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"Standardization -- Political aspects"
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Germanic Language Histories 'from Below' (1700-2000)
Focusing on the sociolinguistic history of Germanic languages, the current volume challenges the traditional teleological approach of language historiography. The 30 contributions present alternative histories of ten 'big' as well as 'small' Germanic languages and varieties in the last 300 years. Topics covered in this book include language variation and change and the politics of language contact and choice, seen against the background of standardization processes of written and oral text genres and from the viewpoint of larger sections of the population.
eBook
Public Policymaking by Private Organizations
How private groups increasingly set public policy and regulate lives—with little public knowledge or attention. From accrediting doctors and lawyers to setting industry and professional standards, private groups establish many of the public policies in today’s advanced societies. Yet this important role of nongovernmental groups is largely ignored by those who study, teach, or report on public policy issues. Public Policymaking by Private Organizations sheds light on policymaking by private groups, which are not accountable to the general public or, often, even to governments. This book brings to life the hidden world of policymaking by providing an overview of this phenomenon and in-depth case studies in the areas of finance, food safety, and certain professions. Far from being merely self regulation or self-governance, policymaking by private groups, for good or ill, can have a substantial impact on the broader public—from ensuring the safety of our home electrical appliances to vetting the credit-worthiness of complex financial instruments in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis. From nonprofit associations to multinational corporations, private policymaking groups are everywhere. They certify professionals as competent, establish industry regulations, and set technical and professional standards. But because their operations lack the transparency and accountability required of governmental bodies, these organizations comprise a policymaking territory that is largely unseen, unreported, uncharted, and not easily reconciled with democratic principles. Anyone concerned about how policies are made—and who makes them—should read this book.
eBook
Archives for All: Professional Responsibility and Social Justice
Archivists should use their power—in determining what records will be preserved for future generations and in interpreting this documentation for researchers—for the benefit of all members of society. By adopting a social conscience for the profession, they can commit themselves to active engagement in the public arena. Archivists can use the power of archives to promote accountability, open government, diversity, and social justice. In doing so, it is essential to distinguish objectivity from neutrality. Advocacy and activism can address social issues without abandoning professional standards of fairness, honesty, detachment, and transparency.
Journal Article
Citation Management Software: Features and Futures
Ref Share allows researchers to collaborate across institutions. Since RefWorks added the attachment feature, researchers can upload 100MB of a variety of file types; the administrator can increase this limit up to 5 GB. [...] users are surely pleased that the library foots the bill for access to RefWorks.
Journal Article
Documenting the Immigrant and Ethnic Experience in American Archives
This paper examines the development of ethnic and immigrant archives in the United States since the 1960s. It focuses on the dramatic evolution of \"ethnic archiving\"—the processes and objectives involved in documenting the immigrant and ethnic experience—and shows how cultural minorities evolved from an object or theme of archival collections to active participants in the creation, appraisal, description, and use of their own archives. A number of factors made this evolution possible: a new political context increasingly responsive to minority rights and cultural diversity, rising interest in social history, and the influence of postmodernist thought on archival theory. New digital technologies have also facilitated the expression and archiving of ethnic voices.
Journal Article
e-Science and its implications for the library community
Purpose - The purpose of this article is to explain the nature of the \"e-Science' revolution in twenty-first century scientific research and its consequences for the library community.Design methodology approach - The concepts of e-Science are illustrated by a discussion of the CombeChem, eBank and SmartTea projects. The issue of open access is then discussed with reference to arXiv, PubMed Central and EPrints. The challenges these trends present to the library community are discussed in the context of the TARDis project and the University of Southampton Research Repository.Findings - Increasingly academics will need to collaborate in multidisciplinary teams distributed across several sites in order to address the next generation of scientific problems. In addition, new high-throughput devices, high-resolution surveys and sensor networks will result in an increase in scientific data collected by several orders of magnitude. To analyze, federate and mine this data will require collaboration between scientists and computer scientists; to organize, curate and preserve this data will require collaboration between scientists and librarians. A vital part of the developing research infrastructure will be digital repositories containing both publications and data.Originality value - The paper provides a synthesis of e-Science concepts, the question of open access to the results of scientific research, and a changing attitude towards academic publishing and communication. The paper offers a new perspective on coming demands on the library and is of special interest to librarians with strategic tasks.
Journal Article
A multilevel model of HIV AIDS information help network development
Purpose - This paper aims to describe the personal information and help networks of people with HIV AIDS (PHAs) in rural Canada, and to present a research-based model of how and why these networks developed. This model seeks to consider the roles of PHAs, their family members friends and formal health systems in network formation.Design methodology approach - In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 114 PHAs, their friends family members (FFs) and formal caregivers in three rural regions of Canada. A network solicitation procedure elicited PHAs' HIV AIDS information help networks. Interviews were analyzed qualitatively, and network data were analyzed statistically. Documents describing health systems in each region were also analyzed. Analyses used social capital theory, supplemented by stress coping and stigma management theories.Findings - PHAs' HIV AIDS-related information help networks emphasized linking and bonding social capital with minimal bridging social capital. This paper presents a model that explains how and why such networks developed. The model shows that networks grew from the actions of PHAs, their FFs and health systems. PHAs experienced considerable stress, which led them to develop information help networks to cope with HIV AIDS - both individually and collaboratively. Because of stigmatization, many PHAs disclosed their illness selectively, thus constraining the size and composition of their networks. Health system actors created network-building opportunities for PHAs by providing them with care, referrals and support programs.Originality value - This study describes and explains an understudied type of information behavior: information help network development at individual, group and institutional levels. As such, it illuminates the complex dynamics that made individual acts of interpersonal information acquisition and sharing possible.
Journal Article
E-readiness of SMEs in the ICT sector in Botswana with respect to information access
Purpose - The paper aims to present the e-readiness status of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the information and communication technologies (ICT) sector in Botswana and make comparisons with global trends.Design methodology approach - The paper is based on a doctoral project that was carried out at the University of Johannesburg from 2002 to 2005. A qualitative approach was employed using both focus group discussions and in-depth interviews to collect data.Findings - The findings revealed that SMEs in Botswana, like their counterparts in most developing countries, had not achieved a reasonable measure of e-readiness status compared to the developed world.Research limitations implications - There is paucity of research on the e-readiness of SMEs in developing countries, especially with respect to information access. Furthermore e-readiness, being a new phenomenon, does not yet have an established theoretical basis and a universally acknowledged definition.Practical implications - This study presents a framework that has the potential to assist governments, especially in the developing world, to make informed ICT investment decisions that will enable SMEs to penetrate the international electronic business environment. Moreover, the findings provide a lens through which SMEs, especially in developing world, would benchmark their e-readiness status against the best in the world and effectively undertake corrective measures.Originality value - The existing e-readiness measurement tools are largely quantitative and only address the qualitative dimension of the phenomenon in a limited way. In addition, the tools focus more on ICT, business, policy and legislative framework and underplay the information access factor. Furthermore, whereas e-readiness research is increasingly populating development, IT and business literature, little is happening within the information science discipline. Finally, most e-readiness studies have confined to macro (national) assessments and ignored sectoral-level environments.
Journal Article
Libraries in the digital ecology: reflections and trends
Purpose - This paper sets out to address the issue of the impact and evolution of digital libraries and information services using the concept of information ecologies.Design methodology approach - After setting the perspective, digital libraries are explored from their functional logic inside the social subsystem that deals with transferring knowledge in the form of information among people and generations. The current landscape is then presented, which is complicated by the enormous technological shift in course. The concept of information ecology is useful for reducing this complexity.Findings - Trends affecting modern information ecology in which digital libraries are evolving are studied. Specifically, eight noteworthy processes in this development are analyzed: ubiquity of information management; digital convergence; technological standardization and leverage; the surging of a worldwide space of collaboration, and competition; swift advances in the international division of informational work; the transformation of the physical information units toward the provision of proximity services; the entry of new agents in the field; and the growing emphasis on data management.Originality value - The changing environment in the libraries field is explored using the concept of information ecologies. Some of the most important trends in the digital environment are identified and their effect on the social and economical functions of libraries is shown. Information ecology is very complex, with many actors, and libraries have some niches ensured (heritage preservation, proximity services ...), though others could be better performed by emerging full-digital organizations.
Journal Article