The Open Archipelago Project

M. Ciastellardi, U. Eccli, F. Perotta

Università degli studi di Milano | IN3 – Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

KNOWLEDGE ISLESIN AN OPEN ARCHIPELAGO

“If It Works, It’s Obsolete”

M. McLuhan

What is obsolete… and still works?

Copyright Books …endless design

Elements focused in the project

What is Open Archipelago?

• Open Archipelago (OA) is a framework (prototype) to collect and distribute Open Access materials in a web 2.0 perspective

• OA consists of a main web server platform (Archipelago) and different localized PAC-kiosks (Isles: SEELE and PEOPLE distributions)

• OA is a project oriented to the research environment (Universities, libraries, etc.)

• It is a cooperative open project developed with the collaboration of two research institutes:

• Università degli Studi of Milano • IN3 – Internet Interdisciplinary Institute of Universitat

Oberta de Catalunya

OA Project core idea

If it works, we can redesign…

• New approach to the academic cultural heritage, specially in libraries

• Use of new devices (ipads, smartphones, ebook readers, etc.) in «impenetrable» environments

• Direct, modular and affordable access to information (to traditional knowledge)

• A sustainable, low cost, low impact system to share and distribute information

• A different policies/politics for innovation, social inclusion and technological growth (according to the EU guidelines).

• A bridge for digital migrants, a springboard for digital natives

OA: what is possible to introduce?

Methodological approachCross-analysis

1. Qt/Ql crossed analysis

(Samples on surveys)

2. Action-theoretical framework

(Houkes, Vermaas, Dorst, Vries)

3. RPA (Replication protocol analysis)

(Galle, Béla Kovács)

Archipelago: the concept

The Open Archipelago Research

• basic research to provide a framework capable to adopt, to share and to deliver collections of scientific Open Access resources;

• applied research to propose a multi-platforms solution (the “Isles”) to manage these resources.

Emergent model: open access network architecture which could manage resources as a traditional repository as well as a meta-crawler indexing system. The framework is based on a semantic hybrid database and on a collection of resources that could be consulted, downloaded and tagged.

Two levels

The Open Archipelago Research

• To foster the use of digital resources and new devices in academic environments • To create a pilot project and to define active communities of reserchers/

librarians in order to collect, catalogue and meta-define Open Access resources • To adopt and sustain the Open Access model• To adopt and promote the use of low-consumption and low impact ICT

technologies decreasing environmental costs• To increase the value of scientific production of research centers

Criteria and principal aims

Present Scenario

• Libraries as traditional depot of culture and knowledge• Libraries from archive of paper resources

to digital repository• Libraries from Education to digital Education

Digital education as a new way for Dissemination

Premises: libraries

Present Scenario

• Open Access Model of publication (2001)• Distribution• Licensing• Impact factor

• Open Access platforms for publication• Journals• Repositories

• Open Access services • Journals directories

State of the Art: Open Access

Present Scenario

• E-book readers• iPads (tablets)• Low cost portable media drives

(multimedia cards, USB pendrive, portable player, etc.)• Smart(er) Phones • Subnotebook, netbooks• Passive bookmarks system (Qrcode et alii)

State of the Art: new devices and new formats

Present Scenario

• Telethon project (Publication)• MedialibraryOnLine (OA Service Provider)• PLEIADI Project (OA Service Provider)• DOAJ - Directory of Open Access Journals (OA

Service Provider)• OpenDOAR (OA Service Provider)• RePEc• OpenAIRE

Best Practices

The Open Archipelago Concept

An open access network architecture which could manage resources as a traditional repository as well as a meta-crawler indexing system.

The framework is based on:• a semantic hybrid database • a collection of resources

Resources could be consulted, downloaded and tagged.

Model emerged

The Open Archipelago Concept

1. Part of the people in a traditional library (A) access to the web-based core application and start crawling the resources

2. The web-based core system elaborates the queries (B) and: • it answers (C) as a traditional database offering the most coherent information• it offers semantic driven answers, suggesting pertinent contents based on overlapping areas of

interest, defined by the resources’ tags and relations

3. It stores (B’) the queries analyzing the tags, the path of each research and the users’ choices

4. The database process (D) the queries and it grows during the users’ researches, adding new tags and reframing the existing classification; the hybrid engine permits to have a dynamical map of the resources (A’) that change partially after each research

How it works

The Open Archipelago Concept

The hybrid core is a database powered by a metacrawler.

This configuration allows:

• to store resources and to index contents from different outside repositories

• to offer to users a clustered system for information retrieval,

• to have available more resources with less expenses

• to have an automatic update sustained by the connection of different self-feeded repositories.

Features

The Open Archipelago Concept

• Directly, on site (in the library, on the screen of the different isles, with the possibility to print some parts of the contents)

• Directly on personal/mobile device (downloading on usb keys, memory cards, tablets, smartphones, ebook readers, etc.)

• Remotely by networks (accessing with personal computer to the full source via Internet connection)

• Remotely by subscription (with feed and RSS distribution)

• On demand by bookmarking (acquiring a QRcode of the resource with any device and downloading on demand in any synchronized platform)

Distribution of resources

The Open Archipelago Concept

• SEELE (Smart Electronic Environment for Learning Experiences): a kiosk with a wide interactive full touch monitor to offer the reading experience directly on the screen. It simulates the book-format adopting a digital variant of the text, with pages to browse and to flip through with fingers.

• PEOPLE (Paperless Electronic Open Public Library Environment): a kiosk optimized for Open Access delivery. It has a smaller screen than the SEELE version but it presents many connections with external devices to transfer directly all the resources offered.

Full integration with QR code for the mobile access and portability

Two environments

SEELE

Will be a system to distribute contents in a versatile way: • E-Book reader (inside the Library)• Mobile device (for only collect contents -

plug’n’go)• WiFi browsing (for devices wi-fi compliant, like

notebooks or IPads)• QR-codes conceived as electronical classifiers

of the delivered contents

SEELE acquires users’s feedbacks in a hybrid semantic engine to suggest better and more defined researches after each session

Smart Environment for Learning Elements

PEOPLE

• Like SEELE • Will be a system to erogate contents in a

versatile way: • E-Book reader (inside the Library)• Mobile device (for only collect contents - plug’n’go)

• WiFi browsing (for devices wi-fi compliant, like notebooks or IPads)

• Feed RDF/RSS/Podcast (by subscription)

• Less expensive and more substainable

Paperless Electronic Open Public Library Environment

Archipelago: the platform

Conclusion

A possibility: to establish a new rhetoric of the project in order to create a dialogue between the social and the technical tissue, and this means not only to produce tools or system to support new scenarios with sustainable models, but also to suggest a vision of a different cultural apparatus, to offer a new way of interaction, and new points of access to the knowledge.

Innovation, sustainability and shared knowledge

Thanksmciastellardi@uoc.eduugo.eccli@unimi.itfabio.perotta@unimi.it