From Prototype to Deployable System: Framing theAdoption of Digital Library Services

摘要

The Alexandria Digital Earth Prototype Project (ADEPT) is a 5-year (1999-2004)rneffort, with a goal of developing effective models for implementing digital libraries in undergraduate instruction. The ADEPT team has created a digitalrnlearning environment (DLE) that adds educational value to a digital library byrnoffering a suite of services for teaching. Encouraged by the results ofrnimplementations in undergraduate geography classrooms, the team now shiftsrnits focus from experimental prototype to deployable system. Everett Rogers'rnDiffusion of Innovations theories are used as frameworks for analyzing thisrncomplex transition. Recommendations for lowering the barriers to adoptionrnrelated to complexity, trialability, and observability include the prioritization ofrndevelopment efforts focused on stabilizing the system, the creation ofrndocumentation and an online demonstration, and anonymous logins to thernsystem. To increase perceived relative advantage, existing technical andrncopyright issues in integrating the Alexandria Digital Library must bernovercome. To increase compatibility, the speed at which pedagogical changernis achieved must be rethought. Finally, recruitment efforts should focus onrninnovators and early adopters before moving on to early majority, laternmajority, or laggard adopters.