CNI 2013


      Building a Better Book  (in the browser) :

Transforming and Unlocking 

Book Content


Jason Clark
@jaclark


Scott Young
@hei_scott


Research Team




Kenning Arlitsch
Jason Clark
Patrick O'Brien
Scott Young



Research Question





What happens when book content becomes networked?



Others who are 

asking this question




  • Editorially 
  • Pressbooks
  • Book in Browser Conference
  • The People's E-Book (Kickstarter)
  • Open Book Hack Weekend (NYPL)


Outline



The codex and emerging book formats


The web browser as container


A new data model for the "book"




  "When I was a kid, I always                   dreamed of becoming a librarian..."



  "...until I found out that librarians don't read books for a living."


 - Thing said by an actual person






So, let's talk about the book.







The Codex

as 

Information Technology 

                                                                                   Cornell University Library





The eBook

as 

Information Technology 




The "Book"

as

Information Technology



  • Data Delivery
  • Information Access
  • Knowledge Building


The Web

as 

Information Technology 



  • Data Delivery
  • Information Access
  • Knowledge Building



The Web!



   More flexible and extensible than book & ebook

      Web browser = 21st-century printing press



    Our Project


    1. Digital Book for a university history class
    2. MS Word --> static HTML --> dynamic HTML
    3. API + Semantic Components + Linked Data


    http://arc.lib.montana.edu/book/home-cooking-history-409/



    Dev Stack


    • MySQL
    • Treesaver.js
    • HTML5 + CSS3
    • Structured Data with schema.org






    What happens when book content becomes networked?



    • Analyzable
    • Shareable
    • Reusable




    Analyzable 










    Shareable


    (with both humans and machines) 




    Deep-linking the book


    (harness the URL)





    arc.lib.montana.edu/book/home-cooking-history-409/table-of-contents.html



    arc.lib.montana.edu/book/home-cooking-history-409/item-1.html

    arc.lib.montana.edu/book/home-cooking-history-409/item-2.html

    arc.lib.montana.edu/book/home-cooking-history-409/item-3.html





                                                                                                             http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/richsnippets









    Reusable






    The "Book"
    as 
    Development Platform



    (the fun stuff)


    arc.lib.montana.edu/book/home-cooking-history-409/api.php?type=recipe&id=1&v=1&format=xml

    arc.lib.montana.edu/book/home-cooking-history-409/api.php?type=recipe&id=1&v=1&format=json



    New Data Model Application



    Book as website
    Website as API
    Book as API
    +
    JSON-LD
    RDFa




    So, why do this?



    Bring this conversation into libraries

    Linked Data and Semantic Web development

    API that transforms the book into a platform

    Projects that engage beyond geeks





    A Better Book in the Browser

    Findable + Shareable + Flexible + Reusable


    Thanks!



    Jason Clark
    @jaclark

    Scott Young
    @hei_scott


    ( https://github.com/jasonclark/bib-template )