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Current Cities Volume 11 Number 09
[1]Current Cites (Digital Library SunSITE)
Volume 11, no. 9, September 2000
Edited by [2]Roy Tennant
The Library, University of California, Berkeley, 94720
ISSN: 1060-2356 -
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/CurrentCites/2000/cc00.11.9.html
Contributors: [3]Terry Huwe, [4]Michael Levy, [5]Leslie Myrick , Jim
Ronningen, Lisa Rowlison, [6]Roy Tennant
Abreu, Elinor. [7]"Diving into the Deep Web" [8]The Standard
(September 4, 2000)
(http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,18134,00.html). -
In a brief overview of a couple of companies Abreu brings to light an
issue that librarians have worried about for a number of years -- how
to locate information that is contained deep within web-based
databases. Most search engines will not search within databases, or as
Abreu calls it, "the deep Web." A recent survey suggests that there
may be 550 billion documents in the deep web. Now there are a number
of companies developing products that will search multiple databases
on the web, especially because the cost of indexing has been falling.
- [9]ML
Borgman, Christine L. [10]"The Premise and Promise of a Global
Information Infrastructure" [11]First Monday 5(8) (August 7, 2000)
(http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue5_8/borgman/). - Borgman
assesses the rapid growth of worldwide networking capabilities, and
analyzes the interplay between the technology and the political forces
that govern the introduction of technology. She argues that the
premise of universal networking is rational, and the promise is
exciting, because a genuine opportunity does exist to push technology
to the places where it is needed the most. The two most likely
pathways for the emergence of a ubiquitous network are evolutionary,
and revolutionary. However, sustained growth in the information
infrastructure does not necessarily yield new absolutes that will spur
the growth of a utopian society. Borgman argues convincingly that
existing political systems and cultural beliefs will have the greatest
influence on the actual penetration of an information infrastructure
throughout the world. - [12]TH
Crawford, Walt. "Nine Models, One Name: Untangling the E-book Muddle"
[13]American Libraries (September 2000): 56-59. - With all the hype
about device-dependent e-books like the Rocket eBook and the SoftBook
reader (now both owned by the Gemstar International Group), it's easy
to forget that: a) e-books are not new, and b) there are a number of
other e-book publication models. Both of these points are ably
presented by Crawford in an easy to understand overview of e-book
choices. Crawford readily admits to not having an answer to the
question of which model will be important to libraries, but then who
does? Follow this piece with the Donald Hawkins article cited in this
month's issue of Current Cites. - [14]RT
Dodds, Leigh. [15]"Instant RDF?" in [16]<xml.com> (August 30, 2000)
(http://www.xml.com/pub/2000/08/30/instantrdf/) and Dumbill, Edd,
[17]"Putting RDF to Work," in [18]<xml.com> (August 9, 2000)
(http://www.xml.com/pub/2000/08/09/rdfdb/). The [19]Resource
Description Framework (RDF, http://www.w3.org/RDF/), a mechanism for
processing metadata (or data about data), is intended to provide
interoperability for the exchange of machine-understandable metadata
for online resources, whether they be text, data, image, video or
audio files. Intelligent agents will harvest this information, which
can then be used in resource discovery, description, and cataloguing.
The hope is that with a standard system of resource description, a
uniform query language will be able to perform structured queries over
the entirety of the web. Two recent articles on RDF (the Resource
Description Framework) in <xml.com> offer a more technical and
behind-the-scenes slant on the standard as it evolves, covering how
RDF will be generated, stored, culled, and processed: from
controversies brewing on special-interest lists over the proposed data
model and serialization syntax, to an explanation of the
unsavory-sounding process known as "screen-scraping", to an intro to
[20]R.V. Guha's RDFDB (http://web1.guha.com/rdfdb/), a relational
database application for RDF that roll-up-your-sleeves types can try
at home. Dumbill offers a practical application for a kind of
integrative RDF Store that would cross-reference all the data on your
PC: websites, documents, scheduling apps and email. By querying an RDF
database for data connections on your PC you could conceivably search
on and collect all the applicable documents and emails from that
visiting dignitary/important client/job candidate you're meeting at
3:00 today, and before she arrives, check out her homepage! - [21]LM
"The Future of Books" CQ Researcher 10(24) (June 23 2000):545-568. - A
collection of short articles that outline the major parameters
surrounding the issue of electronic books. Included is a historical
discussion of the development of printing, the business of publishing
and recent trends in electronic publishing. Along with the articles
are a number of useful sidebars containing statistics, as well as a
brief bibliography. While the articles would not contain anything new
for someone who has been following the issues it is an
easily-accessible starting point for the neophyte interested in the
debate surrounding e-books and the digital revolution. - ML
Hawkins, Donald T. "Electronic Books: a Major Publishing Revolution.
Part 1: General Considerations and Issues" [22]Online 24(4)
(July/August 2000):14-28. - Few subjects freak out people who love
books like this one does. Read the article and then recommend it to
anybody who needs to calm down and get a grip, because it's a
realistic and comprehensive view of current e-book publishing which
makes it clear that the phenomenon is a new set of alternatives and
not a plague. Hawkins provides a primer on the nature of e-books and
the technology available for displaying them, the factors which stop
most people from reading long works on a screen, problems publishers
are grappling with, and how libraries are dealing with the issue. The
thoroughness here is impressive, references are documented and the
lists of URLs and articles for further reading are extensive. There
will be a second part published in the September Online with the focus
on the players in this market. - JR
Madeiros, Norm. [23]"XML and the Resource Description Framework: The
Great Web Hope" [24]Online (September 2000)
(http://www.onlineinc.com/onlinemag/OL2000/medeiros9.html). - Norm
Madeiros makes explicit one librarian's hope for this massive Library
of Babel we call the web: that through a standardized metadata
framework called the Resource Description Framework (RDF), finding
resources on the web might someday be as easy as accessing resources
in the library using your friendly local OPAC. Libraries have been the
originators and purveyors par excellence of metadata, from the red
ribbon rubrics which announced the contents of scrolls in the Library
of Alexandria to modern MARC records which form the backbone for
various OPAC systems that guide library patrons to the shelf or
electronic file containing the resource they seek. Evoking the W3C
[25]RDF Model and Syntax Specification's call
(http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-rdf-syntax/) for a "Web of Trust" built on
the twin pillars of the RDF standard and Digital Signatures, Madeiros
traces the sad history of the prostitution of <META> tags by
(especially e-commerce) content providers, and looks askance at the
"popularity-contest" model of web-indexing and ranking used by search
engines like Google. The solution may come with the adoption of RDF:
an objective, descriptive, machine-understandable standard. For those
new to RDF (i.e. those who involuntarily raise their eyebrows at the
mention of "screen-scraping") Madeiros appends a couple of handy
cut-&-paste models; the abbreviated syntax, which I excerpt here,
works with HTML, linking to it as you would to a stylesheet, with
<LINK>:
<rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.0/">
<rdf:Description rdf:about="http://doc"
dc:creator="your name here"
dc:title="your document"
dc:description="what it is"
dc:date="2000-09-10" />
</rdf:RDF>
- [26]LM
Melamut, Steven J. [27]"Pursuing Fair Use, Law Libraries and
Electronic Reserves" Law Library Journal 92(2) (Spring 2000):157-192
(http://www.aallnet.org/products/2000-16.pdf). - Melamut takes the
reader through an extensive overview of the leading cases and legal
developments that face libraries which provide a formal electronic
reserve collection. He discusses the copyright issues in traditional
reserves spending much time on the so-called Classroom Guidelines that
are part of the legislative history of the 1976 Copyright Act and the
applicable fair use sections of the Act. While there hasn't been any
litigation regarding electronic reserves there are a number of
significant cases concerning the creation of coursepacks and these
give some indication of the legal landscape that may be applicable to
the area of course reserves. Melamut suggests that libraries will now
have to address the issue of the payment of permission fees given the
fact that the technology makes it much easier to monitor the use of
protected materials and that schools may be liable for copyright
infringement for material from an e-reserve collection. - [28]ML
Sholtz, Paul. [29]"Economics of Personal Information Exchange"
[30]First Monday 5(9) (September 4, 2000)
(http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue5_9/sholtz/). - Sholtz argues
that personal information has become the new currency of online
commerce. However, recent figures indicate that between 75 and 90
million Americans regularly use the Internet, but they rarely pay for
the content they see. These users appear to be comfortable offering
personal information in exchange for free services and information. As
this "economy" develops, large "libraries" of personal data are being
accumulated, bought and sold. This article explores some of the
connotations of e-commerce, which so far has relied upon moving
conventional business practices to the Web. Sholtz see an emerging
opportunity for vendors who can grasp how "communities" of customers
can be approached in ways that protect privacy but offer online
advantages. - [31]TH
Sitts, Maxine K., editor. [32]Handbook for Digital Projects: A
Management Tool for Preservation and Access Andover, MA: Northeast
Document Conservation Center, 2000 (http://www.nedcc.org/dighand.htm).
- [33]The School for Scanning is a long-running and well-respected
workshop on digitization for libraries, archives, and museums. Offered
about once a year, the workshop usually attracts more than 300
attendees who leave the three-day session reeling under the load of
more information than they could possibly absorb, presented by leaders
in the field. Now this book documents some of the most important
information the workshop has to offer, to the benefit of both those
who attended the workshop and those who couldn't. With this hard-bound
volume and the Kenney/Reiger work "Moving Theory Into Practice" (see
the [34]Current Cites review), those tackling digitization projects
will be well-equipped indeed. - [35]RT
Smith, Barbara H. "To Filter or not to Filter: The Role of the Public
Library in Determining Internet Access" Communication Law and Policy
5(3) (Summer 2000):385-421. - As a starting point Smith discusses
society's assumptions about the need to protect children from
undesirable materials. She makes the point that the view of the child
and harm has changed over the centuries resulting in a bourgeois view
that aims to prolong the child's innocence for as long as possible.
Building on this analysis the author outlines various theories of the
first amendment and discusses a number of cases involving schools,
libraries and protection of minors. In particular, she highlights the
only filtering case to date, that of Mainstream Loudon v Board of
Trustees of Loudon County, which held that the public library could
not subject adults to the "electronic equivalent of a children's
reading room." In addition, there have been a number of attempts over
the last few years to introduce statutory law regulating Internet
content. In the discussion of the issues surrounding filtering Smith
suggests a three pronged solution to the problem: the introduction of
privacy walls and screens so that other patrons would not
inadvertently view materials they find offensive; separate children
and adult computers with some filtering on the children's computers;
and finally allowing parents to decide whether their children should
be allowed to use unfiltered computers. Not everyone will agree with
Smith's solutions, and it seems that there could be strong objections
to parents blocking the types of materials their children --
especially teenagers -- can access in the public library. However,
this article clearly articulates the major arguments in the filtering
debate and is useful in this role alone. - [36]ML
Stratford, Jean Slemmons and Juri. "Computerized and Networked
Government Information" [37]Journal of Government Information 27(3)
(May/June 2000): 385-389. - The column, written by this couple from
U.C. Davis, focuses in this issue on government services via the
Internet. It's a little mystifying why the authors state that the
focus is on international topics when most of the examples given are
domestic. Regardless, this is a nice sampling of efforts made by
governmental and intergovernmental groups to provide interactive
services over the net. For me, the richest trove came from their
description of the federal report [38]"Integrated Service Delivery:
Governments Using Technology to Serve Citizens"
(http://policyworks.gov/org/main/mg/intergov/isdtitp.html) because it
led me to poke around at the root [39]policyworks.gov. This is the
home page for the General Services Administration's Office of
Governmentwide Policy, which has lots of links relating to aspects of
federal information policy, the most pertinent being the one for the
Office of Information Technology's [40]"IT Policy On-Ramp"
(http://www.itpolicy.gsa.gov/). Besides the feds, the authors describe
projects by the G8 countries, National Governors' Association and
state and local agencies. - JR
_________________________________________________________________
Current Cites 11(9) (September 2000) ISSN: 1060-2356
Copyright © 2000 by the Library, University of California, Berkeley.
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[42]Copyright © 2000 UC Regents. All rights reserved.
Document maintained at
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/CurrentCites/2000/cc00.11.9.html by
[43]Roy Tennant.
Last update September 26, 2000. SunSITE Manager:
[44]manager@sunsite.berkeley.edu
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44. mailto:manager@sunsite.berkeley.edu
