The URL of this coursework blog is http://library-liam.blogspot.com/2011/10/dita-coursework-blog-web-10-internet.html
Title: Language and access in Digital Information Technologies and Architecture, with a focus on law libraries
1. Introduction
An underlying principle of digital information is that it is data which must be written in a specific language so that it can be stored in sources, communicated by systems and retrieved by users. Once this is achieved, access to data must be managed using appropriate technologies. I will consider this statement in the context of modern law libraries to assess the present and future impact on the provision of digital resources to their users.
2. Evaluating
Digital technologies must take into account the information needs of library users, who in today’s digital age, most commonly seek information from online subscription databases and web resources. Sources of information in law libraries are typically law reports, journal articles or legislation: predominantly accessed as either printed or digital text based information. The latter must be in a specified format in order to be read: it is data attributed a form capable of precise meaning through logical coding and sequencing – in essence a ‘language’.
Computers are system linguists which communicate data over connected networks (the internet) via a service (the World Wide Web). Computers read and interpret data in binary form: bits are assigned characters and form words as ASCII text; and collected together, they create files which make up documents, such as database records or web pages. Human users are only able to subjectively evaluate text for meaning and relevance in a form they understand. Computers do not understand “human” language, and so evaluate the language within the data: metadata. Hypertext is a language used to inter-link data in one document, or link data between documents. Web pages are written in Hypertext Mark-up Language (HTML) so the data can be read by internet browsers, which interpret metatags (ordered ASCII text relaying strict instructions on layout and structure) as distinct from standard ASCII text.
The advent of e-books has seen a shift towards digital readership, where books translated into ASCII text can enjoy wider distribution to library users over the internet. This indicates the future of how libraries will provide materials to their users; but issues of cost, reliability and user misgivings on rapid technological advancement still impact on access.
3. Managing
Managing data at core is concerned with providing users with access points. There are two sources of digital information available to library users: internal (databases) and external (the internet).
Databases organise and order available data in accordance with the user’s information needs, a primary example being an OPAC catalogue of a library’s holdings. Language is the control. Structured Query Language (SQL) commands relational databases to perform queries to retrieve selective data from a number of interrelated data tables.
Databases permit searches by two methods: natural language and controlled vocabularies. If the natural language search terms are not clear, or irrelevant search results are returned, the user may deploy query modification to adjust the language used and yield better results. Controlled vocabularies such as indexing and thesauri may signpost users in context to data that may or may not be relevant. We should expect more relevant database search results than compared to say an internet search engine's results, permitting that the data is there to be retrieved.
Libraries can combine access to both databases and the web concurrently to permit wider scope for information retrieval. Brophy (2007, p.113-4) sees an importance of use behind the access and retrieval process, thus directly linking users to resources. He also implies that use involves the creation of “information objects of various kinds”. A library portal, such as created by the Inner Temple Library[1], is a good example of this – it is an online access point to a number of databases, together with hyperlinks to web resources including a subject index and current awareness blog. Maloney and Bracke (2005, p.87) emphasises that this “is not a single technology. Rather it is a combination of several systems, standards and protocols that inter-operate to create a unified experience for the user”. This means of federated searching[2] is emerging as a possible solution to remove the complexities of cross-searching multiple databases.
Information retrieval over the web is a double-edged sword: on one hand there is a wealth of dedicated resources available online; however an inexpert user will only ever retrieve a small percentage of relevant data from this due to the “invisible web”[3]: a detrimental consequence of a global resource that is dynamically evolving, but where authenticity and permanence is compromised as more and more information goes online. Limb (2004, p.60) believes this could be combated by building federated repositories to harvest in a wealth of relevant cyber resources, but the task may appear onerous and unmanageable.
4. Conclusion
The communication chain between users, systems and sources is dependent on the efficient and concise use of language in order to access and retrieve data. A break in the chain, such as incomplete HTML code or a broken hyperlink, can shutdown access to information, leaving the information seeker locked-out. The architects of the computer systems dictate the choice and methods by which data is represented, but as non-subject specialists, they may not understand the information they give access may not fulfil the user’s needs. A compromise perhaps should be reached.[4]
Recent developments such cloud sourcing[5] look set to change how society store and access digital information, in that information users can retrieve documents via the internet without prior knowledge of where the source document is physically rooted. It appears cloud sourcing makes the service, the source.[6]
I cannot see how law libraries could happily subscribe to these developments: information retrieval is too deeply rooted in specialist knowledge and language coupled with the need for reasonable proximity between the user and their sources. As technologies enable information to become cheaper to produce and maintain; the information is more eagerly consumed by non-experts who have inexpert skill and knowledge in accessing and evaluating relevant information.
The legal information professional, acting as the bridge between users, systems and sources, therefore remains crucial to the information access and retrieval processes.
Bibliography
Brophy, P. (2007). The library in the twenty-first century. 2nd ed. London: Facet Publishing.
The Inner Temple Library Catalogue: http://www.innertemplelibrary.org/external.html (accessed: 25th October 2011).
Maloney, K. & Bracke, P.J. (2005). Library portal technologies. In: Michalak, S.C., ed. 2005. Portals and libraries. New York: The Haworth Information Press. Ch.6.
Limb, P. (2004). Digital Dilemmas and Solutions. Oxford: Chandos Publishing.
Pedley, P. (2001). The invisble web: searching the hidden parts of the internet. London: Aslib-IMI.
Harvey, T. (2003). The role of the legal information officer. Oxford: Chandos Publishing.
Géczy, P., Izumi, N. and Hasida, K. (2012). Cloudsourcing: managing cloud adoption. Global Journal of Business Research, 6(2), 57-71. (accessed: EBSCOhost - 25th October 2011.)
References
[1] The Inner Temple Library Catalogue: http://www.innertemplelibrary.org/external.html (accessed: 25th October 2011)
[2] See Limb (2004, p.59).
[3] For further discussion, see: Pedley (2001) The Invisible Web: Searching the hidden parts of the internet. London: Aslib-IMI.
[4] See Harvey (2003, p.143-6) for a persuasive discussion on the ‘librarian vs lawyer’ in terms of information retrieval within the legal profession.
[5] For detailed discussion of the concerns and benefits of cloud sourcing, see Géczy, Izumi and Hasida (2012) in Global Journal of Business Research, 6(2), 57-71.
[6] i.e. the internet becomes the storage and service provider of digital documents, which are no longer anchored to a physical location.
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