235 lines
14 KiB
Plaintext
235 lines
14 KiB
Plaintext
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_Current Cites_
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Volume 8, no. 8
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August 1997
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The Library
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University of California, Berkeley
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Edited by Teri Andrews Rinne
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Acting Editor: Roy Tennant
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ISSN: 1060-2356
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http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/CurrentCites/1997/cc97.8.8.html
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Contributors:
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Campbell Crabtree, Christof Galli, Kirk Hastings, Terry Huwe,
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Margaret Phillips, David Rez, Richard Rinehart,
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Teri Rinne, Roy Tennant
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DIGITAL LIBRARIES
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Barnard, D.T. and Ide, I.D. "Text Encoding Initiative: Flexible and
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Extensible Document Encoding" Journal of the American Society for
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Information Science 48(7) (July 1997):622-628. - The Text Encoding
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Initiative is an effort to produce a common encoding scheme for
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complex texts. After three years of development, it seems well on its
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way to becoming the standard, especially for texts from the
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humanities. This article is an unusually clear description of the TEI
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Document Type Definition (DTD), for those that want a better
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understanding of its structure and features. The authors cover gross
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structural elements, the reasoning behind TEI's development, and the
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implications for future directions in structured document use and
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presentation. Most useful for me was the way in which the authors step
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through some of the decision-making processes that go into determining
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how to mark up a particular text. - KH
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Kenney, Anne R. "Digital to Microfilm Conversion: A Demonstration
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Project, 1994-1996" Final Report to the National Endowment for the
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Humanities, PS-20781-94. Cornell University Library, August 15, 1997.
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(http://www.library.cornell.edu/preservation/com/comfin.html). - One
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of the thorniest problems that librarians face is how to preserve
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digital collections. There are currently no accepted digital
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preservation *formats*, only *strategies*. One such strategy may be to
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use the digital object to produce computer output microfilm (COM) that
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meets national preservation standards for quality and permanence. This
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report studied the feasibility of such a strategy by looking at such
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issues as quality, expense, and process. It is formal studies such as
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this one, and a related one by Yale University (see
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http://www.dlib.org/dlib/february96/yale/02conway.html), that will
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provide much-needed data for evaluating digital preservation
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strategies. - RT
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Logan, Elisabeth and Pollard, Marvin, eds. "Special Topic Issue:
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Structured Information/Standards for Document Architectures" Journal
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of the American Society for Information Science 48(7) (July 1997). -
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This special issue of JASIS covers the latest developments and
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directions in structured document architectures. It consists of ten
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articles covering everything from the history of SGML to
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implementation issues and future trends. For those not very clear on
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the uses of SGML and its relationship to the various Document Type
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Definitions (DTDs), a number of the articles serve as good
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introductions and overviews. What I found especially interesting,
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however, were those covering ideas for the extension of the standards
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to perform more sophisticated types of document analysis and
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searching.- KH
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Sengupta, A. and Dillon A. "Extending SGML to Accommodate Database
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Functions: A Methodological Overview" Journal of the American Society
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for Information Science 48(7) (July 1997):629-637. - While many
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projects, over the last couple of years, have focused on the creation
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of large SGML document repositories, very little has been done toward
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providing more sophisticated methods of accessing and querying these
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collections. In this article the authors propose extending SGML to
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include database functionality through what they are calling a
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Structured Document Database Management System. This is radically
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different from the mapping of SGML documents into one of the prevalent
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database models (relational, object-oriented, and object-relational),
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which seems to be the direction of most researchers. According to the
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authors their approach avoids the potential problems of data loss
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during document reconstruction and allows for more sophisticated
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search interfaces. While their arguments are not entirely convincing,
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they certainly do explore some interesting new ground with regard to
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improving access to large structured text collections.- KH
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY & SOCIETY
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"The Digital Frontier: The Best Ideas From the Hottest Research Labs."
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Businessweek 3532 (June 23,1997). Special Feature. - Businessweek
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profiles late-breaking, mind-bending research developments that are
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popping up at research universities throughout the nation. This
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lengthy feature's high points include succinct descriptions of some
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really wild ideas that are coupled with analysis of their chances in
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the marketplace. Products related to the research won't appear for a
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few years in most cases, so this is a great article to read if you
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enjoy the game of anticipation. Some of the trends covered in this
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survey have been caught by Cites in the past. For example,
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"Lifestreams", a Yale project, would reorganize computer file and
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document management to mimic human memory patterns. The editors also
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evaluate which research outfits and computer science departments are
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moving up in prestige. - TH
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"Global Library Strategies for the 21st Century: Summit of World
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Library Leaders" Biblion: The Bulletin of the New York Public Library
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5(2) (Spring 1997): 4-127. - As part of its centenary celebration, the
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New York Public Library brought together a number of the library
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leaders from around the world to consider the state of the art in
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libraries and their future. Chief executive offices from over 50
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libraries in twenty-seven countries were represented in the three-day
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long forum. The transcription of the proceedings is interesting and
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thought-provoking, as one would expect from such a stellar panel. But
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since the proceedings were no doubt transcribed from a recording, the
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reader experiences both the realism of chit-chat and the distraction
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it brings. Errors have also crept in, such as Ameritech being
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transcribed as "Meritec". But these small quibbles aside, anyone
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interested in knowing what inspires and bothers those responsible for
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the vast majority of the world's information heritage can get some
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small insight by reading these proceedings. - RT
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Goldhaber, Michael. "What's the right economics for cyberspace?" First
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Monday 2 (7) (July 7, 1997)
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(http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue2_7/goldhaber/). - In an online
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continuation of a debate about the usefulness of classcial economics
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as a measure of electronic commerce, Goldhaber replies to First Monday
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editor Rishab Ayer Ghosh's June rebuttal of his May manifesto.
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Goldhaber holds firm to his belief that "attention", that is, how much
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time you spend looking at web sites, cannot be quantified by classical
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terms. Whether or not you agree, this discussion is an interesting
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exploration of value and activity in digital realms. - TH
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Miller, William. "Troubling Myths About Online Information." Chronicle
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of Higher Education 63 (47) (August 1, 1997): A44. - The president of
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the Association of College and Research Libraries debunks myths about
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the economics and media "spin" on electronic solutions to library
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funding and service issues. He's addressing a faculty readership, and
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does an excellent job of walking the uninitiated through the maze of
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crises that libraries face. The fact that electronic copies often cost
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more than their print counterparts is but one of the many points he
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makes, but he skillfully avoids sounding atavistic or resistant to
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change. Quite the contrary. Miller's assessment of the challenges
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facing research libraries and universities expertly challenges
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non-librarian faculty members to look deeper than advertising and
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promotional literature at the long-term health and success of their
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campus libraries, and to join forces with librarians. - TH
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Schwuchow, W., S. Graumann, and W. Bredemeier. "A study of the
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European information market". Journal of Information Science 23(3)
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1997: 249-259. - The article presents results of a study of the
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electronic information services (EIS) markets in seventeen countries
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of the European Economic Area (EEA, including the member countries of
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the EU plus Norway and Iceland). The results include figures detailing
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market size, worldwide revenues, imports and exports from or into EEA
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countries, and breakdowns of revenues by type and subject orientation
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of products on a country level. Real-time information services (eg
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Reuters) are the leading product type and financial services the
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dominant subject category. In absolute figures, the United Kingdom,
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Germany, and France lead the pack. However, if compared by means of
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two "relative development indicators", one a ratio between EIS
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expenditures and the GDP of a country, and the other a ratio between
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EIS expenditures and the number of inhabitants of a country,
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Luxembourg, Iceland, Finland, and Norway emerge as the top ranking
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countries. - CG
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NETWORKS & NETWORKING
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Fiore, Mark. "Colleges Ponder the Pros and Cons of Having Students
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Design Web Sites". Chronicle of Higher Education 63 (47) (August 1,
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1997): A22. - Ever wonder who does all those cool university sites? It
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turns out that student skill and labor are the workhorse for many
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colleges. On the up side, students are fairly likely to be surfing the
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curls of the latest wave of technology (such as Java scripting), and
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they can play the positive role of educating career staff and faculty
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through example. Unfortunately, they graduate, and leave behind them
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some very elegant, but complex web servers that can pose challenges
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for those who remain. One solution is to recruit more career staff who
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can provide continuity, but the temptation of exploiting relatively
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cheap student labor is strong. - TH
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Rothenberg, David. "How the Web Destroys Research Papers." Chronicle
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of Higher Education 63 (49) (August 15, 1997): A44. Rothenberg is a
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philosophy professor who argues that when students limit their term
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paper research to web searching, they forfeit quality and intellectual
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rigor. His examples of dicey scholarship include irrelevant graphics
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and references to news stories that all appeared during a one year
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time period. His main point is that Internet search engines make
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research look too easy. In addition to taking potshots at student
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research skills, he finds fault with college libraries for diverting
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precious dollars to ephemeral technologies, that might be gone in two
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years. Thankfully, he also admits to shortcomings in classroom
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pedagogy. What starts out as a critque of the web's shortcomings ends
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up as a Zen buddhist admonition: "Pay attention" -- to the basics,
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like reading, thinking and verifying your sources. - TH
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Young, Jeffrey R. "Searching for 'Killer Applications': Networking
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Experts Meet to Discuss What They Will Be Able To Do With Internet 2."
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Chronicle of Higher Education 63 (48) (August 8, 1997): A22. -
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Delegates from universities participating in Internet 2 met at the
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University of Michigan in July to talk about what they can do with all
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that speed and bandwidth, and this article gives a tantalizing
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overview. Video-conferencing is a really just a "low-end" capability;
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scientists hope to control highly complex scientific instruments (like
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magnetic fields and telescopes) from remote locations, eliminating
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grueling travel schedules. Musicians would be able to "jam" online,
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and advanced digital libraries could conceivably include detailed user
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profiles and push technology that would send new acquisitions and news
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to them automatically. The most challenging aspect of such ambitious
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applications will be traffic-regulation on the network, and "quality
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of service", is a key feature. Given the spontaneous potential of
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networked users to invent their own "killer apps", perhaps most of the
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fun to come cannot really be foretold at this early date. - TH
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_________________________________________________________________
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Current Cites 8(8) (August 1997) ISSN: 1060-2356 Copyright (c) 1997
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by the Library, University of California, Berkeley. All rights
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reserved.
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All product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their
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respective holders. Mention of a product in this publication does not
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necessarily imply endorsement of the product.
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[URL:http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/CurrentCites/]
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To subscribe, send the message "sub cites [your name]" to
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Libraries are authorized to add the journal to their collections at no
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cost. An archive site is maintained at ftp.lib.berkeley.edu in
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directory /pub/Current.Cites [URL:
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ftp://ftp.lib.berkeley.edu/pub/Current.Cites]. This message must
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appear on copied material. All commercial use requires permission from
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the editor, who may be reached in the following ways:
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trinne@library.berkeley.edu // (510)642-8173
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