The Open Web Camp V was held last weekend, July the 13th at the PayPal Town Hall in San Jose, CA. It featured diverse speakers on a wide range of topics spanning different aspects of the Open Web Platform and beyond. These included HTML5, CSS3, Web Accessibility, Responsive Web Design and Mobile Technology topics, but also provide opportunities for networking with peers. Participants were equally drawn from diverse backgrounds including education institutions (Stanford, and SUL staff attended), e-commerce, non-profits, business, open source activists and hobbyists among others. Two of the sessions - one on mobile web performance presented by web developer Estelle Weyl, and another on stifling patterns among teams by Bill Scott, SVP of UI Engineering at PayPal will be reviewed, with an emphasis on aspects relevant to SUL.
With the explosive growth in scientific publishing, access to scientific research papers and data has become an increasingly complex affair. Stanford's Forum on the Future of Scientific Publishing on June 27 brought together a diverse group of stakeholders to exchange information about open access to manuscripts and big data.
The Forum was held in response to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) memorandum directing expanded public access to the results of government-funded research. The February 2013 memo requires federal agencies sponsoring more than $100 million in annual research expenditures "to develop plans to make the published results of federally funded research freely available to the public within one year of publication... Such results include peer-reviewed publications and digital data." Furthermore, the memo states that data repositories could be maintained either by the federal government or “scholarly and professional associations, publishers and libraries.” The memo directed federal agencies to provide the OSTP with their draft policies by August 22.
The Stanford Media Preservation Lab (SMPL) – the unit responsible for digitization and preservation of Stanford University Libraries' (SUL) extensive holdings of sound recordings and moving images -- is busy this summer preparing for our new home at 425 Broadway in Redwood City. SMPL is one of several SUL divisions relocating from our current occupancies at 1450-1454 Page Mill Road at the behest of the University.
Over 50 pieces of film, audio, video playback and treatment equipment -- nearly 1 ton of gear -- plus the desks of SMPL's four staff will be moved over Labor Day weekend (August 31 – September 2, 2013). In preparation for the move, normal lab operations will begin to wind down in early August. The work to reconfigure, cable and re-install the equipment will take 2-4 weeks. We expect to resume regular levels of services and productivity by October 1.
Following on from his first post a few weeks ago, our Stanford University Libraries 1st-generationintern Abraham Tewolde updates us on the work he has been doing recently at the Archive of Recorded Sound. Be sure to watch out for further updates between now and the end of Abraham's internship in mid-August.
Some of the latest work underway in Digital Library Systems and Services involves adding digital collections to SearchWorks. Last week saw the addition of five new collections to SearchWorks, all created and deposited to the Stanford Digital Repository using the Self-Deposit web application.
Of the five, we’re highlighting Preserving Virtual Worlds, a collection produced by curator Henry Lowood and a team of collaborators in a multi-institution project funded by the Library of Congress. Original software, gameplay samples, technical documentation, web sites, and other contextual information for games like SimCity, DOOM, and Star Raiders are archived for the ages.Henry’s blog announcement sums up the project and collection nicely.
In May, the creators of a new, unique data mining tool -- Enigma -- made a presentation to a group of Political Science Department graduate students. It would be safe to say that the demonstration generated some real interest and excitement. Based in great part on that response from students in the department, the Library has now arranged a long-term beta-test with Enigma for the entire Stanford community. The only other academic institution with this arrangement is the Harvard Business School.
The Cabrinety Collection is one of the largest pristine historical collections of microcomputing software in the world, including titles from virtually all of the major microcomputer platforms, including home computer and video game consoles. The collection was assembled by Stephen M. Cabrinety (1966-1995), who began collecting software as a young teenager and maintained an intensive interest in computer history throughout his life. Stanford University acquired the entire collection as a gift from the Cabrinety family in 1998.
Stanford University Libraries has provided digital access to large portions of the Musical Acoustics Research Library (MARL) making available important research papers from some of the most eminent acousticians of the 20th century. The MARL collection consisting of nearly 60 linear feet of materials is dedicated to the study of all aspects of musical acoustics.
