The importance of the interface

A follow-up comment on our group discussion of the interesting article suggested by Bob, by Tanya Clement, ‘Half-Baked: The State of Evaluation in the Digital Humanities’ (American Literary History, Volume 24, Number 4, Winter 2012, pp. 876-890; here’s a link via Project Muse) - one point that was raised a couple times in passing was the importance of the interface (see for example p.881-882) - and this point resonates strongly for me.

Librarians have traditionally been concerned with the interface of users to information, of course, but this area seems to me to take on new dimensions in the digital sphere. We’ve all seen a parade of poorly-designed interfaces from vendors, and we, as expert users, know that they could do better. I suspect that we’ve also all seen flashy digital projects, that failed when the shortcomings of the user interface design became apparent. One theme seems to be that we librarians are often the last people asked about effective interfaces (if we’re asked at all), whereas this is our natural turf, where we can shine.

I think part of our defining future roles in digital projects will be asserting our authority in this area, marketing what we have to offer as organizers of information; the challenge, and one of the good things about conducting a project such as ours, is to become knowledgeable enough to have the conversations on technology with our various project partners, so that we can take control of what’s going on ‘under the hood’ of digital projects, and make sure that the information infrastructure is there to allow the fullest and most effective access to users.

Nick Patterson

Author: Nick Patterson

I’m a music librarian in the Music & Arts Library, and also manage the Digital Music Lab there. I am a graduate in Composition from New England Conservatory, and still active as a composer. I have strong interests in the intersection of music and technology, the history of electronic music, and sound in the digital humanities. New York’s, and Columbia’s, musical riches mean that I will probably never leave this city. I’ll be looking at the impact of the development of the subway on Morningside Heights (and trying to include recordings of screeching trains!)