CIRSS

CIRSS faculty, students and staff attended the 2012 iConference (http://www.ischools.org/iConference12/2012index/), an annual gathering information scholars, researchers and practitioners led by the iSchools consortium of information schools (http://www.ischools.org/site/about/).  The 2012 iConference took place in Toronto, Ontario, February 6-10 2012.

Workshops, presentations and posters by CIRSS researchers include:

• Blake, C. & Palmer, C. "Data Science and Analytics: What Is in It for iSchools?" [workshop]. Toronto, Canada. 7 Feb. 2012.

• Chao, T. C. (2012). Exploring the Rhythms of Scientific Data Use. Proceedings of the 2012 iConference (pp. 129-135). ACM. doi:10.1145/2132176.2132193

• Sacchi, S., & McDonough, J. P. (2012). Significant Properties of Complex Digital Artifacts: Open Issues from a Video Game Case Study [poster]. Proceedings of the 2012 iConference (pp. 572-573). ACM. doi:10.1145/2132176.2132293

• Stanton, J., Palmer, C., Blake, C., Farmer, L., & Allard, S.  "Brainstorming Data Science at iSchools" [workshop].  2012 iConference.  Toronto, Canada. 8 Feb. 2012.

• Varvel, V. E., Bammerlin, E. J., & Palmer, C. L. (2012). Education for Data Professionals : A Study of Current Courses and Programs [poster]. Proceedings of the 2012 iConference (pp. 10-12). doi:10.1145/2132176.2132275

• Wickett, K. M., Urban, R. J., & Renear, A. H. (2012). Towards a Logical Form for Descriptive Metadata [poster]. Proceedings of the 2012 iConference (pp. 574-575). ACM. doi:10.1145/2132176.2132294

• Weber, N. M. (2012). Rainmakers , Space Mirrors and Atmospheric Vacuums : A Bibliometric Mapping of Geoengineering Research [poster]. Proceedings of the 2012 iConference (pp. 639-640). ACM. doi:10.1145/2132176.2132320

CIRSS-affiliated faculty member Jerry McDonough has received the Best Paper award in the Digital Media: Content and Communication track at the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), held in Maui in January.

His paper, "Knee-Deep in Data: Practical Problems in Applying the OAIS Reference Model to the Preservation of Computer Games," examines the reference model for an Open Archival Information System (OAIS) through the Preserving Virtual Worlds project, in which McDonough and partners explored the application of the OAIS Reference Model for the preservation of computer games, video games and electronic literature within a research library setting. The paper identifies practical problems in determining the appropriate range of representation and context information needed to preserve computer games and discusses possible solutions to those problems.

The Preserving Virtual Worlds project, funded by the Library of Congress's National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP), investigated what preservation issues arose with computer games and interactive fiction, and how existing metadata and packaging standards might be employed for the long-term preservation of these materials. McDonough is now principal investigator on Preserving Virtual Worlds II, funded by IMLS, which focuses on determining properties for a variety of educational games and game franchises in order to provide a set of best practices for preserving the materials through virtualization technologies and migration, as well as provide an analysis of how the preservation process is documented.

You can view the paper at http://www.hicss.hawaii.edu/hicss_45/bp45/dm1.pdf.
More information on Preserving Virtual Worlds can be found athttp://www.lis.illinois.edu/people/faculty/jmcdonou.
 

CIRSS undergraduate worker Harsh Singh was on the winning team at the "Startup Weekend", which is a national multi-site competition for start-up technology innovation.  "Stash Verify, a system for detecting counterfeit goods using QR codes, raised the bar with a stunning intersection of beautiful design, sharp business and excellent development work. All three facets came together into a compelling presentation and demo, to place them solidly in first place." http://champaign.startupweekend.org/2011/11/17/congratulations-to-our-winning-teams/. 

CIRSS faculty member Allen Renear and CIRSS external affiliate Trevor Munoz, along with Katherine Walter from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, are leading a working session, Towards A New Agenda for Humanities in Data Curation, at this year's Digital Library Federation (DLF) Forum, 31 Oct - 1 Nov 2011, in Baltimore MD. 

This session builds on the activities of a Humanities Data Curation Summit held following the Digital Humanities conference in Paolo Alto CA in June 2011, which convened leading figures from the digital humanities, digital libraries, and funding agencies to reflect on their experiences facing data curation problems and undertaking strategic planning on data curation issues.  Based on summit participants' identification of key activities that could substantially impact institutions, professions and scholarship, and on further analysis, the authors are developing specific recommendations for changes in workforce training and staffing, education, and institutional support, which will be presented in a white paper in Winter 2011. 

Using key themes from the June 2011 Humanities Data Curation Summit as a springboard, this DLF working session continues the discussion began in Palo Alto, eliciting additional ideas and issues from from the digital library community as well as take steps toward refining and operationalizing community engagement with curation of humanities data.

The full session abstract follows below. 

Towards A New Agenda for Humanities Data Curation
DLF Forum 2011 working session, Baltimore MD; 1 November 2011
Allen Renear (GSLIS, UIUC), Trevor Munoz (MITH, UMD), Katherine Walter (UNL Libraries)
http://www.diglib.org/forums/2011forum/schedule/towards-a-new-agenda-for-humanities-data-curation/

At the conclusion of the Digital Humanities 2011 Conference, the Data Curation Education Program for the Humanities (DCEP-H) and CenterNet convened a group of experts from the digital humanities, the digital library community, and major U.S. funding agencies to discuss strategies for improving the curation of digital humanities data. The timing of this summit reflected a belief that data curation, the active and on-going management of data from creation to re-use and long-term preservation, is now an emerging problem for the humanities, and that, more importantly, the convergence of digital library development and digital humanities research has created a unique opportunity to re-imagine divisions of labor, educational policies and practices, and the public role of the humanities.

Summit participants identified four key activities that could have a substantial even radical impact on the evolution of institutions, professions, and scholarship over the next decade:

* Make data curation a key form of public engagement and advocacy for the humanities.

* Integrate the training of prospective scholars and information professionals into an interdisciplinary curriculum on scholarly communication and data curation.

* Realign professional roles, responsibilities, and promotion/tenure criteria with changes in institutional needs as well as practices and tools for curating data.

* Re-analyze the content of data curation curricula to support involvement by information professionals at deeper levels and earlier stages in the data development process.

Building on these materials as well as further analysis, we are developing specific recommendations for changes in workforce training and staffing, education, and institutional support. A final version of a white paper presenting our results will be completed in Winter 2011.

Interested session participants can review the agenda and issues paper from the post-Digital Humanities 2011 Humanities Data Curation Summit at the summit website (http://cirssweb.lis.illinois.edu/paloalto/). Using key themes from the earlier meeting as a springboard, this session will continue the discussion began in Palo Alto, eliciting additional ideas and issues from from the digital library community as well as take steps toward refining and operationalizing community engagement with curation of humanities data.

DCEP-H is an IMLS-funded project hosted by the Center for Informatics Research in Science and Scholarship (CIRSS) at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

CIRSS and the Council on Library and Information Resources’ DLF program presented their submission to the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) Beta Sprint at the DPLA Plenary meeting, October 21, 2011, in Washington, DC.

The project prototype leverages the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ Digital Collections and Content (IMLS DCC) resource and DLF Aquifer content as a core collection for the DPLA. The IMLS DCC, launched in 2003, is an aggregation of digital collections from libraries, museums, and archives, supported by IMLS and developed through a collaboration between CIRSS and the University of Illinois Library.

The DPLA is envisioned as a large-scale digital library that will “make the cultural and scientific heritage of humanity available, free of charge, to all.” In May, the DPLA Steering Committee announced a “Beta Sprint” to solicit models, prototypes, tools, and interfaces that demonstrate how the DPLA might index and provide access to a wide range of broadly distributed content. In September, an independent review panel met to discuss the 38 Beta Sprint submissions and recommend six of the most promising projects to present at the October Plenary.

The Plenary Meeting, organized by the DPLA Secretariat at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society and hosted by The National Archives, brought together a range of stakeholders in an open forum to present the vision for the DPLA effort, share the best ideas and models submitted to the Beta Sprint, and engage public participation.

“I am really proud of our beta sprint, as it highlights the investment made by IMLS, the DLF community, and hundreds of libraries, museums, and archives to produce digital collections,” said DLF Director Rachel Frick.

CIRSS Director Carole Palmer said, “The sprint was a great chance to experiment with the national aggregation model we developed in the IMLS DCC project. We extended the collections, made some technical advances, and reconceived the design for the DPLA community, learning a lot along the way.”