Soliciting user contribution in the modern digital library: a critique framework for evaluating methods and a case study recommendation for a digital library of historical materials

by Adamson, Stephanie C.

Today’s information consumer wants to interact with and contribute to information resources that they encounter. Digital library managers must balance the benefit provided by user contributions, with content quality. In this paper, we characterize existing technologies into six categories based on the role of the user at the time of contribution. We then introduce an evaluation framework comprised of five criteria: validity, accessibility, accountability, utility, and resource requirements. We demonstrate the feasibility of this framework by providing a detailed analysis for three of the six categories, and for a case study of Documenting the American South (DocSouth), which is part of the Carolina Digital Library and Archives at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. We conclude with recommendations for methods that best satisfy the needs of DocSouth.