WolfWalk:
A Mobile Digital Collections Project
at NCSU Libraries
Markus Wust and Brian Dietz
ASERL IT/Digital Initiatives Interest Group
Webinar
NCSU Libraries
August 11, 2010
Outline
•
•
•
•
•
•
Background
Demo
Implementation Challenges
Technology
Alternative Approaches
Final Thoughts
Background
MobiLIB
•
•
•
•
Launched in early 2007
Pre-iPhone
Few similar services
Designed for devices with
basic web capabilities
Apple iPhone (2007)
Source: Flickr user shapeshift
Next Generation Devices
New Features
• (Assisted) GPS
• 3G/Wi-Fi Internet Access
• Touch screen interface
• Camera
• Compass
• Accelerometer
NCSU Libraries Mobile
• Launched 2009
• Built on MIT Mobile
Web framework
• Collaboration with
campus IT
• Part of library mobile
initiative
• m.lib.ncsu.edu
Question:
• How can we use the unique affordances
of mobile devices to provide innovative
services and access models to library
resources that we cannot implement
otherwise?
Our answer:
Location-aware Digital Collections
How we used to access our
special collections
Todd Kosmerick and Adam Berenbak, NCSU Libraries
Access to Physical Materials
• Requires on-site presence
• Request materials in advance (24-48 hours)
• Optimized for
• Intensive research
• Analysis of original
• Affords an intimacy with the object
How we access (some of)
those collections now
Markus Wust, NCSU Libraries
Access to Digital Materials
• Access materials from anywhere
• Curator determines what you see
• Exhibit approach to digital collection building
• At a remove from the original
How we might experience our
collections…
Jason Casden, NCSU Libraries
Location-aware Mobile
• Optimized for on-site use
• Curator determines what you see
• Affords
• In-situ learning
• Returns the intimacy to the experience
The WolfWalk Project
The WolfWalk Project
• A historical guide to the NC
State campus
• Small, curated subset of
University Archives Photo
Collection
• Location-aware
• Two versions
• Mobile web site (March 2010)
• iPhone app (July 2010)
About the Collection
• 90 campus sites
• 600 images sourced
from existing digital
image collections
• Newly authored site
descriptions
WolfWalk Demo
WolfWalk Mobile Web
http://m.lib.ncsu.edu/wolfwalk
Web
App
Web
App
Web
App
Web
App
Web
App
Web
App
Web
App
Project Team
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Tito Sierra, Digital Library Initiatives
Jason Casden, Digital Library Initiatives
Markus Wust, Digital Scholarship and Publishing Center
Brian Dietz, Special Collections Research Center
Todd Kosmerick, Special Collections Research Center
Steven Morris, Digital Library Initiatives
Joseph Ryan, Digital Library Initiatives
Implementation Challenges
Metadata Issues
Is metadata created for one form of
access adequate or appropriate for
others?
What is this image of?
This guy
This guy
…and these guys.
Digital Collections (Of)
Title:
President D. H. Hill and staff, North Carolina College of Agriculture and
Mechanic Arts.
Subjects: College presidents; Hill, D. H. (Daniel Harvey), 1859-1924; North
Carolina State University; People; Teachers
But what is this image about?
D. H. Hill Library
D. H. Hill Library
…and who cares about these guys?
WolfWalk (About)
Title:
D.H. Hill (with pocket watch) and NC State staff
Site:
DH Hill Library
Description: After the first library, located in Brooks Hall, became too small,
a new D.H. Hill Library was built in 1953. It was expanded in 1954 and
towers were added in 1972 (Bookstack North) and 1990 (Bookstack
South). Its namesake, D.H. Hill, was appointed professor of English
and bookkeeping in 1889 and became one of the university's first five
faculty members. He selected most of the library's books and served as
the university's vice president from 1905 to 1908 and president from
1908 to 1916.
Digital Collections (Of)
Title:
President D. H. Hill and staff, North Carolina College of Agriculture and
Mechanic Arts.
Subjects: College presidents; Hill, D. H. (Daniel Harvey), 1859-1924; North
Carolina State University; People; Teachers
Site:
[D. H. Hill Library (Raleigh, N.C.)]
Description: [D. H. Hill Library is named for Daniel Harvey Hill (1859-1924), an
English professor at North Carolina State University and one of the college’s first
five faculty members. He was president of the University from 1908-1916. The
Library was built in four stages, the east wing first in 1953, the Erdahl-Cloyd
Student Union or west wing second in 1954, the old book stack tower third in
1971, and the new book stack tower fourth in 1990. In 2007, a major renovation
of the east wing of the library was completed. D. H. Hill Library is the main
library of the NCSU Libraries system, which is composed of five library facilities.]
Image Processing
• Existing image files (TIFFs and JPEGs)
• No image server
• Manually created derivatives
• Show view images
• Featured images for site descriptions
• Thumbnails for site list
Geo Metadata Issues
How do you geotag very large digital
collections in a scalable way?
Geo Metadata Issues
How do you geotag very large digital
collections in a scalable way?
How does geotagging fit into existing
digitization workflows, if at all?
Geo Metadata Issues
Do you geotag individual objects, such as
photographs, or groups of objects
representing the same geographic
place?
Practical Considerations
Location-aware mobile interfaces assume
some level of data connectivity, which
may vary in quality from one geographic
location to the next.
Technology
Initial Question
• Should content (images, text) be
bundled with application or downloaded
on demand?
Answer
Download Data On Demand
• Smaller download for app
• No need to go through Apple’s review
process if content is updated or revised
• Reuse same data
Downsides:
• Users can incur data charges
• Requires data connection
Web Service
• MySQL + PHP
• Returns XHTML document
• Site index
• Site details
• “Near Me”:
• Web: SQL → Server
• App: Objective C → Device
• Images stored in filesystem
Geodata (most sites)
Geodata (some sites)
Architecture Overview
WolfWalk Web
•
•
•
•
•
MIT Mobile Web framework
PHP
Javascript
Google Maps v3
WURFL (device detection)
WolfWalk App
• Objective C
• Cocoa Touch Framework
• Map Kit Framework (Apple, Google)
Web or App?
Web
• Pros
• Existing staff expertise
• More devices
• Integration into other
services
• Fewer legal hurdles
• Cons
• Performance limitations
(e.g., map zooming)
• Testing on many devices
• Users seem to expect apps
App
• Pro
• Performance & UI
• Promotion through popular
outlet (App Store)
• Cons
• Learning curve
• Restricted to one device
platform
• Must pass Apple’s review
process
• Requires developer license
What We Are Playing With…
• Solr data service
• Faceting (decade,
building type, …)
• Image browsing
• Suggestions?
Source: Wikimedia
Alternative Approaches
Alternative Approaches
• You don’t have to build your own
WolfWalk
• Growing number of existing locationaware frameworks
• Some are close to providing the
necessary functionality
• Others are already there
Gowalla Trips
Gowalla Trips
Gowalla Trips
Gowalla Trips
- Cannot upload images yet (only images
taken with your phone’s camera)
LookBackMaps
LookBackMaps
LookBackMaps
LookBackMaps
[Blend historic photograph and image taken with iPhone camera]
LookBackMaps
- No grouping of images by collections or
sources
Layar
Layar
Layar
Layar
Layar
Layar
- Apps for iPhone and Android devices
- Requires separate data service
- BYODS (Build Your Own Data Service)
or
- Use third-party service providers
- We used Hoppala (http://www.hoppala.eu)
- Currently in beta and limited to 100 items
- Currently free
Layar / Hoppala
Final Thoughts
The only constant is change, continuing
change, inevitable change, that is the
dominant factor in mobile development today.
Isaac Asimov (sort of…)
All life is an experiment. The more experiments
you make the better.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Be flexible; the mobile environment
changes quickly
• Be willing to experiment
• Make sure you have a good mobile use
case
• Think about how you can adapt
emerging technologies to anticipate
future user needs and expectations
Thank You!
Markus Wust
Digital Collections and Preservation Librarian
markus_wust@ncsu.edu
Brian Dietz
Digital Program Librarian for Special Collections
brian_dietz@ncsu.edu
WolfWalk
Web: http://m.lib.ncsu.edu/wolfwalk
iPhone App: search for “WolfWalk” in App Store
More Information: http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/dli/projects/wolfwalk/