I was in DC recently starting on Monday, sadly conflicting with our
meetup! (for both OLPC and DPLA meetings - the latter is a national
digital library being developed by a consortium of existing libraries
and foundations).
At the DPLA meeting, I mentioned the idea of a 'librarylab' which was
warmly received. and which I hope to develop with a few partners as a
proposed piece of future DPLA infrastructure: something that could be
set up in any city that is introducing its public and other libraries
to new library and collection tools [such as might be part of a DPLA
platform]. A demo of such a library lab would be developed in DC.
I asked the Wiki Society of DC to consider being a local partner in
this demo-project. while all costs will be covered by participating
hosts or libraries, we need a partner group based in dc to help
coordinate local meetings. The reason to have a dem site in DC is
that the next large DPLA event will be hosted in DC in October, when
good proposals will be showcased.
The specific proposal is below, with some discussion I will elaborate
on it online after getting some more initial feedback from would-be
users.
Wikimedia DC is a partner in this proposal - while we don't have an
official entity in Boston it would be great to include the Boston
Wikipedian network as well. And I would like to test out some of
these ideas with our library colleagues here also... the reason to
make the first demo site in DC is that the public presentation of all
demos from the summer will again be in DC (in October).
SJ
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ed Summers <ehs(a)pobox.com>
Date: Thu, Jun 16, 2011 at 12:11 PM
Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-DC] DPLA statement of intent
To: wikimedia-dc(a)lists.wikimedia.org
Wow, this is a great idea. I'm not sure I contribute any resources
other than my time. But count me in.
//Ed
On Thu, Jun 16, 2011 at 3:30 AM, Samuel Klein <meta.sj(a)gmail.com> wrote:
James is right -
For the demo this summer, we find a host space at a tech incubator or
coworking space or savvy library; get loaner scanners and cameras and
the like to build the prototype; get interested volunteers to come
host workshops and parties and exhibits and classification contests.
Hopefully there's minimal direct overhead cost; though we should have
some partners with a few thousand dollars here and there in their
budgets for this sort of exploratory work.
The end result should be a documented process for building out this
sort of lab from scratch; what permanent and consumable supplies were
used; what additional gear would make sense but was too
rare/expensive/balky. Leading to a "lab in a box" inventory and
pricelist, and some soft costs for expected overhead, maintenance,
installation.
A 'DPLA infrastructure proposal' based on this might be something like
targeting 3-5 cities this fall, 1 research-lab @ a libschool to help
and monitor the process and advise on how to improve it, and an early
crop of a dozen roving liblab alums who help make all of this happen.
Then more over the spring, aiming for at least 1 liblab in every state
by next summer, and 1 in every city with >10 public? sizeable?
libraries by the end of the 18 months. That could be funded by grants
from a combination of the association of state Governors and the
consortium supporting DPLA-phase-1 [the first 18 months; a pool of
funds will be available].
I'm making the details up, but you get the idea.
The demo work isn't about winning a grant per se, so much as
demonstrating a useful piece of infrastructure that someone could
carry out. None of us working on the demo might want to be involved
in that next stage; but there's a lot of interest in the idea, so I'm
certain some group would be glad to run with that and facilitate it on
a national scale, if we can articulate the basic value using the
library-rich DC community as an example.
SJ
2011/6/16 James Hare <jamesmhare(a)gmail.com>om>:
On Thu, Jun 16, 2011 at 2:15 AM, Ed Summers
<ehs(a)pobox.com> wrote:
Hi Samuel,
On Wed, Jun 15, 2011 at 7:24 PM, Samuel Klein <meta.sj(a)gmail.com> wrote:
We plan to define a LibraryLab, a standalone
hackspace for people to
work on digitization, annotation, collaborative publishing, and use of
library and collection-making tools and tech for personal projects and
research.
A LibLab will be a space for librarians and other community members to
learn about new tools, to develop personalized workspaces, and to run
classes and workshops for others. It will include physical tools such
as cameras and scanners and computers, and software tools for
research, classification, publication and remixing.
We will develop a prototype lab in DC, colocated with a local
university or tech incubator, with testing and feedback from public
and university librarians in the area.
This sounds like a pretty ambitious venture, requiring a fair amount
of investment in space and hardware, etc. Do you have any ideas on
where that could come from. I'm definitely interested in the idea. So
please send more details when they become available!
I believe the getting of money is being handled with a partner institution.
Should Samuel win the grant, we would receive custody of the money and be
responsible for executing the plan. If I am not mistaken.
//Ed
_______________________________________________
Wikimedia-DC mailing list
Wikimedia-DC(a)lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-dc
_______________________________________________
Wikimedia-DC mailing list
Wikimedia-DC(a)lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-dc
--
Samuel Klein identi.ca:sj w:user:sj +1 617 529 4266
_______________________________________________
Wikimedia-DC mailing list
Wikimedia-DC(a)lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-dc
_______________________________________________
Wikimedia-DC mailing list
Wikimedia-DC(a)lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-dc
--
Samuel Klein identi.ca:sj w:user:sj +1 617 529 4266