EP Topic News: 27th February 2003EP Topic News: 27th February 2003
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Usage of the El.pub site continues its impressive growth. The latest figures gathered at the end of January 2003 show that unique visitors to the site grew to just below 28,000 (27,983) for the month. This increase in web site usage has been mirrored by a corresponding increase in free subscriptions to the El.pub Weekly and El.pub Analaytic email-based information services.
URL: http://www.elpub.org
The INFORM Workshop entitled: "User Needs for Mobile Electronic Information Services" is scheduled to take place in Athens, on 20 March, 2003. The draft agenda has been published on El.pub.
An increasing number of users of innovative electronic information services want to access services with various devices and platforms, via different networks, at any time and from any place. The aim of this workshop is to exchange knowledge about how electronic publishing projects elicited user requirements and to enhance awareness of new techniques and methods for user needs analysis.
The workshop is free of charge for IST project participants and will bring together experts in user-centred product creation and practitioners from projects developing mobile electronic information services.
The event is being organised by ACit GmbH and hosted by INTRACOM in association with the European Commission INFORM project (publishers of El.pub).
The workshop is open to a limited number of up to 50 participants, with places being allocated on a first-come first-served basis.
To register please send the following information by email or fax: Name, Project, Organisation, Address, Email, Phone and Fax.
URL: workshop agenda http://www.elpub.org/agenda26.htm
Email: registrations mailto:workshops@acit.net
Fax: registrations +49 7252 973 771
Tate Online, sponsored by BT, has apparently been ranked as "the UK's number one arts web site". Figures provided by Hitwise (an "online intelligence service") suggest that the site received "almost two million unique visitors during 2002", which they believe makes it one of the most visited museum/art gallery sites in the UK. These figures were presented at the announcement of BT's continuing sponsorship of the site amounting to £2 million. Jemima Rellie, head of digital programmes, Tate, commented: "We're using the web site to reach audiences who may not be able to come to the galleries as often as they'd like. The Internet provides Tate with limitless scope, not only for displaying artworks but also by offering new ways of experiencing them".
URL: Tate Online http://www.tate.org.uk
URL: Hitwise http://www.hitwise.com
HowToWeb, an online resources for web masters and web application developers has launched a beta test of a number of discussion forums which aim to cover: web development, web marketing, web site design and technology. Some of the initial discussions include: E-thrombosis: a health threat to computer users, cleaning hard drives, PC home networking, stopping spam, Internet copywriting, using Flash, web site credibility.
According a report on writenews.com (news, features and resources for media and publishing professionals), most web traffic is the result of direct navigation ie. most people visit web sites by typing the URL directly into the web browser and not by using search engines. The report suggests that over 64% of web users reached web sites using direct navigation whilst 35% used search engines. It goes on to claim that the number of people using direct navigation has steadily increased over the past two years.
IBM alphaWorks provides free trial downloads of IBM emerging technologies. The current crop of available software and resources includes:
• The IBM Grid Toolbox - an integrated set of tools that facilitate the creation of grids and applications to exploit the advanced capabilities of the grid using a combination of the Grid. It includes the Globus Toolkit 2.2 with additional documentation and custom installation scripts written for IBM eServer hardware running AIX and Linux.
URL: http://www.alphaWorks.ibm.com/tech/gridtoolbox?Open&ca=daw-flts-021702
• Grid Application Framework for Java (GAF4J) - a lightweight framework that abstracts all grid semantics from the application logic and provides a simpler programming model that lines up smoothly with common Java programming models.
URL: http://www.alphaWorks.ibm.com/tech/GAF4J?Open&ca=daw-flts-021702
• XML Security Suite - a tool that provides security features such as digital signature, encryption, and access control for XML documents. New version includes support for XML Encryption and Decryption Transform RECs, major improvement in performance of exc-c14n, and some bug fixes.
URL: http://www.alphaWorks.ibm.com/tech/xmlsecuritysuite?Open&ca=daw-flut-021702
alphaWorks offers IBM alpha technologies for free, 90 day trial download and evaluation. However, under alphaWorks' commercial licenses, customers can take advantage of IBM technologies before they hit the market without revoking the 90-day trial period. All technologies are licensed as-is, unsupported, and non-warranted. Customers will receive updates and the benefit of early adopter feedback that influences the development of these alpha technologies. For more information on the licensing program offering, see the URL below.
URL: IBM alphaWorks http://www.alphaWorks.ibm.com/
URL: licensing http://www.alphaWorks.ibm.com/license
The second Preparatory Committee meeting for the ITU World Summit on the Information Society (Geneva 10-12 December 2003 and Tunisia 2005) opened with an appeal for all of the stakeholders to work "quickly and constructively" to develop the declaration of principles and first draft of the plan of action that will ensure the benefits and rights of the information society are extended to all.
The ITU believes that the World Summit will represent a new phase of its work - which will look beyond pure technology (and its standardisation) and consider how information and communication technologies (ICT) are used. This expanded focus is reflected in the broad range of roundtables and workshops held during Preparatory Committee meeting. The discussions will provide the background for specifying the themes and content for the Summit and include topics ranging from ICT infrastructure and financing and legal and regulatory frameworks to ICT applications, services and security to the needs of special groups.
URL: roundtables http://www.itu.int/wsis/
URL: preparatory process http://www.itu.int/wsis/preparatory/prepcom/
D-Lib Magazine February 2003, is a special issue on digital reference, a collaboration between D-Lib Magazine and Guest Editor, Joanne Silverstein, Information Institute of Syracuse, Syracuse University. There are five articles, a book review, several smaller features in the "In Brief" column, excerpts from recent press releases, and news of upcoming conferences and other items of interest in the "Clips and Pointers" section. The articles include:
• "Current State of Digital Reference in Primary and Secondary Education",
• "The Technological Challenges of Digital Reference: An Overview",
• "Question Negotiation and the Technological Environment",
• "Evaluation of Chat Reference Service Quality: Pilot Study",
• "Visual Resource Reference: Collaboration Between Digital Museums and Digital Libraries".The book reviewed is: "The Virtual Reference Librarian's Handbook".
URL: http://www.dlib.org
AUTHENTIC 5, an XML document editor from Altova is being offered to the public through a free software license. The editor is described as "a customisable, lightweight, and easy-to-use XML document editor, that allows business users to create and edit content through a web-enabled interface resembling a word processor". The software provides built-in templates for over 15 industry standard XML content formats including NewsML, NITF, and DocBook and can be used with a wide range of XML content storage solutions.
URL: Altova http://www.altova.com/
URL: AUTHENTIC 5 http://www.altova.com/download
Issue 3 (February 2003) of DigiCULT.Info, a newsletter on digital culture, has been published and includes brief articles entitled:
• "OAI and its Value to the Cultural Heritage Sector",
• "Preservation Metadata and Digital Continuity",
• "An Introduction to Web Services for Cultural Heritage Professionals",
• "TLD's Emerging Domain Name Opportunities",
• "A Distributed Framework for Digital Museum Exhibitions",
• "Handscape: Investigating Mobile Computing in Museums",
• "Exploring Charging Models for Digital Cultural Heritage in Europe".The newsletter, available in high and low resolution versions of .pdf format, also includes: reports on recently held culture and technology events; reports on emerging standards and tools in the sector; and information about forthcoming events and calls for papers.
URL: DigiCULT http://www.digicult.info
URL: DigiCULT.Info High Res http://data.digicult.info/download/digicult_info3.pdf
URL: DigiCULT.Info Low Res http://data.digicult.info/download/digicult_info3_low.pdf
National Science Foundation (NSF) Panel on Cyberinfrastructure, in the US, has released its Cyberinfrastructure Report entitled: "Revolutionizing Science and Engineering Through Cyberinfrastructure". The report covers topics such as optical networking, end-to-end performance, international connectivity and middleware. It calls for a major new NSF initiative in information technology to meet the challenges facing science, engineering and education by such technological developments.
URL: http://www.cise.nsf.gov/evnt/reports/atkins_annc_020303.htm
URL: http://www.cise.nsf.gov/b_ribbon/
Perl.com provides useful periodic updates of developments relating to Perl, the standard and its application. A free e-zine is available, providing links to updates and articles published on the site. The current issue links to an article by a researcher and developer of search engines, which introduces the vector-space search engine, a "powerful technique that can be simply implemented in Perl and run from memory. His article is interesting in its own right as an introduction to the world of search engine design."
URL: article http://www.perl.com/pub/a/2003/02/19/engine.html
URL: Perl.com http://www.perl.com
A number of articles and resources published by IBM on their DeveloperWorks web site:
• Describing Web services: Web Services Description Language (WSDL) Tutorial providing a concise understanding of the purpose and mechanics of WSDL and how it is an essential part of making web services interoperable. Registration is required.
URL: http://www.ibm.com/developer/nlredirects/r-cpgte022003d.html?ca=dnt-47t
• Speed-start Web services programme provides information on the latest IBM development tools and middleware, online training with tutorials and articles, hands-on workshops and technical briefings, and online technical support forums. The tools and products are available for download or can be requested on CD via the web link below.
URL: http://www.ibm.com/developer/nlredirects/r-cpgte022003e.html?ca=dnt-47t
• "Thinking XML: Universal Business Language (UBL)". Universal Business Language (UBL) is an effort to unify the world of XML formats for business. Recently, the group behind UBL released the first work products for public review. In this article, the author takes an "in-depth look at UBL".
URL: http://www.ibm.com/developer/library/x-think16.html?ca=dnt-47t
• "Experience remote usability testing, Part 2". Two pervasive computing specialists explain why and when remote usability testing is a benefit, illuminate application-sharing tools used for testing, and offer insights into their experiences and the sometimes hard lessons they learned. (This is Part 2 of a 2 part article.)
URL: part 1 http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/library/wa-rmusts1/
URL: part 2 http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/wa-rmusts2.html?ca=dnt-47t
If you are developing, or have contributed to, projects using Virtual Reality technologies - then the organisers of the 2003 Laval Virtual Trophies Competition are requesting that you participate. The Laval Virtual Trophies awards attempt to reward the best creations using Virtual Reality in the following fields: art and culture, medicine, automotive industry, aerospace and transport, engineering, industrial design and simulation, trade and distribution, science and education, architecture and design, video games and attractions, interactive characters.
Further information on how to submit an entry to the competition (before April 11, 2003) is available on the Laval web site. The Laval Virtual reality Conference, after which the competition takes its name takes place from May 13-18, 2003, in Laval, Mayenne, France.
URL: conference http://www.laval-virtual.org
URL: submission http://www.laval-virtual.org/newus/inscription_trophee.lasso
URL: competition details http://www.laval-virtual.org/newus/trophes.lasso
An interesting article on the subject of web services beyond SOAP/WSDL/UDDI is published on the News.com web site.
The O'Reilly Learning Lab offers online courses on subjects such as HTML, JavaScript, DHTML, PHP, XML, and C Programming, as well as Certification in Web Programming or Linux/Unix Adminstration. The courses also include O'Reilly reference books to supplement the course materials, an online "coach" to answer questions, and access to Useractive's Learning Sandbox technology providing complete command-line access to a Unix machine through a web browser to practice programming techniques.
The members of OASIS announced have approved the Extensible Access Control Markup Language (XACML) as an OASIS Open Standard. The XACML specification should enable developers to express and enforce policies for information access over the Internet.
URL: OASIS http://www.oasis-open.org
URL: XACML http://www.oasis-open.org/news/oasis_news_02_18_03.shtml
iMakeNews is planning to launched DirectBlog, a Weblog management service in April 2003. The software is being developed to enable businesses to harness the power of Weblogs (Blogs), to provide channels for: "e-marketing, knowledge management, sales and collaborative communications". The intention is that the software will provide an automated way for companies to publish and e-mail customised and personalised Weblogs to segmented groups. DirectBlog is the latest module to be built on top of the iMakeNews web-based content management and delivery system.
Oxford University Press (OUP) has selected ScanSoft's RealSpeak in French, German, Castilian and Mexican Spanish languages for inclusion in its innovative pronunciation CD-ROMs. Beginning in April 2003, these CD-ROMS will be included at no additional charge with the new Oxford Spanish Dictionary, the Oxford-Hachette French Dictionary, and the Oxford-Duden German Dictionary. The CD-ROMs will be aimed at helping students, business professionals, translators and language students to improve pronunciation, intonation and comprehension by listening to text read by a virtual native speaker. Users can type or paste in a word, phrase, or even a whole paragraph and hear it spoken back in Spanish, French, or German.
URL: OUP dictionaries http://www.askoxford.com
URL: ScanSoft http://www.scansoft.com
Anark has developed three new 3D exporters, allowing users of Alias|Wavefront's Maya, NewTek's Lightwave and Right Hemisphere's Deep Exploration to export models into Anark Studio 1.5.2. The exporters, available for download from the Anark web site export models and scenes using the Anark Model Exchange (AMX) file format. Anark also announced its support for Discreet's 3ds Max with the launch of Anark Studio 1.5.2.
URL: AMX 3D exporters download http://www.anark.com/developers/plugins.asp
URL: Anark http://www.anark.com/
Auto-trol Technology is shipping release 1.0 of its WebCGM authoring tool, WebCGM Author Tool for Windows as part of its Tech Illustrator product line. The WebCGM Author Tool supports loading of native Auto-trol formats along with import of CGM files. Save formats include hotspotted Auto-trol DG and export of WebCGM files. The company claim that this tool will allow writers of IETMs (interactive electronic technical manuals) to author directly into the graphics and review the artwork while it is in the composition phase of the publishing process.
"This product was designed to increase the productivity of our customers when creating IETMS which require intelligent graphics such as WebCGM," said Kevin O'Kane, Auto-trol Director of R&D.
URL: Auto-trol http://www.auto-trol.com/
URL: Tech Illustrator product line http://www.tech-illustrator.com/
An interesting use of web audio is the announcement that US-based recording studio, The Guest House Live is running an on-line recording studio. The trial features Sonic Whisper, a new pop/rock band, recording their first album online, webcasting the process through Windows Media Player, and enabling fans to "observe the process".
URL: The Guest House Live http://www.theguesthouselive.com
Microsoft have released the Windows Media Data Session Toolkit, a new component of Windows Media 9 Series that "enables media companies to securely create and deliver content via a second session in various formats including CDs and DVDs".
URL: Windows Media http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmedia/
RepliGo from Cerience converts Microsoft Office documents, Adobe PDF files, web pages and "hundreds of other document types" into replicas for viewing and printing on Palm OS and Pocket PC handheld devices. The software maintains the look and feel of the facsimiles and compresses them. However from our reading of the information released no mention was made of editing or other manipulation of the content itself once the replicas were made and transferred to the handheld device. A fully functional 14-day trial of the software is available for download.
Teoma 2.0 is the next generation of web search engine owned and operated by Ask Jeeves, Inc. Teoma syndicates its search technology to a number of high profile search sites including Ask Jeeves (Ask.com and Ask.co.uk), Excite, InfoSpace and HotBot.
URL: Teoma 2.0 http://www.teoma.com
URL: Ask Jeeves http://www.ask.com
URL: Ask Jeeves http://www.jeevessolutions.com/
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