One common problem in the scientific research literature is that each one author cannot easily be identified uniquely. The problem arises when there are authors with identical names, authors who have changed their name(s) in the course of time, and authors whose names appear in alternative versions (for example: Jaakko Hyvärinen, and J. P. Hyvärinen) across the publications they have (co-) authored. The issue becomes more of a problem when data analysis utilizing author names is to be conducted, for example: in citation analysis. In this paper we introduce the Universal Author Identifier system, codenamed UAI_Sys. The system is web based and publicly available, enabling each one author to register/update his/her own metadata, plus acquire a unique identifier (UAI code), ensuring name disambiguation. As soon as UAI_Sys becomes accepted and enjoys worldwide use, selected author metadata will become globally available to all interested parties. Care is taken so that UAI_Sys comprises more than just a database for storing and handling author identifiers. Provision is taken for the system to incorporate web services facilitating communication with third party applications, thus expanding the possibilities for web based co-functionality. Last but not least, the system supports role-based access and management (i.e. different user roles for authors, librarians, publishers, and administrators) for efficient and effective information dissemination and management, promoting research and collaboration. UAI_Sys is being designed/developed along the lines of the Cascading Citations Analysis Project (C-CAP) which is co-funded by the Alexander Technology Educational Institute (ATEI), and the University of Macedonia (UoM).

Artificial Intelligence Lab, Department of MIS, University of Arizona / The Internet is changing the way we live and do business. It also offers a tremendous opportunity for government to better deliver its contents and services and interact with its many constituentsâ citizens, businesses, and other government partners. In addition to providing information, communication, and transaction services, exciting and innovative transformation could occur with the new technologies and practices.

This paper begins by discussing the various meanings of metadata both on and off the Web, and the various uses to which metadata has been put. The body of the paper focuses on the Web and the roles that metadata has in that environment. More specifically, the primary concern here is for metadata used in resource discovery, broadly considered. Metadata for resource discovery is on an evolutionary path with bibliographic description as an immediate predecessor. Its chief exemplar is the Dublin Core and its origins, nature and current status will be briefly discussed. From this starting point, the paper then considers the uses of such metadata in the Web context, both currently and those that are planned for. The critical issues that need addressing are its weaknesses for achieving its purposes and alternatives. Finally, the role of libraries in creating systems for resource discovery is considered, from the perspective of the gains made to date with the Dublin Core, the difficulties of merging this effort with traditional bibliographic description (aka MARC and AACRII), and what can be done about the gap between the two. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The U.S. National Science Foundation metadata registry under development for the National Science Digital Library (NSDL) is a repertory intended to manage both metadata schemes and schemas. The focus of this draft discussion paper is on the scheme side of the development work. In particular, the concern of the discussion paper is with issues around the creation of historical snapshots of concept changes and their encoding in SKOS. Through framing the problem as we see it, we hope to find an optimal solution to our need for a SKOS encoding of these snapshots. Since what we are seeking to model is concept change, it is necessary at the outset to make it clear that we are not talking about changes to a concept of such a nature that would require the declaration a new concept with its own URI.

Presentation at the beginning of the workshop, given to set the tone and outline issues key to the event. [jtt]

Three empirical studies on characteristics of social classification are reported in this paper. The first study compared social tags with controlled vocabularies and title-based automatic indexing and found little overlaps among the three indexing methods. The second study investigated how well tags could be categorized to improve effectiveness of searching and browsing. The third study explored factors and radios that had the most significant impact on tag convergence. Finding of the three studies will help to identify characteristics of those tagging terms that are content-rich and that can be used to increase effectiveness of tagging, searching and browsing.

Proceedings 17th Workshop of the American Society for Information Science and Technology Special Interest Group in Classification Research / Presentation at the beginning of the workshop, given to set the tone and outline issues key to the event. [jtt]

This paper presents and empirically evaluates a Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) which can serve as a simple to use, and cost-effective tool for evaluating applications and reliably predicting whether they will be accepted by users. After presenting TAM, the paper reports on a study designed to evaluate its effectiveness at predicting system use. In the study the researchers presented 76 novice users with an overview and hands-on demonstration of Netscape. Following this demonstration, data on user perceptions and attitudes about Netscape were gathered based on this initial exposure to the system. Follow up data was then gathered two weeks later to evaluate actual use of Netscape following the demonstration. Results suggest that TAM is an effective and cost effective tool for predicting end user acceptance of systems. Suggestions for future research and conclusions for both researchers and practitioners are offered.

Artificial Intelligence Lab, Department of MIS, University of Arizona / We report our experience with a novel approach to interactive information seeking that is grounded in the idea of summarizing query results through automated document clustering. We went through a complete system development and evaluation cycle: designing the algorithms and interface for our prototype, implementing them and testing with human users. Our prototype acted as an intermediate layer between the user and a commercial Internet search engine (Alta Vista), thus allowing searches of the significant portion of the World Wide Web. In our final evaluation, we processed data from 36 users and concluded that our prototype improved search performance over using the same search engine (Alta Vista) directly. We also analyzed effects of various related demographic and task related parameters.

This 84-page report defines the Cyberinfrastructure program proposed by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Here is the text of the news release from the University of Michigan School of Information: " Atkins committee issues NSF report on development of cyberinfrastructure (Feb 2003) A National Science Foundation (NSF) committee chaired by University of Michigan professor Daniel Atkins has recommended the organization spend an additional $1 billion per year developing the nation's "cyberinfrastructure" to support scientific research. The Advisory Committee on Cyberinfrastructure argues that investment in a comprehensive cyberinfrastructure can change profoundly what scientists and engineers do, how they do it, and who participates. Its recommendations are detailed in a newly released report titled Revolutionizing Science and Engineering through Cyberinfrastructure. In the same way society now depends on highways, water systems, and power grids, the panel contends, scientific research in the coming years will depend on the quality of the cyberinfrastructure -- the integrated information, computing, and communications systems that tie us together. "It's not just the raw technology, but also the organization and the people," says Atkins, who is professor in the School of Information and the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at U-M. It's also the standards for interoperability that will allow different disciplines to use the same infrastructure, "just the way we agreed long ago on a standard gauge for railroad tracks." "The path forward that this report envisions ... truly has the potential to revolutionize all fields of research and education," says Peter Freeman, assistant director of the NSF for Computer and Information Sciences and Engineering (CISE), the NSF arm that commissioned the report. The report was issued on the same day the NSF submitted its $5.48 billion budget request for fiscal year 2004. "NSF has been a catalyst for creating the conditions for a nascent cyberinfrastructure-based revolution," says Atkins, a revolution being driven from the ground up. "We've clearly documented extensive grass-roots activity in the scientific and engineering research community to create and use cyberinfrastructure to empower the next wave of discovery." The committee cites NSF support for such projects as the Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulations (NEES), the TeraGrid effort, and the Digital Libraries Initiative as seminal in the development of a cyberinfrastructure. At the same time, the report makes clear that the cyberinfrastructure needed cannot be built with today's off-the-shelf technology, and it argues for increased NSF support for fundamental research in computer science and engineering. The report emphasizes the importance of acting quickly and the risks of failing to do so. Those risks include lack of coordination, which could leave key data in irreconcilable formats; long-term failures to archive and curate data collected at great expense; and artificial barriers between disciplines built from incompatible tools and structures. The NSF has a "once-in-a-generation opportunity," according to the committee, to lead the scientific and engineering community in the coordinated development and expansive use of cyberinfrastructure."