Fondren Library

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Browsing Fondren Library by Author "Carlson, Scott"

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    Curatorial Challenges of the Cassette Culture Revolution
    (2015-06-11) Carlson, Scott
    Until just over a decade ago, the cassette tape was one of the most popular mediums for prerecorded music. In the West, it was the dominant format of the 1980s, until the shift to compact discs in the mid-1990s; in the developing world, cassettes clung to preeminence for another decade. Perhaps spurred by the resurgence of the phonograph record, cassette tapes have also seen a minor reinvention as a niche format for new, experimental and re-released music. The ease of which tape duplicators can be acquired, and the relative low cost of blank media that is otherwise considered obsolete, means that cassette tapes have become an optimal choice for independent labels and D.I.Y. artists to physically distribute music; a 2009 article on Rhizome.org identified no less than 101 active, contemporary cassette labels. More recently, major labels have started to partner with indie labels to license major-label releases on limited edition cassettes. This poster addresses the cultural factors that led to the cassette tape’s resurrection, but will also discuss collection development challenges presented by such a revival. Librarians and archivists actively curating collections that include cassette tapes will have to cope with the medium’s usual preservation challenges; however, since most modern cassettes are often produced in extremely limited quantities (in some cases with unique artwork) and sold through the internet or merchandise tables at concerts, curators will also need to deal with the added difficulty of acquiring and describing a music format that is as impermanent (and, in some cases, as disposable) as other ephemeral artifacts.
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    "Take it, You Can Have it": Grateful Dead Taping and the Idea of Open Access
    (2014-11-12) Carlson, Scott
    Historians and commentators have long praised the Grateful Dead for their razor-sharp business acumen, especially the band’s audience taping policies. What started as way to stem the tide of bootlegs (while keeping a certain segment of the fan base happy) accidentally turned out to be an brilliant marketing tool, as well as a cornerstone of Deadhead culture. This presentation re-contextualizes the Dead’s taping policies from a marketing context to that of Open Access, the unrestricted access to scholarly work mandated by a growing number of colleges and universities and ardently supported by many academic librarians. By tracing the history (and the similarities) of the two policies, this paper suggests what librarians and OA practitioners can learn from its precursor, a cutting-edge music sharing platform that remains strikingly relevant today.
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    Using OpenRefine’s Reconciliation to Validate Local Authority Headings
    (Taylor and Francis, 2017-12-01) Carlson, Scott; Seely, Amber
    In 2015, the Cataloging and Metadata Services department of Rice University’s Fondren Library developed a process to reconcile four years of authority headings against an internally developed thesaurus. With a goal of immediate cleanup as well as an ongoing maintenance procedure, staff developed a “hack” of OpenRefine’s normal Reconciliation function that ultimately yielded 99.6% authority reconciliation and a stable process for monthly data verification.
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    What Does Your Data Need?
    (2015-09-25) Carlson, Scott; Spiro, Lisa; Weimer, Kathy; Kipphut-Smith, Shannon
    What does research data need so that it can live on after the experiment is over? Challenges facing Rice researchers in successfully (and strategically) managing their research data include formulating an effective data management plan, cultivating the data with proper organization and description, and protecting it against future loss (or decay). To better inform Rice’s overall research data management strategies, the university’s Research Data Management Team (RDMT) -- a virtual organization that develops services and identifies resources on research data management -- will present a poster that discusses the resources and expertise that the RDMT -- in collaboration with Rice's Office of Information Technology, Center for Research Computing, and Office of Proposal Development -- utilizes to carry out data planning, curation, and sharing.
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    “When We’re Done with It, We Don’t Care What Happens to It” What Open Access Practitioners Can Learn from Deadheads
    (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016) Kipphut-Smith, Shannon; Carlson, Scott; Smith, Kevin L.; Dickson, Katherine A.
    Historians and commentators have long praised the Grateful Dead for their razor-sharp business acumen, especially the band’s policy on audience taping. What started as way to stem the tide of bootlegs (while keeping a certain segment of the fan base happy) turned out to be a brilliant marketing tool, as well as a cornerstone of Deadhead culture. Our essay will re-contextualize the Dead’s taping policies from a marketing context to that of Open Access, the unrestricted access to scholarly work mandated by a growing number of colleges and universities. The essay will first trace the history, similarities, and the differences between the two concepts, noting that the Dead’s taping policy does not ultimately constitute an Open Access policy. Despite those differences, in the second part, we will discuss what librarians (and other Open Access practitioners) can learn from Deadhead culture, and what advantages can be cultivated from a cutting-edge music sharing platform that remains strikingly relevant today.