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Greenstone Tales
Lessons from the first decade, and a glimpse of the future
Dr David Bainbridge

This event took place on 11th February 2010 at 2:00pm (14:00 GMT)
Knowledge Media Institute, Berrill Building, The Open University, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom, MK7 6AA

The Greenstone software typifies what we have perhaps come to think of as the "classic" form of digital library: Web based with access to content through searching and browsing. Countless digital libraries have been formed with Greenstone since its release on SourceForge in 2000: from historic newspapers to books on humanitarian aid; from eclectic multimedia content on pop-artists to curated First editions of works by Chopin; from scientific institutional repositories to personal collections of photos and numerous other document formats. In this talk I will track the history of the project and reflect on the lessons we have learned over this time. Greenstone is also a highly versatile framework for research. In our lab we are experimenting with forms of digital library software that challenge the status quo. In this talk I will demonstrate a range of these prototypes. In particular:

A realistic books visualizer that brings back many of the advantages of the codex that were lost with the move to accessing content through Web pages and its ubiquitous scroll-bar.

An iPod that has been reprogrammed to become a self-contained portable digital library that has truly vast storage -- available at your fingertips, wherever you are.

Seamless Web editing that removes the barrier between readership and authorship. Edit *any* Web page in the world, and have it stored in your own private digital library for later access.

The webcast was open to 100 users

Click below to play the event (69 minutes)

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