http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/ Recent content in Issue 15 on Ariadne Hugo -- gohugo.io en-gb Mon, 18 May 1998 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/digital/ Mon, 18 May 1998 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/digital/ During the supporting study the authors consulted various stake-holders in the creation, distribution and use of digital materials. A number of recommendations arose from this study and are presented in this paper. These recommendations are not official policy and represent the authors’ views of one possible way forward for ensuring that potentially valued digital materials are preserved for future study and use. How the study originatedThe JISC-funded study on ‘Responsibility for long term preservation and access to digital materials’ extended beyond rights holders to include all stakeholders in the production, exploitation, distribution and preservation of digital materials (see Figure 1 below). http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/cartoon/ Mon, 18 May 1998 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/cartoon/ http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/down-your-way/ Mon, 18 May 1998 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/down-your-way/ There cannot be too many information services that are reached by means of a water balanced cliff railway, nor can there be many that operate from a former slate quarry. What is more, the regenerative design of the railway system and its method of computer control offer an appropriate introduction to the principles behind the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) near the town of Machynlleth in mid Wales. The Centre’s genesis was in the seventies, when a group of enthusiasts set out to create a “living community to test the emerging technologies, finding out which ones worked and which ones didn’t”. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/interface/ Mon, 18 May 1998 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/interface/ There are a number of ironies to be savoured while talking with Derek Law at Kings College London. The library of what was a well known religious institution preparing Anglicans for teaching and the church is now run by a scion of a Scottish Presbyterian family. Known for its strengths in the humanities, the College has produced five Nobel Prizewinners in topics including X rays, DNA and beta blockers. The route to Derek’s room passes the chapel, where the sound of a requiem mass filtered out. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/minotaur/ Mon, 18 May 1998 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/minotaur/ In the long running debate on the merits of convergence of library and other support services, particularly computing, in higher and further education institutions, there are two intriguing features which continue to surprise. First the issue is sometimes discussed without adequate definition, and as though convergence and non-convergence are alternatives. The implication is that current practice represents a polarity rather than a spectrum of different approaches, so the whole question is over-simplified. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/news/ Mon, 18 May 1998 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/news/ Government response to New Library: The People’s Network.On April 16th the Government issued its response to New Library: The People’s Network. Accompanied by statements by Tony Blair and Margaret Beckett, the statement was generally welcomed by the LIC and the LA. “New Library: The People’s Network” the Government’s Response identified the potential library service contribution to some major policy objectives. These included education, public access to information, social inclusion and the modernisation of public services. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/planet-sosig/ Mon, 18 May 1998 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/planet-sosig/ Planet SOSIG has a new satellite: the Social Science Research Grapevine. Grapevine provides an interesting compliment to the range of social science Web services hosted at the ILRT at Bristol, including SOSIG, REGARD and Biz/ed. The service is now also included in social science workshop modules offered by the ILRT joint services Internet training team. What does Grapevine offer? Grapevine is a new and unique online source of career development opportunities for social science researchers which was officially launched at the (IRISS’98) conference in March. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/editorials/ Mon, 18 May 1998 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/editorials/ Much of what is said in this issue of ARIADNE relates to the fundamental aim of the publication, which is to interpret new technology and to strengthen the connections between the technology and the people who manage and use it. Jon Duke, the new chairman of UCISA said at their recent conference in Jersey, “technology is no longer the issue.” John MacColl in his report of this event commented on Diana Warwick’s view that “the key issue is not technology management but people management. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/builder/ Mon, 18 May 1998 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/builder/ BUILDER is an eLib Hybrid Library project based at Birmingham University. It aims to develop a working model of the hybrid library to support both teaching and research through providing unified access to a wide range of printed and electronic information sources, local and remote, using a standard Web-based Intranet interface. It is known as The Birmingham University Integrated Library Development and Electronic Resource (http://builder.bham.ac.uk) and the model will be based on a series of six inter-related modules which will be developed for and applied across six subject areas. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/cover/ Mon, 18 May 1998 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/cover/ Project PATRON (Performing Arts Teaching Resources ONline) has been designed to deliver digital audio, video, music scores and dance notation across a high speed network to the desktop. The JISC eLib Programme project is based in the Library at the University of Surrey. Many of the resource materials are in the short loan section and one of the aims is to investigate ways of improving access to reserve materials, such as music CDs and dance videos, for staff and students. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/public-libraries/ Mon, 18 May 1998 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/public-libraries/ In March 1998 I attended the 7th American Public Library Association National Conference in Kansas City, Missouri. The conference took place over three very cold days (the temperature reached –30·C) and was entitled "Vital, Valuable, Virtual" [1]. This is probably one of the biggest public library conferences in the world and was attended by over 6,900 people. The conference didn’t have one theme but had 10 separate lecture tracks which in total consisted of over 100 presentations. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/events/stakis.html Mon, 18 May 1998 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/events/stakis.html On the 8th May, following almost immediately after their MODELS 7 Workshop, UKOLN hosted a half-day seminar entitled “RDF: What is it all about?”. RDF, or Resource Description Framework, is one of the latest TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms) to emerge from the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium), and is of particular pertinence to the library and collection management communities as one of its intended applications is the interchange of catalogue or metadata. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/routes/ Mon, 18 May 1998 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/routes/ ROUTES is a gateway developed by the Open University Library as part of the Network Access Project (NAP). The project is funded by the Open University’s Office for Technology Development, and will run until April 2000, whereupon the work will be integrated into normal Library functions. ROUTES is part of the OU Library’s strategy to develop electronic library services, and is one of several Library research projects which aim to exploit new technologies and applications. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/search-engines/ Mon, 18 May 1998 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/search-engines/ <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC “-//SoftQuad//DTD HoTMetaL PRO 4.0::19971010::extensions to HTML 4.0//EN” “hmpro4.dtd”> New search engines appear all the time on the web. Usually there is little to choose between the tools available other than the largely cosmetic differences of interface design However, every so often a new search engine comes along which seems to promise to take us to the ‘next level’ of web searching in terms of capability and functionality. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/robots/ Mon, 18 May 1998 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/robots/ What is Robots Exclusion Protocol?The robot exclusion protocol (REP) is a method implemented on web servers to control access to server resources for robots that crawl the web. Ultimately, it is up to the designer or user of robot-software to decide whether or not these protocols will be respected. However, the criteria defining an ethical robot includes stipulation that a robot should support REP. This article refers to the established REP[1] acredited to Martijn Koster [2]. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/tapin/ Mon, 18 May 1998 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/tapin/ TAPin is now in the final stages of a wide dissemination process, culminating in the publication of The Impact Study. The main aim of the project was to enhance the expertise of academic staff in the exploitation of networked information resources while also underpinning the network competencies of library and academic staff. The IT cultures within specific disciplines were researched, and the extent and nature of IT resources in the collaborating institutions were then established as a means of facilitating the development and delivery of materials. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/main/ Mon, 18 May 1998 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/main/ Libraries are developing the access model of information provision and questions are raised regarding the method by which users discover the resources to which they have access. The traditional holdings model depended wholly upon the traditional catalogue. Conceptually it was a simple task to catalogue a library’s physical stock. It is clear, with the access model, that even when limited to traditional scholarly information the task of informing users of the resources to which they have access is huge. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/view-hill/ Mon, 18 May 1998 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/view-hill/ Following a very long period of involvement in the development and delivery of C&IT, Anne Mumford has recently become Head of JISC ASSIST. From her base in Computing Services at Loughborough University she has the responsibility of supporting and encouraging "those charged with a C⁢ strategic brief in UK HE institutions" so that they "meet the objectives of their information strategies." This covers assistance with the delivery of C&IT on campus, the preparation of briefing papers for senior management, the impact of JISC services within subject areas, training and awareness and the development of JISC's communication channels with the academic community. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/editorials/webeditorial.html Mon, 18 May 1998 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/editorials/webeditorial.html This issue of Ariadne features the reappearance of “Get Tooled Up” - a section focussing on technical matters. Ian Peacock’s article on the Robot Exclusion Protocol explains the importance of, and how to write, the simple files which prevent web robots from trampling all over your server - provided of course that they have been given some elementary house training before being let loose. Showing Robots the Door also features a fully operational parsing tool for exclusion files. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/web-focus/ Mon, 18 May 1998 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/web-focus/ Australia is a long way to go for a conference. What were you doing there? I attended the conference in my role as UK Web Focus and the JISC representative on the World Wide Web Consortium. Attendenance at the World Wide Web conference provides me with an opportunity to monitor the latest Web developments and keep the community informed. What were the highlights of the conference? In a three letter acronym - RDF! http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/what-is/ Mon, 18 May 1998 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/15/what-is/ About XMLWhat is XML? XML stands for the Extensible Markup Language. XML has been designed to address a number of deficiencies in HTML. Which deficiencies in particular? HTML is not extensible. Submitting proposals for extensions to HTML can be a very lengthy process. Browser software vendors can short-circuit the standardisation process by introducing their own extensions, but this has caused problems, as we have seen with controversial extensions such as Netscape’s <BLINK> and Microsoft’s <MARQUEE> elements.