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Current Cities Volume 07 Number 07
From trinne@library.berkeley.edu
Date: Fri, 26 Jul 1996 13:35:06 -0700
From: Teri Rinne <trinne@library.berkeley.edu>
Reply to: cites@library.berkeley.edu
To: Multiple recipients of list <cites@library.berkeley.edu>
Subject: July 1996 Current Cites
_Current Cites_
Volume 7, no. 7
July 1996
The Library
University of California, Berkeley
Edited by Teri Andrews Rinne
ISSN: 1060-2356
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/CurrentCites/1996/cc96.7.7.html
Contributors:
Campbell Crabtree, Terry Huwe, John Ober,
Margaret Phillips, David Rez, Richard Rinehart,
Teri Rinne, Roy Tennant
Electronic Publishing
Corthouts, Jan and Richard Philips. "SGML: A Librarian's
Perception" The Electronic Library 14(2) (April 1996): 101-110.
-- This article profiles several innovative digital library
projects, including applications which use SGML for bibliographic
control (as an alternative to MARC), information access and
full-text presentation. While the implementation of SGML projects
can be a complicated and costly venture, with these prototypical
projects the authors present possible strategies and motivation
for libraries to invest in "future-proofing" information with
SGML. -- CJC
Harter, Stephen P. and Hak Joon Kim. "Electronic Journals
and Scholarly Communication: A Citation and Reference Study"
(http://www-slis.lib.indiana.edu/PrePrints/harter-asis96midyear.
html) -- This paper was delivered at the ASIS Midyear Conference
in May 1996. It presents the results of an empirical study that
focused on the impact of the electronic journal in the academic
community. The stated purposes of the study were to assess
accuracy and completeness of e-journals, identify the extent to
which e-journals are cited, identify academic fields of study
that most often use e-journals, identify e-journals most often
cited and record and analyze demographic characteristics and
access problems. As one might expect, along with the detailed
statistical tables, there are plenty of links to e-journals
provided. -- DR
Jacobson, Robert L. "Colleges Urged to Protect Rights in Licensing
Negotiations" Academe Today: This Week's Chronicle (July 5, 1996)
:A5 (http://chronicle.com) -- With publishers now making full-text
resources available electronically, a re-wording of use contracts
for scholarly material is needed. Ann Okerson, associate university
librarian at Yale University believes that many universities have
signed contracts with publishers that are too expensive and
unreasonably limit use. Some of the things that are being bought
may well have fallen into the "fair use" arena. She urges academic
libraries to promote users rights and negotiate with publishers for
contracts that meet the needs of their patrons. Terms negotiated
now may serve as precedents for the future availability of
electronic resources. One way to keep costs down is to form a
consortium with other institutions and sign group contracts.
-- CJC
Okerson, Ann. "Who Owns Digital Works?" Scientific American
(http://www.sciam.com) 275(1) (July 1996): 80-84. -- Okerson
introduces readers to developments in copyright and intellectual
property issues involving digital technology. She draws a brief
history of copyright, then focuses on the U.S. Federal NII
([U.S] National Information Infrastructure) committee on
copyright led by Bruce Nehman. The white paper from that group,
Okerson argues, covers the interest of copyright and content
owners, but does not allow for adequate fair use by libraries,
educators and others. She notes however that this committee has
since started to work with the public sector to address these
issues in a second report, being developed and evaluated now,
called the CONFU (Conference on Fair Use) paper. Ultimately
without adequate provision for fair use, the Internet will cease
to be a rich resource of freely available information for
education and research, and instead will become even more
restrictive and pricey than print and broadcast media. The
article includes a short bibliography of reading on the topic.
-- RR
Networks and Networking
Beaulieu, Micheline and Christine L. Borgman eds. "Current Research
in Online Public Access Systems" JASIS 47(7) (July 1996): 491-492.
-- This special topic issue of JASIS includes six articles which
range in focus from user behavior, query models, search and
retrieval effectiveness and online evaluation methods. Particularly
interesting is "Cheshire II: Designing a next-generation online
catalog" by Larson, McDonough, O'Leary, Kuntz and Moon, which
details a project using an SGML-based probabilistic search engine
and Z39.50 with a graphical user interface to provide full-text
and multimedia, as well as bibliographic information. -- CJC
Wilson, David O. "Experts Differ on Security Threat Posed by Java
Computer Language" Chronicle of Higher Education 62 (44) (July
12, 1996): A19-A21. -- Wilson summarizes some of the problems
that can be caused by over-rambunctious Java applets. These are
mainly in the "gag" category and flow between friends on
geek-destruct, but they could be serious for less sophisticated
Internet users. For example, "poison applets" can trick your PC
into yielding passwords, or delete data from hard drives; and
since "nice" applets need substantial access to perform their
function, it's hard to spot the ones with a bad attitude. Many
computer scientists see no cause for worry, while others advise
basic precautions, such as turning Java "off", or accepting
applets only from known persons. Meanwhile Javasoft (Sun
Microsystem's Java unit) is busy patching and reworking Java for
better security. Bottom line: take Dr. Ruth's advice and have a
nice time, but play it safe with strangers. -- TH
Optical Disc Technology
Bell, Alan E. "Next Generation Compact Discs" Scientific American
(http://www.sciam.com) 275(1) (July 1996): 42-46. -- As the title
suggests, the next generation of CDs has arrived in the form of
yet another acronym to add to the optical disc alphabet soup: DVD,
Digital Versatile Disc. Bell's article provides a general overview
of the new standard which is the result of an unprecedented
agreement reached late last year among rival groups of
international companies such as Philips, Sony, Toshiba and
Time-Warner. The new generation of optical disc reader will play
both existing CDs and DVDs. The DVD specs are quite impressive: it
can store about 14 times more information than current CDs can;
the rate at which the first-generation DVD player plays back data--
11 million bits per second--matches that of a fast 9X CD-ROM
player, setting a new benchmark for performance. A DVD FAQ is
available at http://www.ima.org/forums/imf/dvd/faq.html. -- TR
Gunshor, Robert L. and Arto V. Nurmikko. "Blue-Laser CD Technology
Scientific American (http://www.sciam.com) 275(1) (July 1996): 48-
51. -- This second article in Scientific American's "The Future
of CD Technology" series is a highly technical discussion of
blue-laser research. Currently the lasers inside of CD players
utilize infrared light that can read pits in a CD disc no smaller
than a micron in size (roughly 1/50th the diameter of a human
hair); blue diode lasers can read even smaller pits. For example,
an audio CD could store all nine of Beethoven's symphonies,
instead of just one. The ramifications for the world of multimedia
are staggering. However, please keep in mind that this research is
still in the preliminary stages, and we won't be seeing the
results at your local music store any time soon. -- TR
General
Browning, J. "New Stars for the New Media" Scientific American
(http://www.sciam.com) 275(1) (July 1996): 31. -- This article
is a short foray into the effect of new technology on leisure
time in America. The argument is for the insertion of some
charisma into the Internet and other new digital media (ala early
television); however another opportunity is implied as well. The
article cites studies that show that Americans are spending more
time with new media, and less with television (the numbers are
still far from equal, but are changing). In fact, exposure to new
media creates enhanced criticism of old media content among the
study group, presenting the other opportunity: for educators and
scholars to provide a higher ratio of new types of educational
content than exists in old media. There seems to be a receptive
audience for it. -- RR
"Central Intelligence Agents" The Economist 339 (7970) (June
15-21, 1996): 76-77. -- In the mud-wrestling match between
human intellect and virtual agent prototypes, the software is
usually found wanting. However, for a generally positive review
of virtual agents research, take a look at this article.
Scientists are abandoning past efforts to recreate the human
brain, and instead are focussing on smaller and more practical
goals. Development of virtual agents now falls into two broad
categories: "rule-based" systems and "collaborative filtering".
Recent successes include music recommendations ("Firefly") and
virtual shopping ("Shopbot" and "BargainFinder"). The authors
include a helpful history of artificial intelligence and its
gradual evolution from a "scientific" bias towards a more
pragmatic, engineering approach. -- TH
"Categories for the Description of Works of Art"
(http://www.ahip.getty.edu/ahip/cdwa/INTRO.HTM) -- This
document, published by the AITF (Art Information Task
Force, a joint program of the Getty Information Institute
and the College Art Association) outlines a very thorough
conceptual model for describing works of art that can be
used as a standard or guideline by librarians, database
developers, museums, publishers, researchers, and anyone
else who may need to devise or use formal ways to describe
art objects. The standard is content-based and is not a
technical standard. It will help art and humanities
information to be used and exchanged more easily in the
networked environment, as new systems use the model to
organize art information thus giving researchers a consistent
framework, or it is used as a mapping tool between different
systems for sharing information across systems. Anyone needing
to organize, use, or exchange art information in any type of
system, from database to exhibition labels should read this
standard. The article describes the concepts, goals, and
history of the categories, as well as provides a complete
online guide to them. -- RR
Nardi, Bonnie, and O'day, Vicki. "Intelligent Agents: What We
Learned at the Library" Libri 46(2) (June 1996). -- The good
news about Nardi and O'day's study of intelligent agents and
human interaction at the reference desk was cited in last
month's issue of Current Cites as reported in the Christian
Science Monitor. The report itself is even better still! If
you are interested in a first-class analysis of reference as a
valuable business skill, don't miss this ground-breaking research.
(http://www.atg.apple.com/personal/Bonnie_Nardi/default.html")
Nardi is an anthropologist and Apple Fellow. Apple's Advanced
Technology Group (http://www.atg.apple.com) set out to study how
intelligent agents should be designed to mimic reference service.
In doing so they discovered a world of highly nuanced interpersonal
and research talent that the current generation of software can't
touch with a ten foot pole. Intellectually rigorous yet
entertaining, the authors perform two services for information
specialists: they demystify how intelligent agents function in
plain english, and they describe the rich, intellectual process
of the reference interview. -- TH
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Current Cites 7(7) (July 1996) ISSN: 1060-2356
Copyright (C) 1996 by the Library, University of
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