How to use this glossary
This glossary consists of 115 terms, with 20 fully completed, 57 incomplete, and 26 undefined terms. We welcome anyone to use the definitions, sources, and list of terms we have deemed to be important in the digital publishing sphere.
Kennedy Library’s Digital Publishing Glossary is a collaborative project to create a common vocabulary to define terms the curious scholar is likely to encounter when authoring or engaging with digital projects. The glossary began as the work of a team of librarians to identify terms and create subjective language to support a community of practice around digital publishing. The group consisted of jaime ding, Zach Vowell, Russ White, Laura Sorvetti, and Catherine Trujillo, with additional help from Sarah Lester, Danielle Daugherty and Mercedes Rutherford-Patten, as part of the Digital Publishing Pilot Project.
This project was partially funded by the Cal Poly Center for Expressive Technology, with the funding directed towards our student assistants. Tyler Matsuzaki ’22 and Solena Aguilar ’21 helped to design the user experience of the page, aiming towards a simple, interactive, and user focused way to engage with a list of terms. As a project during the virtual year in 2020-2021, the project was not able to be sustained afterwards, as the time, resources, personnel, and ability became scarce with the rush to return to ‘pre-pandemic’ times.
The glossary at the moment is on permanent hiatus, with the word completed a solid foundation for how we can continue working together (please see our Digital Co-op ideas). We still continue to welcome feedback, comments and questions: please contact lib-digital@calpoly.edu.
The .csv files for each set are available, copyright under CC-BY-SA 2021.
TERMS
In light of full transparency, the following were experimental designs for how to show these terms in the best user experience. Tyler Matsuzaki ’22 and Solena Aguilar ’21 designed the formats of how this glossary would be presented, respectively.
Algorithms
a sequence of computer-implementable instructions, often performed by a computer but designed by people, teams and organizations. While in some cases code underlying algorithms may be abstract, when implemented in practice, designers’ biases, values, and assumptions shape their algorithms. In addition, biases in datasets and real-world behaviors can create harm and have many unanticipated consequences. Algorithms must become more transparent, and open to critique by users; as a tool, they should not be seen as neutral.
–the group
 Code language, maths, sorting – while the shortest path may be what the algorithm dictates, the data/determination of ‘shortest’ will still add in a larger context. |
 Any digital tool that has a search or index. “Google’s algortihmic conceptualizations ….dominant narratives reflect the kinds of hegemonic frameworks and notions that are often resisted by women and people of color.” (24, Algorithms of Oppression, Safiya Umoja Noble) – OneSearch, Google (Google Scholar), apps (social media, dating apps, mapping apps, etc.) |
 N/A |
RELATED TERMS
Tool, Digital Archives, Content Management System, Indexing
example term
collaborative, written definition–author and sources
| Tools to use this term |
Examples of this term |
monetary cost |
RELATED TERMS
Other terms in the glossary
API (Application Programming Interface)
A common mechanism that allows a person or software application to programmatically connect to data, other software applications, or websites. It defines the kinds of calls or requests that can connect, how to make the requests, the data formats that should be used, the conventions to follow, authentication required, etc. Imagine a vending machine, and you (or a bot) are the user – the API is the keypad that you request the machine to deliver your Takis.
–the group, with help from Wikipedia
| API Platform Users can use APIs via a URL or a specific programming langauge; programmers must build APIs specific to what they are developing. |
Public APIs; Dropbox Developers; Twitter Developer API Documentation; Art Institution of Chicago |
must be constructed and maintained |
RELATED TERMS
Endpoint, REST, GUI (antonym)
Archive
An organization that collects, organizes, describes, preserves, and provides access to records of continuing value. These organizations include corporate archives, community archives, cultural archives, and academic archives. We distinguish “archive” from “archives” because we want to point out the labor and expertise of the archive staff and the often hidden costs of long-term stewardship of records. Archives have historically been tied to the discipline of English-speaking, Eurocentric History and as a result have disproportionately prioritized collecting records relating to this dominant culture, prominent individuals, and government. At Kennedy Library we aim to move the archive away from this historic legacy and instead to work with the Central Coast community to represent and reflect the diversity of the communities we serve.
–the group, Michelle Caswell “The Archive is not an Archives”
| People in the Archive: Laura Sorvetti & Zach Vowell & Jessica Holada. |
Special Collections and Archives; National Archives (US); South Asian American Digital Archive; Interference Archive |
Special Collections and Archive Budget |
RELATED TERMS
Archives, Digital Archive, Special Collections
Archives
Records or documentation (typically written word, but also images, audiovisual recordings, art, objects) that are recognized as having ongoing value (historical, cultural, accountability, institutional decision making) and are actively preserved and stewarded by an archive (in a physical building, a digital repository with digital preservation functionality) for the general public to use. The records can be digitized (such as scanned), or created as a digital record in the first place. Human biases shape archives as collections, and the archives as a result need maintainence by collective efforts.
–the group, see more: https://dictionary.archivists.org/entry/archives.html; B. M. Watson, Please stop calling things archives;
| Creating archives may follow the ethnics of care. See more resources that Kennedy Library is following. |
University Art Collection |
See cost of an Archive |
RELATED TERMS
Archive, Digital Archive, Digital Preservation, Digital Repositiory
creative commons
Creative Commons is a “global nonprofit organization that enables sharing and reuse of creativity and knowledge through the provision of free legal tool to increase the amount of openly licensed creativity in “the commons” by providing copyright licenses and public domain tools that give every person and organization in the world a free, simple, and standardized way to grant copyright permissions for creative and academic works; ensure proper attribution; and allow others to copy, distribute, and make use of those works.”
–Creative Commons
| Creative Common’s Guide to Share Your Work |
Databases that use Creative Commons: Images from Flickr ; Soundcloud Music ; Creative Commons Org |
N/A |
RELATED TERMS
copyright, copyleft, public, public domain, open access
public
We wanted to provide this definition of “public” in order to point out the nuance of language: the idea of “public” in terms of online may have nuance that is different from a “public park.” Not necessarily “free of costs,” public-facing scholarship needs to consider assumed audience(s). Access/accessibility for different audiences (which also does not mean “dumbing down”) includes technical access, ideological access, and the need to facilitate a common understanding for general engagement.
the group
examples
When we choose to go “Private” to “Public” on websites/accounts, who is “Public” we imagine? Some newspapers, archives, and scholarly journals charge money for public access.
tools
N/A
RELATED TERMS
Archive
An organization that collects, organizes, describes, preserves, and provides access to records of continuing value. These organizations include corporate archives, community archives, cultural archives, and academic archives. We distinguish “archive” from “archives” because we want to point out the labor and expertise of the archive staff and the often hidden costs of long-term stewardship of records. Archives have historically been tied to the discipline of English-speaking, Eurocentric History and as a result have disproportionately prioritized collecting records relating to this dominant culture, prominent individuals, and government. At Kennedy Library we aim to move the archive away from this historic legacy and instead to work with the Central Coast community to represent and reflect the diversity of the communities we serve.
examples
Special Collections and Archives; National Archives (US); South Asian American Digital Archive; Interference Archive
tools
the Archivist, Laura Sorvetti & Zach Vowell & Jessica Holada. Additional resources to begin thinking about an archive are compiled here.
RELATED TERMS
open access
A digital publication that makes research information available to readers at no cost. In contrast to paywalled subscription-based access to academic literature, this does not mean that publications do not cost money to create (paid for by the university, the author, or other non-profits). Often used by scholars, libraries, and for-profit publishers to refer to a different monetary system of publishing.
the group, Cornell’s LibGuide on Open Access, “Open Access”
Examples
Directory of Open Access Journals, OER Commons, Critical Digital Pedagogy
*note that there are still costs towards the publisher, which sometimes are pushed towards the author through APC: article publishing charges.
topic
Quantitative Reasoning, Numericy
Examples
Open Journal Systems (OJS), Digital Commons