Search results

Purpose – To investigate the potential of the semantic web as a source of information about social networks within academia, as well as more widely for webometric investigations.

Methodology – The functionality of five semantic search engines were analyzed to determine their suitability for webometric investigations, with the most suitable, Sindice.com, then being used to investigate the use of Friend of a Friend (FOAF) within UK academic web space.

Findings – In comparison to the web of documents, the semantic web is still a small part of online content. Even the well-established FOAF social vocabulary was not found on the majority of academic web sites, let alone being found to represent the majority of academics, and provided little indication of social networks between institutions. Nonetheless from a webometric perspective the study does show the potential of a semantic web for a far wider range of webometric investigations, and demonstrates that, unlike the traditional web, there are currently useful tools available.

Implications – Having established that there are appropriate tools available for webometric investigations of the semantic web, and acknowledging the potential of the semantic web for far more detailed webometric investigations, there is a need for additional studies to determine the specific strengths and limitations of the tools that are available, and investigate those areas where webometric investigations can provide the most useful insights.

Originality/value – The research applies established webometric methodologies to the social semantic web, demonstrating the potential of a whole new area for future webometric investigation.

This column aims to look at various aspects of search engine optimization (SEO) and the potential risks and rewards from exposing library-related content using techniques such as microdata and descriptive frameworks such as that outlined on schema.org.

Regular column.

This column explores concepts related to SEO and is speculative in nature.

Academic libraries can greatly benefit from exploring the potential benefits of using SEO and microdata/microformats. The landscape for SEO has changed dramatically over the past decade, and the benefit to libraries who have in once sense seen themselves as competitors with the major search engines is significant.

The purpose of this paper is to explore methods for opening up web content to automated classification using metadata, potentially in the context of library groupware or portals.

Examines various web sites and meta‐searching tools which provides a new means of access for users, and allow users to better document and integrate their research findings.

This paper is exploratory in nature and highlights trends in the area of library groupware, link routing, and personalized metadata usage.

The vast wealth of information on the web today needs to be exploited by information specialists (librarians) by assisting patrons in organizing, sharing and syndicating content from nearly any information source and empowering patrons via the use of “folksonomies” which are grass roots taxonomies, in conjunction with traditional controlled vocabularies.

In highlighting the as of yet untapped power of technologies such as openURL and link routing, digital librarians can assist patrons by providing services against traditional and non traditional information sources allowing resources to be organized and shared in order to increase utility. This paper examines innovative means by which this could be accomplished.

The purpose of this paper is to describe aspects of content sharing within e‐maintenance, with a view to merging the two areas of maintenance and ICT in a content management perspective.

The approach is an explorative literature study covering aspects of ICT. The analysis is founded on theories related to maintenance and maintenance support. The conclusions of the study are corroborated by experiences from earlier software development and testing.

Most existing contributions to the e‐maintenance debate seem to suffer from too wide a gap between data processing and knowledge management. This tendency can be due to too great a focus on data collection, without any clear identification of the stakeholders' requirements. Hence, a mature e‐maintenance solution should focus on the enhancement of service‐oriented information logistics based on content sharing for an output‐based information strategy.

This study focuses on the needs of content format and transformation content, which includes data format, data structures and data type for objects that are relevant for the maintenance process. Hence, further research could include aspects of infrastructure and service architecture, which are on a higher level of an e‐maintenance solution.

The paper contributes with knowledge that supports decisions about content format in the development of an e‐maintenance solution. This can in turn support a reduction of maintenance‐related hazards through the improved use of ICT.

This paper describes the importance of content management within the e‐maintenance approach. Hence, the paper has implications for both practitioners and researchers as described above.

Introduces and analyzes basic library collection management issues regarding electronic journals, including selection, budgeting, policy making, collection evaluation, and preservation/archiving. Argues that staffing and budgeting for electronic journals can be organized on subject‐based or format‐based approaches, or some combination of both. Electronic journals are selected through the same three‐stage process used for print journals: identification, evaluation, and selection. Most of the traditional criteria for print journals are also applicable to electronic journals, but additional criteria are superimposed on them. The cancellation and weeding of electronic journals have not been addressed by the profession, but will assume more significance in the future. There is a need for new client‐centered evaluation methodologies that focus on availability and accessibility rather than ownership.

Nowadays, the use of WCMS (web content management systems) is widespread. The conversion of this infrastructure into its semantic equivalent (semantic WCMS) is a critical issue, as this enables the benefits of the semantic web to be extended. The purpose of this paper is to present a FLERSA (Flexible Range Semantic Annotation) for flexible range semantic annotation.

A FLERSA is presented as a user‐centred annotation tool for Web content expressed in natural language. The tool has been built in order to illustrate how a WCMS called Joomla! can be converted into its semantic equivalent.

The development of the tool shows that it is possible to build a semantic WCMS through a combination of semantic components and other resources such as ontologies and emergence technologies, including XML, RDF, RDFa and OWL.

The paper provides a starting‐point for further research in which the principles and techniques of the FLERSA tool can be applied to any WCMS.

The tool allows both manual and automatic semantic annotations, as well as providing enhanced search capabilities. For manual annotation, a new flexible range markup technique is used, based on the RDFa standard, to support the evolution of annotated Web documents more effectively than XPointer. For automatic annotation, a hybrid approach based on machine learning techniques (Vector‐Space Model + n‐grams) is used to determine the concepts that the content of a Web document deals with (from an ontology which provides a taxonomy), based on previous annotations that are used as a training corpus.