bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Command tones: Digitization and sounded time
Authors: Sterne Jonathan , Raine Emily
Published: May 2013

Keeping time is a crucial aspect of governance. Timekeeping orchestrates individual and collective activity and shapes relations between individuals and institutions, between institutions, and within networks of individuals. Though some aspects of time, such as time zones, are nationally and internationally regulated, the regulation of time is often a case where governance extends far beyond government. This “experiment in theory” provides an account of the role of sound in orchestrating social action, and then uses a long history of sounded time to situate a short history of sounded digital time. Though the project is deliberately speculative, it suggests an important hypothesis: Rather than splitting the world into “real” and “virtual” domains of perceived experience, digital technologies might better be considered in terms of the disconnect between the perceived and imperceptible modalities through which they organize social practice.
Software and the mundane management of air travel
Authors: Kitchin Rob , Dodge Martin
Published: May 2013

Over the past thirty years, the practices of everyday life have become increasingly infused with and mediated by software and captured in code. Software is increasingly embedded into objects and systems as a means to enhance and manage usage and to link together disparate and distanciated parts of an infrastructure, enabling new and refined processes. In some cases, such as air transportation, this embedding has become so pervasive and vital that if the software crashes one part of the system grinds to a halt, subsequently disrupting other aspects of air travel. In this article, we examine one part of this system, the profiling and screening of passengers, to argue that the use of software has engendered a new form of governmentality — mundane management — that is having a profound effect on the operation and regulation of air travel. The development of distributed information systems has enabled governments and air travel businesses to capture, cross–reference and regulate the ongoing status of individuals in ways that were previously difficult, if not impossible. By linking these capta together, a dense rhizomic assemblage of power/knowledge is being created; what is at best oligoptic (partial and selective) in nature is becoming more panoptic (all–seeing ). This is especially the case given the trend towards increased granularity (resolution) and uniqueness (unique identification based on biometrics) of capta, and the fact that capta stored are unlikely ever to be deleted. These systems are not without their problems, particularly with regard to civil liberties. However, new procedures and technologies have largely been greeted by the public with ambivalence or welcomed, rather than resisted.
User Design and the Democratization of the Mobile Phone
Authors: Fortunati Leopoldina
Published: May 2013

When the mobile phone was first introduced into Italy, it was considered an arrogant and vulgar technology used only by those at the top of society. Today, however, the mobile phone is used across all Italian social classes and is considered highly fashionable. This transformation in perceptions of this technology — and, therefore, its uses — can usefully be understood as, simultaneously, the democratization of the mobile telephone. One of the most important factors that made this technology more acceptable in Italian society was its redesign as a material object, undertaken in response to the actual needs and practices of users. Once individual users found their own identities and desires reflected in the mobile telephone, they were far more likely to incorporate this technology into their personal ecologies. Even though mobile telephones are very much the product of large industrial organizations, this case also demonstrates the contribution of users to design of the technological environment that then in turn governs their own behaviors.
Towards a national telecommunications strategy in Morocco (originally published in January 2004)
Authors: Ibahrine Mohammed
Published: May 2013

Towards a national telecommunications strategy in Morocco by Mohammed Ibahrine

This article analyses the dynamics and transformations of Moroccan telecommunications within the context of globalisation and technological advancement in the late 1990s. The Moroccan government developed an electronic strategy, known as the E–Morocco, to bring the country into an information–based society. This article examines recent innovative policies on issues of liberal institutional environment, telecommunications infrastructure, IT education and training, e–commerce applications and electronic governance, in order to explore the national telecommunications strategy and to track Moroccan entrance into an era of the network society.
Towards a national telecommunications strategy in Morocco (originally published in September 2003)
Authors: Ibahrine Mohammed
Published: May 2013

Towards a national telecommunications strategy in Morocco by Mohammed Ibahrine

This article analyses the dynamics and transformations of Moroccan telecommunications within the context of globalisation and technological advancement in the late 1990s. The Moroccan government developed an electronic strategy, known as the E–Morocco, to bring the country into an information–based society. This article examines recent innovative policies on issues of liberal institutional environment, telecommunications infrastructure, IT education and training, e–commerce applications and electronic governance, in order to explore the national telecommunications strategy and to track Moroccan entrance into an era of the network society.
A study of Internet usage in Nigerian universities: A case study of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria (originally published in February 2003)
Authors: Jagboro Kofoworola
Published: May 2013

The Internet is arguably one of the most significant technological developments of the late 20th century. However, despite the added benefits of this tool to learning, teaching and research, a number of problems still plague Internet connectivity and usage in the Nigerian University system. The objective of this study was to evaluate the level of utilization of the Internet for academic research at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Questionnaires were administered to postgraduate students spanning art and science based programmes. The results from the analysis of the responses showed that the use of the Internet ranked fourth (17.26 percent) among the sources of research materials. However, respondents who use the Internet ranked research materials (53.42 percent) second to e-mail (69.86 percent). The study concludes that the use of the Internet for academic research would significantly improve through the provision of more access points at Departmental and Faculty levels.
Problems and the epistemology of electronic publishing in the Arab world: The case of Lebanon (originally published in September 2001)
Authors: Nasser Ramzi , Abouchedid Kamal
Published: May 2013

Publishing in the Arab world still is in its development stage. Many journals discontinue publication because of financial pressures, while those that asynchronously function are almost totally dependent on institutional (academic) funds. Other barriers as editorial hegemony, national and political instability, and institutional discouragement that hinder researchers and writers to submit or even try to publish work in indigenous Arab journals. Scholarly output is generally tied to the epistemological perspective of the researcher-writer; this in itself has been the major milestone to the lack and absent electronic journals in the Arab world. Electronic publishing has not appealed to the scholarly community in the Arab and Middle Eastern society and remains to be in dormant state. Scholars need to understand the World Wide Web and recognize the revolutionary elements of electronic journals as pacifiers to the hegemony of traditional publishing.
Using the Internet to enable developing country universities to meet the challenges of globalization through collaborative virtual programmes (originally published in October 2003)
Authors: Keats Derek , Beebe Maria , Kullenberg Gunnar
Published: May 2013

Globalization represents a significant threat as well as a substantial opportunity to the economies and educational systems of Africa and other areas of the developing world. This paper shows that, if used wisely, information technology has the power to help create powerful and synergistic educational partnerships at local, regional and global scale. Such new and large-scale partnerships, only possible because of the existence of the Internet, have the potential to allow educational institutions to respond positively to globalization and help promote development if enough partnerships can be created and sustained. This paper explores two emerging educational partnerships, NetTel@Africa and the International Ocean Institute Virtual University (IOIVU), in terms of the lessons for how technology can be used to respond to the challenges and opportunities of globalization, and to allow institutions in developing countries to achieve results that could not be achieved by either institution acting alone. Although they are responses to different circumstances, and operate at different scales, NetTel@Africa and the IOIVU have many common elements. These partnerships serve as examples of how the Internet can unite widely the scattered expertise in most areas of human endeavor that exist in Africa and other areas of the developing world to create virtual concentrations, or "centres of excellence" that do not have a single physical base.
Censoring the Internet: The Situation in Turkey (originally published in June 2002)
Authors: Altintas Kemal , Aydin Tolga , Akman Varol
Published: May 2013

Censoring the Internet is quite prevalent, though the extent of this activity markedly differs from country to country. While some prohibit controversial sites such as those with explicit sexual images or blatantly racist remarks, others implement restricted access. Turkey, showing the symptoms of a developing country, has not yet established the jurisprudence necessary for the Internet. The existing Turkish laws, especially the Press Law, are naively applied to alleged lawbreakers on the Internet, resulting in ludicrous outcomes. This paper investigates the Turkish case of Internet censorship, focusing on two publicized cases with some political content.
Communicative practice and transgressive global politics: The D’ua of Sheikh Muhammed Al Mohaisany (originally published in July 2005)
Authors: Dartnell Michael
Published: May 2013

Walter Benjamin noted the transformative impact of information technology when he said that "photography greatly extends the sphere of commodity exchange... by flooding the market with countless images of figures, landscapes, and events which had previously been available either not at all or only as pictures for individual customers." Echoing his assessment, multimedia activism has emerged as a practice through which multiple–user communication by non–state actors highlights transgressive values and issues. This paper focuses on Islamic extremist Web activism by discussing a multimedia file, the "d’ua of Sheikh Muhammed Al–Mohaisany." The file is examined to illustrate how the Web and other IT provide once inaccessible information and potentially alter communication by directly addressing targeted publics. Multimedia activism introduces issues of identity, boundaries, and perceptions into global politics and culture through telecommunication practices that were formerly state regulated.
Negotiating the global and the local: How Thai culture co-opts the Internet (originally published in August 2000)
Authors: Hongladarom Soraj
Published: May 2013

As the Internet is spreading around the globe, a problem is created concerning its impact on the local cultures. This paper argues that the relation between computer-mediated communication technologies and local cultures is characterized neither by a homogenizing effect, where the technologies bring about one global monolithic culture, nor by an erecting of barriers separating one culture from another, where there is no impact at all. Instead, local cultures usually find ways to cope with the impact and are resilient enough to absorb it without losing some kind of identity. A case study is presented on a local Internet scene in Thailand to see how Thai culture co-opts the Internet and how its identity is being constantly negotiated.
Africa Connected (originally published in November 1998)
Authors: Hall Martin
Published: May 2013

This paper explores an apparent paradox and what this implies in Africa. What are the politics of digital technology when, on the one hand, it is used to mark exclusive status and, on the other hand, is argued to be a democratizing form of mass communication? It is argued that new digital technologies do indeed allow new forms of privilege, and also - simultaneously - new forms of individual power and mass participation. While digital communications are clearly part of the ways in which new elites are being marked out in Africa, developments within the same technology are simultaneously supporting the opposite trend. Telecommunications prices are falling, and there is considerable political and economic pressure on national regulatory authorities to allow free competition. At the same time, technical innovations will bring connectivity to marginalised communities. This same antinomy seems evident in the content of the Internet - in differing forms of intervention, and in the uses to which digital communication is put. Previously, time and space were major barriers in the defence of privilege and position. But digital information is infinitely mutable, transferable from machine to machine without change in its quality. This collapse of space and time can be seen most clearly in the new conjunctions of the local and the global, and the individual and the community, in the new politics of identity.
WSIS: Whose vision of an information society? (originally published in May 2005)
Authors: Pyati Ajit
Published: May 2013

The United Nations (UN) and International Telecommunication Union (ITU), in their development of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), are contributing to the on–going discourse of the "Information Society." This study analyzes how WSIS contributes to the on–going Information Society discourse, especially how it frames a vision of an Information Society and the global "digital divide." The methodology of this study is a broad, comprehensive, and critical content analysis of the two main documents of WSIS, its Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action. The content analysis utilizes discourse analysis and ideology critique, and quantitative and qualitative methods. The results of the analysis show that WSIS paints a wholly utopian, technologically deterministic picture of an "Information Society" that oversimplifies and generalizes a complex issue and phenomenon, about which no clear consensus exists.
Who benefits from the digital divide? (originally published in August 2004)
Authors: Luyt Brendan
Published: May 2013

New information and communication technologies are seen as a potent source of advancement for many countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America and have increasingly featured as topics of discussion in international fora. Who benefits from the rapid rise of this issue on the international agenda? This article argues that the promotion of the digital divide as a policy issue benefits four major groups: information capital, developing country governments, the development "industry," and global civil society.
The impact of cybercafes on information services in Uganda (originally published in April 2003)
Authors: Gitta Samuel , Ikoja-Odongo J.R.
Published: May 2013

This study assessed the impact of cybercafes on the provision of information services in Uganda. It focused on cafe users only. Findings revealed that 69.8 percent were in the age group of 20-39 years. Eighty-seven percent were not registered with particular cafes. Fifty-seven percent indicated they were satisfied with the service. A little over thirty percent used the Internet daily. All female respondents indicated e-mail as one of their Internet applications. The hypotheses were tested using the Chi-square statistic and resulted into retaining the first null hypothesis while the second null hypothesis was rejected.

Cybercafe use demonstrates a tremendous future for the Internet society in Uganda. The potential for meeting user needs in Uganda is high. The application of the Internet in the various disciplines and professions is hampered by low user skills, limited facilities, lack of support for the rural community, low downloading speed, high charges, and a lack of monitoring. Recommendations suggest that ICT policies be instituted and computers and the Internet be made part of the school curriculum to equip Ugandans with the necessary skills and to extend these new Internet services to the Ugandan rural community as well.
Internet in Sierra Leone: Way forward (originally published in February 1997)
Authors: Kargbo John A.
Published: May 2013

The Internet which contains untold riches of information and access to people world-wide has been launched in Sierra Leone. This article discusses the potential benefits the country stands to derive from this relatively new technology.
Internet in the Lives of Turkish Women (originally published in March 2002)
Authors: Sevdik Ayisigi , Akman Varol
Published: May 2013

This paper reports the findings of a recent survey conducted among Turkish women. The aim was to find out what role, if any, the Internet plays in their lives, what they think about it, and how and why they do or don't use it. While a small-scale study, it provided some details on the state of Turkish women living in a metropolitan area.
Ethnic media and politics: The case of the use of the Internet by Uyghur diaspora (originally published in July 2005)
Authors: Kanat Kilic
Published: May 2013

The role of the active production and consumption of various forms of media on the ethnic groups and diasporas has long been debated among scholars from different disciplines. Currently the use of the Internet has become the focal point of these studies. In recent years, the Uyghur diaspora has been increasingly using the Internet and cyberspace in order to reach their goals of "being the voice of the repressed people of their homeland," disseminating information and increasing communication among themselves. In this paper I will try to discuss the influence of this netizenship of the Uyghur diaspora on Uyghur politics and identity.
Sensible design principles for new networks and services
Authors: Kilkki Kalevi
Published: May 2013

The use of many complex technologies has been either much less or essentially different than what were the great expectations when development started. Based on an analysis about the reasons for past failures, we propose three rules for sensible network design process to avoid useless development efforts. First, the analysis of customer needs has to concentrate on practical uses that are likely to become everyday routines. Secondly, the development of a new technology must be based on well–defined, carefully selected core principles. Thirdly, during the development process the real experiences in real networks must be continuously taken into account.
The penguin in peril: SCO’s legal threats to Linux
Authors: Omar Ishtiaque
Published: May 2013

This thesis reviews the novel licences employed by open source developers. The paper examines how the success of the open source Linux operating system has led to conflict with traditional closed source software firms through the case study of SCO v. IBM, currently before the United States Federal District Court. Apart from exposing weaknesses in open source licensing, the case highlights the need to consider the intellectual property laws governing inputs into software development. The thesis further explores future intellectual property legislation that may forestall open collaboration. It is argued that proponents of such development methods must engage in policy discussions to limit the exclusionary authority of intellectual property licensors, by ensuring broad user rights to protected works.
Can many agents answer questions better than one?
Authors: Galitsky Boris , Pampapathi Rajesh
Published: May 2013

The paper addresses the issue of how online natural language question answering, based on deep semantic analysis, may compete with currently popular keyword search, open domain information retrieval systems, covering a horizontal domain. We suggest the multiagent question answering approach, where each domain is represented by an agent which tries to answer questions taking into account its specific knowledge. The meta–agent controls the cooperation between question answering agents and chooses the most relevant answer(s). We argue that multiagent question answering is optimal in terms of access to business and financial knowledge, flexibility in query phrasing, and efficiency and usability of advice. The knowledge and advice encoded in the system are initially prepared by domain experts.

We analyze the commercial application of multiagent question answering and the robustness of the meta–agent. The paper suggests that a multiagent architecture is optimal when a real world question answering domain combines a number of vertical ones to form a horizontal domain.
Geography matters: Mapping human development and digital access
Authors: Birdsall Stephanie , Birdsall William
Published: May 2013

Policy circles have long made the assumption that information and communications technologies promote human development. In mapping the Human Development Index (HDI) against the Digital Access Index (DAI) we explore the statistical and spatial relationship between human development and digital access. The results suggest information and communications technologies may not play as strong a role in promoting human development as is usually asserted and that public policies might need to be centered more on human rather than digital capital.
Descriptive metadata for copyright status
Authors: Coyle Karen
Published: May 2013

The need to express the intellectual property rights of digital materials has focused on access and usage permissions which must be granted by the rights holder. A key set of permissions not acknowledged by these rights expressions is inherent in the legal copyright status of the item. Digital libraries can hold and provide access to many items for which copyright status is the sole governor of use. This article proposes a small set of descriptive data elements that should accompany digital materials to inform potential users of the copyright status of the item.
Open source software development: Some historical perspectives
Authors: Nuvolari Alessandro
Published: May 2013

In this paper we suggest that historical studies of technology can help us to account for some, perplexing (at least for traditional economic reasoning) features of open source software development. From a historical perspective, open source software seems to be a particular case of what Robert C. Allen has termed "collective invention." We explore the interpretive value of this historical parallel in detail, comparing open source software with two remarkable episodes of nineteenth century technical advances.
Ringtones, or the auditory logic of globalization
Authors: Gopinath Sumanth
Published: May 2013

This essay attempts to provide a description of the global ringtone industry, to determine and assess the numerous cultural consequences of the ringtone’s appearance and development, and to situate the ringtone within the context of contemporary capitalism. At its broadest, my assertion is that the development of the ringtone is a powerful lens through which we might clearly view some of the dynamics of present day (or “late”) capitalist cultural production, including the development of new rentier economies within oligopolistic sectors of production and consumption, and a long–term shift in global productive dominance from North America to the Pacific Rim. The ringtone is also a remarkable cultural phenomenon that is demonstrating a high degree of popularity and is undergoing rapid transformation; therefore, its short, continuing lifetime already needs to be assessed historically.
Just how international is my Web site? Estimating reach through analysis of hourly demand
Authors: Spennemann Dirk
Published: May 2013

The increased commercialisation of Internet domain sales created the unanticipated side effect that domain extensions no longer signify the residence of the domain user. As a result, the analysis of the domain attributes in the Web access logs no longer provides accurate information on the origin of the users and thus of the geographical ‘reach’ of a given site. This study provides an alternative method to assess the geographical ‘reach’ by calculating the average demand for Web pages in hourly intervals originating from each time zone. The resulting analysis tool, which relates to Greenwich Mean Time, is location independent and can be applied to Web sites world wide.
From Eleanor Rigby to Nannanet: The greying of the World Wide Web
Authors: Brabazon Tara
Published: May 2013

The proportion and number of wired seniors is small. A grey gap punctuates in the digital divide. The World Wide Web is not a panacea or salve for the isolation and ageism that confronts senior citizens. Yet a proactive and political desire to wire those who are living, dancing, talking and thinking in God’s Waiting Rooms around the world provide one more safety net and social safeguard to collectivize the dispersed and dispossessed. This article uses quantitative and qualitative studies to investigate how and why older populations dis/connect from the digital environment. Commencing with international surveys monitoring Web users, the study then drills down to regions with a high proportion of older residents, exploring if and then how seniors use the World Wide Web.
Web of lies? Historical knowledge on the Internet
Authors: Cohen Daniel
Published: May 2013

Scholars in history (as well as other fields in the humanities) have generally taken a dim view of the state of knowledge on the Web, pointing to the many inaccuracies on Web pages written by amateurs. A new software agent called H-Bot scans the Web for historical facts, and shows how the Web may indeed include many such inaccuracies—while at the same time being extremely accurate when assessed as a whole through statistical means that are alien to the discipline of history. These mathematical methods and other algorithms drawn from the computational sciences also suggest new techniques for historical research and new approaches to teaching history in an age in which an increasingly significant portion of the past has been digitized.
Agenda–setting, opinion leadership, and the world of Web logs
Authors: Delwiche Aaron
Published: May 2013

More than 350 studies have explored the agenda setting hypothesis, but most of this research assumes a clear distinction between reporters and their readers. Web logs erode this distinction, facilitating participatory media behavior on the part of audiences (Blood, 2003). The activities of journalistically focused web log authors give us new ways to understand and measure the agenda setting process. While previous researchers have explored issue salience by focusing on audience recall and public opinion, web logs invite us to consider hyperlinks as behavioral indicators of an issue’s perceived importance. This paper tracks news stories most often linked to by web log authors in 2003, comparing the results to stories favored by traditional media. Arguing that web log authors construct an alternative agenda within the admittedly limited realm of the blogosphere, I note that their focus has shifted from technology to broader political issues. My findings support Chaffee and Metzger’s (2001) prediction that “the key problem for agenda-setting theory will change from what issues the media tell people to think about to what issues people tell the media they want to think about” (375).
Reflecting on the digit(al)isation of music
Authors: Beer David
Published: May 2013

This paper is a collection of notes written in response to the main themes contained in Martin Kretschmer’s essay "Artists’ earnings and copyright: A review of British and German music industry data in the context of digital technologies" (2005), which was published recently in First Monday. These notes are intended to focus briefly on the exploration of these themes with the intention of generating and developing questions that may open doors for future study. The objective of this piece is not the review of Kretschmer’s essay; rather it is an attempt to probe, to examine, and to question its findings and guiding themes. These notes, therefore, are left as a set of open suggestions rather than defining statements. It is hoped that this fits with the emergent and yet to be embedded field of study to which they relate.
New approaches to television archiving
Authors: Ubois Jeff
Published: May 2013

Worldwide, more than 30 million hours of unique television programming are broadcast every year, yet only a tiny fraction of it is preserved for future reference, and only a fraction of that preserved footage is publicly accessible. Most television broadcasts are simply lost forever, though television archivists have been working to preserve selected programs for fifty years. Recent reductions in the cost of storage of digital video could allow preservation of this portion of our culture for a small fraction of the worldwide library budget, and improvements in the distribution of online video could enable much greater collaboration between archival institutions.
Free software and open source: The freedom debate and its consequences
Authors: Klang Mathias
Published: May 2013

Recently the University of Göteborg held an online course in the theory and philosophy of free software and open source. During this course a lively discussion on terminology took place, in particular the concept of freedom was discussed. Without arriving at particular conclusions the posts included views in part on the lack of user awareness on what was property within the computer, on the difference between free, gratis, and libre in different languages and cultures and the need for both a common terminology and infrastructure. This paper is not an attempt to resolve these issues but to bring these questions to the attention of a wider audience in the hope that the discussion will continue.

To most outsiders the ethics of software is not something usually considered. To most proficient computer users with a passing interest in this question the ethics of software is recognised as one of the fundamental questions in the digital rights area. To most of the latter, terms such as free software, open source, and their derivatives (FLOSS, FOSS, Software Freedom) are interchangeable. Choosing one over the other is a matter of taste rather than politics. However, to most insiders the question is not one of taste. There is a fundamental difference between the two areas even if they share a similar root. Free software is not the same as open source. The two groups differ in their fundamental philosophical approach to software and its importance to society as a whole. This paper examines the two groups’ differing philosophies and explores how their actions have affected software development, access to fundamental software infrastructure, and the development of the concept of freedom.
Al Qaeda and its affiliates: A global tribe waging segmental warfare?
Authors: Ronfeldt David
Published: May 2013

Al Qaeda and its affiliates are operating much like a global tribe waging segmental warfare. This paper describes the dynamics of classic tribes: what drives them, how they organize, how they fight. Al Qaeda fits the tribal paradigm quite well. Thus, continuing to view Al Qaeda mainly as a cutting–edge, post–modern phenomenon of the information age misses a crucial point: Al Qaeda and affiliates are using the information age to reiterate ancient patterns of tribalism on a global scale. The war they are waging is more about virulent tribalism than religion. The tribal paradigm should be added to the network and other prevailing paradigms to help figure out the best policies and strategies for countering these violent actors.
The Iraq insurgency: Anatomy of a tribal rebellion
Authors: McCallister William
Published: May 2013

The answers to what motivates and sustains the insurgency in Iraq are not readily found in traditional insurgency literature. Much better answers can be found by reexamining something deemed anachronistic in the information age: the dynamics of traditionally networked tribes and clans. This paper provides such a reexamination, and shows that tribal dynamics are particularly evident among insurgents in Fallujah and other parts of the so–called Sunni triangle.
Teaching as performance in the electronic classroom
Authors: Brent Doug
Published: May 2013

New developments in online educational technology have a profound effect on notions of intellectual property. Theories of the social construction of technology explain the extremely unstable nature of new technologies. Walter Ong’s theory of the alphabet effect provides insight into the ways in which knowledge changes as media of communication change. Shoshana Zuboff’s ideas on how managerial knowledge is transformed by technology help us understand how certain kinds of knowledge resist being textualized. These ideas help us understand the effects of new teaching technologies in terms of a long–standing struggle between two views of knowledge: knowledge as performance and knowledge as thing.
On becoming a Web site
Authors: Mishra Punya
Published: May 2013

The course Web site is a critical mediator between the instructor and students in online classes. This requires a shift in how instructors think of their presence and influence on the classroom. This essay, based on the author’s personal experience in designing and teaching online, argues that the design of the course Web site needs to carefully reflect the passions and pedagogical philosophy that drive the instructor. It is also an argument against one–size–fits–all approaches to online course design as instantiated in most course management systems.
Conversations in the dark: How young people manage chatroom relationships
Authors: Walker Rob , Bakopoulos Babis
Published: May 2013

This paper reports a small number of interviews with young people in Athens about their use of Internet chatrooms as a means of meeting people. In the last few years there has been a growing public concern about the dangers of socialising with strangers in chatrooms, but what do the users themselves think about the risks involved, and what strategies have they adopted to manage these risks? Some of the practices adopted by these young people are surprising and counter to the conventional advice given by official authorities.
Where does Web bibliographies’ author information come from?
Authors: Craven Timothy
Published: May 2013

Web pages cited with personal author identification in 12 longer Web bibliographies and a collection of 19 shorter Web bibliographies were investigated. With one exception, the personal author names could be matched in the visible text of the great majority of pages. Metatags (both for authors and for descriptions) and page titles rarely added any author information. In some cases, frames or inline graphics appeared to be the sources used. Somewhat more frequent probable sources were linked pages, such as home pages.
Letters to the Editor
Authors: Valauskas Edward
Published: May 2013

None available.
Virtual dissection and physical collaboration
Authors: Fleischmann Kenneth
Published: May 2013

This paper explores how software can be designed for individual use or for collaboration in the physical or virtual world, focusing on physical collaboration. The case study explored is the design and use of frog and human dissection simulation software. Since socialization has traditionally played an important role in the dissection laboratory experience, yet dissection simulations do not typically incorporate any online or offline interactions, the idea of virtual dissections or other types of educational software for physical collaboration is proposed.
MusicGrid: A case study in broadband video collaboration
Authors: Masum Hassan , Brooks Martin , Spence John
Published: May 2013

The technical requirements for widespread deployment of broadband video over the Internet are rapidly being met. But a harder challenge remains: how can video–based technologies promote collaboration and learning?

We present a case study: the MusicGrid Project. Running from 2002 to 2004 with partners in several Canadian and international locations, this modestly funded initiative ran over one hundred successful multi–site education and performance sessions. The rationale, development, and operation of the project are discussed, along with general lessons learned. We believe that our experience and the opportunities and issues identified will be useful to all those interested in large–scale, video–based collaboration projects.
Evaluation of digital libraries using snowball sampling
Authors: Peterson Elaine
Published: May 2013

This article describes how snowball sampling was applied in two different cases to evaluate digital collections. The first digital library was evaluated by conducting in–person interviews with survey participants. For the second digital library, an e–mail survey was mailed to site users. The results are compared and a cost–benefit analysis is provided. The author concludes that the convenience of an e–mail survey is not necessarily the most effective way to survey users.
De–unifying a digital library
Authors: Sale Arthur
Published: May 2013

The University of Tasmania decided to explore using a unified digital library for all its research output: journal articles, conference papers, higher degree theses, and other types. This decision is in advance of the state of the Australian national indexing systems. The digital library also uses OAI–PMH protocols for harvesting, which one of the national repositories does not as yet. The paper describes the context, reasons for the University’s decision, consequences and outcomes, and the development of software to talk to the Australian Digital Theses Program.
Teaching and Learning with Digital Resources: Web-Wise 2005
Authors: Valauskas Edward J.
Published: May 2013

Teaching and Learning with Digital Resources: Web-Wise 2005. Selected papers from the Sixth Annual Conference on Libraries and Museums in the Digital World, sponsored by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services and the University of Illinois at Chicago, 17-18 February 2005
The Agricultural Economics Challenge: An online program where high school students learn economics and agriculture of the Salinas Valley
Authors: Bocanegra Leti , Harrison–Smith Margie
Published: May 2013

The National Steinbeck Center created a virtual farm online to teach high school students economic principles by using a local lettuce company as a model. This article traces the development of the program, offers an overview of the Agricultural Economics Challenge game as well as the challenges the Museum faces in implementing the program.
Engaging the public with digital primary sources: A tri–state online history database and learning center
Authors: Mercier Laurie , Wykoff Leslie
Published: May 2013

This collaborative database project, involving five universities and historical societies in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, has sought to encourage online researchers to think more deeply about the digitized primary sources featured. The project intended to serve as a model for other institutions that wanted to share collections and stimulate public interest in and use of those collections. This essay focuses on how we incorporated pedagogical elements into the design of the database, and how we have encouraged K–12 teachers and college students to use it.
Project
Commentary on Web–Wise
Authors: Kaufman Peter
Published: May 2013

None available
The challenges of classification: Emerging VOIP regulation in Europe and the United States
Authors: Bach David , Sallet Jonathan
Published: May 2013

Internet telephony — or Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) — has the potential to transform the world of voice communications more profoundly than anything since the invention of the telephone itself. As telecommunications incumbents and a range of new entrants begin rolling out commercial VOIP services, policymakers around the world are grappling with the regulatory implications. In the United States and the European Union, the two largest near–term VOIP markets, efforts are underway to fit VOIP into existing regulatory frameworks. This process of "regulatory classification" is by no means a purely administrative act. A lot is at stake and different interest groups have therefore mobilized to shape the respective outcomes. Because legacy regulatory systems in Europe and the United States differ, the regulatory treatment of VOIP in the two markets is beginning to differ as well. Yet in both markets there is a substantial danger that fitting VOIP into existing classifications will force VOIP to look more like regular telephony, thereby limiting its innovation potential.
Communicative practice and transgressive global politics: The D’ua of Sheikh Muhammed Al Mohaisany
Authors: Dartnell Michael
Published: May 2013

Walter Benjamin noted the transformative impact of information technology when he said that "photography greatly extends the sphere of commodity exchange... by flooding the market with countless images of figures, landscapes, and events which had previously been available either not at all or only as pictures for individual customers." Echoing his assessment, multimedia activism has emerged as a practice through which multiple–user communication by non–state actors highlights transgressive values and issues. This paper focuses on Islamic extremist Web activism by discussing a multimedia file, the "d’ua of Sheikh Muhammed Al–Mohaisany." The file is examined to illustrate how the Web and other IT provide once inaccessible information and potentially alter communication by directly addressing targeted publics. Multimedia activism introduces issues of identity, boundaries, and perceptions into global politics and culture through telecommunication practices that were formerly state regulated.
Usability@90mph: Presenting and evaluating a new, high–speed method for demonstrating user testing in front of an audience
Authors: Marty Paul , Twidale Michael
Published: May 2013

This article documents the authors’ attempt to develop a quick, inexpensive, and reliable method for demonstrating user testing to an audience. The resulting method, Usability@90mph, is simple enough to be conducted at minimal expense, fast enough to be completed in only thirty minutes, comprehensible enough to be presented to audiences numbering in the hundreds, and yet sophisticated enough to produce relevant design recommendations, thereby illustrating for the audience the potential value of user testing in general. In this article, the authors present their user testing demonstration method in detail, analyze results from 44 trials of the method in practice, and discuss lessons learned for demonstrating user testing in front of an audience.
Survey of Web–based educational resources in selected U.S. art museums
Authors: Varisco Robert , Cates Ward
Published: May 2013

Art museums in the United States share a common mission to educate many people — from families to teachers to researchers. But how do these museums use the World Wide Web to extend their educational mission? More specifically, what kinds of educational materials do U.S. art museums offer to online visitors, and how broadly available are such resources across the Web? This study set out to answer these questions and to tie the findings to the contextual model of museum learning. Conclusions are drawn about how museums from the sample fit within a technology adoption curve.
Diffusion pattern of Linux: An assessment on major technology dimensions
Authors: Kshetri Nir
Published: May 2013

This paper attempts to gain an understanding of the diffusion dynamics of Linux by assessing it on Rogers’ technology dimensions — relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, observability, and trialability. The analysis makes clear that Linux possesses greater relative advantage than its proprietary competitors because of its low cost, lower susceptibility to bugs and crashes, resilience to obsolescence, ability to run on older machines and higher perceived security. Linux is facing compatibility problems with applications, hardware and other corporate resources; suppliers’ and customers’ technologies; and, skills of current and potential employees. Extreme configurability and user unfriendly interface; limited support and staff knowledge; and, potential hazard of forking into competing versions have been some major sources of Linux’s complexity. Linux seems to have a reasonably good performance on observability and trialability dimensions. The paper concludes by offering some suggestions on how to accelerate the diffusion of Linux among software developers, national governments and international agencies.
Using the Internet to reduce market risk for alternative energy sources: The case of large–scale solar photovoltaic production
Authors: Pearce Joshua
Published: May 2013

Although tremendous progress has been made in improving the conversion of sunlight into electricity with solar photovoltaic cells, their widespread adoption is primarily limited by high costs. This paper explores the use of the Internet as a catalyst for the diffusion of solar photovoltaic technology by reducing market risk. With market risk minimized by a database generated by a community of pledged consumers, solar cell companies would be motivated to construct a "Solar City Factory." Such a factory would produce solar panels that would enable systems costs to drop below US$1 per Watt and thus be less expensive than fossil fuels in providing bulk electricity. This price would have a positive–spiral effect encouraging many consumers to switch to solar electricity and transition the global energy infrastructure to renewable solar energy.
Characteristics, uniqueness and overlap of information sources linked from North American public library Web sites
Authors: Prabha Chandra , Irwin Raymond
Published: May 2013

This article reports on the availability, domain distribution, percentage of Web sites versus Web pages, perceived value, and category of 31,400 Web–based resources selected by 50 public libraries in the United States and Canada. Eighty–seven percent of these resources were available, 60 percent were Web pages, and resources selected by 20 percent of the sampled libraries were finding tools such as general or subject specific search engines. Ninety–three percent of the resources were selected by just one of the 50 libraries; only 17 percent of the resources appeared to be primarily of local interest. The public may be unaware of these unique resources. The public library community must develop programs to increase the awareness and sharing of these evaluated resources.
From genesis to revelation of an online resource: The North Carolina History and Fiction Digital Library
Authors: Smith Elizabeth
Published: May 2013

This paper provides an account of the development of the North Carolina History and Fiction Digital Library (http://www.lib.ecu.edu/ncc/historyfiction/) from an idea into a worldwide resource in two years. The principal investigator for the project introduces the Web site and gives practical and technical information that can be used as a model in other digital projects. The paper includes use statistics; reactions to the site; suggestions for how students, historians, genealogists, and other researchers can use the site; and plans for enhancements.
Book Reviews
Authors: Kocher Douglas , Valauskas Edward J.
Published: May 2013

None available.