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Report
Current Cities Volume 08 Number 11
_Current Cites_
Volume 8, no. 11
November 1997
The Library
University of California, Berkeley
Edited by Teri Andrews Rinne
ISSN: 1060-2356
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/CurrentCites/1997/cc97.8.11.html
Contributors:
Christof Galli, Kirk Hastings, Terry Huwe,
Margaret Phillips, Richard Rinehart,
Jim Ronningen, Roy Tennant
DIGITAL LIBRARIES
"Z39.50: Part 1- An Overview" Biblio Tech Review October 1997
(http://www.biblio-tech.com/html/z39.50.html). -- If you're anything
like me, you know vaguely what Z39.50 is about but if someone asked
you to explain it you'd feign deafness. Well, get ready to regain your
hearing. This brief piece will soon have you speaking Z-speak in no
time. After reading this, you should not only be able to understand
why you keep hearing about it, but you will also be able to drop
utterances like "Z-client" and "Z-server" with both abandon and
authority. It may not make you the life of the library cocktail party,
but you will be much sought after if your library wants to link other
databases to your library catalog interface. -- RT
Zamparelli, Roberto. "Copyright and Global Libraries: Going with the
Flow of Technology" First Monday 2(11) (November 3, 1997)
(http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue2_11/zamparelli/) -- Instead of
trying to make Internet users conform to copyright laws by ever more
powerful protections against copying and unauthorized downloading,
Zamparelli proposes a different approach. He argues that a single,
relatively expensive access fee should open the gateway to a "global
library" with unlimited downloading privileges. The system would also
have built-in incentives for profit-sharing by authors, new modes of
advertising, and an array of user benefits. At the heart of his
argument is a belief that "policing" cyberspace may be too
labor-intensive and might in fact chill discourse; instead, he says,
we should build incentives that reward compliance, and see what
happens. -- TH
ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING
Dudrow, Andrea & Joanna Pearlstein. "XML Format May Fortify Web
Content" MacWeek 11(2) (November 3, 1997): 1,7
(http://www.zdnet.com/macweek/mw_1142/nw_xml.html). -- This article
updates readers on the latest companies to announce products
supporting the new XML standard-in-progress. XML, a simplified subset
of SGML, is a method of encoding the structure and content of
documents. XML can be used in conjunction with HTML to offer 3
advantages: its extensibility lets users create their own tags; its
structure can support object-oriented hierarchies; and it can be
validated, so documents can be checked for validity. In addition, XML
will allow web documents to be searched in more precise ways and the
content can be sorted and delivered in pieces instead of only as
entire web pages. The article predicts future adoption by vendors and
that XML will augment rather than replace HTML. -- RR
Grout, Catherine & Tony Gill. "Visual Arts, Museums & Cultural
Heritage Metadata Draft Workshop Report" Visual Arts Data Service &
Arts and Humanities Data Services
(http://vads.ahds.ac.uk/Metadata1.html) -- AHDS and its subset VADS
are UK-based organizations exploring, and thankfully documenting,
issues involved in creating, managing, and delivering arts and
humanities data in electronic environments. This report is the result
of a workshop to "..examine the descriptive information needed to
enable the discovery of visual arts, museums and cultural heritage
resources on the Internet, particularly in the form of digital
images." In particular they wanted to find out if the Dublin Core had
any value as a content discovery tool for such data, and if so, in
what forms and what applications. This report is very detailed;
covering a variety of areas, and reporting on sub-committee break-out
groups. -- RR
Hobohm, Hans-Christoph. "Changing the Galaxy: On the Transformation of
a Printed Journal to the Internet" First Monday 2(11) (November 3,
1997) (http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue2_11/hobohm/) -- Hobom
explores a journal's experience with publishing a web-based edition.
The journal, INSPEL, is published by the International Federation of
Library Associations (IFLA). He lends a concrete, real-world feeling
to the intellectual dilemma facing journal publishers in cyberspace.
How, for example, should markets be segmented? Should access be
limited to certain audiences? How to handle pricing? The answers
aren't always clear, but if you've ever worked with publishing
deadlines and budgets, this analysis will make you think about the
potential, and the pitfalls. -- TH
Powell, Thomas A. "Extend the Web: an XML Primer" Internet Week no.
691 (November 24, 1997): 47-49 -- This primer will be a valuable
resource for anyone involved in authoring, managing, or delivering
web-based content. It is a relatively in-depth look at the emerging
XML standard, covering a bit of history and background, related URLs
for more information, and examples of how XML actually works,
including existing tools and plans for tools to implement XML. The
article takes a realistic view, and makes a good introduction to XML.
-- RR
MULTIMEDIA & HYPERMEDIA
Gibbs, Simon and Gabor Szentivanyi. "Index to Multimedia Information
Sources" German National Research Center for Information Technology
(http://viswiz.gmd.de/MultimediaInfo/) -- This web resource is an
invaluable index of information and tools for multimedia. The site
breaks down resources into categories first by media type (audio,
video, etc.) then by type of resource (FAQs, conference proceedings,
tutorials, newsgroup, articles, tools, etc.) -- RR
NETWORKS & NETWORKING
Danner, David and Paul W. Taylor. "Principle and Practicality: Funding
Electronic Access to Washington State Government Information" Journal
of Government Information 24(5) (Sept/Oct 1997):347-359. -- This
article, written by two policy advisors for the State of Washington
Department of Information Services, argues that electronic access to
government information should be funded by appropriate user fees
allowing for cost recovery. Based on court rulings, the authors
differentiate between the content of public records, which should be
accessible in the least costly format, and the delivery of government
information, which does not have to occur in the most convenient form
(i.e. electronically) to satisfy the public's right to access of
information. The authors also point out that in many cases it is not
individual citizens who are primary users of electronic information,
but commercial users. Thus, providing free electronic access would
constitute a taxpayer subsidy to commercial customers. In addition,
difficult economic circumstances may prevent state legislatures from
providing sufficient or lasting funding to develop an effective
electronic infrastructure. The authors see the development of
cost-recoverable services as a fair and appropriate mode of funding
electronic access systems and recommend that policy makers allow
agencies to recover costs for electronic services. -- CG
GENERAL
Ream, Dan. "Glitch Management for Internet Instruction" Internet Trend
Watch for Libraries 2(11) (November 1997)
(http://www.itwfl.com/glitch.html) - If you do not immediately know
what this article is about from the title, this article is not for
you. If, on the other hand, images of projection bulbs burning out,
computer cables with the wrong connectors, and other such technical
calamities pop into your brain, you're the one that needs to know what
this article has to say. As a long-time Internet instructor, I've seen
my share of technical glitches -- enough to know that what Ream says
in this piece is well worth heeding. In particular, his four
"universal rules" are excellent advice: 1) Always have a plan B, 2)
Know your equipment before it's too late!, 3) Know your technicians on
a first name basis, and 4) Prepare your mind. One thing you can do to
prepare your mind is to read this article. -- RT
_________________________________________________________________
Current Cites 8(11) (November 1997) ISSN: 1060-2356 Copyright ©
1997 by the Library, University of California, Berkeley. _All rights
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