Track A: Internet Searching: Tools, Aids, and Resources
Tools for Working on the Internet and World Wide Web (1)
9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
Internet Istographic Tools: Citing the Sites
Byron C. Mayes, Juilliard School
Bibliographic tools for print materials have been available for almost
as long as the materials they cite. If a selection of print resources
for a given subject exists, one can almost be certain that a subject
bibliography has been compiled and published, either on its own or as
part of a larger work. A variety of discographies, filmographies, and
similar tools are also available for other media. It is only natural
that electronic publishing on the Internet should spawn a comparable
istographic (from Greek istos, web + graphien, to write) sub-trend. This
session is a non-evaluative examination of tools--Internet-published
citation lists of Internet publications--as a phenomenon of electronic publishing.
Java-based Technologies to Aid Retrieval for Web Resources
Becky Lockwood Grossman and Pete Ciuffetti, SilverPlatter Information
and Rinaldo DiGiorgio, Sun Microsystems
Over 40 million users, Web sites doubling approximately every two
months, and Intranet expansion outpacing the Internet's growth are only
some of the indicators of the Internet's impact on information
publishing. How can libraries afford the advantages that the Internet
offers? What are industry developers doing to support libraries in
delivering information services through the Internet in a cost-effective
environment? In partnership, SilverPlatter Information and Sun
MicroSystems are working to deliver applications based on Java
architecture. How can this technology offer an interface to a wide range
of databases and integrate other information sources and retrieval
functions?
Internet Search Tools: What Can They Offer to Users?
Heting Chu, Palmer School of Library and Information Science
Internet search tools, especially those for the World Wide Web, have
mushroomed. Such tools have been a great help for Internet users to
locate resources on the network. However, their performance normally
cannot meet the expectations of users who are familiar with search tools
developed by well-established services such as Dialog and SilverPlatter.
Heting Chu proposes to identify retrieval capabilities offered by
Internet search tools as a whole by examining individual ones, and to
make suggestions for improving their performance in retrieving
information from the Internet.
Automatic Filtering, Indexing, and Extracting for Network Access and Retrieval
10:15 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Knowledge-Based Information Filtering of Financial Information
Yuri Quintana, University of Western Ontario
The Internet has dramatically increased the amount of electronically accessible information, but finding relevant information is becoming increasingly difficult. Some information filtering systems have been developed based on keywords, but these systems have limited success since they cannot retrieve relevant documents which have words that are different from the keywords in the profile. This paper describes an intelligent information management system that can be used to index information on a WWW server and to create personalized summaries of new information for individual users.
Text Visualization: Seeing Beyond Information Retrieval
Terry Patten and Julie Hartigan, TASC Inc.
Extracting information (as opposed to retrieving documents) from
collections of raw unstructured text is now a viable technology.
Applications of this technology include automatic population of
databases (allowing data-mining, OLAP, and DSS applications to be
applied to unstructured text) and sophisticated filtering. Such systems
have been hand-crafted in the past, but pioneering products such as
TASC's Text Agent and TextOne are making this technology a practical
commodity.
Aids for Query Preparation and Search Results Understanding
11:30 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
A Simple Web Interface for Information Retrieval from Multiple Sources
Rick Lawson, HealthGate Data Corp.
The speakers have developed a system for medical information retrieval
over the World Wide Web that uses a simple, interface to access
information from multiple bibliographic databases. The system provides
access to medical information to the non-professional searcher and does
not require knowledge of specific vocabularies or command languages. The
user enters his or her query in plain language. Software, using
artificial intelligence techniques, translates the user's query into
controlled vocabulary terms, including subheadings where appropriate,
and searches for the terms in the appropriate fields of the database.
Preparing Electronic Resources for Information Retrieval on the Internet
2:00 p.m. - 2:45 p.m
Journalistic Research and Electronic Information Sources
Jette Brandt and Per Knudsen, Royal School of Librarianship
Research is an important part of the journalistic process of preparing
stories, regardless of the type of story. But research is not only a working method for journalists, it
is also an important issue for many other professional groups in
society. Based on a case story, different electronic information sources
are searched to find appropriate information about the specific issue in
question. These searches are performed using established online hosts as
well as the World Wide Web. Results from the searches will be compared
and discussed. One lesson learned: the quality of information found is
higher if the research involves an information professional either as a
consultant or searcher.
The Real Costs of Library Conversions to SGML/HTML--Myth vs. Reality
Mark Gross, Data Conversion Laboratory
Success of your legacy conversion might be the single most important
determinant of your library's success in a move towards an SGML/HTML
(electronic) environment. It can also be the single most costly aspect
of the project. Mark Gross's goal will be to dispel the myths. He will
present an overview of the key issues and provide real-life experiences. He will discuss:
keying vs. OCR vs. software conversion, what can software really
accomplish, what you can expect in quality and how you can measure it,
what a "ballpark" quote includes and what it doesn't, and how to improve
the likelihood that your conversion effort will succeed.
Technology Aids in Accessing Information on the Internet and Online
3:00 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.
Mapping Algorithms to Translate Natural Language Questions Into Search
Queries for Web Databases--Their Impact on Precision and Recall
Péter Jacsó, University of Hawaii
Access to full-text and highly structured fielded databases on the
Internet has become common through client software and through Web
browsers. Casual users cannot turn to librarians or fellow patrons or
printed guidelines for advice. The interface and the search engine of
the retrieval software have to take over the task of question
interpretation and translation into a syntax appropriate
etrieval software and the database. Péter Jacsó will
present the results of research that compared the effectiveness of
various mapping algorithms and search strategies to translate questions
formulated in natural language into formal search queries.
Prospects and Challenges of Using Cable Modems in Online Information Processing
Harry M. Kibirige, Queen's College
Cable modems are one of the emerging technologies that promise to ease
the bandwidth bottleneck in information delivery. The US has over 90
million cable TV subscribers using regional cable companies as vendors.
Cable modems are devices which modify cable TV circuits to operate in a
bi-directional mode in order to use such circuits for sending and
receiving information. With bandwidth of 3-10 Mbs, they are faster than
T1 or T2 telecommunications leased lines and much faster than ISDN. With
multimedia digital libraries currently being developed, cable modems
will provide an ideal access technology. Harry M. Kibirige's presentation will cover the technology, deployment, and potential uses of cable modems for connectivity in the information arena.
Plenary Session
Rapping It Up: Observations and Reactions
4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Chair: Barbara Quint, Searcher Magazine with her Conference Review Panel
Anne Mintz, Forbes, Inc.
Susan Feldman, Datasearch, Inc.
Steve Arnold, Arnold Information Technologies
Marydee Ojala, Ojala and Associates
Track B: Electronic Publishing: CD-ROM, Online, the Internet
Is CD-ROM the Appropriate Medium?
9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
Local vs. Remote Information: Choosing the Medium for Database Access
Patti Corbett, Ovid Technologies, Inc.
From the individual consumer to the small non-profit to the large
corporation, we are faced with a fundamental choice for obtaining data:
local or remote. Hundreds of databases on all kinds of topics are now
available, and selecting a medium can have long-term and far-reaching
implications. The more information you need to access, the more significant this decision becomes. What is most appropriate for your user base? How will this decision impact the systems administrator or IS
department? Executives? End-users?
Full Text and Libraries: Issues and Implications for Libraries, Librarians, and Library Patrons
Gregory A. Crawford and Gary White, Pennsylvania State University
Full-text sources are becoming more prominent in libraries. Textual
material is now available in a variety of CD-ROM and online databases,
e.g., Periodical Abstracts, ABI/Inform, PAIS, Magazine Index, etc. In
addition, full-text services are becoming increasingly common on the
World Wide Web, e.g., The Electric Library, newspaper websites, the
Encyclopedia Britannica. Gregory Crawford will discuss the effects on
libraries, including costs for these services versus traditional
resources, remote access to such services, instruction on the use of
these services, managing the infrastructure to make services possible,
and positioning the library to take advantage of these services.
Nuchine Nobari will introduce the session by covering some of the issues
surrounding publishing of electronic journals. Electronic publishing is
growing, maintenance of sites requires substantial investment, and the
user community is small and struggling with the logistics of upgrading
software and hardware. She will discuss major publishers of electronic
journals, statistics about the marketplace, and major subscribers to
electronic journals.
Electronic Publishing from the Producer's Point of View
Tim Ingoldsby, American Institute of Physics
Tim Ingoldsby will represent the producer's point of view and will look
at the decision to produce electronic journals, developmental issues
obtaining manuscripts, technological developments, design issues, and
obtaining peer-reviews.
Electronic Publishing from the Host's Point of View
Chip Nilges, OCLC, Inc.
Chip Nilges will represent the host's point of view: technological aspects of
hosting a site, obstacles and concerns and how they affect libraries,
developing systems that fit the existing budget and acquisition policies
of libraries, obtaining journals for distribution, and copyright issues.
Delivering Electronic Publications to End-Users: Issues and Challenges for the Library as Intermediary
Michael Crandall, Boeing Company Corp.
Michael Crandall will represent the users' point of view and explore
pricing issues in an open network environment, copyright and
redistribution, integration of multiple interfaces to electronic
publications, and tying electronic services to paper resources.
Planning and Implementing a Desktop Application Through End-User Training
Nan Schubel, Ernst & Young, LLP
Nan Schubel will represent the end user's point of view. Nan Schubel will consider such issues as: end user's instant access to the online world, technical environment, components of the program, selection criteria, and end-user behavior.
Electronic publishing on the Internet provides an enormous opportunity
for traditional publishers because it provides a delivery mechanism for
information in digital form that is standardized, relatively simple, and
potentially universal. At the same time it presents certain dangers to
traditional publishers. Its standard format requires conversion of data
from proprietary formats. Its simplicity means that anyone can play. Its
ubiquity presents issues of data security and copyright protection.
Traditional publishers must decide what value they will be able to
provide beyond data. What features will the Internet support and publishers choose to provide? What lessons can be imported from the print and existing electronic paradigms?
Spatial Odyssey: A Case Study in Transforming the Way Information Is Accessed and Used in Business and Research
Marilyn Lutz, Queen's College
Geographic information systems (GIS) are among powerful new technologies
that enable us to collect, store, analyze, and utilize information
regarding the Earth's surface. Spatial Odyssey is an electronic
publication which provides WWW access to the full text of GIS conference
proceedings contributed by leading professional organizations. As
collaborators in the Spatial Odyssey project, five traditional print
publishers invested in building an infrastructure for the electronic
publication and distribution of GIS research literature. Spatial Odyssey
(and electronic publishing in general) fostered a more equitable,
beneficial relationship among the sometimes competing interests of
scholarly associations, other publishers of scholarly journ
libraries, and individual users of journal literature. Or did it? For
publishers, no change is more dramatic than the shift to user-initiated
retrieval for text-based information formerly distributed by print
publications. For the publishers of Spatial Odyssey this shift continues
to be fraught with uncertainty, naiveté, competition, and success
as they grapple with emerging economic and business models for
electronic publishing.
Managing Media
3:00 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.
Information Formats That Meet Researcher Needs
Gregory Banik, UMI
In their book, The Information Mosaic, McKinnon and Burns suggest that
information overload has been exaggerated. If overload exists, they say,
it is not because knowledge workers receive too much data, but rather
they receive it in a form that is not useful. Part of the problem is
that researchers must collect information from many different types of
sources (e.g., journals, books, newspapers, newsletters, reports) and
from many different medias (e.g., professional and consumer online services, the Internet and CD-ROMs). The challenges of managing these sources and media can be met by systems
designed to enhance the usefulness of information for researchers.
Managing Electronic Information: Web page, Subject Folder, and OnWeb Catalog
Dong Zhao, Rose-Hulman Institute
Never before have librarians had so many concerns as they presently do
about organizing pieces of information that come in pages or web pages.
Traditionally, librarians cope with information that exists in bound
volumes, such as books and magazines. Today, they have to organize
information that is not only new in format but also fragmented in the
way it is packaged and accessed. This presentation describes ideas for
organizing and classifying Internet resources on an individual library
web site with the concern for developing a sub- or mini-catalog of
information resources on the World Wide Web, based on a collection
policy appropriate to the library's objectives.
Track C: Markets and Commerce
Commerce and the Net
9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
Information Economics in the Internet Age
Hank Riner, UMI
According to Upside magazine, the companies most likely to succeed in
the Internet Age are "small startups with innovative ideas and no
baggage from existing lines of business." It's true that the rapid
development of the Internet has put a premium on innovation, but many
information companies have been succeeding in the online world for
several decades. How have these companies maintained and, in many cases,
grown their business lines? Not by refining information distribution
technologies, but by refining and adding value to the information
itself. Most researchers agree that the most important enhancements--the
ones that ultimately will determine success in cyberspace--are continual
improvements in online content.
The Digital Economy and New Pricing Options Benefit Commerce
10:15 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
New Pricing Options Create Real Publishing Opportunities
Nancy H. Knight, CD-MAX, Inc.
The Internet provides information providers with new ways to package,
present, and price their information. As a new distribution media, the
Internet presents information providers with a new opportunity to price
their information flexibly, whether they mount the data themselves or
through an aggregator. This session will explore pricing options being used on the Web by information providers and aggregators. Specific attention will be given to the new SilverPlatter
initiative to offer transactional pricing for their databases available
over the Internet.
Digital Researcher Services: Making an Impact on Business Decisions
Dennis J. Crane, UMI
Using online analytical processing (OLAP), Wall Street firms are able to
analyze large amounts of data quickly and make decisions in minutes and
seconds, instead of days and weeks. Similarly, other types of businesses
can adopt an approach to information management that focuses not only on
access and retrieval, but also on intelligent interaction with the user.
One such approach is the development of "Digital Researcher" services,
which use electronic content and technologies to emulate the effective
relationship between corporate reference librarians, and their patrons.
The goal is not to replace corporate librarians, but to extend these
information professionals who otherwise might not have access to this valuable resource.
Corporate databases contain critical information that is necessary to
successfully run a business. Many of those databases are outdated,
clunky, and unable to keep pace with the speed of the Web. Managers are
under constant pressure to cost-effectively create new intranet
applications that leverage their companies' hard-won legacy data. With
these new Web application tools, legacy data can be seamlessly
integrated with Internet technologies and easily manipulated and
controlled by any user. Through the use of customer examples, Laurence
Shafe will address how the use of simple English-like programming
languages enhances the development of applications, while decreasing the
development time.
Dynamic Intranets: Delivering Business Intelligence
Gregory Banik, UMI
The role of the information professional has evolved from data-gatekeeper to access-and-retrieval expert to "information facilitator" or "knowledge management consultant." In the consulting role, professionals perform creative tasks such as information product evaluation, development and synthesis. The ultimate goal of this process is to develop powerful, but easy-to-use information solutions for workers throughout an organization. To achieve this goal, information professionals can help develop a "common memory" or "convergent knowledge system" of business intelligence that executives can use for both day-to-day management and long-term planning. This presentation explores how organizations can build such systems on intranet technologies. It shows examples of companies expanding their use of Web servers to enable business intelligence team members to find information and generate analytical reports. It suggests the use of "Information Economics" to identify high impact applications of external information sources. Finally, it identifies criteria for evaluation content used in business intelligence filtering and integration services.
Markets and Marketing Aids for Internet Products and Services
2:00 p.m. - 2:45 p.m.
Hyperlinks as "Hyper" Linkages: Identifying Key Publics for Information Providers on the World Wide Web
Betsy Van der Veer Martens, Syracuse University
Public relations scholar James Grunig's use of the Esman institutional linkage model as a method for identifying "key publics" has been a technique successfully employed by public relations
practitioners attempting proactive corporate image management. As much
of corporate marketing activity moves to the Internet environment,
corporate image management principles also need to migrate. Analysis of
the hyperlink connections made both to and from corporate Web sites can
provide a useful basis for the construction of such a "hyper" linkage
model. Martens applies the model to a select sample of information
providers currently on the Web, and offers some possible image
management strategies.
The Electronic Information Market in China
3:00 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.
CERNET: An Emerging Giant on the Information Scene in China:
Its Construction and Impacts
Zi-yu Lin, Seton Hall University
As many parts of the world are making efforts in building up Internet
infrastructure at a high speed, China (the mainland area) is also
witnessing the rapid shaping of a gigantic information network. CERNET
(China Education and Research Network) has been gradually changing
information organization, dissemination, and utilization in that vast country. Zi-yu Lin will present a brief but
comprehensive review of different aspects of the development of CERNET,
including the project objectives, developmental strategies,
organizational structure, network typology, implementation phases,
current services, and international significance.
The Growth of Online Databases and Electronic Information Markets in China
Foster J. Zhang, Knight-Ridder Information, Inc.
Marcia Lei Zeng, Kent State University
The speakers will discuss the electronic information industry in China
based on two nationwide studies published in 1993 and 1996. In 1993,
only 137 databases were registered for public services in China. Just
three years later, the total number of databases registered for public
service reached 1038. Databases in the areas of economics, business, and
social sciences have increased tremendously. This session will also
analyze the impact of the growth of the database industry in China on
imported foreign databases and on remote online search services.
Track A: Internet Searching
