Search results

This contribution looks at some relatively new and recent advanced tools, techniques, methods and standards related to the Internet which form the basis for mixtures of documents and services, which we can call ‘document+program hybrids’. The new Internet systems contribute to an evolution from documents on the one side and computer programs on the other side, neatly separated, apart from each other, without much interaction, so that the static document can also exist without computers and networks, to hybrid systems where the classical distinction between the contents and the container is blurred; where all components are integrated, interwoven and exist in synergy with each other; they can be more dynamic and interactive, in comparison with more classical and static documents, by involving and exploiting the power of computers and networks. A collection is presented of Internet‐based sources (URLs) that can serve as illustrations. Recent methods, techniques, standards and protocols on the Internet that form the basis of the evolution are listed. As professional information intermediaries, the authors also consider the impact in the area of online access to information and knowledge.

Focuses on some official courses, organised at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and at the University of Antwerp, in Belgium, that are all related to information literacy, mainly focusing on information retrieval. The following components of the courses and of the course materials are presented: a brief overview of the contents of each course, which is made available through the WWW in the official framework organised by the university; a document for each course, with an overview of the contents, the aims, and the evaluation procedure; a series of slides related to the course contents; questions, tasks, problems, practical exercises for the students; case studies to be carried out by each student as part of the evaluation procedure; an extensive bibliography about the subjects covered in the courses; and communication with students using electronic mail.

An empirical investigation of the consistency of retrieval through Internet search engines is reported. Thirteen engines are evaluated: AltaVista, EuroFerret, Excite, HotBot, InfoSeek, Lycos, MSN, NorthernLight, Snap, WebCrawler and three national Dutch engines: Ilse, Search.nl and Vindex. The focus is on a characteristics related to size: the degree of consistency to which an engine retrieves documents. Does an engine always present the same relevant documents that are, or were, available in its databases? We observed and identified three types of fluctuations in the result sets of several kinds of searches, many of them significant. These should be taken into account by users who apply an Internet search engine, for instance to retrieve as many relevant documents as possible, or to retrieve a document that was already found in a previous search, or to perform scientometric/bibliometric measurements. The fluctuations should also be considered as a complication of other research on the behaviour and performance of Internet search engines. In conclusion: in view of the increasing importance of the Internet as a publication/communication medium, the fluctuations in the result sets of Internet search engines can no longer be neglected.

The following bibliography focuses mainly on programs which can run on IBM microcomputers and compatibles under the operating system PC DOS/MS DOS, and which can be used in online information and documentation work. They fall into the following categories:

Microcomputers with communications software are replacing the older ‘dumb’ terminals for online access to databases on remote computers. Summarised, a microcomputer with communications software offers the following advantages:

The experience is reported of access to the Internet from a common notebook computer connected to a local area network based on Ethernet and TCP/IP network protocols. Products used were: • network adapters in the form of PC cards from two product generations; • PC‐DOS and Windows 3.1 and various additional TCP/IP software packages, or Windows 95 with included TCP/IP software from Microsoft; • various 16‐bit or 32‐bit network application programs compatible with Windows Sockets. The main conclusions are that (even with the same basic microcomputer): • large differences (probably larger than expected by most users) exist in the data transfer speeds obtained with various combinations of hardware and software components; • newer combinations of PC cards and software are easier to install and offer greater stability as well as higher transfer speeds, so that upgrading is probably worthwhile for most users.

The World Wide Web offers different systems to retrieve information about published books in the form of online catalogues of libraries and popular online bookstores, and subscription‐based bibliographic databases. The paper determines the usefulness of bibliographic information offered by such systems. For the quantitative evaluation, random tests with titles of known books were executed. The quality of the resulting output was evaluated on the basis of a set of criteria.

This paper presents an evaluation of a commercially available intelligent search agent for the Internet. Search robots and search engines can be of great help in finding information on the Internet, but their different features and sometimes their unfriendly interfaces can be confusing. Some expect that intelligent search agents could solve these problems. But most of these applications are not yet on the market, and the few that are: do they really perform? One of the few commercially available search agents is Autonomy, from Autonomy Corporation. Its concept is promising to professional users: the natural language processing of the query, the take‐over of repetitive jobs, an integrated interface for searching and managing information, and the sharing of knowledge with other users. The test in this article, however, reveals that the product is not yet ready to challenge the Internet search indexes which, in the test cases, perform better than Autonomy does with regard to recall and precision of information retrieval. Moreover, Autonomy does not give enough feedback to control the search action.

The purpose of this paper is to initiate a new approach to cultural heritage value through the highly revealing example of Chefchaouen city, Morocco. This study relates to approaching the valuation of cultural heritage per se. It does not evaluate or assess the economic value or the economic impacts of the cultural heritage. It tries to assess and measure the “culturality” of heritage based on local population opinion about urban heritage of the medina. This paper aims at obtaining information about their feeling and perceptions in respect of this heritage which may be useful for people democratic participation in decision making about heritage.

A survey using direct interviews with a sample of lower middle-class citizens coupled with direct administration of a questionnaire is carried out. The medina (but not the city) of Chefchaouen is the basis of the surveys conducted recently. The interviews are centered on the idea of preservation and participation instead of any monetized valuation.

The study has shown that there is a strong commitment of social category to participate in any type of activity leading to preserve the medina because it is their source of living and a source of profound affection. Therefore, this “willingness to preserve” may be seen as a key to define a new variable or attribute to measure the intrinsic value of heritage assets and justify the introduction in the national and international heritage list.

This study should have been achieved with much larger target population and preferably through a funded project destined to preserve work and training. Funding for better experiences is severely lacking.

Local authorities may use this research and be inspired by it new and open dimensions. Serious collaboration between authorities and people should have the most promising results.

Local authorities are more sensitive to population; therefore, they may include them in preservation planning and create employment by using the available funding.

This paper tries to enhance heritage study field at methodological level. It suggests a parameter shift to a more simple approach based on the local population opinion toward their heritage. Decision making about heritage should include people opinions and not people’s wishes.

The computer software package CDS/ISIS is suitable for the storage and retrieval of structured, text‐oriented information, such as bibliographic descriptions. Versions exist for various hardware including IBM microcomputers and compatibles. The software is very attractive, mainly because it is powerful and because the producer, Unesco, normally fulfils requests to use it for free. Micro CDS/ISIS is reviewed in this paper which includes recent experience with Version 2.3.