Opening Plenary Session:Hot Topics in Internet Law
9:00 a.m. - 9:45 a.m.
David M. Mirchin, SilverPlatter Information, Inc.
David Mirchin will provide an update on the most recent legal
developments as they impact publishing on the Internet. Issues covered
will be: copyrightability of content on the Internet; copyright
violations by Internet publishers (e.g., Religious Technology Center v.
Netcom); ability to prevent junk email on the Internet (e.g., Cyber
Promotions v AOL); privacy of messages on the Internet (e.g., 1986
Federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act; Smyth v. Pillsbury);
protection of domain names and domain name disputes; enforceability of
"click-wrap" licenses (e.g., ProCD v. Zeidenberg); enforceability of
"shrink-wrap" licenses (e.g., ProCD v. Zeidenberg);. the status of Draft
UCC Article 2B (Licensing).
Track A: Internet Search & Research
Internet and Search Engines: User Views (1)
10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Users of Hot Bot, Alta Vista, Excite and Lycos will discuss their
experiences in searching. They will talk about ease of use, useful
features, pros, cons, strengths and weaknesses. What types of searches
are more suited to the Web vs. traditional online systems.
Web Usability and Essential Interface Design Issues
Alison Head, The Press Democrat Newspaper
Why are some web pages on the Internet easier to use and navigate than
other pages? How do web design features, such as frames, forms, buttons,
icons, and links, affect the ease of learning and use? The success of interaction with web tools is largely dependent on adherence to interface design
principles. Many of interface design principles are derived from work in
the human-computer interaction field. The standards and principles that
are crucial to robust web design, are just beginning to emerge as a
result of increased usability testing of web pages at universities,
software and hardware companies, and other Internet-related businesses.
What do these findings prescribe for increased usability? Alison Head
will discuss essential design principles for effective web tools.
Evaluation
3:00 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.
Developing A Comprehensive and Systematic Model of User Evaluation of Web-Based Search Engines
Louise Su, University of Pittsburgh
The rapid increase in number, size, and variety of the widely
distributed resources on the Internet, such as those available through
Web page, gopher, ftp, newsgroup or listserv, makes searching for
information on the Internet suitable for highly skilled information
professionals and very difficult and complex for end-users. Web-based search engines
provide fast and easy access to Internet resources and hold the promise
of becoming the most important family of search tools for public access
to information on the Internet. Development of effective and efficient
public access tools must depend on systematic evaluation and feedback
from real users with real information needs. Louise Su proposes a
comprehensive and systematic model of user evaluation of Web-based
search engines, including appropriate measures to gather scientific data
for developers or service providers for developing better tools.
Research on Information Science Models, Organization of Metadata, and Relevance Judgments
4:00 p.m. - 5:15 p.m.
An Informatization Model for Information Science
Albert K. Boekhorst, University of Amsterdam
Online information is booming. The Internet seems to promise an
unlimited access to any information needed. Is this true? Are there no
barriers to information? Is the access biased? Is it hype or another, logical step in the
informatization process? To be able to make a useful and systematic
analysis of these observations Information Science needs a paradigm
which explains long term processes. However, Information Science lacks
such a communal paradigm, which is why it must be considered an
interdisciplinary science. Disciplines like Communication Science,
Systems Science, Psychology, Linguistics Computer Science, Library
Science, and Sociology each investigate aspects of information. This
session will present a model which explains the development of
information in society: an "Informatization model."
The Organization of Moving-Image Metadata: A Research Agenda
James Turner, Université de Montreal
Previous work in the area of shot-level indexing for storage and
retrieval of moving images showed that users tend to provide retrieval
cues by naming objects and events that appear in the frame. Further
research indicated that the terms named most often for a given shot also appear in a very large number of cases in the indexing created by professional indexers, as well as in the running
description created for use in the database. A project presently
underway is studying cross-language transferability of the findings
between English and French. The results obtained thus far strongly
suggest that shot-level indexing of the subject matter of moving images
can be successfully automated on the basis of textual representations.
Future work will look at automatically generating a shot-level index
from the textual representation accompanying moving images. A large
working system has already been built for generating indexing from
closed-caption text.
Partial Relevance Judgments and Changes in Users' Information Problems During Online Searching
Amanda Spink and Howard Greisdorf, University of North Texas
Users' relevance judgments are central to online searching and approaches to information retrieval systems research and development. A basic assumption of IR research in general, and particularly ranking techniques, has been that users require the retrieval of "highly relevant" items at all times. This paper reports findings from studies of user relevance judgments and search evaluations during end-user and
mediated online searching. Results suggest that a relationship exists between partially relevant items retrieved and changes in users' information problems during the information seeking process,
particularly over multiple online searches. Findings also suggest that "highly relevant" items may not be the most useful retrieved items. Implications for online searching practice and IR systems design are
discussed.
This session is sponsored by the American Society for Information Science
Track B: CD-ROM & Online
CD-ROM Workshop 3
10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
What You Always Wanted To Know About In-House CD-ROM Recording (Part I)
Péter Jacsó, University of Hawaii
In 1997 the price of in-house CD-ROM recording hardware and software bundles has reached a magic threshold of $399. Hard drives cannot cope with the gigabytes of software and multimedia files
downloaded from the World Wide Web. Your own files also need back-up and
long-term archiving. A new recording technology, the improvements in the
mastering software, the faster and more reliable recorders at this price
make in-house CD-ROM recording as ubiquitous and easy as backing up
megafiles to streaming tapes and ZIP drives--if you know what features
to look for. This tutorial will explain the meaning and importance of CD
Direct recording, multisession and incremental recording, and other
features that make the process of CD-ROM recording easy and painless.
What Your Mother and Publisher Never Told You About Online and CD-ROM Databases (Part I)
Péter Jacsó, University of Hawaii
Online and CD-ROM databases can offer instant gratification for your
information needs if they indeed deliver what they promise in their ads
and publicity blurbs. The promises about the depth and width of database
scope, journal coverage, the frequency of updating and the currency of
the databases, the quality of indexing and abstracting, the completeness
of the records should not always be taken at face value. The tutorial
will illustrate the most serious deficiencies and misleading claims
through various databases.
Online & CD-ROM Workshop 4 (continued)
3:00 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.
What Your Mother and Publisher Never Told You About Online and CD-ROM Databases (Part II)
Péter Jacsó, University of Hawaii
CD-ROM vs. Online
4:00 p.m. - 5:15 p.m.
CD-ROM vs. Online vs. Internet: Continuous Change
Joseph Tragert, EBSCO Publishing
Joseph Tragert will compare the various types of access currently available in
the areas of CD-ROM, Online, and the Internet. He will highlight
pertinent issues, such as ownership of data, and explain the impact they
have upon the searcher. Additional discussion will focus on data volume
levels in CD-ROM, online, and the Internet, currency of data, pricing
considerations and sources of revenue, user profiles, and the concept of
archive versus ephemeral data collection. The increasing importance of
hybrid mediums will be considered as well as its subsequent impact on
publishers and searchers.
Data Delivery: The Debate Continues
Lance Odegard and Dave Saunders, West
What is the future of CD-ROM? While CD-ROM is a cost-effective medium
for information storage and distribution, by the time a user receives a
CD-ROM, the information contained on the disc may be outdated. Providing
online access to update the information contained on the discs solves
the currency problem, but users must search multiple sources for a complete answer. Conversely, CD-ROM offers advantages such as portability and predictable pricing. This session will discuss
the benefits offered by CD-ROM and online services, while focusing on
the transition from traditional online models through CD-ROM to
innovative online formats for information access.
Track C: Law in the Age of Electronic Information
Intellectual Property
10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Perils and Promises of Intellectual Property
Virgil Blake and Thomas T. Surprenant, City University of New York
When Marshall McLuhan talked about the global village in the 1960s,
little did he know that we would enter the world of the "global back
fence." Early adopters of worldwide telecommunications infrastructure
sensed new opportunities for direct contact with individuals and
realized that electronic publishing had great potential. This session
will take a look at the promise of this phenomenon and outline the
perils associated with theft of intellectual property. Specifically,
current copyright law will be discussed and suggestions for improvement
of both the law and its enforcement will be made.
Caveat Surfer: Social Responsibility and Internet Resources
Thomas Froehlich, Kent State University
Caveat emptor is a commercial principle which says that the buyer takes
upon himself or herself the risk of the quality of the product. On the
Internet many of the resources are non-commercial, but does that mean
that there is no responsibility to Internet surfers regarding the nature
and quality of the information that they find? And if they are
commercial, what is the producer's responsibility, if any? There are
several ethical issues regarding the access to information on the
Internet, ethical issues of which both producers and users may be
unaware. This presentation argues the "caveat surfer!" is a simplistic
view and devoid of any sense of social responsibility.
Track A: Internet Search/Research
