Search (63 results, page 1 of 4)

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Abstract

The scale of web site design has grown so that what was once comparable to decorating a room is now comparable to designing buildings or even cities. Designing sites so that people can find their way around is an ever-growing challenge as sites contain more and more information. In the past, Information Architecture for the World Wide Web has helped developers and designers establish consistent and usable structures for their sites and their information. This edition of the classic primer on web site design and navigation is updated with recent examples, new scenarios, and new information on best practices. Readers will learn how to present large volumes of information to visitors who need to find what they're looking for quickly. With topics that range from aesthetics to mechanics, this valuable book explains how to create interfaces that users can understand easily.

Date

22. 3.2008 16:18:27

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Date

22. 3.2008 12:21:28

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Content

Inhalt: Uses, Users, and User Interaction Metadata Applications - Semantic Browsing / Alexander Faaborg, Carl Lagoze Annotation and Recommendation Automatic Classification and Indexing - Cross-Lingual Text Categorization / Nuria Bel, Cornelis H.A. Koster, Marta Villegas - Automatic Multi-label Subject Indexing in a Multilingual Environment / Boris Lauser, Andreas Hotho Web Technologies Topical Crawling, Subject Gateways - VASCODA: A German Scientific Portal for Cross-Searching Distributed Digital Resource Collections / Heike Neuroth, Tamara Pianos Architectures and Systems Knowledge Organization: Concepts - The ADEPT Concept-Based Digital Learning Environment / T.R. Smith, D. Ancona, O. Buchel, M. Freeston, W. Heller, R. Nottrott, T. Tierney, A. Ushakov - A User Evaluation of Hierarchical Phrase Browsing / Katrina D. Edgar, David M. Nichols, Gordon W. Paynter, Kirsten Thomson, Ian H. Witten - Visual Semantic Modeling of Digital Libraries / Qinwei Zhu, Marcos Andre Gongalves, Rao Shen, Lillian Cassell, Edward A. Fox Collection Building and Management Knowledge Organization: Authorities and Works - Automatic Conversion from MARC to FRBR / Christian Monch, Trond Aalberg Information Retrieval in Different Application Areas Digital Preservation Indexing and Searching of Special Document and Collection Information

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Abstract

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 10th European Conference on Research and Advanced Technology for Digital Libraries, ECDL 2006, held in Alicante, Spain in September 2006. The 36 revised full papers presented together with the extended abstracts of 18 demo papers and 15 revised poster papers were carefully reviewed and selected from a total of 159 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on architectures, preservation, retrieval, applications, methodology, metadata, evaluation, user studies, modeling, audiovisual content, and language technologies.

Content

Inhalt u.a.: Architectures I Preservation Retrieval - The Use of Summaries in XML Retrieval / Zoltdn Szldvik, Anastasios Tombros, Mounia Laimas - An Enhanced Search Interface for Information Discovery from Digital Libraries / Georgia Koutrika, Alkis Simitsis - The TIP/Greenstone Bridge: A Service for Mobile Location-Based Access to Digital Libraries / Annika Hinze, Xin Gao, David Bainbridge Architectures II Applications Methodology Metadata Evaluation User Studies Modeling Audiovisual Content Language Technologies - Incorporating Cross-Document Relationships Between Sentences for Single Document Summarizations / Xiaojun Wan, Jianwu Yang, Jianguo Xiao - Semantic Web Techniques for Multiple Views on Heterogeneous Collections: A Case Study / Marjolein van Gendt, Antoine Isaac, Lourens van der Meij, Stefan Schlobach Posters - A Tool for Converting from MARC to FRBR / Trond Aalberg, Frank Berg Haugen, Ole Husby

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Classification

303.48/33 22 (LoC)

DDC

303.48/33 22 (LoC)

Footnote

Rez. in: JASIST 58(2007) no.1, S.150-151 (L. Westbrook): "The purpose of this volume is to bring together various analyses by international scholars of the social and cultural impact of information technology on individuals and societies (preface, n.p.). It grew from the First International Conference on Human Perspectives in the Internet Society held in Cadiz, Spain, in 2004. The editors and contributors have addressed an impressive array of significant issues with rigorous research and insightful analysis although the resulting volume does suffer from the usual unevenness in depth and content that affects books based on conference proceedings. Although the $256 price is prohibitive for many individual scholars, the effort to obtain a library edition for perusal regarding particular areas of interest is likely to prove worthwhile. Unlike many international conferences that are able to attract scholars from only a handful of nations, this genuinely diverse conference included research conducted in Australia, Beijing, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, England, Fiji, Germany, Greece, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Malaysia, Norway, Russia, Scotland, South Africa, Sweden, Taiwan, and the United States. The expense of a conference format and governmental travel restrictions may have precluded greater inclusion of the work being done to develop information technology for use in nonindustrialized nations in support of economic, social justice, and political movements. Although the cultural variants among these nations preclude direct cross-cultural comparisons, many papers carefully provide sufficient background information to make basic conceptual transfers possible. A great strength of the work is the unusual combination of academic disciplines that contributes substantially to the depth of many individual papers, particularly when they are read within the larger context of the entire volume. Although complete professional affiliations are not universally available, the authors who did name their affiliation come from widely divergent disciplines including accounting, business administration, architecture, business computing, communication, computing, economics, educational technology, environmental management, experimental psychology, gender research in computer science, geography, human work sciences, humanistic informatics, industrial engineering, information management, informatics in transport and telecommunications, information science, information technology, management, mathematics, organizational behavior, pedagogy, psychology, telemedicine, and women's education. This is all to the good, but the lack of representation from departments of women's studies, gender studies, and library studies certainly limits the breadth and depth of the perspectives provided.
The editorial and peer review processes appear to be slightly spotty in application. All of the 55 papers are in English but a few of them are in such need of basic editing that they are almost incomprehensible in sections. Consider, for example, the following: "So, the meaning of region where we are studying on, should be discovered and then affect on the final plan" (p. 346). The collection shows a strong array of methodological approaches including quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods studies; however, a few of the research efforts exhibit fundamental design flaws. Consider, for example, the study that "set[s] out to show that nurses as care-givers find it difficult to transfer any previously acquired technological skills into their work based on technology needs (p. 187). After studying 39 female and 6 male nurses, this study finds, not surprisingly, exactly what it "set out" to find. Rather than noting the limitations of sample size and data gathering techniques, the paper firmly concludes that nurses can be technologists "only in areas of technology that support their primary role as carers" (p. 188). Finally, some of the papers do not report on original research but are competent, if brief, summaries of theories or concepts that are covered in equal depth elsewhere. For example, a three-page summary of "the major personality and learning theories" (p. 3) is useful but lacks the intellectual depth or insight needed to contribute substantially to the field. These problems with composition, methodological rigor, and theoretical depth are not uncommon in papers designed for a broadly defined conference theme. The authors may have been writing for an in-person audience and anticipating thoughtful postpresentation discussions; they probably had no idea of the heavy price tag put on their work. The editors, however, might have kept that $256 in mind and exercised a heavier editorial hand. Perhaps the publisher could have paid for a careful subject indexing of the work as a substantive addition to the author index provided. The complexity of the subject domains included in the volume certainly merits careful indexing.
The volume is organized into 13 sections, each of which contains between two and eight conference papers. As with most conferences, the papers do not cover the issues in each section with equal weight or depth but the editors have grouped papers into reasonable patterns. Section 1 covers "understanding online behavior" with eight papers on problems such as e-learning attitudes, the neuropsychology of HCI, Japanese blogger motivation, and the dividing line between computer addiction and high engagement. Sections 2 (personality and computer attitudes), 3 (cyber interactions), and 4 (new interaction methods) each contain only two papers on topics such as helmet-mounted displays, online energy audits, and the use of ICT in family life. Sections 6, 7, and 8 focus on gender issues with papers on career development, the computer literacy of Malaysian women, mentoring, gaming, and faculty job satisfaction. Sections 9 and 10 move to a broader examination of cyber society and its diversity concerns with papers on cultural identity, virtual architecture, economic growth's impact on culture, and Iranian development impediments. Section 11's two articles on advertising might well have been merged with those of section 13's ebusiness. Section 12 addressed education with papers on topics such as computer-assisted homework, assessment, and Web-based learning. It would have been useful to introduce each section with a brief definition of the theme, summaries of the major contributions of the authors, and analyses of the gaps that might be addressed in future conferences. Despite the aforementioned concerns, this volume does provide a uniquely rich array of technological analyses embedded in social context. An examination of recent works in related areas finds nothing that is this complex culturally or that has such diversity of disciplines. Cultural Production in a Digital Age (Klinenberg, 2005), Perspectives and Policies on ICT in Society (Berleur & Avgerou, 2005), and Social, Ethical, and Policy Implications of Information Technology (Brennan & Johnson, 2004) address various aspects of the society/Internet intersection but this volume is unique in its coverage of psychology, gender, and culture issues in cyberspace. The lip service often given to global concerns and the value of interdisciplinary analysis of intransigent social problems seldom develop into a genuine willingness to listen to unfamiliar research paradigms. Academic silos and cultural islands need conferences like this one-willing to take on the risk of examining the large questions in an intellectually open space. Editorial and methodological concerns notwithstanding, this volume merits review and, where appropriate, careful consideration across disciplines."

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Date

22. 3.2004 14:46:50

Footnote

Rez. in: B.I.T. online 6(2003) H.3, S.298-299 (J. Plieninger): "Wer im vorigen Heft von B.I.T.online den Fachbeitrag von Hermann Rösch über Bibliothekarische Auskunft im Web gelesen und sich daraufhin überlegt, einen solchen Dienst einzuführen, für den wäre dieses Buch das geeignete Mittel, sich für die Einführung einer Online-Auskunft fit zu machen. Die Autorin ist in der amerikanischen Internet Librarian- und Reference Librarian-Szene wohlbekannt: 1993 verfasste sie mit zwei Mitautoren Crossing the Internet Treshold, ein Tutorial für die Nutzung des Netzes, welches für die Profession eine Hilfestellung für die breite Nutzung des Internets bot. Das hier besprochene Buch könnte eine ähnliche Funktion für die Einführung der Virtual Reference bekommen: Es bietet einen Selbstlernkurs, welcher anschaulich die Grundlagen und die Grundhaltung bei der Implementation eines solchen Dienstes vermittelt. Was ist alles in diesem Kurs enthalten? Der erste Teil des Buches behandelt den Entscheidungsprozess, einen Online-Auskunftsdienst einzuführen: Es werden Vor- und Nachteile diskutiert, die Bedürfnisse der Benutzer untersucht ("There will always be a need for a human consultant to satisfy the needs of the information seeker.") und die Grundlagen der Entscheidungsfindung für eine geeignete Software behandelt. Der zweite Teil handelt dann von den Fragen der "Einrichtung" des virtuellen Auskunftsplatzes. Hier gibt es z.B. eine Schulung in den besonderen Kommunikationsformen, welche beim Chat zu beachten sind, eine Einbettung des neuen Dienstes in das Leitbild, die Geschäftsordnung bzw. Arbeitsorganisation der Bibliothek ("library policies") und zuletzt die komfortable Ausstattung des Auskunftsplatzes für Benutzer und Beschäftigte bis hin zu Fragen der Evaluation und Qualitätssicherung. Der dritte Teil behandelt die Aufgabe, einen Dienst zu implementieren, der sich selbst trägt, indem man ein Marketing für den neuen Dienst einrichtet, das ihn auf herkömmlichen und neuen Wegen promotet und ihn benutzerfreundlich ausgestaltet.

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Footnote

Rez. in: JASIST. 54(2003) no.9, S.906-908 (E.G. Ackermann): "In this book Harry Bruce provides a construct or view of "how and why people are using the Internet," which can be used "to inform the design of new services and to augment our usings of the Internet" (pp. viii-ix; see also pp. 183-184). In the process, he develops an analytical tool that I term the Metatheory of Circulating Usings, and proves an impressive distillation of a vast quantity of research data from previous studies. The book's perspective is explicitly user-centered, as is its theoretical bent. The book is organized into a preface, acknowledgments, and five chapters (Chapter 1, "The Internet Story;" Chapter 2, "Technology and People;" Chapter 3, "A Focus an Usings;" Chapter 4, "Users of the Internet;" Chapter 5, "The User's View of the Internet"), followed by an extensive bibliography and short index. Any notes are found at the end of the relevant Chapter. The book is illustrated with figures and tables, which are clearly presented and labeled. The text is clearly written in a conversational style, relatively jargon-free, and contains no quantification. The intellectual structure follows that of the book for the most part, with some exceptions. The definition of several key concepts or terms are scattered throughout the book, often appearing much later after extensive earlier use. For example, "stakeholders" used repeatedly from p. viii onward, remains undefined until late in the book (pp. 175-176). The study's method is presented in Chapter 3 (p. 34), relatively late in the book. Its metatheoretical basis is developed in two widely separated places (Chapter 3, pp. 56-61, and Chapter 5, pp. 157-159) for no apparent reason. The goal or purpose of presenting the data in Chapter 4 is explained after its presentation (p. 129) rather than earlier with the limits of the data (p. 69). Although none of these problems are crippling to the book, it does introduce an element of unevenness into the flow of the narrative that can confuse the reader and unnecessarily obscures the author's intent. Bruce provides the contextual Background of the book in Chapter 1 (The Internet Story) in the form of a brief history of the Internet followed by a brief delineation of the early popular views of the Internet as an information superstructure. His recapitulation of the origins and development of the Internet from its origins as ARPANET in 1957 to 1995 touches an the highlights of this familiar story that will not be retold here. The early popular views or characterizations of the Internet as an "information society" or "information superhighway" revolved primarily around its function as an information infrastructure (p. 13). These views shared three main components (technology, political values, and implied information values) as well as a set of common assumptions. The technology aspect focused an the Internet as a "common ground an which digital information products and services achieve interoperability" (p. 14). The political values provided a "vision of universal access to distributed information resources and the benefits that this will bring to the lives of individual people and to society in general" (p. 14). The implied communication and information values portrayed the Internet as a "medium for human creativity and innovation" (p. 14). These popular views also assumed that "good decisions arise from good information," that "good democracy is based an making information available to all sectors of society," and that "wisdom is the by-product of effective use of information" (p. 15). Therefore, because the Internet is an information infrastructure, it must be "good and using the Internet will benefit individuals and society in general" (p. 15).
Chapter 2 (Technology and People) focuses an several theories of technological acceptance and diffusion. Unfortunately, Bruce's presentation is somewhat confusing as he moves from one theory to next, never quite connecting them into a logical sequence or coherent whole. Two theories are of particular interest to Bruce: the Theory of Diffusion of Innovations and the Theory of Planned Behavior. The Theory of Diffusion of Innovations is an "information-centric view of technology acceptance" in which technology adopters are placed in the information flows of society from which they learn about innovations and "drive innovation adoption decisions" (p. 20). The Theory of Planned Behavior maintains that the "performance of a behavior is a joint function of intentions and perceived behavioral control" (i.e., how muck control a person thinks they have) (pp. 22-23). Bruce combines these two theories to form the basis for the Technology Acceptance Model. This model posits that "an individual's acceptance of information technology is based an beliefs, attitudes, intentions, and behaviors" (p. 24). In all these theories and models echoes a recurring theme: "individual perceptions of the innovation or technology are critical" in terms of both its characteristics and its use (pp. 24-25). From these, in turn, Bruce derives a predictive theory of the role personal perceptions play in technology adoption: Personal Innovativeness of Information Technology Adoption (PIITA). Personal inventiveness is defined as "the willingness of an individual to try out any new information technology" (p. 26). In general, the PIITA theory predicts that information technology will be adopted by individuals that have a greater exposure to mass media, rely less an the evaluation of information technology by others, exhibit a greater ability to cope with uncertainty and take risks, and requires a less positive perception of an information technology prior to its adoption. Chapter 3 (A Focus an Usings) introduces the User-Centered Paradigm (UCP). The UCP is characteristic of the shift of emphasis from technology to users as the driving force behind technology and research agendas for Internet development [for a dissenting view, see Andrew Dillion's (2003) challenge to the utility of user-centerness for design guidance]. It entails the "broad acceptance of the user-oriented perspective across a range of disciplines and professional fields," such as business, education, cognitive engineering, and information science (p. 34).
The UCP's effect an business practices is focused mainly in the management and marketing areas. Marketing experienced a shift from "product-oriented operations" with its focus an "selling the products' features" and customer contact only at the point of sale toward more service-Centered business practice ("customer Jemand orientation") and the development of one-to-one customer relationships (pp. 35-36). For management, the adoption of the UCP caused a shift from "mechanistic, bureaucratic, top-down organizational structures" to "flatter, inclusive, and participative" ones (p. 37). In education, practice shifted from the teachercentered model where the "teacher is responsible for and makes all the decisions related to the learning environment" to a learnercentered model where the student is "responsible for his or her own learning" and the teacher focuses an "matching learning events to the individual skills, aptitudes, and interests of the individual learner" (pp. 38-39). Cognitive engineering saw the rise of "user-Centered design" and human factors that were concerned with applying "scientific knowledge of humans to the design of man-machine interface systems" (p. 44). The UCP had a great effect an Information Science in the "design of information systems" (p. 47). Previous to UCP's explicit proposed by Brenda Dervin and M. Nilan in 1986, systems design was dominated by the "physical of system oriented paradigm" (p. 48). The physical paradigm held a positivistic and materialistic view of technology and (passive) human interaction as exemplified by the 1953 Cranfield tests of information retrieval mechanisms. Instead, the UCP focuses an "users rather than systems" by making the perceptions of individual information users the "centerpiece consideration for information service and system design" (pp. 47-48). Bruce briefly touches an the various schools of thought within user-oriented paradigm, such as the cognitive/self studies approach with its emphasis is an an individual's knowledge structures or model of the world [e.g., Belkin (1990)], the cognitve/context studies approach that focuses an "context in explaining variations in information behavior" [e.g., Savolainen (1995) and Dervin's (1999) sensemaking], and the social constructionism/discourse analytic theory with its focus an that language, not mental/knowledge constructs, as the primary shaper of the world as a system of intersubjective meanings [e.g., Talja 1996], (pp. 53-54). Drawing from the rich tradition of user oriented research, Bruce attempts to gain a metatheoretical understanding of the Internet as a phenomena by combining Dervin's (1996) "micromoments of human usings" with the French philosopher Bruno Latour's (1999) "conception of Circulating reference" to form what 1 term the Metatheory of Circulating Usings (pp. ix, 56, 60). According to Bruce, Latour's concept is designed to bridge "the gap between mind and object" by engaging in a "succession of finely grained transformations that construct and transfer truth about the object" through a chain of "microtranslations" from "matter to form," thereby connecting mind and object (p. 56). The connection works as long as the chain remains unbroken. The nature of this chain of "information producing translations" are such that as one moves away from the object, one experiences a "reduction" of the object's "locality, particularity, materiality, multiplicity and continuity," while simultaneously gaining the "amplification" of its "compatibility, standardization, text, calculation, circulation, and relative universality" (p. 57).
Bruce points out that Dervin is also concerned about how "we look at the world" in terms of "information needs and seeking" (p.60). She maintains that information scientists traditionally view information seeking and needs in terms of "contexts, users, and systems." Dervin questions whether or not, from a user's point of view, these three "points of interest" even exist. Rather it is the "micromoments of human usings" [emphasis original], and the "world viewings, seekings, and valuings" that comprise them that are real (p. 60). Using his metatheory, Bruce represents the Internet, the "object" of study, as a "chain of transformations made up of the micromoments of human usings" (p. 60). The Internet then is a "composite of usings" that, through research and study, is continuously reduced in complexity while its "essence" and "explanation" are amplified (p. 60). Bruce plans to use the Metatheory of Circulating Usings as an analytical "lens" to "tease out a characterization of the micromoments of Internet usings" from previous research an the Internet thereby exposing "the user's view of the Internet" (pp. 60-61). In Chapter 4 (Users of the Internet), Bruce presents the research data for the study. He begins with an explanation of the limits of the data, and to a certain extent, the study itself. The perspective is that of the Internet user, with a focus an use, not nonuse, thereby exluding issues such as the digital divide and universal service. The research is limited to Internet users "in modern economies around the world" (p. 60). The data is a synthesis of research from many disciplines, but mainly from those "associated with the information field" with its traditional focus an users, systems, and context rather than usings (p. 70). Bruce then presents an extensive summary of the research results from a massive literature review of available Internet studies. He examines the research for each study group in order of the amount of data available, starting with the most studied group professional users ("academics, librarians, and teachers") followed by "the younger generation" ("College students, youths, and young adults"), users of e-government information and e-business services, and ending with the general public (the least studied group) (p. 70). Bruce does a masterful job of condensing and summarizing a vast amount of research data in 49 pages. Although there is too muck to recapitulate here, one can get a sense of the results by looking at the areas of data examined for one of the study groups: academic Internet users. There is data an their frequency of use, reasons for nonuse, length of use, specific types of use (e.g., research, teaching, administration), use of discussion lists, use of e-journals, use of Web browsers and search engines, how academics learn to use web tools and services (mainly by self-instruction), factors affecting use, and information seeking habits. Bruce's goal in presenting all this research data is to provide "the foundation for constructs of the Internet that can inform stakeholders who will play a role in determining how the Internet will develop" (p. 129). These constructs are presented in Chapter 5.
Bruce begins Chapter 5 (The Users' View of the Internet) by pointing out that the Internet not only exists as a physical entity of hardware, software, and networked connectivity, but also as a mental representation or knowledge structure constructed by users based an their usings. These knowledge structures or constructs "allow people to interpret and make sense of things" by functioning as a link between the new unknown thing with known thing(s) (p. 158). The knowledge structures or using constructs are continually evolving as people use the Internet over time, and represent the user's view of the Internet. To capture the users' view of the Internet from the research literature, Bruce uses his Metatheory of Circulating Usings. He recapitulates the theory, casting it more closely to the study of Internet use than previously. Here the reduction component provides a more detailed "understanding of the individual users involved in the micromoment of Internet using" while simultaneously the amplification component increases our understanding of the "generalized construct of the Internet" (p. 158). From this point an Bruce presents a relatively detail users' view of the Internet. He starts with examining Internet usings, which is composed of three parts: using space, using literacies, and Internet space. According to Bruce, using space is a using horizon likened to a "sphere of influence," comfortable and intimate, in which an individual interacts with the Internet successfully (p. 164). It is a "composite of individual (professional nonwork) constructs of Internet utility" (p. 165). Using literacies are the groups of skills or tools that an individual must acquire for successful interaction with the Internet. These literacies serve to link the using space with the Internet space. They are usually self-taught and form individual standards of successful or satisfactory usings that can be (and often are) at odds with the standards of the information profession. Internet space is, according to Bruce, a user construct that perceives the Internet as a physical, tangible place separate from using space. Bruce concludes that the user's view of the Internet explains six "principles" (p. 173). "Internet using is proof of concept" and occurs in contexts; using space is created through using frequency, individuals use literacies to explore and utilize Internet space, Internet space "does not require proof of concept, and is often influence by the perceptions and usings of others," and "the user's view of the Internet is upbeat and optimistic" (pp. 173-175). He ends with a section describing who are the Internet stakeholders. Bruce defines them as Internet hardware/software developers, Professional users practicing their profession in both familiar and transformational ways, and individuals using the Internet "for the tasks and pleasures of everyday life" (p. 176).
This book suffers from two major shortcomings: the failure to explain how the metatheory is actually used to analyze extant research data, and the failure to explicitly link the data presented to the conclusions drawn. The analytical function of Bruce's metatheory is clearly stated, but no explicit explanation or example is given to show how he actually accomplished this analysis. Granted, it is impractical given the volume of research data involved, to show how every bit of the data in Chapter 4 was derived. However, several examples of how the metatheory was applied would have been useful in understanding its actual function in the study at hand as well as its potential utility any future studies. More serious is the lack of explicit linkage between the data summary presented in Chapter 4 and the conclusions given in Chapter 5. Each chapter is presented as stand-alone entities containing no citations or internal referencing to connect the data with the conclusions. This leaves the readers with no ready means to evaluate the concluding construct of the user's view of the Internet in light of the data from which it was ostensibly derived. The readers must either go back and laboriously construct the connections themselves, or just take the author's word for it. Because the goal of the book is to create a convincing construct of the user's view of the Internet for others to understand, follow, apply, and improve upon in the "next generation of Internet development," the burden of proof is an the author, not the readers (pp. ix, 183). This oversight may not be so crucial if the author were presenting an exploratory essay designed primarily to stimulate thought and expand our perceptions. However, given that the book is intended as a scholarly work (otherwise why the tremendous effort in analyzing and summarizing vast quantities of research data in Chapter 4?), the lack of explicit linkage between the data and the conclusion is not only puzzling, but simply unacceptable. In summary then, the book is strong in its theoretical and metatheoretical development, presentation of the research data and scope of the literature review, and clarity of the concluding construct of the user's view of the Internet. If these items are of particular interest to the you, then this book may be worth your while. Otherwise, the failure of the book to provide an explanation of how the Metatheory of Circulating Usings is applied in analyzing extant research data, coupled with book's failure to link explicitly the data presented with the conclusions severely undermines this reviewer's confidence in the author's conclusions."

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Date

22.10.2006 10:22:33

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Editor

Oram, A.

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Abstract

If your customers don't sleep, why should your reference service? Online library reference services available 24/7 are offered in a growing number of institutions. With many models to choose from and more details to be worked out, it is a critical time for librarians to assess their patrons' needs and market their services to address these needs. Collecting and documenting what thousands of virtual reference librarians have learned over the past few years, this comprehensive guide provides a needed overview to help new and aspiring virtual reference library departments to understand the entire process and its ramifications. In a text supplemented with checklists so no key element is forgotten, this reference offers the real-world answers from Ieading experts to the most common questions: - Where has Web-based library reference come from and where is it going? - What is the best digital reference software to address specific needs? - How do they get hired and trained? - When and how does a library market such a radial new Service? - Why are evaluations and system enhancerncnts critical to the future of digital reference? With a look into the costs, and a look into the future, supplemented with the most comprehensive bibliography available an the topic, Going Live is a one-stop resource for getting started in digital reference services.

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Footnote

Rez. in: JASIST 55(2004) no.2, S.181-182 (J. Scholl): "The book is based an a doctoral thesis titled "Global opportunity and national political economy: The development of internet ventures in Germany," which was supervised by Razeen Sally and accepted at the International Relations Department of the London School of Economics & Political Science, UK, in 2002. Its primary audience, although it is certainly of interest to policy makers, trade press journalists, and industry practitioners, is the academic community, and, in particular, (international) policy, business, business history, information technology, and information science scholars. The book's self-stated purpose is to explain "why Europe, despite initiating a tremendous amount of change ... failed to produce independent internet ventures of note" (p. 1) in contrast to the United States, where Internet start-ups such as Amazon.com, eBay, E*trade, and Yahoo managed to survive the notorious dot.com shakeout of 200I-2002. A few pages down, the objective is restated as "to explore the hypothesis of a global opportunity for technology innovation delivered via the internet and to explain Europe's entrepreneurial response" (p. 4). As a proxy case for Europe, the study provides a broad account of the changing legal and socioeconomic setting during the phase of early Internet adoption and development in Germany throughout the 1990s. The author highlights and details various facets of the entrepreneurial opportunity and compares the German case in some detail to corresponding developments in Sweden. Waesche concludes that starting an Internet business in Germany during that particular period of time was a "wrong country, wrong time" (p. I86) proposition.
With both context and topic richly introduced, Waesche presents his research in two parts, the first of which outlines what he calls the Global Opportunity while the second details the National Political Economy. In the first part, the rapid global diffusion of the Internet is discussed with a special emphasis an the role of the U.S. government, which significantly fostered the fast pace of growth. Designed as the unifying network of networks, the Internet addressed the specific need of interconnectivity regardless of existing network topology, architecture, speed, or vendor provenience, which was in high demand by the military, the educational, and the commercial sectors in the United States. The U.S. government-sponsored Internet architecture managed to supplant the rivaling European OSl/ISO network standardization attempts both domestically and globally due to a number of compelling technical, cost, and performance advantages. In the United States, those advantages were systematically leveraged further through the timely commercialization of the Internet, also backed by an earlier, well-crafted policy of telecommunications deregulation followed by deliberate tax exempts for Internet sales. While U.S. policy makers heavily relied an unleashing the forces of the market economy and an industry self-regulatinn for securing the success of the Internet, European policy makers were still entrenched in a tradition of regulating and standardizing before the nascent technology Gould have even demonstrated its full potential and impacts an both the economy and society at large. As a result, Internet-related infrastructures and services thrived rapidly in the United States, while they lagged behind in Europe and other parts of the world. However, as Waesche demonstrates, beyond those differing principles in policy making, when European legislators finally embarked an widespread deregulation of telecommunications, the impact of those policy changes came too late in order to establish a flourishing European Internet startup sector which Gould match its US competitors in agility, size, and global reach.
In the second part of his book, Waesche discusses the Gerrnan case in further detail. As he outlines, in this country, due to a tradition of "corporatist" and consensual decision making, entrepreneurial activity typically relies an proactive governmental policy making for setting detailed rules of the road. When in the course of the European Union's integration process national, government-controlled or -owned Post, Telephone, & Telegraph (PTT) monopolies were ordered to be dismantled and deregulated, the German federal government, as the owner of the largest PTT an the continent, opted in favor of a relatively slow and phased approach to privatization and dissection that spun over the major part of the 1990s, coinciding with the global rise of the Internet. Since the PTT managed to maintain its full control over the last mile into the new millennium, it was in a position to stifle the proliferation of the Internet via drastically increased fees for metered local calls. At that time, flat rates for Internet access were not available. To make the prospects for rapid growth even worse, the PTT, as the owner of German cable TV networks, decided to bar those networks from Internet access too. Other providers of physical network infrastructures appeared late an the scene, and play a minor role even today. Hence, accessing the Internet as a consumer or as a small-to-medium business was confined to phone lines with slow connection speeds at a prohibitively high price. As a result, the Internet had a very slow start in Germany. However, German Internet entrepreneurship was not only curtailed by weak demand, but also through insufficient capital supply. Unlike their U.S. counterparts, German Internet entrepreneurs had little or no access to a well-established and technology-savvy venture capitalist community for the most part of the 1990s. They instead had to resort to traditional instruments such as bank loans and self-financing, such that German Internet startups were undercapitalized and not geared for rapid growth. When the Neuer Markt (designed as a German NASDAQ equivalent) finally started providing capital to German Internet firms, it was rather late for helping German startups expand to a global reach. While U.S. Internet startups enjoyed a deregulated as well as an innovation- and technology-friendly domestic environment that readily provided sufficient capital supply and fostered a rapidly growing demand base, German startups had to fight an uphill battle in many respects. The domestic demand base had been artificially curtailed, deregulation had not fully unfolded, capital supply was initially weak, and a widespread mentality of embracing technological and social change was mostly absent in the German society of the 1990s. Unsurprisingly, quite a few U.S. Internet startups managed to grow into a global presence, with the strongest surviving the inevitable shakeout, while global players from Germany are missing.
Assessing the book's academic contribution presents a challenging task, which would have been easier to perform had the purpose been stated more precisely. To the business historian the study casts some light an a relatively short period of time (basically the years 1995 to 1998) of German technology-related policy making, its short-term effects, and the fate of a special breed of entrepreneurial activity during that period of time. The study demonstrates that German Start-ups could not help but miss a global opportunity should that opportunity have existed an a broad scale, at all (for example, why, globally speaking, are there only U.S. survivors of the first wave of "pure" Internet businesses? In other words, to what extent was the opportunity already a global one at that early stage?). The reviewer tends to be skeptical regarding that conjecture. Today, the New Economy euphoria has vanished in favor of a more realistic perspective that acknowledges the tremendous long-term potential of an increasingly global economy with the Internet as an important backbone of this development. In fact, meanwhile it has become undeniable that so-called Old Economy organizations (including governments) were relatively quick an their feet in embracing and even driving the new technological opportunities, therefore contributing to the global change and opportunity decisively more than all first and second-wave Internet startups taken together. Rather than Old versus New Economy, the Internet has challenged almost every organization around the world to change the old way in favor of a new, Internet-related way of doing business. In that regard, the pure Internet entrepreneurial opportunity existed only for a short while when traditional businesses had difficulties to acknowledge the extent and immediacy of the opportunity/threat of a new business model. It is revealing, for example, that Amazon.com, in order to survive, had to divert from its original broker-type model to more traditional ways of retailing books, CDs, Computer equipment, etc., with most of the backend logistics not far from those of traditional players. A 2002 dissertation and a 2003 book should, it is felt, be more critically reflective in that regard rather than stick to a 1998 perspective of an assumed immediate and revolutionary change from brick-and-mortar-based business to a "clicks and cookies" economy.
Waesche sparsely Sketches out a theoretical framework for his study combining "network thinking," which he Claims to stand in the Schumpeterian research tradition, with classical institutional theory a la Max Weber. It is not clear, though, how this theory has guided his empirical research. No detailed hypotheses are presented, which would further clarify what was studied. Beyond the rudimentary framework, the author presents a concept of "refraction" denoting the "distorting effect national institutions have an a global innovation opportunity" (p. 17). Again, no hypotheses or measures for this concept are developed. No indication is given about which specific academic contribution was intended to be made and which particular gap of knowledge was attempted to be filled. Waesche's book would have greatly benefited from a more sharply posed and more detailed set of research questions. Instead we leam many details about the German situation in general and about the perceptions of individual players, particularly managerial personnel, in entrepreneurial Internet businesses in a specific Situation within a relatively short period of time. While many of those details are interesting in their own right, the reader is left wondering what the study's novelty is, what it specifically uncovered, what the frame of reference was, and what was finally learned. Contrary to its Claim and unlike a Chandlerian treatment of business history, the study does not explain, it rather just deseribes a particular historical situation. Consequently, the author refrains from presenting any new theory or prescriptive framework in his concluding remarks, but rather briefly revisits and summarizes the presening chapters. The study's empirical basis consists of two surveys with Sample sizes of 123 and 30 as well as a total of 68 interviews. The surveys and interviews were mostly completed between July of 1997 and November of 1999. Although descriptive statistics and detailed demographic information is provided in the appendix, the questionnaires and interview protocols are not included, making it difficult to follow the research undertaking. In summary, while undeniably a number of interesting and illustrative details regarding early Internet entrepreneurship in Germany are accounted for in Waesche's book, it would have provided a much stronger academic contribution had it developed a sound theory upfront and then empirically tested that theory. Alternatively the author could have singled out certain gaps in existing theory, and then attempted to fill those gaps by providing empirical evidence. In either case, he would have almost inevitably arrived at new insights directing to further study."

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Footnote

Rez. in: JASIST. 54(2003) no.9, S.908-909 (L. Ennis): "This is a timely and important addition to the growing body of work an libraries and digital collections. Both Deegan and Tanner bring a wide array of experience and knowledge to the work creating a valuable resource for librarians and digital collection managers. The book is the first in what the authors hope will become a series of volumes covering various issues of digital futures. Digital Futures: Strategies for the Information Age contains nine main chapters divided into sections, an introduction, a conclusion, a bibliography, a glossary, and an index. Each chapter begins with a quote or two and an introduction to help set the stage for the rest of the chapter. The first chapter, "Digital Futures in Current Context," outlines the myriad of changes in information technology from the past 50 years and the impact of those changes an libraries, library practices, and publishing. The book is written for people with little or no prior knowledge of information technology, so technologically savvy readers may find the first chapter a little elementary. For instance, the chapter includes a good bit of the history and workings of the Internet and World Wide Web. However, without the chapter included in the text, the work world lack a real starting point for the narrative and possibly alienate readers just starting their voyage into information science. The second chapter, "Why Digitize?" discusses why libraries and librarians should consider digital projects as a means of providing access. While the concentration is an the benefits of digital projects, the authors are also careful to point out various pitfalls and stumbling blocks to creating, managing, and preserving a digital collection. To help demonstrate their point, the authors include examples of a number of active projects covering newspapers, photo collections, books, and periodicals, and provide URLs so readers can visit the projects an their own. This chapter gives the reader a good overview of the various issues surrounding digitization as well as practical examples. While the first two chapters are a good introduction to the subject and examine theoretical issues, the next two chapters begin take an more practical issues. In Chapter Three, "Developing Collections in the Digital World," and four, "The Economic Factors," the authors explore how digital collections work with traditional library collecfions and how collection development for digital resources differs from collection development of non-digital resources. One of the most interesting topics of these chapters covers the issues surrounding serials using JSTOR and Project MUSE as examples. E-books and their impact an libraries is also discussed. The remaining chapters are by far the most timely and important parts of the work. Chapter Five, "Resource Discovery, Description and Use," examines the growing area of metadata and its importance for libraries and librarians. The chapter begins with a look at how the World Wide Web works and the problems with search engines and then evolves into a discussion of what metadata is, the types of metadata, and metadata creation. The authors explain that one of the biggest problems with the World Wide Web is that the construction and description of web pages is imprecise. The solution for bettering retrieval is metadata.
The most common definition for metadata is "data about data." What metadata does is provide schemes for describing, organizing, exchanging, and receiving information over networks. The authors explain how metadata is used to describe resources by tagging item attributes like author, title, creation date, key words, file formats, compression, etc. The most well known scheme is MARC, but other schemes are developing for creating and managing digital collections, such as XML, TEI, EAD, and Dublin Core. The authors also do a good job of describing the difference between metadata and mark-up languages like HTML. The next two chapters discuss developing, designing, and providing access to a digital collection. In Chapter Six, "Developing and Designing Systems for Sharing Digital Resources," the authors examine a number of issues related to designing a shared collection. For instance, one issue the authors examine is interoperability. The authors stress that when designing a digital collection the creators should take care to ensure that their collection is "managed in such a way as to maximize opportunities for exchange and reuse of information, whether internally or externally" (p. 140). As a complement to Chapter Six, Chapter Seven, "Portals and Personalization: Mechanisms for End-user Access," focuses an the other end of the process; how the collection is used once it is made available. The majority of this chapter concentrates an the use of portals or gateways to digital collections. One example the authors use is MyLibrary@NCState, which provides the university community with a flexible user-drive customizable portal that allows user to access remote and local resources. The work logically concludes with a chapter an preservation and a chapter an the evolving role of librarians. Chapter Eight, "Preservation," is a thought-provoking discussion an preserving digital data and digitization as a preservation technique. The authors do a good job of relaying the complexity of preservation issues in a digital world in a single chapter. While the authors do not answer their questions, they definitely provide the reader wich some things to ponder. The final chapter, "Digital Librarians: New Roles for the Information Age," outlines where the authors believe librarianship is headed. Throughout the work they stress the role of the librarian in the digital world, but Chapter Nine really brings the point home. As the authors stress, librarians have always managed information and as experienced leaders in the information field, librarians are uniquely suited to take the digital bull by the horns. Also, the role of the librarian and what librarians can do is growing and evolving. The authors suggest that librarians are likely to move into rotes such as knowledge mediator, information architect, hybrid librarian-who brings resources and technologies together, and knowledge preserver. While these librarians must have the technical skills to cope with new technologies, the authors also state that management skills and subject skills will prove equally important.

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Abstract

There is a great challenge for librarians to keep up-to-date with how best to use the Internet. This book helps them achieve that goal. Covers for example: how to search in order to achieve the best results (strategies, what to ask and examples) and interpreting results (including examples). Not only does the book show how to use the Internet, but it also links this to perfect customer service - how to teach your customers what you know and how to properly interpret what your customers want.

Content

Key Features - Helps a librarian deliver perfect customer service with confidence - Provides practical tips and hints; is pragmatic rather than technical - Is written by a highly respected and experienced practitioner The Author Jeanne Froidevaux Müller is a frequent contributor to the respected magazine Managing Information; the author was, from 1992-2002, head of the library at the Swiss Cancer League. Jeanne is currently based at the public library of Thun, Switzerland. Readership The book is aimed at all librarians and informational professionals: in the academic, public and private sectors. It will be of interest to both large and small libraries. Contents Introduction Basis of confidence - the Internet as a tool and not something to be afraid of Data - Information - Knowledge How to search - simple strategies; what to ask; examples Interpreting results-including examples Maintaining a link list an your browser How to teach your customers what you know and how to know what your customers want Perfect customer service

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Footnote

Rez. in: JASIST 55(2004) no.1, S.90-91 (N. Rhodes): "The recent near-exponential increase in XML-based technologies has exposed a gap between these technologies and those that are concerned with more fundamental data management issues. This very comprehensive and well-organized book has quite neatly filled the gap, thus achieving most of its stated intentions. The target audiences are database and XML professionals wishing to combine XML with modern database technologies and such is the breadth of scope of this book (hat few would not find it useful in some way. The editors have assembled a collection of chapters from a wide selection of industry heavyweights and as with most books of this type, it exhibits many disparate styles but thanks to careful editing it reads well as a cohesive whole. Certain sections have already appeared in print elsewhere and there is a deal of corporate flag-waving but nowhere does it become over-intrusive. The preface provides only the very brietest of introductions to XML but instead sets the tone for the remainder of the book. The twin terms of data- and document-centric XML (Bourret, 2003) that have achieved so much recent currency are re-iterated before XML data management issues are considered. lt is here that the book's aims are stated, mostly concerned with the approaches and features of the various available XML data management solutions. Not surprisingly, in a specialized book such as this one an introduction to XML consists of a single chapter. For issues such as syntax, DTDs and XML Schemas the reader is referred elsewhere, here, Chris Brandin provides a practical guide to achieving good grammar and style and argues convincingly for the use of XML as an information-modeling tool. Using a well-chosen and simple example, a practical guide to modeling information is developed, replete with examples of the pitfalls. This brief but illuminating chapter (incidentally available as a "taster" from the publisher's web site) notes that one of the most promising aspects of XML is that applications can be built to use a single mutable information model, obviating the need to change the application code but that good XML design is the basis of such mutability.
There is some debate over what exactly constitutes a native XML database. Bourret (2003) favors the wider definition; other authors such as the Butler Group (2002) restrict the use of the term to databases systems designed and built solely for storage and manipulation of XML. Two examples of the lauer (Tamino and eXist) are covered in detailed chapters here but also included in this section is the embedded XML database system, Berkeley DB XML, considered by makers Sleepycat Software to be "native" in that it is capable of storing XML natively but built an top of the Berkeley DB engine. To the uninitiated, the revelation that schemas and DTDs are not required by either Tamino or eXist might seem a little strange. Tamino implements "loose coupling" where the validation behavior can be set to "strict," "lax" (i.e., apply only to parts of a document) or "skip" (no checking), in eXist, schemas are simply optional. Many DTDs and schemas evolve as the XML documents are acquired and so these may adhere to slightly different schemas, thus the database should support queries an similar documents that do not share the same structune. In fact, because of the difficulties in mappings between XML and database (especially relational) schemas native XML databases are very useful for storage of semi-structured data, a point not made in either chapter. The chapter an embedded databases represents a "third way," being neither native nor of the XML-enabled relational type. These databases run inside purpose-written applications and are accessed via an API or similar, meaning that the application developer does not need to access database files at the operating system level but can rely an supplied routines to, for example, fetch and update database records. Thus, end-users do not use the databases directly; the applications do not usually include ad hoc end-user query tools. This property renders embedded databases unsuitable for a large number of situations and they have become very much a niche market but this market is growing rapidly. Embedded databases share an address space with the application so the overhead of calls to the server is reduced, they also confer advantages in that they are easier to deploy, manage and administer compared to a conventional client-server solution. This chapter is a very good introduction to the subject, primers an generic embedded databases and embedded XML databases are helpfully provided before the author moves to an overview of the Open Source Berkeley system. Building an embedded database application makes far greater demands an the software developer and the remainder of the chapter is devoted to consideration of these programming issues.
Relational database Management systems have been one of the great success stories of recent times and sensitive to the market, Most major vendors have responded by extending their products to handle XML data while still exploiting the range of facilities that a modern RDBMS affords. No book of this type would be complete without consideration of the "big these" (Oracle 9i, DB2, and SQL Server 2000 which each get a dedicated chapter) and though occasionally overtly piece-meal and descriptive the authors all note the shortcomings as well as the strengths of the respective systems. This part of the book is somewhat dichotomous, these chapters being followed by two that propose detailed solutions to somewhat theoretical problems, a generic architecture for storing XML in a RDBMS and using an object-relational approach to building an XML repository. The biography of the author of the latter (Paul Brown) contains the curious but strangely reassuring admission that "he remains puzzled by XML." The first five components are in-depth case studies of XMLdatabase applications. Necessarily diverse, few will be interested in all the topics presented but I was particularly interested in the first case study an bioinformatics. One of the twentieth century's greatest scientific undertakings was the Human Genome Project, the quest to list the information encoded by the sequence of DNA that makes up our genes and which has been referred to as "a paradigm for information Management in the life sciences" (Pearson & Soll, 1991). After a brief introduction to molecular biology to give the background to the information management problems, the authors turn to the use of XML in bioinformatics. Some of the data are hierarchical (e.g., the Linnaean classification of a human as a primate, primates as mammals, mammals are all vertebrates, etc.) but others are far more difficult to model. The Human Genome Project is virtually complete as far as the data acquisition phase is concerned and the immense volume of genome sequence data is no longer a very significant information Management issue per se. However bioinformaticians now need to interpret this information. Some data are relatively straightforward, e.g., the positioning of genes and sequence elements (e.g., promoters) within the sequences, but there is often little or no knowledge available an the direct and indirect interactions between them. There are vast numbers of such interrelationships; many complex data types and novel ones are constantly emerging, necessitating an extensible approach and the ability to manage semi-structured data. In the past, object databases such as AceDB (Durbin & Mieg, 1991) have gone some way to Meeting these aims but it is the combination of XML and databases that more completely addresses knowledge Management requirements of bioinformatics. XML is being enthusiastically adopted with a plethora of XML markup standards being developed, as authors Direen and Jones note "The unprecedented degree and flexibility of XML in terms of its ability to capture information is what makes it ideal for knowledge Management and for use in bioinformatics."
After several detailed examples of XML, Direen and Jones discuss sequence comparisons. The ability to create scored comparisons by such techniques as sequence alignment is fundamental to bioinformatics. For example, the function of a gene product may be inferred from similarity with a gene of known function but originating from a different organism and any information modeling method must facilitate such comparisons. One such comparison tool, BLAST utilizes a heuristic method has become the tool of choice for many years and is integrated into the NeoCore XMS (XML Management System) described herein. Any set of sequences that can be identified using an XPath query may thus become the targets of an embedded search. Again examples are given, though a BLASTp (protein) search is labeled as being BLASTn (nucleotide sequence) in one of them. Some variants of BLAST are computationally intensive, e.g., tBLASTx where a nucleotide sequence is dynamically translated in all six reading frames and compared against similarly translated database sequences. Though these variants are implemented in NeoCore XMS, it would be interesting to see runtimes for such comparisons. Obviously the utility of this and the other four quite specific examples will depend an your interest in the application area but two that are more research-oriented and general follow them. These chapters (on using XML with inductive databases and an XML warehouses) are both readable critical reviews of their respective subject areas. For those involved in the implementation of performance-critical applications an examination of benchmark results is mandatory, however very few would examine the benchmark tests themselves. The picture that emerges from this section is that no single set is comprehensive and that some functionalities are not addressed by any available benchmark. As always, there is no Substitute for an intimate knowledge of your data and how it is used. In a direct comparison of an XML-enabled and a native XML database system (unfortunately neither is named), the authors conclude that though the native system has the edge in handling large documents this comes at the expense of increasing index and data file size. The need to use legacy data and software will certainly favor the all-pervasive XML-enabled RDBMS such as Oracle 9i and IBM's DB2. Of more general utility is the chapter by Schmauch and Fellhauer comparing the approaches used by database systems for the storing of XML documents. Many of the limitations of current XML-handling systems may be traced to problems caused by the semi-structured nature of the documents and while the authors have no panacea, the chapter forms a useful discussion of the issues and even raises the ugly prospect that a return to the drawing board may be unavoidable. The book concludes with an appraisal of the current status of XML by the editors that perhaps focuses a little too little an the database side but overall I believe this book to be very useful indeed. Some of the indexing is a little idiosyncratic, for example some tags used in the examples are indexed (perhaps a separate examples index would be better) and Ron Bourret's excellent web site might be better placed under "Bourret" rather than under "Ron" but this doesn't really detract from the book's qualities. The broad spectrum and careful balance of theory and practice is a combination that both database and XML professionals will find valuable."

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Footnote

Rez. in: JASIST 57(2006) no.5, S.724-725 (P.K. Nayar): "The network society (Castells, 1996) calls for radically new definitions of the public sphere. and this is what Shaping the Network Society's essays set out to do. The first section lays out the essential issues at stake here: human rights, the sociology of cyberspace. and globalization. Oliver BoydBarrett characterizes cyberspace as exclusive. Pointing to the almost total corporate control of the technologies of cyberspace. Boyd-Barrett argues that any attempt of huge corporate bodies to get into grassroots democracy should be viewed with suspicion. The institution of a public sphere. argues Boyd-Barrett, must begin with an assessment of how far the Internet at fords a space of contestation of elitist governing frameworks. Gary Chapman looks at Italy's slow food movement as a counter to the technoglobalist trends, and suggests that the globaltechnological imperative must not be allowed to occlude human values. Rather we need a social imperative here. one which thinks about technology as "malleable, as capable of serving human-determined ends" (p. 64). Cees Hamelink discusses how four rights-right to speech. democratic order, equal participation in social life. and cultural identity are threatened by what he terms the billboardization of society in the networked age. In the second section a range of case studies are presented. Kate Williams and Abdul Alkalimat survey every public computing facility in Toledo (Ohio) to map the parameters of public access to information and decision-making. They conclude that government public computing sites arc situated randomly, community sites are in economically rich or poor (but not middle-stratum) localities, and that commercial and university sites are influenced by market forces. They suggest that future research must necessarily focus on what forms of cyberpower emerge through such use of public computing.
Geert Lovnik and Patrice Riemens explore the digital culture of Amsterdam to show how. despite the techno-social idealism of the early years of the public sphere Digital City project. the culture ran into problems. Susan Finquelievich studies the practices of civic networks in Buenos Aires and Montevideo to demonstrate how local sociohistorical conditions have shaped the technology's development. Veran Matic focuses on the role of media in defending human rights in a hostile environment (former Yugoslavia). Media, she notes, need not necessarily he (or become) a tool of fascist forces, but can he used to generate resistance and to forge a democratic public sphere. Scott Robinson looks at Mexico's telecenter movement to argue that these cybercafes are likely to become an institution for the new Second World of immigrants and refugees. through socially relevant functions. Fiorella de Cindio looks at one of the worlds most significant community networks that of Milan. She demonstrates how local citizens have used information and communication technologies to build a viable. and potentially empowering, participatory public sphere in academia, computer-supported cooperative work, participatory design, and civil engagement (what she calls genes). The third section, -'Building a New Public Sphere in Cyberspace," pros- ides a series of suggestions and frameworks for the spacing of public space through information and communications technologies. Craig Calhoun argues that a global public sphere is indispensable to the formation of a global democracy. Public discourse can still fight commercialism and violence to form a more democratic civil society. Howard Rheingold the great enthusiast of virtual worlds-performs an intricate mix of autobiographical reflection and speculation when he writes of the role of the new technologies. Rheingold, despite his fetishistic enthusiasm for technology and online community, is cautious when it comes to crucial issues such as the creation of democratic public spheres, arguing that we require a great deal more serious thinking on matters of ownership and control (over the technology). He argues that if citizens lose our freedom to communicate, then even the powerful potential of the Net to create electronic democracy will be fatal illusion (p. 275). Nancy Kranich turns to public libraries as the site of potential democratic society, arguing that as sites of informationdissemination. public libraries can become a commons for the exchange of ideas and social interaction. David Silver compares the Blacksburg Electronic Village (BEV) to the Seattle Community Network the former funded by corporations and the state, the latter built essentially out of and through volunteer efforts. Silver, in characteristic style. looks at the historical archaeologies of the networks to show how sociohistorical contexts shape certain kinds of public spheres (and public discourse). going on to ask how, these networks can overcome these contexts to achieve their original goals. He warns that we need to uncover the histories of such networks because they inform the kinds of interactions of communities that exist within them. Douglas Morris analyzes the Independent Media Centre (IMO) Movement of antiglobalization activists to argue that alternative viewpoints and ideological differences can he aired, debated, and appropriated through the new technologies in order to fight corporate and commercial forces.
Peter Day and Douglas Schuler wind up the book by taking a close look at the sociotechnical context in the 1990s. They argue that utopian schemes for the development of civil society and/or the public sphere may entail a degree of risk. However. Day and Schuler argue that community networks should be ''networks of awareness. advocacy and action" with a high degree of grassroots involvement. This can be done through more responsive policies. Local citizens-the first beneficiaries or victims of policy-should he brought into the decision-making process via civic dialogue. Public funding must be provided for projects that enable dissemination of information about a variety of cultures and belief systems. Shaping the Network Society is understandably more cautious than earlier accounts of cyberculture in its reception of new information and communications technology. Haunted by post 9/11 security measures. increasing surveillance, the faster erosion of liberal humanist ideals, and the internationalization/ commercialization of the media, the essays prefer to be wary about the potential of cyberpower. However, the optimist tone of every essay is unmistakable. While admitting that much more needs to be done to overcome the digital divide and the (mis)appropriation of cyberpower. the essays and ease studies draw attention to the potential for public debate and alternative ideologies. The case studies demonstrate success stories, but invariably conclude with a moral: about the need for vigilance against appropriation and fascist control! What emerges clearly is that the new media have achieved considerable progress in opening up the space for greater citizen involvement, more locally-responsive policy decisions. and socially relevant information-dissemination. Shaping the Network Society, with a strangely messianic slant, is a useful step in the mapping of the present and future cyberspace as the space of new democracies to come of a justice to he worked and prepared for."

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Footnote

Rez. in: JASIST 57(2006) no.12, S.1709-1710 (Y. Awazu): "This hook presents a collection of research studies on the creation, use, and deployment of digital information. According to the editors, the goal of the book is "to present results of scientific research on (I) how digital information has to be designed, (2) how artifacts or systems containing digital content should maximize usability, and (3) how context can influence the nature and efficiency of digital communication" (p. 2). Contributors to this volume have a wide assortment of backgrounds in information science, classical studies, cognitive science, information systems, and organizational sciences. The editors did an excellent job in designing the book. Each chapter is unique in its theory and method. The editors successfully put these unique chapters into the life-cycle view of information: creation, use, and deployment. . . . I would highly recommend this book as a supplementary text for graduate classes in information science, especially those dealing with the design of information systems. It was a pleasure to read this book, and I believe that readers will certainly gain from the wealth of knowledge and insights contained in the volume."

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Abstract

Blogging and other types of social media such as wikis and social networking sites have transformed the way we use the internet in recent years. It is a transformation that business is eager to exploit. In order to do so, a clear commercial strategy needs to be established; does your organization wish to use the media actively as a business tool, or do you need to respond to the use of social media by others? "Blogging and Other Social Media" will address this question with practical guidance on using social media as well as the risks associated with it. A collaboration by leading thinkers and business users of social media, the book contains detailed and practical advice on the various forms of social media - their applications, advantages and disadvantages, how these technologies are evolving, and whether or not their use will benefit your business. The section covering social media and the law explains the risks and remedies related to abuse of copyright, defamation, privacy, data protection and user contracts as well as the opportunities and threats for online reputation.If you are looking to encourage your employees but want to protect your business from the threats this emerging media presents, get a copy of this practical guide and study it before you start including social media as part of your corporate marketing or communications strategy.

Content

Introduction to blogs - Creating a blog - Writing a blog - Enhancing the experience - Is blogging worthwhile for a business? - Introduction to social media - Professional networks for businesses - Industry specific professional networks - Wikis - Online office applications - Podcasting - Social bookmarking and online content democracy - Forerunners to social media - Social media aggregators - Social tools inside the enterprise - Elements of enterprise - Examples and conclusion - The law of social media - Online reputation

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Footnote

Rez. in: JASIST 56(2005) no.11, S.1238-1239 (D.A. Stirling): "Virtual reference services are becoming an important tool as librarians strive to stay current with patron's information demands. In 2001, the Washington State Library initiated the Statewide Virtual Reference Project (SVRP) to support electronic reference services throughout the state. An element of that project, termed "Anytime, Anywhere Answers," was designed to train librarians in the effective use of virtual reference services. The results of that project, including precautions and pitfalls, as well as the curriculum used in the project, are recounted in this book. The book begins with a short review of the Washington State experience with virtual reference training (VRT) and the means by which the guide can be used. The very first page begins with an example of a virtual reference session gone wrong and the authors set the tone for the remainder of the book, which decries the "Shazam! You're a virtual librarian" phenomenon. The second chapter provides a thorough overview of the Washington State SVRP, including planning elements, budgeting, convening of focus groups, and training development. Perhaps the most important information in this chapter is the identification of eight key skills, aptitudes, and knowledge critical in online environments: chat skills, online reference interview, internet searching, database searching, collaborative browsing, customizing scripts, methods for evaluating success, and coping with technical glitches. Building an the aforementioned eight key skills, Chapter Three of the book examines the "core competencies" needed for virtual reference. These 14 competencies are wide ranging and clearly demanding of the librarian training in VRT. In addition, the authors expound upon the eight key skills, aptitudes, and knowledge identified in Chapter Two. Constructivist learning, which has garnered controversy in recent years, was identified as the learning platform for Washington State's SVRP and is the subject of the book's fourth chapter. The authors explain why this learning Format was chosen-primarily because VRT developers felt that participants would learn better by reaching their own conclusions. In this case, constructivist learning involved virtual field trips, secret patron activities, and weekly chat meetings. The challenge of developing the SVRP is described in Chapter Five, with a focus an descriptions of in-person training, online training, and individual and collaborative learning. While earlier chapters discuss theory, practical issues involved in developing and maintaining a VRT program are the subject of Chapters Six through Nine. Important issues, such as curriculum development, training activities, online behavior, and post-program assessment, are examined in detail. Many of the issues examined in these chapters are those that information professionals are faced with an a regular basis. In discussing curriculum development, the authors describe the important questions that need to be asked, as well as important issues such as identifying and qualifying trainers and staff, course timing, determining curriculum efficacy, methods of training delivery, and methods of evaluation.
The real core of the SRVP, that is, the VRT training activities actually utilized by Washington State, are presented in Chapter Seven in roughly the same order as they took place in the course (train the trainer, orientation, chat practice, multitasking skills, virtual field trips, secret patron, transcript review, checking out the competition, policy and procedure review, sharing via a discussion list, and online meetings). Most interestingly, Chapter Eight deals with behavior, an issue rarely discussed in the context of librarianship, let alone providing reference services. As stated by the authors, "the most difficult aspect of digital reference service involves incorporating model reference interview techniques into an online transaction" (p. 74). The SVRP utilized an "online secret patron scenario" as a training tool that helped the student get the question straight, kept the customer informed, and provided the information required by the patron. The final chapter of the book reviews the important tasks of evaluation, modification, and follow-up. To that end, evaluative material is described and linked to Appendix A (assessment tools). In addition, evaluative tasks such as trainer debriefings and consultation with others participating in the SVRP are described. Finally, the chapter includes examples of unexpected consequences experienced in evaluating VRT services (from total inability to handle online transactions to poor marketing or branding of online services). Many useful appendices are included in this book. Appendix A provides examples of several assessment tools used during the "Anytime, Anywhere Answers" program. Appendix B consists of actual transcripts (edited) designed to illustrate good and bad virtual reference transactions. The transcripts illustrate transactions involving helping with homework, source citing, providing an opinion, suggesting print materials, and clarifying a question. This appendix should be required reading as it provides real-world examples of VRT in action. Appendix C is a copy of a VRT field trip questionnaire. The next appendix, like Appendix B, should be required reading as it includes an actual transcript from seven secret patron scenarios. A policies and procedures checklist is provided in Appendix E. Yet another critical source of information is presented in Appendix F, online meeting transcript. This transcript is the result of an online meeting conducted during a VRSP training class held in 2003. According to the authors, it is an example of the positive working relationship developed during a five-week learning course. The remaining appendices (G through 1) present information about support materials used in the VSRP, the VSRP budget, and trainer notes and tips. Clearly, VRT is a skill and resource that information professionals need to embrace, and this book does a fine job of outlining the essentials. It is apparent that the Washington State experience with VRT was a pioneering venture and is a model that other information professionals may seek to embrace, if not emulate, in developing their own VRT programs. However, this book is not a "complete guide" to VRT. There is too rapid development in virtual environments for any one to claim such an achievement. However, it is likely the most "complete" guide to the Washington State experience that will be published; therefore, this book should serve as a thorough and revelatory guide to VRT for several years to come."