Table of contents: issue30

Digitization: Do We Have a Strategy?

editor — Fri, 25 Jan 2002 00:00:00 +0000

David Pearson suggests that the library sector should find a mechanism to put digitisation high on the agenda.

The notion that we are living through times of great change in the communication of information and the transmission of texts is a truism which will bring a weary look to most professionals with any kind of involvement in the area. The digital age, the information age, the electronic age – we’ve all heard these terms so many times and have sat through innumerable discussions, and seen even more documents, trying to sort out what it all means.

Open Archiving Opportunities for Developing Countries: Towards Equitable Distribution of Global Knowledge

editor — Fri, 25 Jan 2002 00:00:00 +0000

Leslie Chan and Barbara Kirsop explore some of the implications of using the OAI Protocol.

Although the World Wide Web is less than a decade old, it already has had a profound impact on scientific publishing and scholarly communication. In particular, open standards and low-cost networking tools are opening many possibilities for reducing and even eliminating entirely the cost barriers to scientific publications. (1)

Reference Books on the Web

editor — Fri, 25 Jan 2002 00:00:00 +0000

Adam Hodgkin explores the range of electronic reference tools.

Reference books have been ‘published’ on the web for some years. Several hundred dictionaries are freely available. Many specialist encyclopaedias and subject reference works have been converted to become experimental web services(1).This wave of reference publishing follows no concerted plan. There is no formal market for these services and perhaps there never was an expectation of profit. The early development of the web has been like this.

Access to Archives: England’s Contribution to the National Archive Network

editor — Fri, 25 Jan 2002 00:00:00 +0000

Caroline Thibeaud discusses the Archive 2 Archive project.

The Access to Archives project is one of the most exciting initiatives in the world of archives in England. It aims at developing a virtual national archival catalogue for the country. At a click of the mouse one will be able to find multilevel descriptions of some of the most important historical records of England. For family historians, school teachers and pupils, academic researchers or just curious life long learners the A2A gateway is a unique facility to pursue their interests and research from a PC terminal any time of the day, anywhere in the world.

Building ResourceFinder

editor — Fri, 25 Jan 2002 00:00:00 +0000

Pete Cliff looks at how the RDN has utilised the OAI Metadata Harvesting Protocol.

The JISC User Behaviour Monitoring and Evaluation Framework

editor — Fri, 25 Jan 2002 00:00:00 +0000

Jenny Rowley introduces the JISC User Behaviour Monitoring and Evaluation Framework.

The JISC User Behaviour Monitoring and Evaluation Framework (hereafter the Framework) is an ambitious project to design and use a research framework that monitors and maps the development of user behaviour with electronic information resources in higher education. Initially approved for three years, the Framework is currently in its third and final annual cycle. The methodology and findings relating to the first and second cycles are located in the First Cycle and Second Cycle Annual Reports, available through the JISC web site.

Managed Learning?

editor — Fri, 25 Jan 2002 00:00:00 +0000

Nicole Harris on current developments towards Managed Learning Environments in the ANGEL project.

The terms MLE (Managed Learning Environment) and VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) are frequently found in use within UK HE institutions at present. They are applied, along with a range of alternative terms, to products that provide teaching and learning tools within an online environment. These products range from commercial offerings from companies such as Blackboard [1] and WebCT [2], project developments such as COSE [3] and CoMentor [4], and institutional portal developments that allow users easy access to all required services such as the Edinburgh Student Portal (ESP) [5].

My Humbul: Humbul Gets Personal

editor — Fri, 25 Jan 2002 00:00:00 +0000

Randy Metcalfe describes new functionality available for users of the Humbul Humanities Hub.

Humbul helps humanities professionals access relevant online resources. Employing a distributed network of subject specialist cataloguers across the UK, the Humbul Humanities Hub (http://www.humbul.ac.uk/), based at the University of Oxford, is building a catalogue of evaluated online resources that enables teachers, researchers and students to find resources that make a difference.

Content Management Systems: Who Needs Them?

editor — Fri, 25 Jan 2002 00:00:00 +0000

Paul Browning and Mike Lowndes explore the CMS concept and look at the available tools.

Content management? That’s what librarians do, right? But we’ve already got a library management system (LMS) – why should we consider a content management system (CMS)?

The second initial is perhaps misleading – “manipulation” rather than “management” might better summarise the goals of a CMS. Content creation and content re-purposing are fundamental aspects which tend to lie outside the current LMS domain.

The Concept of the Portal

editor — Fri, 25 Jan 2002 00:00:00 +0000

Paul Miller gives his personal view of the portal and its varieties, both in the wild and on the drawing board.

Do They Need to Know?

editor — Fri, 25 Jan 2002 00:00:00 +0000

Andrew Cox and James Currall on the issue of Web security.

Do users need to know about computer security? The vast and growing literature of computer security suggests that solutions to most security issues are currently being sought purely through technology. Humanity obtrudes into the literature primarily in the guise of hackers and disaffected administrators, in the debate over which is the greater threat. The average user is strangely absent, like the labourer in eighteenth century landscape painting.