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IRList Digest Volume 4 Number 49
IRList Digest Wednesday, 19 October 1988 Volume 4 : Issue 49
Today's Topics:
Email - Address for Charles Meadow (requested in #42)
- Address for KL Kwok
- Addresses for AIList and Prolog list
Interests - Group involved in videotex and multimedia
Discussion - Future of libraries and online systems
Call - ACM SIGOIS Workshop: Impact & Value of Inf. Systems
News addresses are
Internet: fox@fox.cs.vt.edu or fox@vtopus.cs.vt.edu
BITNET: foxea@vtcc1.bitnet (replaces foxea@vtvax3)
Sorry for lapse in service - will try to catch up - Ed.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 88 16:26 PDT
From: IIN4CLB@UCLAMVS.BITNET
Subject: IRLIST; address for Charlie Meadow
Ed,
re: IRLIST inquiry
[Note: that was in V4 #42 - Ed.]
The address I have for Charles T. Meadow is
meadow@utflis.uucp
This seems to work.
Christine Borgman
------------------------------
From: BITNET%CTSTATEU::KWOK
Date: 17-OCT-1988 17:03
Subj: New address for KL Kwok
... I have changed my affiliation lately, now at Math/CS Dept,
Western Connecticut State University, Danbury, CT 06810. My
bitnet addr is kwok@ctstateu. However, my old addr KKLQC@cunyvm
is still good for some time.
I would also like to know what kind of hardware and optical disk
standard do I need if I want to read your Virginia 1 Disk? I seem
to remember that the Disk will be out soon (and you probably have
answered this question many times!)?
thanx and best wishes,
KL Kwok (10/17/88)
[Note: KL Kwok has done some nice work on citations and
retrieval using probability theory. Regarding Virginia Disk
1, we have sent out many beta copies and hope to get all
revisions in soon and to press within a month or so. We
will use High Sierra format so any MS-DOS machine and CD-ROM
player should (hopefully!) do. - Ed.]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Oct 88 10:04:55 EDT
From: Edward A. Fox <fox>
To: brajnik%uduniv.infnet%icineca2.bitnet@cunyvm.cuny.edu
Subject: other addresses you requested
Hi! The address for AIList is to Nick Papadakis at
AIList-REQUEST@AI.AI.MIT.EDU
The address for Prolog is
Prolog-request@sushi.stanford.edu
Hope this helps - Ed Fox
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Oct 88 15:13 EDT
From: bogers@hlsdnl5
Subject: interests in videotex and multimedia
Please put me on your mailing list,
I'm an information researcher at the research laboratories
of the Netherlands Telecommunication Administration,
involved in videotex and multi media.
Currently my group is working on an experimental
multi media videotex configuration and the application of windows-like
interfaces in videotex environments.
Mark Bogers (bogers@hlsdnl5)
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 29 Aug 88 21:03 EDT
From: <JUNGER@CWRU>
Subject: the future of libraries and on-line systems
Our law school is considering constructing a new wing on our
building with a large portion of the new space being for our
library. I understand that the central university administration
has raised a question as to whether we will actually need so much
additional space, considering that in the future libraries _may_
rely primarily on computerized information systems and databases
and that a large percentage of the remaining books will will be
stored in warehouses.
It does not appear that the administrators are convinced
that this will happen, but they do want us to consider the
possibility in making our proposals.
Our dean would like to know if there are any persuasive
studies of the future of libraries and, in particular, of law
school libraries. My guess is that studies exist, but I doubt
that I could be persuaded that any of them is better than a
guess. We would, however, appreciate references to any studies.
I find the administrators' scenario rather unattractive. I
think that computers are wonderful for locating information, but
I would much rather read the books that contain the information
than look at it on a computer screen.
From the administrators' point of view, I suppose that the
major consideration is the relative costs of a traditional
library with books and some sort of high technology information
center. I suspect that they grossly underestimate the costs of
the high technology system. I am not even sure that the capital
costs of an "information center" would be less than those of a
traditional library. We could get rid of the books, which would
reduce the required space, but that reduction would be offset by
the need to supply terminals--and presumably printers--for all
our students (and, of course, the faculty). I am not sure that
the space savings would be that great, though the floors would
not have to bear so great a load. An additional capital cost, of
course, would be entailed in purchasing the terminals, and their
life expectancy would obviously be far less than that of a
building.
It seems to me that the annual cost of maintaining an on-
line information center would be considerably greater than that
of maintaining a traditional library. My suspicion is that such
a system would have considerably higher personnel costs, since it
is hard to imagine that it could run efficiently without the
services of a large number of computer wizards. [I admit,
however, that some of this cost may be carried by commercial
information suppliers; but if that is so the cost will simply
reappear as part of the cost of using the commercial systems.]
Much more important than personnel costs is the cost of accessing
on-line data bases.
There would seem to be two possibilities.
A library could purchase CD ROMs (or their future
equivalents), but I can't see how such storage devices will ever
be appreciably cheaper than books--especially since, for sets
that are in high demand, would one have to buy several ROMS. A
library that can get along with one set of the United States
Supreme Court Reporter, might have twenty people using individual
volumes in the single set at one time. Would twenty people be
able to access a single CD ROM at the same time?
Or a library could subscribe to an off-site on-line service
like Dialog or Lexis. I cannot believe, however, that the access
charges for such services would ever fall below the costs of
purchasing books.
Lawyers in the United States are probably ahead of any other
profession in their access to full text data bases. A large
number of case reports are available from the Lexis and Westlaw
services. My impression is that the primary use of such systems
is to find cases. Once one has found the case one wants, one is
likely to actually read it from a hard copy. If one wants to
cite a case in a brief, or quote the case, one _has_, at the
present time, to use hard copy. Page numbers, formatting
information, and typographical signals, such as italics, cannot
be obtained from these full-text systems. I often down load such
cases, but it then takes me considerable time to edit them into a
form where they are usable. If I were in practice, I would just
tell my secretary to type the materials that I want to quote from
the hard copy. I cannot believe that on-line systems will ever
replace books--as opposed to indexes. But maybe that's just
because I am getting old.
I also have difficulty in believing that most older books,
like 19th Century legal treatises, will ever be placed on-line.
Such books would not be in enough demand to justify commercial
suppliers undertaking to put them on line and I cannot imagine an
academic wasting his time coming up with an on-line version of,
say, Gould on Waters and Watercourses. Yet our library does have
to have a copy of Gould, and I imagine that someone looks at it
at least once a year.
Perhaps "intelligent" OCRs will overcome some of my
objections. If current publications are placed on line, I
suppose that it is possible that the accelerating demand for
shelf space will be somewhat abated. But I don't believe that we
will ever be able to reduce the amount of shelving that is needed
to less than we need today. Certainly microfilm and microfiche
has not greatly reduced the amount of space needed for books. I
cannot imagine that on-line systems will do that much better.
It may be that libraries in law firms will all go
electronic. I don't, however, believe that academic libraries,
including academic law libraries, will be able to dispense with
books and periodicals so easily.
I hope my remarks and speculations have been irritating
enough to draw some response. I really would like to know what
your predictions are.
I hope that you will forgive me for cross-posting this to
HUMANIST and IRLIST.
Peter D. Junger--Case Western University Law School--JUNGER@CWRU
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 30 Aug 88 13:11:32 EDT
From: rba@flash.bellcore.com (Robert B Allen)
Subject: ACM SIGOIS WORKSHOP - Impact & Value of Inf. Systems
Call for Particiaption
SIGOIS WORKSHOP ON: The Impact and Value of Information Systems
May 2 and 3, 1989
Hyatt Regency Hotel, Minneapolis, MN
1 INTRODUCTION
Over the past decade, hundreds of billions of dollars have been
spent on information systems (I.S.). Most of this money has been
spent by business and government organizations seeking greater
productivity, cost savings, or a competitive edge. However, the
true organizational impacts and financial outcomes of the vast
majority of these expenditures have not been systematically assessed.
Today, organizations still do not know whether their investments
in information systems are really paying off. Therefore, they
do not know whether they are spending too much, too little, too
fast, too slow, for the right systems, or in the right areas.
For sure, there have been some overwhelming successes and some
outright disasters. In these extreme cases, measurement of outcomes
might be solely of academic interest. Most cases, however, have
fallen somewhere between these extremes, where the true impacts
and values of the information systems are unknown and largely unexplored.
Under increasing domestic and international competitive pressures,
corporate executives (and public sector managers as well) today
are reluctant to sanction I.S. investments which do not have clearly
articulated benefits and costs. Gone forever are the days when
systems could be justified by blind faith in technology. For
better or worse, our ability to identify, measure and value the
impacts of information systems is influencing the pace and direction
of business investment. And clearly, our abilities in these areas
are lacking. There are few accepted methodologies, few compelling
empirical studies, and much confusion.
The time is upon us to synthesize what we do know, to identify
what we don't know, and to formulate a research agenda to address
the difference. That is the purpose of the ACM Workshop on the
Impact and Value of Information Systems.
2 TOPICS
The Workshop will address the following topics and areas as they
relate to information systems:
* productivity measurement methodologies
* work measurement methodologies
* cost justification methodologies
* organizational impact assessment
* benefit assessment methodologies
* social impact assessment
* measurement of strategic impacts
* case studies
* risk assessment
* cost analysis /estimation /forecasting
* impact, productivity or value assessments of specific
technologies (e.g. OA, CAD, image processing, desktop publishing,
workgroup systems, teleconferencing, DSS, artificial intelligence,
etc)
3 PAPERS
We invite technical and survey papers in the topics listed above,
or in related areas. Papers will be selected for the program
on the bases of technical merit, relevance to the workshop, and
quality of exposition. Papers describing or summarizing empirical
work are especially encouraged. Papers must be in English, must
not exceed 3000 words, and must be single spaced. A separate
cover sheet should include the title, the author(s), affiliations,
addresses (postal and electronic), telephone numbers, and a 100
word abstract. The papers will be bound and distributed to Workshop
attendees for their perusal and critique. Following the workshop,
we intend to publish and widely distribute a revised Proceedings
on the Impact and Value of Information Systems. Authors will
be expected to revise their papers based on the workshop (evaluations
and comments by referees, discussants and other workshop participants)
and submit camera-ready copy on a timely basis for inclusion in
the symposium. The final decision to include papers in the symposium
will be made by the editor.
Please submit 5 copies of your paper by January 31, 1989 to the
chairman of the workshop:
Peter G. Sassone
College of Management
Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, GA. 30332
Papers that are late, exceed 3000 words, are not single spaced,
or omit the cover sheet cannot be reviewed. Authors will be notified
of acceptance of their papers by February 28, 1989.
4 PARTICIPATION
We invite everyone with an active interest in the identification,
measurement and valuation of the impacts of information systems
to attend this workshop in Minneapolis Minnesota. In addition
to academic researchers, I.S. consultants, and vendors; we especially
encourage the participation of corporate and government I.S. managers
and analysts. We solicit participation in the form of papers,
discussants, session organizers, panel organizers, and session
chairs. Contact Professor Peter G. Sassone at the above address
or phone (404) 894-4912 or electronic mail (BITNET) IMPGSAA@GITNVE2.
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END OF IRList Digest
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