1 digital library as a controversy: gallica vs google gaëlle béquet ecole nationale des chartes /...
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Digital library as a controversy:Gallica vs Google
Gaëlle Béquet
Ecole nationale des chartes / ASSIC Université Paris III Sorbonne nouvelle
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Introduction
• My research project focuses on two technological innovations in European national libraries, i.e. the digital library and the conservation of born-digital heritage or E-heritage
• What are the organisational, political and symbolic challenges of these two major innovations for libraries in Europe ?
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Introduction
• Issues:• What are the groups involved in the process of
innovation in libraries ?• Is there any competition / cooperation between
national libraries and between national libraries and the private sector ?
• What are the symbolic aspects of the digital library and of E-heritage ?
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Introduction
• This presentation is to deal with an element of my research: the digital library as an innovation.
• Most digital libraries are based on similar technological bricks like TCP/IP, 2D digitization, OCR, electronic storage facilities, servers, metadata, search and retrieval systems,..which can be considered as inventions.
• The innovation called the digital library is a process characterized by a high degree of interpretive flexibility: different innovators (or actors) have different approaches.
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Introduction
• Actors who take part in the process of innovation can be identified when a controversy arises according to the actor-network theory (ANT).
• This presentation will analyse the controversy Google triggered when it launched its digitization project in 2004.
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Theoretical framework
• Actor-network sociology of innovation or actor-network theory (ANT)
• Developed in the 80s and 90s by Michel Callon (Fr.), Bruno Latour (Fr.) and John Law (UK), sociologists
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Theoretical framework
• Technology is contingent and shaped socially: it is dependent on sociological, political, economic and historical circumstances.
• Before a technology is stabilized or is « blackboxed », it is taken amidst conflicting interests which lead to a controversy.
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Theoretical framework
• Concept of inscription• « The protagonists [or actors] seek to establish
or maintain a particular technology or set of technological arrangements and with this a set of social, scientific, economic and organizational relations. » (Bijker & Law, 1992)
• « like a film script, technical objects define a framework of action together with the actors and the space in which they are going to act. » (Akrich, 1992)
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Theoretical framework
• Concept of actor• « The actor is an element which makes other
elements dependent upon itself and translates their will into a language of its own. […] The actor tells you what you want, what you will be able to do in 5, 10 or 15 years, in which order you will do it, what you will be glad to possess and of what you will be capable. And you really believe this, you identify with the actor and will help him or her with all your strength. » (Callon & Latour, 1981)
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Theoretical framework
• Concept of network• Global network: « a set of relations between an
actor and its neighbours on one hand and between those neigbours on the other » (Callon & Law, 1992)
• Local network: « the development of an array of the heterogeneous sets of bits and pieces that is necessary to the successful production of any working device » (id.)
• Links between the two networks are named obligatory passing points.
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Theoretical framework
• Concept of translation• Heterogeneous actors belonging to a global
network can reach an agreement to promote an innovation thanks to translation.
• « By translation we understand all the negotiations, intrigues, calculations, acts of persuasion and violence, thanks to which an actor or force takes or causes to be conferred n itself authority to speak or act on behalf of another actor or force. » (Callon & Latour, 1981)
• The controversy is the expression of the translation process.
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Case study: Gallica vs Google
• ANT relies on innovation case studies such as aircraft, fluorescent lighting, scallop industry…
• Hanseth & Monteiro (1998) used ANT to study information infrastrucures in Norway.
• My case study is the controversy about the digital library (2004-2009).
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Context analysis
• 1997-2002 : digital libraries compared to « cabinets de curiosité in their limited ability to support scholarship or address information needs of defined community users » (Dalbello, 2004)
• In Europe and in the USA: pilot project policies, call for proposals, digitization of special collections belonging to the public domain.
• In 1998, the French national library set up Gallica, an encyclopaedic digital library based on image-mode digitization with a collection development policy.
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Context analysis
• Google company was created in Sept. 1998. Its main product was then « a large-scale search engine which makes heavy use of the structure present in hypertext » (Brin & Page, 1998)
• On Aug. 19th 2004, Google entered the stock market (NASDAQ) and launched an initial public offering quickly raising 1,7 billion dollars. The company was thus in a position to invest massively and undertake new projects.
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The sociotechnical network in progress
• Oct. 2004: Frankfurt Book Fair, Google’s founders announced the Google Print Program
• Dec. 2004: Google announced a second project, the Library Digitization Plan
• « We launched the first part of Google Print on October to make the world of books more discoverable. The thing is most books in the world are out of print. By working with libraries as well as with publishers, we’ll have access to millions of books, including many unique volumes that haven’t been read in years. » (O’Sullivan & Smith, 2004)
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The sociotechnical network in progress
• On Jan. 23rd, 2005, Jean-Noël Jeanneney, director of the French national library (2002-2007), published an editorial in the newspaper Le Monde entitled « Quand Google défie l’Europe » (When Google challenges Europe)
• April 2005: he published a book with the same title
• 2006: new French edition with an introduction entitled Chronicle of a battle
• Oct. 2006: English edition published by the University of Chicago Press
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The sociotechnical network in progress
• Jeanneney’s main criticisms against Google’s project?
• Mostly English-language resources• Targeted advertisement• Biased results and secret algorithm• Lack of bibliographic data• Libraries will not get any financial benefit• Long-term preservation uncertain• Copyright issues not taken into account
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The sociotechnical network in progress
• What does Jeanneney advocate ?• State regulation in cultural and communication
matters• Cooperation between libraries and other
memory institutions, such as archives and museums
• Public collection development policy• Respect of copyright legislation
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Jeanneney as the translator• Focus point of the network• Jeanneney’s family belongs to the so called
« noblesse d’Etat » (Bourdieu)• His grandfather was the president of the French
senate (1932-1944)• His father was Minister of industry after the
Second World War• Jean-Noël Jeanneney was Secretary of state for
trade (1991-1992) and for communication (1992-1993)
• Alumnus of the Ecole normale supérieure, university professor and historian of the media
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Jeanneney as the translator
• Legitimacy of the « noblesse d’Etat »
• Legitimacy conferred upon him as the president of the new French national library based in Tolbiac, a project launched by President François Mitterrand in 1988
• Jeanneney’s book is the obligatory passing point
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Jeanneney’s network
• French government• European leaders• French and European administrations• European national libraries• Publishers• Online book vendors• R&D companies• Media
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Google’s network
• Publishers
• Authors
• Federal government
• Libraries from different countries representing different languages
• Online book vendors
• Union catalogues such as the French SUDOC
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Innovative digital libraries
• Gallica 2:• From image-mode to text-mode digitization• Access to public domain and copyrighted
material• Agreement with publishers and online book
vendors• Development of a new search engine Quaero• Part of Europeana, the European digital library
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Innovative digital libraries
• Google Books:• Text-mode digitization• Access to public domain and copyrighted
material• Agreement with publishers and online book
vendors• Library link• Targeted advertisement
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Conclusion
• Industrialization of memory
• Heritage institutions challenged by private actors
• Memory or anti-memory: from pyramidal structure to the rhizome
