A method for augmenting an SGML document repository system with database functionality is presented. SGML (ISO 8879, 1986) has been widely accepted as a standard language for writing text with added structural information that gives the text greater applicability. Recently there has been a trend to use this structural information as metadata in databases. The complex structure of docuuments, however, makes it difficult to directly map the structural information in documents to database structures. In particular, the flat nature of relational databases makes it extremely difficult to model documents that are inherently hierarchical in nature. Consequently, documents are modeled in object-oriented databases (Abite-boul, Cluet, & Milo, 1993), and object-relational databases (Holst, 1995), in which SGML documents are mapped into the corresponding database models and are later reconstructed as necessary. However, this mapping strategy is not natural and can potentially cause loss of information in the original SGML documents. Moreover, interfaces for building queries for current document databases are mostly built on form-based query techniques and do not use the â â look and feelâ â of the documents. This article introduces an implementation method for a complex-object modeling technique specifically for SGML documents and describes interface techniques tailored for text databases. Some of the concepts for a Structured Document Database Management System (SDDBMS) specifically designed for SGML documents are described. A small survey of some current products is also presented to demonstrate the need for such a system.

This article offers an analysis of the process of error recovery as observed in the development and use of collections databases in a university museum. It presents results from a longitudinal case study of the development of collaborative systems and practices designed to reduce the number of errors found in the museumâ s databases as museum employees packed and moved their collections over a period of five years. Drawing upon a specific set of eighteen months worth of records documenting error rates and error management techniques, this article identifies three factors that influenced the ability of museum staff members to recover from errors found in their collections databases. The article concludes by examining the potential impact of these factors on the design of future collections databases in order to shed light on the wider issue of error recovery procedures in all information organizations.

The difference between the advanced and developing countries in the matter of access to information for research has been continually increasing. The advent of the Internet and electronic sources of information has not only exacerbated the gap but also led to the exclusion of developing country researchers from taking part as equal partners in publishing, refereeing, and in international collaboration. If handled imaginatively, the very same technologies can help bridge the information gap between the rich and the poor countries and help improve research productivity worldwide. Many initiatives that are already in place are described and suggestions are given on steps to be taken by developing country researchers.

There is a vast difference between the rich and poor countries in every respect. The difference is very pronounced in scientific and technical research, in terms of both volume and impact. Indeed the distribution of science is even more skewed than the distribution of wealth among nations. Science in the developing countries suffers from poor funding, poor laboratory and library facilities, low productivity and poor visibility. Developing country scientists have access to only a tiny fraction of the information they need and their own contribution to science is hardly noticed by others. They are often the also-rans in world science and are rarely members of international invisible colleges or collaboratories. It is important that these countries strengthen their scientific research and their scientists become fully integrated members of the worldwide network of science. But, unfortunately, the transformations effected in the conduct of science with the advent of the new ICTs (such as high bandwidth Internet) and the ever-increasing cost of subscriptions to journals and secondary services are widening the gulf between the industrialized and developing countries. Ironically, the steep rise in the cost of S&T information has helped Third World scientists in a way, as it forced scientists and librarians in the advanced countries to think of measures to overcome the â serials crisisâ many of which can benefit Third World scientists. These include, among others, the Open Archives and E-print Initiatives, Public Library of Science, the Budapest Open Access Initiative, SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition), and BioMed Central. Also, eminent scientists like Bruce Alberts and editors like Richard Smith and world leaders like Gro Harlem Brundtland are championing the cause of enhanced access to information for Third World scientists. In response to such moves, commercial publishers of journals have allowed free delayed electronic access to a few high impact journals through institutions such as the Highwire Press of the Stanford University. Under WHOâ s Health InterNetwork, more than 25 commercial publishers have agreed to provide free (or low-cost) web access to about 2,000 biomedical journals for scientists, faculty and students working in universities, hospitals and other public institutions in the poor countries. To benefit from these initiatives, scientists in the Third World should have access to PCs and high bandwidth Internet, and many of them do not. As Bruce Alberts suggests, even if it means subsidising, such access must be ensured. Agencies such as the Third World Academy of Sciences, Inter Academy Panel, and the Inter Academy Council and Foundations such as the Soros Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Andrew Mellon Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation should work in unison to facilitate free flow of S&T information for the benefit of scientists and people everywhere. Scientists everywhere should stop publishing in expensive commercial journals and support efforts aimed at democratising access to scientific information. All this is easier said than done. Commercial publishers will not easily let go the stranglehold they enjoy now, and those who want to bring about drastic changes are dispersed around the world and cannot really act as a cohesive body that can take on the might of the commercial publishers. Mere idealism cannot win. Scientists in developing countries should take advantage of recent initiatives to open up free and low-cost access to scientific and technical information, examine the pros and cons of different possibilities that have become available and choose the right options and enlist the support of key organizations, both national and regional and international. They should become proactive. This is a background paper commissioned by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

Scholarly publishing is concerned with the distribution of scholarly information through journals and conferences and other information media. As such scholarly publishing can be understood as a specific part of the information industry. With the advent of advanced information technologies many possible technologically enabled futures have been posited for scholarly publishing. This paper describes the current systems, processes and actors. While technological advancements appear to be enabling access to scholarly publications, economic conditions appear to limit access. In addition, a number of alternatives, such as open access are currently in play and there is uncertainty regarding the future of the scholarly publishing system. The system appears to be in the process of being reassembled. Conceptual models of the traditional, the electronic, and some possibilities for future developments in scholarly publishing are proposed, as are topics for future research in the information systems domain.

This paper uses Paul Ricoeur's distinction between language and discourse to help define a North American research agenda in knowledge organization. Ricoeur's concept of discourse as a set of utterances, defined within multiple disciplines and domains, and reducible, not to the word but to the sentence, provides three useful tools for defining our research. First, it enables us to recognize the important contribution of numerous studies that focus on acts of organization, rather than on standards or tools of organization. Second, it gives us a harmonious paradigm that helps us reconcile the competing demands of interoperability, based on widely-used tools and techniques of library science, and domain integrity, based on user warrant and an understanding of local context. Finally, it resonates with the current economic, political and social climate in which our information systems work, particularly the competing calls for protectionism and globalization.

Using Information Technology to Transform the Way We Learn highlights PITACâ s findings and recommendations on how the Federal government can provide the leadership needed to solve key information technology challenges and to improve the quality of, and public access to educational and training experiences. The overarching recommendation in this report calls for the Federal government to make the integration of information technology with education and training a national priority. In addition, the Federal government should: *Establish and coordinate a major research initiative for information technology in education and training *Establish focused government-industry-foundation partnerships to aggressively pursue the information technology research program *Develop programs that enable educators and related professionals to use information technology effectively *Work with industry and academia to develop technical standards for extendable component-based technologies and infrastructures that can be widely used in online education and training

The advent of electronic media into the academic environment has forever changed the way academics communicate, perform their research, and contribute to the production of knowledge.These relatively recent changes in the mode of knowledge production have been theorized by Gibbons (et al; 1994) as a shift from Mode I to Mode II which indicates a move away from knowledge production in traditional research contexts to an environment in which knowledge is created in broader, trans-disciplinary social and economic contexts. Similar arguments have been made in two significant OECD publications (1996, 1997), where the advent of electronic media is considered part and parcel of this shift in the predominant mode of knowledge production. The increasing use of electronic media for communication and the current changes in the ways that knowledge is produced are mutually implicated phenomena, and this introduces a problematic: what is the relationship between print and electronic media with respect to how knowledge is produced in academic environments? In part, this problematic motivates this thesis

In the 1950s, a computer that could hold the contents of a library, retrieve facts, and formulate questions was laughable to many. The 1957 movie Desk Set accurately mirrored the way ordinary citizens perceived computers and their possible consequences. On another level, the film's focus on libraries was an ideal juxtaposition of human's intellectual capacity with machines' processing capacity.

This white paper from the r-smart group discusses open source software and it's benefits in education.