The year 1997 found the members of the OCLC (Online Computer Library Center) cooperative in an expansive mood. More than 1,000 library leaders attended the OCLC President's Luncheon in San Francisco, where they celebrated OCLC's 30th anniversary. There were more than 25,000 libraries participating in the cooperative, including nearly 3,000 libraries in 62 countries outside the U.S., and the WorldCat database contained more than 37 million bibliographic records. Over the next ten years, the global digital library would indeed emerge, but in a form that few could have predicted. Against a backdrop of continuous technological change and the rapid growth of the Internet, the OCLC cooperative's WorldCat database continued to grow and was a central theme of the past decade. As the chapters in this book show, OCLC's chartered objectives of furthering access to the world's information and reducing the rate of rising library costs continue to resonate among libraries and librarians, as the OCLC cooperative enters its fifth decade. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of Library Administration.

Virtual English examines English language communication on the World Wide Web, focusing on Internet practices crafted by underserved communities in the US and overlooked participants in several Asian Diaspora communities. Jillana Enteen locates instances where subjects use electronic media to resist popular understandings of cyberspace, computer-mediated communication, nation and community, presenting unexpected responses to the forces of globalization and predominate US value systems. The populations studied here contribute websites, conversations and artifacts that employ English strategically, broadening and splintering the language to express their concerns in the manner they perceive as effective. Users are thus afforded new opportunities to transmit information, conduct conversations, teach and make decisions, shaping, in the process, both language and technology. Moreover, web designers and writers conjure distinct versions of digitally enhanced futures -- computer-mediated communicationmay attract audiences previously out of reach. The subjects of Virtual English challenge prevailing deployments and conceptions of emerging technologies. Their on-line practices illustrate that the Internet need not replicate current geopolitical beliefs and practices and that reconfigurations exist in tandem with dominant models.

E-ffective Writing for E-Learning Environments integrates research and practice in user-centered design and learning design for instructors in post-secondary institutions and learning organizations who are developing e-learning resources. The book is intended as a development guide for experts in areas other than instructional or educational technology (in other words, experts in cognate areas such as Biology or English or Nursing) rather than as a learning design textbook. The organization of the book reflects the development process for a resource, course, or program from planning and development through formative evaluation, and identifies trends and issues that faculty or developers might encounter along the way. The account of the process of one faculty member's course development journey illustrates the suggested design guidelines. The accompanying practice guide provides additional information, examples, learning activities, and tools to supplement the text.

As this comprehensive and multi-disciplinary anthology makes clear, virtuality has a pedigree that pre-dates the computer age and modern virtual worlds, a pedigree that can be traced back to classical mythology and beyond. Equally, the concept of virtuality is not the province of one field of study alone but is the foundation and driving force of many, both theoretical and applied. Our conceptualizations and applications of virtuality are multiple, as is shown across the nine sections of the book that move from philosophy to technologies and applications before returning to philosophy again for a discussion of the utopias and dystopias of virtuality. The almost 50 essays contained within range freely across subjects that include the potential of virtuality, ethics, virtuality and self, presence and immersion, virtual emotions, image, sound and literature, computer games, AI and A-Life, Augmented Reality and Real Virtuality, law and economics, medical and military applications, religion, and cybersex. Throughout, contributors discuss differences between virtuality, reality, and actuality, in debates filtered through the lenses of the disciplines represented here, and speculate on future directions. It is not at all clear that there are differences and, if such distinctions are to be found, the boundaries between virtuality, reality, and actuality continually shift as ideas, modes of organization, and behaviors constantly flow from one to the other regardless of direction. The Handbook presents no unified definition of virtuality to comfort the reader, rather a multiplicity of questions and approaches underpinned by provocative statements that should further fuel the debates surrounding our notions of virtuality.

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has recently evolved from a simple capability for transporting voice communications into a much more powerful technology capable of changing the way voice applications are constructed, delivered, marketed and sold. Whilst VoIP has clearly provided a focus for much debate within the telecommunications industry, there has been a clear gulf between hype and reality. However the questions now being asked have migrated from 'Will it work?' to 'What will the industry look like when it is delivered at scale?' In Voice over IP: systems and solutions, Richard Swale has brought together key contributors from within the BT Group and externally, to cover all of the important issues surrounding telephony over IP networks. This authoritative book examines VoIP as a technology and its consideration within the industry, the motivations for VoIP networks, a review of the status of the major components of a VoIP network and their development, and both current and emerging applications. VoIP technology blurs the boundaries between fixed, mobile and multimedia communications and the implications are explored and discussed. The primary market for this comprehensive book is telecommunications engineers and developers, service providers and regulators. However, all those with a technical or business interest in this rapidly developing area of communications technology will also find this book highly relevant.

BE 2002 is the second in a series of conferences on eCommerce, eBusiness, and eGovemment organised by the three IFIP committees TC6, TC8, and TCll. As BE 2001 did last year in Zurich, BE 2002 continues to provide a forum for users, engineers, and researchers from academia, industry and government to present their latest findings in eCommerce, eBusiness, and eGovernment applications and the underlying technologies which support those applications. This year's conference comprises a main track with sessions on eGovernment, Trust, eMarkets, Fraud and Security, eBusiness (both B2B and B2C), the Design of systems, eLearning, Public and Health Systems, Web Design, and the Applications of and Procedures for eCommerce and eBusiness, as well as two associated Workshops (not included in these proceedings): eBusiness Models in the Digital Online Music and Online News Sectors; and eBusiness Standardisation - Challenges and Solutions for the Networked Economy. The 47 papers accepted for presentation in these sessions and published in this book of proceedings were selected from 80 submissions. They were rigorously reviewed (all papers were double-blind refereed) before being selected by the International Programme Committee. This rejection rate of almost 50% indicates just how seriously the Committee took its quality control activities.

During the last decade significant progress has been made in Internet technology by using computational intelligence methods. This book presents reports from the front of soft computing in the Internet industry and covers important topics in the field such as search engines, fuzzy query, decision analysis and support systems as well as e-business and e-commerce. The articles are selected results from a recent workshop (Fuzzy Logic and the Internet - FLINT 2001) related to the Internet Fuzzy Logic hosted by the Berkeley Initiative in Soft Computing (BISC) program. The main purpose of the Workshop was to draw the attention of the fuzzy logic community as well as the Internet community to the fundamental importance of specific Internet-related problems including search engines, user modeling and personal information provision, e-commerce, e-business, e-health, semantic web/net, web-assistant and agents, knowledge representation for e-learning, content-based information retrieval, information organization, intrusion detection and network management. The book presents a collection of challenging problems and new directions toward the next generation of search engines and the Internet.

This book describes efficient and effective techniques for harnessing the power of Linked Data by tackling the various aspects of managing its growing volume: storing, querying, reasoning, provenance management and benchmarking. To this end, Chapter 1 introduces the main concepts of the Semantic Web and Linked Data and provides a roadmap for the book. Next, Chapter 2 briefly presents the basic concepts underpinning Linked Data technologies that are discussed in the book. Chapter 3 then offers an overview of various techniques and systems for centrally querying RDF datasets, and Chapter 4 outlines various techniques and systems for efficiently querying large RDF datasets in distributed environments. Subsequently, Chapter 5 explores how streaming requirements are addressed in current, state-of-the-art RDF stream data processing. Chapter 6 covers performance and scaling issues of distributed RDF reasoning systems, while Chapter 7 details benchmarks for RDF query engines and instance matching systems. Chapter 8 addresses the provenance management for Linked Data and presents the different provenance models developed. Lastly, Chapter 9 offers a brief summary, highlighting and providing insights into some of the open challenges and research directions. Providing an updated overview of methods, technologies and systems related to Linked Data this book is mainly intended for students and researchers who are interested in the Linked Data domain. It enables students to gain an understanding of the foundations and underpinning technologies and standards for Linked Data, while researchers benefit from the in-depth coverage of the emerging and ongoing advances in Linked Data storing, querying, reasoning, and provenance management systems. Further, it serves as a starting point to tackle the next research challenges in the domain of Linked Data management.

Brand yourself like a pro on LinkedIn LinkedIn multiplies what you know by the power of who you know to deliver the number one social platform for business professionals and new job seekers. LinkedIn For Dummies shows LinkedIn newcomers the best ways to discover new opportunities, enhance their personal brand, network with other professionals, and give an exponential boost to their career. Consider this book a passport to help you connect more successfully with many of LinkedIn's 660+ million members in over 200 countries, as well as an expert guide to the platform's tools and features and the proven tactics that get you noticed. In this friendly, all-access introduction to the LinkedIn scene, entrepreneurship guru Joel Elad clues you in on the essentials. Get the latest insight on how to create an attractive profile that will make employers give you a second glance as well as techniques for making useful connections across the globe. In no time at all you'll also be right at home with the profile user interface and getting busy with adding content, searching for career opportunities, and, if you're looking to hire for your company, recruiting top candidates. Build your personal brand and market it Sell yourself by highlighting skills, awards, and endorsements Get connected with LinkedIn groups Manage and make introductions via InMail Relationships matter: LinkedIn For Dummies gives you the online social skills to turn six degrees of separation into the colleagues, mentors, and friends who will transform your career--and your life.

Virtual texts have emerged within the realm of the Internet as the predominant means of global communication. As both technological and cultural artifacts, they embody and challenge cultural assumptions and invite new ways of conceptualizing knowledge, community, identity, and meaning. But despite the pervasiveness of the Internet in nearly all aspects of contemporary life, no single resource has cataloged the ways in which numerous disciplines have investigated and critiqued virtual texts. This bibliography includes more than 1500 annotated entries for books, articles, dissertations, and electronic resources on virtual texts published between 1988 and 1999.

Because of the multiple contexts in which virtual texts are studied, the bibliography addresses virtual communication across a broad range of disciplines and philosophies. It encompasses studies of the historical development of virtual texts; investigations of the many interdisciplinary applications of virtual texts and discussions of such legal issues as privacy and intellectual property. Entries are arranged alphabetically within topical chapters, and extensive indexes facilitate easy access.

Databases have been designed to store large volumes of data and to provide efficient query interfaces. Semantic Web formats are geared towards capturing domain knowledge, interlinking annotations, and offering a high-level, machine-processable view of information. However, the gigantic amount of such useful information makes efficient management of it increasingly difficult, undermining the possibility of transforming it into useful knowledge.

The research presented by De Virgilio, Giunchiglia and Tanca tries to bridge the two worlds in order to leverage the efficiency and scalability of database-oriented technologies to support an ontological high-level view of data and metadata. The contributions present and analyze techniques for semantic information management, by taking advantage of the synergies between the logical basis of the Semantic Web and the logical foundations of data management. The book's leitmotif is to propose models and methods especially tailored to represent and manage data that is appropriately structured for easier machine processing on the Web.

After two introductory chapters on data management and the Semantic Web in general, the remaining contributions are grouped into five parts on Semantic Web Data Storage, Reasoning in the Semantic Web, Semantic Web Data Querying, Semantic Web Applications, and Engineering Semantic Web Systems. The handbook-like presentation makes this volume an important reference on current work and a source of inspiration for future development, targeting academic and industrial researchers as well as graduate students in Semantic Web technologies or database design.

A comprehensive exploration of the increasing availability of health information on the Internet. The accessibility of health information on the Internet has revolutionized access to clinical information for health practitioners and patients. This access to information has the potential to make a major contribution to health care. However, the effective use of this accessibility depends on an understanding of all the issues involved, from the underlying technologies and economic pressures, to questions of how best to manage quality and privacy, how people seek and use information, and what the barriers to its use are. Cullen's book examines the extent of health information on the Internet, the providers of websites and their content, and outlines the nature of the paradigm shift affecting knowledge in the health sector.

With the advent of new technologies and governmental regulation, notably the Telecommunications Act of 1996, not only has the broadcast industry changed dramatically, but also the laws covering the management and its human resources. Executives must know and understand these changes to operate within the law and to make best use of their people. With careful attention to scholarly accuracy and the latest thinking, Scott's book approaches the crucial human resource problems in broadcasting with a hands-on awareness of what really goes on among broadcasting industry people and the organizations that depend on them. Scott writes for practitioners and provides the information they can use daily, supplying academic professionals and students of broadcasting management with an important resource.

Chapter 1 briefly describes the broadcast industry, with special attention to significant technological changes and regulations. Chapter 2 examines the standard regulatory challenges faced by broadcasters. Chapters 3 and 4 review the major management and motivational theories over the past 150 years. These theories are then critiqued and applied to current personnel problems. The section on broadcast ethics discusses moral and ethical frameworks to help managers make the right decisions. In Chapter 5, the duties of the human resource director are noted along with pertinent EEOC laws banning discrimination. Chapter 6 reviews the employment process, including interviewing, training, performance reviews, progressive discipline, and the proper, legal method to terminate an employee. Chapter 7 enumerates the duties and responsibilities of the programming area including the operations manager, chief engineer, program director, and other department heads. Types of radio and television programming are discussed along with effective scheduling strategies. The book concludes with Chapter 8, Sales, which includes discussions of the Arbitron and Nielsen ratings organizations, sales proposals, and duties of the sales personnel.

Hypertext/hypermedia systems and user-model-based adaptive systems in the areas of learning and information retrieval have for a long time been considered as two mutually exclusive approaches to information access. Adaptive systems tailor information to the user and may guide the user in the information space to present the most relevant material, taking into account a model of the user's goals, interests and preferences. Hypermedia systems, on the other hand, are `user neutral': they provide the user with the tools and the freedom to explore an information space by browsing through a complex network of information nodes. Adaptive hypertext and hypermedia systems attempt to bridge the gap between these two approaches. Adaptation of hypermedia systems to each individual user is increasingly needed. With the growing size, complexity and heterogeneity of current hypermedia systems, such as the World Wide Web, it becomes virtually impossible to impose guidelines on authors concerning the overall organization of hypermedia information. The networks therefore become so complex and unstructured that the existing navigational tools are no longer powerful enough to provide orientation on where to search for the needed information. It is also not possible to identify appropriate pre-defined paths or subnets for users with certain goals and knowledge backgrounds since the user community of hypermedia systems is usually quite inhomogeneous. This is particularly true for Web-based applications which are expected to be used by a much greater variety of users than any earlier standalone application. A possible remedy for the negative effects of the traditional `one-size-fits-all' approach in the development of hypermedia systems is to equip them with the ability to adapt to the needs of their individual users. A possible way of achieving adaptivity is by modeling the users and tailoring the system's interactions to their goals, tasks and interests. In this sense, the notion of adaptive hypertext/hypermedia comes naturally to denote a hypertext or hypermedia system which reflects some features of the user and/or characteristics of his system usage in a user model, and utilizes this model in order to adapt various behavioral aspects of the system to the user. This book is the first comprehensive publication on adaptive hypertext and hypermedia. It is oriented towards researchers and practitioners in the fields of hypertext and hypermedia, information systems, and personalized systems. It is also an important resource for the numerous developers of Web-based applications. The design decisions, adaptation methods, and experience presented in this book are a unique source of ideas and techniques for developing more usable and more intelligent Web-based systems suitable for a great variety of users. The practitioners will find it important that many of the adaptation techniques presented in this book have proved to be efficient and are ready to be used in various applications.

Middleware Networks: Concept, Design and Deployment of Internet Infrastructure describes a framework for developing IP Service Platforms and emerging managed IP networks with a reference architecture from the AT&T Labs GeoPlex project. The main goal is to present basic principles that both the telecommunications industry and the Internet community can see as providing benefits for service-related network issues. As this is an emerging technology, the solutions presented are timely and significant. Middleware Networks: Concept, Design and Deployment of Internet Infrastructure illustrates the principles of middleware networks, including Application Program Interfaces (APIs), reference architecture, and a model implementation. Part I begins with fundamentals of transport, and quickly transitions to modern transport and technology. Part II elucidates essential requirements and unifying design principles for the Internet. These fundamental principles establish the basis for consistent behavior in view of the explosive growth underway in large-scale heterogeneous networks. Part III demonstrates and explains the resulting architecture and implementation. Particular emphasis is placed upon the control of resources and behavior. Reference is made to open APIs and sample deployments. Middleware Networks: Concept, Design and Deployment of Internet Infrastructure is intended for a technical audience consisting of students, researchers, network professionals, software developers, system architects and technically-oriented managers involved in the definition and deployment of modern Internet platforms or services. Although the book assumes a basic technical competency, as it does not provide remedial essentials, any practitioner will find this useful, particularly those requiring an overview of the newest software architectures in the field.

"Best of the Web - Geography" is the first title in a new series of evaluative guides, which guide the reader through the best web sites within a subject area. The book is compiled with the reader in mind and has a very clear, consistent and systematic layout.

A large number of sites have been evaluated. The book contains information on geographical sites around the world. Only sites, which are considered to be informative, reliable and stable have been included. All the sites listed will provide valuable information within this subject area.

The information given for each site includes: title, URL, owner/maintainer, server location, and a full description.

This is an excellent guide, which will be invaluable to anyone seeking geographical information on the Web. It is an essential reference source for librarians and information officers, students and library users in the academic, public and commercial sectors.

Real World Applications of Semantic Web Technology and Ontology is a professional book and provides a series of case studies which give examples of real benefits to be derived from the adoption of semantic web based ontologies in real world situations, such as telecommunication, B2B integration, tourism, education and more. Real World Applications of Semantic Web Technology and Ontology is designed for practitioners in industry, as well researchers and graduate-level students in computer science.

With contributions by leading scientists in the field, this book gives the first comprehensive overview of the results of the seminal SmartKom project - one of the most advanced multimodal dialogue systems worldwide.

Unique selling point: Exploration of the societal and ethical issues surrounding the use and development of digital technology Core audience: IT managers and executives; academic researchers; students of IT Place in the market: Professional title with appeal to academics and students