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Current Cities Volume 06 Number 01
_Current Cites_
Volume 6, no. 1
January 1995
Information Systems Instruction & Support
The Library
University of California, Berkeley
Edited by Teri Andrews Rinne
ISSN: 1060-2356
Contributors:
John Ober, Margaret Phillips,
Richard Rinehart, Teri Rinne, Roy Tennant
Electronic Publishing
Bennett, Scott. "The Copyright Challenge: Strengthening the
Public Interest in the Digital Age" Library Journal 119(19)
(November 15, 1994):34-37. -- Bennett begins with a little
copyright history and the historical role of libraries in
relationship to copyright. He then discusses (and illustrates
through a sidebar of scenarios) techniques libraries can use
to avoid running afoul of current copyright law when making
digital copies. For a more conceptual discussion of intellectual
property rights and fair use in a digital age, see the Lyman
article below. -- RT
"Fair Use in the Electronic Age: Serving the Public Interest"
College & Research Libraries News 56(1) (January 1995):24, 46.
-- This is a draft statement authored by representatives from
the American Association of Law Librarians, American Library
Association, Association of Academic Health Sciences Library
Directors, Association of Research Libraries, Medical Library
Association and the Special Libraries Association in response to
the wide-spread increase in electronic publishing and their
concern that issues of fair use be preserved in this new digital
age. The document states that "(a)s more information becomes
available only in electronic formats, the public's legitimate
right to use copyrighted material must be protected." The document
calls for a balance between the rights of authors, publishers and
copyright owners and society's right to participate fully in the
free flow of information. Comments on this draft document are being
solicited by the ALA Washington Office (cch@alawash.org). -- MP
Lunin, Lois F. and Robin P. Peek, eds. "Perspectives on Electronic
Publishing" Journal of the American Society for Information Science
45(10)(December 1994):727-799. -- The "Perspective" of this issue of
JASIS is electronic publishing. Some of the many issues (i.e. the
social relationship of publishing and culture, standardization and
government policy) surrounding the nascent electronic publishing
industry are addressed in this edition. Highlights include:
-Berliss, Jane. "Boon or Bust? : Access to Electronic Publishing by
Individuals Using Adaptive Computer Technology" -- Persons with
disabilities have different technical needs for access to
electronically published information. It is not difficult to use
adaptive technologies in libraries to help disabled patrons make
use of the new electronic tools. -- DR
-Collins, Mauri P. and Sane L. Berge. "IPCT Journal : A Case Study
of an Electronic Journal on the Internet" -- A history and overview
of the electronic journal _The Interpersonal Computing and
Technology Journal: An Electronic Journal for the 21st Century_
(IPCT-J). E-journals address some, but not all, of the current
concerns of scholars with regard to their academic journals.
Organizational acceptance and more reliable search engines are just
a couple of the hurdles facing the e-publishing community. -- DR
-Doty, Phillip and Ann P. Bishop. "The National Information
Infrastructure and Electronic Publishing: A Reflective Essay"
-- Governmental agencies at all levels need to re-evaluate
policies and laws if the vision of the National Information
Infrastructure is going to be realized. This is a broad essay
that covers many of the intellectual issues developing out of
the explosion of information technologies. The impressive list
of references will undoubtedly be valuable to anyone interested
in this topic. -- DR
-Gold, Jon D. "An Electronic Publishing Model for Academic
Publishers" -- This is a brief overview and discussion of one
proposed electronic book publishing project. The article describes
some of the benefits of electronic book publishing, and also suggests
the need for a standard model such as Standard Generalized Markup
Language (SGML). Delivery methods are also considered. -- DR
-Jacobson, Thomas L. "The Electronic Publishing Revolution Is Not
'Global'" -- Currently a disparity exists in global information
dissemination. For many developing countries the technology necessary
to be a player in the electronic information trade is simply not yet
in place. Consequently, much of what is published electronically is
not getting to all the world's population. -- DR
-Jasperse, Jaap A. "Primary Science on CD-ROM: The New Zealand
Experiment" -- This article presents the results of a user evaluation
of an electronic issue of the _New Zealand Journal of Marine and
Freshwater Research_. Respondents expressed doubt about universal
access to information, a preferance for hard copy over screens,
difficulty with the software, and disappointment with the graphics.
They found electronic publication desirable to supplement rather
than to replace print publication. -- TR
-Lynch, Clifford A. "The Integrity of Digital Information: Mechanics
and Definitional Issues" -- Lynch examines some of the issues
encompassing the integrity of digital objects in the networked
environment. He defines the use of the word "integrity" in relation-
ship to the information distribution system, illustrates the basic
mechanics of digital information integrity and addresses issues
concerning digital integrity regarding electronic publishing and
intellectual content. -- DR
-Peek, Robin P. "Where is Publishing Going?: A Perspective on Change"
-- Technology is rapidly changing what "publishing" means. We have,
in the past, thought of publishing as a relatively capital intensive,
paper print-based endeavor. Computers and the growing networked
environment are changing that paradigm. Peek takes a look at what
publishing has been, what it is and where it may be headed. -- DR
-Stephen, Timothy and Teresa M. Harrison. "Comserve: Moving the
Communication Discipline Online" :765-770 . -- Comserve in an online
service for individuals in the field of human communications studies
and has been in continuous service since 1986. This article discusses
some of the difficulties facing an online electronic information
service, not the least of which is the problem of funding the support
staff for a free online service. -- DR
Lyman, Peter. "Copyright and Fair Use in the Digital Age: A Q&A with
Peter Lyman," Educom Review 30(1) (January/February 1995):32-35.
-- In this engaging and thoughtful piece, Lyman discusses the
difficulties in stretching traditional copyright mechanisms to include
networked information. He casts doubt on whether a viable equivalent
to the provision for fair use of copyrighted print material can be
found for a networked environment. This article is a clear statement
of the issues that require resolution (and soon), but if you wish
advice on how to stay out of court while making digital copies, see
the Bennett article above. -- RT
Rothenberg, Jeff. "Ensuring the Longevity of Digital Documents"
Scientific American 272(1) (January 1995):42-47. -- Of interest to
anyone involved in information technology, this article addresses
the obstacles to archiving information in any current digital form.
There are two major obstacles: obsolescence of physical medium and
software format. In regard to physical media, we must rely upon
admittedly fragile formats such as magnetic tape, to media with
unknown real-life longevity such as CD-ROM. On the software side,
content is interwoven with format in the bitstream. The author
maintains that without a "bootstrap" of paper telling someone in
the future what software format was used, some digital documents
will be unreadable. He even addresses the question of "hardware
and software independent" formats by breaking down a relational
database. However, he did not answer such questions as whether or
not simpler standards such as ASCII will remain an independent
standard, or for that matter logical structure formats based in
ASCII such as SGML. He also did not account for the nature of
humans; if there are now translation dictionaries for reading
the treasures of our linguistic history, there will probably
be software equivalents as our digital archives age. -- RR
Multimedia and Hypermedia
Powell, Corey S. "The Rights Stuff: Buying and Selling Art in
a Digital World" Scientific American 272(1) (January 1995):30-31.
-- This article is a helpful introduction to the issues involved
in using images as part of a digital publication or service. It
also mentions many of the seminal projects involving the mass
distribution of art images. The use of art images has obvious
appeal for both educational purposes (museums) and for making
money (CD-ROM publishers and again museums). The issues of how
to contain the seemingly liquid digital images so that their use
does not dilute the making of money or, more seriously, the full
educational effect, are numerous and complex. The sheer
reproducibility of digital images plays havoc with the sacredness
attributed to unique art objects in the past, in a way that
producers of text are long familiar with. This article would make
an apt and contemporary prologue to reading Walter Benjamin's
"Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction". -- RR
Research Libraries Group. _Digital Imaging Technology for
Preservation: Proceedings from an RLG Symposium Held March 17 and
18, 1994 at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York_. 139 pages.
-- Although the title suggests that this volume is primarily of
interest to librarians, and within that group, to preservation
specialists, its appeal should be broader. From the highly
readable keynote addresses by M. Stuart Lynn (president of the
Commission on Preservation and Access and past Vice President
for Information Technologies at Cornell University) and Donald J.
Waters (associate university librarian at Yale University) are,
in many ways, descriptions of the path toward the digital library.
The tutorials, especially "Imaging System Components and
Standards," by Pamela R. Mason, and "Data Conversion: A Tutorial
on Electronic Document Imaging," by Don R. Williams are practical,
informative pieces for those interested in digital imaging. -- JLO
Networks and Networking
Blumenstyk, Goldie. "Accord in the 'Mosaic' War" Chronicle of Higher
Education 41(17) (January 6, 1995):A21-A22. -- In another product
dispute involving Internet navigation tools, the developers of Mosaic
and the developers of Netscape Navigator, have signed an agreement
upholding Netscape Communications Corporation's right to sell its
product without interference from the University of Illinois. The
dispute stemmed from the claim that Netscape's product looked too
much like Mosaic, a Web browsing tool developed by the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and copyrighted in 1992. Both parties
make their software available free for academic and non-profit users
although they are also both interested in commercial uses of their
products. -- MP
DeLoughry, Thomas J. "Patent Claim Stirs Fears About Popular Internet
Tool" Chronicle of Higher Education 41(18) (January 13, 1995):A20.
-- The resolution of a patent dispute involving the use of GIF, or the
Graphics Interchange Format used for exchanging images on the network
has raised concerns among Internet users. Many institutions that are
creating Web pages are worried that they will now be held legally
liable for using GIF in violation of Unisys' patent. The company,
however, said that it would concentrate its patent-protection efforts
on those publishers who are developing programs using GIF for the
commercial market rather than the non-profit sector. -- MP
Jacox, Corinne and Brian Striman. "Internet Resources for Law" College
& Research Libraries News 56(1) (January 1995):18-20. -- This article
is a selective list of Internet sources including gopher and Web sites
as well as ftp files and UseNet groups. Legal information on the Net
is constantly changing so the authors have chosen sites they consider
to be the most stable. Most sites listed contain combinations of
judicial, legislative, executive, constitutional, state and
international law. -- MP
Lewis, Peter H. "Trying to Find Gold With the Internet" The New York
Times (January 3, 1995):C15, C18. "E-Cash Makes the Web Go Around"
The New York Times (January 3, 1995):C15. "Site-Seeing on the World-Wide
Web" The New York Times (January 3, 1995):C18. In a special new year's
edition of the Business Section aimed at providing an economic outlook
for 1995, several articles recount the phenomenal growth last year of
Internet use in business. From the seemingly mundane rise in the use of
business-to-business computer networks to the now-famous Pizza Hut in
Santa Cruz, Calif. which allows customers to order pizza via e-mail to
the emergence of "retail shops" on the World-Wide Web, the media picked
up on several Internet-related stories in 1994. Not surprisingly, New
York Times editors predict that the link between business and the
Internet will continue to grow in 1995. Internet users are considered
to be an upscale market with real buying power that businesses want to
tap. Furthermore, World-Wide Web has become an "acceptable" advertising
zone on the Internet where entrepreneurship has traditionally been
taboo. Included among these articles is a sampling list of practical
and frivolous Web sites. -- MP
McLaughlin, Margaret L. "Not Waiting for the Information Superhighway:
the Art Site on the World Wide Web" [URL:http://cwis.usc.edu/dept/
annenberg/artfinal.html] -- McLaughlin, a professor of communications
at USC, explores the growing number of art-related sites on the WWW.
She looks at 37 sites, focusing on the issues of interactivity, hyper-
textuality, and accessibility. She also covers the 'art-world' culture,
and how it is translating, or transforming, in its migration toward an
online culture. -- RR
Rotenberg, Marc. "Information Policy: Electronic Privacy Legislation in
the United States" Journal of Academic Librarianship 20(4) (September
1994):227-230. -- This article provides an in depth overview of current
legislative proposals addressing emerging privacy concerns as well as
the privacy of medical records, communications and individuals in the
workplace. None of the current proposals, however, provide for privacy
protection for the Internet. Therefore, the Internet community should
develop a policy that recognizes the special needs and practices of
Internet users and which, among other things, seeks to respect the
confidentiality of private communications, protects the anonymity of
Internet users, and supports the development of technologies, such as
encryption schemes, that protect privacy. -- MP
Shea, Virginia. _Netiquette_. Albion Books, San Francisco. 1994.
154 pages. -- Shea's book is a welcome addition to the growing number
of attempts to describe, if not entirely codify, the conventions,
customs, and "laws" of the Internet (often referred to in the book
as cyberspace). In a mix of straightforward suggestions and "frequently
asked questions," the author offers chapters on "Basics," "Business
Netiquette," "Social Netiquette," and "Legal and Philosophical issues
in Netiquette." The "Basics" section is the strongest with chapters on
"Core Rules," various components of e-mail including "style" and
"flaming," and thin, but useful sections on netiquette for retrieving
information and egregious netiquette errors. This volume would be a
useful source for trainers and a reference for all experienced and
new users alike in order to build, as Shea and others have described,
a "cyberspace commons." -- JLO
Tillman, Hope H. "Review of Current Newsletters Devoted to the Internet"
posted to NETTRAIN@ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu on Dec. 5, 1994. -- In this
useful overview of Internet newsletters, Tillman evaluates eleven
current awareness publications. Included are newsletters specifically
for CPAs, Internet novices, the business community, and others. -- RT
Uretsky, Sam. "Addressing AIDS" Internet World 8(1) (January 1995):
56-59. -- Although interesting in its own right as a description of the
history and current sources of AIDS-related information on the Internet,
this piece is also useful as a case study. It reminds the reader not
only of the wide and disparate variety of Internet sources covering a
topic (from Usenet Newsgroup to gopher to online library catalog to
Web home page), but also that there is a curious mix of social and
technological history in any subject-related information source; perhaps
more so for network sources. Sources for AIDS information started with
a one-woman phone-based clearinghouse and have proceeded to well-
organized gophers, newsgroups, and Web sites. Along the way the
technology combined with some human habits to produce information
cul-de-sacs and inaccuracies. Uretsky's article concisely summarizes
these and, though he does not draw the point, his descriptions can be
generalized to help explain the vagaries of network information in
general. -- JLO
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Current Cites 6(1) (January 1995) ISSN: 1060-2356 Copyright (C) 1995
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