336 lines
19 KiB
Plaintext
336 lines
19 KiB
Plaintext
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_Current Cites_
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Volume 8, no. 6
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June 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/cc97.8.6.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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Frauenfelder, Mark. "Content-Based Image Retrieval" Wired (June
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1997):82. -- This article spotlights recent developments in developing
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programs that can search image files the same way search-engines now
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search text files (Web pages). Previously, work in this area has
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concentrated on locally-based image databases that would use
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content-based retrieval to search for images with a certain color
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pattern, texture, or composition. This new project works in much the
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same way, looking for commonalites in percentages of areas covered by
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certain colors, textures, etc. but is framed in terms of enabling
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Web-wide search engines that would be the image equivalents of
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Infoseek or AltaVista. - RR
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Gladney, Henry M. "Safeguarding Digital Library Contents and Users:
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Document Access Control" D-Lib Magazine (June 1997)
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[http://www.dlib.org/dlib/june97/ibm/06gladney.html]. As digital
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library collections grow and expand, it becomes increasingly important
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to protect on-line documents from unapproved access or alteration,
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whether deliberate or accidental. Many of us rely on Unix's native
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permissions system, but it is awkward and often proves an annoying
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hinderance to authorized users. This article, based on work done at
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IBM's Almaden Research Center, describes an object level approach
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based on organizational practice that appears to be much more
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sophisticated. Although this system was developed, I'm sure, with
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military/industrial users in mind, the author's discussion of the
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issues involved and the solutions he has applied really helped to
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clarify my thinking on the topic. - KH
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Lynch, Clifford A. The Z39.50 Information Retrieval Standard; Part I:
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A Strategic View of Its Past, Present and Future" D-Lib Magazine
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(April 19 97) [http://www.dlib.org/dlib/april97/04lynch.html]. In the
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first part of a two-part series, Lynch explains the Z39.50 standard,
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describes the history of the development of the standard and its
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implementation, and discusses the role of content semantics. Readers
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of this series will gain not only an understanding of the technology,
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but also gain the benefit of Lynch's perceptions about further
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development of the protocol and systems based upon it. Unfortunately,
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those who are eager for Part II must wait un til the October 1997
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issue. - RT
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Marcum, Deanna B. "Digital Libraries: For Whom? For What?" The Journal
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of Academic Librarianship 23(2) (March 1997): 81-84. As president of
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the Commission on Preservation and Access and Council on Library
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Resources, Deanna Marcum describes her organization's formation of a
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National Digital Library Federation whose mission is to address the
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complications and problems associated with digital libraries. Although
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research libraries are generally noted for their carefully-selected
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and comprehensive collections, rising costs have forced the library
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community to find new ways of providing access to the intellectual and
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cultural heritage traditionally housed in the library. The goal of the
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National Digital Library Federation is to explore ways that the
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characteristics and capabilities of digital technologies can be
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integrated with the strengths of research libraries to provide
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convenient and affordable access to materials. As such the group is
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urging the library community to provide leadership in three specific
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areas: 1) discovery and retrieval mechanisms; 2) intellectual property
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rights and economic models; 3) achiving of digital information. Marcum
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argues that it is librarians who must take a leadership role -- not
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commercial information providers and computer scientists who are
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already seeing opportunities for themselves in the digital library --
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so that they can integrate values normally associated with the library
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profession to the new digital library. - MP
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Maxwell, Christine, and Gutowitz, Howard. "Data Mining Solutions and
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the Establishment of a Data Warehouse: Corporate Nirvana for the 21st
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Century?" First Monday 2(5), May 5, 1997
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[http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue2_5/maxwell/]. Pick up any
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issue of Businessweek and you're likely to read all about "data
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mining" and "data warehousing". Based on industrial-strength computing
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hardware and software, these systems promise to offer new levels of
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instant analysis of markets, trends and inventory-to-sales ratios. Not
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so fast, say Maxwell and Gutowitz. Data is only as good as the brain
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power applied to analysis. They offer the best overview of data mining
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and warehousing reviewed in Current Cites to date, and propose a more
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human-oriented approach. Data mining and warehousing needs to be
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adaptive and to keep the business end-user in mind. Drawing (perhaps
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unconsciously) on the core principles of the library profession, they
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argue that effective corporate information management, is "a social
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system, a physical system, and an artificial biological system, all at
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the same time." - TH
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Miller, Heather S. "The Little Locksmith: A Cautionary Tale for the
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Electronic Age" The Journal of Academic Librarianship 23(2) (March
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1997): 100-107. Despite the many technological advantages offered by
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electronic resources, the catalog record is ultimately the key to
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providing access to materials in the library. In this day of OPACs,
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catalogers need no longer be ruled by the tyranny of the catalog card.
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Miller argues that it is through technology that a greater depth and
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breadth of access can be provided and she challenges catalogers to add
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more subject headings to records and to consider adding summaries to
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each record so that keyword searching in an OPAC can be truly useful.
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An excellent, comprehensive bibliography accompanies this
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thought-provoking article. - MP
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Weibel, Stuart, Renato Iannella, and Warwick Cathro. The 4th Dublin
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Core Metadata Workshop Report" D-Lib Magazine (June 1997) [http://w
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ww.dlib.org/dlib/june97/metadata/06weibel.html]. As we have reported
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in previous issues of Current Cites, the Dublin Core is one of the
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most promising draft standards in existence for creating metadata
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records for digital objects. This report describes the work of the 4th
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Dublin Core Workshop, held in March 1997 at the National Library of
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Australia. The goals of the meeting were to fu rther revise the Dublin
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Core in the areas of element structure, extensibility, and element
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refinement. In explaining a tension between two positions taken by
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conferees, the article describes a continuum of resource description
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from full-text indexing (lik e Web search engines) to
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richly-structured surrogates (like a MARC record). The two camps are
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described as minimalists (those who prefer a simple structure) and
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structuralists (those who prefer additional element attributes to
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support refinement and quali fication). Out of the meeting came a set
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of "Canberra Qualifiers" (scheme, language and type) which will join
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the "Warwick Framework" as Dublin Core add-ons. One can hardly wait
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for the upcoming DC-5 to see if we get a "Helsinki Hegemony" to bring
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this al l together into a workable whole. Nonetheless, if you're in
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the metadata game (and if you're building digital collections you'd
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better be) then this is the draft standard to watch. - RT
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY & SOCIETY
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DeLong, Stephen E. "The Shroud of Lecturing" First Monday 2(5), May 5,
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1997 [http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue2_5/delong/]. DeLong
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explores the ways in which Web-based information competes with
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classic-style lecturing for the attention of students. The explosion
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of information has created multiple pathways for learning, he argues,
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and the best teachers will be the ones who can teach students to
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discern the differences between substantive knowledge and the dross of
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cyberspace. University education will probably change dramatically as
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a result, because learning is "democratized" by the network. Faculty
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and administrators need to face the challenge directly, or risk losing
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the status and prestige of the 800-year old idea of the university to
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more nimble players. - TH
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Ghosh, Rishab Aiyer. "Economics is Dead. Long Live Economics! A
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Commentary on Michael Goldhaber's "The Attention Economy" First
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Monday 2(5), May 5, 1997
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[http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue2_5/ghosh/]. Point,
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counterpoint. Current Cites reviewed Goldhaber's First Monday article
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about the "attention economy" of the Internet in May. Netizens in the
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online community "Electric Minds" were so intrigued that they posted
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the cite and launched a discussion of the content of the article.
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Perhaps this article, written as a response by First Monday's Managing
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Editor, will heap coals on the virtual fire. It's a very interesting
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synopsis of traditional economic thinking and its continued relevance
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in the digital arena. Ghosh writes in a straightforward style that
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will make America's unofficial religion, Economics, eminently
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understandable to an entire rogues' gallery of supply-side apostates,
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post-humanists, and anti-Keynesian monkey-wrenchers. But the author
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avoids patronizing tones. "Scarcity is much misunderstood", he rightly
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claims. He also argues that virtual citizens value a variety of online
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pursuits, and they continue to defy easy description. Flame on,
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Electric Minds! - TH
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Jacobs, Paul F., and Holland, Chris. "Archaeology Online: New Life for
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Old Dead Things" First Monday 2(6), June 2, 1997 [http://www.f
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irstmonday.dk/issues/issue2_6/jacobs/]. The authors argue that digital
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media is creating a whole new sphere of value for classical
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archaeology. Their arguments fall into two main areas: first, high
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resolution, three-dimensional imaging can bring archaeological digs to
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life in previously impossible ways, thereby expanding the professional
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audience and readership. Second, online, refereed articles that
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include this high caliber of digitized evidence from archaeological
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digs may be published years in advance of similarly documented print
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publications. The upshot is that it's a very exciting time to be an
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archaeologist who can master digital technology. Since specificity of
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detail is a crucial element in archaeological analysis, high
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resolution digital media can increase the amount of detail that can be
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shared with colleagues, and enable them to participate in
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collaborative analysis much earlier in the excavation process of an
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archaeological dig. - TH
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Sewell, David R. "The Internet Oracle: Virtual Authors and Network
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Community" First Monday 2(6), June 2, 1997 [http://www.firstmon
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day.dk/issues/issue2_6/sewell/]. This essay was originally published
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in 1992, and explored the emerging culture and consciousness of the
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Usenet group known as "Usenet Oracle". Now called Internet Oracle, the
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multi-user domain continues to evolve. The meaning of authorship is
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explored by Sewell in detail, and he poses some interesting questions.
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For example, participants in an online dialogue experience the
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submersion of individual identity into an "anonymous, collective
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personality", as a stream of text plays out in a chat room. Hmmm--is
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this what the Vulcan "mind-meld" feels like? Questions about
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individual and collective identity are terra-firma for educated
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netizens these days, but this article's original premises remain
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insightful and definitive, after four years of explosive Internet
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growth. It's well worth the time to revisit this article in its
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updated form. - TH
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NETWORKS AND NETWORKING
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Bridges, Anne E. and Russell T. Clement. "Crossing the Threshold of
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Rocket Mail: E-mail Use by U.S. Humanities Faculty" The Journal of
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Academic Librarianship 23(2) (March 1997): 109-117. A survey of
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humanities faculty at Brigham Young University and the University of
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Tennesee, Knoxville revealed their use of e-mail is significantly
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higher than previously reported in the literature. The authors suggest
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that librarians can take advantage of this fact and encourage faculty
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to use e-mail for research assistance, reference queries, interlibrary
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loan requests and collection development information. Moreover, e-mail
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can be used as a launch pad for humanities faculty to explore other
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online library systems and electronic resources. - MP
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"California Universities To Develop New Electronic Superhighway", UC
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NewsWire [UC Office of the President]. This article reports on the
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newly formed Consortium for Education Network Initiatives in
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California (CENIC, http://www.aldea.com:80/cenic/) and it's plans to
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build CalREN-2 (California Research & Education Network). CENIC is
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comprised of several large universities and private telcom companies,
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and CalREN-2 will provide a model for building the rest of the new
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"next generation Internet" or Internet2 (http://www.Internet2.edu/).
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The main improvments proposed on CalREN-2 are stability and speed (the
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CalREN-2 announcement points out that at the proposed 600 mbps, the
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entire 30-volume edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica could be
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transmitted in less than 1 second). Real world developments in this
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area are crucial for anyone involved in the Internet. Of special
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concern are the vying notions that these developments will either spur
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the entire Internet community to more dependable and faster
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technologies or balkanize the Internet into strictly commercial and
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research communities with only loose connections between them. - RR
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Garfinkel, Simson and Spafford, Gene. Web Security and Commerce
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Sebastopol, CA : O'Reilly & Associates, 1997. Security and commerce
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are becoming increasingly important components of the jobs of many Web
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programmers. As would be expected, this most recent addition to the
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Nutshell Handbook series is a very in-depth guide to the risks of the
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Web and what both the user and administrator can do to decrease them.
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Covered are browser vulnerabilities, privacy concerns, issues with
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Java, JavaScript, ActiveX, and plug-ins, digital certificates,
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cryptography, Web server security (e.g., SSL, TLS, server access
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methods, and secure CGI/API programming), blocking software,
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censorship technology, and relevant civil and criminal issues. I
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especially appreciated the section on writing secure CGI scripts,
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which caused me to take a very hard look at the scripts I have running
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now. The discussion of the evolving field of digital commerce was also
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especially clear and helpful. - KH
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Musser, Linda and Lisa Recupero. "Internet Resources on Disasters"
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College & Research Libraries News 58(6) (June 1997): 403-407
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[http://www.ala.org/acrl/resjun97.html]. Whether you're looking for
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information about a flood or a famine or a plague of locusts, chances
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are you need to know something soon. That's why the Internet is an
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ideal medium for disseminating information about disasters. From large
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"metasites" that cover multiple types of disasters to more focused
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sites on meteorological, geophysical, biological (diseases, famines)
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or technological (plane crashes, bombs, etc.) disasters, this article
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provides a comprehensive, evaluative list of general Internet
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resources in this area. - MP
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Sheehey, Helen M. "A Community Closer to Its Citizens: The European
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Union's Use of the Internet" Government Information Quarterly 14(2)
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(1997): 117-142. This article discusses the European Union's
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"awareness campaign" to promote integration initiatives, and
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particularly its use of the Internet to grant the public, researchers,
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and business people greater access to information. Two main resources
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are at the center of the EU's communication strategies: databases and
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full-text documents available through the WWW. Database services,
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accessible via telnet include ECHO, which is mostly free to the
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general public, and EUROBASES, a fee-based service. WWW resources
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include EUROPA (http://europa.eu.int/), the EU's principal Web site
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which provides access to important documents and background papers,
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I'M Europe (http://www2.echo.lu/), which treats new information
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technologies, and CORDIS (http://www.cordis.lu/), the Community
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Research and Development Information Service, which provides
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information on EU research and development initiatives. Sheehy notes
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the absence of statistical databases from these services and points
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out that detailed statistical materials are available by purchase
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only. The author also briefly touches on the problems of language
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equity in these resources, the absence of a long-term access policy,
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and librarians' role in critically evaluating EU electronic resources.
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The article is complemented by two tables listing available databases
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and URL's of EU WWW servers. - CG
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Sternberg, Hilary. "Internet Resources for Grants and Foundations"
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College & Research Libraries News 58(5) (May 1997): 314-317
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[http://www.ala.org/acrl/resmay97.html]. Next time a curmudgeonly
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faculty member grumbles to you about how overrated the Internet is,
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give him a copy of this article. Next thing you know, he'll be running
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around the reference desk yelling "Show me the money!" The article
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lists the major sources on the Internet for finding out information
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about grants, foundations, fellowships, and other funding sources.
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Included in the list are references to organizations, directories,
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government funding webpages and electronic journals. Particularly
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useful are the references to sites that offer tips and advice on
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successful grant writing. - MP
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_________________________________________________________________
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Current Cites 8(6) (June 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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listserv@library.berkeley.edu, replacing "[your name]" with your
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name. Copying is permitted for noncommercial use by computerized
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bulletin board/conference systems, individual scholars, and libraries.
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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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