[14612] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
Current Cites, December 2002
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (CITES Moderator)
Fri Dec 20 20:11:13 2002
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 09:18:08 -0800
From: CITES Moderator <citeschk@LIBRARY.BERKELEY.EDU>
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Current Cites
Volume 13, no. 11, December 2002
Edited by [2]Roy Tennant
The Library, University of California, Berkeley, 94720
ISSN: 1060-2356 -
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/CurrentCites/2002/cc02.13.12.html
Contributors: [3]Charles W. Bailey, Jr., [4]Terry Huwe, [5]Leo Robert
Klein, [6]Roy Tennant
Albanese, Andrew Richard. "[7]Cyberspace: The Community Frontier"
[8]Library Journal (15 November 2002)
(http://libraryjournal.reviewsnews.com/index.asp?layout=articleArch
ive&articleid=CA256583). - This interview with John Perry Barlow
(co-founder of the [9]Electronic Frontier Foundation) briefly but
intriguingly touches on his thoughts regarding intellectual
property ("an oxymoron"), recent moves by the publishing industry
to increase copyright protections ("...impoverishing the
advancement of human thought"), and what librarians should do about
it ("they need to become more politically involved"). If this is
enough to titillate you, run, don't walk to [10]The Economy of
Ideas and [11]The Next Economy of Ideas, both published in
[12]Wired Magazine (the first well over eight years ago now). In
those pieces Barlow mounts a frontal assault against the publishing
industry's position that information must be tightly controlled in
order to retain it's value. Anyone who needs to defend the right of
society to access and use information and ideas (and that means
you, if you're a librarian) should know what Barlow has to say. -
[13]RT
Cheng, Rachel, Steve Bischof, and Alan J Nathanson. "[14]Data
collection for user-oriented library services: Wesleyan University
Library's experience" [15]OCLC Systems & Services 18(4) p.
195-204 (2002)
(http://gessler.emeraldinsight.com/vl=14402282/cl=42/nw=1/rpsv/cgi-
bin/linker?ini=emerald&reqidx=/cw/mcb/1065075x/v18n4/s5/p195). -
Assessment seems all the rage nowadays; and rightfully so. The
authors here discuss their experience at Wesleyan University
Library in making stats "work for us". This means not simply
rounding up the usual numbers but acting on them in order to
"reflect changing user needs". That said, the kinds of information
collected is impressive: for example, the library's subject guides
are automated and librarians can tell not merely how many page
views they've gotten but what individual links have caught the eye
of the public. Other examples are also discussed. - [16]LRK
Cockrell, Barbara J, and Elaine Anderson Jayne. "[17]How do I
find an article? Insights from a web usability study" [18]Journal
of Academic Librarianship 28(3) p. 122-132 (May-June 2002)
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6W50-45WFVFN-7/1/6ef
a2b9da9ce8be10e0add78a5374a75). - I can't let the year expire
without citing this delightful article by two librarians at WMU
(Kalamazoo). The two did usability testing on people's ability to
find "periodical articles" using links from their library's web
site. They not only tested undergrads, the usual fall-guys for this
sort of study, but grads and faculty as well. No matter what their
level, significant numbers of each user group had problems
completing the tasks. Users had trouble distinguishing between OPAC
and article index, between journal title and article title. No one
read instructions or help screens. Participants automatically
assumed that bibliographic databases behaved just like web-based
search engines. They often chose the first thing on a list. Talk
about sloppy searchers! To be fair, they behaved just like normal
rational human beings, except of course that they were unable to
find any research material. "Far from being downhearted," the
authors conclude, "we were empowered and energized by knowing what
needed to be addressed." - [19]LRK
Coffman, Steve. "What's Wrong With Collaborative Digital
Reference?" [20]American Libraries 33(11) p. 56-58 (December
2002) - Coffman is well known as a digital reference advocate (and
product manager for LSSI's digital reference product), but in this
piece he is critical of collaborative reference. For his central
argument he turns to statistics for in-person reference referrals,
for which there is at least some evidence that it is a rather
under-used service. He cites other issues such as variation in
reference practice and styles, as well as national differences such
as language and copyright. While low statistics for non-digital
reference referrals does not necessarily mean digital reference
networks will be under-utilized, Coffman raises questions that are
best carefully considered before libraries expend a lot of time,
effort, and money on building them. - [21]RT
Kapoor, Dave. "The next 10 years : DV's contributing editors
predict and pontificate on how digital video will change over the
next decade. " [22]DV Magazine 11(1) p. 28-34 (January 2003) -
Digital Video Magazine ("DV" to aficionados) celebrates its 10th
anniversary this month and probably the most fascinating article
isn't the obligatory trip down memory lane (though that's not bad)
but the editorial round-up on things to come. Throwing all caution
to the winds, the editors prognosticate on everything from the
death of miniDV tape (victim of cheap hard drives) to the "Holy
Grail" of HDTV for everyone. - [23]LRK
Lawal, Ibironke. "[24]Scholarly Communication: The Use and Non-Use
of E-Print Archives for the Dissemination of Scientific
Information" [25]Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship
(Fall 2002) (http://www.istl.org/02-fall/article3.html). - This
study examines the use of e-print archives by a random sample of
473 U.S. and Canadian scholars in nine scientific fields of study.
Only 18% of the respondents used e-prints, but 90.7% of those who
did cited them in articles. Physics/Astronomy had the highest rate
of use (51.6%) followed by Mathematics/Computer Science (28.8%).
The remaining disciplines ranged between 7.4% (Engineering) and 0%
(Chemistry). Why such low levels of use? Leaving aside the "no
answer" category, the most frequent reply was "not relevant" with
one exception--"against the policy of publishers" was the most
frequent answer in Chemistry. The paper also presents interesting
data about the use of specific archives, the potential change in
archive use if barriers were removed, and when the e-print was made
available in the traditional publication cycle. The author
discusses the differences in e-print use by discipline in some
detail and concludes: "Not all the disciplines are up to speed with
using e-print archives partly due to the culture of information use
in the various disciplines and partly due to low awareness level."
- [26]CB
Levitt, Jason. "[27]PHP5: Ready For The Enterprise?" [28]The Open
Enterprise (4 December 2002)
(http://www.theopenenterprise.com/story/TOE20021204S0001). - Jason
Levitt waxes lyrical about an upcoming version of PHP due out in
the summer of 2003. PHP is not just a scripting language, he
emotes, it's a Web scripting language. While not quite as easy as
he makes out, the PHP-mySQL combination is a popular solution for
small- to mid-level sized sites. The next question is whether it
can compete with the scripting heavies, .Net (ne ASP) and JSP. No
doubt about it, reads the article. PHP is "up to the task of
big-iron Web applications." Big Iron! - [29]LRK
Lynch, Beverly P. "[30]The Digital Divide or the Digital
Connection: A U.S. Perspective" [31]First Monday 7(10)
(http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue7_10/lynch/). - First
Monday is exploring many aspects of the "digital divide", and
Lynch's contribution goes a long ways toward slicing the conundrum
into smaller social issues. She argues that the term "becomes a
shorthand for every conceivable disparity relating to online
access". But she cites researcher Pippa Norris's delineation of the
problem into three distinct aspects: a global divide between the
developed and undeveloped worlds; a social divide between the
information rich and the information poor; and a democratic divide
between technology users and technophobes. She pays close attention
to the historical and contemporary roles that U.S. libraries play
in tackling the demand for assistance, and limits her analysis to
the American experience. She notes in conclusion that the
technological revolution in communications media is relatively new,
and most economic research about the social impact of the digital
divide remain inconclusive. - [32]TH
Neal, James G.. "Copyright is Dead...Long Live Copyright"
[33]American Libraries 33(11) p. 48-51 (December 2002) - The
no-holds-barred nature of this piece is evident from the first
sentence: "The American library community is confronted by a
copyright axis of evil." This bold and unfortunately accurate
statement is just the beginning of a succinct, hard-hitting, and
accurate assessment of where we are now regarding copyright in the
United States and why we're in more intellectual property trouble
than we've ever been in this nation. Neal's increasingly depressing
litany of egregious laws sets the stage for his call for action
that lists seven specific ways librarians can fight back. If this
brief, easy to digest piece doesn't move many of the 50,000 plus
American Library Association members to action, frankly I don't
know what will. A sidebar by an ALA Washington Office staffer
previews what we may be able to expect from the 108th Congress,
which begins in January 2003. - [34]RT
O'Reilly, Tim. "[35]Piracy is Progressive Taxation, and Other
Thoughts on the Evolution of Online Distribution" [36]OpenP2P.com
(11 December 2002)
(http://www.openp2p.com/pub/a/p2p/2002/12/11/piracy.html). - Tim
O'Reilly of the publisher O'Reilly and Associates (well known among
the geek crowd for their good technical books) shares a few lessons
from the print industry that he thinks may help inform those in the
entertainment industry who fear and loathe online copying. His
"lessons" are: 1) Obscurity is a far greater threat to authors and
creative artists than piracy, 2) Piracy is progressive taxation, 3)
Customers want to do the right thing, if they can, 4) Shoplifting
is a bigger threat than piracy, 5) File sharing networks don't
threaten book, music, or film publishing. They threaten existing
publishers, 6) "Free" is eventually replaced by a higher-quality
paid service, and 7) There's more than one way to do it. Although
one could argue that O'Reilly is defending his own turf by
defending peer-to-peer networking (O'Reilly publishes books and
sponsors conferences on the technology), at least some of his
points have been made by others with no financial interest in the
equation. - [37]RT
Rajagopal, Indhu, and Nis Bojin. "[38]Digital representation:
Racism on the World Wide Web" [39]First Monday 7(10) (7 October
2002) (http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue7_10/rajagopal/). -
The authors approach the very loaded topic of hate speech online at
a rhetorical level, which enables the reader to take a step back
from the intensity of the dialogue. The Web, they claim, is
essentially unregulated, and it fosters worldwide dissemination of
both 'actionable' and 'non-actionable' hate messages. They point
out that actionable messages are not restricted by international
regulations, even if they are intense and may trigger violent
actions. The power to restrict this kind of speech lies at a
national level, leaving a semblance of open space for this type of
speech. Moreover, the "felt" experience of sending hate speech via
the Web is a new personal interaction, and it tempts perpetrators
to test the boundaries of society and the law. The authors pose
several questions, such as: Does the Internet and the Web
facilitate the spreading of hate messages? Should Internet hate
materials be regulated? If so, how might that be done? As you might
guess, we need more information and time to answer such questions
conclusively. But they make a pretty good stab at it. First, the
Internet is a "pull" technology; to find hate speech that was not
sent directly to you, you have to search for it. Second, "there are
few obstacles to hate online". The illusion of anonymity on the
Internet encourages greater disclosure, as anyone who's been flamed
can attest to. Third, "hate sites" on the Internet are
astonishingly blatant, more so than any other media to date.
Therefore it is likely that hate online will carry a very powerful
effect on both the perpetrator and recipient. - [40]TH
Vegh, Sando. "[41]Hacktivists or Cyberterrorists? The Changing
Media Discourse on Hacking" [42]First Monday 7(10) (7 October
2002) (http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue7_10/vegh/). - Vegh
studies the language of government reports and news media sources
to test whether they play an excessively active role in forming a
negative image of hackers. He breaks hacking into two broad areas,
politically motivated hacking, online political activism. This
delineation enables him to explore whether fear of the former is
stamping out the latter. The mass media's portrayal of hacking
serves the political and corporate elites as they create a popular
consensus that is anti-hacker, he argues. In essence, is there a PR
campaign at work here, that has a chilling effect on bona fide,
online political dialogue? He stops short of saying "Yes"
unequivocally, but finds plenty of puzzling evidence. It will come
as no surprise that he is concerned with copyright and "copyleft,"
peer-to-peer file sharing as pioneered by music lovers, and open
source computing. But his principal point is that public opinion,
once swayed, is a juggernaut that empowers politicians to move
quickly and decisively, and in that rush to action, political
discourse and promising technological ideas may suffer. - [43]TH
_________________________________________________________________
Current Cites - ISSN: 1060-2356
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References
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42. http://www.firstmonday.org/
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44. mailto:listserv@library.berkeley.edu
