Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Tags
Mobile digital libraries,
DSpace, education,
developing countries
There are currently a lot more mobile phones than computers in the world, including
in developing countries. Thus, considering the challenges faced in these countries in
accessing print-based publications and also their existing challenges regarding accessing
ICT resources such as computer and Internet, mobile access to digital libraries might
be a good alternative. This paper features the design of an application for easing the
access to DSpace-based digital libraries, using user-centered design approach. Such
application integrates mobile, web and desktop interfaces, aiming, on one hand, to
provide alternative mechanisms for accessing such libraries in developing countries,
using mobile devices, and on the other, to facilitating the usage of digital libraries in
educational contexts.
1. Introduction
Digital libraries (DLs) currently have a paramount importance in research, teaching and learning. While in the past, accessing library resources would require a physical dislocation to the
library building, today digital libraries are accessible anytime and from almost anywhere.
Such availability of library materials has had a clear positive impact on the performance of
students in formal educational settings (Borgman et al., 2000).
In developing countries, people traditionally face serious difficulties in accessing printedbased publications due to several reasons, especially the expensive costs of such publications when compared to the buying power of the population, (Ngimwa, 2006). Thus, due to
the tragic failure of the traditional distribution mechanisms, digital libraries are seen as the
great hope (Witten, 2006). However, these countries face several challenges in building and
using these libraries: lack of financial resources, poor ICT infrastructure, low computer and
Internet penetration rates, etc. (da Rosa & Lamas, 2012). Nevertheless, there are a number
of digital libraries available that make quality resources available for free, according to the
Open Access Philosophy for instance, or for reduced subscription prices, which is an important contributing factor to a better accessibility of resources in the developing world.
If traditional libraries are places shared by learners from all disciplines, digital libraries have
the advantage of bringing together people with formal, informal and professional learning
objectives (Marchionini & Maurer, 1995). Considering the fact that most learning in life is
informal, another great advantage of digital libraries is related to advancing informal learning,
since the same advantages that accrue to classroom learning also accrue to individuals
pursuing their own learning (p. 74). With the current proliferation of mobile devices, new
doors are opened to improve the accessibility of library materials and to broaden the learning
opportunities related to the usage of digital libraries. The use of mobile technologies to
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http://bookstats.org/pdf/BookStats-Press-Release-2013-highlights.pdf, July
25 2013
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Contextual inquiry
Designing m-DSpace
In order to design this application, we followed a specific set
of procedures so that the result could be valuable to the users
and could reflect their needs and expectations. Thus, a loop
of 4 stages of design research activities was carried out, as
advocated by (Leinonen, Toikkanen, & Silfvast, 2008):
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Personas
Apart from this survey, additional information on the DL usage
was also taken into consideration so that a better understanding
of the potential users could be reached: a previous user study
on the existing DSpace-based digital library at the University
(da Rosa & Lamas, 2009), the updated DSpace usage statistics,
the updated Google Analytics statistics on the DL, ICT usage
indicators in the country (ITU, 2012), etc. Such user study and
information enabled a better understanding of the potential
users. Therefore, after analyzing all these studies and data, 4
groups of users were identified and 4 personas were created
(two primary personas and two secondary personas) along
with their corresponding descriptions. Persona descriptions are
used mainly to contextualize the usage scenario and to narrow
down the scope of the solution which is proposed (Laanpere,
Tammsaar, & Sousa, 2011). Some key characteristics and
requirements of these personas are:
1. Bachelor student 1 - 21 years old; does not have Internet
access at home; owns a smartphone; wants to search the
DL and download materials for offline reading.
2. University lecturer - 34 years old; has computer and
Internet access at home as well as an Internet connected
smartphone; wants mainly to perform searches on a single
as well on several DSpace-based DL at the same time
(federated search); is interested in receiving automatic
reading suggestions and in indicating reading materials to
students.
3. Bachelor student 2 - 24 years old; has computer and
Internet access at home as well as smartphone; is mainly
interested in searching thesis and dissertations for reading.
4. Foreign user - 24 years old; regular smartphone user
for searching and reading materials on the go; wants a
reading list of downloaded materials and the possibility of
highlighting texts and taking notes for each material that
has been downloaded.
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The application
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The application was initially developed for iPhone, since this was
the most used smartphone among the personas. However, the
dynamic of Android powered devices are undeniable: in 2011
for example, the Android powered mobile phones had a 244%
annual growth and represented 48,8% of global smartphone
shipments4. Thus, an Android version of m-DSpace was also
developed.
Figure 1, shows two views of the application (reading list and
metadata), for IOS and Android.
4 http://www.canalys.com/newsroom/smart-phones-overtake-client-pcs-2011,
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Conclusion
This paper has introduced a mobile application that provides an
alternative way of accessing DSpace-based digital libraries. The
application includes several functionalities such as federated
search over distinct digital libraries, adjusting and downloading
resources for reading on mobile devices, receiving automatic
reading suggestions from the system, sharing resources among
users, etc. This alternative mechanism of accessing digital
libraries, using mobile devices, seems to be relevant for both,
developing and developed countries. The application also
includes a web and a desktop version. It integrates the on the
go access to DSpace-based digital libraries with the web and
desktop access, in order to facilitate the usage of such libraries
in educational settings.
The next stages of this project include an evaluation on the level
of acceptance and usage of this solution in a higher education
context of a developing country scenario. Therefore, important
aspects that should be taken into consideration when making
digital libraries available in mobile devices in educational
context should be unveiled, including the way users perceive
and accept such alternative access mechanism.
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Bainbridge, D., Jones, S., McIntosh, S., Jones, M., & Witten,
106(1210-1), 141163.
doi:10.1057/palgrave.ivs.9500066
Da Rosa, I. B., & Lamas, D. R. (2009). Uso de Bibliotecas
digitais versus tradicionais em contextos de info-excluso. In
Sistemas e Tecnologias de Informao. Actas da 4 Conferncia
doi:10.1057/palgrave.ivs.9500066
Bainbridge, D., Jones, S., McIntosh, S., Jones, M., & Witten,
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doi:10.1145/2072069.2072120
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Copyrights
The texts published in this journal, unless otherwise indicated, are subject
to a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivativeWorks
3.0 Unported licence. They may be copied, distributed and broadcast provided that the author and the e-journal that publishes them, eLearning
Papers, are cited. Commercial use and derivative works are not permitted. The full licence can be consulted on http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
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