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Offers suggestions several functions and uses of the Internet for writing college-level term papers. Introduction to term-paper writing; Details on the function of the Internet; Opportunities provided by the Internet. INSETS: Internet Services;GeoRef.

The writing process has traditionally been seen ‘as a lonely journey’ to typify the lack of support that students experience for writing outside the classroom. This paper examines an attempt of The Writing Portal (TWP), a supplementary online writing platform, to support students’ writing needs throughout the five stages of the writing process, viz., planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. Social constructivist principles underpin TWP, which was designed to engender collaboration amongst its student participants. Not only does TWP provide links to evaluated Internet resources and a writing portfolio, but it also features collaboration tools such as the Group Forum, chat, a writing portfolio, a private messaging system, and a comment function for pages or articles created. Thus, it is very much akin to a ‘one-stop centre’ for academic writing within a flexible and supportive environment. In this qualitative case study, 16 third-year TESL pre-service teachers at a Malaysian Teacher Education Institute embarked on a 12-week writing course using TWP. Qualitative data in the form of students’ online discourses, task reflections, log files, and digital artefacts were captured to explore how TWP's affordances supported students’ writing needs. In addition, Soller's collaborative learning conversation skills (CLCS) taxonomy was used as an analytical framework to investigate the collaborative learning engendered in the online environment. The findings indicate that TWP served its purpose by addressing students’ writing needs at all stages of the writing process as they accomplished multiple writing tasks. Additionally, evidence of collaborative learning is evident in three functions of TWP: the Group Forum, chat, and the comments for pages/articles. However, there are differences between the frequencies of the specific skills used for each function. To conclude, TWP appears to be a successful tool at supporting students at all stages of the writing process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although China has a long history of cartography and map collections, the condition of China's map collections and accessibility to geographic and digital data is still unknown to world counterparts. This paper discusses the paper and digital map collections situation in China from the perspective of multiple collections and from sharing services. Paper map collections are introduced through a survey and analysis of the National Library of China, Peking University Library, and Beijing Normal University Library. Dynamic map service Web sites and the related Web infrastructure are introduced as being representative of digital map collections in China. The Data Sharing Platform of Earth System Science (DSPESS) of the National Science and Technology Infrastructure of China, which has operated for more than ten years, is used as a case study to analyze digital map data sets sharing and services. Digital map data collection characteristics, the data sharing policy, user distribution, and the stewardship staff of DSPESS are analyzed. We also present challenges and potential demands facing China's map data collection and sharing services from the perspectives of a sharing mechanism, financial support, technical challenges, and allocation of professional staff resources. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Kim White and Sarah Townsend created the End[of] Paper blog while preparing for their panel on "Electronic Book Technologies." In their blog they discussed innovations in creative-critical works, reference works; mass market publications; electronic textbooks; ephemera; and collaborative constructions. They also discussed issues of preservation; standardization; and literacy. Fittingly, their paper was presented in blog format. Exemplary texts from each category were presented. Links to many of these texts as well as the text of the presentation itself can he found on the blog website "End [of] Paper" www. endofpaper. blogspot.com. To accompany your web journey, we are including a bibliography of related electronic resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a lack of empirical research in the use of computers in assessment. A study was conducted to compare student performance in computerized and paper-and-pen multiple-choice tests and assess the extent and effect of 'computer anxiety'. The LXR.TEST 5.1 software was used for the computerized test. A validated rating scale was used to assess computer anxiety. Most students had little computer experience other than in word processing. Only about a third of the students had moderate to mild computer anxiety. Neither computer experience nor anxiety correlated significantly with performance in the computer test. Whereas students performed significantly better in the paper test than in the computer test, there was no statistical difference in ranking in the two assessments formats. This suggests that computer-based assessment could be used with confidence for the purposes of ranking students, but care should be taken in using it for grading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper elaborates a future vision for building performance simulation and the contributions planned by IBPSA to enable it over time. The premise is that truly powerful support for the design and operation of the built environment can best be enabled by task sharing developments directed by an overarching vision of the ultimate goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including anatomised computer-assisted language learning, use of the Writing Portal online writing platform by language students, and teaching English language to Korean students.

The article reviews several web sites for librarians including A Library Writer's Blog located at www.librarywriting.blogspot.com, Academic Writing Librarians Blog located at www.academicwritinglibrarian.blogspot.ie and Dolore's List of Call for Proposals (CFPs) located at www.sites.psu.edu.

The article reviews the web site Medical Teachers from the medical associations.

Although overweight and obese individuals are turning to Internet communities for social support for weight loss, there is no validated online instrument for measuring the subjective social support experiences of participants in these communities. The authors' objective was to determine whether an online version of a validated paper questionnaire, the Weight Management Support Inventory, is appropriate for measuring social support among members of Internet weight loss communities. The authors administered the paper and online versions of the questionnaire in random, counterbalanced fashion to 199 members of a large Internet weight loss community. Scores for the paper and online versions were comparable in between-subjects and within-subjects comparisons. Convergent validity is suggested by the finding that participants who posted messages on Internet forums several times per day reported more social support than those who posted less frequently. However, the instrumental (tangible) support items did not load significantly on the instrumental support factor, suggesting that instrumental support is not relevant to the social support exchanged among participants in these communities. The authors conclude that the online, modified Weight Management Support Inventory, without items for instrumental support, is an appropriate instrument for measuring social support for weight loss among members of Internet weight loss communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the traditions of Himalayan book-making from manuscript through xylograph printing. Current projects involving scanning and digitization of sacred texts, developments of digital Tibetan fonts, print on demand texts in pothi format, and new Tibetan libraries and preservation projects show the rich and varied history of the book in Tibet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including economic values related to service expansion of information technology product companies, the effect of sentiment in reposting microblogs, and credibility assessment systems.

The article provides an introduction to the issue and cites several reports contained in it including "An Interdisciplinary Perspective of IT Service Management and Service Science," by Indranil Bardhan, Haluk Demirkan, P. K. Kannan, Robert J. Kauffman and Ryan Sougstad; "Connecting IT Services Operations to Service Marketing Practices," by Mitzi M. Montoya, Anne P. Massey and Vijay Khatri; and "Multitask Agency, Modular Architecture and Task Disaggregation in SaaS," by Anjana Susarla, Anitesh Barua and Andrew B. Whinston.

The notion of a genre system typically connotes sequences of interrelated communicative genres. This paper suggests that we can find other types of relationships among genres. Data from a field study in a large emergency room illustrate how doctors, nurses, and clerical staff routinely combine document genres not only in sequences but also in various accumulations achieved through proximity and movement. The combinations of genres add flexibility to the emergency room staff's genre use and allow them to employ individual genres for several purposes. The data allow us to explore how organizational members manage the tension between a need for continuity in communicative practices and a need for flexibility in managing a jumble of paper-based and digital information systems. In addition, it demonstrates how end users often tinker with genres' media and form in the process of altering combinations among specific genres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented to articles within the issue on the theme of Muslims in Western countries with topics, including the role of whiteness in white converts to Islam, the impact of Muslims on the political culture of Leicester, England and online Islamophobia.

As student evaluation of teaching (SET) instruments are increasingly administered online, research has found that the response rates have dropped significantly. Validity concerns have necessitated research that explores student motivation for completing SETs. This study uses Vroom's [(1964).Work and motivation(3rd ed.). New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons] expectancy theory to frame student focus group responses regarding their motivations for completing and not completing paper and online SETs. Results show that students consider the following outcomes when deciding whether to complete SETs: (a) course improvement, (b) appropriate instructor tenure and promotion, (c) accurate instructor ratings are available to students, (d) spending reasonable amount of time on SETs, (e) retaining anonymity, (f) avoiding social scrutiny, (g) earning points and releasing grades, and (h) being a good university citizen. Results show that the lower online response rate is largely due to students’ differing feelings of obligation in the 2 formats. Students also noted that in certain situations, students often answer SETs insincerely. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper presents the results of a quasi-experimental study which was conducted with a view to determining the effect of an intervention in the form of the application of teacher-designed Internet-based resources (i.e., websites, podcasts, movie clips) that students could use autonomously on the development of pronunciation of the English regular past tense -ed ending. The sample consisted of 45 Polish secondary school learners. Participants were divided into three groups, two treatment and one control. The intervention spanned two weeks. The lessons in treatment group 1 were conducted by means of online resources and those in treatment group 2 were carried out in a traditional way (i.e., without autonomous recourse to computer-assisted pronunciation teaching). The students in the control group did not receive any instruction related to the pronunciation feature in question over that time. The data were gathered by means of perception and production tests administered before (pretest) and after (immediate and delayed posttests) the treatment, and subjected to quantitative analysis. The results, supported by the participants' evaluation of the two types of pedagogic intervention, indicate that although the effects of the experimental treatments proved to be comparable, the use of online resources produced more durable gains and was more favorably evaluated by learners. This provides a rationale for using computer technology as a tool for enhancing traditional teaching of English pronunciation in secondary school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses a notion that many maps may be visually engaging but reveal very little data. He uses the word cloud as a metaphor for many current online mapping, which he describes as very visual and engaging but ultimately lacking in purposeful information. He asserts that a lot of online mapping fails because of the use of third-party map services to produce such maps, giving little thought to design, layout or the message to be communicated.

The following offers an overview of what it means for cities to be 'smart.' It draws the supporting definitions and critical insights into smart cities from a series of papers presented at the 2009 Trans-national Conference on Creating Smart(er) Cities. What the papers all have in common is their desire to overcome the all too often self-congratulatory nature of the claims cities make to be smart and their over-reliance on a distinctively entrepreneurial route to smart cities. Individually, they serve to highlight the major challenges cities face in their drive to become smart. Collectively they begin to uncover what it means for cities to be smart. Together the papers offer an alternative route to smart cities laid down by those advocating a more neo-liberal roadmap, rooted in a critically aware knowledge-base and more realistic understanding of what it means for cities to be smart(er). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we model a fully covered duopoly market in which two firms offer a differentiated information product that exhibits positive network effects and a complementary premium service to consumers. For each firm, there are two marketing strategies: the freemium strategy and the bundling strategy. We find that, under the market equilibrium, a firms' decision whether to employ the freemium strategy or not depends largely on the quality of the information product compared to its rival. When the information product quality is similar and the products' intrinsic values are sufficiently large, both firms will be better off by adopting the freemium strategy, while the bundling strategy will prevail if the products' intrinsic values are sufficiently small. Additionally, when the magnitude of complementary effects or network effects exceeds a given threshold, both firms' profit can be enhanced by an increase in the degree of product complementarity or in the intensity of network effects. We also demonstrate that a firm can benefit from an increasing market size only if the intrinsic value of its information product is sufficiently large. Finally, we extend our model to the uncovered market and derive the equilibrium prices and profits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a web-based interactive application designed to complement and expand upon a relatively new conflict elimination tool, the evaporating cloud, introduced by Goldratt in the business novel It's Not Luck (Goldratt, E., 1994. It s not luck. Croton-on-Hudson, NY: North River Press). The application allows users to enter information concerning a conflict in a step-by-step manner providing opportunity to revisit input entered in previous steps. It presents the conflict in a simple, logical diagram, and systematically guides the user through the process of surfacing underlying assumptions and developing potential solutions. Based on our experience in a senior-level operations management course, we find that most students consider the web app useful in helping them articulate and resolve conflicts and, thereby, make good decisions. Suggestions for using the application in an operations management class are included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technology-based research has a long, storied history in the sales discipline. Beginning with the role of computers to laptops, moving to the influence of the Internet, onward to customer relationship management and sales force automation applications, and now to the role of social media, sales research is being shuttled into a new technological paradigm. The purpose of this paper is to review the role of social media in the sales force and the sales process. We begin the paper by providing definitions of social media and reviewing the role and importance of social media in business. An analogy between the rise of Internet usage in the sales force and the advent of social media is presented and discussed. Next, we discuss the challenges of social media in the sales and marketing interface and review four different business strategies to determine who "owns" social media within an organization. We continue with a discussion of the different stages in the sales process and offer ways in which social media influences each individual step, thereby outlining future research opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the benefits of Groupware, a generic term for network-based software design for student learning activities. Features of the software; Theoretical justification on the use of groupware; How to use the tool.

In this article, the author discusses submission of articles to the journal. Topics discussed include articles in the issue on consumer research, periodical's Taylor & Francis website at http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/wicm20/current and manuscript submission along with acknowledgement to reviewers of the journal.

This paper examines how the roles of language, culture, and translation could be modelled within a framework of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) used in disasters. It is based on empirical data drawn from a case study of foreign nationals resident in Japan for the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. The case study revealed that the ICT used in the 2011 disaster was diverse; that interesting relationships existed between the forms of ICT used; that the use of this ICT varied across time, space, and user; and that translation in the disaster was a highly-contextual process of written and oral interlingual and intercultural transfer carried out mostly by volunteers. These findings have been combined in the paper with concepts taken from ecosystems theory in the study of ecology to propose a model of an ICT ecosystem in a disaster setting. The model describes and explains the forces and factors that come together to create the environment in which ICT is used by human actors during a disaster; namely information circulation, power, network capacity, infrastructure, location, income, language, and culture. The model also explains how translation can be conceptualised as a subsidy to assist the central force driving the system. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In English as a second language (ESL) writing pedagogy, much attention has been given to electronic portfolio (e-portfolio) assessment via social networking sites. However, little is known about how Facebook can be used as an e-portfolio platform. Hence, this paper describes the impact of Facebook-based e-portfolio on ESL students’ writing practices and the challenges they encountered in implementing this type of e-portfolio. For this purpose, 171 first-year university students completed a 15-item self-report questionnaire and provided details on the problems they encountered during the e-portfolio implementation. Results indicate that Facebook-based e-portfolio had a positive impact on students’ writing practices, making it a viable tool for e-portfolio assessment. Nevertheless, some challenges and suggestions for future implementation were reported. The paper concludes with implications for writing assessment practices and future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) is an important approach to analyse spatial distribution of point features and linear features over 2-D planar space. Some network-based KDE methods have been developed in recent years, which focus on estimating density distribution of point events over 1-D network space. However, the existing KDE methods are not appropriate for analysing the distribution characteristics of certain kind of features or events, such as traffic jams, queue at intersections and taxi carrying passenger events. These events occur and distribute in 1-D road network space, and present a continuous linear distribution along network. This paper presents a novel Network Kernel Density Estimation method for Linear features (NKDE-L) to analyse the space–time distribution characteristics of linear features over 1-D network space. We first analyse the density distribution of each linear feature along networks, then estimate the density distribution for the whole network space in terms of the network distance and network topology. In the case study, we apply the NKDE-L to analyse the space–time dynamics of taxis’ pick-up events, with real road network and taxi trace data in Wuhan. Taxis’ pick-up events are defined and extracted as linear events (LE) in this paper. We first conduct a space–time statistics of pick-upLEin different temporal granularities. Then we analyse the space–time density distribution of the pick-up events in the road network using the NKDE-L, and uncover some dynamic patterns of people’s activities and traffic condition. In addition, we compare the NKDE-L with quadrat method and planar KDE. The comparison results prove the advantages of the NKDE-L in analysing spatial distribution patterns of linear features in network space. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper reports on findings from a study which investigates our digital identities. Through examination of the process of constructing biographical films derived from users’ social media (SM) data, we progress understanding of the digital self. Building on dramaturgical understandings of performance of self, we challenge the dominant views which argue that SM users operating as their ‘authentic selves’ can be empowered by having the potential for contemporaneous multiple selves. Through the introduction of the concepts of SM leakage and multiple temporal selves, we note the challenge of living with these digital self-representations which are sustained over time. We propose strategies for dealing with temporal shifts, as well as dispensing with the notion of the separation of these selves. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Research on competitive pressure plays an important part in understanding a firm’s behaviour in its changing environment. This paper provides an empirical contribution to the knowledge of the relationship between competitive pressure and internal information integration in this area by focusing on manufacturer internal information integration. The findings show that the degree of manufacturer internal information can be explained by the competitive strength of the largest firm in the industry. From a management perspective, the results indicate the need to regard the competitive landscape as an additional lever of manufacturer internal information sharing. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper deals with the geography of innovation networks and analyses combinatorial knowledge dynamics from a single cluster perspective. Addressing firms in the media cluster in Bergen, Norway, we examine how and from where companies acquire and combine different types of knowledge for their innovation activities. The empirical analysis, which is based on structured interviews with 22 media companies, identifies two main types of cluster firms: media content providers that rely heavily on symbolic knowledge and media technology providers that draw mostly on synthetic knowledge. Even though they draw on different knowledge bases, the two types of firms are strongly interlinked in their innovation activities and source knowledge from each other. Furthermore, we find that synthetic firms constitute a gateway to the regional R&D system and that the region acts as key arena for the combination of dissimilar knowledge bases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

EPOS is an established and rapidly growing feature of the UK retail scene with a wide range of potential impacts across the whole value chain. This paper focuses upon the more immediate impact of EPOS on the marketing strategies of retailers and their suppliers and on the retailer-supplier relationship. Emphasis is given lo the potential which EPOS presents for the development of new approaches to channel co-operation and for the building of new patterns of strategic alliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new subject repository, Economists Online (EO), has recently been launched. The pioneering model upon which it is built, aggregating the subject specific content of a consortium of participating institutions and their repositories, is examined in this article. An overview of existing subject repositories is given, along with an analysis of the scholarly communications landscape in economics and how the new EO subject repository fits into this environment. This paper makes a case for collaboration between institutional repositories as a way of increasing Open Access (OA) access to research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we explore the issue of security of e-voting procedures, given the established limitations of technology. We examine security in the context of the increased complexity of multiple-channel voting, provided by a multiplicity of agents involved in the administration of e-elections. In the course of interviews and observations conducted during the 2003 UK local government legally binding e-voting pilots we have identified several procedural security gaps and related procedural security measures. We adopt an existing framework of e-voting security objectives and use it as an analytical tool to indicate the importance of the procedural aspect of security. In concluding we extend the use of procedural security measures to the need for transparency, trust and public confidence towards the newly introduced voting practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laboratories are generally regarded as critical to engineering education, and yet educational institutions face significant challenges in developing and maintaining high-quality laboratory facilities. Remote laboratories are increasingly being explored as a partial solution to this challenge, with research showing that – for the right learning outcomes – they can be viable adjuncts or alternatives to conventional hands-on laboratories. One consequential opportunity arising from the inherent support for distributed access is the possibility of cross-institutional shared facilities. While both technical feasibility and pedagogic implications of remote laboratories have been well studied within the literature, the organisational and logistical issues associated with shared facilities have received limited consideration. This paper uses an existing national-scale laboratory sharing initiative, along with a related survey and laboratory sharing data, to analyse a range of factors that can affect engagement in laboratory sharing. The paper also discusses the implications for supporting ongoing laboratory sharing. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents information related to the Library of Congress Conference that was held during November 15-17, 2000 in Washington D.C. It is reported that the conference titled "Bibliographic Control for the New Millennium: Confronting the Challenges of Networked Resources and the Web," aimed at developing a strategy to address the challenges of access to Web resources via. library catalogs and applications of metadata.

This paper offers an inventory of Internet resources on the history of medicine. Some sites are bibliographic; they supply book and journal citations. Some provide leads (or links) to more specific information, and some include full-text articles or historical essays. Because this material is intended to furnish librarians with reference direction, more attention is given to bibliographic and ''linked'' sites. This paper updates a previous version published in Medical Reference Services Quarterly in Spring 1998. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

ABSTRACT. The Social Science Research Network is a rapidly grow- ing Web site containing full text scholarly working papers and forthcoming papers in the fields of accounting, economics, Latin American studies, and legal research. This column describes and analyzes the site. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper aims to model and investigate the discrete urban road network design problem, using a multi-objective time-dependent decision-making approach. Given a base network made up with two-way links, candidate link expansion projects, and candidate link construction projects, the problem determines the optimal combination of one-way and two-way links, the optimal selection of capacity expansion projects, and the optimal lane allocations on two-way links over a dual time scale. The problem considers both the total travel time and the total CO emissions as the two objective function measures. The problem is modelled using a time-dependent approach that considers a planning horizon of multiple years and both morning and evening peaks. Under this approach, the model allows determining the sequence of link construction, the expansion projects over a predetermined planning horizon, the configuration of street orientations, and the lane allocations for morning and evening peaks in each year of the planning horizon. This model is formulated as a mixed-integer programming problem with mathematical equilibrium constraints. In this regard, two multi-objective metaheuristics, including a modified non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) and a multi-objective B-cell algorithm, are proposed to solve the above-mentioned problem. Computational results for various test networks are also presented in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many higher educational institutions and academic staff are still sceptical about the validity and reliability of student evaluation questionnaires, in particular when these evaluations are completed online. One month after a university-wide implementation from paper to online evaluation across 629 modules, (perceived) resistance and ambivalence amongst academic staff were unpacked. A mixed-method study was conducted amongst 104 academics using survey methods and follow-up semi-structured interviews. Despite a successful ‘technical’ transition (i.e. response rate of 60%, similar scores to previous evaluations), more than half of respondents reported a negative experience with this transition. The results indicate that the multidimensional nature of ambivalence towards change and the dual nature of student evaluations can influence the effectiveness of organisational transition processes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Electronic supply chain management (eSCM) has become a popular Web-based seamless supply chain process. Given that Chinese firms are important parts of global supply chains, it is imperative to investigate factors that would affect eSCM adoption in China. In this study, we examine the impact of three power sources – non-mediated, coercive-mediated and reward-mediated power – on the three dimensions of trust – competence, goodwill and contractual – and their influence in turn on a firm’s eSCM adoption intention in China. We collected data through a survey of 131 manufacturing and service firms in China. Our results show that non-mediated power is positively associated with competence and goodwill trust but negatively related to contractual trust. Coercive-mediated power only negatively affects competence and goodwill trust. Reward-mediated power does not affect any type of trust significantly. The results also provide empirical support for the positive effects of competence and contractual trust on the intention to adopt eSCM. This paper contributes knowledge about the power–trust relationship in China from a supply chain perspective and presents a multi-dimensional explanation of the relationships between power, trust and intention to adopt eSCM. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the experiences of Filipino workers recruited for technology and communications work by international aid agencies involved in the Typhoon Haiyan response. Filipino workers, many of whom were personally coping with the social and economic impact of this disaster, were hired on short-term contracts to test and implement various digital humanitarian innovations such as feedback and hazard mapping technological platforms. These workers were doubly marginalized: first, as tech workers whose work was viewed by aid officers on the ground as less substantial than that of food or shelter programs; and second, as local voices often drowned out by national and international colleagues. Moving beyond the usual figure of the cosmopolitan and adventure-seeking Western humanitarian acting on distant suffering, this paper draws attention to local aid workers’ aspirations for personal and professional mobility as they seize novel opportunities opened up by the digital humanitarian agenda. It outlines how the digital humanitarian project’s ambition to facilitate the inclusion of disaster-affected communities is fundamentally undermined by labor arrangements that doubly marginalize local aid workers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In these early years of the twenty-first century, we must look at how the truly cross-cutting information technology supports other innovations, and how it will fundamentally change the information positions of government, private sector and the scientific domain as well as the citizen. In those positions, location will be a prominent linking pin. The classical top-down system architectures of information exchange will be diluted by peer-to-peer and bottom-up channels, forcing us to rethink their designs. We should not only focus on better architectures, but need to attend to a different economy of information exchange, in which the ‘client’ is not only the information sink, but has become an important source as well. The laws of this rising ‘infoconomy’ have yet to be settled on. This special issue on ‘Digital Earth Applications: Technological design and organizational strategies’ brings together a number of papers that shed light on this future information ecosystem in which location-specific information will be exchanged between stakeholders. The introduction presents a framework that combines geoinformation streams and organisations brokering between government, science, private sector and citizens. This novel framework helps us improve the appreciation of those papers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objective. While there have been several reviews exploring the outcomes of various eHealth studies, none have been gastroenterology-specific. This paper aims to evaluate the research conducted within gastroenterology which utilizes internet-based eHealth technology to promote physical and psychological well-being. Material and methods. A systematic literature review of internet-based eHealth interventions involving gastroenterological cohorts was conducted. Searched databases included: EbSCOhost Medline, CINAHL, and PsycINFO. Inclusion criteria were studies reporting on eHealth interventions (both to manage mental health problems and somatic symptoms) in gastroenterology, with no time restrictions. Exclusion criteria were non-experimental studies, or studies using only email as primary eHealth method, and studies in language other than English. Results. A total of 17 papers were identified; seven studies evaluated the efficacy of a psychologically oriented intervention (additional two provided follow-up analyses exploring the original published data) and eight studies evaluated disease management programs for patients with either irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) or celiac disease. Overall, psychological eHealth interventions were associated with significant reductions in bowel symptoms and improvement in quality of life (QoL) that tended to continue up to 12 months follow up. The eHealth disease management was shown to generally improve QoL, adherence, knowledge about the disease, and reduce healthcare costs in IBD, although the studies were associated with various methodological problems, and thus, this observation should be confirmed in well-designed interventional studies. Conclusions. Based on the evidence to date, eHealth internet-based technology is a promising tool that can be utilized to both promote and enhance gastrointestinal disease management and mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1997, the recently appointed French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin took a firm stance in favor of the Internet and announced an ambitious program to develop information technology and networks. In a country characterized by the lingering presence of the Minitel and bureaucratic reluctance to Internet solutions, this allocution, referred as the Hourtin speech, has been acknowledged as a turning-point in French internet policies. However, little is known about the dynamics that made such a statement possible. Based on interviews and personal archive of key actors, this paper offers to investigate the administrative and political processes that enabled such a change of position at the highest level of the State. While the role played by civil servants or government officials in promoting the development of the Internet in France has often been overlooked in internet histories, we offer new insight on the political work and administrative mobilizations that contributed to the diffusion of internet solutions and more broadly, to the advent of a digital revolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geographic information system (GIS) users rely heavily on the versatile operations of GIS software and the abundant variety of geospatial data from different resources to satisfy their application requirements. However, the convenient use of GIS software has resulted in users easily ignoring the threat of data misuse because of the lack of understanding of data quality. Here we argue that data quality considerations must be coherently assimilated into the GIS operation design to visually present helpful information and ensure the accuracy of data for decision making. Data completeness is selected in this paper to demonstrate how the use of data quality information opens a new dimension to the design of future GIS software. We propose a new model for the representation, analysis, and visualization of data completeness information. With the brand new quantitative measures and informative visual approach, understanding of the data completeness of the illustrated contents in the map interface is enhanced, and inappropriate dataset selection can be effectively prevented. Thus, this paper presents an innovative, integrated and geospatial concept of future GIS operation design, where users are constantly aware of the continuously changing status of data quality based on formalized and quantitative data quality theories. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Twitter has become a convenient, cheap and effective beat for journalists in search of news and information. Reporters today increasingly aggregate information online and embed it in journalism discourse. In this paper, we analyse how tweets have increasingly been included as quotes in newspaper reporting during the rise of Twitter from 2007 to 2011. The paper compares four Dutch and four British national tabloids and broadsheets, asking if tabloid journalists are relying more on this second-hand coverage than their colleagues from quality papers. Moreover, we investigate in which sections of the paper tweets are included and what kinds of sources are quoted. Consequently, we present a typology of the functions tweets have in news reports. Reporters do include these utterances as either newsworthy or to support or illustrate a story. In some cases, individual tweets or interaction between various agents on Twitter even triggers news coverage. We argue that this new discursive practice alters the balance of power between journalists and sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advances in digital technology have made the recent past seem like a foreign country. Media historians did things very differently in 2002. In the last decade, hundreds of historical newspapers and periodicals have been digitised and made available to researchers via online archives. Whilst the emergence of these resources has generated contrasting responses from historians, an increasing number of researchers are now embracing the new methodological possibilities created by keyword-searchable digital archives. As the first examples of this scholarship begin to appear on the horizon, this paper considers whether media history is on the cusp of a ‘digital turn’. It outlines the existing responses to digital methodologies, deconstructs digital newspapers in order to explore how they differ from their paper originals and uses case studies drawn from my own research into the late-Victorian transatlantic press to demonstrate how new methodologies might be applied. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Adaptability is currently one of the most challenging research topics. The Department of Factory Planning and Factory Management of Chemnitz University of Technology developed the Experimental and Digital Factory in which building blocks for adaptable factory systems are integrated. Hence, a powerful model factory is available for research on adaptability. The focus among others is on the continuous interaction between factory planning and factory operation. This includes an extensive interchange and processing of information between the virtual and the real factory. The rapid implementation and verification of planning results in the real environment is enabled by holistic application and integration of different methods and tools of the Digital Factory. The paper explains a concept for adaptable factory systems and the interplay of planning and operation. The approaches are demonstrated on the use case of combined planning of layout and logistics with subsequent realisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development in Internet technology and its big popularity has led some universities around the world to incorporate web-based learning in some of their programmes. The present paper introduces a comprehensive survey of the publications about using remote laboratories in electrical engineering education. Remote laboratories are web-based, real-time laboratories that enable students to measure and control the measurements remotely in their own time. The survey highlights the features of many recent remote laboratories and demonstrates the software and networking technologies used. The paper provides a comprehensive overview on several aspects related to remote laboratories development. The paper concentrates on the publications appearing during the last decade. The review is arranged according to the area of specialisation, then chronologically. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]