Democratization of Information
Posted by: David Tyckoson
This is another question asked at the Booklist webinar on 21st Century Reference Collections
Q: To Tyckoson: I have heard free information online being referred to as the “democratization of information.” It seems like you don’t believe this is a positive thing. Can you give me some reasons why?
A: Free online information is indeed the democratization of information and I believe that there are many cases in which this is a very good concept. For example, the electronic publication of reports and hearings by government agencies at all levels is the best way to deliver information directly to citizens. I do not have any solid data, but I estimate that more people use government information today than at any time in the past – precisely because it is quickly and freely available to anyone interested.
Other examples of the democratization of information is the availability of legal information through services such as Findlaw.com, health information from WebMD, documents and guidelines from professional organizations (including ALA), and even the Wikipedia for general background material. People go to sources such as these because they are free, fast, easy, and show up in a Google search. There is nothing wrong with this. In fact, the availability of quick factual information online is why libraries rarely answer that type of question at the reference desk any more – our users find this type of information themselves.
The problem with free information on the web is that in many cases it is acceptable information, but not the best information. The reason that we built up our reference collections over the past 150 years was so that we could provide our communities with quality information from reputable sources. For most of our history, that type of information was contained in reference books produced by commercial publishers. An economic model developed in which publishers produced the information resources and libraries purchased them (or not) depending on their needs. Libraries built quality collections by carefully selecting and preserving the sources that fit their local needs.
In many ways, that is still true today. For example, I accept an article I find in Macmillan’s Encyclopedia of Religion over something that I find on the same topic searching the web because I know that the published article was written by an expert and checked for errors by an editor. I also know that Macmillan presents a balanced view of the field of religion and that the article does not promote the tenets of any specific religion or organization. I have no idea of the type of quality control (if any) of the article I find on the web, nor do I know if it represents the opinions or biases of a particular religion or sect. For the student or researcher seeking quality information on religion, the published source provides a higher degree of reliability than the free web – which is why we all still keep that source in our reference collections.
The economic model of reference publishing by necessity hinders access to quality information. If publishers just put their information out on the web, no one would pay for it and they could not survive. Britannica found this out the hard way in 1999. We need a way to link our users to the quality information we have collected as easily and quickly as they find information on the web. Ideally, we democratize the reference collection by providing fast and simple access to its contents, within the economic parameters established by the reference publishers. Exactly how that will happen, I do not know. Paratext and Credo have taken some major steps in this regard by linking to the contents of materials in our collections. But if we are not able to link our users to these resources, we probably should no longer bother collecting them.
February 4th, 2010 at 4:11 pm
I really appreciate your observations. These issues are ones that we, at Paratext, are trying to asses, prioritize, and build to, also.
One example — I received input from an ARL librarian recently that they require is a complete reference solution that is:
1) Inexpensive
2) Works well
3) Involves little input or maintenance
While #s 1 and 2 are well within grasp, #3 is another matter due to the current state of reference ebook metadata and linking.
Paratext can feasibly provide a data API or dynamically ping a university’s z server. However, our experience suggests that institutional resolvers are not being consistently populated with normalized ebook metadata; nor is there sufficient identification of the value of article-level linking (where it does the most good); nor are there consistent xISBN or DOI standards to accommodate all of the various hosting and resolution points for these resources.
Although I would be thrilled to immediately promise a turnkey solution to #s 1-3 today, there is a ‘Wizard of Oz’ quality to the request. As Sue identified in her piece about discovery layers, a few posts below, the search will work precisely as well as the underlying metadata/resources.
Reference Universe is, in my opinion, sufficiently ahead of the reference metadata field that it constitutes the only coherent, comprehensive solution for reference weed/seed, search, and linking. However, that does not mean that any one entity can or should take on something like this independently. Paratext devotes a great deal of resource to working through these complexities. But, we also need a dedicated investment of cooperative thinking, energy, and dedication from our library partners in order to craft optimal solutions for reference that will be scalable and enduring.
If we, in the scholarly information industries, decline to invest adequately in the development of informed reference inquiry processes (additive to Web quick search), we will lose the fundamental capacity of reference, which is to provide the best starting point for contextualized scholarly research.
By contrast, if we make a choice to re-commit to reference and tackle the sticky issues together, there will be unlimited potential for reference, leveraging evolving technologies, to serve as a pivotal research starting point with outwardly-radiating research possibilities.
A precise and contextualized starting point will deliver robust and enlightening results. Start slightly askew, who knows where we may end up … ?!
Alix Vance
President, Paratext
http://www.paratext.com
http://twitter.com/ParatextFIND
February 5th, 2010 at 10:55 pm
[...] Reblogging: Response to ‘Democratization of Information’ February 6, 2010 Posted by abvance in Reference. Tags: Paratext reference metadata ebook library research discovery trackback Commenting on: http://pointsofreference.booklistonline.com/2010/02/04/democratization-of-information/#comments [...]