bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Information architecture of business-to-consumer e-commerce websites. Part I: The online catalogue of selected video retailers
Authors: Spiteri Louise F.
Published: December 2004

Recent surveys of business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce websites indicate that these sites lack well-designed online catalogues necessary to enable consumers to locate easily what they want to find. This paper examines how online vendors organize their catalogues and how this organization could affect the consumers’ ability to find the information necessary to make an informed purchase. The contents of the catalogues of 50 B2C video websites were evaluated against fifteen criteria derived from the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules. Results indicate that, on average, the catalogues meet only 8.8 of the fifteen criteria and thus fail to provide consumers with sufficient information needed to make a fully informed and rational purchasing decision. The only elements of information the consumer can be assured of finding are the title and purchase price of the videos.
Use of a digital work environment prototype to create a user-centred university digital library
Authors: Meyyappan N. , Chowdhury G. G. , Foo Schubert
Published: December 2004

An architecture of a prototype digital work environment (DWE), designed to lead users of an academic community to the required information resources based on their tasks, is proposed. The important aspects of the DWE include the identification of information resources available in the academic environment, the various categories of users and the tasks associated with each category of users. Digital information resources include full-text articles, databases, theses and dissertations, e-journals, e-books, multimedia databases, etc. Other information resources, e.g. university course calendars, university statutes, course registration information, thesis and dissertation guidelines, style guides, etc, are also needed by users of an academic community. As these information resources are spread across different servers and in different home pages, academic users find it difficult to obtain the needed information for their work in a desired format at the right time. A prototype DWE has been designed using the School of Computer Engineering at Nanyang Technological University as an example of such an environment. The DWE provides links to various information resources according to users’ needs, as well as a personal workspace to record/store the user’s publications, frequently used or favourite hyperlinks and references or notes. Various stages of the prototype design and development are described and future work on DWE are highlighted.
Digital health information provision and health outcomes
Authors: Nicholas David , Huntington Paul , Williams Peter , Blackburn Paul
Published: December 2004

An online questionnaire survey of more than 1,000 users of a consumer health website, SurgeryDoor, was conducted, which sought to discover why the site was consulted and whether the information obtained from it had any health outcome. The majority of respondents were women and middle aged. Doctors were the first port of call for information, but 50% of respondents cited the Internet as one of their top three information sources. Most people did not come to the site with a particular illness or medical condition. Two-thirds of users said that the information found had ‘helped a lot’ in being better informed. Just under half felt that the information they found had helped in their dealings with the doctor, while just over half felt that information found had changed the way they felt about their condition. More importantly, over one-third of respondents said that their condition had improved after having visited the site and more than one in four said that Web information had resulted in a deferred visit or had actually replaced a visit to the doctor.
Global term weights for document retrieval learned from TREC data
Authors: Wilbur W. John
Published: December 2004

A key element in modern text retrieval systems is the weighting of individual words for importance. Early in the development of document retrieval methods it was recognized that performance could be improved if weights were based at least in part on the frequencies of individual terms in the database. This observation led investigators to propose inverse document frequency weighting, which has become the most commonly used approach. Inverse document frequency weighting can be given some justification based on probabilistic arguments. However, many different formulas have been tried and it is difficult to distinguish between these on a purely theoretical basis. Witten, Moffat and Bell, have proposed a monotonicity condition as fundamental: ‘a term that appears in many documents should not be regarded as more important than a term that appears in a few’. Based on this monotonicity assumption and probabilistic arguments we show here how the TREC data can be used to learn ideal global weights. Using cross-validation we show that these weights are a modest but statistically significant improvement over IDF weights. One conclusion is that IDF weights are close to optimal within the probabilistic assumptions that are commonly made.
Knowledge management in the public sector: principles and practices in police work
Authors: Luen Tan Woei , Al-Hawamdeh Suliman
Published: December 2004

Many organizations in the private or public sectors in Singapore have started to realize the importance of knowledge management in streamlining their operations. This realization stems from the fact that Singapore, as a small country with no natural resources, has to rely on human capital and its people in positioning itself for the new economy. Many organizations in the public sector are knowledge-intensive organizations and poor knowledge management practices might lead to high costs as a result of lost institutional memory, knowledge gaps and poor decisions. This paper discusses the implementation of knowledge management principles and practices in police work and their implications for policing. With the increased adoption of information technology and the increasing overall quality and IT competence of its police officers, the police organization is well positioned to leverage knowledge management principles and practices to better equip its officers with the necessary knowledge to discharge their duties.
A web crawler design for data mining
Authors: Thelwall Mike
Published: December 2004

The content of the web has increasingly become a focus for academic research. Computer programs are needed in order to conduct any large-scale processing of web pages, requiring the use of a web crawler at some stage in order to fetch the pages to be analysed. The processing of the text of web pages in order to extract information can be expensive in terms of processor time. Consequently a distributed design is proposed in order to effectively use idle computing resources and to help information scientists avoid the need to employ dedicated equipment. A system developed using the model is examined and the advantages and limitations of the approach are discussed.
Towards a new generation of information environment for the use of e-documents
Authors: Liew Chern Li , Foo Schubert , Chennupati K. R.
Published: December 2004

This research examines how electronic documents (e-documents) such as electronic journals (e-journals) could be enhanced in the electronic environment to make them more valuable to end-users. In particular, it investigates how a wide range of information searching, analysis and communicating tasks involved in interacting with e-documents could be supported within a single user interface (UI) environment, using e-journals as an example of e-documents. The research tasks completed in the study include the elicitation of user needs and wants, a comprehensive review of latest research developments in electronic publishing and e-documents, derivation of a new set of information and interaction properties that are necessary for a new digital environment to support enhanced access and value-adding to e-documents, and the design of a platform (PROPIE) to demonstrate the use of various features and functionality to support creative and effective e-document use. Providing a suite of novel features and interactive tools that could be flexibly combined, PROPIE allowed users to apply multiple novel ways to intuitively query and navigate information in e-documents. The querying and browsing processes in PROPIE were supported by various interactive and visualization techniques. A set of interface mock-ups was developed to demonstrate the potential of PROPIE in supporting the design of a new-generation of e-journals. Following that, a series of empirical evaluations of various aspects of the environment was conducted using up to a sample of 83 graduate students in three separate tiers to obtain representative users’ feedback with regard to interacting with e-journals. This paper reports the major research findings of these evaluations. In particular, it describes the types of features, tools and interaction identified as desirable and required in future e-journals systems. The conclusions were that top-ranked features of e-journals were those not available in print journals and included those of querying, navigation and visualization that contributed to enhanced access, advanced interaction and value-adding contents.
Understanding of library jargon in the information seeking process
Authors: Chaudhry Abdus Sattar , Choo Meng
Published: December 2004

Derived from actual librarians’ e-mail replies to clients’ queries, this study investigated the clients’ understanding of technical terms commonly used by librarians during reference interviews. Two sample groups of clients were used for the study. The first group consisted of clientele of the National Reference Library of Singapore. The second group, comprising acquaintances of the staff from the Library Support Services of the National Library Board of Singapore, might be potential or actual library clients. The participants were asked to complete a multiple-choice questionnaire, consisting of 20 technical terms, each accompanied by one correct and three incorrect definition options. The findings revealed that the participants were able to define the technical terms correctly three-quarters of the time. However, 65% of the participants faced difficulty in defining at least one technical term. The reasons underlying the participants’ choices included the appearance of the term in the chosen option and greater familiarity with the selected definition. The methods that were frequently used by the participants to derive the answers were guessing and knowing the meaning in another context. It is recommended that librarians adopt a balanced approach towards the use of technical terms when communicating with clients. While there is no need to refrain from using technical language totally, librarians should exercise discretion and care when communicating.
A statistical approach to designing search filters to find systematic reviews: objectivity enhances accuracy
Authors: White V. J. , Glanville J. M. , Lefebvre C. , Sheldon T. A.
Published: December 2004

Search filters are increasingly used to search medical databases to identify specific topics or study designs. In particular, search filters have been designed to help health-care professionals identify systematic reviews of the effectiveness of health interventions. Identifying systematic reviews in databases such as MEDLINE is problematic and research has previously been undertaken into methods to design search filters that retrieve systematic reviews effectively. The aim of this study was to improve previously developed methods to derive a more objective search strategy to identify systematic reviews in MEDLINE. A ‘quasi-gold standard’ collection of known systematic reviews was identified. A frequency analysis of words within a subset of the ‘quasi-gold standard’ was undertaken followed by a statistical analysis of the most frequently occurring words. This analysis determined which terms would best distinguish between systematic reviews, non-systematic reviews and non-reviews. The performance of the best models was tested on the remaining subset of ‘quasi-gold standard’ records and then using the OVID interface to MEDLINE. The best model had a sensitivity of 73.4% for systematic reviews in the test set and 84.2% when used with the validation set. The best model had a specificity of 98.3% in the test set and 93% in the validation set. When tested on the same ‘quasi-gold standard’ using OVID MED-LINE the model showed 100% sensitivity and 4.4% precision. The number of times a term occurs in a record adds discriminatory power to the search strategy. Apparently highly relevant terms chosen subjectively do not perform as well as those derived by a statistical approach. Some search terms may not immediately seem useful in identifying systematic reviews, but when used in combination with other terms they prove to be highly discriminating. The best performing filters were tested on the OVID interface, but without frequency and term weightings. Their performance was also compared to previously published filters. One of the strategies was found to perform better with respect to sensitivity than previously published filters, although with lower precision.
Use of numerical taxonomy and journal impact factors in the evaluation of chemical engineering academics’ publications
Authors: Hellgardt Klaus , Shama Gilbert , Oppenheim Charles
Published: December 2004

The paper describes the results of the application of numerical taxonomy and specifically a taxonomic similarity measure (the Gower similarity coefficient) to compare the publication output of a number of senior academics in chemical engineering in both UK and US universities. The measure takes account of both the numbers of articles published, and the impact factors of the journals in which they were published. Using this coefficient, it was found that most of the academics are not similar to the ‘ideal’ chemical engineering researcher, as defined by ISI’s Journal Citation Reports, but some academics, and some departments, are closer to the ideal than others.
A review of ontologies with the Semantic Web in view
Authors: Ding Ying
Published: December 2004

The World Wide Web is currently starting to move from the first generation to the second generation: the Semantic Web. Ontologies are the backbone for this Semantic Web. This paper aims to introduce and give the readers an overview of ontology in general. It discusses the definitions of ontology, kinds of ontology, ontology tools, ontology language and some important ontology projects, both current and completed.
Exploring the link structure of the Web with network diagrams
Authors: Thelwall Mike
Published: December 2004

Web links are used both to connect pages within a web site and to refer to information and resources elsewhere. For pages that are linked to, backlinks are not only a potential source of visitors but an expression of interest in the page contents as well. Links also allow search engine crawlers to index a fraction of the web and are used by some of them to rate target page quality. Hyperlinks are, therefore, important in their own right but are also of sociological interest as arte-facts of predominantly human activity. This article explores the network diagram as a tool to visualize the strength of the interconnection between areas of the web. It is reported that four different link count based weightings are possible, each highlighting a different aspect of the data.
Towards multiple hypermedia in information services
Authors: Chiu Chao-Min
Published: December 2004

This paper proposes an information system-oriented open hypermedia system (IS-OHS) framework that can fully support information systems (IS) with hypermedia functionality. The framework has two axes: an IS-OHS logical component focus and an application requirement focus. Axis one encompasses a conceptual IS-OHS architecture with seven logical components. Axis two defines and discusses major aspects of IS-OHSs that should be supported in a distributed and integrated environment. The first axis provides a comprehensive viewpoint for thinking about the IS-OHS architecture that integrates both ISs and viewers, in which authors create document contents and links manually. The second axis provides a set of major application requirements that an IS-OHS should support. Together, the two axes provide a grid for specifying the logical IS-OHS functionality for supporting application requirements. One major function of this framework is for analysing open hypermedia systems (OHS). Another is to help designers specify their own hypermedia-supported systems, either from scratch or by incorporating existing systems.
The use of graphs as decision aids in relation to information overload and managerial decision quality
Authors: Chan Siu Y.
Published: December 2004

Nowadays, people with limited information processing capability are unable to cope with an exponentially increasing amount of information, leading to a phenomenon called information overload. This phenomenon has widely been recognized to have adverse effects on decision quality. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of using graphs as decision aids to reduce the adverse effects of information overload on decision quality. The results obtained from an experiment simulating a real business prediction task with a sample of business managers indicated that prediction accuracy deteriorated under information overload. However, the mode of presentation format alone did not have any significant impact on prediction accuracy; nor did the interactions of information load and the mode of presentation format. The implications of these results are discussed.
Challenges posed by web-based retrieval of scientific papers: Okapi participation in TIPS
Authors: Karamuftuoglu Murat , Jones Susan , Robertson Stephen , Venuti Fabio , Wang Xinkun
Published: December 2004

This paper reviews some of the past Okapi research and discusses the role of Okapi in the current TIPS project. The main purpose is to report new challenges faced by probabilistic text retrieval in the web environment and to indicate some of the solutions that are currently under investigation. In this context, extraction of indexing units from formatted document sources, user interface design, implementation of field searching and query expansion within the framework of probabilistic searching are discussed. The problem of maintaining session continuity in the web environment and a possible solution to this problem are outlined. Other challenges posed by the open nature of the web environment are also indicated. These include the difficulty of delimiting the boundaries of a search session and the potential of the web for collaborative information retrieval. A system for collaboratively filtering documents based on their contents is described in this connection. Issues surrounding the integration of Okapi with other pieces of software being developed for the TIPS project are also briefly discussed.
Managing the paradox: the valuation of knowledge and knowledge management
Authors: Yates-Mercer Penelope , Bawden David
Published: December 2004

The valuation of knowledge, and hence the assessment of the usefulness of approaches and programmes for managing knowledge, is a difficult, yet vital, task. This paper reviews some recent approaches, setting them in a context of wider philosophical and pragmatic issues. It identifies some paradoxical qualities of information and knowledge at the heart of this topic, and considers their implications.
Frame analysis as a tool for understanding information policy
Authors: Rowlands Ian , Eisenschitz Tamara , Bawden David
Published: December 2004

This paper explores frame theory as a tool for making the value systems that underpin our understandings of information policy more explicit. Some empirical evidence is presented which suggests that the dominant discourse in information policy has been framed by political economy. The limitations of the political economy frame are considered, particularly in the light of alternative, non-market, conceptions of information, and the emergence of human rights legislation. These issues are discussed with special reference to aspects of copyright law, including moral rights, principles of proportionality and fairness, and rewards for creativity. Finally, the implications for policy makers are considered, notably the tendency to Popperian incrementalism and its ability to accommodate paradigm shifts.
A framework for evaluating geographical information
Authors: Raper Jonathan , Dykes Jason , Wood Joseph , Mountain David , Krause Anton , Rhind David
Published: December 2004

This paper introduces a framework for the evaluation of geographic information (GI), divided into representational and communicative aspects. The representational component is concerned with how ‘real-world’ phenomena situated in space and time come to be represented or modelled in GI, considered at ontological, modelling and system levels. The communicative component of GI is concerned with how representations of GI are understood by the users of the information, considered at relevance, commodification, exploration and management levels. This paper attempts to bring together the previous work in all these areas into an evaluative framework so that creators and users can assess the validity and success of the representational and communicative process overall. This paper also outlines the architecture of a client-server geolibrary designed for information sharing. This kind of architecture provides a distributed and open platform for the development of GI networks, upon which more productive use of GI can be built in future.
The three worlds of health information
Authors: Bawden David
Published: December 2004

The applicability, validity and usefulness of Karl Popper’s ‘Three Worlds’ epistemology is examined, with specific reference to health-care information and knowledge. It is concluded that Popper’s ideas provide a valuable way of understanding this domain and that, in particular, Popper’s controversial ‘World 3’ of objective knowledge is a valid concept.
Evaluating metrics for comparing the use of web sites: a case study of two consumer health web sites
Authors: Nicholas David , Huntington Paul , Williams Peter
Published: December 2004

Use is plainly an important characteristic in determining the success or otherwise of a web site and in making comparisons between sites. The source of most use data are the web logs that record user activity on a real-time and continuous basis. There is much demand from sponsors, site owners and marketing departments for this information. The authors examine the kinds of comparison that can be made, the performance of the respective metrics in comparing two sites - something that is still relatively rare - and discuss the methodological problems associated with making such comparisons. Two consumer health sites - NHS Direct Online and SurgeryDoor - are compared. Data were collected for the month of November 2000. During this period the two sites were visited by more than 60,000 people who recorded more than 1 million page views. The paper shows that the most widely used and heralded metric of use, page views (impressions) is heavily dependent on site architecture and this causes difficulties in comparing the performance of sites.
Government policies toward information and communication technologies: a historical perspective
Authors: Willmore Larry
Published: December 2004

The development of what one might call ‘modern’ systems of information and communication began with the Gutenberg printing press in the fifteenth century, and progressed through the pre-paid postal system, electric telegraph and telephone in the nineteenth century, radio and television broadcasting in the twentieth century, and most recently the internet. This essay focuses on the response of governments to these innovations, beginning with the printing press.
Pricing strategies and models for the provision of digitized texts in higher education
Authors: Hardy Rachel , Oppenheim Charles , Rubbert Iris
Published: December 2004

The paper describes research into charging mechanisms for the delivery of digitized texts to students in the higher education sector. A satisfactory pricing model in this domain is urgently required. The history and background of the use and pricing of digitized texts for students in the higher education sector is examined. Issues of economics in the electronic era are described. The issues involved are outlined in relation to the stakeholders involved, namely academics, authors, the CLA (Copyright Licensing Agency), HERON (Higher Education Resources On-demand) libraries in the HE sector, publishers and students. Past projects and research conducted to date are considered and the results discussed. Particular reference is made to the HERON project, a service provided for the UK higher education community that delivers copyright clearance, digitization and delivery of the text to UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). HERON is also building up a national database and resource bank of the texts. Other electronic resource models are considered, in particular library initiatives. International projects are covered in relation to how pricing issues are addressed throughout the world, particularly in the USA. The case is proposed of the benefits to all stakeholders of establishing a mutually acceptable pricing model for the distribution of digitized texts to the HE/FE community. The PELICAN project had the ultimate aim of developing pricing models for the delivery of digitized text to the UK HE community, satisfying all stakeholders as far as possible. The project’s initial research findings are described, including a table of the possible pricing mechanisms and initial conclusions drawn.
Thesaurus-enhanced search interfaces
Authors: Shiri Ali Asghar , Revie Crawford , Chowdhury Gobinda
Published: December 2004

User interfaces to information retrieval systems play a major role in assisting users to search, browse and retrieve information relevant to their needs. This paper provides a review of a category of information retrieval interfaces that are enhanced by incorporating standard thesauri as part of their searching and browsing facilities. A brief account of the rationale behind the integration of thesauri as search aids in such interfaces is provided, based on research literature related to information searching behaviour, information retrieval interface evaluation, search term selection and query expansion. Two categories of search interfaces enhanced with thesauri are examined: those associated with research-based programmes and commercial web-based interfaces to bibliographic databases. Six commercial web-based databases are compared in terms of their thesaurus interface features. It is concluded that, although the number of thesaurus-enhanced interfaces is growing, few studies have focused on user interaction with these interfaces or fully explored the ways in which they can assist users in the search process.
Ontology research and development. Part 1 - a review of ontology generation
Authors: Ding Ying , Foo Schubert
Published: December 2004

Ontology is an important emerging discipline that has the huge potential to improve information organization, management and understanding. It has a crucial role to play in enabling content-based access, interoperability, communications, and providing qualitatively new levels of services on the next wave of web transformation in the form of the Semantic Web. The issues pertaining to ontology generation, mapping and maintenance are critical key areas that need to be understood and addressed. This survey is presented in two parts. The first part reviews the state-of-the-art techniques and work done on semi-automatic and automatic ontology generation, as well as the problems facing such research. The second complementary survey is dedicated to ontology mapping and ontology ‘evolving’. Through this survey, we have identified that shallow information extraction and natural language processing techniques are deployed to extract concepts or classes from free-text or semi-structured data. However, relation extraction is a very complex and difficult issue to resolve and it has turned out to be the main impediment to ontology learning and applicability. Further research is encouraged to find appropriate and efficient ways to detect or identify relations through semi-automatic and automatic means.
Issues in content-based music information retrieval
Authors: Lippincott Aura
Published: December 2004

Representing a significant shift from methods that employ bibliographic metadata for music retrieval, modern Music Information Retrieval (MIR) research seeks to utilize characteristics of music to search databases of musical content via musically expressed queries. These investigations hold significant promise for the future development of commercial and research applications such as searchable databases of popular tunes on the web and databases of historical music. However the challenges are diverse, encompassing music cognition, storage and processing, and traditional information retrieval (IR) issues. This paper focuses on IR issues in MIR, discussing various approaches to music representation and matching techniques. Prototype MIR systems Meldex, Semex, Themefinder and Arthur are briefly described.
Sentence-based metadata: an approach and tool for viewing database designs
Authors: Boyle John M. , Gunge Jakob , Bryden John , Librowski Kaz , Hanna Hsin-Yi
Published: December 2004

This paper describes the concepts behind MARS, a research tool which, by means of a common thesaurus structure, enables organizations to exchange digital images and documents, and merge the descriptive data and metadata of their collections. This is seen as one of the key issues, along with interoperability, for electronic libraries and collections of the future. The Museum Archive Retrieval System (MARS)* is ideally suited for all sorts of knowledge sharing and exchange and has been successfully applied to Holocaust memorials and museums.† The information exchanged between these types of memorials and museums is scattered between, and within, many institutions; as well as existing in several different languages and holding many synonyms or translations for the same place, event or person etc. MARS was designed to allow multiple museums to share their data with one another and has tremendous exploitation potential in other areas where sophisticated content management and archiving functions are required.
Application of information technology for research in Tanzania: feedback from agricultural researchers
Authors: Dulle F. W. , Mulimil R. T. , Matovelo D. S. , Lwehabura M. J.F.
Published: December 2004

This paper reports results of a study aimed at assessing agricultural researchers’ access to information technology facilities. It also examines to what extent such facilities are used in facilitating researchers’ access to scientific information. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey to 321 agricultural researchers selected randomly at 13 research centres throughout the country. The response rate obtained was 76.3%. Out of 244 respondents, 170 (69.7%) reported having access to internet or e-mail facilities. While 79.3% of the respondents having access to the internet reported using the facility frequently for information search, the e-mail facility was not popularly used by the respondents for information requests to sources outside respondents’ institutions. CD-ROM technology was found not to be readily available to many respondents because of the unavailability of such facilities at their research centres and minimal use of e-mail facilities for resource sharing with other centres’ CD-ROM databases. It is concluded that, along with a low level of information technology development in the country, the available information technology facilities have not been fully exploited to facilitate agricultural researchers’ access to information. Some measures to improve information technology infrastructure and its use for improvement of research productivity are recommended.
National Information Policy developments worldwide I: electronic government
Authors: Muir Adrienne , Oppenheim Charles
Published: December 2004

A review of recent Government initiatives in the area of e-Government based upon a review of the literature is presented. The desk research covered the period 1997 to 2001, and covered a number of major countries, including Canada, USA, Member States of the European Union, South Africa, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. The UK was not included in the survey. The targets set by Government are often vague, and few governments seem to have addressed in any thoughtful manner the problems citizens might have with use of technology. An approach along the lines of ‘this is bound to happen’ rather than ‘what sort of society do we really want?’ is a common feature amongst all the approaches examined. The risks of enhancing the digital divide are also rarely explicitly addressed. Comments regarding good initiatives that offer models for other countries to adopt are made. The emergence of government portals is without doubt the most significant development. These provide the facility for personalization by the user. The New Zealand Government’s efforts to ensure that its web sites are useful for citizens who have difficulty spelling and the Canadian Government’s use of minority languages are also noteworthy. The leading countries are Australia, New Zealand, USA and Canada. The Australian Government’s e-procurement strategy is a role model for the future.
The many applications of patent analysis
Authors: Breitzman Anthony F. , Mogee Mary Ellen
Published: December 2004

The use of patent analysis in many different contexts is discussed. Applications discussed range from intellectual property management, to merger and acquisition targeting and due diligence, to stock market valuation. The authors draw on 38 years of combined patent-related experience to discuss a number of techniques and metrics that have been found to work well in specific situations.
Internet development in China
Authors: Lu Wei , Du Jia , Zhang Jin , Ma Feicheng , Le Taowen
Published: December 2004

This article describes the status of Internet development and application in China. It introduces the Chinese search engines as well as four main domestic networks connected to the Internet and analyses Internet applications in five major fields in China: e-government, e-commerce, distance education, distance medical treatment, and digital library. It also discusses China’s Internet management and related issues and problems and provides an overview of Internet development in China.
The role of eprint archives in the access to, and dissemination of, scientific grey literature: LIZA - a case study by the National Libraryof Portugal
Authors: Correia Ana Maria Ramalho , de Castro Neto Miguel
Published: December 2004

Grey literature is now universally recognized as an important information resource. For industrial and business organizations, it contains much knowledge and know-how that are vital business assets. Grey literature in an R&D environment can represent the cutting edge of this knowledge, so its efficient management is essential. The increasing possibilities brought about by electronic scholarly publishing, in the context of scholarly information communication, together with the developments of the World Wide Web, are the driving forces behind the implementation of projects for archiving, preservation and provision of access to electronic scientific grey literature collections. This paper discusses the significance of grey literature in an environment where the function of the scientific journal, as the privileged media for efficient dissemination of R&D results, has been under some criticism by researchers and scholars. A literature survey on digital grey literature access and preservation projects is summarized. The last part of the paper briefly outlines the main results of a survey on the attitudes and expectancies of researchers and academics in the Mathematics and Agricultural Sciences in Portugal, regarding the creation of a scientific grey literature archive by the National Library of Portugal - the LIZA initiative - allowing self-posting of articles in electronic media by the Portuguese academic and R&D communities.
Styling the index: is it time for a change?
Authors: van der Meij Hans
Published: December 2004

Two empirical studies on the effects of indexing styles are presented. The research shows that there is an intricate relationship between task complexity and search efficiency afforded by style. A Run-In index yields the best performance when people engage in a search in which keyword and entry are identical. A Flush Right style, with leader dots to prevent line switching, yields the best performance for more complex search tasks as compared to a Run-In or an Indented style. It is argued that a clear visual separation between entry and locator may help the user in keeping apart the distinct goals of searching for an entry and looking for a locator.
National Information Policy developments worldwide II: universal access - addressing the digital divide
Authors: Muir Adrienne , Oppenheim Charles
Published: December 2004

Universal access refers to that part of a National Information Policy that attempts to ensure equal access to information for all, irrespective of location, financial resources or disabilities. This paper describes the results of a desk-based literature survey on recent developments in national information policies in this area. It considers the question of the digital divide, and the various approaches taken by governments in addressing the problems. It particularly notes the honesty with which the USA has described its problems, and the vigorous efforts it is making to address the problems.
The impact of electronic commerce on industry structure - the case of scientific, technical and medical publishing
Authors: Scupola Ada
Published: December 2004

Electronic commerce is becoming one of the drivers of competition and is starting to play an important role in the structural change of industry. This article shows how electronic commerce might affect the Scientific, Technical and Medical publishing sector. The focus is on the electronic journal as a substitute for the paper journal, the new entrants (Internet-based), as well as their implications for the industry structure, with emphasis on disintermediation and electronic intermediation. The paper also argues that most publishers have re-engineered or are re-engineering for electronic commerce, thus operating both in the market-place and the market-space and coexisting with the new Internet-based-only publishers.
Between self-regulation and intervention in the networked economy: the European Union and Internet policy
Authors: Halpin Edward F. , Simpson Seamus
Published: December 2004

The governance of economic organization and exchange across the Internet is widely recognized as being a vital part of the emerging new international networked economy. Here, the interface between the economic and the political has been brought sharply into focus as the role of government in the Internet’s future development is considered. Through examining different strands of European Union policy activity related to the Internet, this article aims to characterize and offer an explanation for the emergent patterns of governance witnessed. Whilst still at an embryonic stage, it is argued that EU policy displays, thus far, a ‘mixed mode’ of governance combining, on the one hand, acceptance of the neo-liberal model of self-regulation, with, on the other, a distinctly more interventionist ‘hands on’ policy with specific commercial and social goals in mind. Liberalizing initiatives in telecommunications and electronic commerce, as well as a self-regulatory approach to Internet content issues, contrast with actively neo-mercantilist activity in such areas as international discussions on the structure and function of ICANN and the .EU domain name regulation, where clear efforts are being made to shape the contours of the European electronic marketplace. It is suggested that EU Internet policy is characterized by negative coordination in a system in which transnational European and global regulatory networks are likely to emerge.
A model of social information need
Authors: Moore Nick
Published: December 2004

The need for social information has six dimensions: function (why do people need information?); form (what kind of information do people need?); clusters (what do people need information about?); agents (who initiates the information activity?); users (how do needs differ between different groups of people?) and mechanisms (which mechanisms can be used to meet information needs?). These dimensions provide the basis for a model that can be used to analyse social information needs and the ways in which they are met.
NHS Direct Online: its users and their concerns
Authors: Nicholas David , Huntington Paul , Williams Peter , Jordan Mat
Published: December 2004

Over a period of over a year more than 3000 people responded to an online questionnaire that was posted on the NHS Direct Online web site (www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk). The prime purpose of the questionnaire was to obtain information on the audience that the web site attracted and to obtain feedback as to what they thought of the site in order to inform future development. This was particularly important as the site was developed quickly with a minimum of user input. Data collected included: the age, gender, institutional affiliation and geographical origin of users; how users found out about the site; sections of the site visited; whether they had used it before; whether they had used the NHS Direct telephone service; and what developments they would like to see. The study provides a rich array of user comment with regard to health information on the web. As a direct result of the knowledge gained through the questionnaire, the site was comprehensively redesigned in 2001.
Challenges of harnessing virtual information resources in Kenya: the case of the African Virtual University
Authors: Ondari-Okemwa Ezra
Published: December 2004

The study attempts to identify the major problems of harnessing virtual information resources in a developing country like Kenya. The African Virtual University has been dealt with as a case study. A number of problems are identified which need to be solved so that the African Virtual University may achieve its objectives. The nature and characteristics of a virtual organization are discussed, as is the appropriateness and/or inappropriateness of a virtual university in a developing country such as Kenya. A brief history and background of the African Virtual University is given and the participating countries are identified in the study. The study methods used are highlighted.
The changing role of paraprofessionals in the knowledge economy
Authors: Tin Koh Lay , Al-Hawamdeh Suliman
Published: December 2004

The advances in Internet, information and communication technologies have become the catalyst for the creation of the knowledge economy. The knowledge economy has brought about a whole range of opportunities and excitement and the changing roles of information professionals has been a result of these inevitable forces. In this study, we examine the changing roles of paraprofessionals in the knowledge economy and how that has impacted on traditional library services in the Singapore National Reference Library. The study assessed the competencies of paraprofessionals in their new role of providing reference services and meeting the changing needs of the library users. It also examined paraprofessional’s perceptions of the information service and factors affecting their roles and competency. The study showed that for paraprofessionals to be able to deliver quality reference service, a continuous training in areas such as the use of electronic sources, reference interview and search skills is needed as well as a change of mindset to re-instill the customer service commitment among these para-professionals.
Are pay for performance search engines relevant?
Authors: Goh Dion H. , Ang Rebecca P.
Published: December 2004

Pay for performance (PFP) search engines, like their ‘traditional’ counterparts (e.g. Google), provide search services for documents on the World Wide Web. These search engines, however, rank documents not on content characteristics but according to the amount of money a vendor is willing to pay when a user visits a web site appearing in the search results page. A study was conducted to compare the retrieval effectiveness of Overture (formerly GoTo, a PFP search engine) and Google (a traditional search engine) from an academic perspective. Thirty-one queries from different graduate-level subject areas were submitted to each of these search services and the first 20 documents returned were retrieved and analysed for precision and distribution of relevant documents using different relevancy criteria. Results indicate that Google outperformed Overture in both categories. Implications of this study are also discussed.
National Information Policy developments worldwide III: e-commerce
Authors: Muir Adrienne , Oppenheim Charles
Published: December 2004

This paper reviews recent initiatives undertaken in a number of countries by governments to encourage e-commerce within their countries. Developments in Australia, Canada, the European Union and its Member States, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa and the USA are reviewed. There is a particular emphasis on e-commerce laws, taxation issues, cryptography and consumer protection. The Australian and New Zealand approach of ensuring as many stakeholder groups as possible is particularly noteworthy. The EU’s approach is one of dynamic leadership. It is emphasized that individual national governments are less important, however, than developments made at a multinational level.
Ontology research and development. Part 2 - a review of ontology mapping and evolving
Authors: Ding Ying , Foo Schubert
Published: December 2004

This is the second of a two-part paper to review ontology research and development, in particular, ontology mapping and evolving. Ontology is defined as a formal explicit specification of a shared conceptualization. Ontology itself is not a static model so that it must have the potential to capture changes of meanings and relations. As such, mapping and evolving ontologies is part of an essential task of ontology learning and development. Ontology mapping is concerned with reusing existing ontologies, expanding and combining them by some means and enabling a larger pool of information and knowledge in different domains to be integrated to support new communication and use. Ontology evolving, likewise, is concerned with maintaining existing ontologies and extending them as appropriate when new information or knowledge is acquired. It is apparent from the reviews that current research into semi-automatic or automatic ontology research in all the three aspects of generation, mapping and evolving have so far achieved limited success.

Expert human input is essential in almost all cases. Achievements have been made largely in the form of tools and aids to assist the human expert. Many research challenges remain in this field and many of such challenges need to be overcome if the next generation of the Semantic Web is to be realized.