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Current Cities Volume 13 Number 04
Current Cites
Volume 13, no. 4, April 2002
Edited by [2]Roy Tennant
The Library, University of California, Berkeley, 94720
ISSN: 1060-2356 -
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/CurrentCites/2002/cc02.13.4.html
Contributors: [3]Charles W. Bailey, Jr., [4]Shirl Kennedy, [5]Leo
Robert Klein, Jim Ronningen, [6]Roy Tennant
Arar, Yardena. [7]"Just Plug It In: Networking Via Power Circuits"
[8]PC World (April 2002)
(http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,85003,00.asp) - The first
iteration of powerline networking, using the HomePNA standard, was
doomed by poor performance. However, the new HomePlug specification
looks like a more viable technology. HomePlug allows you to network
your computers by plugging external adapters into standard wall
outlets. PC World found that it delivered "performance superior to
that of 802.11b wireless networks at only a small price premium -- no
more than $25 to $50 per computer." Unlike the earlier HomePNA
networks, HomePlug's performance is not marred by the operation of
large household appliances or by powerstrips. It also features DES
encryption, which affords a better level of security than the RC4
algorithm employed by 802.11b wireless networks. While HomePlug is not
cheap -- and certainly not as convenient as wireless for notebook
computers -- it appears to be worth consideration as a home networking
alternative. - [9]SK
Botticelli, Peter, Robin Dale, Carla DeMello, Barbara Berger Eden,
Richard Entlich, Anne R. Kenney, and Nancy McGovern. "[10]RLG
DigiNews: Taking Stock at Five Years." [11]RLG DigiNews 6, no. 2
(2002)
(http://www.rlg.org/preserv/diginews/diginews6-2.html#feature1). - In
this article, the editorial staff of RLG DigiNews trace the history of
the development of this e-serial, present selected use and readership
data (including a cool [12]readership map), provide an in-depth
examination of preservation strategies used to ensure ongoing access
to the publication, and share the results of a reader survey. A
[13]sidebar by Richard Entlich takes a look at "link rot" issues.
Happy birthday, RLG DigiNews! Here's hoping that there are many more
to come for this fine publication. - [14]CB
Covey, Denise Troll. [15]"Usage and Usability Assessment: Library
Practices and Concerns. Washington, DC: Digital Library Federation,
January 2002 (http://www.clir.org/pubs/abstract/pub105abst.html). -
Got a new member of the Web Advisory Committee you want to break in?
Need something more substantial than simply a journal article to
illustrate best practices in order to move that digital library of
yours into the 21st century? Look no further than this manual-length
overview of common techniques for assessing our online efforts. The
product of interviews with 24 major libraries, the report lavishes
insightful attention on the usual suspects of evaluative methods
including surveys, focus groups, heuristic examinations and log
analyses. The author takes nothing for granted, addressing even the
most basic questions. During a discussion of surveys for example, she
takes the time to look at what exactly a survey questionnaire is.
Marvelous. Helpful as well is the often sobering account of
difficulties institutions have first undergoing a regime of
examination and then actually applying the lessons learned to some
practical end. In the preface we are promised that this is only the
first of a series of reports sponsored by the [16]Digital Library
Federation. The series is called Tools for Practitioners and if the
first offering is any indication, we have a lot to look forward to. -
[17]LRK
Crawford, Walt. [18]"The Crawford Files: Talking 'Bout MyLibrary"
[19]American Libraries (April 2002): 91,
(http://www.ala.org/alonline/crawford/cf402.html). - Devoted Current
Cites reader Walt Crawford casts a skeptical eye on what now might
legitimately be called the MyLibrary phenomena. It's open to abuse, we
don't need it, no one uses it. These are some of the problems he sees
that plague the concept. Of course, if you look around, these are also
some of the problems that plague all personalization/customization
schemes both inside and out of the library. It ain't just us.
Nevertheless I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of these
efforts. Indeed, there's every expectation that our investment will
increase rather than diminish and that chat reference will sooner
heave over and die than we yank the MyLibraries from OurLibraries.
What makes the concept so attractive, still, is the fact that we've
got so much stuff on our sites. Anything that can help out the
navigation and local search engine, those two other paragons of
access, is potentially a boon. Current implementations are certain to
be improved over the ages and this in itself is sure to tempt a larger
following. One obvious improvement is to make setting them up less
onerous. The user shouldn't have to do anything, runs one line of
thought. In fact, why should we even have to go to another page? In
any case, as they become less intrusive, they certainly will become
more popular. I don't want a computer to make choices for me, by
golly, but I sure would appreciate a machine that remembers me. Is
that too much to ask? - [20]LRK
Dickard, Norris. [21]"Federal Retrenchment on the Digital Divide:
Potential National Impact" Benton Foundation Communications Policy &
Practice, Policy Brief #1 (March 18, 2002)
(http://www.benton.org/policybriefs/brief01.html). - Those of us using
information technology in higher education have thought about the
digital divide to varying degrees but we don't see much firsthand
evidence of it, and I'd guess that most Current Cites readers are
serving populations which haven't had much problem getting online so
we get a false impression that Internet use is improving for society
as a whole. Dickard states the converse, and succinctly presents the
case that the digital divide will widen if the federal government
stops funding programs which have helped close it, in particular the
Dept. of Education's Community Technology Centers Program and the
Dept. of Commerce's Technology Opportunities Program. His
well-documented points support the argument that continuing government
efforts to improve access and training for low-income and rural
communities is not only socially progressive but economically smart.
Be sure to explore the [22]Benton Foundation's web site
(http://www.benton.org/), a valuable resource for info tech policy
issues in many arenas, including libraries. And digital divide delvers
should be sure to look beyond basic access issues to related problems
in information literacy and web content, described by Howard Besser in
his article [23]"The Next Digital Divides"
(http://www.tcla.gseis.ucla.edu/divide/politics/besser.html). - JR
Duval, Erik, Wayne Hodgins, Stuart Sutton, and Stuart L. Weibel.
[24]"Metadata Principles and Practicalities" [25]D-Lib Magazine 8(4)
(April 2002) (http://www.dlib.org/dlib/april02/weibel/04weibel.html).
- For those of us still struggling with basic concepts regarding
metadata in this brave new world in which cataloging means much more
than MARC, an article like this is welcome indeed. In this 30,000-foot
overview of the metadata landscape, broad issues such as modularity,
namespaces, extensibility, refinement, and multilingualism are
discussed. In addition, "practicalities" like application profiles,
syntax and semantics, metadata registries, and automated generation of
metadata are explained. Although this piece is not exhaustive of
high-level metadata issues, it is nonetheless a useful description of
some of the most important issues surrounding metadata creation and
use. - [26]RT
Fraase, Michael. [27]"When Elephants Dance" [28]Arts & Farces (March
23, 2002) (http://www.farces.com/stories/storyReader$414) - In this
essay, widely referenced around the Net, Michael Fraase explains how
the publishing, music and motion picture industries are in the process
of "a worldwide intellectual property power grab with two distinct
targets" -- little old you, the average consumer, and the big
technology companies like Microsoft, Intel, Apple. Fraase is careful
to exempt authors -- "the entertainment industry hates authors almost
as much as they hate customers" -- but he castigates the consumer
electronics industry (manufacturers of DVD players, VCRs, stereos) for
sleeping with the enemy. Fraase includes a particularly juicy quote
from security and cryptography expert [29]Bruce Schneier
(http://www.counterpane.com/schneier.html), who told online civil
liberties attorney [30]Mike Godwin
(http://www.panix.com/~mnemonic/about.html), "If you think about it,
the entertainment industry does not want people to have computers;
they're too powerful, too flexible, and too extensible. They want
people to have Internet Entertainment Platforms: televisions, VCRs,
game consoles, etc." The essay discusses the implications of
copy-protected CDs, intellectual property "moral rights," the DCMA,
the Internet radio/royalties issue, copyright history, digital TV,
digital rights management and the controversial Hollings bill.
("Should we be surprised that four of HollingsÕ top campaign donors
are media conglomerates?") The technology industry is working to
counter this ugly intellectual property trend; [31]DigitalConsumer.org
(http://www.digitalconsumer.org/), founded by two former members of
Excite.com, has issued a [32]"Consumer Technology Bill of Rights"
(http://www.digitalconsumer.org/bill.html), which seeks to protect
consumer fair use rights. This essay is a must-read. - [33]SK
Frumkin, Jeremy, editor. [34]Special Issue: Open Source Software"
[35]Information Technology and Libraries 21(1) (March 2002)
(http://www.lita.org/ital/ital2101.html). - Open source software
(software which is distributed in a form that people can read and
modify) is becoming increasingly important to libraries. Besides using
Apache to serve many of our web sites, a number of other open source
applications are helping us solve library problems. Therefore, this
special issue of ITAL is both welcome and none too soon. Eric Lease
Morgan's contribution [36]"Possibilities for Open Source Software in
Libraries" is of particular note, and is luckily available on the web
(http://www.lita.org/ital/2101_morgan.html). An annotated list of OSS
applications in use in libraries would have been quite useful, but
disappointed readers can at least get a start at the good [37]OSS4Lib
web site (http://www.oss4lib.org/). - [38]RT
[39]Gaining Independence: A Manual for Planning the Launch of a
Nonprofit Electronic Publishing Venture. Washington, DC: Scholarly
Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition, 2002
(http://www.arl.org/sparc/GI/). - This freely accessible guide, in
HTML and Adobe Acrobat formats, is "a detailed, step-by-step guide
leading readers through the creation of a business plan for start-up
and early-stage electronic publishing ventures, including digital
repositories and journals." In reality, it is closely focused on
databases and journals, and those created and managed as fee-supported
entities. If you have a different model for support (e.g., public
subsidy) or a different type of publication (e.g., books) this will be
of limited usefulness. But if your planned project fits the mold, this
publication will help you consider the questions that will be
important to answer to be successful. - [40]RT
Jacobson, Carl. [41]"Web Services: Stitching Together the
Institutional Fabric" [42]EDUCAUSE Review (March/April 2002): 50-51
(http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0228.pdf). - "Expect to be
hearing a lot about Web services in the coming year". That's how
author Carl Jacobson begins this short review of an approach that
increasing is gaining a lot of attention. Protocols have been
developed that make it possible to mix and match information from
disparate parts gathering them into new and customizable combinations.
Google for example has recently announced the development of a set of
hooks that go into its own database. Outside parties can use these
hooks to dip into the resource and pull out results, formatting them
according to local customs and needs. Hot stuff, or maybe just "hype",
as the author posits. Of course, a little hype isn't necessarily a bad
thing. The author manages to control his own sense of excitement long
enough to go over some of the protocols involved plus explore a number
of ways this intriguing new way of sharing and manipulating data can
be put to use in the context of higher education. - [43]LRK
Kawakami, Alice K. [44]"Delivering Digital Reference" [45]NetConnect
Supplement to [46]Library Journal (Spring 2002): 28-29
(http://libraryjournal.reviewsnews.com/index.asp?layout=article&articl
eid=CA210717). - Digital reference is one of the hottest topics in the
library profession at the moment, but so far there has been precious
little good, practical advice from those who have had real hands-on
experience running full-blown digital reference services (not just
email). That's why Kawakami's piece on the "nitty-gritty details" of
running a digital reference service is so welcome. Kawakami outlines
the lessons learned not just her experience running UCLA's service,
but from other similar projects. All in all, this short piece is
chock-full of good, practical advice based on experience. Any library
thinking about, or actually implementing, a digital reference service
would do well to pay close attention to what Kawakami has to say. -
[47]RT
Pinfield, Stephen, Mike Gardner, and John MacColl. [48]"Setting Up and
Institutional E-Print Archive" [49]Ariadne Issue 31 (March/April 2002)
(http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue31/eprint-archives/). - Following the
success of the e-print server [50]arXiv.org in helping to transform
how high-energy physicists communicate their findings, a number of
institutions, organizations, and scholars have considered how such a
model could transform other disciplines. But so far the success of
discipline-based archives, where faculty are expected to post their
own work, has been spotty. An alternative to discipline-based archives
are institutional-based archives, which are more likely to provide
submission support for authors. In fact, the authors of this piece
declare that mediated posting of articles (they suggest by library
staff) is "more or less the only thing that works." Partly this may be
due to the lengthy and complicated process to upload an article that
the [51]eprints.org software they are using requires, but for some
faculty it is unlikely that any computer-based process would be simple
enough to be attractive. Although those who are considering setting up
a repository using the eprints.org software will find the
implementation details in this piece instructive, their discussion of
issues such as how to answer faculty questions about such a project
are more broadly applicable. - [52]RT
Ward, Mark. [53]"Hacking With a Pringles Tube" [54]BBC News Online
(March 8, 2002)
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1860000/1860241.stm)
- Yes, junk food is wonderful, but you'd better watch where you put
that empty Pringles can. Some hacker could pick it out of your trash
and concoct a homemade antenna he or she can use to hack into your
wireless network. It's already old news that many wireless networks
are far from secure; this article references a study by i-sec, a
security firm, which found that "two-thirds of networks were doing
nothing to protect themselves." An empty Pringles tube -- or coffee
can, salted nuts tin, etc. -- can easily be turned into a directional
(Yagi) antenna that can find vulnerable networks. "In one 30-minute
journey using the Pringles can antenna, witnessed by BBC News Online,
i-sec managed to find almost 60 wireless networks." Some suggestions
given by i-sec to harden wireless network security: change default
names, move access points to the center of a building or complex,
switch off network broadcast functions. - [55]SK
_________________________________________________________________
Current Cites 13(4) (April 2002) ISSN: 1060-2356
Copyright © 2002 by the Regents of the University of California All
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