dedicated digital library clients. NOT.

[Eric Hellman]

New protocols and clients etc are constantly being invented, 
deployed, used, discarded and obsoleted.

Based on the evidence, I suspect that the mass demand for another 
digital library focused client just isn't there. There are Z39.50 
clients which are useful but not wildly popular. A year ago, "The 
Brain" had a lot of hype behind it; that seems to have cooled. The 
current trend is browser companions such as those from Alexa, 
Autonomy, Flyswat, Nano, Navilinks and my current favorite, DeepLeap. 
These are well suited as information clients, but of course they 
focus on e-commerce stuff.

I say "another digital library client" because modern web browsers 
are wildly successful digital library clients.

Eric

At 10:03 PM -0700 7/3/00, Roy Tennant wrote:
>I find the Napster phenomenon fascinating, but, I'm afraid, for very 
>different reasons than most of the press corps. For one, I find it 
>gratifying to discover what I've suspected all along is actually 
>true -- that is, there *is* room for another protocol if one has a 
>compelling service. That is, people *are* willing to download a 
>special client that only speaks "napsterese" (or whatever), and use 
>it for a specific task.
>
>This proves my point for developing a dedicated digital library 
>client. Why not? Instead of being set up to search for sound files 
>alone, this one will sign on to special directory servers (national 
>libraries, are you listening?) to be able to transparently search 
>digital libraries for content (books, journal articles, movies, 
>sound files, you name it) using a much, much richer set of metadata 
>than whatever dreck Joe Schmoe decides to note about the sound file 
>he just ripped off.
>
>Oh, and another thing. Instead of logging on and getting lord knows 
>what because the individuals who make up the napster "network" may 
>or may not be logged on at the moment (some still using 14.4 
>modems!!), you could actually count on stuff still being there the 
>next morning. [a digression...has anyone yet determined what the 
>napster witching hour is? that is, does one see predictable dips and 
>surges in available content as the planet turns?]
>
>Daniel Chudnov's "docster" document is a good start on the 
>professional discussion that I'd like to see, not about the 
>copyright issue (*of course* libraries can't violate copyright), but 
>about the potential of this type of technology. That is, how can we 
>use it for the best benefit of our collective clientele? That's 
>clearly the question we should be asking.
>
>You know, I think I've just stumbled on the topic for my next 
>Digital Libraries column for Library Journal. If you have thoughts 
>on this, drop me or the list a line. I'd like to hear from you. 
>Thanks,
>Roy

Eric Hellman
Openly Informatics, Inc.
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