversity literature
• An open data repository of taxonomic names and bibliographic information
Missouri Library Association conference, St Louis MO
10/4/13
Member Institutions• Academy of Natural Sciences Library and
Archives• American Museum of Natural History Library • California Academy of Sciences Library• Cornell University Library • The Field Museum Library• Harvard University Botany Libraries • Harvard University, Ernst Mayr Library of the
Museum of Comparative Zoology • Library of Congress • Marine Biological Laboratory / Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution Library• Missouri Botanical Garden Library• Natural History Museum, London, Library &
Archives• The New York Botanical Garden • Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Library & Archives• Smithsonian Institution Libraries • United States Geological Survey Libraries
Missouri Library Association conference, St Louis MO
10/4/13
Missouri Library Association conference, St Louis MO
10/4/13
What is Art of Life?
• Full title - The Art of Life: Data Mining and Crowdsourcing the Identification and Description of Natural History Illustrations from the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL)
• Grant given to Missouri Botanical Garden in St Louis
• Funded by National Endowment for the Humanities
• Runs May 2012-April 2014
10/4/13 Missouri Library Association conference, St Louis MO
What is open content?1. Artists/Designers2. Biologists/Taxonomists/
“A piece of data or content is open if anyone is free to use, reuse, and redistribute it — subject only, at most, to the requirement to attribute and/or share-alike.”
10/4/13 Missouri Library Association conference, St Louis MO
What are some content types ripe for opening up?
Bibliographic records
Vocabularies
Content files • Literature published before 1923 (public domain)
• Primary source materials • manuscripts• photographs • maps• artifacts• audio and video recordings• oral histories• postcards• posters
• Local history – Genealogical collections
10/4/13 Missouri Library Association conference, St Louis MO
Examples of open content – bibliographic recordst/
10/4/13 Missouri Library Association conference, St Louis MO
Examples of open content – bibliographic recordst/
10/4/13 Missouri Library Association conference, St Louis MO
Examples of open content – vocabularies/
10/4/13 Missouri Library Association conference, St Louis MO
Examples of open content – vocabularies/
10/4/13 Missouri Library Association conference, St Louis MO
Examples of open content – primary resources/
10/4/13 Missouri Library Association conference, St Louis MO
Examples of open content – primary resources/
Missouri Library Association conference, St Louis MO
10/4/13
Why is open content important to cultural heritage institutions?
“it is now the mark—and social responsibility—of world-class institutions to develop and share free cultural and educational resources.”
Initiative to building a global cultural commons for everyone to use, access and enjoy.
Getty holds “the conviction that understanding art makes the world a better place, and sharing our digital resources is the natural extension of that belief. “
Missouri Library Association conference, St Louis MO
10/4/13
How to open your dataOne click downloads
Missouri Library Association conference, St Louis MO
10/4/13
How to open your data
Bulk dataBHL provides metadata & content via
• Export files• OAI-PMH• APIs• OpenURL
Missouri Library Association conference, St Louis MO
10/4/13
How to open your data Share with other portals
Missouri Library Association conference, St Louis MO
10/4/13
How to open your data Share with other portals
Missouri Library Association conference, St Louis MO
10/4/13
Copyright and LicensingMake public domain content available – make it clear its copyright status=public domain.
For copyrighted content if you are the copyright holder, dedicate it to the public domain or license content as openly as possible
CCOCC-BYCC-BY-SACC-BY-NC
PDDLODC-ByODC-ODbL
Missouri Library Association conference, St Louis MO
10/4/13
Open Content and Copyright
Missouri Library Association conference, St Louis MO
10/4/13
Examples of re-use of BHL Open Content
iTunes U
10/4/13 Missouri Library Association conference, St Louis MO
Scholarly and commercial publications
And the “price” of open content.
10/4/13 Missouri Library Association conference, St Louis MO
Artists/Graphic DesignersArtists/Graphic DesignersNonprofit fund raising
Natural Histories: Extraordinary Rare Book Selections from the American Museum of Natural History
10/4/13 Missouri Library Association conference, St Louis MO
Citizen scientists/enthusiasts
10/4/13 Missouri Library Association conference, St Louis MO
http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/photos/0,,20612661_21187249,00.html
Citizen scientists/enthusiasts
10/4/13 Missouri Library Association conference, St Louis MO
Educators/OutreachEducators
10/4/13 Missouri Library Association conference, St Louis MO
Henry Curtis-Williams@All Rights Reservedhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/67312941@N03/8504225098/in/photostream/
Artists/Graphic DesignersArtists/Graphic Designers
10/4/13 Missouri Library Association conference, St Louis MO
Artists/Graphic Designers
http://www.missmoss.co.za/2013/06/24/biodiversity-heritage-library/
10/4/13 Missouri Library Association conference, St Louis MO
Artists/Graphic DesignersArtists/Graphic Designers
10/4/13 Missouri Library Association conference, St Louis MO
Commentary on Miss Moss blog
Artists/Graphic DesignersArtists/Graphic Designers
10/4/13 Missouri Library Association conference, St Louis MO
Artists/Graphic DesignersArtists/Graphic Designers
10/4/13 Missouri Library Association conference, St Louis MO
Artists/Graphic DesignersArtists/Graphic Designers
Public Art in Denver Light Rail StationsCreated by artist Nancy O’Neil
Missouri Library Association conference, St Louis MO
10/4/13
Benefits to open content?• Fulfills public mission of libraries
• Promotes your collection to new audiences
• Stimulates creative reuse
• Increases discoverability
• Enables Data enrichment
• Less taxing on staff resources
Missouri Library Association conference, St Louis MO
10/4/13
Further information about open content and libraries
• Open Bibliographic Data Guide http://obd.jisc.ac.uk/
• OpenGLAM http://openglam.org/
• LODLAM http://lodlam.net/