Overview of content related to 'research'

Editorial Introduction to Issue 42: Less Could Mean More

editor — Sun, 30 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Richard Waller provides an editorial introduction to Ariadne issue 42.

Tomorrow, 31 January 2005 will be the moment of truth for those institutions among some 100,000 public authorities which received a request for information on the first operative day of the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in the United Kingdom. For by tomorrow they must have responded to the request within 20 working days.

Advanced Collaboration With the Access Grid

editor — Sun, 30 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Michael Daw describes the Access Grid system and its claim to be an Advanced Collaboration Environment.

Collaboration between institutions based in different cities, countries or continents is becoming the norm in both commercial and academic worlds. The ability to attend meetings and interact with people effectively without incurring all the negative implications associated with travel - such as cost, expense, environmental impact and reduction in productivity - is a truly worthwhile goal.

Software Choice: Decision-making in a Mixed Economy

editor — Sun, 30 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Randy Metcalfe considers the role of free and open source software in UK Further and Higher Education.

Imagine a world where software is free. For the moment, let's not split hairs about this. In this imagined world software costs virtually nothing to obtain. And you are free to do things with this software - free to study how it works (which means getting access to the underlying code, not just the binaries or executables); free to modify that code to suit your needs and/or improve it; free to re-distribute that modified code. And everyone else is free to obtain, study, modify, and redistribute software as well as you.

This is not the world you live in.

The National Centre for Text Mining: Aims and Objectives

editor — Sun, 30 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Sophia Ananiadou, Julia Chruszcz, John Keane, John McNaught and Paul Watry describe NaCTeM's plans to provide text mining services for UK academics.

In this article we describe the role of the National Centre for Text Mining (NaCTeM). NaCTeM is operated by a consortium of three Universities: the University of Manchester which leads the consortium, the University of Liverpool and the University of Salford. The service activity is run by the National Centre for Dataset Services (MIMAS), based within Manchester Computing (MC).

Tracing Help With Copyright: New AHDS Case Studies on Copyright Issues

editor — Sun, 30 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Alastair Dunning provides an overview of case studies published by the Arts and Humanities Data Service in that persistent minefield of respecting copyright.

The Web statistics tool which measures hits on the Arts and Humanities Data Service (AHDS) Web site [1] provides some telling information. The most common search engine keyword by which users discover the AHDS is not 'computers', 'humanities', 'research' or 'arts', but that old bugbear 'copyright'. Although the Arts and Humanities Data Service advises on a wide range of issues, such as data capture, metadata and funding proposals, copyright is just as popular a reason for users to arrive at the Web site.

Making the Case for a Wiki

editor — Sun, 30 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Emma Tonkin examines wikis and considers the feasibility of their deployment - and the danger of the 'tumbleweed' syndrome.

Introduction: What is a Wiki?

Software use cases are necessarily incomplete, a failing which seems to intensify in reverse proportion to the degree of simplicity in the software in question. Complex software responds to a given set of requirements, simple software as a partial solution to a much broader problem set. More concisely put, certain ideas just seem to catch on, particularly the simple, brilliant, 'now why didn't I think of that' class of ideas.

Fast-Forward on the Green Road to Open Access: The Case Against Mixing Up Green and Gold

editor — Sun, 30 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Stevan Harnad provides a summary of his critique of Jean-Claude Guédon's views on the green and gold roads to Open Access.

This article is a critique of: The "Green" and "Gold" Roads to Open Access: The Case for Mixing and Matching by Jean-Claude Guédon [1].

Open Access (OA) means: free online access to all peer-reviewed journal articles.

Planet-SOSIG

editor — Sun, 30 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Humphrey Southall looks at a new Web site's Vision of Britain while Emma Place examines new changes to the RDN Virtual Training Suite.

Vision of Britain

A new Web site allowing free public access to an unrivalled collection of British historic maps, statistics and stories went live in October 2004. By keying in a postcode or place name, or clicking on a map, users can call up a wealth of information on any locality.

EEVL: Four Search Engines and a Plaque

editor — Sun, 30 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Roddy MacLeod looks at some recent developments to the EEVL service.

If the title of this column caused you to anticipate a new blockbuster featuring Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell, then I apologise. It's far more interesting than that!

Four Search Engines

Four new search engines from EEVL make it possible to search the content of over 250 free full-text ejournals in Engineering, Mathematics and Computing. EEVL's Ejournal Search Engines (EESE) are divided according to subject content.

Web Focus: Experiences of Using a Wiki for Note-taking at a Workshop

editor — Sun, 30 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Brian Kelly describes how the Wikalong Wiki tool was used to support note-taking at a workshop.

Wikis: are they the latest cool Web technology or a pointless tool which merely duplicates features provided in content management systems and virtual learning environments? I have heard both views expressed recently. To some extent both views have some validity: a Wiki is a technology which has been adopted initially by those in Web developer communities (such as the Semantic Web community) to enable collaborative documents to be produced quickly and easily.

Shibboleth Installation Workshop

editor — Sun, 30 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0000

James Sankar and Masha Garibyan report on the first ever Shibboleth Installation Workshop in the UK.

Staff and students in Higher and Further Education institutions currently experience an overload of information. In many cases, this information is held on different systems, available via widely differing levels of access control, ranging from open to strictly controlled access. Access controls are also subject to data protection legislation and/or tough licensing conditions. One way of overcoming the problem of accessing information from various systems is to build Web portals. These can provide a superficial environment for the presentation of information from various sources.

Hyper Clumps, Mini Clumps and National Catalogues: Resource Discovery for the 21st Century

editor — Sun, 30 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0000

John Gilby reports on a one-day conference about resource discovery, held at the British Library Conference Centre, London in November.

Introduction
Keynote Speech: The Concept of a 'National Catalogue' - Jean Sykes
Interoperability: Architectures and Connections - John Gilby & Ashley Sanders
Making Sense of Hybrid Union Catalogues: Collection Landscaping in Complex Information Environments - Gordon Dunsire
Interoperability: The Performance of Institutional Catalogues - Fraser Nicolaides & George Macgregor

Participate in Your Future: The IST2004 Event

editor — Sun, 30 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Gabriella Szabo reports on a three-day event addressing European policies, strategies and research activities in all areas of the Information Society held in The Hague.

IST2004 [1] organised by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs in cooperation with the European Commission, brought together over 3000 participants from all over the world with an interest in Information Society Technologies. The event had been given the title 'Participate in your Future' emphasising the importance of providing guidance in defining the ICT sector of tomorrow. The aim was to create fora for all the stakeholders from relevant areas of research, business or policy-making. The event brought together major attractions including:

Freedom of Information and the Historian

editor — Sun, 30 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Stephen Twigge reports on a one-day conference on Freedom of Information and the Historian jointly hosted by The National Archives and the Institute of Historical Research.

On 1 January 2005, the Freedom of Information Act will come fully into force. With the implementation of the Act, all new and existing records, excluding those subject to exemption, will be available to the public, effectively ending the 30 year rule governing access to official documents. The conference provided historians with the opportunity to learn more about the Freedom of Information Act and its potential impact on their work.

Recasting the Past: Digital Histories

editor — Sun, 30 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Vanessa Carr reports on a one day conference about digitising historical records, held jointly by the Association for History and Computing UK and the Royal Historical Society.

For the last three years the RHS has held a seminar in memory of Gerald Aylmer, the purpose of which is an exchange of ideas between historians and archivists. Digitisation was to be the subject for 2004. The AHC proposing a conference on the same subject, the two bodies came together to present this joint event. The format of the conference was that of four sessions, each with two panels, except for the last. I attended Panel A in each instance.

Beyond Email: Wikis, Blogs and Other Strange Beasts

editor — Sun, 30 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Robert Bristow reports on a one-day workshop 'Beyond Email: Strategies for Collaborative Working and Learning in the 21st Century'.

Many working in Higher Education are now thoroughly familiar with the particular problems and opportunities presented by the use of the Web and email, the applications that up to now have been the 'killer' applications which made the Internet such a vital part of the communications armoury of universities. However, new applications and ways of communicating are now starting to appear which push the accepted paradigms and demand both new perceptions and levels of technical awareness.

A Tradition of Scholarly Documentation for Digital Objects: The Launch of the Digital Curation Centre

editor — Sun, 30 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Philip Hunter reports on the launch of the DCC at the National eScience Centre in Edinburgh, November 2004.

The Digital Curation Centre had its official launch in Edinburgh on 5 November 2004. Perhaps an odd date to pick for the launch of such an important international initiative, but it justified the inclusion of some virtual fireworks on the home page of the DCC launch Web site. The DCC is one of three major activities in Phase 2 of the UK e-Science Programme, along with the National Grid service and the Open Middleware Infrastructure Institute, as well as being a key activity of the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC).

News and Events

editor — Sun, 30 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Ariadne presents a brief summary of news and events.

Digital Cultural Content Forum 2005

11-13 February 2005, Oxford, UK

The Digital Cultural Content Forum (DCCF) is an annual international gathering of key stakeholders in the digitisation and delivery of our global cultural assets. The focus of the meeting is to explore how public institutions that steward cultural content, the agencies responsible for public policy, and organisations in the public broadcast sectors can collaborate to deliver services to public audiences.

Book Review: How to Find Information

editor — Sun, 30 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Verity Brack reviews a new practical guide for researchers wanting to improve their information skills and finds it a very useful addition.

This book is the result of efforts by the library at the University of Surrey (and the University of Surrey Roehampton) to improve library provision for researchers, and it is also based on the experience of 'front-line' library staff in their day-to-day interaction with academic staff and students. Anyone who has worked on a library help-desk or information point will recognise the content of this book, and will be pleased to find that there is now something that researchers can use to help themselves, all put together in a slim volume.

Book Review: Understanding Open Source and Free Software Licensing

editor — Sun, 30 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Mike Fraser asks whether a recent book on open source software licences will help him answer a few questions.

The picture on the cover of Understanding Open Source & Free Software Licensing by Andrew M. St. Laurent is a 19th century engraving of a shootout at a railway in the American West. What early conclusions should we draw from that less than innocent image? Leaving aside men with guns in the Wild West, Understanding Open Source is an in-depth study of software licences commonly used with the release of open source or free (as in speech) software.

Book Review: Digital Libraries - Policy, Planning and Practice

editor — Sun, 30 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Bruce Royan considers the ironies of communicating the state of the art of digital libraries by means of a print publication.

There is an irony in reviewing a printed book about the Digital Library. The gestation period of monographic print publishing is such that it is unreasonable to expect it to be fully up to date. From internal evidence it is clear that no chapter in the book under review was completed more recently than April 2003. This may explain the lack of mention of developments such as the UK Parliamentary Select Committee Report on Scientific Publication [1], or the Public Access Proposal of the US National Institutes of Health [2].