Search

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to analyse the findings of two recently published papers (Norris and Oppenheim, 2003; and Li et al., 2010). Design/methodology/approach - The findings were analysed from the practitioner's perspective about the procedures involved in calculating the indicator values and the ranks and ratings. This was done with the purpose of playing the devil's advocate, contemplating the reservations and arguments of those who do not want to use metrics based on database searches. Findings - One advantage of this project is that its results can be compared at least partially with the findings of the three earlier RAEs (although its grade classes have changed), as well as with some of the other ranking lists in library and information management areas. Originality/value - Very importantly, the authors concluded that "it would be premature in the extreme to suggest that citation-based indicators could be used as a cost-effective alternative to expert judgments". This is a strong, very realistic and fair statement. Even this recent project's results are very valuable in spite of the problems mentioned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the problem of information and knowledge management (IKM) in higher education institutions. The research aims to determine the way in which the knowledge resources of a higher education institution are managed. The author intends to define how the information system is shaped and how information and knowledge are used in the reporting processes and for decision-making efficiency. Design/methodology/approach: In total, 38 university administration employees from six higher education institutions in Poland participated in the study. Information barriers and benefits resulting from the implementation of the central reporting system "POL-on" were identified by using the sense-making technique. The purpose of the interviews was to determine the procedural and behavioural conditions of the reporting and decision-making processes in higher education institutions in Poland. Findings: This paper suggests four characteristics of IKM in higher education institutions. A link between the information culture of the institution, its size and structure as well as the adopted model of IKM is demonstrated. Originality/value: The main contribution of this paper is to introduce a framework for studying the IKM in higher education institutions from the perspective of information culture. Higher education institutions have developed different styles of striving for efficiency regarding decision making and reporting in administration. The IM and KM are now proved to be an integrated process in administrative activities of higher education institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this Guest Editorial is to introduce the papers in this special issue. Design/methodology/approach - A brief summary of the main contributions of the papers included in this issue is provided. Findings - In order to combat the digital information war it was found that important work must be done to establish both users' and content providers' trust through fair e-commerce/digital rights management (DRM). Originality/value - The paper provides an overview of the basic requirements of DRM systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - Term suggestion is a very useful information retrieval technique that tries to suggest relevant terms for users' queries, to help advertisers find more appropriate terms relevant to their target market. This paper aims to focus on the problem of using several semantic analysis methods to implement a term suggestion system. Design/methodology/approach - Three semantic analysis techniques are adopted - latent semantic indexing (LSI), probabilistic latent semantic indexing (PLSI), and a keyword relationship graph (KRG) - to implement a term suggestion system. Findings - This paper shows that using multiple semantic analysis techniques can give significant performance improvements. Research limitations/implications - The suggested terms returned from the system may be out of date, since the system uses a batch processing mode to update the training parameter. Originality/value - The paper shows that the benefit of the techniques is to overcome the problems of synonymy and polysemy over the information retrieval field, by using a vector space model. Moreover, an intelligent stopping strategy is proposed to save the required number of iterations for probabilistic latent semantic indexing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss what "online" means in 2006. Design/methodology/approach: The paper examines items in the popular press on this issue. Findings: The paper finds that online means anything digital, from any source, at any time. Originality/value: The paper provides useful information on the current definition of online with respect to information management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In this study, specific measures adopted by the social media platforms in China supporting personal information management are investigated via surveys targeting such platforms. The purpose of this paper is to find out how social media platforms understand information management, and from which aspects and through what specific methods they provide support for information management, which contributes to understanding the issues and strategies associated with personal information management on social media. Design/methodology/approach: The dimensions and specific contents of the current platform support provided for information management are clearly defined by performing qualitative text analysis based on the content obtained from 11 platform policies published by five representative Chinese social media platforms. Findings: How social media platforms support personal information management on creation, collection, utilisation, sharing, storage, protection, removal and modification is identified. By analysing the status quo of support provided by the Chinese social media platform, some issues are proposed for discussion. Improved normative management is required to address the coexistence of multivalued information and management risks. However, the user rights are limited because the platform policies tend to be more focused on the perspective of the social media platform. Furthermore, the platform policy contents regarding information management are incomplete, and the applicability of these policies should be improved. Originality/value: This study seeks to contribute to personal information management on social media from the perspective of platform support. The perspective from the platforms as the service providers supporting information management also helps identify information management challenges and potential strategies. Furthermore, combining with the personal information management perspective, this study provides a background understanding of information management under a social collaborative framework for platforms, authorities, users and memory institutions. Peer review: The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-06-2020-0249 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the construction and configuration of environmentally friendly living through making visible the link networks that surround personal greener living blogs. The following questions guide the exploration: which types of organisations/actors structure the issue network of green living blogs as it emerges through links? How do these links contribute to carving out thematic areas as particularly influential for the construction of what greener living is seen to mean? Design/methodology/approach – Mixed method, a link and co-link analysis of 46 personal blogs carried out with the IssueCrawler tool, is backed up by a qualitative textual analysis of central personal green living blogs to contextualise the resulting networks. Findings – The resulting network shows an issue space that is divided in two halves: one half where green living is largely an issue of relating outwards (e.g. by broaching consumption) and another half which is inwards oriented (e.g. beauty products, personal well-being). A large integrative centre of mainly personal blogs functions as a hub for different notions of greener living, structured around pleasure vs a problem focus, and along inwards vs outwards orientation. Research limitations/implications – The empirical material consists of a sample of Swedish language blogs, which has implications for the outcome of the study. Practical implications – The study intends to contribute to laying the ground for developing adequately targeted and multi-faceted (online) information campaigns to inform about environmentally friendly living. Originality/value – The results can contribute to expand understanding of environmentally friendly living as it is represented online and thereby add value to comprehend and target parts of society. This paper contributes to the area of environmental information, which is an important and topical yet under-researched area in information studies. The IssueCrawler tool is used in a concrete empirical study in information studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This exploratory study explores usage habits in music streaming applications (MSA) and their influence on various dimensions, such as: changes in personal music management (PMM) and musical information retrieval; sense of ownership over songs being stored on MSA; and privacy concerns when using those applications. It also investigates the potential effect of demographic factors and personal musical preferences on the tested variables. Design/methodology/approach: This is examined by using a mixed methodology that is consisted of two phases – qualitative and quantitative: The qualitative phase includes semistructured interviews with three MSA users, and the quantitative phase includes the distribution of closed-ended questionnaires among 192 users of MSA. Findings: It seems that the musical information management methods have changed dramatically with the introduction of MSA. Also, the findings show that even though users are only moderately concerned about their privacy within MSA, they are willing to pay for premium services that will ensure privacy protection. Interestingly, personal musical preference was found to affect the belief in the potential of using MSA as part of a social activity and on the willingness to pay for premium services within them. Originality/value: This paper represents an extension of the article by Weinberger and Bouhnik (2019). It appears to be the first academic research to investigate the issue of musical information retrieval and PMM among MSA. In addition, it is the first study that takes into account privacy-related issues among MSA users. Peer review: The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-04-2020-0118 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate and quantify the effects of personality traits, as defined by the five-factor model (FFM) on an individual's ability to detect fake news. The findings of this study are increasingly important because of the proliferation of social media news stories and the exposure of organizational stakeholders and business decision makers to a tremendous amount of information, including information that is not correct (a.k.a. disinformation). Design/methodology/approach: The data were collected utilizing the snowball sampling methodology. Students in an Management Information Systems course completed the survey. Since a diverse sample was sought, survey participants were instructed to recruit another individual from a different generation. The survey questions of the FFM identify particular personality traits in respondents. Survey respondents were given a collection of nine news stories, five of which were false and four that were true. The number of correctly identified stories was recorded, and the effect of personality traits on the ability of survey respondents to identify fake news was calculated using eta-squared and the effect size index. Findings: Each of the five factors in the FFM demonstrated an effect on an individual's ability to detect disinformation. In fact, every single variable studied had at least a small effect size index, with one exception: gender, which had basically no effect. Therefore, each variable studied (with the exception of gender) explained a portion of the variability in the number of correctly identified false news stories. Specifically, this quantitative research demonstrates that individuals with the following personality traits are better able to identify disinformation: closed to experience or cautious, introverted, disagreeable or unsympathetic, unconscientious or undirected and emotionally stable. Originality/value: There is scant research on an individual's ability to detect false news stories, although some research has been conducted on the ability to detect phishing (a type of social engineering attack to obtain funds or personal information from the person being deceived). The results of this study enable corporations to determine which of their customers, investors and other stakeholders are most likely to be deceived by disinformation. With this information, they can better prepare for and combat the impacts of misinformation on their organization, and thereby avoid the negative financial impacts that result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present a P2P network security pricing model that promotes more secure online information sharing in P2P networks through the creation of networks with increased resistance to malicious code propagation. Online information sharing is at an all-time high partly due to the recent growth in, and use of, online peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. Design/methodology/approach - The model integrates current research findings in incentive compatible network pricing with recent developments in complex network theory. File download prices in P2P networks are linked to network security using a graph theory measurement called the Pearson coefficient. The Pearson coefficient indicates a structural dimension of scale-free networks (scale-free networks like the internet) called preferential attachment. Preferential attachment refers to the network property where the probability for a node to connect to a new node is greater if the new node already has a high number of connections. Findings - The P2P network security pricing model concept is illustrated to show how the model functions to create more secure P2P networks. Research limitations/implications - Future research in P2P network security pricing should focus on testing the model presented in this paper by numerical experiments and simulation including the tracking of malicious code propagation on networks grown under the pricing model. Originality/value - The P2P network security pricing model demonstrated here is a different approach to network security that has a strong potential to impact on the future security of P2P and other computer based networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to address the issue of online security. Design/methodology/approach - Discusses the problem of breaches in online information sharing and security. Findings - There are many issues to be considered in addressing the matter of online information security that is so important for the future stability of the online world. Originality/value - Provides a discussion on policy formulation at international and national level, to trust building as a key to online security, to specific technical processes that might help thwart breaches of this security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - There is an active effort by major libraries in Taiwan to offer integrated searching as part of their information services. The purpose of this paper is to report a low-cost and high-flexibility system, <?LIPS-DOI>, which can carry out integrated searching with respect to resource management. Design/methodology/approach - The paper first reviews the related techniques and then designs an integrated search system based on the concept of resources management. The reported system, <?LIPS-DOI>, is composed of three modules: enumeration module, description module, and resolution module. The various digital contents are first imported into <?LIPS-DOI> and thereafter the system is put into operation. Findings - A low-cost and high-flexibility system for integrated searching can be implemented and put into operation. In addition to digital objects, physical objects could also be managed and searched in the proposed <?LIPS-DOI> system. This system will redirect users to the original system in which these physical objects reside. Research limitations/implications - Due to the nature of management, registered users have to manage their own objects using the features provided by <?LIPS-DOI>. Originality/value - Such a system will empower library end users to find materials of mixed formats residing in disparate locations from a single interface. It was also designed with an eye toward integration with its DOI counterpart in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Fraudulent financial statements and the manipulation of stock prices can seriously affect investors' judgment of company performance, especially in stock markets in emerging economies. Apart from financial reports, which run the risk of being misreported, are there any other information sources that the public can trust when it comes to the truth about a company's performance? The purpose of this paper is to address this issue by assessing the correlation between online recruitment information and company performance and provide investors with a new framework to assist them in making decisions and to identify fraud. Design/methodology/approach – The research extracted the recruitment information of normal and fraudulent companies separately from the internet by employing techniques of natural language processing, opinion mining and competitive intelligence. A statistical tool was then used to study whether there is a difference in the correlation between the recruitment information intensity (RII) and the annually averaged stock price (AASP) of normal and fraudulent firms. Findings – The experiments showed that recruitment information intensity is significantly correlated to company's stock performance for normal firms, which indicates that the company's recruitment activities are consistent with their performance. But for fraudulent companies, the fact that the result is quite the opposite may imply that the RII discloses the truth when managers make misreports. Practical implications – The findings suggest that the intensity of a company's recruitment information is a valuable element for investors in evaluating the firm, and it also can be used as a reliable tool to assist in identifying fraudulent companies. Originality/value – This paper provided a novel way for the public to break information barriers to reach the truth of companies' performance and avoid misleading fraudulent finance statements. It is also a useful application of natural language processing techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The aim of this research is to define a data model of theses and dissertations that enables data exchange with CERIF-compatible CRIS systems and data exchange according to OAI-PMH protocol in different metadata formats (Dublin Core, EDT-MS, etc.). Design/methodology/approach – Various systems that contain metadata about theses and dissertations are analyzed. There are different standards and protocols that enable the interoperability of those systems: CERIF standard, AOI-PMH protocol, etc. A physical data model that enables interoperability with almost all of those systems is created using the PowerDesigner CASE tool. Findings – A set of metadata about theses and dissertations that contain all the metadata required by CERIF data model, Dublin Core format, EDT-MS format and all the metadata prescribed by the University of Novi Sad is defined. Defined metadata can be stored in the CERIF-compatible data model based on the MARC21 format. Practical implications – CRIS-UNS is a CRIS which has been developed at the University of Novi Sad since 2008. The system is based on the proposed data model, which enables the system's interoperability with other CERIF-compatible CRIS systems. Also, the system based on the proposed model can become a member of NDLTD. Social implications – A system based on the proposed model increases the availability of theses and dissertations, and thus encourages the development of the knowledge-based society. Originality/value – A data model of theses and dissertations that enables interoperability with CERIF-compatible CRIS systems is proposed. A software system based on the proposed model could become a member of NDLTD and exchange metadata with institutional repositories. The proposed model increases the availability of theses and dissertations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The objective of this paper is to further explore relationships among social influence, blog platform qualities and usage intention for improving the understanding of the effect that social influence exerts on bloggers' usage intention. Design/methodology/approach - Based on the IS success model, the authors propose a conceptual framework incorporating information quality, system quality, blog function quality and social influence as key determinants of bloggers' usage intention. Empirical data from 613 participants were collected via a web survey. Findings - The results show that information quality, system quality and blog function quality, i.e. the technical factors, positively influence bloggers' usage intention. Among these qualities, system quality is the most prominent. For social factors, social influence significantly affects bloggers' usage intention directly and indirectly through blog platform qualities. A multi-group analysis revealed the differences between blog readers and writers in the perceptions of blog platform qualities and the intensity of path coefficients among factors in the conceptual model. Practical implications - Results from this study can be used as guidance for blogging service providers to enhance and develop blog platform functions. Moreover, the differences between blog readers and writers revealed in the findings can help service providers to develop campaigns to strengthen their usage intention accordingly. Originality/value - This paper advances the understanding of the effects of social influence on users' perception of information system qualities as well as usage intention. Social influence exhibits strong effects on users' perception of blog platform qualities. Specifically social influence not only directly affects bloggers' usage intention but also has an indirect effect on intention through the mediation of blog platform qualities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on organisational and personal knowledge management (PKM). It mentions that PKM is a concept that has developed from a combination of fields as diverse as personal information management (PIM), communications, management science and knowledge management (KM). It states that KM has been focused on how it can be used and on organisational knowledge since its 1990 inception as field of study. It says that PIM is one of the more apparent antecedents of PKM which stems from personal productivity tools and software, and research in library and information management.

Purpose - Information security is becoming increasingly more important as organisations are endangered by a variety of threats from both its internal and external environments. Many theorists now advocate that effective security policies should be created at senior management level. This is because executives are able to evaluate the organisation using a holistic approach as well as having the power to ensure that new systems and procedures are implemented in a timely manner. There is, however, a continuing lack of understanding regarding the strategic importance of managing information security. In addition, there is a gap in the literature on the relationship between directors and information security strategy. This paper attempts to close this gap by exploring how directors perceive their organisation''s security and what factors influence their decisions on the development and implementation of information security strategy. Design/methodology/approach - The research is based on constructivist grounded theory. Forty-three interviews were conducted at executive level in 29 organisations. These interviews were then coded and analysed in order to develop new theory on directors'' perception of risk and its effect on the development and implementation of information security strategy. Findings - The analysis shows that senior managers'' engagement with information security is dependent on two key variables: the strategic importance of information systems to their organisation and their perception of risk. Additionally, this research found that these two variables are affected by both organisational contextual factors and the strategic and operational actions undertaken within the business. Furthermore, the results demonstrated that the two board variables also have an impact on the organisation''s environment as well as its strategic and operational actions. This paper uses the data gathered from the interviews to develop a model of these factors. In addition, a perception grid is constructed which illustrates the potential concerns that can drive board engagement. Practical implications - The paper illustrates the advantages of using the perception grid to understand and develop current and future information security issues. Originality/value - The paper investigates how organisational directors perceive information security and how this perception influences the development of their information security strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the current status in the development of the ongoing project now known as Project i-DLR. The content of this "pointer site" includes resources pertaining to digital libraries organised using an educational framework for access. The paper describes the five-stage evaluation of that educational digital library resource (www.coe.missouri.edu/ rafee/idigital libraryR/index.php). The focus of this particular effort is on the continued development and refinement based on the recent evaluations of this resource by end users seeking to access digital library resources. The five evaluation methods are presented and described, beginning with focus group reviews, Web log analysis, database transaction logs, a Web survey, and most recently, a remote usability evaluation. As the resource continues to grow in both breadth and depth, such analyses are critical to continued refinement of the interface, the sources themselves, and the manner in which they are organised and presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to understand the values perceived and the priorities attributed by the managers to four dimensions of information quality associated with meta-information commonly used in the initial selection (scanning) of content by managers: source credibility, comprehensiveness, timeliness, and confidentiality. Design/methodology/approach – The study involved conducting simulations of information selection for decision making with 124 professionals from 11 different companies. The results were analysed with content analysis techniques, nonparametric statistics, and cluster analysis. Findings – Three levels of priority were found in the managers’ information selection process: the credibility and timeliness dimensions were the most highly prioritised, the comprehensiveness dimension was the least prioritised, and the confidentiality dimension occupied an intermediate position. The preferences of the managers are for current information and a well-known source with respect to the timeliness and source credibility dimensions, respectively. Regarding the confidentiality dimension, the preference is for restricted information, valued for the desire to know. For the comprehensiveness dimension, there was no well-defined preference for managers with respect to the quantity of text in a managerial report. Practical implications – The knowledge of priorities and values attributed to the dimensions of information quality is critical for the definition of characteristics to be incorporated into information projects. Originality/value – This study's contribution is related to the process of information selection in a dynamic situation in which little time is available to information analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The objective of this paper is twofold: first to determine to what extent Spanish public hospitals are using their web sites to provide useful information to users and to improve hospital-patient relationships, and second to determine which factors have an influence on web site adoption and level of development over time. Design/methodology/approach - The web sites of public hospitals were searched for and analysed in 2005 and 2008. Their contents and features were scored using an 86-item checklist. Several hypotheses were proposed regarding the influence of internal and external factors on web site adoption and level of development. Logit and linear regressions were conducted to test the proposed hypotheses. Findings - Half of the Spanish public hospitals do not have a web site. The hospital web sites were acceptable in the information dimension but should improve their interactive features, as well as their navigation and usability. No significant improvements were observed during the period analysed. The size of the hospitals was a determining factor for web site adoption and level of development in both years. However, from 2005 to 2008, external factors - in particular internet penetration - became a significant factor to explain the adoption and level of development of web sites. Practical implications - Citizens are increasingly relying on the internet to search for health-related information. Hospital managers should exploit the advantages of implementing and properly developing a web site in order to improve the patient-care provider relationships and offer citizens reliable information about healthcare. Originality/value - To date, no empirical study has analysed the factors that influence the implementation of hospital web sites or the evolution of their contents and quality over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the significance of a complex perspective of communication for the development of personal knowledge management (PKM). It discusses the use of complex responsive process theory (CRP) to understand the knowing and communication process that underpin PKM. It offers suggestion on how Internet and web technology may support individuals in handling their communicating and knowing processes, and their accumulation of information and knowledge. It presents recommendation a way practitioners and researchers may approach PKM that deals the weakness that have been attributed to the equivocality of KM.

Purpose - Most e-commerce web sites use HTML forms for user authentication, new user registration, newsletter subscription, and searching for products and services. The purpose of this paper is to present a method for automated classification of HTML forms, which is important for search engine applications, e.g. Yahoo Shopping and Google's Froogle, as they can be used to improve the quality of the index and accuracy of search results. Design/methodology/approach - Describes a technique for classifying HTML forms based on their features. Develops algorithms for automatic feature generation of HTML forms and a neural network to classify them. Findings - The authors tested their classifier on an e-commerce data set and a randomly retrieved data set and achieved accuracy of 94.7 and 93.9 per cent respectively. Experimental results show that the classifier is effective and efficient on both test beds, suggesting that it is a promising general purpose method. Originality/value - The paper is of value to those involved with information management and e-commerce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This research seeks to investigate the introduction of new information and communication technology systems and to describe the development of a conceptual model of enterprise resource-planning systems adoption based on the published rationales organizations use to justify their adoption. Design/methodology/approach - The study uses a grounded theory approach to building the conceptual model from electronically distributed documents. These documents were selected from a sample of universities which adopted enterprise resource-planning systems. Findings - This paper reports on the use of grounded theory in the internet context. The study found that there were strong similarities between justifications and reported motives. The study noted that justifications concerning financial, work-life and organisational-mission issues were relatively minor. Research limitations/implications - This model is built on published justifications, which should not be confused with motives. This picture may distort reality by over-emphasising some rationales and under-representing others. Practical implications - This paper may be of interest to researchers considering the use of grounded theory in their research project. Originality/value - This paper describes how grounded theory was used to construct a model of the rationales for adopting enterprise resource-planning systems from electronically sourced documents. The paper is of interest to researchers in information systems and those conducting grounded theory research on the internet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - With the ever-increasing volume of text data via the internet, it is important that documents are classified as manageable and easy to understand categories. This paper proposes the use of binary k-nearest neighbour (BKNN) for text categorization. Design/methodology/approach - The paper describes the traditional k-nearest neighbor (KNN) classifier, introduces BKNN and outlines experiemental results. Findings - The experimental results indicate that BKNN requires much less CPU time than KNN, without loss of classification performance. Originality/value - The paper demonstrates how BKNN can be an efficient and effective algorithm for text categorization. Proposes the use of binary k-nearest neighbor (BKNN ) for text categorization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The present paper aims to study the development of indigenous databases and their benefits for library users in libraries and information centers in the research and development institutions of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research of North India and to discuss the role of indigenous databases, their development and impact. Design/methodology/approach - The study used a survey methodology. Data were collected through a detailed questionnaire, together with interviews, and analyzed by dividing the concepts into themes, such as: factors responsible for developing indigenous databases; perceptions and attitude of librarians regarding indigenous databases; database forms and formats; database development from a national perspective; database maintenance, services and marketing. Findings - The findings reveal that indigenous database development is currently taking place and it has future potential. Librarians have positive attitudes towards the different aspects of indigenous databases, as library information products/services. The study recommends that efforts be made to increase user-awareness and to create a broader knowledge resource. Instead of scattered approaches and different styles, a coherent approach needs to be taken. Research limitations/implications - Only North Indian laboratories have been surveyed, so the study does not provide a complete picture of indigenous science and technology (S&T) databases. Practical implications - The study is a useful source of information about the development of indigenous databases in the Indian S&T environment. Originality/value - This paper fulfils an identified information/resource need and provides information about the current development of indigenous databases in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New and advanced technologies enable firms to collect, use, disseminate, disclose, and sell Internet users' personal information. This has raised privacy concerns. Self-regulation is preferred by governments and industry. Unfortunately, the Internet is not well suited for a successful self-regulation regime. Legislation is necessary to ensure the industry's consistent and persistent commitment to fair information practices and compliance with them. This paper attempts to assist policy making by evaluating policy proposals, analysing conflicts, and identifying the best ways to deal with online privacy controversies in the light of social conditions and Internet characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which aims to manage access control tasks to satisfy the user privacy needs of online information resources according to social relations and tags in Taiwan. It mentions that the study proposes a method for access control management in the online social context which includes social relations, access control policy management process and metadata of access control policies. Result shows that online information sharing and hiding is a unique context and needs a novel access control mechanism.

The article discusses the benefits as well as the challenges of wiki usage as an intranet/content management system in a department of a company in Slovenia. It uses the Delone and McLean information systems success model as the study's theoretical approach in exploring the company's systems, service quality, and information. The study suggests that the primary challenges of the company remain the same as the earlier technological solutions, while a wiki may have significant change and benefits to its knowledge or information management.

The article discusses the approaches for personal knowledge management (PKM) in the Web 2.0 era. The study indicates the multifaceted role of Web 2.0 for knowledge communication, collaboration, sharing, and management. It points out the capacity of Web 2.0 to run a new PKM model through collaboration, networking tools, and formal and informal communication. Examples of Web 2.0 used in organizations such as personalized Web pages, personalized search tools, and social bookmarking are also provided.

The article offers information on the effective use of technology in personal knowledge management (PKM) practices. It presents a theoretical framework integrating PKM skills, skills-tools fit, user context and technology tools. It mentions that the success of technology use resides if the usage really improves effectiveness and not just in whether individuals use technology. It offers suggestions on the need to assess and consider the technology tools in the context of how they will be adjusted with particular PKM skills.

The article presents a field survey using regression analysis and correlation techniques to examine the proposed relationship on the use of personal knowledge management systems (PKMS) by involved users and innovative users. The survey revealed that the involvement of users was the main predictor on the frequency use of PKMS, while the innovativeness of users prevailed in the prediction of the amount of PKMS functions they used. It showed that involved users are more probably to become long-term supporters of PKMS because their frequency of use is higher compared to innovative users, even though more involved users might use fewer functions equated with more innovative users.

Purpose - To provide practitioners of information management with an overview and framework to explore the various controversies associated with the methods of traditional methods of voting with electronically enhanced voting via the internet (I-voting). The current paper is centered on the assumption that I-voting is the next logical step in applying online information-gathering and retrieval technologies to the field of e-government. Design/methodology/approach - A review of the applied literature on electronically enhanced voting methods with potentials associated with internet voting, as well as from practical experience, resulted in a basic model for discussion of the emergent nature of I-voting. Findings - I-voting would reduce the cost for staffing polling stations, and also the funds needed to pay for voting machines. I-voting could also reduce the number of errors made by both the voters and the electoral administrators, and allow for easier adoption of uniform standards in the ballot format, since it could be transmitted via the internet from a central election agency to all local and regional polling places. Bridging the digital divide and internet security issues may be the most important barriers that must be overcome if I-voting becomes a viable option in the USA. Research limitations/implications - It may be years, if ever, before a truly secure, relatively risk-free internet service, such as I-voting, is developed. However, despite the controversies associated with election fraud, the numerous current voting systems that are in place suffer from the same problems associated with online informational exchanges; but, for the most part, nations still conduct their businesses and the political systems are still relatively stable. Practical implications - Owing to recent voting débâcles in the USA, the public is demanding a more reliable and secure method of voting. Currently, many nations are moving more toward electronically enhanced voting methods with the long-term goal being internet voting. Unfortunately, there are heated debates about the pros and cons of handing over the right to vote, using a system that is prone to security risks from outside sources. Originality/value - In the short term, there should be increased interest in establishing national and international standards for testing and certification of electronic and I-voting systems and their IT-infrastructure. It is a basic premise of the present study that voting online increases voter participation, which can only be viewed in a positive light. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - Aims to study human information behaviour as part of the research project on the interaction of man and the information environment (project VEGA 1/9236/02) and to analyse library users' information behaviour on both sides of the information coin - information usage and information production/publishing. Design/methodology/approach - The methodology was composed of the following steps: pilot studies of students' information-seeking behaviour; a large-scale questionnaire survey of users of academic and research libraries; data analyses and interpretations; verification of hypotheses; multiple data sorting; and modelling of user groups. Findings - Library users appreciate easy access and well-organised forms of information, with an emphasis on electronic sources. In their capacity as authors of professional papers, only few subjects considered print and electronic publishing to be equal. Two user types have been derived from the data analysis. Type S manifests pragmatic ways of information seeking and appreciates the low cost and speed of electronic publishing. Type A is characterised by analytic, in-depth information processing, stressing the prestige and review process of print publishing. Research limitations/implications - Quantitative methods can form a starting-point for typologies of human information behaviour. Additional qualitative methods, especially interviews with students, focus groups and observations, are planned for future research into modelling of users' information behaviour. Originality/value - Based on the analysis, two information-seeking styles have been identified: strategic and analytic. Differences between the search styles suggest that systems designers, knowledge managers and libraries should be open to the creative use and representation of electronic information, taking into account different information behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic impact of information and communication technology (ICT) on the academic library and on the academic institution are discussed in terms of changes in the value chain of scientific information induced by the use of ICT. Argues that ICT is a very strong engine for change as it has the potential not only to transform the research information system, but also the educational information system or even the education system at large. Academic institutions will have to create their own publishing and archiving environments using the same technology as in research publishing. These developments will have a profound impact on the value chain of scientific information as it leads academic institutions to assume entirely new roles in this chain and to develop new capabilities. As well as a digital collection strategy, academic libraries will develop strategies for supporting e-learning and e-publishing. This leads to changes in the economic conditions at the institutional and also industrial level. The developments will be discussed in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I Lives of Data i is an intellectual response to the birth and evolution of data societies as instruments of knowledge and everyday infrastructures. The untidiness of data is not only evident in the spread sheets hosting them but also in the earlier stages of collection and recording of data - what Solanki calls "data life-sources". Author Solanki, speaking about Data Nagar, a government information management system that deals with the vexed edict of knowledge equals data in the invoking of life in data regimes!. [Extracted from the article]

Purpose – This study aims to introduce an empirical model which incorporates newsgroups, knowledge forums, knowledge assets and knowledge application processes to share organisational knowledge. Therefore it seeks to illustrate an application for integrating knowledge management (KM) into the business process. Design/methodology/approach – The Taiwanese contingent of an international certification body – also a council member of the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) – was selected for a case study. A hybrid technology infrastructure was designed and employed to implement the proposed model. Based on knowledge value added validation, the proposed KM model provides a set of new operating systems for sharing knowledge within an organisation. Findings – Although many theories regarding implementation of KM in organisations have been proposed and studied, an application model for practical integration of various modern principles to share organisational knowledge is strategically important. Therefore a model that integrates principal KM applications into the business process, and the measurement of the resulting benefits, has been developed. Originality/value – Knowledge is a valuable asset for an individual in today's economy; nevertheless the acquisition of such an asset relies heavily on knowledge sharing within an organisation. The author has proposed an exclusive hybrid platform with an empirical process model to address innovative approaches and practical values of KM within an organisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents research on the mechanism of Web 2.0 service network's structural evolution. Findings of the study indicate that evolution of the service network adopts the preferential attachment rule though its exponent is found lower than for the other networks after a preferential attachment rule. It points out that the power law distribution exponent of the network is lower than for the other networks although it evolves to a scale-free network. This is correlated with the dependence of the interconnection between nodes on their property.

The article presents a study which looks into an effective decision theoretic approach for combining information filtering (IF) results. A framework which is suggested in the study is based on the information structure (IS) model whose goal is to increase the expected payoff (EP) to the user. The study explores three different approaches to IF including information control, information modeling and information retrieval. It also compares the contribution of the combined methods of filtering and presents conclusions on the combination of filtering systems.

The article investigates the effectiveness of using tags for resource discovery. Text categorisation in webpages and their associated tags from del.icio.us and trained Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifiers is used to determine if the documents can be assigned to their associated tags. The characteristics of effective and ineffective tags for resource discovery are explored by using a content analysis. Not all tags are found to be effective to be used by public users for resource discovery as results from the classifiers are mixed.

The article presents a study which aims to examine the relationship between organisational knowledge management (OKM) and personal knowledge management (PKM). It proposes strategies of organisationalising personal knowledge (OPK) and personalising organisational knowledge (POK) as the effective linkage between OKM and PKM in applying a framework which categorizes OKM and PKM. It identifies the optimal level of KMS in facilitating the implementation of OPK and POK strategies in incorporating a knowledge management system (KMS) into the framework.

The article presents a study which aims to examine how online communities of practice facilitate the engrafting of personal professional knowledge in a complex online environment. The study interviews 41 people in a national professional development programme's online communities. It presents a subset of outcomes from an exploratory case research project that examined the embedding of professional knowledge in online communities of practice (CoPs) context. It reviews fundamental literature regarding the nature of embedded knowledge, the procedure of embedding knowledge and the role of online communities of practice which supports the procedure.

Purpose: Many open source software packages are available for organizations and individuals to create digital libraries (DLs). However, a simple to use instrument to evaluate these DL software packages does not exist. The objectives of the present work are to develop a checklist for DL evaluation and use this checklist on four DL software packages. Design/methodology/approach: Features that characterized good, open source DL software were determined from the literature. First identified were essential categories of features that DL software should possess. These categories were then decomposed into supporting features. From these, a checklist that covered all such features was developed. The checklist was then used to evaluate four popular open source DL software packages (CDSware, EPrints, Fedora, and Greenstone) for the purposes of assessing suitability for use in a DL project to be undertaken by the authors. Findings: A checklist consisting of 12 categories of items was developed. Using this, Greenstone was found to be the best performer, followed by CDSware, Fedora and EPrints. Greenstone was the only software package that consistently fulfilled the majority of the criteria in many of the checklist categories. In contrast, EPrints was the worst performer due to its poor support for certain features deemed important in our checklist, and a total absence of functionality in other categories. Originality/value: The present work attempts to develop a comprehensive checklist for assessing DLs. Its flexibility allows users to tailor it to accommodate new categories, items and weighting schemes to reflect the needs of different DL implementations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supply chain management (SCM) encompasses all activities associated with a firm moving its composite flow of information, materials and services from the raw materials stage through production and on to the end customer. This includes sourcing and procurement, production scheduling, order processing, inventory management, transportation, manufacturing, warehousing, customer service and the information systems used to monitor these activities. The sudden increase in electronic commerce and the Internet have resulted in new opportunities to improve the performance of the supply chain. Potential internet-based opportunities and problems related to SCM will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To deal with the new circumstances arising in the digital environment, with its particular conditions for the access, distribution and use of intellectual works, three distinct approaches exist: legal (copyright laws are modified to adapt them to the new context), technological (systems designed to control access and use of works), and contractual (through licenses to regulate the conditions of use of the works). The joint use of technological measures and licenses, together with the laws that protect both, are seriously endangering the effectiveness of the limitations to copyright set forth by law to benefit libraries, their users and citizens in general. This represents a strong privatisation of access to information. Using as a point of reference the laws of countries that are on the front lines of this terrain--the USA, the European Union and Australia--some problems created by the new forms of protection of intellectual works are examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work describes a case study that KAERI (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute) has implemented to establish the NUCLIS21 (nuclear information system 21), a total Web-based information management system (IMS) with a view to playing an active role as one of the leading national nuclear information centres. Through a user-friendly single interface, the system aims at not only building infrastructure for the national nuclear digital information, but also improving the existing IMS at the technical information department in the KAERI. This system is designed to help users and system managers to access the system easily and to provide MyLibrary, a customised function, to a particular user. The retrieval efficiency of the system is significantly heightened due to the adoption of such state-of-the-art technologies as middleware and the retrieval engine. This system was designed as a unified network system through connection to the MIS (management information system) of the Institute. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes a service for providing literature recommendations, which is part of a networked digital library project whose principal goal is to develop technologies for supporting digital services. The proposed literature recommendation system makes use of the Web usage logs of a literature digital library. The recommendation framework consists of three sequential steps: data preparation of the Web usage log, discovery of article associations, and article recommendations. We discuss several design alternatives for conducting these steps. These alternatives are evaluated using the Web logs of our university's electronic thesis and dissertation (ETD) system. The proposed literature recommendation system has been incorporated into our university's ETD system, and is currently operational. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the analysis, design and implementation of the network information resources management system (NIRMS), which uses distributed modes of content management to collect information resources on the Internet for Chinese patrons. The first two sections describe the architecture and framework of the NIRMS and the network resources management metadata (NRMM) schema. Then the modules for resource inspection and evaluation, knowledge mining and users' information feedback are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The topic of environmental protection has always been of great concern in Germany, the establishment of environmental data sources started in the 1970s. The development of environmental information system technology in Germany is outlined and two examples are given: the Environmental Planning and Information System (UMPLIS) and the Integrated Public Environmental Information System (UIS) Baden-Wuerttemberg. Relevant German environmental data sources are discussed, such as Environmental Literature Database (ULIDAT), Environmental Research Projects Database (UFORDAT), and Environmental Law Databases (URDB), as well as the chemical databases which comprise environmental information - the BEILSTEIN database and the Landolt-Boernstein database. The Information System for Environmental Chemicals with its four metadatabases - Metadatabase of Literature on Environmental Chemicals (DALI), Metadatabase of Online Databases for Environmental Chemicals (DADB), Metadatabase of CD-ROMs for Environmental Chemicals (DACD), and the Metadatabase of Internet Resources (DAIN). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]