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In an earlier post I discussed the possible impact of multi-touch computer screens on the catalogue display. Microsoft has just demonstrated the latest version of their software at the South by SouthWest Festival. While it is still in the development stage, it doesn`t stop us from imagining the possibilities.

According to the original story on the BBC

Devices like the Surface, as well as Apple’s iPhone, are at the vanguard of a shift in how we interact with computers.
“Everything is moving to touch and multi-touch so you had better jump on that bandwagon,” Mr Klimczak told the conference of web developers.

The National Library of Australia’s Committee on Cataloging has some interesting material posted from the Beyond the OPAC : future directions for Web-based catalogues seminar. Ann Huthwaite and Philip Hider in their presentation The potential impact of RDA on OPAC displays explain two key elements in the design of RDA…

First, it is to be aligned with the FRBR and FRAR models for bibliographic and authority data. A well-known aspect of these models is their differentiation of item, manifestation, expression and work. Some OPAC designers have already begun exploring how these four bibliographic levels may be represented more clearly on the OPAC, and RDA should assist them in this quest.

The second key feature of the new RDA will be its independence from the presentation of data. That is, its aim will be to provide guidance on the recording of data – the content – and not on how it might be formatted on a screen, or for computer exchange. In contrast to AACR2, therefore, RDA will not prescribe the ISBD (International Standard Bibliographic Description) format. This departure has the potential to revolutionise the way in which bibliographic data is represented on the OPAC.

Due to RDA’s organization principles drawing on FRBR, users will be able to search for…

• Expressions of the work itself, including expressions that are contained within other works
• Works about the work
• Works related to the work

According to The well connected catalogue by Patricia Scott, Denise Tobin and Helen Attar the way in which the information is displayed could change radically, adding the ability to include links to book cover art, links to book reviews and online book shops, and help like “did you mean” or “other books like this,” while allowing users to annotate records.

While we are still waiting for the release and implementation of RDA, the papers from the seminar can give us an idea of possible changes we might see over the coming months. But can we imagine what it will mean for the familiar OPAC display five or ten years from now?

One possible future might the high-resolution multi-touch computer screen, demonstrated by Jeff Han at TED in 2006. Pay special attention to the the material on manipulating images on the screen between 2:44-4:50, and his discussion of data visualization that begins at 5:21. It brings a whole new meaning to to the phrase “digging for information.”

I also suggest checking out the video from Jeff Han’s company, Perceptive Pixel, again paying attention to the segment that begins at 0:48, as it gives a good idea of how information arranged according to FRBR could be displayed, with the original search opening out into various expressions of the work, works about the work, etc., allowing the user to visually see the relationships and intuitively manipulate the information.