Transcript Cultural Diffusion

Theories of Evolution and Cultural
Diffusion: The Dryad Repository
Case Study for Understanding
Changes in Organizing
Information Practices
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iSchool Conference
University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
February 9, 2009
Jane Greenberg,
Associate Professor
University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
[email protected]
Overview
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Motivation for studying change
Theories of evolution and cultural
diffusion
The Dryad Repository
Explore application of theories of
change via the Dryad Repository
Conclusions
Confessions….
 Not an expert on the theory evolution or
cultural diffusion
 iSchool Conference is perfect venue to
present novel ideas
Motivation for studying change
Motivation for studying change
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Increase in access to a wide-variety of
systems for organizing information
- NSDL Metadata Registry
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Ongoing development
Folksonomies  formalized ontologies
- National Center for Biomedical Ontology, BioPortal repository
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Remarkable growth in the diversity of
individuals using these systems for
organizing information
More evidence of change
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Social computing environment (Flickr, MySpace, and
Connetea ) tagging/Folksonomies
Formal schemes in social networks: Flickr: Image File
Format (EXIF), iTunes and Windows Media Player ID3 for
MP3 audio files
Repository environment requiring author generated
metadata
KOS (knowledge organization systems) relating to the
Semantic Web
Motivation for studying change
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How might we explain or make sense of this
change?
What theoretical constructs may help us to
understand the organizing information
changes found in our evolving information
systems?
- Understanding change, we can more positively embrace change,
facilitate effective change  greater productivity
- Contextualizing change can help us to identify significant
research questions, solving important problems, and
advancing our field
Theories of evolution and cultural diffusion
Theories of evolution and cultural diffusion
Evolution
- Grounded in biological
sciences
- Natural selection
Darwin’s Origin of the Species
- Adaptation
Physique of people Alaska and
Siberia, compared to the
ancient ancestors in warmer
climates
- Phenotype*
- Genotype
Genetic algorithms, life-cycle
Cultural Diffusion
- Spread of ideas,
material objects,
behaviors (Schaefer, 1974;
Berry, 1979)
- Transfer of discrete
culture traits via
migration, trade, war,
etc. (Winthrop, 1991)
- Diffusion of innovation
theory (Rogers, 1995)
The Dryad Repository
The Dryad Repository
1. One-stop deposition and shopping for
data objects supporting published
research…
~ 180 data objects, 40 pubs; American
Naturalist, Evolution,…
2. Support the acquisition, preservation,
resource discovery, and reuse of
heterogeneous digital datasets
3. Balance a need for low barriers, with
higher-level data synthesis
A hierarchy of goals
Synthesis
Sharing
Discovery
Preservation
The Dryad Repository
The application of theories of
change via the Dryad Repository
1. Can aspects of evolutionary theory be
observed…, and can they explain
changes in organizing information
practice?
2. Can aspects of cultural diffusion be
observed..., and can they explain
changes in organizing information
practice?
Evolutionary Theory
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Metadata standards
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Natural selection: Metadata functionalities
supporting search/retrieval continue to play an
important role: subject, including standardized
vocabulary
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Inheritance: Metadata application profile,
drawing from Dublin Core, DDI, EML, PREMIS
( perhaps also an adaptation)
Evolutionary Theory
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Annotation and Folksonomy indicative of
adaptations
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Extend organizing information tasks beyond the
province of the information professional; the less
formalized approaches permit new inroads
Concept of a “work” via natural selection and
adaptation (2 first class objects: journal article
and data objects) (Smiraglia, 2001, 2008)
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Data object reuse = the process of natural selection
Modified data objects = adaptations
Cultural Diffusion
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A team of mixed expertise allowing for direct
diffusion (Evolutionary biologists, computer
scientists, and information/library scientists)
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Authority control for scientists’ names
Specificity and exhaustivity in subject indexing
Cultural Diffusion
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Moving forward via indirect diffusion (generally,
something in the way, but diffusion takes place
anyhow)
- Ontologies mimicking structure thesauri
Evolutionary biologists are more:
- Accustomed to working with digital repositories, data
deposition via Genbank, and journal repositories
- More technologically competent (Connotea, Flickr)
and potentially anticipating change/new organizing
information features, “tagging” and “annotation”
Phase 3, Dryad development plan/Web2.0
Conclusions
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Within the construct of evolutionary theory, aspects of
natural selection, inheritance, and adaptation were
observed
Dryad exhibits elements of direct cultural diffusion, less
clear at this time are aspects of “indirect” diffusion
Work provides examples, showing application, and…invites
new questions about how to further study change
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Prove applicability via empirical evidence
Studying the topics in other repositories or other information
systems
Jane Greenberg
[email protected]
=
SILS Metadata Research Center <MRC>
http://ils.unc.edu/mrc/
[email protected]