New from Facet Publishing: Managing Metadata in Web-scale Discovery Systems edited by Louise F. Spiteri, Dalhousie University.
Libraries are increasingly using web-scale discovery systems to help clients find a wide assortment of library materials, including books, journal articles, special collections, archival collections, videos, music and open access collections. Depending on the library material catalogued, the discovery system might need to negotiate different metadata standards, such as AACR, RDA, RAD, FOAF, VRA Core, METS, MODS, RDF and more.
With this new book, you can harness the power of linked data and web-scale discovery systems to manage and link widely varied content across your library collection.
Editor Louise Spiteri and a range of international experts show you how to:
The book will be essential reading for cataloguers, technical services and systems librarians and library and information science students studying modules on metadata, cataloguing, systems design, data management, and digital libraries. It will also be of interest to those managing metadata in archives, museums and other cultural heritage institutions.
-ends
Press and review copies contact:
James Williams, Marketing & Sales Manager, Facet Publishing
Tel: +44 (0)20 7255 0597
Email: james.williams@facetpublishing.co.uk
Notes:
Managing Metadata in Web-scale Discovery Systems | May 2016 | 188pp | Paperback; 9781783300693; £54.95
About the authors:
Dr Louise Spiteri is Director of the School of Information Management, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Dr. Spiteri has published extensively in the areas of social tagging, folksonomies, social discovery systems, and library cataloguing. Dr. Spiteri teaches in the areas of information management, metadata, records management, cataloguing, classification, and taxonomies.
The book is published by Facet Publishing and is available from Bookpoint Ltd | Tel: +44 (0)1235 827702 | Fax: +44 (0)1235 827703 | Email: facet@bookpoint.co.uk | Web: www.facetpublishing.co.uk. | Mailing Address: Mail Order Dept, 39 Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4TD. It is available in North America from the American Library Association.
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We've collected together some of the interesting, contentious and important library and information stories that were discussed around the world last month. There were lots of interesting discussions in April, including:
Let us know what you think or if you have any other important issues that we missed in the comments section below.
Let's consider some of the threats and opportunities for public health in the information age.
France is proposing to ban out of hours to emails, in a bid to reduce employee stress and ‘digital burnout’, according to BBC Magazine.
We’re well on our way to smart robot surgery, according to this piece by Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, after robots outperformed surgeons in a recent operating room test procedure.
Virtual reality therapy is an emerging intervention in the treatment of paranoia, Wired has reported, as a new study says this approach has shown benefits for people who still had difficulties after traditional mental health treatments.
20 years after Oprah launched her book club encouraging America to read, books appear to be the hottest accessory favoured by Hollywood stars on Instagram, according to USA Today.
The favourite book of young UK royal Prince George is Julia Donaldson’s The Gruffalo as reported in Hello Magazine.
The iPhone has been named ‘the most influential gadget of all time’ by Time Magazine, reports the Good E-Reader.
Death to the feed... the reverse-chronological sorting of information on social media platforms will be a thing of the past according to New York magazine, as we welcome the advent of the curated feed.
Craft remains as relevant as ever in the information age, as art students breathe new life into old forms, according to Grayson Perry writing for the Guardian.
Some early, rare editions of Shakespeare’s plays have been made available to download from specially-designed wallpaper featuring virtual library bookshelves.
... well, not really. The Telegraph is, though, announcing that "books are back" as printed book sales rise for first time in four years as ebooks suffer decline. This is partly attributed to, in the article, the rise of adult colouring books as well as readers realising the pleasure of a physical, as opposed to digitial, book. The pleasure of reading books, specifically children’s books, is eloquently described by SF Said on the Amnesty blog.
At the same time, Michael Kozlowski reports in The Goodereader, that many leading UK e-book companies are going out of business as they’re unable to compete with Amazon. Recently, Waterstones have announced that they are closing down their digital download service.
It’s not all good news for publishers of physical books, though. The Bookseller reports that "Publishers and retailers could owe HMRC millions of pounds of uncollected VAT following the adult colouring book craze of last year."
And we shouldn’t triumphantly dismiss ebooks as a fad. One of the clear advantages of the digital book over the more established technology of the physical book is how much more accessible they can be. This is very concisely explained in a letter to The Guardian and in a blog on the CILIP site by Alistair McNaught.
UK Government research suggests that two thirds of UK businesses were hit by a cyber breach or attack in past year.
It’s not just a problem for businesses. Motherboard are reporting on what looks like a pretty useful tool for checking whether your data has been exposed after a website you use has been hacked (Linkedin is a big one!).
It’s interesting to see how much data can be exposed (and how casual we can feel about it). It’s also a pretty good reminder to use strong passwords and update them regularly or, as Google seem to be moving towards, getting rid of passwords altogether (in some instances)...
It’s not just hackers, either. There are lots of trust-based questions about how we access information. Can you trust news sites? Can you trust your smartphone? Can you trust Google?
They’re complex questions with overlapping technical and ethical issues involved. It’s because of questions like these that we need information experts!
Speaking of needing information experts – lots of people have spoken out recently about the importance of library and information professionals.
Stephen Fry gave his support to libraries by appearing in our new #PoweredByLibrarians poster campaign. You can download the poster for free. Stephanie Boland, a writer based in London, wrote a powerful piece on medium.com in which she interviewed her mum to provide a perspective on the changing ways people use libraries over two generations.
Join them in showing your support for the importance of library and information professionals. Ask your local MP to pledge their support for libraries. Or donate to our new library fund, which will invest in the development and modernisation of UK library and information services in all sectors.
CILIP is the leading body representing the information professions.
We build the professionalism of our members by supporting the development of skills, knowledge and excellence. We provide unity through shared values and advocate on behalf of the information professions.
The benefits of CILIP membership include:
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Libraries in all sectors have a crucial role in contributing to social justice which is central to CILIP's vision of a fair and prosperous society. Additionally, concern for the public good in all professional matters, including respect for diversity within society, and the promoting of equal opportunities and human rights is the heart of CILIPs Ethical Principles.
The Diversity Award is occasionally made by CILIPs Community, Diversity and Equality Group (CDEG) and aims to recognise outstanding achievement in the promotion of diversity. It is given to an individual or team who has shown commitment to the advancement of diversity within a library or information setting.
Previous winners have included Shiraz Durrani, Ayub Khan, John Vincent and Margaret Watson.
The winner will be announced at the CDEG AGM on Wednesday 14th September 2016, at Ridgmount Street.
If you would like to make a nomination for the 2016 awards, please contact CDEG Secretary karen.berry@talktalk.net
Closing date: 31st August 2016
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Challenging questions about social justice are being raised across all spheres of public life. What aspirations do we have for social justice? Do our public policies reflect a set of values which could enable us to achieve a fairer and more equal society?
The University of Worcester and the William Temple Foundation are holding a conference to explore these issues in the contexts of faith, education, health, welfare, public policy, economics, gender and sexuality. Academic speakers from America, Australia, Israel, Canada and the UK will present on all these themes, led by 4 outstanding keynote speakers.
The Conference opens with a free public lecture in the Cathederal on Thursday 23 June 2016, 'Faith in the Public Sphere? - in search of a fair and compassionate society for the 21st century' delivered by Professor Chris Baker, Director of the William Temple Foundation and Professor of Religion and Public Life at the University of Chester.
A full Conference programme is available at the Social Justice Conference website: http://www.worcester.ac.uk/discover/social-justice-conference.html
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The main task of the study was:
to explore the extent to which new scientific practices based on digital technologies are emerging, what they consist of, and how they are changing the relation of science and society. The impact of Open Science practices is most evident in scientific publication (Open Access). A new generation of researchers uses digital tools in practically all steps of the scientific workflow, from research funding to critical discourse. This has led to concepts such as Citizen Science, Open Innovation, Open Methodology and Open Notebook Science, for which good practice examples are described. New ways of assessing scientific merit (altmetrics) and of funding (e.g. crowd sourcing) are also emerging. Six futuristic scenarios developed in this study depict potential impact of new open science practices. The study concludes with a set of indicators to measure open science implementation and to create an Open Science Observatory.
Open Digital Science (ODS) and Open Science describe new and open practices in science, research and innovation that make extensive use of digital technologies. The use of digital technologies facilitates openness regarding data, methods, results, actors or publications with an emphasis on scalability of the approach in terms of data, access or computation.
The PDF report - Open Digital Science (SMART 2014/0007) Final Study Report by E. Prem, F.S.Sanz, M. Lindorfer, D. Lampert, J. Irran - can be downloaded from https://ec.europa.eu/digital-s...
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CILIP West Midlands is sponsoring UXLibs-in-a-day in Birmingham:
The UXLibs bus will next park up at Aston University Library on 7th July. This day of User Experience research methods will persuade you to go beyond library surveys and focus groups to discover a whole new world of techniques that reveal a more detailed and valuable picture of user behaviour as well as need.
Practical, interactive and fun, this course has been touring the UK and beyond and as a result will be better than ever by the time it reaches Birmingham.
Feedback from past attendees:
'A great day - inspiring, thought-provoking, fun'
'Excited to try out all these new methods - thank you!'
'Didn't think I would enjoy this, but I was proved very wrong'
'Thought UX was just about websites, now I know it's about spaces and services too'
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Paul Bailey, manager of our Summer of Student Innovation competition, talks about why you should take a look at this year's entries and vote for your favourite ideas from both the student ideas and the supporting technology startup projects competitions.
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CILIP Cymru Wales has launched a Library Champion Award at the annual CILIP Cymru Wales Library and Information Conference.
The inaugural award was made to Ian Anstice, public librarian and author of Public Libraries News, a website that chronicles and comments on the changes to UK public libraries.
The CILIP Cymru Wales Committee created the award to honour the work of an individual who has helped raise the profile of libraries and spread understanding of the work done by library, information and knowledge professionals in the UK. CILIP CEO Nick Poole announced the award at the conference dinner in Swansea on Thursday 26th May.
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The latest newsletter (Volume 33, Number 2, June 2016) is now available. It contains pictures and images which may take a while to print out so readers may want to print the issue in black and white only or use a lower print quality setting.
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In recent years, Dylan has worked tirelessly to make the vision of a single nationally procured library management system a reality in Wales. This has been a very challenging and time-consuming project that required a range of skills and personal attributes, not least tenacity, to pull off. The legacy that his leadership of this project will give the Welsh public library network is significant.
His support not only to his own service but to others through his involvement with SCL Wales and other organisations have led to changes within the Welsh Public Library Standards, various library strategies and the growth and professionalism around the marketing of library services.
He is a passionate committed library professional who on retirement will be sorely missed, both in Wrexham and across the wider nation.
Collecting his award, Dylan thanked CILIP Cymru Wales and sponsors SirsiDynix and applauded the work of his fellow nominees. Dylan said that he saw the award , not as an individual achievement, but as a collective achievement on behalf of all the librarians he has worked with over his 35 year career.
Award criteria
Nominations for Welsh Librarian of the Year should demonstrate achievements in the following areas:
• Positive impact on community or sector
• Improving library services
• Commitment to the profession
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The UK education funding councils’ post-2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) open access policy came into effect in April. Mafalda Marques, project officer (PASTEUR4OA) for Jisc, talks through the key requirements and the support available to institutions to help them comply. Read the original blog.
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Facet Publishing have announced the publication of The Innovative School Librarian, 2nd edition
Written by current leaders in the field, each chapter in this new book addresses the practical issues facing school librarians. This new edition has been fully updated to incorporate curriculum revisions, resource changes, developments in the use and integration of technology and new routes into the profession.
The Innovative School Librarian raises important questions about the functions of the school librarian and sets out to encourage the reader to think outside the box for new approaches to traditional challenges. It aims to inspire and enable school librarians to think creatively about their work and the community in which they operate.
Key topics covered include:
This is an essential, thought-provoking book for all school librarians, practitioners in schools library services, and students of librarianship globally. It also has plenty to interest school leadership, headteachers, educational thinkers, public library managers and local government officers.
-ends
Press and review copies contact:
James Williams, Marketing & Sales Manager, Facet Publishing
Tel: +44 (0)20 7255 0597
Email: james.williams@facetpublishing.co.uk
Notes:
The Innovative School Librarian, 2nd edition | May 2016 | 224pp | Paperback; 9781783300556; £54.95
About the authors:
Sharon Markless (the editor) is Senior Lecture in Higher Education within King's Learning Institute where she draws on many years of experience in both teaching and research. She initially taught in secondary schools and further education before moving into H.E. in 1990 as a Senior Lecturer in Professional Development at Canterbury Christ Church University College.
Elizabeth Bentley is Librarian and Learning Resource Centre Manager at Addey and Stanhope School.
Sarah Pavey is an Independent Consultant and Trainer for school libraries. Visit her website at www.sp4il.co.uk.
Sally Todd is School Archivist at St John’s School.
Sue Shaper is Director of Library Resources at The Broxbourne School.
Dr Carol Webb is Head Librarian at Portsmouth Grammar School.
The book is published by Facet Publishing and is available from Bookpoint Ltd | Tel: +44 (0)1235 827702 | Fax: +44 (0)1235 827703 | Email: facet@bookpoint.co.uk | Web: www.facetpublishing.co.uk. | Mailing Address: Mail Order Dept, 39 Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4TD. It is available in North America from the American Library Association.
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Today, UKeiG has published the call for nominations for the prestigious Tony Kent Strix Award, given in recognition of outstanding practical innovations or achievements in the field of information retrieval in its widest sense. The nomination could highlight achievements in an application or service, or an overall appreciation of past works from which significant advances have emanated. Nominations should reach UKeiG no later than Friday August 26th.
Full details of where to send your nomination and of the information which you should include in the nomination are given in the full call, which call can be found at:
http://www.cilip.org.uk/uk-einformation-group/awards-bursaries/tony-kent-strix-award/2016-call-tony-kent-strix-nominations
and further details of the award and a list of previous winners is also available at
http://www.cilip.org.uk/uk-einformation-group/awards-and-bursaries/tony-kent-strix-award.
The Tony Kent Strix Award is sponsored by the Royal Society of Chemistry Chemical Information & Computer Applications Group.
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The programme and booking form for our AGM and Members Day in London on June 16th can be found at http://www.cilip.org.uk/uk-ein...
The day takes place at No. 11 Cavendish Square, London W1G 0AN and starts at 10:30. There is a small charge for those who are not members of UKeiG, but members can attend free.
Looking at new trends and challenges emerging in the world of e-information and how we, as information professionals, can ensure that we keep our services at the leading edge, our speakers from the information industry present insights from their own perspectives. Our Future Cafe, introduced by Sue Silcocks and John Wickenden, will give delegates the opportunity to discuss some of the key challenges facing information professionals in the workplace.
Speakers include CILIP CEO, Nick Poole, speaking on the future of the profession, David Milward of Linguamatics on search and text mining, and Lin Lin of EBSCO on the search experience. After the short AGM the afternoon will be taken up by our Future Cafe and some time for networking, with drinks sponsored by Manzama.
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It saw world records being set for athletics, track cycling and swimming during London 2012 – and now Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is subject to high speeds of a different kind, with superfast internet connectivity.
Here East – Olympic Park’s former press and broadcast centre, and today the dedicated digital quarter for east London – is now directly connected to the core of the Janet network, the UK’s high-capacity education and research network, to receive resilient internet connectivity of up to 100 Gigabits (Gb) per second. The connection is provided by Jisc.
Loughborough University is the first to take advantage of the Janet network being made available at Olympic Park, taking a connection at its new London site.
Loughborough University London is dedicated to postgraduate study, executive courses and research, in areas including media and creative industries, sport business, design innovation, enterprise and entrepreneurship and digital technologies. Focused on innovation, its students are exposed to the very latest in thinking and real-life industry challenges through IT-rich learning experiences, such as remote learning through online lectures and video conferencing.
This is the first step for the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in its vision to become an important education and cultural hub. As well as Here East, UK government is supporting the development of Foundation for London’s 'Olympicopolis', which will bring together outstanding museums, start-ups and education organisations to showcase exceptional creativity and cutting-edge design. University of the Arts and University College London have both announced they will be building new campuses at this location.
Professor Mike Caine, dean of Loughborough University London, said:
“London is an important strategic location for us, allowing us to enhance our postgraduate offer. Having access to resilient, high-capacity internet connectivity at our London campus is essential, and the Janet network delivers this.
It also means that staff and students at our London site get the same excellent online experience as their Loughborough colleagues.”
The Janet network is one of the fastest computer networks in the world. It has more than 18 million users in the UK, at nearly a thousand universities, colleges and other eligible learning providers.
Jeremy Sharp, director strategic technologies, Jisc said:
“London is leading the UK’s thriving digital sector, with inner London alone accounting for more than a quarter of the nation’s digital companies. Colleges and universities rightly want to harness the opportunities that working closely with these organisations brings, supporting the development of talent, research and digital enterprise.
Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park looks set to be the beating heart of London’s digital future. Education organisations who establish operations here can be assured that they are at the forefront of digital innovation, all underpinned by the Janet network, which gives them reliable, secure internet connectivity.”
Find out more about the Janet network on our website or contact the Jisc service desk on 0300 300 2212.
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A one day workshop provided on behalf of the CILIP Yorkshire and Humberside Member Network – FREE to members of CILIP.
The purpose of this course is to provide participants with a background to mentoring, a basic framework for conducting mentoring both long and short term. The focus of the event is to enable participants to develop effectively as mentors in the context of the CILIP professional development scheme.
Mentor Training is a requisite for becoming a CILIP Mentor and this course is suitable for all CILIP members who have recently registered as CILIP mentors or are thinking of registering. Do come along and find out more about the mentoring scheme.
By the end of the day participants will:
The morning session will focus on generic mentoring skills whilst the afternoon will focus on the CILIP regulations.
Members who have previously attended a course on mentoring skills may attend the afternoon only (14.00-16.30) to join in the elements relating to the CILIP scheme.
Facilitator
Maureen Pinder (CILIP Y&H Mentor Support Officer).
For any questions, and to book a place, please email Maureen Pinder at m.j.pinder@bradford.ac.uk.
Cost
FREE to currently registered members of CILIP.
Non-CILIP members: £50 (inc. VAT) for the morning session on an introduction to mentoring skills.
Non-CILIP members: £50 (inc. VAT) for for full day on mentoring skills and CILIP mentoring scheme for people who intend to become a CILIP member.
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Jisc has announced that three of its development projects to help institutions meet their open access (OA) needs will move to full service status from August 2016.
Publications Router, Monitor Local and Monitor UK will join Jisc's suite of OA support services, following a decision by Jisc's management board in April 2016.
The move to service will enable institutions to rely on these services in their OA workflows and processes, confident in their ability to realise and monitor progress towards their OA obligations and aspirations.
More details can be found on the Jisc Scholarly Communications blog: https://scholarlycommunications.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2016/05/18/publications-router-monitor-local-and-monitor-uk-to-move-to-full-service-status/
Kind regards
The Jisc Open Access Team
Hannah DeGroff
Open access support co-ordinator
078234 164 93
+44 (0)203 697 (5864)
Twitter hannah_degroff
Skype hannah.degroff.jisc
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The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and the Medical Research Council (MRC) have commissioned the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at the University of Sussex to undertake a short on-line survey on "Barriers to and incentives for interdisciplinary research in the UK". The survey has been designed for staff that manage the allocation of research funding in the UK.
The survey should take 10-15 minutes and responses will be anonymous.
Or copy and paste the URL below into your internet browser:
https://universityofsussex.eu.qualtrics.com/SE?SID=SV_bQQpiMQUN3v26DH&RID=MLRP_d5txWIqVHh2Fp0p&Q_CHL=email
Please find here a letter of support from HEFCE and MRC, encouraging your participation.
Kind Regards,
Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU), University of Sussex,
Higher Education Funding Council for England,
Medical Research Council
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PERICLES FP7 is a four-year Project (2013-2017) funded by the European Union, which aims to address the challenge of ensuring that digital content remains accessible in an environment that is subject to continual change.
For more information please visit our website, http://pericles-project.eu or follow us on twitter on @PericlesFP7
The May edition of the PERICLES FP7 newsletter is out now: http://eepurl.com/b1xddP
In this issue we ask you to complete a small survey that we have prepared under request of the EU following the recent review. The survey will help us identifying needs in long-term preservation both for a free information portal and a white paper. We kindly ask you to respond to a brief set of questions (10-15 min) by 1 June: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1OScbcLmL4GkkhIIvRDMdWs904xFkBzEmmDCbkNW_Znk/viewform
Linda Ligios
EU Communications Coordinator, PERICLES
King's College London
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Discovery is a hot topic in libraries and has come to be all-encompassing. Everything is a “discovery interface.” But what do we mean by discovery, anyway? Exploring Discovery: The Front Door to Your Library’s Licensed and Digitized Content contains case studies and investigatory chapters examining the breadth of discovery, organized into four main areas: vendor systems, custom systems, interfaces, and the data that make them work.
The most common path to a discovery service is through a vended system -- a licensed tool from one of our partners. Tools such as Summon, Primo Central, and EBSCO Discovery Service are the biggest players in this market. There are challenges and opportunities in implementing discovery services, and migrating between them. The impact on internal operations must also be considered when outsourcing this suite of tools. Moving to a discovery platform can expose complicated or inefficient workflow processes and highlight the importance of consistent metadata to enhance the findability of locally-managed items. Ensuring the system can properly handle contrasting metadata and item types while providing researchers with relevant results becomes an attainable challenge when institutions with different types of collections share their resources.
For some libraries, vendor solutions do not it the need or are not fiscally prudent. There are a number of different approaches to customizing the discovery experience, from Stanford University’s work to expose geospatial resources, to Grinnell College’s “shoestring budget” approach to a fully functional discovery tool through APIs [application program interfaces] that provide access to already-licensed collections.
While these individual implementations are quite distinct, they share common elements: tailoring the tool, and the interface, to the specific needs of the institution in order to provide a user experience that exactly matches the content and the users. This type of approach can be successful even when the “out of the box” solution does not meet those needs.
Discovery services have a significant role in the way libraries serve their users. This user experience is central to the success of the service. There are certain characteristics common to discovery interfaces: the methods for and value of applying a “Bento Box” design paradigm (in which each kind of content is displayed separately) to a discovery layer, improving the ubiquitous facets that allow users to narrow their results, and making improvements to interfaces and content selection based on local user needs.
Given the large resources most libraries have invested in their discovery tools, it makes sense to ensure that users get the optimal experience - that their research is not impeded by the very tool the library provides to expedite the research process.
The crux of discovery is the data and metadata that make discovery possible. “Garbage in, garbage out” is a clichéd phrase, but true nonetheless -- particularly when any discovery tool that looks beyond the local institution is by its very nature a collective tool. Making sure that the descriptive metadata about resources is accurate, thorough, and consistent is critical.
Exploring Discovery: The front door to your library’s licensed and digitized content, edited by Kenneth J Varnum, examines the range of discovery-focused tools and technologies being deployed by libraries and provides a series of case studies illustrating the interfaces and technologies that can be used by libraries today.
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Every day people rely on Google for answers to their most personal, important or trivial questions. How do you know if the information is reliable? A good place to start is with an information expert. We ask SCONUL Graduate Trainee Rebecca Oliva to investigate whether your smartphone could be listening to you.
When ordering a takeaway or navigating my way around a new city, I am always glad to have my all-knowing smartphone in my pocket. But when adverts started appearing on it for services I had talked about using, but could not remember searching for, my phones omniscience seemed more like clairvoyance. After mentioning I’d like to learn to speak Spanish to a friend, several adverts appeared on my phone for Spanish lessons. When I told a co-worker I was going to visit somebody in another town, I saw adverts about the price of train tickets the next day. Was this coincidence, or was my phone listening to me? I loaded the terms and condition of my phone, hoping I would find an answer, but interpreting the technology jargon and legalese was difficult.
It can also be difficult to investigate questions about digital rights through traditional print or electronic sources, because of ever-evolving terms and conditions and privacy policies. So using Google or a similar search engine seemed like the best place to start. But if Google seems inevitable, it’s even more important to compare and corroborate sources to make sure you get the whole picture.
A combination of technology jargon and legalese can make terms and conditions and privacy policies difficult for the average person to understand. In 2008, Lorrie Faith Cranor and Aleecia McDonald, then researchers at Carnegie Mellon, published a paper in which they stated it would take 76 work days for the average person to read the privacy policies of all the websites and applications they use online in a year [1].
I needed to find a source I could trust to interpret the terms and conditions of my phone. But how do you investigate a topic where traditional print and even traditional electronic sources might come up short? The brief shelf-life of terms and conditions and privacy policies can mean that by the time relevant books and papers are published, they are out of date. In this case, most of us would turn to Google or a similar search engine.
The question ‘is my phone listening to me?’ has about 113,000,000 results on Google. Many of us would be happy to browse the top five results, assuming that they are the most relevant and recent. However, it is worth bearing in mind that there have been criticisms of how Google ranks search results [2] and you should be sceptical of any single source of information. If using Google seems inevitable, it’s important to be extra cautious when evaluating sources of information.
The number of results suggested that other people also suspected they were being recorded by their phones. A thread on Reddit, a user-driven news website, confirmed this. My question had been posed to the online community by a user who suspected his phone of eavesdropping after music he heard at work was suggested to him by iTunes [3]. After trawling through Reddit’s own search engine, I found that this wasn’t the only time a user had posed this question. The comments on the threads were mixed. Some users vehemently asserted that their conversations had influenced the advertising they saw online, whilst others argued that if such technology were possible, it would have a noticeable effect on battery life and data usage.
I was tempted to ignore those users who dismissed my concerns, and accept other users’ concerns as proof that my phone was eavesdropping on me. But this is known as confirmation bias, and on-line, where websites like Facebook show users content they are more likely to agree with, an “echo-chamber” effect can help misinformation spread like “digital wildfire”, named by the World Economic Forum as “one of the main threats to global society.” [4]
For a question such as this, the wisdom of the crowd seemed unreliable. Although I felt my question was legitimised by the large numbers of people concerned about the same thing, it was difficult to avoid an echo-chamber effect, and the anecdotal and mixed responses left me without an answer.
I decided to look for the opinion of an expert, instead of the wisdom of a crowd. I returned to my Google results and selected an article from a trusted source, BBC News, entitled ‘Is your smartphone listening to you?’ [5] It was easy to see why this source is trusted: a search on the BBC News website revealed that the journalist, Zoe Kleinman, is a dedicated technology reporter, and in the article, she asked two cybersecurity experts, Ken Munro and David Lodge, to check whether it was possible for your phone to record you, and whether that would have noticeable effects on the phone battery and data. They found that the technology was possible, and did not have noticeable effects on the user’s phone battery or data allowance.
Kleinman had also done a better job of interpreting complicated terms and conditions than I had: “Google also states in its content policy for app developers that apps must not collect information without the user's knowledge. Apps found to be breaking this are removed from the Google Play store … Other big tech companies have also denied using the technique.” It seemed that whilst the technology was possible, tech companies denied that our phones were listening to us.
After reading the opinion of experts, I was satisfied that I was on the right track. But as with any enquiry, it is important to compare and corroborate the information I had handled.
Kaveh Waddell claimed in a recent article for The Atlantic that “audio beacons”, inaudible to humans, are broadcast with television adverts [6]. The title of the article --‘Your Phone is Listening – Literally Listening – to Your TV’ – was misleading: further reading revealed that the company responsible for the technology, SilverPush, claimed that this technology only currently operates in India, not worldwide. However, by searching for Kaveh Waddell on The Atlantic’s webpage, I saw that like Kleinman, Waddell is a dedicated technology reporter. And the article cites the Center for Democracy and Technology, a non-profit organisation and self-described “champion of global online civil liberties and human rights”, who have filed lawsuits in the United States based on their concerns about “audio beacon” technology. A visit to their webpage confirmed that Waddell’s article was factual. [7]
This article seemed to corroborate the article on the BBC News website. Both articles stated that whilst the technology was available, here in the UK at least, tech companies denied that they were listening in to any of my conversations. I felt satisfied, but wasn’t sure if I could trust the statements from the technology companies. A post called “Is My Phone Eavesdropping on Me?” on the blog of technology podcast Note to Self [8] included a link to another non-profit agency called Ranking Digital Rights [9]. Authors of the Corporate Accountability Index, Ranking Digital Rights score large technology companies based on their commitment to their policies, freedom of expression, and privacy for users. The results were disappointing: Google scored the highest in total, but with a lowly 65%.
I felt now that I had my answer. By looking on a forum, I could see that lots of people worry that their phone might be recording them without their permission. But this response was anecdotal. By looking for the opinion of an expert, I learned that whilst the technology exists for technology companies to be listening in to our conversations, they deny that they are. However, my suspicions might not be unwarranted: the overall low scores on the Corporate Accountability Index published by advocacy group Ranking Digital Rights demonstrates that technology companies don’t always stick to their privacy policies.
Other blogs in the #AskALibrarian series include:
Image source: image from Gratisography.com under a Creative Commons Zero license / image modified
Endnotes
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Stephen Fry actor, comedian and writer has given his support to libraries by appearing in a new poster campaign from the Chartered Institute of Library & Information Professionals (CILIP). The poster is available to download for free.
“Libraries are where minds flourish and grow. They are like a kind of water supply. Without libraries a country can become a kind of desert.” Stephen Fry
Nick Poole, CILIP Chief Executive, said:
“I’m delighted that the country’s most erudite national treasure Stephen Fry is supporting our campaign. We want as many people as possible to print and display this free poster in their library or workplace. Our society and economy are powered by access to knowledge and information. We are powered by librarians.”
Describing public libraries as “a source of learning and nourishment for young and old and everyone else” Stephen Fry was interviewed for a new documentary Safe House about the UK’s public libraries which premiered on Monday 23 May.
At the Safe House premiere CILIP’s My Library By Right campaign and new Library Fund featured. My Library By Right stands up for our legal rights to quality public library services. Campaign supporters are being encouraged to contact their MP to pledge their support for libraries. The CILIP Library Fund a new initiative to support UK libraries and information services, and a crowdfunding campaign has been kick-started by a £10,000 investment by CILIP.
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Media and fundraising contact:
Mark Taylor, Director of External Relations, CILIP
Tel: 020 7255 0654
Mobile: 07792 635 305
Email: mark.taylor@cilip.org.uk
Notes to editors:
CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals is the leading voice for the information, knowledge management and library profession. Our goal is to put information and library skills at the heart of an equal, democratic and prosperous society by 2020. Registered charity no. 313014. www.cilip.org.uk
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On Monday 23 May, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) launched the CILIP Library Fund, a new initiative to support UK libraries and information services.
The Library Fund, which will not replace or duplicate core public funding for libraries, has been kick-started with a £10,000 investment. During 2016 and 2017, CILIP will implement a UK-wide crowdfunding campaign for individuals and companies to build up the Fund with the aim of creating a new Grants Programme from 2018.
The intention is to support a range of projects and activities that improve access to information and knowledge, literacy, health, digital inclusion and life chances.
Nick Poole, CILIP Chief Executive, said:
“I’m thrilled to launch the CILIP Library Fund. There is so much support amongst the public, creative industries and businesses for the transformative services our sector provides. Until now there hasn’t been a way for our supporters to help libraries provide additional services and activities that improve life chances and create a better society.
“Libraries and information services in the public, private and third sectors make communities stronger, support research and innovation, and help businesses grow. Now our supporters can be part of the difference that we make.”
The CILIP Library Fund will be open to applications from all parts of the information, knowledge and library sector. Applications will open in early 2018. The Fund will not be used to replace core funding for public libraries or other statutory services.
CILIP will fundraise through crowdfunding, encouraging legacies and corporate giving. Supporters will be able to plan and implement their own fundraising activities to contribute to the Library Fund.
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Media and fundraising contact:
Mark Taylor, Director of External Relations, CILIP
Tel: 020 7255 0654
Mobile: 07792 635 305
Email: mark.taylor@cilip.org.uk
Notes to editors:
1. Applications to the CILIP Library Fund we be welcomed for a range of activities and projects that develop, modernise and improve library services. As well as funding for project costs applications will be able to include traditionally hard to fund costs such as equipment, salaries and training; speculative costs such as new product development; and match-funding from sources such as the Heritage Lottery Fund and Arts Council England.
2. CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals is the leading voice for the information, knowledge management and library profession. Our goal is to put information and library skills at the heart of an equal, democratic and prosperous society by 2020. Registered charity no. 313014. www.cilip.org.uk
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Please see flyer for full details.
In the morning, some of the authors of the new version of "The Innovative School Librarian' will be talking about the book, including the topical subject of measuring impact. This topic is becoming more and more central to the role we play, and the seminar on this at the recent Conference proved one of the most popular and influential seminars. In the afternoon two authors from The Edge will be joining us to talk about the publication of their new colloborative anthology.
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