176 lines
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176 lines
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_Current Cites_
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Volume 10, no. 7
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July 1999
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The Library
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University of California, Berkeley
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Edited by Teri Andrews Rinne
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ISSN: 1060-2356
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http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/CurrentCites/1999/cc99.10.7.html
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Contributors:
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Terry Huwe, Margaret Phillips,
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Roy Tennant, Jim Ronningen, Lisa Yesson
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Basch, Reva. "High AJeevers: Valet-Added Searching from Ask Jeeves"
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Database 22(3) (June/July 1999): 28-34. - As libraries continue to
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struggle with the most effective web interface to Internet and library
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resources, the single, simple search box as online reference desk is a
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tempting model. But who envisioned it would be staffed by a butler?
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P.G. Wodehouse's caricature of a proper British butler is the host of
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Ask Jeeves, a second generation search engine where users are
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encouraged to submit a natural language query in a simple search box.
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In this behind the scenes look at Ask Jeeves, Basch describes how
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Jeeves accepts a natural language query and attempts to match it
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against a list of known questions - about seven million as of early
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1999 - in its knowledge base. Jeeves uses a proprietary parsing
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technology called QPE (Question Processing Engine) that is based on
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both semantic processing (understanding the meaning of words) and
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syntactic processing (understanding parts of speech and how words are
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used in context). Of course, the key element in this process continues
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to be the humans on the six newspaper-style content desks who build
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the knowledge base. Yet even with seven million "answers" Jeeves may
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still send you down a few dark hallways. But it will be interesting to
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see if one day this knowledgeable butler will give new meaning to
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silver platter. - LY
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Sheehan, Mark. "Faster, Faster! Broadband Access to the Internet"
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Online 23(4) (July/August, 1999):18-26. Tilley, Scott. "The Need for
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Speed" Communications of the ACM 42(7) (July 1999):23-26
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(http://www.acm.org/pubs/articles/journals/cacm/1999-42-7/p23-tilley/p
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23-tilley.pdf). - Ah, working from home. Whether that means more
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flexibility or just more work, if you're doing it you'll probably want
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the fastest affordable Internet connection. These two articles neatly
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summarize the currently feasible options for increasing your flow:
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56Kbps modems, cable modems, Integrated Services Digital Network
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(ISDN), and Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL). Tilley's article in the
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CACM describes his experiences with fast modems, DSL and cable. It's
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helpful to learn what he had to do himself to get things to work, such
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as running a test on his phone line to see if it could handle higher
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speeds. Sheehan's article in Online is a more systematic overview, and
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includes tables and sidebars which list costs, availability, predicted
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vs. observed downstream and upstream speeds, etc. The sidebar titled
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"Promises, promises" was certainly a cold shower <20> it details mundane
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problems which can drastically cut speed, e.g. phone wiring too close
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to a dimmer switch, or the distance of your home from the telco's
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central office, or who happens to be using your particular branch of
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the cable system. (Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, there've been
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stories in the local media about disgruntled cable Internet
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subscribers who discovered they were sharing pipelines with
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bandwidth-hog digital video developers). Sheehan also touches upon
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broadband wireless and satellite possibilities. - JR
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Coffman, Steve. "The Response to 'Building Earth's Largest Library'"
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Searcher 7(7) (July/August 1999): 28-32
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(http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/jul/coffman.htm). - In this
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interesting follow-up to his explosive article in the March 1999 issue
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of Searcher (cited in the April 1999 issue of Current Cites), Coffman
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addresses some of the 250-odd responses he received. The response has
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been so dramatic to the idea put forward in his original article that
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Information Today is devoting a day-long track to the idea in the
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November 1999 Internet Librarian Conference they sponsor. For this
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follow-up piece to make any sense to you, you should first be sure
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you've read the original article. Whether you agree with him or not
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(and I do), all librarians need to sit up and take notice. - RT
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Gorman, Michael. "Metadata or Cataloging? A False Choice" Journal of
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Internet Cataloging 2(1) 1999: 5-22. - In this thoughtful piece Gorman
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considers the appropriate roles of MARC, AACR2, the Dublin Core, and
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web search engines in making electronic resources more easily
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discoverable. He ends with the assertion that we are not faced with a
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dichotomy, but with an opportunity, and he proposes using the
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four-pronged approach to resource discovery: 1) full MARC cataloging,
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2) enriched Dublin Core records (what is also called the
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"structuralist" approach), 3) minimal Dublin Core records (the
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"minimalist" approach), and 4) full-text keyword searching via web
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search engines. Those resources deemed the most valuable would get the
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full-MARC/AACR2 treatment, while others would get progressively less
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attention until reaching the mass of unselected resources available
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through web search engines. - RT
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Green, Ann, JoAnn Dionne, and Martin Dennis. Preserving the Whole: A
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Two-Track Approach to Rescuing Social Science Data and Metadata,
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Washington: Digital Library Federation, June 1999.
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(http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub83/pub83.pdf). - This second
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publication from the Digital Library Federation focuses on how to
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rescue statistical data from outdated formats and/or systems. This
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process, called _migration_ by those knowledgeable about digital
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preservation matters, is complicated and not-often attempted (yet).
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Thus this early report from the front lines of preservation is all the
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more important. The two-track approach is necessary since not only the
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data must be rescued, but also the metadata or descriptions of the
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data, and each requires a different process. - RT
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Phillips, Margaret E. "Ensuring Long-Term Access to Online
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Publications" JEP: The Journal of Electronic Publishing 4(4) (June
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1999) (http://www.press.umich.edu/jep/04-04/phillips.html). - The
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problem of retaining access to digital material that may exist in only
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one location -- and in the hands of a commercial enterprise that may
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go bankrupt any day -- is enough to keep just about any librarian
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awake at night. But if the National Library of Australia has their
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way, librarians in Australia my soon be sleeping a bit sounder. From
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the NLA viewpoint, there are two distinct processes: archiving
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(collecting the material to be preserved), and preservation (keeping
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the material accessible as technology changes). Since it is still
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anyone's guess how best to handle the latter problem, this article
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mainly describes how the NLA is dealing with the former issue.
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Phillips discusses the collecting process (including identification of
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material and comprehensive vs. selective collecting), metadata
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management, quality control, access, permanent naming, and costs. - RT
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"The ROADS Project Exit Strategy - Ensuring the Future of ROADS for
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its Users" ROADS Development Newsletter Issue 9 (July 1999)
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(http://www.ilrt.bris.ac.uk/roads/news/latest/futures/). - Bringing a
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project to a close is never an easy task, but in this case at least,
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it appears that it doesn't have to mean the end of the ROADS. The
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British Electronic Libraries (eLib) Programme is an ambitious
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collection of projects that have sought to advance library technology
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and technique into new areas of digital collections and services. One
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of the more successful projects is the Resource Organization and
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Discovery in Subject-based Services (ROADS) effort to create a set of
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tools for building interoperable subject-based indexes to Internet
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resources. Their software now serves a number of subject indexes well,
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and provides a method by which to query these indexes simultaneously.
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Therefore, the ROADS team is committing to some level of continuing
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support despite the end of eLib funding. To do this, they are using
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the Open Source model that has served so many other software
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development projects well (can you say Linux?). - RT
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"Web Search Engines: Precision, Power, and Performance" Online 23(3)
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(May/June 1999): 20-
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(http://www.onlineinc.com/onlinemag/OLtocs/OLtocmay4.html). - This
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special section on web search engines covers many different aspects of
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these tools, and provides some handy charts detailing their various
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features. Included are programs you can install on your own server as
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well as the huge indexes that attempt to comprehensively index the
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web. Specific topics include results ranking, natural language
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processing, meta search engines, features and commands, and the future
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of search engine technology. Some of the articles are available online
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at the Online web site. - RT
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_________________________________________________________________
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Current Cites 10(7) (July 1999) ISSN: 1060-2356_ Copyright (c) 1999
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by the Library, University of California, Berkeley. All rights
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reserved._
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http: //sunsite.berkeley.edu/CurrentCites/1999/cc99.10.7.html
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Copying is permitted for noncommercial use by computerized bulletin
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Libraries are authorized to add the journal to their collections at no
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cost. This message must appear on copied material. All commercial use
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requires permission from the editor
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All product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their
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respective holders. Mention of a product in this publication does not
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necessarily imply endorsement of the product.
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To subscribe to the Current Cites distribution list, send the me ssage
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cites" to the same address.
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Editor: Teri Andrews Rinne, trinne@library.berkeley.edu, (510)
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642-8173
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