Journal of Digital Information (Texas Digital Library - TDL E-Journals)
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252 research outputs found
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Metadata and Data Quality Problems in the Digital Library
No full textThis paper describes the main types of data quality errors that occur in digital libraries, both in full-text objects and in metadata. Studying these errors is important because they can block access to online documents and because digital libraries should eliminate errors where possible. Some types of common errors include typographical errors, scanning and data conversion errors, and find and replace errors. Errors in metadata can also hinder access in digital libraries. The paper also discusses the responsibility for errors in digital documents and offers suggestions for managing digital library data quality
E-nhance Lectures
No full textEver more lecturers find themselves forced to Web-enhance their courses out of economic pressure or prestige. Universities trapped between rising student numbers and decreasing budgets are turning to e-learning as the one-stop solution, with little concern for student or teacher needs. An e-(nhanced) learning environment can only be successful if it fulfils students\u27 and lecturers\u27 needs alike. The student needs to be supported in various stages of learning, whereas the lecturer cannot afford to spend more time on generating lecture support materials. Investigation of lecturers\u27 and students\u27 requirements resulted in the concept and design of e-ULE (e-Usable Learning Environment), a university-level teaching and learning environment with a strong focus on usability. To ensure learning materials are helpful for students in any learning situation, from gaining an overview to providing reference, an equally usable authoring tool is required: e-ULE\u27s authoring system is geared towards a typical lecturer, without requiring an undue amount of IT or pedagogical skills, but offers support for academic workflow by supporting tasks like literature research and integration, and collaborative editing in large groups (e.g. with students). Following a usability engineering approach, all features of the e-ULE learning environment are derived from user requirements and usability tests. The main parts of the environment are currently at "proof of concept" stage. The system is open source and relies on several prominent open source projects
E-education in the UK
No full textThe paper outlines the results of a survey, by the EBONI project, of lecturers’ use of and attitudes to electronic teaching and learning material, providing a snapshot of the current situation in UK higher education. Differences in the extent and type of e-content usage between academic disciplines, and lecturers’ intentions for the future, are discussed. Based on an analysis of their hopes and concerns, recommendations are made for increasing the development, usage and effectiveness of electronic content
Strategic Positioning Options for Scientific Libraries in Markets of Scientific and Technical Information - the Economic Impact of Digitization
No full textAs a key resource of the 21st century, information goods might displace industrial goods as key drivers of markets. The foundation of the economic prosperity of developed countries is not only based on the efficient conversion of information to knowledge, but also in imparting this knowledge in the educational system. In this context, scientific libraries play a decisive role as a provider of scientific and technical information (STI). After introducing the 2-3-6-concept, an analysis concept based on a special value chain, the paper examines the roles of the different players - author, scientific library, publisher, bookstore and scientific association - involved in the production of STI. A structural model for the value chain of the STI market is developed to analyse in detail the opportunities for scientific libraries offered by technological progress within the current economic, legal and regulatory framework. The analysis reveals that none of the players can be expected to stay within their historical core competencies. Due to technical developments and associated changes in the structure of transaction costs, each player can cover more fields of value-adding activities. The roles of the different players are merging more and more. Further, analysis of current direct and indirect monetary flows reveals considerable potential for conflict. As a consequence, players such as university libraries need to reconsider their strategic position in order to persist in the STI market. The paper proposes paths for possible strategic repositioning of university libraries
Hypertext Criticism: Writing about Hypertext
No full textIn the decade or so since the publication of the first hypertext fiction (Michael Joyce\u27s afternoon, a story), hypertext fiction and electronic literature has developed immensely. Electronic literature today is hypertextual and more, finding inspiration in visual arts, animation, games and cinema. There is a solid and growing literature of hypertext theory and of new media theory. Writers use links confidently, and electronic literature has become widespread on the Web. Writing has met other modes of expression that, previously, were usually separated from literature: visual art, concept art, performance and games are as important as literature in many contemporary hypertexts
A Cosmology for a Different Computer Universe: Data Model, Mechanisms, Virtual Machine and Visualization Infrastructure
No full textThe computing world is based on one principal system of conventions -- the simulation of hierarchy and the simulation of paper. The article introduces an entirely different system of conventions for data and computing. zzstructure is a generalized representation for all data and a new set of mechanisms for all computing. The article provides a reference description of zzstructure and what we hope to build on it.
From orthogonally connected data items (zzcells) and untyped connections (zzlinks), we build a cross-connected fabric of data (zzstructure) that is visualizable, interactive, and programmable.
zzstructure does not have a canonical string representation, as is usual. It is essentially spatial. It is based on criss-crossed lists of cells which are assigned to dimensions. Along these dimensions the cells are viewable, traversible, and subject to operations.
This leads to programming mechanisms built on this fabric; a virtual interactive machine (zzvim) built on these mechanisms; new visualization techniques built on the data fabric and mechanisms; and proposed new formats for the general representation of documents and arbitrary structure -- perhaps less biased than XML
Secure Embedded Data Schemes for User Adaptive Multimedia Presentation
No full textIn this Digital/Internet Age, digital multimedia holds an unlimited potential, and virtually all forms of media content, including books, video games, music and software are now available for digital distribution. Digital multimedia libraries, comprising a large amount of such digital media (the so-called Digital Intellectual Property), in the form of images, video, audio and graphics are rapidly growing. Also, due to the unprecedented growth of the World Wide Web, vast amounts of multimedia data is readily available leading to an explosion of multimedia and hypermedia database creation and sharing. Digital information embedding techniques for various types of media, for a variety of applications including digital libraries, museum cataloging, medical and healthcare industries, digital preservation systems, educational systems and personalization systems, are of significant interest in two areas. Firstly, these are useful for the realization of efficient database indexing schemes and customization, which in turn lead to efficient tools for the organization, retrieval, adaptive presentation, and distribution of digital media content. Secondly, these are useful in developing tools to protect, detect and verify ownership and/or usage rights for the Digital Intellectual Property and also the tracking of these in the distribution medium. In either of these applications, information embedding schemes which allow for a detailed level of source description, and which are robust to some of the distortions encountered in the distribution medium (e.g., JPEG compression for images), are particularly attractive. This paper presents an overview of multimedia presentation adaptation through the use of robust information descriptors and a novel information embedding technique for digital images that allows for significantly higher information throughput and increased robustness compared to many of the existing techniques
Designing Adaptable Learning Resources with Learning Object Patterns
No full textConstructing courses of study from learning objects is an attractive proposition, but for this to be feasible learning objects need to be designed to be reusable. While considerable work has been done in producing technical standards to promote compatibility in learning objects, more work is required in designing learning objects for reuse. Aspects of cohesion, coupling and freedom from specific contexts can be used in designs to help ensure that learning objects are reusable, and these aspects can be captured as design patterns that may be employed to produce reusable designs for learning objects. However, the requirements for reusability may be in conflict with those for effective learning so the patterns used must ensure that the learning objects constructed are adaptable to different contexts and remain pedagogically sound within those contexts. The paper shows how patterns can be used to create learning resources that are both reusable and adaptable
Capturing Content for Virtual Museums: from Pieces to Exhibits
No full textVirtual museums provide ways to capture the content of a real museum in a digital (electronic) form and make this digital form more universally available. This paper describes a novel method for digitally recording not only individual museum pieces, but entire museum exhibits (consisting of one or more rooms or spaces). The methodology allows anyone with access to the Internet or a PC to experience anywhere, anytime, any part of the museum\u27s collection or exhibits (past, present and future). Users can explore the museum exhibits in a virtual reality that is both spatially accurate and visually compelling. All objects and 3D scenes are seen in precise full color photographic quality detail. The scene and objects are polygonal meshes representing the surfaces of objects. This permits making measurements directly on the scene with millimeter precision. The methodology, its application to capturing museum exhibits, and examples of exhibits recorded using this technique are described. This work is part of the Virseum project (http://ils.unc.edu/bmh/virseum) at the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC).
In addition to the capture of items and exhibits for virtual access, this methodology opens the door for many other applications, including capturing a record of an exhibit for archival purposes and for communication between curators, and for the design of virtual (never physically implemented) exhibits and pieces based on actual pieces and settings