Information Retrieval List Digest 373 (September 22, 1997) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/irld/irld-373 IRLIST Digest ISSN 1064-6965 September 22, 1997 Volume XIV, Number 35 Issue 373 ********************************************************** II. JOBS 1. Athena Neurosciences, Inc.: South San Francisco: Information Assistant III. NOTICES A. Publications 1. Washington Update 9/5/97 2. Proceedings, Electronic Workshop Proceedings B. Meetings 1.Conference on Scientific and Technical Data Exchange and Integration IV. PROJECTS D. Miscellaneous 1. Workshop Report: Distributed Knowledge Work Environments: DLs ********************************************************** II. JOBS II.1. Fr: Cara Pellegrini Re: Athena Neurosciences, Inc.: South San Francisco: Information Assistant Athena Neurosciences, Inc. is a growing biopharmaceutical company located in South San Francisco. JOB DESCRIPTION: The qualified candidate will handle basic reference checking, work on moderately complex assignments with minimal supervision, resolve problems and make routine recommendations. He/she will also be able to communicate effectively and balance the needs of various departments. Requires a B.S. or equivelent; minimum of 2-4 years library information systems experience; strong knowledge of Melvyl and Dialog searching; exceptional organizational skills and attention to detail; ability to provide good customer service to multiple departments. Some knowledge of sciences preferred. Athena offers a competitive salary & benefits package. To apply, please send/ fax resume to: Athena Neurosciences. Attn: Human Resources. Job Title: Library Information Assistant. 800 Gateway Blvd., South San Francisco, CA 94080. Fax: (415)877-8370. EOE Please do not phone or email. ********************************************************** III. NOTICES III.A.1. Fr: Garret Sern Re: Washington Update 9/5/97 FARNET'S WASHINGTON UPDATE --- SEPTEMBER 5, 1997 IN THIS ISSUE: Senate Judiciary Committee holds hearing on copyright infringement online Encryption issues receive triple billing as Congress returns from August recess Commerce NTIA hosts internet telephony forum >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Written from FARNET's Washington office, "FARNET's Washington Update" is a service to FARNET members and other interested subscribers. We gratefully acknowledge EDUCOM's NTTF and the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) for additional support. If you would like more information about the Update or would like to offer comments or suggestions, please contact Garret Sern at garret@farnet.org. ********** III.A.2. Fr: callan@cs.umass.edu Re: Proceedings, Electronic Workshop Proceedings ELECTRONIC WORKSHOP PROCEEDINGS SIGIR-97 Workshop on Networked Information Retrieval July 31, 1997 Philadelphia, PA, USA An electronic proceedings for the 1997 SIGIR Workshop on Networked Information Retrieval is now available at: http://ciir.cs.umass.edu/nir97/ The proceedings is organized into 3 sections, and contains 9 papers. The table of contents is shown below. WEB SEARCH: Beyond Relevance Ranking: Hyperlink Voting, Y. Li, L. Rafsky; Gari Software/IDD Information Services The MetaCrawler Architecture for Resource Aggregation on the Web, E. Selberg, O. Etzioni; Univ of Washington Information Fusion with ProFusion, S. Gauch; Univ of Kansas DIGITAL LIBRARIES: Networked Digital Libraries: The Concept and a Case Study, J. L. Borbinha, J. Ferreira, J. Jorge, J. Delgado; Engineering Institute for Systems and Computers, Portugal Pharos: A Scalable Distributed Architecture for Locating Heterogeneous Information Sources, R. Dolin, D. Agrawal, A. El Abbadi, L. Dillon; Univ of California, Santa Barbara Knowledge Integration for Structured Information Sources Containing Text, W. W. Cohen; AT&T Labs Towards a Scalable Networked Retrieval Systems for Searching Multimedia Databases, C. Baumgarten, K. Meyer-Wegener; Dresden Univ, Germany RESOURCE SELECTION: Database Merging Strategies for Searching Public and Private Collections, E. Voorhees; NIST Meta-Data for Distributed Text Retrieval, G. Crowder, C. Nicholas; Univ of Maryland, Baltimore County NIR Standards (Invited Talk), C. Buckley; SaBIR Research FOR MORE INFORMATION: http://ciir.cs.umass.edu/nir97/ or callan@cs.umass.edu ********** III.B.1. Fr: Paul Uhlir Re: Conference on Scientific and Technical Data Exchange and Integration The Conference on Scientific and Technical Data Exchange and Integration Sponsored by U.S . National Committee for CODATA National Research Council December 15-17, 1997 Natcher Conference Center National Institutes of Health Bethesda, MD The exchange of scientific and technical (S&T) data among different computing environments and across diverse scientific and engineering disciplines presents major problems that hinder full exploitation of computer-based modeling, the Internet, modern scientific databases, and new computer technology. The U.S. National Committee for CODATA is sponsoring the first major interdisciplinary conference on this subject on December 15-17, 1997, in Bethesda, MD. The conference has three main objectives: - To identify areas, with special emphasis on interdisciplinary needs, in which data exchange and integration are important; - To highlight major S&T data exchange and integration efforts already underway or in planning; and - To foster serious and significant cooperation in these kinds of activities among scientific and engineering disciplines, and governmental and non-governmental organizations. SPONSORS: Defense Technical Information Center Department of Energy Hughes STX Corporation National Aeronautics and Space Administration National Institutes of Health National Institute of Standards and Technology National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Science Foundation United States Geological Survey Hughes STX Corp. [Additional government and corporate sponsors welcome] PRELIMINARY PROGRAM MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1997 Welcome: Goetz Oertel, U.S. National Committee for CODATA Conference Introduction: William Wulf, National Academy of Engineering Plenary Session 1: The Importance of Scientific Data Sharing Sharing Scientific Data--A Key to Progress in Research and Development, Rita Colwell, University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute Getting More from Our Research Investment--Cross-discipline Research and Data Sharing, Neal Lane, National Science Foundation Data Exchange and Integration--Fundamental Issues, John Rumble, National Institute of Standards and Technology An Industrial Perspective--Why Industry Shares Scientific and Technical Data, and How, Robert Kiggans, PDES, Inc. The Need for Data Exchange in Global Change Research, Robert Corell, National Science Foundation Contributed Papers, Posters, and Demonstrations (available for viewing until 5:00 pm on Tuesday) Plenary Session 2: Tearing Down the Walls--The Art and Science of Data Exchange and Integration Data Exchange and Integration Approaches, Gio Wiederhold, Stanford University Information Modeling, Yuhwei Yang, Product Data Integration Technology Resolving Conceptual Disagreements, Frank Olken, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory The Sociology of Data Exchange--Reaching Consensus on Data Exchange Tools, G. Bruce Wiersma, University of Maine at Orono Making Data Easy to Share, Ben Shneiderman, University of Maryland TUESDAY, DECEMBER 16 Plenary Session 3: Challenges to Cooperation--Why Data Exchange Must Succeed Sharing Scientific and Technical Data--Maximizing the Potential of the National Information Infrastructure [Speaker to be announced] Long-term Ecological and Environmental Data--The Challenge of Keeping and Remembering, Susan Stafford, Oregon State University Space Observation Data--Looking in and Looking out, Jim Green, National Aeronautics and Space Administration Human Health and Global Climate Change, Paul Epstein, Harvard University Geographic Information--What Everybody Needs, and Why, David Mark, University of Buffalo Molecular and Cellular Bioinformatics--From Molecules to Biological Functionality, David Lipman, National Center for Biotechnology Information Break-Out Discussion Group Sessions (see description of this portion of the program below) Plenary Session 3: Challenges to Cooperation (continued) Integrating Social Science and Natural Science Data, Roberta Miller, Consortium for International Earth Science Information Network Legal Challenges to Data Exchange and Integration, Paul Uhlir, National Research Council WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17 Plenary Session 4: How to Cooperate--Examples of Successful Cross- Discipline Data Exchange and Integration Geographic Information Systems, John Moeller, U.S. Geological Survey and Federal Geographic Data Committee ISO Standard for the Exchange of Product Data, Howard Bloom, National Institute of Standards and Technology World Data Centers, Ferris Webster, University of Delaware The Earth Observing System, Gregory Hunolt, National Aeronautics and Space, Administration Closing Plenary Session Ideas from the Break-Out Sessions, Julian Humphries, University of Kansas Next Steps for Working Scientists, Robert Robbins, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Next Steps for the Federal Research Community [To be announced] Final Remarks, Goetz Oertel, U.S. National Committee for CODATA CONRIBUTED PAPERS AND TECHNICAL DEMONSTRATIONS: The conference will consist of four types of sessions: plenary invited lectures; contributed papers (which will be presented as posters); demonstrations; and small break-out discussion groups. Case studies are particularly encouraged. Contributed papers and demonstrations are being provided on the following topics: Discipline-specific data exchange activities and requirements * Interdisciplinary data exchange activities and requirements * Federally supported data exchange programs * Definitions of scientific and technical metadata issues * The computer science of data exchange and integration * The impact of the Internet and the World Wide Web on S&T data exchange and integration * Future needs for data exchange and integration for scientific and technical data. The contributed papers and demonstrations will play a major role in the conference by identifying existing activities and approaches that will provide direction and insight for further activities. All contributed papers will be considered for publication in the Conference proceedings, which will be published on the Internet soon after the Conference. FOR COMPLETE CONFERENCE INFORMATION, CONTACT: Paul F. Uhlir Director, U.S. National Committee for CODATA National Research Council 2101 Constitution Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20418 (202) 334-2421 (tel.) (202) 334-2422 (fax) codataco@nas.edu FOR COMPLETE PROGRAM INFORMATION, CONTACT: John Rumble Conference Program Chair National Institute of Standards and Technology Building 820, Room 113 Gaithersburg, MD 20899 (301) 975-2200 (tel.) john.rumble@nist.gov BREAK-OUT DISCUSSION GROUP SESSIONS: The purpose of the small group discussions, which will be held on the afternoon of the second day, is to address focused topics within the broad conference themes. All conference participants are invited to participate in a discussion group of their choice. Each group will have a designated chair and rapporteur, who will lead and record the discussion. The results will be used by the U.S. National Committee for CODATA and the other conference sponsors for planning follow-on activities. The discussion groups are expected to examine data exchange and integration issues in the following topical areas: Biodiversity * Biophysics * Civil engineering and construction * Manufacturing/STEP * Space science * Earth remote sensing * GIS * Social sciences * Intellectual property rights * International research. Further details about these discussion groups will be made available in September. ********************************************************** IV. PROJECTS IV.D.1. [slightly edited for space] Fr: Maria Zemankova Re: Workshop Report: Distributed Knowledge Work Environments: DLs NSF* Planning Workshop on Distributed Knowledge Work Environments: Digital Libraries March 9-11, 1997 Santa Fe, New Mexico Organizer Daniel E. Atkins School of Information & Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science The University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI 48109 USA atkins@umich.edu ABSTRACT: Three years after the launch of the NSF/DARPA/NASA Digital Library Initiative (DLI) and as the initial period of funding draws to a close, this workshop was convened to consider the next step in this vein of research. It was noted that the concept of a "digital library" is not merely equivalent to a digitized collection with information management tools. It is rather an environment to bring together collections, services, and people in support of the full life cycle of creation, dissemination, use, and preservation of data, information, and knowledge. The challenges and opportunities that motivate an advanced digital library research initiative are associated with this broad view of digital library environment. Work on digital libraries aims to help with generating, sharing and using knowledge. It aims to improve practices of communities so they are more effective, efficient, productive and maximize the benefits of collaboration. It seeks to extend the content and utility of digital libraries to aid existing communities and to facilitate the emergence of new communities of discourse, research, and learning. Communities in this case are defined on multiple dimensions: geography, common interests, values, needs, culture, language, goals, etc. The workshop sought input from multiple perspectives: technical and behavioral/social as well as from important application domains. The participants of the workshop represented different interests and came from a range of distinct academic disciplines and sectors of society. It particularly included consideration of the current NSF/DARPA/NASA Digital Library Initiative: what has been accomplished, learned, demonstrated and what does this suggest about the need for follow-on activities? What are the new frontiers opened by the DLI and related work? Like the DLI, it is proposed that this new initiative should broaden research horizons for computer science/engineering by linking fundamental research to testbed construction which is evaluated and refined in real domains of use. It should strive to produce new knowledge and technology/infrastructure products which are useful not only in computer science and engineering, but in many other research and application domains. The Workshop report sets out to map the future in broad terms, noting first the promise that participants saw in digital library research (section 2). It discusses the central issues around which it seemed particularly important to frame future research in order to fulfill this promise (section 3). It presents this framework under the headings "System-Centered Issues," "Collection-Centered Issues," and "User-Centered Issues." It next considers various interested public and private groups with whom partnerships might prove synergistic (section 4). The report reflects the many discussions held about the structure of future research, including questions of size and duration of projects (section 5). Finally, it offers some conclusions drawn at the workshop. Some desirable distinctions between the current DLI and future programs include the following: Current DLI, involves broad technical agendas, experimental, technology testbeds, modest support for content & collections, narrowly circumscribed context of evaluation, and few user/usage studies. Suggestions for future initiatives should have refined technical agendas, real-world testbeds emphasizing interoperability and integration, increased support for content and collections, operational systems containing collections of value to domain applications, broad, multidimensional contexts of evaluation, and user/usage-oriented focus. Some participants requested more emphasis on the applications of digital libraries, in order to build user support for digital libraries, to deliver value to teachers and scholars in different contexts, to link up with the commercial publishing world, and to focus research in the most valuable directions. It was agreed that any new initiative should encompass a "diversified portfolio" of research, embracing small and large, highly specific and highly general research trajectories. Strategically structured funding initiatives would involve cooperative contracts and grants with the various partners. FURTHER INFORMATION: The final Workshop report, along with detailsof the Workshop, is available at the Web Site: http://www.si.umich.edu/SantaFe/ Limited numbers of hardcopy (27 pages) versions are available by sending a request with your mailing address to Joanne Kerr , School of Information, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1092, USA. * The Workshop was funded by the National Science Foundation, Division of Information, Robotics and Intelligent Systems, under grant IRI-9712586. All opinions, findings, conclusions and recommendations in any material resulting from this Workshop are those of the Workshop participants, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. ********************************************************** IRLIST Digest is distributed from the University of California, Division of Library Automation, 300 Lakeside Drive, Oakland, CA. 94612-3550. 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