EDITOR'S NOTE
Just the Facts
by Barbara Brynko
It’s amazing how time and resources have changed the in formation playing field. For one, the recent presidential debates proved to be a hotbed of contention for any political misspeak, any inflation of supporting statistics therein, and any faulty turn of phrase in the historic recollection of events.
This election is proof that all of the information at our fingertips is making us collectively smarter, or at least we can get to the right answers faster and easier than ever before. Truth be known, the candidates in the elections of 2012 turned out to be the beacons of their political agendas as well as testaments to their track records in getting their facts straight.
In this election month, it only made sense to focus on the ongoing changes in government and legislation. Our features target a few of the challenges the information industry is facing. Writer Peggy Garvin tracks the trends in processing information during the shift from print to digital in “The Era of Open Government Data”; David Mirchin tackles the legal wrangling of the copyright dilemmas in the ongoing case of “Viacom v. YouTube: Muddying the Waters”; and Paula J. Hane follows the legal tug-of-war between two technology giants in “Apple-Samsung Verdict: A Troubled U.S. Patent System.” And with the election a done deal by the time most of you are reading this issue, the political climate— and the information technology indus try—will undoubtedly be changing again in the months to come. So we’ll keep you posted on the developments.
Be sure to check out some of the latest product releases in this issue, from the Google Search Appliance to Elsevier’s ejournal. Plus, we’ve packed plenty more news, trends, and commentary from cover to cover. Enjoy the issue.
— Barbara Brynko |
