Helping Memory Institutions in the Networked Information Society

Masao Takaku

(University of Tsukuba)

masao@slis.tsukuba.ac.jp

@tmasao

International Summer School of InformaticsSeptember 9th, 2014Tsukuba, Japan

1

Outline

• 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami

• MLAK – Memory institutions

• Project “saveMLAK” Wiki-based activities Coordinating efforts

• Summary

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About me (Masao Takaku)

• University of Tsukuba Associate Professor Joined this school last year (2013). Received PhD in Information Science (2004). Research fields

Information Retrieval, Web Information Seeking Behavior, and Digital Library

• Before joining here, I worked for a national institute as a library engineer. Development and operation on Web

services such as a institutional repository.

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2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami• March 11th, 2011. 14:46PM

Over 20,000 people were killed or missing.

400,000 houses were damaged.

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What and how can we do?

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https://twitter.com/arg/status/46159899150925824

As a Librarian or library services, let’s think about what can we do NOW.

7https://twitter.com/tmasao/status/46423283620528128

NOW we are able to try to gather, provide and share information on the local community.

Crisis response with ICT

• Google Person Finder

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Crisis response with ICT (cont.)

• sinsai.info Ushahidhi (Open source software) + OSM (Open Street Map) + Voluntary effort

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saveMLAK Project

1. Gathering information ofMLAK’s facilities in damaged area using

wiki (http://savemlak.jp)

2. Coordinating activities to rebuild the functions of MLAK.

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MuseumLibraryArchivesKominkan*

MLAK = * community center.

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http://savemlak.jp

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Basic information (Facility template)

Free text information(How much damages,

operation notices, source of info., etc.)

Facility Template on saveMLAK Wiki

• Name

• Transcription

• Address

• Longitude and Latitude

• Phone number

• FAX number

• Email address

• URL for Web site

• ISIL (International Standard Identifier for Libraries)

• Notes13

Some Statistics of saveMLAK Wiki

• Pages: 30,000

• Contributors: 300

• Edits: 140,000

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Number of Pages on saveMLAK Wiki

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Number of Edits/Day on saveMLAK Wiki

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Usages of saveMLAK Wiki

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Visitors Page Views

Components of saveMLAK

• Voluntary efforts and community to gather information. Semantic MediaWiki Pro-bono (professional + volunteer)

• Communication Twitter – social media Mailing list MeetUp – online/offline meetings Wiki – wiki style

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Open Data from saveMLAK Wiki

• Datasets Whole datasets by XML Dump

CC-BY-SA license

List of basic information of facililties by Tab Separated Value format Public Domain

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Other activities of saveMLAK project

• Support at several public libraries Minamisanriku Town Library

ICT support

Natori City Library Coordination for building temporary library

Kesennuma City Library

• Cooperation with Prefecture Libraries Agreement with Miyagi Prefecture

Library

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Coordinating activities to rebuild the functions of MLAK (1)

• Temporary library buildings in Natori City Library

January 4th, 2012 http://www.flickr.com/photos/argeditor/6633697713

January 4th, 2013 http://www.flickr.com/photos/argeditor/8348064613/

Coordinating activities to rebuild the functions of MLAK (2)

• Books Minamisanriku Town

Library School libraries in

Kesennuma City, Minamisanriku Town and others cities.

Octoter 17, 2012 By Minamisanriku Town Library’s staff

saveMLAK : Outcomes

• Pro-bono community MeetUps - Every month 10-20 attendees Tech, Project manager, Accounting, PR, etc.

• Cooperation with other organizations Miyagi Prefecture Library, Natori City Library,

Minamisanriku Town Library Japan Library Association, Tohoku University Library,

Harvard University, Japan Philanthropy Association, iSPP, Internet Museum, National Federation of Kominkan Associations of Japan, etc.

• Awards LOD Challenge 2011 Best Dataset Awards Library of the Year 2012 (Japan) nominee INFOSTA Good Organization Prize (2012)

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Lessons from my experiences

• Support the community Information is essential to survive and

reconstruct people’s daily lives after the crisis.

• Support librarians to work for the community Networks of libraries beyond regions and

institutions would be helpful. Communication takes high costs. Coordination efforts are the key to

success.

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Summary

• Project “saveMLAK” Using ICT technologies for supporting and

rebuilding library services after the disaster.

Building community beyond the cultures of MLAK.

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