Research and reviews

Citation

Bruce, H. (2000), "Research and reviews", Internet Research, Vol. 10 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/intr.2000.17210caf.001

Research and reviews

This issue of the research and reviews section of Internet Research features the work of scholars at the University of Washington in Seattle. It is not surprising that innovative work aimed at enhancing our understanding of the way networked technologies are impacting on our daily professional and personal lives is coming out of this region. Washington is extremely well placed to take full advantage of the social and economic advantages of the information age. The State of Washington has been rated as an innovator (Pew Charitable Trust); Seattle is described as a top signpost among the Hottest Tech Cities in the United States and the Puget Sound area is currently referred to as the Silicon Forest (Newsweek). It is not surprising, therefore, to find a Center for Internet Research established at the University of Washington. In past issues of this journal, we have published studies that are attempting to examine the social impact of the Internet. When we describe the Internet as a Global Infrastructure, this characterization draws a sharper focus on the difficulties of integrating and accommodating diverse cultural and ethnic values. The scale of the social and political challenges of a global village challenges us. The Center for Internet Studies at the University of Washington provides a context for scholarship and the exchange and dissemination of ideas in this area. The Center welcomes communication with researchers, scholars, and policy makers.

In this issue, the research and reviews section is introduced by a study funded by the library of Congress. To some extent, Library has become the context for high quality Internet innovation; particularly in the form of reliable digital information storage and retrieval. The technologies of the Internet have transformed the library as an institution and redefined many aspects of library practice and information provision. A traditional role of library practice is as a reference service where professional librarians help people find the information that they need. In the past, this has meant that people enter a library to interact with a librarian and with a library collection. In many libraries, reference services are now available on the Web. Dr Joseph Janes from the School of Library and Information Science is studying how this transformation has taken place and what it means in terms of enhanced service and the ability of information seekers to find the information that they need.

As always - your contributions to this section of the journal are essential to achieving our mission to publish high quality, leading edge research about Internet issues and technologies. Our readers are curious about your work in progress. For those researchers who might be thinking about contributing a report to the research and reviews section of this journal, please do not hesitate to contact the editor. My contact details are email harryb@u.washington.edu and fax (206) 616 3152. As always, the contributors to this section of the journal welcome correspondence from fellow researchers.

Harry Bruce