The University of Michigan plans a coordinated program of experimental research and development to gain insight into the creation, operation, and use of advanced digital libraries. It uses the term "digital library" as the generic name for federated structures that provide humans both intellectual and physical access to the huge and growing world- wide networks of information encoded in multi-media digital formats.
The University research team will focus particularly on mechanisms to support humans in the timely, relevant, and economic harvesting of information that they need and want in a vast and growing "information wilderness." Their ultimate goal is to help create an environment in which people (working alone or in groups) have on a desktop a personalized ("special") library built upon collections of world wide information sources.
The project is organized around the synergistic intersection of three sub-activities: relevant basic research in computer, information, and social science; design and construction of an evolving testbed system; and its deployment, use, and assessment. These activities are built upon the complementary strengths of multiple groups, both internal and external to the University.
Beginning from the perspective of the desktop (or other personal information appliance), the researchers will explore the creation and evaluation of 1) information viewers and query facilities; 2) supporting search and retrieval services; 3) data and document structures; and 4) collection and access management services.
The basic research team includes: Faculty in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science with expertise in distributed, intelligent systems including: federation of heterogeneous systems, distributed AI, object-oriented databases, and collaboration systems; faculty in the School of Information and Library Studies with expertise in information organization and retrieval, reference services, and user needs assessment/system evaluation; faculty and senior staff in computer science, economics, and the Michigan University Press with expertise in information economics and intellectual property issues; and technical staff, research programmers, and system builders at Michigan, American Math Society, and Bellcore with expertise in human computer interface design, segmentation of continuous media, and experience in creating and deploying experimental electronic library/publishing systems.
The proposed research is focused and grounded by the goal to design, construct, deploy, and evaluate a digital library testbed Although much of the research will be generic with respect to information subject area, our testbed, the University of Michigan Digital Library (UMDL) will focus on the subject domain of earth and space science (ESS).
The user communities for the testbed will include expert researchers, graduate, undergraduate, and high school students, and the general public. The research team will build a microcosm of content levels and media types ranging from page images to interactive, compound documents and real-time interaction with real time scientific data, replays of collaborative sessions, and human expertise. It will also be addressing issues about how users of the UMDL add content back into it the digital library.
Comments or questions may be sent to: UMDL.INFO@umich.edu