Weaving the Web of Science: HyperJournal and the impact of the Semantic Web on scientific publishing
Michele Barbera and Francesca Di Donato, (2006)

Abstract: In this paper we present HyperJournal, an Open Source web application for publishing on-line Open Access scholarly journals. In the first part (sections 1, 2 and 3) we briefly describe the project and the software. In sections 4 and 5, we discuss the weaknesses of the current publishing model and the benefits deriving from the adoption of Semantic Web technologies, outlining how the Semantic Web vision can help to overcome the inefficiencies of the current model. In the last two sections (6 and 7), we present two experimental applications, developed on top of HyperJournal, with the purpose of demonstrating how the technologies can affect the daily work of scholars. The first application is a tool for graphically visualizing the network of citations existing between articles and their authors, and for performing bibliometric measurements alternative to the ISI Impact Factor. The second is a tool for automatically extracting references from non-structured textual documents, which is part of a tool-chain for the extraction of hidden semantics.

Source: In Martens, Bob and Dobrova, Milena, Eds. Proceedings ELPUB : International Conference on Electronic Publishing (10th : 2006 : Bansko), pp. 341-348, Bansko (Bulgaria) via E-LIS.

Eprints Application Profile Wiki

More positive reactions from repositories community at Open Scholarship 2006 - The co-ordinators of the Dublin Core Application Profile for ePrints (Scholarly Works) recently ran a tutorial at the Open Scholarship 2006 Conference in Glasgow. The tutorial, presented by Julie Allinson from UKOLN and Andy Powell from the Eduserv Foundation, presented the profile to the group and opened the floor for comments, reactions and suggestions. There was much interest in the work, particularly from European projects looking into similar metadata issues. Concern over the complexity of the model was discussed, with the authors of the profile arguing for necessary complexity to facilitate a much richer metadata set for use by aggregators. Slides from the tutorial are available (PPT) on the Eprints Application Profile wiki.

Source: UKOLN

+ Marketwatch along with a post on the JotSpot site (the wiki, web collaboration folks) reports that Google Has Acquired the Company.
The deal has officially closed but financials are NOT being disclosed. Also, new registrations have been closed to the public. In other words, if you want to try it, you’re going to need to wait. Similar to Writely, stay tuned. Those paying for access to the service will no longer be charged. More here and here.

+ Ask.com, Yahoo, and Google Offer Special Halloween Logos and Home Pages.
Note how the Ask.com logo offers up direct links to a wide range of info about the holiday and even costume ideas.

+ Ask.com’s Revenue Increases 62 Percent (via Bloomberg)

Briefly:
+ Factiva and MS Virtual Earth Announce Partnership

+ Nstein and UPI To Work Together

Google Fined $43 Million in Belgium
(via e-media Tidbits, Google Blogoscoped, and Digital Inspiration)

+ Another Company for Google to Acquire?
This time in the online maps world. Gary share some facts on Google Blogoscoped.

+ French publishers join Google booksearch lawsuit (via IDG News Service)

Top 25 Search for Documents via CIA FOIA Database

This collection reports this site’s 25 most requested documents during the previous month. We will update this page as necessary somewhere between the 1st and the 15th of the following month.

Note: The document list is ordered by publication date, not necessarily in order of popularity.

Source: CIA

Searching on Zotspot could earn users a 10 spot
From the article:

Start-up Zotspot is set to officially launch on Tuesday a site that pays people to search, and pays them even more based on how many other people they refer to the site.

“To give you a sense of the earning potential, we estimate that each referral who uses Zotspot as their primary search engine will generate between 10 cents and 50 cents for you per year. (We can’t guarantee those estimates, but we hope to continue to increase member earnings and even pass those numbers in the future!)” the Web site says. “If you refer 10 people, they each refer 10 people and so on, you could earn over $250 per year.”

It’s not a pyramid scheme because it doesn’t require people to pay anything to participate, the site says.

More via the Zotspot FAQ.

As Chris Sherman points out paying people to search is not a new idea. The article lists several current and past services:

+ GoodSearch.com
+ Blingo.com
+ MSN’s Search and Win
+ iWon

Zotspot results pages list 10 results per page and at times seems to have issues with collocating the same page with differerent urls. A results page also includes two sponsored links at the top of the results page and nine or ten sponsored links in the right rail. Their are no cached pages or an advanced interface.

Source: News.com

Statistics: US Doctorates in the 20th Century

This report describes the history and growth of doctoral education in the United States from 1900 to 1999 and shows changes in the characteristics of persons who complete a doctoral education. It builds on a publication that examined trends in doctoral education in the first three-quarters of the 20th century: A Century of Doctorates: Data Analyses of Growth and Change, published in 1978 by the National Academy of Sciences and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the U.S. Office of Education (NAS/NRC 1978).

A vast majority of Ph.D.s, however, graduated in the last 25 years of the century and are not represented in A Century of Doctorates. Moreover, the characteristics of recent doctorate recipients differ in many ways from those of Ph.D.s a generation earlier. The early 1970s marked the end of a long period of expansion in U.S. doctoral education that began after World War II. By 1974, the last year examined in A Century of Doctorates, major changes in doctoral education were just becoming established or would soon become evident: increased representation of women, minorities, and foreign nationals; interruption in the growth of doctoral awards in science and engineering fields; emergence of new fields, such as computer sciences; lengthening of the time it takes to complete doctoral study; expansion of the postdoctoral pool; and reduced academic employment opportunities after graduation.

Source: National Science Foundation (via DocuTicker.com)

New Resource for Educators: Coral Ecosystem SciGuide

NOAA and the National Science Teachers Association announced the unveiling of the Coral Ecosystem SciGuide, a new Web-based “science toolbox” for teachers and other educators. The SciGuide was developed collaboratively by the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program and NSTA, as part of a cooperative agreement between NSTA and the NOAA Ocean Service.

The Coral Ecosystem SciGuide pulls together the best of the Internet’s resources on coral science, and organizes these resources according to three major theme areas for the classroom: coral reef biology, coral ecosystems and coral conservation. Every Web-based resource included in the SciGuide is aligned with national science education standards for a range of grade levels, and was reviewed and approved by a team of NSTA “master teachers” and NOAA scientists.

Source: NOAA

The 2006 Inc. 500 was released a few months ago but until now was only available for subscribers. Now, the complete list is online and searchable (name, state, year) along with lists for the past 25 years. You’ll also notice several interactive maps. Here’s the complete list by industry mapped on to a Google map.

Nuclear Threat Initiative Updates Several Country Profiles

+ Egypt
+ Kazakhstan
+ India
+ Iran
+ Israel
+ Syria

See Also: Updated: NTI Website Resources on North Korea

Source: NTI by the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies

Webcast: Former HP CEO Carly Fiorina Speaks at Stanford Business School

Carly Fiorina shared highlights of her career, including stories of human nature—and hairstyles—in the boardroom, during a speech sponsored by the Women in Management club.

Text Summary ||| Direct to Video (Running Time: About 1 hr, Real Player)

See Also: Ms. Fiorina Also Spoke at the Kellogg School of Business (Northwestern University) on October 25, 2006
Real Player required.

The Best of DocuTicker (10/30/2006)
Three more interesting reports published yesterday on our sister site:
+ Global Employment Trends For Youth (International Labour Organization)
+ Why Did the Number of Uninsured Continue to Increase in 2005? (Kaiser Family Foundation)
+ African Development Indicators 2006 (World Bank)

Online Health Search 2006: Most internet users start at a search engine when looking for health information online. Very few check the source and date of the information they find.

Are we surprised by these findings? No. Are we sad to read them? Yes! Are they scary? Very much so. Another example of, “If it’s on the web then it must be accurate and current.” It once again illustrates the importance of the librarian/info professional as a teacher/educator in the age of the web especially when it comes to health info. The Medical Library Association does a good job but we ALL need to do better. ResourceShelf believes that regardless of what type of library you work in (if you work in one in the first place) we all need to be on the same team and represent the profession as a whole. Yes, the librarian of 2006 and beyond MUST be as much of a teacher/educator as anything else they do on a daily basis. Critical info skills are more important now than ever before (especially with health info), yet it seems the public pays little attention to them. Btw, this is yet another area where we (as info pros) can do a lot to shine.

From the summary:

Eighty percent of American internet users, or some 113 million adults, have searched for information on at least one of seventeen health topics. Most internet users start at a general search engine when researching health and medical advice online. Just 15% of health seekers say they “always” check the source and date of the health information they find online, while another 10% say they do so “most of the time.” Fully three-quarters of health seekers say they check the source and date “only sometimes,” “hardly ever,” or “never,” which translates to about 85 million Americans gathering health advice online without consistently examining the quality indicators of the information they find. Most health seekers are pleased about what they find online, but some are frustrated or confused.

Source: Pew Interent & American Life Project

See Also: Medical Library Association “Top Ten” Useful Websites

See Also: Myths and Truths About Library Services

See Also: 2006/07 MLA Priorities

ALIEP-2006 conference on Library Leadership at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore: A Summary Report

This report outlines few selected presentations of the ALIEP 2006 conference based on the theme “Preparing Information Professionals for Leadership in the new age” held at the Executive centre, School of Information and communication, NTU, Singapore, during 3-6, April 2006. The four-day event provided both professional librarians and educators a unique opportunity to explore the collaborative agenda emerged due to pervasive convergence technologies in today’s knowledge society. The author, who was also a speaker provides an overview of the ALIEP- 2006 Asia Pacific discussion forum, which carried out a variety of program viz. industry updates, keynote sessions, Paper presentations, invited guests and local tours to national library, university libraries and national Archives of Singapore.

Direct to Full Text (PDF)

Source: DLIST