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The goals of this study are to evaluate the factorial validity of a measurement model of cultural heritage portals and to test the model's invariance as it relates to user satisfaction.

A measurement model was created by adapting multiple existing scales with the hypothesis that overall user satisfaction with a cultural heritage portal consists of satisfaction with data quality, satisfaction with service quality and users' technology acceptance. The validity of the indicator variables of each of the adapted scales was tested, then a combined measurement model was tested, via confirmatory factor analysis. The re-specified measurement model was then tested for invariance between two age groups with increasingly stringent criteria.

The analyses indicated that the three frameworks complement each other in assessing the factors influencing user satisfaction, especially in cultural heritage portals, and that the factor structure is the same across age groups, confirming the findings of the recent online trend: some of the key internet activities such as information consumption are becoming uniformly popular across different age groups.

Considering that it is not usual for non-profit organisations to assess customer satisfaction, and there exists limited literature examining factors influencing user satisfaction with cultural heritage portals, especially with different age populations, the findings of the current study provide a valuable contribution to the literature. The study also benefits practitioners in the field by providing a framework to assess user satisfaction with existing cultural heritage portals and/or to build cultural heritage portals in a way that increases users' satisfaction, regardless of age group.

This chapter draws from the authors’ experiences with service-learning pedagogy in allied health training programs, and illustrates ways in which community-engaged teaching and learning can prepare students to become ethical healthcare practitioners. The authors infuse examples from their own courses throughout the chapter, mostly from the clinical fields of speech-language pathology, audiology, and occupational therapy. However, the chapter is applicable and generalizable to faculty from a wide scope of allied health training programs. The chapter introduces considerations for establishing campus–community partnerships in an ethical manner, as well as ways to foster student self-reflection and critical thinking through an ethical lens. Principles from the codes of ethics of various allied health professions are incorporated throughout the chapter along with examples of how each can be applied in community-based clinical experiences. Through a review of relevant literature, analysis of professional codes of ethics, case-based examples, and a step-by-step guide to course development, this chapter provides readers with a mechanism to ground their courses in professional ethics in a way that is relatable and relevant to students.

When new technologies become available and cultures adopt them, the result can be either convergence, cultures becoming more similar as a result, or divergence, when cultures adopt technology in different ways that maintain or even further accentuate their differences. An analysis of full‐service national Web portals from different countries, typically offering a search engine, directories of links on a set of selected topics, news items (including weather, sports, entertainment, and stock market results), advertisements and shopping, and free e‐mail, shows evidence of both trends. While most national portals closely resemble the basic structure of Yahoo!, the original free full‐service portal, there are also differences in appearance and features offered that can be attributed to cultural variations based on Hofstede’s framework.

The emergence and diffusion of the Internet has prompted a surge in web portal sites that are designed to meet the specific needs of ethnic Internet users who are not native English speakers. These ethnic portal sites may be set up by global portal giants (e.g. Yahoo!) or by local entrepreneurs (e.g. netease.com in China). Often, because of the different origins of these sites, they tend to have different operating philosophies and varying appeals to ethnic Internet users. In this study, we first analyze the differences and similarities among different types of ethnic portals. We then propose a conceptual model concerning the factors that affect the patronage of ethnic portals by ethnic Internet users. An empirical study was designed to test the conceptual model with data collected from Mainland Chinese Internet users. Finally, implications of the study results for ethnic portals are presented.

To report on the work of the SPEIR project and indicate its relevance beyond the Scottish information environment. SPEIR was funded by the Scottish Library and Information Council to identify, research, and develop the elements of an internationally interoperable Scottish Common Information Environment (SCIE) for Library, Museum and Archive domain information services, and to determine the best path for future progress. A key focus was to determine the distributed information infrastructure requirements of a pilot Scottish Cultural Portal being developed in parallel with the SPEIR work, building on existing pilot initiatives such as the CAIRNS distributed catalogue and landscaper, the SCONE collections database, the SCAMP staff portal and an embryonic organisational infrastructure based on the Confederation of Scottish Mini‐cooperatives (CoSMiC).

A series of practical pilots was undertaken. These were underpinned by relevant desk and field research and conducted within an overarching holistic approach to developing the distributed environment.

Key outcomes included the creation of a single upgraded integrated service incorporating an extended distributed catalogue, collections database, and landscaper, the creation of a pilot distributed digital library, the development of open‐URL‐based facilities to permit portals to incorporate “canned searches” of the catalogue, the collections database, the SDDL, and other compatible services, an illustrative pilot Scottish terminology mapping service, and various organisational infrastructure and professional support improvements.

The embryonic technical and organisational infrastructure reported may provide a model for other small countries (or regions within larger countries) seeking a coherent approach to the development of an interoperable information environment.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the construction of the prototype of Europeana.eu, the cross‐domain cultural heritage portal funded by the European Commission, to look at the political vision behind the project, and examine the user scenarios that informed the build, to detail Europeana's metadata schema and object model, and to give an overview of the new projects that will bring the prototype to full operational service.

As the project to build the prototype ends, this is a narrative of Europeana's genesis, development, launch, and an overview of the scope of future plans.

A cross‐domain, cross‐border cultural heritage site has been successfully created. A total of 4.5 million items across the range of image, video, text and sound formats have been integrated and user interest has proved higher than anticipated.

Key issues have been found to be metadata standards and quality. Usability/searchability of Europeana.eu is only as good as the metadata provided by content owners.

Greater standardisation of metadata across the cultural heritage domain will increase in importance so providers can deliver content to portals and aggregators. Metadata enhancement, both by content providers and by using automated processes, will likewise become a priority.

This is the on‐the‐record account of the building of Europe's digital library, archive and museum.

The rising volume of open government data (OGD) contrasts with the limited acceptance and utilization of OGD among citizens. This study investigates the reasons for citizens’ not using available OGD by comparing citizens’ attitudes towards OGD with the development of OGD portals. The comparison includes four OGD utilization processes derived from the literature, namely OGD awareness, needs, access and consumption.

A case study in China has been carried out. A sociological questionnaire was designed to collect data from Chinese citizens (demand), and personal visits were carried out to collect data from OGD portals (supply).

Results show that Chinese citizens have low awareness of OGD and OGD portals. Significant differences were recognized between citizens’ expectations and OGD portals development in OGD categories and features, data access services and support functions. Correlations were found between citizens’ OGD awareness, needs, access and consumption.

By linking the supply of OGD from the governments with each process of citizens’ OGD utilization, this paper proposes a framework for citizens’ OGD utilization lifecycle and provides a new tool to investigate reasons for citizens’ not making use of OGD.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of The Bridging Worlds Conference which was held in October 2008 in Singapore.

One of the main topics the National Library Board of Singapore, the organising party, wished to address was the roles cultural institutions, such as libraries, may play in (virtual) communities and how they can build audience share based on these communities. In this context The European Library – gateway to Europe's national library resources – explained how it markets its services to academic communities in and, to some degree, outside Europe. The European Library focuses its portal on the European academic community and fits its services primarily within academic working processes. Other mechanisms and channels help it reach other types of user groups from all over the world. For example, it is the main library contributor in Europeana, the cross‐domain portal that launched its first public beta‐version in November 2008.

Emphasising the value of using different channels to serve different communities – either via Europeana or by plugging‐in existing virtual environments via application programming interfaces (APIs) and widgets – The European Library is a great example of how important (channel) marketing is to online public institutions. Further references are made to the “test, measure and (re)act” methodology and challenges in presenting a crawler and user‐friendly portal.

Overall the paper provides an interesting insight in the marketing approach of one of the biggest digital libraries, and how it tries to work with cultural differences and changing user requirements. Calling for the adoption of a more market‐oriented approach by public institutions, it is of interest to all information professionals, but especially marketers of public institutions and other market‐oriented, certainly those interested in channel marketing.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the availability of embedded metadata within images of digital cultural collections. It is designed to examine a proposed hypothesis that most digitally derived images of cultural resources are stripped of their metadata once they are placed on the web.

A sample of 603 images were selected randomly from four cultural portals which aggregate digitized cultural collections, then four steps in the data collection process took place to examine image metadata via the web-based tool and windows application.

The study revealed that 28.5 percent of the analyzed images contained metadata, no links exist between image embedded metadata and its metadata record or the pages of the websites analyzed, and there is a significant usage of Extensible Metadata Platform to encode embedded metadata within the images.

The findings of the study may encourage heritage digital collection providers to reconsider their metadata preservation practices and policies to enrich the content of embedded metadata. In addition, it will raise awareness about the potential and value of embedded metadata in enhancing the findability and exchange of digital collections.

This study is ground breaking in that it is one of the early studies, especially in the Arab world, which aim to recognize the use of image embedded metadata within cultural heritage digital collections on the web.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how CALIMERA set out to help ordinary citizens right across Europe to join e‐Europe through the digital services provided by their local cultural institutions and to extend the European research area by sharing knowledge and exchanging best practice with those countries providing strong potential for beneficial research partnerships with Europe in the local cultural services area.

During its 18‐month duration (December 2003 to May 2005) CALIMERA monitored technical developments and solutions emerging from IST and national research and assessed their potential as widely transferable technologies for use by local institutions and citizens. It also aimed to co‐ordinate and sensitise the stakeholders including professional networks, national and local authorities and solution providers, contributing strongly to increased knowledge and confidence for national strategic bodies in designing and implementing IST strategies for local cultural services.

The results of CALIMERA: portal web site www.calimera.org 42 country reports; state‐of‐the‐art report on national and local policies; policy toolkit for cross‐domain working; best practice guidelines; policy and best practice forum; impact measurement recommendations; business models report; solutions noticeboard http://solutions.calimera.org; training guidelines; research road‐map; community mapping model; usability guidelines. Originality/value – The extensive portfolio of guidance, evidence and tools for policy makers and professional practitioners developed by CALIMERA will contribute to enabling local cultural institutions to play the important role necessary for achieving a new citizen‐centred and culturally aware Europe