Search results

The development of electronic publishing heralds a new period in scientific communications. Besides the obvious advantages of an almost endless storage and transport capacity, many new features come to the fore. As each technology finds its own expressions in the ways scientific communications take form, we analyse print on paper scientific articles in order to obtain the necessary ingredients for shaping a new model for electronic communications. A short historical overview shows that the typical form of the present‐day linear (essay‐type) scientific article is the result of a technological development over the centuries. The various characteristics of print on paper are discussed and the foreseeable changes to a more modular form of communication in an electronic environment are postulated. Subsequently we take the functions of the present‐day scientific article vis‐à‐vis the author and the reader as starting points. We then focus on the process of scientific information transfer and deal essentially with the information consumption by the reader. Different types of information, at present intermingled in the linear article, can be separated and stored in well‐defined, cognitive, textual modules. To serve the scientists better in finding their way through the information overload of today, we conclude that the electronic information transfer of the future will be, in essence, a transfer of well‐defined, cognitive information modules. In the last part of this article we outline the first steps towards a new heuristic model for such scientific information transfer.

The purpose of this paper is to research the difference in reading and learning from print versus electronic media in a professional and educational setting. To what extent does the materiality of the medium influence the efficiency and effectively of the reader? What is needed to create “digital born” information rich texts? In Part 1, sustained reading of information and knowledge rich texts is addressed.

In‐depth comparative tests with a great number of subjects between print‐on‐paper, e‐ink screens and LCD screens. In Part 1 the results of tests with sustained reading of information and knowledge rich texts are reported.

All tests show that print‐on‐paper is still a superior medium for learning and digesting complicated and elaborate texts, whilst electronic screens are appreciated for quick information gathering, communication and navigation. Electronic representations of information and knowledge demand that the structure of the writing has to change.

Given the rapid development in electronic displays, many issues – in particular ergonomical – become a “moving target”. An important limitation – which is one of the quests of this research – is the lack of sufficient genuine digital born texts.

The need to start and review the writing process; the appearance but also the structure of information and knowledge rich texts. A second issue is the need to develop easy capabilities to make an electronic text as easy a “tool” as the print text, with underlining, comments and notes.

The development of novel ways of publishing educational texts.

Deep qualitative research in comparison with quantitative tests. Comparison between professional information acquisition and learning.

The purpose of this paper is to defend the vision that the creator of an electronic product has an essential capability to position the product in the market by clever integration of metadata in the creation process itself.

The paper starts with a description of the landscape, followed by an analysis of the notion metadata. Subsequently, the production of metadata and the role of the creator are discussed. The paper concludes that by cleverly coding the semantic information during the creation process, the creator will be able to play a much larger role in targeting the ultimate consumer market now and in the future.

The unique force of electronic products is in the coding. On the one hand, we have the electronic object as such. It can be a plain text document, a photo, a full colour flyer, a video, a software program, a game, or even a PDF version of an old‐fashioned book. The electronic object contains a great deal of coding. At present, this coding mainly describes the layout and structure of the electronic file and added information on rights

When the electronic object has to find its way to a consumer and becomes a product in a commercial chain, normally, and very traditionally, only the metadata added after the creation are used. The coding added in the creation of the electronic product, is hardly used and can become an important ingredient for finding information in the right context.

In this paper the extent to which modern indexing and information retrieval research meets the needs and requirements of different types of readers is criticised. A review of the stagnation in this field gives evidence for the need for a radically different approach. The main problem is identified as the assumption that knowledge contained in a scientific article can be represented by a semantic network only, and therefore can be manipulated by formal logic approaches. Complementary to this, a plea is made to start an argumentational analysis of the — highly structured — corpus of scientific articles (mainly in physics). Such an analysis might lead to an argumentational syntax which will also enable the non‐expert to browse through large quantities of electronically stored articles. A first attempt at such an approach is given. Furthermore the possible use of the Standard General Markup Language (sgml) approach in relation to a hypertext environment for a possible application is discussed.

The aim of this paper is to research the difference in reading and learning from print versus electronic media in a professional and educational setting. To what extent does the materiality of the medium influence the efficiency and effectively of the reader? What is needed to create “digital born” information rich texts? In part 2 changing presentations of educational texts on paper, LCD screen and through a mind map are addressed.

In depth comparative tests with a great number of subjects between print-on-paper, e-ink screens and LCD screens. In part 2 the results of learning from differently structured texts from paper, screen and mind maps respectively are reported. The subjects had to read the texts and subsequently had to answer knowledge questions about the content. Group discussions have been carried out thorough the test.

All tests show that print-on-paper is still a superior medium for learning and digesting complicated and elaborate texts, while electronic screens are appreciated for quick information gathering, communication and navigation. Electronic representations of information and knowledge demands that the structure of the writing has to change.

Given the rapid development in electronic displays, many issues – in particular ergonomical – become a “moving target”. An important limitation – which is one of the quests of this research – is the lack of sufficient genuine digital born texts.

The need is to start and review the writing process; the appearance but also the structure of information and knowledge rich texts. A second issue is the need to develop easy capabilities to make electronic texts as easy a “tool” as the print text with underlining, comments and notes.

This is deep qualitative research in comparison with quantitative tests and a comparison between professional information acquisition and learning

The purpose of this paper is to show that the demise of quality in the press, possibly due to short‐sighted financial practices, and the decline in some uses of the public library are both effects of the tide of electronicification of information and knowledge. However, this new force can be re‐formed and used as a reinforcement of the democratic roots of society by integrating the public library as a centre of certified and validated culture and information and as the new public function of civil journalism.

The paper starts with a description of developments in the library world in which the Dutch case is taken as a typical example. Subsequently, the decline of the quality newspaper is discussed, its societal role and its increasing dependency on stock market value. Hereafter, the central role of the civic stakeholders is revisited to and the crucial position that free quality information has for a democratic society.

The analysis clearly shows that both institutions, the library and the press, face the same damage as a result of the rapid changes due to the electronic revolution in the media. However, going back to the societal functions of these institutions, the new media can also be used as an engine for change and for development of a novel integration of quality information creation and storage.

The paper defends the need for a concerted and conscious policy to turn the public library into a workspace for civil journalism and a centre not only of high culture, social cohesion and a quality information repository, but also as an integrated public space for democratic self‐publishing and news reporting.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the main contents of the 18th BOBCATSSS Symposium, held in Parma, Italy in January 2010, dedicated to the main theme “Bridging the digital divide: libraries providing access for all?”

The report provides a concise presentation of the main themes discussed during the conference.

The topics presented focused mainly on the fields of access and delivery, community support and collections, with some others focusing on leadership and management.

This symposium is one of the few conferences in the world where students are the main characters and participate as organisers, reviewers and presenters of the contributions. Reports on such conferences are of interest to both students and to teachers and professionals.

As a consequence of digitization, universities have to investigate their scholarly communication process. In fact, this is a quest for values that goes beyond the issues of the day. Once found, these values operate as criteria for assessing competencies, roles and instruments. The communication process must allow for free exchange of ideas and results. In particular, knowledge created in the public domain must be openly accessible. The process must be reliable, lend credibility to authors and give support to users. The respective competencies are logistics, validation and mediation. New technologies not only support these classical aspirations, but also develop their own dynamics when it comes to broadening the communication scope. Publications can be enhanced by including audio‐visuals, executable files and datasets. Linking techniques enable the creation of organically growing bodies of knowledge. Who is the fittest for this scholarly communication job? Is it universities and their libraries and university presses, or could it best remain in the hands of global publishing monopolies?