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9 November 2006
Why Nodalities?
Posted by Richard Wallis at November 9, 2006 06:01 PM
"I read the Panlibus blog - I note Talis has another house blog called Nodalities - why is this and why/who should be reading it??"
One of the major recurring themes from myself and others in Panlibus postings is Library 2.0 and its more general cousin Web 2.0. If you followed the links I provided to their descriptions in Wikipedia you will have discovered that they are both labels for a collection of attributes as against specifications.
I have yet to read a complete concise definition of what Web 2.0 or Library 2.0 ‘is’ [and probably never will], nevertheless it is far simper to look at an application or service and pronounce to the world that it is very Web 2.0 and be fairly confident that people will understand what you mean.
Web 2.0 is virtually all about technology, Web Services, Service Oriented Architecture, Social Networking tools, etc. etc., whereas it’s Library relative mixes all of that with a heavy dose of using those Web 2.0 tools and the customer handling & social skills of the library community to provide a better service to library users. - Debates about the use of mobile phones, and the provision of coffee, in a Library environment are often found in the Library 2.0 world.
We at Talis are the ‘Technology Guys’ in the Library equation, and although interested in all that is debated, our motivations are all about how new and emerging technologies [currently labelled Web 2.0] can be beneficially applied in the Library world. To this end you will find me and my colleagues evangelising on the subject both here and at conferences around the world such as these: Access2006, Internet Librarian International, Stellenbosch Symposium, Internet Librarian 2006, and the Charleston Conference.
The Talis Platform is an excellent example of applying Web 2.0, Semantic Web [to mention another ‘label’], SOA, and other technologies to provide innovative solutions to the liberating of library data, functionality, and services for the benefit of all.
In the process of proposing and delivering those [currently library specific] solutions, we are pushing both the theoretical and practical boundaries of web technologies and the theories and standards that are behind them - especially in the World Wide Web Consortium where you find Talis involved with several comittees. In doing this we are very active members, with much to contribute and say, of the world community driving forward these technologies.
This is where Nodalities comes in. You will note [today] that there is a posting from me picking up points from the blogs of Ian Davis and Sam Tunnicliffe, from our Platform Team, who are currently at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. If you are interested, like I am, in the way that all things Web are [and are being predicted to be] moving, you will find what they are reporting most engrossing.
Reading between the lines of what is being presented it is clear that the advances already being demonstrated by the Talis Platform are only the first step in a massive change in the way large sets of data and metadata (often only linked by semantics), can be marshalled, related together, and combined to change the way information is used in the future.
Dependant on the context, you will find Talis people attending and/or speaking at both Library and more general conferences across the world. Our knowledge, and understanding, of the issues surrounding the library and information industries is very valuable input into the wider technology world. As we have demonstrated this is a two way street. It is absolutely certain that our knowledge and understanding of the Web 2.0 world is already adding unique value to the world of libraries.
So to answer the question at the start of this posting…..
If you are in the library community and want to keep abreast of technology advancements - read Panlibus. If you are in the wider web community and are interested in what we are doing, and have to say about, applying these technologies as a Platform in real world situations - read Nodalities. I suspect most people, although with concentration on one, will find postings of interest in both Panlibus and Nodalities.
Technorati Tags: Talis, Talis Platform, Library, Library 2.0, Web 2.0, SOA, web2summit
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