Describes Instructional Technology Foundations, a graduate Instructional Systems Technology (IST) course at Indiana University (IU). Students learn to compare/contrast conceptual definitions of instructional (IT) and models of instructional design (ID). Students are required to generate their own working definition of IT from a personal…

Summarizes two speeches. William W. Stead offers three scenarios illustrating typical future interactions of consumers with a medical system based on informatics and information technology and then considers implications for academic medicine. Valerie Florance discusses a program that is exploring ways medical schools and teaching hospitals can…

Examines the sociotechnological impact of introducing collaborative technologies into the Spurlock Museum at the University of Illinois. Discusses online information technology to support asynchronous collaboration between curators and exhibit designers planning a new museum facility, and building a virtual museum by linking museum databases to…

Examines ethical and policy issues confronting higher education as a result of increasing use of new information and communication technologies for online teaching and the increasing globalization of higher education institutions and constituencies. The article questions the forced options of boosterism or rejectionism, along with other…

The International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) President (1999-2000) reports on the State of the Profession. Part I compares the profession of human performance technology (HPT) to other professions. Part II discusses the nature of HPT and examines critical classes of variables affecting the mission of HPT. Part III illustrates…

Without a careful critique of commodification, globalization turns out to be nothing more than the new colonialism. A series of ordinary classroom events explores how treating the classroom as a gift economy alters the globalizing effect of the Internet from delivery of commodities to something that addresses children and opens up worlds for them.…

Uses a simple model of an information retrieval (IR) technology to examine performance measures for IR systems. Shows that, if a user is employing a system optimally, then reasonable performance measures will tend to be relatively robust, or insensitive, to small variations in assumptions about the user's behavior. (AEF)

Discusses the development of various technologies up through the Internet, and notes that the means have been confused with the ends. Argues that educators and users should first focus on the learning material's content and on performance design that delivers useful results, before selecting the means of delivery (the Internet). (AEF)

Describes the technologies driving the Information Revolution and the creation of the Information Society. Discusses possible social and economic implications of these technologies and some of the strategies being developed in the United Kingdom by the public sector at the local level to meet the challenges of the Information Age. (Author/AEF)

Reviews four key areas of funding development that can be enhanced through Internet use: communication, in particular E-mail; networking through listservs and mailing lists; research, using search engines such as Alta Vista; and promotion, through the creation of Web sites. (JDI)

Provides background and context for the issue of outsourcing. Illustrates the practice as it exists in libraries. Offers a model for analyzing outsourcing alternatives and a scenario for testing the model, and suggests alternate approaches for management. (Contains 52 references.) (AEF)

New communication and information technology is transforming the structure and law governing information markets and the economic, social, cultural, and political patterns of societies. This article discusses the effects of information technology (telecommuting, job growth in rural areas, distance education) and the role of the European Commission…

Investigates pupils' abilities to interpret graphical information using a comparative study involving data-logging, conventional practical work, and a nonpractical equivalent. Concludes that the computer-based approach seemed to be particularly effective for younger and less-abled pupils. (Author/ASK)

A delegate with the People to People Ambassador program describes her visit to Russia in 1997, focusing on facilities, collections, and services of the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, Fundamentals Library of St. Petersburg State Technical University and Open Library Systems Center, National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg), and Russian…

Provides an account of efforts made to impart education and training of information technology (IT) at six library schools in Pakistan. Presents a brief history of library education in the country, and describes the rationale of IT education for Pakistani librarians. Provides recommendations for improvement in IT training, discussing factors…