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The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the evidence for the use of on‐line forums within education and their use in working with service users with mental health problems. The paper also outlines the key characteristics of the online facilitator. The authors propose that nurse education is well placed to develop students on‐line forum participation and moderation programme.

The authors reviewed the literature to assess the current evidence.

Much of the literature was international, mainly from Asia Pacific, the USA and Europe but there was limited research and position papers from the UK. The use of forums was discussed but there is a paucity of research, particularly in relation to the use of on‐line forums within mental health. The literature identifies and gives an insight into the complexities of using on‐line forums.

Research limitations: this is a systematic literature review but only English language papers were consulted. Also the authors drew on their personal experiences of working with students in an on‐line learning environment to inform this paper. Implications: educators need to develop a change in attitude with regard to the use of on‐line learning. Many are used to face‐to‐face teaching and still regard it as the most stimulating and appropriate way for knowledge development. Specific collaborative and interactive skills are considered to be desirable when engaging in on‐line forums. These have to be learned by both the moderator and the students. Mental health nurses should be encouraged to perceive the skills of forum facilitation in a positive way when engaging with service users and can add to their repertoire of skills.

The authors suggest that more research is needed within this area on on‐line forums, with particular emphasis on how student nurses engage in on‐line forums. It is felt that nurses, given proper preparation and effective training, are well placed to carry out the role. Partnership working could be developed with universities and NHS Trusts to develop Trust's staff skills and expertise in the moderation of forums, as universities have the skills and experience. However supervision would be essential for moderators to develop appropriate pedagogic tools to facilitate what is a complex process.

The authors suggest making better use of available technology and empowering the service user to take ownership of the way they engage with professionals.

This appears to be an area that is under researched and considering the increasing usage of social networking as a means of peer support, there is scope for this to be transferred to professional practice.

This paper discusses disclosures required of on‐line broker‐dealers, and recommends various internal measures that on‐line broker‐dealers should take to comply with securities trading regulations. On‐line trading is transforming the relationship between investors and broker‐dealers. While the services offered by on‐line broker‐dealers may be different from those offered by full‐service brokers, the differences are diminishing, and both activities are subject to the same rules and regulations. A GAO report of May 2000, revealed that many on‐line broker‐dealers did not comply with disclosure requirements, resulting in complaints by customers who lost money or financial opportunities. As the SEC is strengthening its examinations, this article is helpful to firms that offer trading on‐line to comply with disclosure requirements for investor protection. This article is especially helpful for internal auditors of these firms in implementing internal policy and procedures to ensure adequate disclosures and to mitigate risks of investors’ litigation.

This study examines performance measurement in on‐line securities companies in the Australian marketplace. Marketing managers of seven on‐line stock brokerage companies in Australian capital cities were interviewed and their on‐line strategies and approaches were systematically reviewed and analysed. The findings suggest that only four of the seven companies were able to articulate a core value proposition and that only two companies used performance measurement in strategic decision‐making about the on‐line component of their businesses. None of the firms was able to draw a direct connection between the performance measures implemented and the value proposition they claimed to offer to their customers. These findings have important implications for both practitioners and academics as they indicate a substantial deficiency in both the theory and practice of on‐line performance measurement. Avenues for further research in the area of on‐line performance measurement are suggested.

The possibility of having access to all the world's literature from a single computer terminal stimulated the imagination of the research workers in the late' sixties. It was this goal and the fascination of the co‐operation between man and machine, that inspired the major changes that have taken place in Information Retrieval over the past ten years.

First of all, I must apologise for the interval between this VINE and the last. Unfortunately VINE's production cycle is growing longer as automated library systems become more complex, and consequently more time‐consuming to write up. Moreover, in this issue I have attempted in certain articles, for instance those on COM bureaux and the Telepen, to adopt a thematic approach to the subject, rather than reporting on individual projects. The process of cross‐checking the details of such articles with all the organisations concerned has been partly responsible for the delay in publishing VINE 17. Nevertheless in the long terms I still hope to increase the frequency with which VINE is published, thereby increasing its currency and decreasing the size of each individual issue.

Minicomputers provide an alternative means to access on‐line bibliographic retrieval systems. As the use of on‐line retrieval continues to grow and to spread into the nontechnical community, users and potential users will find it imperative to establish new methods to maximize the benefits of available on‐line systems. The paper explores the effects minicomputers can have on the on‐line retrieval environment. The experience at Editec indicates that minicomputers used in on‐line retrieval offer substantial benefits not possible using computer terminals, the major benefit being the increased acceptance of the on‐line search product by the end user community. Variable costs are held down to acceptable limits, the major consideration for those interested in their use being their high capital cost. The primary difference in using minicomputers rather than computer terminals is the ability to work at higher speeds. This enables many changes to be made which can affect the on‐line retrieval product. The decision to use minicomputers for on‐line retrieval entails lengthy analysis of current and projected use of on‐line retrieval within an organization, the availability of qualified staff, the costs of equipment and software development. It is hoped that some of the considerations in the paper may be helpful in analyzing these questions.

This paper explores the use of interactive marketing by UK on‐line wine providers to discover the extent to which strategic or tactical use is made of the web‐based presence. The four principles of relationship marketing were used as an evaluative framework against which on‐line wine providers were assessed. The paper finds that most UK on‐line wine providers use interactive marketing tactically without giving sufficient consideration to maximising the potential of building relationships through Interactivity.

Managing potential customers' perception of risk is essential to successful Internet wine retailing. If on‐line providers can minimise risk thus instilling a level of trust, then the initiation of an on‐line purchasing relationship can commence. This paper reviews the literature surrounding trust and risk and describes early findings of the elements of trust based on recent primary research. In addition, the paper develops an illustrative framework showing the links between the elements of trust and the parameters of risk for on‐line wine purchasing. Finally, the paper offers recommendations to on‐line wine providers to encourage trust, and these are outlined under the three discrete functions of an on‐line provider: site design, marketing and the e‐tailing function, on‐line wine purchasing. Finally, the paper offers recommendations to on‐line wine providers to encourage trust, and these are outlined under the three discrete functions of an on‐line provider: site design, marketing and the e‐tailing function.

The purpose of this paper is to report on and evaluate focus groups and privacy diary/interview methods used in a qualitative study of on‐line privacy.

The paper is a discursive evaluation of two methods employed to study on‐line privacy, informed by and situated in interpretive and constructivist approaches to knowledge.

The paper argues for the value of qualitative research methods in study of on‐line privacy. It confronts the positivist paradigm that informs much of the work in the field by foregrounding the need for methodological plurality in the study of privacy as relational, situated, dynamic and contextual. It deals with the notion of “sensitivity” as well as introducing often neglected issue of logistical challenges in qualitative research.

The paper contributes to the existing debates about the value of employment of qualitative research methods broadly, as well as in the study of on‐line privacy more specifically. It demonstrates a range of advantages and challenges in use of the two methods, providing recommendations of how to supplement them. It opens up the discussion of process of sensitizing of the participants and thus the “co‐construction” of knowledge.

A model of the relationships between individuals' perceptions of internet use and internet usage behaviors is presented and tested. The purpose of this paper is to propose that a lack of perceived responsiveness to on‐line communication is positively related to individuals' general resistance to use the internet as a communication information exchange medium, termed general internet apprehensiveness (GIA). Perceptions of GIA are negatively associated with on‐line information‐seeking behavior, and positively associated with individuals' resistance to or fear of using the internet for on‐line retail transactions, termed transactional internet apprehensiveness (TIA).

College‐aged students reported their attitudes about on‐line information seeking, on‐line purchasing, and their on‐line information seeking and purchasing behaviors. The model presented is tested with path analysis to assess the variables' interrelationships.

Ultimately, lack of responsiveness is positively related to GIA, GIA is negatively related to information‐seeking behavior, and TIA is negatively related to consumers' on‐line purchasing of goods and services.

The student sample used in this study prevents us from making broad‐based generalizations. While students represent a large base of internet users and have been presented as a viable population to study in investigations for both academic audiences and marketing practitioners, future research will continue to benefit from more diverse samples of internet users.

This study offers hospitality professionals a better understanding of the elements that inhibit or encourage on‐line information seeking and purchasing behaviors.

This paper further defines the socio‐demographic factors that inhibit consumers from using the internet as both an information‐sharing tool and purchasing medium.