An interesting and useful service is now made available to authors from Lund University (courtesy of Håkan Carlsson).
"Journal Info service gives fast and simple access to journal information: general, accessibility, cost (quality and each area is supported by a number of relevant points). You can e.g. find in which databases a journal is indexed, how much it costs for the library to subscribe and which alternative OA journals exists. A total of 18,000 journals are currently supported in the database."
Library and information science area, for instance, covers 319 titles. When checking "quality" one can see databases indexing the journal, journal eigenfactor, article influence, FRIDA score and ISI impact factor (available to Journal Citation Report subscribers).
One can also check what are alternative titles with open access.
Friday, 29 June 2007
Tuesday, 26 June 2007
Survey: The use of Dublin Core and MARC
Resoum Kidane (Bibliographic Services, King's College London) conducts a survey concerning the use of Dublin Core (DC) and MARC amongst cataloguers and other information professionals.
The main aim of this research is to obtain a perception from cataloguers and other information professionals, concerning the future trends in cataloguing. As the future of MARC becomes the subject of debate amongst information professionals, there is a possibility that DC will replace MARC for cataloguing both digital and print documents.
Colleagues working with DC or MARC are kindly invited to help by answering the following questionnaire and sending it to rkidane@talk21.com
The main aim of this research is to obtain a perception from cataloguers and other information professionals, concerning the future trends in cataloguing. As the future of MARC becomes the subject of debate amongst information professionals, there is a possibility that DC will replace MARC for cataloguing both digital and print documents.
Colleagues working with DC or MARC are kindly invited to help by answering the following questionnaire and sending it to rkidane@talk21.com
3rd ISKO Italy meeting
courtesy of Claudio Gnoli:
More than 40 people attended the 3rd ISKO Italy meeting on 22 June in Milan. (University of Milano Bicocca Library).
The morning had an international flavour, as it was reconnected to the trends observed by Mela Bosch at the ISKO Spain conference recently held in Leon, showing an increase in the hermeneutic approach over the heuristic one, and especially to the Leon manifesto [http://www.iskoi.org/ilc/leon.htm]. This was promoted by Rick Szostak in his guest keynote address, concerning his proposal of non-disciplinary classification based on phenomena, theories, and methods.
Melissa Tiberi and Barbara De Santis developed on their current research concerning semantics problems in equivalence relationships, and Cristiana Bettella (whose introduction was read by Caterina Barazia) on her one about humanistic knowledge, focusing on the double role played in it by the researcher.
The afternoon was devoted to KO applications, starting with the experience of two university libraries (Milan Bicocca and Turin), with contribution of a third one in the discussion (Milan 1), in the use of KOSs to organize digital resources and links in the university webspace.
Two emerging, promising domains of KO application were introduced by Paolo Franzese: semantic indexing of institutional archives, and by the DesignNet team: information visualization, exemplified in an impressive solution for thesauri. Finally, Andrea Marchitelli discussed hybridizations of social tagging and blogging with opacs, and Jiri Pika showed UDC-based search techniques in a Swiss multilingual opac.
Programme (with presentation files, abstracts) and photos will be available in the next few days from the event's webpage .
More than 40 people attended the 3rd ISKO Italy meeting on 22 June in Milan. (University of Milano Bicocca Library).
The morning had an international flavour, as it was reconnected to the trends observed by Mela Bosch at the ISKO Spain conference recently held in Leon, showing an increase in the hermeneutic approach over the heuristic one, and especially to the Leon manifesto [http://www.iskoi.org/ilc/leon.htm]. This was promoted by Rick Szostak in his guest keynote address, concerning his proposal of non-disciplinary classification based on phenomena, theories, and methods.
Melissa Tiberi and Barbara De Santis developed on their current research concerning semantics problems in equivalence relationships, and Cristiana Bettella (whose introduction was read by Caterina Barazia) on her one about humanistic knowledge, focusing on the double role played in it by the researcher.
The afternoon was devoted to KO applications, starting with the experience of two university libraries (Milan Bicocca and Turin), with contribution of a third one in the discussion (Milan 1), in the use of KOSs to organize digital resources and links in the university webspace.
Two emerging, promising domains of KO application were introduced by Paolo Franzese: semantic indexing of institutional archives, and by the DesignNet team: information visualization, exemplified in an impressive solution for thesauri. Finally, Andrea Marchitelli discussed hybridizations of social tagging and blogging with opacs, and Jiri Pika showed UDC-based search techniques in a Swiss multilingual opac.
Programme (with presentation files, abstracts) and photos will be available in the next few days from the event's webpage .
Thursday, 21 June 2007
Press release: North American Symposium on Knowledge Organization
Courtesy of Joe Tennis:
The first symposium North American Symposium on Knowledge Organization took place at the Faculty of Information Studies at the University of Toronto, on 14-15 June 2007. There were forty participants. Researchers contributed papers and posters, and delivered presentations over 2 days (to mention only a few R. Green, M. Kipp, K. La Barre, R. Smiraglia, J. Tennis)
The group resolved to form a North American chapter of ISKO, and are moving forward with that plan.
Papers are available in the dLIST archive.
Pictures from this event are available here .
The first symposium North American Symposium on Knowledge Organization took place at the Faculty of Information Studies at the University of Toronto, on 14-15 June 2007. There were forty participants. Researchers contributed papers and posters, and delivered presentations over 2 days (to mention only a few R. Green, M. Kipp, K. La Barre, R. Smiraglia, J. Tennis)
The group resolved to form a North American chapter of ISKO, and are moving forward with that plan.
Papers are available in the dLIST archive.
Pictures from this event are available here .
Sunday, 17 June 2007
Knowledge Cafes in Liverpool
(From Talking KM, which also has more details)Peter Bond, an expert on communities of practice, is organising regular Knowledge Cafes in central Liverpool at the Ship and Mitre pub, which is situated at the museum end of Dale Street, near John Moores University. The first KCafe is on Tuesday 26th June (6pm for a 6.30pm start, until 9pm).
Planet Cataloging
After a busy fortnight, I've been catching up on my C&I postings this afternoon, and just wanted to share with you my top link for the day, Planet Cataloging.
"An automatically-generated aggregation of blogs related to cataloging and metadata designed and maintained by Jennifer Lang and Kevin S. Clarke," its blogroll is impressive, and I'm sure it's going to be useful for anyone interested in keeping up-to-date with what the catalogue-blogging community is saying - in the library sector and beyond.
I've posted a couple of drawbacks and caveats on C&I Blog, and I hope you won't mind my just linking to the post there for anyone who's interested, rather than repeat posting here.
"An automatically-generated aggregation of blogs related to cataloging and metadata designed and maintained by Jennifer Lang and Kevin S. Clarke," its blogroll is impressive, and I'm sure it's going to be useful for anyone interested in keeping up-to-date with what the catalogue-blogging community is saying - in the library sector and beyond.
I've posted a couple of drawbacks and caveats on C&I Blog, and I hope you won't mind my just linking to the post there for anyone who's interested, rather than repeat posting here.
The Business of Knowing
Just wanted to draw your attention to Helen Nicol's relatively new blog The Business of Knowing.
Helen works for Connecting for Health and is just completing an MEd that examined the use of shared blogging among programme managers in the NHS. She's got a wealth of references on how people learn and share - how they go about "the business of knowing" - that may be of interest to those of us involved in organising knowledge.
In particular, there's a great live strand on Enterprise 2.0: same problem, different platforms that includes some useful stuff on tagging and how this is "A skill in itself if tags are to be meaningful for all."
Helen works for Connecting for Health and is just completing an MEd that examined the use of shared blogging among programme managers in the NHS. She's got a wealth of references on how people learn and share - how they go about "the business of knowing" - that may be of interest to those of us involved in organising knowledge.
In particular, there's a great live strand on Enterprise 2.0: same problem, different platforms that includes some useful stuff on tagging and how this is "A skill in itself if tags are to be meaningful for all."
Monday, 11 June 2007
Records Management Society Conference, Brighton, 30 April
On 30 April 2007, I attended the first day of the 10th Annual Conference of the Records Management Society of Great Britain (RMS), in Brighton. Although I have been a member of the RMS for several years, this was the first conference I had been to. I must say, it was one of the most vibrant and stimulating conferences I have attended for some time.
The term 'Records Manager' may not conjure up a vibrant and stimulating image in most people's minds, but the worldly job title belies not only its hidden fascinations, but also its increasing importance to both public and private sector organisations today. Although I was there just for the one day as a speaker rather than a delegate - and so did not get to attend any of the main presentations - mingling with the delegates in the exhibition hall at coffee breaks was enough to convey an impression of real professional commitment and intense interest in the practical problems which RM presents.
I am sure few would disagree that organisations which provide products and services to the consumer should be accountable, not only for the quality of those products and services, but also for ensuring that the way in which they are generated or manufactured and delivered, should be ethical, legal, non-exploitative and conducive to socio-economic health and well-being. In a nutshell, that's what RM is about, and RM practitioners do not shirk that responsibility even though it is far from easy to achieve in practice.
Once they have determined what needs to be treated as a record of organisational activity (not easy with the gigabytes comprising most organisations' daily information traffic), one of the things Records Managers need to do, is to classify each record in a number of ways. Retention class determines how long a record should be kept; equally important is classifying a record by each Function > Activity > Transaction which generates it or uses it. That's needed so that if any question of the propriety of organisational behaviour should arise, then a full audit trail of the record, from creation to destruction, may be retrieved and presented as evidence.
Managing knowledge at this intense level of detail may not be everyone's cup of tea, but Records Managers approach it with a sense of duty which one can only hope to see matched at some point in other areas of an organisation.
I was there - with three other speakers in my session - to argue a specific viewpoint on the topic 'Is classification is necessary'. The idea was to stimulate thought and discussion on what the role of classification is in RM terms. Although no hard-and-fast conclusions were reached, at least the participants were exposed to a range of different perspectives and, hopefully, felt better-enabled to make up their own mids what the answer to such a question might be.
I certainly found it an enjoyable exercise, and the final plenary of the delegate groups involved seemed to agree, to the extent that the RMS plans to run a similar session again at next year's conference. Further details are available on the RMS site.
The term 'Records Manager' may not conjure up a vibrant and stimulating image in most people's minds, but the worldly job title belies not only its hidden fascinations, but also its increasing importance to both public and private sector organisations today. Although I was there just for the one day as a speaker rather than a delegate - and so did not get to attend any of the main presentations - mingling with the delegates in the exhibition hall at coffee breaks was enough to convey an impression of real professional commitment and intense interest in the practical problems which RM presents.
I am sure few would disagree that organisations which provide products and services to the consumer should be accountable, not only for the quality of those products and services, but also for ensuring that the way in which they are generated or manufactured and delivered, should be ethical, legal, non-exploitative and conducive to socio-economic health and well-being. In a nutshell, that's what RM is about, and RM practitioners do not shirk that responsibility even though it is far from easy to achieve in practice.
Once they have determined what needs to be treated as a record of organisational activity (not easy with the gigabytes comprising most organisations' daily information traffic), one of the things Records Managers need to do, is to classify each record in a number of ways. Retention class determines how long a record should be kept; equally important is classifying a record by each Function > Activity > Transaction which generates it or uses it. That's needed so that if any question of the propriety of organisational behaviour should arise, then a full audit trail of the record, from creation to destruction, may be retrieved and presented as evidence.
Managing knowledge at this intense level of detail may not be everyone's cup of tea, but Records Managers approach it with a sense of duty which one can only hope to see matched at some point in other areas of an organisation.
I was there - with three other speakers in my session - to argue a specific viewpoint on the topic 'Is classification is necessary'. The idea was to stimulate thought and discussion on what the role of classification is in RM terms. Although no hard-and-fast conclusions were reached, at least the participants were exposed to a range of different perspectives and, hopefully, felt better-enabled to make up their own mids what the answer to such a question might be.
I certainly found it an enjoyable exercise, and the final plenary of the delegate groups involved seemed to agree, to the extent that the RMS plans to run a similar session again at next year's conference. Further details are available on the RMS site.
A tag too far?
For those ISKO UK members who don't subscribe to the BCS KIDMM mailing list, I would recommend that you watch a video of David Weinberger (co-author of 'The Cluetrain Manifesto'; author of 'Small Pieces Loosely Joined'; and now of 'Everything is Miscellaneous') In summary, Weinberger is one of the most respected commentators on the new paradigms brought to us by the Web. This interesting videocast is brought to ISKO UK courtesy of Conrad Taylor of KIDMM, who in turn received the link from Dave Crossland.
Why should you watch? Because Weinberger discusses Web 2.0, the transition occurring from the Web as a centralised publish-subscribe model to a fully networked model, taxonomies, folksonomies and faceted navigation. Be warned! Some of Weinberger's views may appear, to dyed-in-the-wool KO classicists, at least challenging, at most heretical!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2159021324062223592&q=type%3Agoogle+engEDU
Enjoy it.
Why should you watch? Because Weinberger discusses Web 2.0, the transition occurring from the Web as a centralised publish-subscribe model to a fully networked model, taxonomies, folksonomies and faceted navigation. Be warned! Some of Weinberger's views may appear, to dyed-in-the-wool KO classicists, at least challenging, at most heretical!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2159021324062223592&q=type%3Agoogle+engEDU
Enjoy it.
|
Study report: "Web 2.0 for Content for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education"
Report of a study into the use of Web 2.0 technologies for content creation for learning and teaching in Higher Education, funded by JISC, and carried out between March and May 2007 - is now available here.
"It draws on existing studies, interviews with staff at universities who have implemented Web 2.0 technologies for learning and teaching, and a week-long web based seminar (webinar) with expert contributions, both from speakers and the audience. The report builds on the briefing documents that were written especially for the webinar and the results of the webinar discussions, many of which can be
found in the Moodle site that was used to support the conference."
In the Conclusion the authors (Tom Franklin and Mark van Harmelen) say:
"Web 2.0 will have profound implications for learners and teachers in formal, informal, work-based and lifelong education. Web 2.0 will affect how universities go about the business of education, from learning,teaching and assessment, through contact with school communities, widening participation, interfacing with industry, and maintaining contact with alumni.
However, it would be a mistake to consider Web 2.0 as the sole driver of these changes; instead Web 2.0 is just one part of the HE ecosystem. Other drivers include, for example, pressures to greater efficiency, changes in student population, and ongoing emphasis on better learning and teaching methods.
Nonetheless, Web 2.0 is, in our view, a technology with profound potentiality for inducing change in the HE sector. In this, the possible realms of learning to be opened up by the catalytic effects of Web 2.0 technologies are attractive, allowing greater student independence and autonomy, greater collaboration, and increased pedagogic efficiency."
"It draws on existing studies, interviews with staff at universities who have implemented Web 2.0 technologies for learning and teaching, and a week-long web based seminar (webinar) with expert contributions, both from speakers and the audience. The report builds on the briefing documents that were written especially for the webinar and the results of the webinar discussions, many of which can be
found in the Moodle site that was used to support the conference."
In the Conclusion the authors (Tom Franklin and Mark van Harmelen) say:
"Web 2.0 will have profound implications for learners and teachers in formal, informal, work-based and lifelong education. Web 2.0 will affect how universities go about the business of education, from learning,teaching and assessment, through contact with school communities, widening participation, interfacing with industry, and maintaining contact with alumni.
However, it would be a mistake to consider Web 2.0 as the sole driver of these changes; instead Web 2.0 is just one part of the HE ecosystem. Other drivers include, for example, pressures to greater efficiency, changes in student population, and ongoing emphasis on better learning and teaching methods.
Nonetheless, Web 2.0 is, in our view, a technology with profound potentiality for inducing change in the HE sector. In this, the possible realms of learning to be opened up by the catalytic effects of Web 2.0 technologies are attractive, allowing greater student independence and autonomy, greater collaboration, and increased pedagogic efficiency."
Semantic Web - an interview with Tim Berners-Lee
From ZDNet.co.uk (08 Jun 2007):
David Berlind interviews Sir Tim Berners-Lee (video), the Director of the World Wide Web Consortium at the MITX (Massachusetts Innovation and Technology Exchange) Technology Awards held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts. The inventor of the world wide web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee was awarded the organisation's 2007 Lifetime Achievement Award.
See also D. Berlind's item on the ZDNet blog "Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee Unplugged: Semantic Web better than APIs for data access"
David Berlind interviews Sir Tim Berners-Lee (video), the Director of the World Wide Web Consortium at the MITX (Massachusetts Innovation and Technology Exchange) Technology Awards held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts. The inventor of the world wide web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee was awarded the organisation's 2007 Lifetime Achievement Award.
See also D. Berlind's item on the ZDNet blog "Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee Unplugged: Semantic Web better than APIs for data access"
Sunday, 10 June 2007
NKOS discussion list moves
The NKOS (Network Knowledge Organization Systems/Services) discussion list has been moved to OCLC.
To send messages FOR DELIVERY TO THE WHOLE LIST, use
http://listserv.oclc.org/archives/nkos-l.html.
To send your first message, you will need to get a new password:
1. Go to http://listserv.oclc.org/archives/nkos-l.html.
2. Request a new password.
3. From a confirmation email, click the confirmation link to confirm.
4. Go back to http://listserv.oclc.org/archives/nkos-l.html, choose "Post to the list".
5. Use the form to compose and send your message. You may atttach files.
To send messages FOR DELIVERY TO THE WHOLE LIST, use
http://listserv.oclc.org/archives/nkos-l.html.
To send your first message, you will need to get a new password:
1. Go to http://listserv.oclc.org/archives/nkos-l.html.
2. Request a new password.
3. From a confirmation email, click the confirmation link to confirm.
4. Go back to http://listserv.oclc.org/archives/nkos-l.html, choose "Post to the list".
5. Use the form to compose and send your message. You may atttach files.
Press release: JISC Conference on Digital Repositories
From JISC repositories discussion list:
Excerpts from a summary of the JISC Conference on Digital Repositories held in Manchester 6 June 2007:
'A major conference on digital repositories took place this week in
Manchester, attracting nearly 200 delegates from around the UK...
'Rachel Bruce, JISC programme director [said that] JISC's Digital
Repositories programme... had given significant impetus to repository
development in the UK...
'Andy Powell of the Eduserv Foundation gave the first keynote
presentation on the "Repositories Roadmap"... The vision for
2010... is increasingly "not if, but when" newly published scholarly
outputs [are] made... open access. The situation now might therefore
require us to set a more ambitious target than that of a "high
percentage"... the Web['s] role as a means of discovery and access
need[s] to be emphasised more... [C]onceptualising repositories as
websites forces us to "think about their usability, their information
architectures and their accessibility."
'Dr Keith Jeffrey of the Science and Technology Facilities Council
gave the second keynote address. The benefits of open access
repositories, he claimed, include faster "research turnaround",
improved quality for the originators of research as colleagues were
able review the research more easily, as well as improved quality for
the community in general. They also support innovation, he continued,
improve education and public engagement with science and research
and enhance an institution's standing.'
Further details of the conference, including presentations, will be available shortly.
Excerpts from a summary of the JISC Conference on Digital Repositories held in Manchester 6 June 2007:
'A major conference on digital repositories took place this week in
Manchester, attracting nearly 200 delegates from around the UK...
'Rachel Bruce, JISC programme director [said that] JISC's Digital
Repositories programme... had given significant impetus to repository
development in the UK...
'Andy Powell of the Eduserv Foundation gave the first keynote
presentation on the "Repositories Roadmap"... The vision for
2010... is increasingly "not if, but when" newly published scholarly
outputs [are] made... open access. The situation now might therefore
require us to set a more ambitious target than that of a "high
percentage"... the Web['s] role as a means of discovery and access
need[s] to be emphasised more... [C]onceptualising repositories as
websites forces us to "think about their usability, their information
architectures and their accessibility."
'Dr Keith Jeffrey of the Science and Technology Facilities Council
gave the second keynote address. The benefits of open access
repositories, he claimed, include faster "research turnaround",
improved quality for the originators of research as colleagues were
able review the research more easily, as well as improved quality for
the community in general. They also support innovation, he continued,
improve education and public engagement with science and research
and enhance an institution's standing.'
Further details of the conference, including presentations, will be available shortly.
Friday, 1 June 2007
CFP: NKOS 2007 workshop at ECDL 2007
From NKOS discussion list:
The 6th European NKOS Workshop will take place on September 21st, as part of ECDL 2007 in Budapest. It builds on the previous NKOS Workshops at ECDL 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. Proposals are invited for presentations (typically 20 minutes plus discussion time, potentially longer if the substance and importance warrant it) on work or projects related to the themes of the workshop or to NKOS more generally.
Presentations from the Workshop may be invited to submit as extended papers to the electronic peer reviewed journal: Journal of Digital Information, JoDI.
Please email proposals (approx. 500 words including aims, methods, main findings) by June 29th to Douglas Tudhope (dstudhope@glam.ac.uk). Advance indication that you intend to submit a presentation would be helpful. Proposals will be peer-reviewed by the program committee and notification of acceptance will be given by July 17th. The early registration deadline for the conference and the workshop is July 31st.
The workshop aims to address key challenges for NKOS posed by the overlapping themes of
Social tagging
Semantic Web applications and implications of KOS
Terminology for language-oriented applications
Terminology registry
Terminology services
KOS Interoperability
User-centred design issues
Other NKOS related topics can also be proposed and more details can be found on the workshop website: http://www.comp.glam.ac.uk/pages/research/hypermedia/nkos/nkos2007/. For inspiration, visit the Networked Knowledge Organization Systems/Services.
Main Contact:
Douglas Tudhope,
Hypermedia Research Unit, Faculty of Advanced Technology,
University of Glamorgan
Pontypridd, CF37 1DL, Wales, UK
Email: dstudhope@glam.ac.uk
http://www.comp.glam.ac.uk/pages/staff/dstudhope
Co-organisers:
Traugott Koch Max Planck Digital Library, Invalidenstr. 35, D-101 15 Berlin, Germany, traugott.koch@mpdl.mpg.de
Marianne Lykke Nielsen, Royal School of Library and Information Science, Aalborg Branch, Aalborg, Denmark, mln@db.dk
The 6th European NKOS Workshop will take place on September 21st, as part of ECDL 2007 in Budapest. It builds on the previous NKOS Workshops at ECDL 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. Proposals are invited for presentations (typically 20 minutes plus discussion time, potentially longer if the substance and importance warrant it) on work or projects related to the themes of the workshop or to NKOS more generally.
Presentations from the Workshop may be invited to submit as extended papers to the electronic peer reviewed journal: Journal of Digital Information, JoDI.
Please email proposals (approx. 500 words including aims, methods, main findings) by June 29th to Douglas Tudhope (dstudhope@glam.ac.uk). Advance indication that you intend to submit a presentation would be helpful. Proposals will be peer-reviewed by the program committee and notification of acceptance will be given by July 17th. The early registration deadline for the conference and the workshop is July 31st.
The workshop aims to address key challenges for NKOS posed by the overlapping themes of
Social tagging
Semantic Web applications and implications of KOS
Terminology for language-oriented applications
Terminology registry
Terminology services
KOS Interoperability
User-centred design issues
Other NKOS related topics can also be proposed and more details can be found on the workshop website: http://www.comp.glam.ac.uk/pages/research/hypermedia/nkos/nkos2007/. For inspiration, visit the Networked Knowledge Organization Systems/Services.
Main Contact:
Douglas Tudhope,
Hypermedia Research Unit, Faculty of Advanced Technology,
University of Glamorgan
Pontypridd, CF37 1DL, Wales, UK
Email: dstudhope@glam.ac.uk
http://www.comp.glam.ac.uk/pages/staff/dstudhope
Co-organisers:
Traugott Koch Max Planck Digital Library, Invalidenstr. 35, D-101 15 Berlin, Germany, traugott.koch@mpdl.mpg.de
Marianne Lykke Nielsen, Royal School of Library and Information Science, Aalborg Branch, Aalborg, Denmark, mln@db.dk
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
