Best Practices for Bibliographic Agencies

IFLA

Digital Curation

Digital Curation

VIAF

VIAF

BibFrame

BibFrame

Encoded Archival Description

EAD
EAC-CPF

Metadata Standards

Metadata Standards List
Metadata Directory
metadata-standards
Metadata_standard

FRBR, RDA, and Linked Data

FRBR
RDA
Linked Data

Open Data and Knowledge

OpenData is all about making data freely available for all without restrictions and mirrors other open source initiatives. It often parallels that of Data.gov and Data.gov.uk. To get involved with OpenKnowledge one can check out Open Knowledge Labs. OpenKnowledge working group areas and data process tools are listed below.

Lobbying Transparency

Open Access

Open Bibliography

Open Definition

Open Design & Hardware

Open Development

Open Economics

Open Education

OpenGLAM

Open Government Data

Open Humanities

Open Linguistics

Open Product Data

Open Science

OpenSpending

Open Sustainability

Open Transport

Personal Data and Privacy

Public Domain

Extracting:

Google Scraper Extension for Chrome

Google Sheets

Scraperwiki

gImageReader + Tesseract

Cleaning:

OpenRefine

Google Sheets

Nonmenklature

Analyzing:

Google Sheets

R

Gelphi

Cytoscape

Presenting:

TillMill

D3

FusionTables

Gelphi

ManyEyes

Cytoscape

Sharing:

DataHub

Github

Google Docs

Further details can be found on School of Data.

Open Data Institute

Watch Movies Legally For Free

Illegal sites for movies are popping up all over the place on the Web. At the same time, they are also under legal scrutiny for DMCA restrictions. Some search engines, like Google, have even taken the initiative to block such sites from search listings. ChillingEffects is an open archive initiative that works collaboratively to protect lawful online activity from legal threats and provides information on legal rights as well as responsibilities. While free access to content can sometimes be dubious, there are a few legitimate sites that provide legally free content on movies for Internet users. Such sites may have limited content or at times outdated. However, there are still other sites that do provide constantly updated streaming of content. Perhaps, with a bit of searching around there may just be a bit of something for everyone to arouse the keen curiosity. A few legal sites for free movies are listed below. Another, often overlooked, option is to visit the local public library of archived videos.

Hulu

Viewster

Crackle

Popcornflix

Snagfilms

Youtube

Vimeo

Internet Archive

TopDocumentaryFilms

FreeDocumentaries

OpenCulture

PBS Frontline

BigFiveGlories

CanIStreamIt

WorldCat

An integration of libraries is emerging. WorldCat is one such effort by the synergistic collaboration with multiple libraries spanning the globe. Although, with huge effort comes quite a few obstacles for integration and for that it still has a lot of issues to overcome. Semantic web should really be their cornerstone for an ideal. The domain should really be mirroring a huge custom ontology. WorldCat provides a search facility over the indexed libraries that are registered for connection accessible for a way of finding local resources. The service even allows one to connect to a librarian and provide a review of the resources. There is albeit a requirement for membership to view or download.

FAST Linked Data
OCLC Experiment
GIST
OCLC
dataliberate

Integration of Global Information

Books and periodicals are categorized and held in libraries. Artifacts are categorized in museums and galleries. Reports and papers are indexed in archives. Patents are registered and indexed in patent listings. These places all individually store vast amounts of information. And, yet we see every year so many are closed down due to lack of readership and finances. One thing that such places lack is integration of resources and accessibility at a global scale. If only such places could be connected globally so they could be  reached over the internet by students, researchers, and any one looking for information. Book publishing is a foregone and struggling business. People are now looking to ebooks, online, and flexibility of reading on handheld devices. It seems only natural that there are multiple gains that can be achieved from mutual integration of resources between such organizations. Not to mention the level of cost savings that could be made, the generation of a collective finance option to keep such organizations profitable, and merit their future existence. Such places are often the cornerstone of learning outside of schools and universities. We need to support them before they all start to crumble into history. I feel linked data and semantic web is the answer to making it all possible. Semantic web is a natural fit for library and archiving and linked data is a natural fit for making the resources all connected. Even so far as allowing for advertising revenue and subscription model could be achieved from such a collaborative network which brings together researchers, students, and all walks of learners alike into one easily accessible network of resources. Just imagine the amount of searchable information that could be achieved and the level of categorized information made available to all without ever having to physically visit the organization. It seems a plausible option for so many struggling organizations. At same time it means knowledge could be reached without bounds. A library ontology could be generated that establishes a network of shared resources for all. Most organizations should not hold any reservations to such an idea as it would mean a larger accessibility by subscription therefore more financial gains plus they will all get used a lot more. It seems only in time such endeavors are likely to occur in near future as semantic web and linked data progress into the mainstream use over the internet and define the ubiquitous aspect to technology.

Integrated Libraries

I wonder if it is a possibility to integrate libraries so one only needs to search a website to realize whether an issue exists and where it might be catalogued. Even allowing people to read materials online. It would also be a better way to manage library card catalogue systems in a consistent way allowing people to use libraries more efficiently and at same time cutting costs for managing such a volume of sources. Maybe, an anticipated way of trying it out locally within a district, then branching it out across the city, country, and even global divides. A whole host of archived information could be possible to navigate for almost anyone across the globe and a massive source of data accessible to all. This sort of service could perhaps be available by advertising and subscription services which the user could potentially pay from the geographical location base. The library network service could then be available 24/7 and managed across time zones. I think privatizing libraries is a pretty good way of making sure libraries are well taken care of financially and with a solid information services strategy in place. Often libraries are focal point of communities where people can visit to borrow books and obtain all sorts of information. Why not allow them to do the same from home or on their ipad, android phone, or even at work. If libraries were more creative in making information accessible there would be more people interested in reading and enhancing their knowledge outside of just what they gather on TV. I think it is also a valuable source for educational purposes especially for universities where students and researchers often have to source out a lot of background information on a particular topic for assignments or research work. It would also be an ideal way to categorize or contextualize the information into a linked data or semantic web structure. Perhaps, one day every library, museum, gallery, journal repository, and national archive system in the world would be connected just like the Internet.