1. Globalization of the US: From Digital Research Project to Digital Library Services (49:09)

Date:
2014-12-10
Main contributors:
Dalmau, Michelle, Dowell, Erika
Summary:
As part of an exhibition at the Lilly Library entitled The Globalization of the United States, 1789-1861 scheduled to open September 15, historian Konstantin Dierks and librarians Erika Dowell and Michelle Dalmau have partnered to create a digital counterpart to the physical exhibit that includes an interactive, map-based visualization. The visualization tracks several data points or ‰ÛÏfacets‰Û about U.S. interventions in the rest of the globe, from diplomatic missions to stationed military squadrons. As Dierks describes, it provides a tool for scholars and students to investigate how ‰ÛÏthe United States, no longer swaddled within the British empire, sought to recalibrate its interaction with the wider world as an independent nation.‰Û This presentation will focus primarily on one component of the digital exhibit, the map-based visualizations, and how we in the libraries have been able to use this project as a use case for generalizing research-oriented treatment of geospatial and temporal data. By abstracting the data gathering and mapping processes and building workflows to support these activities, we have the beginnings of a services-oriented approach to map-based discovery and inquiry that could be leveraged by other digital research projects at Indiana University. As part of this presentation we will: a) evaluate the various map-based tools with which we experimented including SIMILE Exhibit, Google Fusion, Neatline, and Leaflet, b) review the metadata challenges particular to this project and how they can be abstracted for future projects, and c) relay lessons learned when working with historical maps. We will conclude by proposing a model established by Professor Dierk's project team, using a combination of tools and techniques referenced above, as a way forward in supporting map-based digital research projects more generally.

2. Using Omeka: Cultural Heritage Projects at Indiana University (55:21)

Date:
2014-11-19
Main contributors:
Cowan, William, Jenns, Erika, Smith, Ardea
Summary:
In recent years, Omeka has become an important tool for the exhibit of digital object collections. As with many technologies, Omeka can present some issues with setup and configuration, but overall, Omeka is easy to use for managing digital content. A few of the recent projects to use Omeka are the Lilly Library's War of 1812 (http://collections.libraries.iub.edu/warof1812/) and Indiana University Library Moving Image Archive's World War II Propaganda Films (http://collections.libraries.iub.edu/IULMIA/). The two projects discussed at this session are the Don C. Belton memorial site by the English Department, presented by Erika Jenns, and the ‰ÛÏRegeneration in Digital Contexts: Early Black Film‰Û conference and workshop site presented by the Black Film Center/Archive graduate assistant Ardea Smith. Using Omeka to Represent the Library of Professor Don C. Belton (http://belton.indiana.edu/) presented by Erika Jenns Using my experiences cataloguing the collection of Professor Don Belton, the late novelist, book collector, and English professor at Indiana University Bloomington, I will address the benefits of using Omeka to create a dynamic access point for users. After Belton's death in 2009, the bulk of his collection was transferred to branch libraries on campus. Remaining books were kept by IU's English Department, which does not have a formal library. To make the collection more visible, I created an Omeka website, meant to function as a precursor to a visit to the collection. The site uses tags, rendering it more searchable. It also includes scans of book covers, digitized videos of Belton lecturing and reading, and posts by students who have worked with the collection. The site represents Belton's books both physically and electronically. Coupled with biographical information, it highlights Belton's research interests, sources of inspiration, and some of the works he produced. The Proceedings of Regeneration in Digital Contexts: Early Black Film (http://www.indiana.edu/~regener8/regeneration/) presented by Ardea Smith In 2013, the Black Film Center/Archive received a National Endowment for the Humanities Level I Digital Humanities Start-Up Grant to convene an interdisciplinary group of scholars, archivists, curators, and digital humanities technology specialists for a two-day conference and workshop, ‰ÛÏRegeneration in Digital Contexts: Early Black Film.‰Û The conference and workshop proceedings were documented on video and fully transcribed. To enhance public access to these proceedings, I oversaw the creation of a website utilizing the open-source Omeka platform and VideoStream 2 plugin designed by project advisor Will Cowan at Indiana University. The website anchors streaming video content to keyword-searchable transcripts of the event proceedings. Drawing on the development process for the ‰ÛÏRegeneration‰Û website, my presentation will discuss the practical issues of building of an Omeka-based site using IU's webserve system with an aim to help individuals new to digital archival creation.

3. The Failure of Altmetrics (58:55)

Date:
2014-11-12
Main contributors:
Sugimoto, Cassidy
Summary:
In this talk, Cassidy Sugimoto argues that altmetrics have failed to deliver on their promise. She discusses criticisms of altmetrics (including those dealing with validity and reliability issues), but argues that the largest failure of altmetrics has been the focus on a single genre‰ÛÓthat is, the journal article‰ÛÓand setting altmetrics up as an alternative to citations. Sugimoto introduces the notion of outcomes-based evaluation and demonstrates that altmetrics cannot be equated with outcomes in this model. She urges the community to rethink ways in which we can build metrics that can capture larger societal impact. She discusses four axes of potential impact: production, dissemination, engagement, assessment. In each of these, she reviews various examples of current initiatives and challenges the audience to conceive of possible metrics to capture the desired outcome in each scenario.

4. Creating an Archival Online Film Exhibit with Omeka: "WWII Propaganda Films and IU" (57:48)

Date:
2014-11-05
Main contributors:
Stoeltje, Rachael, Uhrich, Andy, Harman, Asia, Mitter, Seth
Summary:
This brown bag session will present the Libraries' most recent online Omeka exhibition of World War II propaganda films which went live on June 6th, the 70th anniversary of D-Day. The IULMIA (Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive) staff will present the conceptual idea behind the exhibit, the steps taken to select and digitize the content, working with the Library Technology staff and the process of building the online exhibit.

5. Let it go: Exposing digital collections for accessible and useful data (50:25)

Date:
2014-10-15
Main contributors:
Hardesty, Juliet
Summary:
How do you usefully combine digital repository, library catalog, and library web site data so researchers can discover and make use of the data in support of their research? This session discusses plans to combine IU Libraries' digital repository data with library catalog and IUB Libraries' web site data to create a Solr-indexed data source that preserves context and provides thorough, useful, and sharable access to the information, collections, and resources at the Indiana University Libraries.