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A distinction is made between information retrieval and knowledge transfer, in terms of which the latter activity assumes a much greater degree of conceptual organization. It is argued that the current generation of on‐line information‐retrieval systems must evolve into so‐called ‘second generation’ systems that will support the more demanding requirements for knowledge instead of information. It appears that the man/machine interactive inquiry systems characteristic of today's on‐line activities can form a good basis for knowledge transfer, and an approach is described in which the LEADERMART information system is used as the platform for a knowledge‐transfer system. A model is described for the on‐line management and transfer of problem‐solving knowledge. Several ways in which information flow can be converted to knowledge‐transfer activities are explored, although there appears to be no unique paradigm for this conversion. Instead, knowledge transfer is explicated in terms of enhancements to on‐line retrieval manipulations, featuring an ever increasing emphasis on such direct forms of information transfer as numerical data retrieval and the retrieval of answer‐indicating passages. A new question‐analyzing procedure, QUANSY, is described which functions with another new technique for information regeneration to provide a start toward genuine knowledge transfer.

Contends that effective e‐learning requires that the education content be written and delivered very differently than in the past. Proposes to cut through the complexity associated with adopting an e‐learning approach by highlighting 13 key questions that need to be asked in assessing the strengths, weaknesses, and applicability of different e‐learning offerings. Asserts that when properly answered, the 13 questions provide a solid basis for evaluating on‐line learning and education products, and for positioning a company’s approach to e‐learning with an eye on the future instead of the past. Includes definitions that illustrate how e‐learning products are evolving.

The recent report for the Commission of the European Communities on current multilingual activities in the field of scientific and technical information and the 1977 conference on the same theme both included substantial sections on operational and experimental machine translation systems, and in its Plan of action the Commission announced its intention to introduce an operational machine translation system into its departments and to support research projects on machine translation. This revival of interest in machine translation may well have surprised many who have tended in recent years to dismiss it as one of the ‘great failures’ of scientific research. What has changed? What grounds are there now for optimism about machine translation? Or is it still a ‘utopian dream’ ? The aim of this review is to give a general picture of present activities which may help readers to reach their own conclusions. After a sketch of the historical background and general aims (section I), it describes operational and experimental machine translation systems of recent years (section II), it continues with descriptions of interactive (man‐machine) systems and machine‐assisted translation (section III), (and it concludes with a general survey of present problems and future possibilities section IV).

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.

Viewdata was a British invention. The inventor, Sam Fedida, came to work at the Post Office research centre in 1970, on a “viewphone” project. Apart from providing television pictures of the caller and recipient involved in a telephone conversation, the viewphone was also to allow transmission of computer data. Such a piece of equipment would, it was hoped, increase telephone network use during off‐peak periods.

This article contends that the content and scope of “second generation” state reforms in Latin America show a high degree of heterogeneity due to the national contexts and the depth of the changes produced by the earlier reforms. The “third generation” reform is rejected as a valid category. There is no clear distinction between premises or values, roles, and instruments of reform. The “first generation” of reforms constituted the easy phase of state transformation. In the second phase, the difficulties are similar to the ones that Latin American countries faced during 70 years of reformist attempts which constituted the prehistory of this process and ended mostly in failure. By means of a critical analysis of the paradigm of the “reinvention of governmentr”, the instrumental challenges implicit in its eventual materialization are reviewed. As an emblematic case, the Argentine experience is used to illustrate the main propositions of this article.

Engages in debate regarding immigrants and ethnicity in the USA. Research, based on second‐generation West Indian immigrants, shows ethnicity has very real implications for immigrants’ life experience. Suggests that black immigrants complicate the slight understanding of blackness in general, but also the understanding of identity development.

This paper examines how the adoption of e‐commerce will influence the processes of dissemination, communication and management of information in the AEC industry. We argue that e‐commerce will render redundant the business models that currently support these processes, and propose templates for the business models of the future. Effective information flow is fundamental to the process of realizing a construction project and within this project information pool, manufacturers' product information forms a core component. It provides designers with technical information to support decision making during design, the data necessary to communicate specification requirements to contractors and finally a means by which contractors can source the materials required to construct the project. We examine the current business model and motivations for each actor in this sector before going on to discuss the areas where e‐commerce can most effectively be adopted. We propose a three generation model for e‐business and conclude by describing the changes to the underlying business models that we believe are necessary to support effective e‐commerce in the future.