Have a look at one of the Demo videos on the Seadragon site:
The Google Map-like fluidity of this application makes for a very attractive user experience. The Seadragon folks also claim that the client-side "browsing" is unaffected by low bandwidth. As the demand for visual materials grows in research and instruction, so too will the need for effective image collection browsing and searching interfaces.
By way of demonstration, I've created an OPML package for librarians. This file is just an example, it's certainly not meant to be comprehensive.
The way to use this is:
But first, you'll need to get the OPML file:
* OPML file here
* Click File->Save Page As
I can't remember when exactly it was that I first heard about OPML. But over time a relatively humble idea occurred to me: librarians and other educators could compile OPML "Packages" of academic/scholarly content for distribution to our users. "Want to subscribe to an authoritative set of feeds on the topic of Public Health? Just download our Public Health OPML file and import it into your aggregator."
Then a colleague asked me if I had read any of Dave Winer's posts on "Reading Lists." -Nope. So he clued me into Winer's idea. Rather than explaining it, here it is, straight from the horse's mouth:
Reading lists are OPML documents that point to RSS feeds, like most of the OPML documents you find, but instead of subscribing to each feed in the document, the reader or aggregator subscribes to the OPML document itself. When the author of the OPML document adds a feed, the aggregator automatically checks that feed in its next scan, and (key point) when a feed is removed, the aggregator no longer checks that feed. The editor of the OPML file can update all the subscribers by updating the OPML file. Think of it as sort of a mutual fund for subscriptions.
-Dave Winer
As a librarian, I guess I should be happy with the term "Reading List," but I wonder if that title isn't a little bit misleading in cases where feeds are being generated from search queries or represent updates to class schedules, etc. Still, I think Winer's idea is pretty ingenious, much more so than static "packages" of content. My gut feeling is that this is the direction feeds will inevitably go. And, in the end, I care less about the name and more about the great functionality this will bring us.
On the other hand, his Reading Lists concept may take some time to catch on and I'd like to start experimenting with targeted packages sooner rather than later.
Add David Walker's RSS Creator and a variety of other feed services (ex our other Library Feeds) - and we are getting closer to some pretty exciting research tools.
"A system that leverages SFX and Metalib to create RSS feeds for any journal or newspaper indexed and abstracted in a library's subscription databases.
flash RSS Creator 0.1"
http://public.csusm.edu/dwalker/rss.htm
That pretty much sums it up. The system is password protected (htaccess), which won't work in Bloglines but will work in a variety of desktop tools. I hope more libraries integrate similar RSS services into their online services.
There are a few PDA aggregators out there. For example:
But there is another way of providing feeds for mobile devices: just format your online feed service to be mobile device friendly.
Bloglines offers just such a service:
View it here: http://bloglines.com/mobile
A major drawback of this approach is that these feeds are only available if and when you have wi-fi at your disposal, but it also doesn't require that you download yet another piece of software. -worth a look anyway.
This is pretty exciting for me personally, because it means that I can import citation information from online services like Furl or del.icio.us. There are a lot of times where an online bookmaking tool fits my needs much better than a citation manager like RefWorks. Furl, del.icio.us and others add improved interactivity with others, ranking systems, easy collaboration and a variety of other tools and services that I often desire to use.
By including an RSS importing feature, RefWorks takes a respectable step towards a more highly interoperable research world. Sure, you'll have to massage your references once you get them in there, but this system allows you to bypass at least some of the bibliographic grunt work.
Hats off to RefWorks.
Here's what adding an RSS feed looks like in RefWorks:
References
Broun, K. (2004). New dog, old trick: Alerts for RSS feeds. Library Journal (1976), , 18, 20.
Byrne, G. (2005). RSS and libraries - fad or the future? Feliciter, 51(2), 62-63.
Cohen, L. B. (2005). Finding scholarly content on the web: From google scholar to RSS feeds. Choice, 42 part Special Issue, 7-8, 10, 12-17.
Cunningham, K. (2005). Health and medical news on the web: Comparing the results of news-providing web resources. Medical Reference Services Quarterly, 24(4), 17-40.
Daily, G. (2005). Aggregating the aggregators: RSS reader round-up. EContent, 28(4), 36-41.
Hammond, T., Hannay, T., & Lund, B. (2004). The role of RSS in science publishing: Syndication and annotation on the web [computer file]. D-Lib Magazine, 10(12), 1.
Miller, R. (2004). Can RSS relieve information overload? EContent, 27(3), 20-24.
Neblett, V., Shivers, C., & Thingvall, N. (2005). The digital access architect. Library Journal (1976), 130(18), 34-36.