Discusses what Office Information Systems and other Information Technology organizations, in concert with the business organizations they support, must do to exploit the opportunities and support the transition to the next generation enterprise: its business processes, its organizations and architectures, and its strategies. (Author/JOW)

Describes a theoretically and empirically based framework for how users formulate and employ information-seeking strategies in open-ended information systems (OEISs). Discusses challenges related to OEISs. Describes OEIS theoretical and users' perspectives. Presents an example based on a recent study to illustrate use of the OEIS…

Describes wearable computers, or information and communication technology devices that are designed to be mobile. Discusses how such technologies can enhance computer-mediated communications, focusing on collaborative working for learning. Describes an experimental system, MetaPark, which explores communications, data retrieval and recording, and…

This report, informed by discussion of content activities at the 1999 IMesh Workshop, considers implications for subject based gateways of co-operation regarding coverage policy, creation of metadata, and provision of searching and browsing across services. Other possibilities for co-operation include working more closely with information…

Data-based decision making is a process of inquiry, analysis, and decision making that draws inferences from the interplay of school input/process and output variables. A case study involving a Connecticut district's response to falling SATs illustrates the need for fast, sophisticated information technology systems. (MLH)

Describes how the original ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) was established as a centralized information center within the Office of Education, and how it was later transformed into a decentralized national system. Discusses the roles of advances in information systems technology, interpersonal relationships, political decisions,…

Describes a computer-mediated learning-support system designed as a suite of integrated, Internet-based client-server tools to provide: (1) intelligent support both for the processes of doing a project and for learning from doing a project, and (2) a shared dynamic knowledge base for working and learning in a community supporting project-based…

Previews Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs), a potential unifying classification system for the Web and the Internet developed by the Association of American Publishers and the Corporation for National Research Initiatives. Discusses issues and problems surrounding DOI implementation and usage and how DOI would affect publishers, users,…

Presents adaptations and tests undertaken to allow an information retrieval system to forecast the likelihood of avalanches on a particular day; the forecasting process uses historical data of the weather and avalanche conditions for a large number of days. Describes a method for adapting these data into a form usable by a text-based IR system and…

In information science, it is important to consider the nature and meaning of theories of aboutness, subject analysis and related concepts, which are closely related to theoretical and metatheoretical issues in information retrieval (IR). A theory of IR must specify which concepts should be regarded as synonymous concepts and explain how the…

Certain guiding principles ensure that information technology becomes a value-added investment: using well-designed management and operating processes and fact-based decision making; examining document core processes and business practices; rethinking and redesigning processes, policies, and practices before integrating them into a system; and…

This paper provides an original Web Assessment Index that focuses on accessibility, speed, navigability, and content. Explains the scoring mechanism, applies the index to assess Web sites of all Spanish universities, and suggests future research. (Author/LRW)

Examines consequences for information control of the tendency of occurrences of content-bearing terms to appear together, or clump. Properties of previously defined clumping measures are reviewed and extended, and significance of these measures for devising retrieval strategies discussed. A new type of clumping measure, which extends the earlier…

This essay proposes the theory of normative behavior and presents general discussions of two communities-the online world of virtual communities and the world of feminist booksellers associated with the Women in Print Movement-that can be used as test cases for that theory. (Contains 73 references.) (AEF)

The resolution power of a key is its ability, in the context of other keys for a given request, to increase query performance. This article studies the statistical properties of search keys, methods of characterizing the resolution power of keys automatically, and effects keys of varying resolution power have on retrieval effectiveness. (AEF)