Anne J. Gilliland-Swetland

How geography professors select materials for classroom lectures: implications for the design of digital libraries

A goal of the Alexandria Digital Earth Prototype (ADEPT) project is to make primary resources in geography useful for undergraduate instruction in ways that promote inquiry learning. The ADEPT education and evaluation team interviewed professors about their use of geography information as they prepare for class lectures, as compared to their research activities. We found that professors desired the ability to search by concept (erosion, continental drift, etc.) as well as geographic location, and that personal research collections were an important source of instructional materials. Resources in geospatial digital libraries are typically described by location, but are rarely described by concept or educational application. This paper presents implications for the design of an educational digital library from our observations of the lecture preparation process. Findings include functionality requirements for digital libraries and implications for the notion of digital libraries as a shared information environment. The functional requirements include definitions and enhancements of searching capabilities, the ability to contribute and to share personal collections of resources, and the capability to manipulate data and images.

Iterative Design and Evaluation of a Geographic Digital Library for University Students: A Case Study of the Alexandria Digital Earth Prototype (ADEPT)

We report on the first two years of a five-year project to design and evaluate the Alexandria Digital Earth ProtoType (ADEPT), a digital library of geo-referenced information resources, for use in undergraduate education. To date, we have established design principles, observed classroom activities, gathered baseline data from instructors and students, and evaluated early prototypes. While students and instructors are generally enthusiastic about ADEPT, they have concerns about the effort required and the effectiveness of computer-based technologies in the classroom. Instructors vary widely in their use of instructional materials and technologies, teaching styles, and areas of expertise. Results of our work are being incorporated in an iterative cycle of design and evaluation. The paper concludes by presenting research and evaluation methods, design principles, and requirements for educational applications of digital libraries.

Electronic records management

Introduction What is an electronic record, how should it best be preserved and made available, and to what extent do traditional, paradigmatic archival precepts such as provenance, original order, and archival custody hold when managing it? Over more than four decades of work in the area of electronic records (formerly known as machine-readable records), theorists and researchers have offered answers to these questions-or at least devised approaches for trying to answer them. However, a set of fundamental questions about the nature of the record and the applicability of traditional archival theory still confronts researchers seeking to advance knowledge and development in this increasingly active, but contested, area of research. For example, which characteristics differentiate a record from other types of information objects (such as publications or raw research data)? Are these characteristics consistently present regardless of the medium of the record? Does the record always have to have a tangible form? How does the record manifest itself within different technological and procedural contexts, and in particular, how do we determine the parameters of electronic records created in relational, distributed, or dynamic environments that bear little resemblance on the surface to traditional paper-based environments? At the heart of electronic records research lies a dual concern with the nature of the record as a specific type of information object and the nature of legal and historical evidence in a digital world. Electronic records research is relevant to the agendas of many communities in addition to that of archivists. Its emphasis on accountability and on establishing trust in records, for example, addresses concerns that are central to both digital government and e-commerce. Research relating to electronic records is still relatively homogeneous in terms of scope, in that most major research initiatives have addressed various combinations of the following: theory building in terms of identifying the nature of the electronic record, developing alternative conceptual models, establishing the determinants of reliability and authenticity in active and preserved electronic records, identifying functional and metadata requirements for record keeping, developing and testing preservation

Evaluation Design for Large-Scale, Collaborative Online Archives: Interim Report of the Online Archive of California Evaluation Project

Ongoing evaluation should be a critical aspect of anydigital access project because of the importantinsight it can bring to strategic decision-making andassessment of data integrity. From a systemsdevelopment perspective, iterative design processesdepend upon evaluative feedback from users on issuessuch as interface design and retrieval strategies inorder to refine and enhance prototype and maturesystems. A broader rationale for rigorous andreplicable evaluation is the current absence ofreliable benchmark data drawn from the experiences ofdigital archives projects, especially thoseimplementing Encoded Archival Description, againstwhich other such projects might be assessed. Thispaper reviews considerations that went into the designof a multi-faceted evaluation of the Online Archive ofCalifornia by a team of researchers within theDepartment of Information Studies at the University ofCalifornia, Los Angeles and provides a progress reporton findings. Based upon what they have learned fromconducting this evaluation, the evaluation researchteam will refine the evaluation design and theresearch instruments into models that might be appliedin the collection of benchmark evaluative data byother large-scale, collaborative online archives.

Popularizing the finding aid: Exploiting EAD to enhance online discovery and retrieval in archival information systems by diverse user groups

SUMMARY Encoded Archival Description (EAD) provides a flexible metadata infrastructure that, when coupled with World Wide Web functionality, allows archivists to move beyond simply replicating the physical form of the paper finding aid in the online environment and fundamentally re-conceptualize how archival information systems can facilitate popular use. This paper reviews the descriptive imperatives that have led to the traditional physical and intellectual form of the finding aid, and how those imperatives can be addressed by EAD. It then discusses some of the needs that diverse user practices and cognitive approaches bring to the design of discovery and retrieval in EAD-based archival information systems. Finally, it adapts and extends the search capabilities delineated by Bates for a “berrypicking” search interface, and suggests ten strategies to enhance browsing and retrieval in EAD-based archival information systems.

Evaluating the use of a geographic digital library in undergraduate classrooms: ADEPT

The evaluation plan for the Alexandria Digital Earth Prototype (ADEPT) centers on two investigations: a study of classroom use of the system by faculty and students and lab-based usability studies. The classroom-based study is primarily an investigation of the digital librarys impact on student learning, using multiple research methods. The five-year work plan includes investigations of the use of ADEPT in non-geography classes.

Application of Dublin Core metadata in the description of digital primary sources in elementary school classrooms

Researchers evaluated the ability of 4th and 5th grade science and social science students to create Dublin Core metadata to describe their own images for inclusion in Digital Portfolio Archives. The Dublin Core was chosen because it provided a systematic, yet minimal way for students to describe these resources at the item level and relate them to collection-level metadata prepared for digitized primary sources by archivists using Encoded Archival Description (EAD). Researchers found that while students were able to supply simple elements such as title and subject with relative ease, they had difficulty moving between general and progressively more granular or refined descriptive elements. Students performed poorly in distinguishing between and completing related, but distinct metadata elements, such as title, subject, and description. Researchers also found that there are still significant issues that need to be addressed if young users in a variety of learning contexts, especially those who are only recently literate, are to be able to make sense of richer metadata such as EAD that is used to describe collections of primary source material.

Iscapes: digital libraries environments for the promotion of scientific thinking by undergraduates in geography

This paper reviews considerations associated with implementing the Ale xandria Digital Earth Prototype (ADEPT) in undergraduate geography education by means of Iscapes (or Information landscapes). In particular, we are interested in how Iscapes might be used to promote scientific thinking by undergraduate students. Based upon an ongoing educational needs assessment, we present a set of conceptual principles that might selectively be implemented in the design of educational digital library environments.

MOAC II user evaluation: Making museum content useful

Museums and the Online Archive of California II User Evaluation (MOAC II) examines digital museum content for use in education and research. MOAC II is an advancement of MOAC (1998-present), a major collaboration involving integration of collection descriptions and images. The evaluation targets four user constituencies: K-12 teachers, university students, academics in the humanities and social sciences, and museum professionals, librarians and archivists. MOAC II examines why users use digital museum objects, what users need to understand about museum objects as sources of information and evidence, and how digital museum objects might be used to enhance classroom teaching at K-12, undergraduate, and graduate levels. MOAC II collaborators will report on progress made in the first year of this collaborative research project.

Use Scenarios in the Development of the Alexandria Digital Earth Prototype (ADEPT)

A user-centered, iterative design philosophy requires a common language between users, designers and builders to translate user needs into buildable specifications. This paper details the rationale, evolution and implementation of use scenarios—structured narrative descriptions of envisioned system use—in the development of the Alexandria Digital Earth Prototype. This paper discusses the strengths of the scenario approach, obstacles to their use, and lessons learned in the overall development process.