[14481] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
Current Cites, August 2002
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (CITES Moderator)
Tue Sep 10 08:55:09 2002
Date: Mon, 09 Sep 2002 12:45:55 -0700
From: CITES Moderator <citeschk@LIBRARY.BERKELEY.EDU>
To: PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU
Reply-to: cites@LIBRARY.BERKELEY.EDU
Message-id: <Pine.OSF.4.10.10209091223130.24068-100000@library.berkeley.edu>
Although the August issue of Current Cites was published on the Web at the
end of August, an email snafu has made the email version of the newsletter
late. Please accept my apology for this error,
Roy Tennant
Editor
Current Cites
Volume 13, no. 8, August 2002
Edited by [2]Roy Tennant
The Library, University of California, Berkeley, 94720
ISSN: 1060-2356 -
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/CurrentCites/2002/cc02.13.8.html
Contributors: [3]Charles W. Bailey, Jr., [4]Margaret Gross, [5]Shirl
Kennedy, [6]Leo Robert Klein, [7]Roy Tennant
Baca, Murtha, editor. [8]Introduction to Art Image Access: Issues,
Tools, Standards, Strategies Los Angeles: Getty Research
Institute, 2002, 97 p. - [9]The Getty has long been involved with
the development of common standards and practices regarding digital
imaging. Their track record for helping others understand issues
relating to digital imaging, image description, controlled
vocabularies, and other topics is well established. Long-time
readers of Current Cites may even remember the review we did of an
early title from this series, Introduction to Imaging (in the
[10]June 1995 issue), now out-of-print and being revised. This
volume is a useful and substantive addition to that heritage. The
slim volume (just under 100 pages) is nonetheless chock-full of
tough issues, good advice, and illustrative examples. And the
illustrations (both literally and figuratively) are here in large
number. Many diagrams and black-and-white images embellish the
text, and several color plates grace the center. Bibliographic and
web site references and web sites accompany each section, and in
the back can be found an "Annotated List of Tools", a glossary, and
a bibliography. All in all, a work that is well worth the $20 cover
price. - [11]RT
Carnevale, Dan. "[12]Radio Silence : Fees force college stations
to stop Webcasting" [13]Chronicle of Higher Education (16 August
2002) (http://chronicle.com/free/v48/i49/49a03301.htm). - "The
lights are going out all over Europe". While not as dire as this
quip by Earl Grey, the lights are going out all over the Internet
for independent webcasters as this article documents. And it's not
just college stations that are affected. Hundreds, perhaps
thousands, of independent "microbroadcasters" are also biting the
dust as the Recording Industry chooses for itself the circumstances
under which music may be played over the Internet. Not
surprisingly, the new rules are completely disadvantageous to the
new medium. Hence the die off. Adding insult to injury, industry
spokesmen, fresh from having changed the goal posts, switch
effortlessly into harsh truth mode, offering up bits of fraudulent
homespun like the following from RIAA CEO Hillary Rosen, "if you
don't have a business model that sustains your costs, it sounds
harsh, but that's real life. If a grocery store can't afford to pay
for the vegetables, they can't keep their doors open." (in Graham,
Jefferson. "Royalty fees killing most Web-based radio stations".
USA Today: July 22, 2002). You don't know whether to cry at the
prospect of such an industry defining what "real life" is, or to
laugh at their arrogance for lecturing us about business models
given their chronic inability to come up with one of their own in
this digital age. - [14]LRK
Crawford, Walt. "[15]Silver Edition" [16]Cites & Insights:
Crawford at Large 2(11) p. 1-14 (Mid-August 2002)
(http://home.att.net/~wcc.techx/civ2i11.pdf). - This free
self-published 'zine is worth monitoring on a regular basis (Walt
puts it up on the web roughly once a month, with special issues
here and there), but this month in particular is a keeper. See in
particular the section "Credo: My Current Library Beliefs" wherein
he lays out his most strongly held beliefs in the past, present,
and future of libraries. Although they take up less than a page,
each statement lies at the pinnacle of a pile of information,
experience, thought, and personal belief that belie their brevity.
Give each some serious thought and you will be a better librarian
for it. Just a few pages way in the "Finding the Ways that Work"
section can be found some good practical advice for dealing with a
rapidly changing technological environment. In particular see the
subsection "Factors for Probable Success". Hold any new
technological innovation up to the light of these assertions and I
guarantee that you will make better technology decisions. All in
all, this issue exceeds Walt's typically strong offerings and
deserves a much wider audience than this publication normally
receives. Free does not mean without value. - [17]RT
Farrell, Nick. "[18]FBI Gives Warchalking Warning" [19]vunet.com
(Personal Computer World) (19 August 2002)
(http://www.pcw.co.uk/News/1134451). - First, there was
[20]wardialing. Then there was [21]wardriving. Now, there's
[22]warchalking -- "[23]hobo sign language for the 21st century
wireless geek." So-called "warchalks" -- chalk marks scrawled on
sidewalks and buildings that identify wireless network access
points -- are increasingly showing up in urban areas. According to
this brief article, the FBI is warning companies that if they see
such marks in the immediate vicinity, they need to check the
security of their wireless networks and make sure they are made
impervious to outsiders. Says the agency, "If you notice these
symbols at your place of business, it is likely that your network
has been identified publicly." - [24]SK
Hourihan, Meg. "[25]Blogging for Dollars: Giving Rise to the
Professional Blogger" [26]O'Reilly Network (12 August 2002)
(http://www.oreillynet.com/lpt/a/2629). - Trendmeisters, take note.
Hourihan strongly advocates something that may turn out to be the
beginning of a new phenomenon in weblogs -- the professional
blogger, who is paid to produce "compelling content" for a
corporate/commercial website. A very few notable bloggers generate
some income through donations, but very few are directly paid to do
their thing -- a notable exception being Jim Romenesko, who is paid
to generate his [27]Media News blog for the [28]Poynter Institute,
a journalism think tank. And yet, as Hourihan points out, "There's
a vast group of people out there now who are experts in finding the
news and links, capturing its essence in short snippets, and
churning it out hour after hour, day after day." She suggests a
couple scenarios whereby this talent could be harnessed -- an
online wine store "hiring a wine-aficionado blogger" to drive
traffic to its site, an insurance company paying a blogger to
generate content about hurricane warnings and emergency
preparedness for its policyholders. Hourihan, a Web consultant and
freelance writer, is one of the authors of [29]We Blog: Publishing
Online with Weblogs. - [30]SK
Ling, Ted. "[31]Why the Archives Introduced Digitisation on
Demand" [32]RLG DigiNews 6(4) (15 August 2002)
(http://www.rlg.org/preserv/diginews/diginews6-4.html#feature1). -
The National Archives of Australia has for over a year provided a
digitization on demand service to its users. Specifically, users
may request that a particular archival item be digitized and made
available on the web for their use remotely. In one year of service
they have created over a million images of archival records. The
demand for the service was such, in fact, that the original stated
turn-around time of 30 days was lengthened by necessity to 90 days.
Nonetheless, users appear to be predictably pleased with the
ability to have items made accessible to them on the web even under
that time constraint. Given the alternative (of having to travel to
the archive) that is understandable. Some of the more remarkable
aspects of this project are: 1) the institution decided to do it in
the first place, and 2) their view of copyright is refreshingly
focused on the public interest rather than the rights holder. Those
who are technically savvy may wish to quibble with the low
resolution capture, but it is more difficult to argue with their
success. They are, after all, giving their users exactly what they
want. I can think of few institutions that couldn't learn from this
experience. - [33]RT
Llewellyn, Richard D., Lorraine J. Pellack, and Diana D.
Shonrock. "[34]The Use of Electronic-Only Journals in Scientific
Research" [35]Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship
(35) (Summer 2002) (http://www.istl.org/02-summer/refereed.html). -
In this interesting study, the authors determine the number of
peer-reviewed, electronic-only scientific e-journals that are being
published and investigate whether they are being indexed,
cataloged, and cited. The results are encouraging: there are 144
e-journals that meet the selection criteria (85% are free). Of
these 144 e-journals, 67% have been indexed, 97% have been
cataloged in OCLC, and 75% have been cited. See the article for
more detailed results, including specific information about each
e-journal and a subject breakdown. - [36]CB
Lougee, Wendy Pradt. [37]Diffuse Libraries: Emergent Roles for the
Research Library in the Digital Age Washington, DC: Council on
Library and Information Resources, August 2002, 32 p. - The
[38]Council on Library and Information Resources Report series is
an eclectic mix of thoughtful issue pieces, conference proceedings,
and documents that lay out practical strategies. This particular
report falls into the "thoughtful issue pieces" category, and is
worth a read by anyone interested in the role of research libraries
within their institutions and society at large. A variety of issues
are touched on, from the role of library as publisher to virtual
reference services, from what might be described as a 30,000 foot
overview. But that is the appropriate perspective from which to
consider the issues raised, and Lougee does a credible job of
laying out not only some of the ramifications of the changes
research libraries are undergoing, but also suggesting a
perspective -- one of "diffusion" of the library across the
academic enterprise. - [39]RT
McKinstry, Jill Morrison, Peter McCracken. "[40]Combining
Computing and Reference Desks in an Undergraduate Library : A
Brilliant Innovation or a Serious Mistake?" [41]portal: Libraries
and the Academy 2(3) p. 391-400 (July 2002)
(http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/portal_libraries_and_the_academy/v002
/2.3mckinstry.html). - Basically what the undergrad library at the
University of Washington has done is move the librarians into the
computing center. There are both pro's and con's to this move and
both sides are discussed in this piece by "opposing" members of the
library's own professional staff. For anyone contemplating folding
traditional library functions into IT services, this is a helpful
read. Available through Project Muse. - [42]LRK
Turner, James M., Michele Hudon, and Yves Devin. "[43]Organizing
Moving Image Collections for the Digital Era: The Goldspiel
Report" [44]Information Outlook 6(8) p. 14-25 (August 2002)
(http://www.sla.org/content/memberonly/infoonline/2002/aug02/turner
.cfm). - The Steven I. Goldspiel Memorial Research Fund was
established in 1991 to support research projects in the field of
Library Science. This article reports the findings of the 1999
award winners. The authors of this report, James M. Turner,
Michelle Hudon, and Yves Devin of the Universito?= de Montro?=al,
were
interested in studying the techniques and tools, particularly
indexing languages, used to represent the content of moving images.
They also wished to evaluate the feasibility of creating a
universal indexing vocabulary for moving images representing
everyday objects. Although 33 organizations were initially
identified as potential participants, the study finally focussed on
eleven organizations, managing 14 collections. Sites housing the
collections were called by a variety of names, with "Stockshot
Library", being the most prevalent. The collections comprised a
variety of film, video and optical disk formats. Information on a
collection's total viewing hours, or its linear length was minimal
or not available at all. Levels at which moving pictures were
indexed, was the study's the most important finding. Almost all
material was indexed at the top level, by title or by whole
document, while 36% and 57% respectively, also indexed at the
sequence and shot level. Surprisingly, five of the 14 collections
were also indexed at a symbolic level. Citing Panofsky [Panofsky,
Erwin. Meaning in the Visual Arts: Papers in and on Art History.
Garden City, NY: Doubleday Anchor Press, 1955], the authors present
a brief example of symbolic attributes. These are the differences
between "of" and "about", or between denotation and connotation.
For example, a picture 'of' a cat and 'of' a chair may be 'about'
or 'symbolic of' serenity. To represent the images in the
cataloguing systems, 50% of respondents relied on keywords take
from natural language. The other fifty percent used either
classification schemes, commercial thesauri, inhouse thesaurus, or
combinations of the preceding. In conclusion, the authors state
"the participating organizations managed to retrieve useful
information within reasonable delays. Often this seems to be more a
function of fast computer technology than of good information
management." Some thesauri mentioned in the article are available
online: [45]Art & Architecture Thesaurus
(http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/aat/) and [46]LC
Thesaurus for Graphic Materials
(http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/print/tgm1/). - [47]MG
Vaidhyanathan, Siva. "[48]Copyright as Cudgel" [49]The Chronicle
of Higher Education 48(47) (2 August 2002)
(http://chronicle.com/free/v48/i47/47b00701.htm). - This forcefully
argued opinion piece on the state of copyright pulls no punches.
And for good reason. It isn't pretty what has happened since
legislation such as the Digital Millenium Copyright Act and the
Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act have become law.
Vaidhyanathan cites a number of examples to explain why he thinks
of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act as "reckless, poorly
thought out, and with gravely censorious consequences." Most
librarians would have to agree. But this piece is aimed squarely at
academics -- faculty and researchers who have largely been on the
sidelines of the war being fought by librarians, civil libertarians
and others trying to wrest copyright back to its constitutional
origins. Those origins can be found in Section 8, "Powers Granted
to Congress", to wit, "To promote the progress of science and
useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors
the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries."
The phrase "limited times" Congress now interprets to mean roughly
a century -- 100 years until a work enters the public domain. Add
to that the serious damage that these laws do to principles such as
first sale and fair use, and it's no wonder we're at war. - [50]RT
Van Bakel, Roier. "[51]Support Has Its Price" [52]The New York
Times (22 August 2002)
(http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/22/technology/circuits/22SUPP.html?
8cir). - In case you haven't already noticed, free tech support is
disappearing faster than Hershey's Kisses at a PMS support group
meeting. The irony here is that software programs are becoming more
complex, with more bells and whistles, but that shrink-wrapped box
you tote home is less likely than ever to contain an actual printed
manual. [53]Intuit (Quicken) and [54]Symantec (Norton products) now
levy a per-minute or per-incident charge for telephone technical
support, although Symantec says it still provides free e-mail
support if a user can afford to wait a few days for a response.
[55]Microsoft, oddly enough "seems to be bucking the trend by
promising unlimited free support for most of its PC games and two
free 'support incidents' for many of its biggest software
packages," such as Windows or Office XP. Software companies are
trying harder than ever to drive customers to "self-service"
support on their websites, as are the major hardware vendors.
"Paying for assistance hardly guarantees a rewarding experience,"
however, since it's entirely possible to get an inexperienced tech
at the other end of the line. - [56]SK
_________________________________________________________________
Current Cites - ISSN: 1060-2356
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