ICADL 2001: The 4th International Conference of Asian Digital Libraries

Citation

Urs, S.R. and Raghavan, K.S. (2002), "ICADL 2001: The 4th International Conference of Asian Digital Libraries", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 19 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/lhtn.2002.23919cac.001

ICADL 2001: The 4th International Conference of Asian Digital Libraries

Shalini R. Urs and K.S. Raghavan

The context

At the closing ceremony of the 3rd International Conference of Asian Digital Libraries (ICADL 2000), Seoul, Korea on 8 December 2000, Professor Hsinchun Chen of the University of Arizona - the moving spirit behind the ICADL movement - announced Bangalore, India, as the chosen destination for ICADL 2001. India joined the ICADL movement by accepting this honour and offering to host the ICADL 2001. A year later, on December 12, 2001 at the closing ceremony of the ICADL 2001, Professor Chen complimented ICADL 2001 for setting a new benchmark for ICADL 2002. At this meeting, he announced the decision of the Steering Committee of the ADL to accept the proposal of Professors Schubert Foo and Ee-Peng Lim of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore to host ICADL 2002.

The ICADL is a series of international conferences with an Asian focus, conceived on the lines of the Joint Digital Library Conference (JCDL) series in the USA and the European Conference on Digital Libraries (ECDL), by Professor Hsinchun Chen of the University of Arizona. The ICADL journey began in 1998 with the first ADL conference being organized in Hong Kong by Dr Jerome Yen of the University of Hong Kong. The second ICADL was organised by Prof. Hsueh-hua Chen of the National Taiwan University in Taipei in 1999. The 3rd ICADL was organized in Seoul, Korea in 2000 by Prof. Key-Sun Choi of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. The baton of ICADL was passed on to Professor Shalini Urs at the 3rd ICADL on 8 December 2000.

ICADL 2001 was truly a "West Meets East" event, as JCDL 2001 Chair, Professor Edward Fox; Professor Gary Marchionini, the JCDL 2002 Chair; ICADL 1999 Chair Professor Hsueh-hua Chen; Professor Choi, ICADL 2000 Chair along with Prof. Chen of Arizona University, were among the 588 delegates from 18 countries (36 from outside India and the rest from different parts of India), who participated in the event.

The goal was to bring together doyens, long-time researchers, new entrants and eager enthusiasts in the field and build a larger and more diverse DL community. The theme of the Conference - Digital libraries: dynamic landscapes for knowledge creation, access and management - was chosen with the objective of drawing together all those who have a stake in the knowledge promotion, preservation and perpetuation business. By all measures the Conference was a huge success, drawing together attendees and speakers from a diverse set of backgrounds - a convergence of different perspectives and experiences. The attendees and speakers represented the different sectors of the DL community - the LIS community, the technology group, the content and knowledge managers - E-Publishing and aggregator group, the archivists, and the service providers. It is no exaggeration to say that no other event in this part of the world has done as much to trigger interest in DL activity as this Conference. This Conference made society at large sit up and take notice of the DL community! The Conference created a setting for forging a vibrant digital library movement in India.

The programme of events

The Conference programme was rich, colourful, stimulating and engaging. The organizers had created a well-rounded programme with the objective of making it all-inclusive - tutorials, plenary sessions, invited talks, contributed papers, poster sessions, product presentations, panel discussions and exhibits. An à la arte menu of concurrently scheduled events was provided for the attendees from which to choose. The cultural evening was refreshing, soothing and nicely rounded out the professional programmes.

The appetizer - tutorials - day 1 - 10 December, 2001

To prepare new entrants and eager enthusiasts for the exciting possibilities and potential of DLs, the Conference began with a concurrent two-track tutorial programme. Track A had Ed Fox, Ian Witten and Gary Marchionini and Track B had Hsinchun Chen, Mike Shepherd, and Rajashekar giving the tutorials. Fox, considered to be one of the top ten DL experts, editor of all three special issues of Communications of ACM on digital libraries and also of Information Processing and Management, gave an overview of the practical applications of DLs. Hsinchun Chen, one of the leading NSF DLI 1 and 2 principal investigator and editor of the Journal of the American Society for Information Science special issue on digital libraries, gave a tutorial on "Knowledge management systems: a text mining perspective". Ian Witten, the developer of the Greenstone open source DL software and author of the famous book Managing Gigabytes, gave a tutorial on "How to build a digital library using open source software". The third tutorial in Track A was given by Gary Marchionini, who has been a long-time researcher in "user interfaces and information seeking". Mike Shepherd of Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada, who has been a long-time researcher specialising in "personalization" and customization, and Rajashekar of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore - a leading Indian DL practitioner and researcher, tutored the participants on "Personalization and filtering on the Web" and "Digital information services in enterprises: a design framework and strategies" respectively.

The ICADL 2001 inaugural ceremony and banquet dinner

ICADL 2001 was formally inaugurated in a glittering ceremony held in the Coronet Hall of Hotel Le Meridien on 10 December 2001. Professor B. K. Chandrashekar, the Minister for Information Technology, Government of Karnataka, was the chief guest and Dr Hari Gautam, Chairman of the University Grants Commission, was the Guest of Honour. In her welcome address, Professor Shalini Urs, Chair, ICADL 2001 Programme Organising Committee, traced the ICADL movement since its inception. There was a multimedia presentation on the "highlights" of the ICADL 2001. Professor B.K. Chandrashekar, in his inaugural address, emphasized the relevance and role of IT (especially in the developing countries) in reaching the disadvantaged groups. Professor Hsinchun Chen, the man behind the ICADL series of conferences, and Chair, International Programme Committee, ICADL 2001, used his keynote address to highlight the NSF's role in the development of Digital Libraries. He also touched on the major issues and challenges facing the digital library community. Professor S.N. Hegde in his presidential address highlighted some of the efforts that the University of Mysore has initiated in this area. Dr Hari Gautam, Chairman University Grants Commission, released the Conference volume and addressed the gathering. Professor S. Sadagopan, Director, IIIB, Bangalore, proposed the vote of thanks.

Following the formal inaugural ceremony, the Conference banquet dinner - a sumptuous spread of mainly Indian with a mix of Malaysian, Thai, and continental cuisine - gave the "brain- fogged" attendees a welcome change from "food for thought" to food for the palate. The social evening offered the delegates a chance to mingle, socialize and have fun.

The main course - days 2 and 3 - 11 and 12 December 2001

The exhibits inauguration

One important attraction of any technology-oriented conference is the exhibits. ICADL 2001 had a nice, engaging exhibit of DL-related products and solutions. The second day of ICADL 2001 began with the inaugural ceremony of the Exhibition. Professor Sadagopan of IIITB welcomed the guests and the attendees. Mr Vivek Kulkarni, Secretary, Department of IT and BT, Government of Karnataka, inaugurated the Exhibition, by "clicking" on a multimedia presentation on the ICADL exhibits. Mr Kulkarni, in his inaugural speech, highlighted the opportunities obtaining for IT-related activities in Karnataka and also achievements of the Department of IT in this regard. One other innovative programme was the launch of a new product - J-Gate Custom Content (JCC) from the stable of INFORMATICS INDIA - pioneers in electronic information products and services in India. Dr S. Chandrashekara Shetty, Vice- Chancellor of the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, did the honors of launching the product. Mr Subba Rao, CEO of Silverline, a group company of INFORMATICS, introduced the new product. The new product was delivered to its first customer, the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore. Dr M.Gourie Devi, Director and Vice-Chancellor, received the product from Mr N.V. Sathya Narayana, Chairman and Managing Director, INFORMATICS, and addressed the gathering. Shalini Urs proposed the vote of thanks.

Eighteen companies showcased their products and solutions in the ICADL 2001 Exhibition set up in three different halls. One other highlight of the Exhibition was the Special India Exhibit on Indian digitization efforts, initiatives and products. A total of 12 Indian initiatives were demonstrated in this Special India Exhibit.

The business sessions

The business sessions of ICADL 2001 consisted of: plenary sessions and invited talks on contemporary issues in DL research; contributed papers by DL researchers and practitioners; posters by authors and product presentations by leaders in DL technologies, products and solutions.

The plenary sessions marked the beginning of the Business Sessions of ICADL 2001 on day 2, 11 December. Six invited papers were presented in two pre-lunch plenary sessions. While Professor Ian Witten painted a "Vision of the Digital Library", Professor Ed Fox presented an overview of DL technologies and strategies that need to be adopted. Professor Shigeo Sugimoto discussed an issue of particular relevance to the Asian region, namely, multilingual issues. Professor Sadagopan identified the major challenges confronting digital libraries in the Indian context - most of which are equally applicable to other countries in the region. Two presentations looked specifically at the situation obtaining in two countries of the region. Dr Lahiri examined the Indian DL scenario, while Ms Zawiyah Baba looked at the DL initiatives of the National Library of Malaysia, indicating the time frame that has been set for realizing some of the objectives identified in their DL initiatives.

After the two plenary sessions, the conference programme ran in three concurrent tracks. These consisted of invited talks, contributed papers, poster presentations and presentation on DL products. In all, there were 21 invited papers, 27 contributed papers, 21 posters and nine product presentations. An important and interesting feature of the business sessions was that most of the papers discussed issues based on practical experience in the design and development of digital libraries. Almost all of them had something to offer in terms of practical hints suggesting "Dos" and "Don'ts" to new entrants to the digital library community. Both the invited talks and the contributed papers encompassed most dimensions of DLs - from the new genre of E-documents to new types of media to new forms of E-publishing. The critical issue of resource discovery, searching and retrieval was one theme covered by many speakers and paper presenters. Papers also presented case studies and experiences in developing digital content and collections.

The cultural evening

Day 2 of ICADL 2001 ended with a relaxing and enjoyable cultural evening. The dance performances, a blend of South Indian classical form: Bharatanatyam, and the North Indian classical form, Kathak, given by members of the Abhinava Arts Centre, Bangalore, was simply breath-taking. The audience was enthralled. The spirits of the ICADLians soared to greater heights with the cocktails flowing after the dance programme. The opening of the champagne bottle added a "touch of celebration" to the evening.

Panel discussion

On the third and last day of the Conference, the three concurrent tracks merged once again into a single audience for the panel discussion. The panelists were Professors Balakrishnan, Schubert Foo, Shigeo Sugimoto and Harsha Parekh. Professor S. Sadagopan moderated the panel discussion. The panelists discussed the all-important issue: "Should Digital Libraries be open?" The panellists also answered a number of questions raised by the delegates. As expected, a good deal of heat was generated by this contentious topic. The moderator did a fine balancing act, consolidating the debates that threw open the benefits and dangers of freeing the knowledge from the economic control of IPR and copyright.

The valedictory session

The curtain came down on ICADL 2001 with the closing ceremony in the late afternoon of day 3. Dr N. Seshagiri, former Director-General, National Informatics Centre, Government of India, was the chief guest at the concluding session of ICADL 2001. In his valedictory address he declared that after IT (Information Technology) and BT (Biotechnology) it was the turn of LT (Library Technology) to emerge as a sunrise area for new business. He felt that India was in an advantageous position for developing a digital content creation industry in view of its vast skilled manpower. Professor Sadagopan welcomed the audience and guests, and Professor Shalini Urs proposed the vote of thanks. Dr Lahiri served the ICADL dessert with a pragmatic look at the DL situation in his "reflection" - truly a case of "the proof of the pudding is in eating". He emphasized the need for a clear understanding of what is meant by a digital library before embarking on projects. He especially highlighted the importance of adopting relevant standards in DL projects and called for an Indian Digital Library Initiative (IDLI) - a nice acronym that takes the name of a famous South Indian bland cuisine, which is always tasted with an assorted set of spicy accompaniments.

A novel feature was introduced to the ICADL - the organizers had a silver plaque designed as a rolling shield for the ICADL series. The Indian Team handed over this rolling plaque to the Singapore Team at the closing ceremony.

Feedback from delegates

A total of 212 delegates returned the evaluation forms. Here is a brief summary of the evaluation.

An overwhelming number of respondents (> 97 percent) rated the Conference to be "excellent/good". The major "attraction" of ICADL 2001 was the "speakers", "tutorials", "invited talks" and "conference city". A fairly good majority (around 70 percent) found the "tutorials" and "invited talks" to be "balanced" "coverage adequate" and of "practical value".

One of the most common suggestions was "provide the tutorials and Conference materials in CD form" and "provide accommodation and transport" to the delegates. Participants were unhappy that they had to "choose" one track over the other.

All in all, ICADL 2001 was a very successful Conference not only in terms of the number of delegates, variety of events, and luxurious setting, but also in successfully enthusing the professionals in India with the opportunities and challenges that DLs offer, and also in bringing together DL professionals, paving the way for the formation of a vibrant Asian Digital Library community.

ICADL partners

ICADL 2001 was organised by the University of Mysore and Indian Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore. Our collaborators were: NISSAT, DSIR, Government of India; Department of IT, Government of Karnataka; Unesco; and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Government of India. Our associates were: Sarada Ranganathan Endowment for Library Sciences, Bangalore; National Centre for Science Information (NCSI), Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET), Ahmedabad; and Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Bangalore. Our sponsors were: Deccan Herald, Bangalore; ISI Thomson Scientific, USA; SUN Microsystems, USA; The Hindu, Chennai; Universal Print Systems, Bangalore.; Informatics (India), Bangalore. And of course the delegates too.

Shalini R. Urs(shaliniurs@hotmail.com) is Professor and Chairperson, Department of Library and Information Science, University of Mysore, India.K.S. Raghavan(ksragav@ hotmail.com) is Professor and Head, Dept. of Library & Information Science, University of Madras, Chennai, India.