Table of contents: issue42

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).

Tap Into Bath Takes Off

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

Stephanie Round covers the launch of a small but promising collaborative effort.

As Local Studies Librarian for Bath & North East Somerset, UK, I am expected to know the whereabouts of original material and collections relating to the history of the local area. The recently launched Tap Into Bath online database is the ideal format for discovering this.