Search results

This chapter discusses recent information policy activities and initiatives in the European Union (EU). EU information policy refers to the legislation and strategies pertaining to the creation of the European information society. It is concerned with economic and industrial competitiveness, with an emphasis on the role that information and communication technologies play in revolutionizing everyday life. This discussion focuses on the information policy areas of greatest interest to information professionals. It addresses the EU's struggles with the concept of transparency with regard to the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, the application of privacy measures to the Internet of Things, and open-access to EU-funded research.

The aim of this research project is to uncover if place‐based learning can increase learner engagement and understanding of historical topics.

To study this, learners will use GeoStoryteller to learn about a historical topic on the places where significant events occurred, and then be interviewed by the researchers. GeoStoryteller is a tool developed by the researchers that runs on smartphones, such as an iPhone or Android. It provides the user multimedia stories about the historical sites, delivered via the mobile web or through Layar, an augmented reality web browser. The initial application of this technology focuses on German immigration to New York City between 1840 and 1945 through a partnership with the Goethe‐Institut, the Federal Republic of Germany's cultural institution. After using GeoStoryteller to learn about this content, n=31 participants were interviewed by the researchers, and transcripts were subjected to a quantitative content analysis.

Results indicate that the use of place increases learner perceptions of their engagement and understanding of historical topics; however, novel user interfaces like augmented reality impose significant usability issues, and more standard interfaces are preferred by users.

The use of place in mobile learning environments provides a meaningful entry point into historical content. Teachers of history and social studies, as well as those working in memory institutions (museum, libraries, and archives), should be encouraged in using place in their teaching and mobile education initiatives.

This study aims to investigate the use of a popular portable e‐reader device, the Kindle 2, among library and information science (LIS) students and its effects on individual reading practices and the potential applications for library services.

Using journal logs and diary‐interviews as methods of data collection, the study analyzes the use of the Kindle over a one‐week period by a pool of 20 LIS students at Pratt Institute's School of Information and Library Science.

The findings reveal four key areas that provide a framework for data interpretation: usage patterns, user interaction, effect on reading habits, and future applications. One major finding is that the portability of the device and its convenience of use anywhere and any time is pivotal for enhancing the students' reading experience and outweighs the limitations of the device's usability.

Results may not be generalizable due to the small size and homogeneity of the sample.

The social and cultural impacts of e‐book readers in everyday life have received little attention so far. In particular, questions about the effects of e‐readers on individual reading practices and the potential applications for library delivery systems have yet to be examined. This study is one of the first to investigate the use of portable e‐book readers.

Reports on the conference, "Ethics of Electronic Information in the 21st Century 20032, held in Tennessee, October 2003.

As a new editor faced with a short deadline, it was gratifying to receive a large number of outstanding submissions in the past 6 months. This volume focuses on topics that push the edge in our increasingly electronically driven world. Not only is the field of library and information science awash in changes wrought by rapidly evolving technologies but so are almost all sectors that touch our daily lives. From e-banking to movies delivered through Wii and to smart phones with webcams and GPS applications, we face complexities that can paralyze us or make us embrace the digital environment. As our information environment becomes enriched, so do the challenges of keeping current as individuals and as librarians and information scientists. The most troublesome quandary is how we can learn from these early days of becoming digital to plan and accept changes in our work, our learning environments, and our personal and family lives. Just as industrialization changed the world a century ago, the digital explosion is causing another radical shift in our world.

Highly sensitive information pertaining to citizens and government transactions is processed in an electronic format, making information security a critical part of e-Government applications and architectures. Information security measures should ideally span from authentication to authorisation and from logical/physical access control to auditing of electronic transactions and log books. The lack of such measures compromises confidentiality, integrity and availability of information. Today, most e-Government projects in developing countries in Southern Africa Developing Community (SADC) face challenges in two main areas, namely, information security and application software integration. This paper aims to discuss and analyse the information security requirements for e-Government projects and proposes an information security governance model for service-based architectures (SBAs).

The current state of information security in emerging economies in SADC countries was researched. The main problems identified were the lack of software integration and information security governance, policy and administration. The design consists of three basic layers: information security governance defined at the strategic level of the government; information security policy/management defined at the management/operational level; and information security measures, implemented at the technical level. This section also proposes a policy for implementing public key infrastructures to protect information, transactions and e-services. A Token-Ring-based mechanism for implementing Single-Sign-On has also been developed as part of this study.

The main problems identified were the lack of software integration and information security governance, policy and administration. These challenges are causing e-government projects to stagnate.

The proposed approach for implementing information security in e-Government systems will ensure a holistic approach to ensuring confidentiality, integrity and non-repudiation, allowing e-Government maturity to progress from “interaction” to “online transaction” stage in emerging economies.

Research has not focused on developing a solution for emerging economies which are facing difficulties in integration software applications to deploy end-to-end e-services and to produce an underlying identity management architecture and information security governance to secure the e-services developed and deployed using an SBA. The work produced in this paper is specific to SBAs in e-government environments where legacy systems already exist. The work includes: information security governance defined at the strategic level of the government; information security policy/management defined at the management/operational level; and information security measures implemented at the technical level. This section also proposes a policy for implementing public key infrastructures to protect information, transactions and e-services. A Token-Ring-based mechanism for implementing Single-Sign-On has also been developed as part of this study.