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| Issue 5 Home | Editorial | Features | Regular Columns | News & Events | Misc. | ||
This page is intended for printing purposes.
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By Godfrey Oswald - October 2001
Have you ever wondered which university in the world has the largest library? Do you the name of Europe’s oldest public library? What year was the first CD-ROM book released? What was the name of the first library school in Europe for training librarians? When was the first major computer database released? To find the answers of these questions, you are probably will first think about the well known Guinness Book of Records, but it does not cover a lot of information about libraries, however all the answers are actually in a new book soon to be published, and called The Book of Library Records. Godfrey Oswald, the author, enlightens us.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Book of Library Records started way back in 1997 on the web as the Info Connect List of Library Records. It was subsequently updated again in 1999 on the web. Due to its popularity, work started on a book version in early 2000. But the old 1999 web version is still on the Internet [1] (though many records listed are now out of date).
 |
| The National Library of Germany The National Library of Germany or the Die Deutches Bibliothek is based in Frankfurt not Berlin the nation's capital. It was formed in 1990 following the merging of the former East German National Library in Leipzig (Deutches Bucherei) with the Deutches Bibliothek in former West Germany. There is no sign outside telling you that its a national library, so for first visitors to the city passing by the building, it looks rather like a university. |
A lot of inspiration for writing the book actually came from e-mails from readers of the old Internet version who wondered if another update was forthcoming and perhaps as a book this time around. At the time I was receiving the e-mails, I contemplated the pros and cons of embarking on a book version, because of the enormity of the research project involved, but realization that a book version would be very beneficial, galvanized me to start work. In the course of compiling the book, countless trips were made to libraries all over the UK and Europe. While extra information and data came in the from of e-mails from all over the world as far as Singapore, Alaska, Oman, Cuba, South Africa, Brazil, Jamaica, India to name a few. And not just from librarians, but also students, lecturers, and businessmen. Just about everyone who heard about the ongoing book project on the internet grapevine and was curious sent in something!
In the course of writing the book, every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, in particular all dates and volume of books given are official or estimated and verified from several independent and reliable sources.
One of the new entries for the ongoing book project has been focused on the most fascinating library buildings in the world.
As we may appreciate library buildings are nowadays are as fascinating as their book collections. Often the appearance of a building outside gives us some insight of what to expect inside. In fact every second year since 1988, the International Federation of Library Associations, the IFLA, holds The International Seminar on Library Buildings, The seminar is open to anybody interested in library buildings. The 13th seminar was held in 2001. One frightening question asked by a guest speaker at the 1999 seminar in Shanghai, China was: So do we still need buildings to store library materials, now that we can digitize them? There was a sign of relief when the speaker said yes!
 |
| The National Library of France This is the National Library of France new building in southern Paris. It was established in 1994, and from 1996 the first reading rooms was opened to the public. The library building is actually composed of 4 separate skyscrapers, all facing each other and a nice big garden in the centre. |
During the months of March and April 2001, I specifically sent out e-mails to several Internet based bulletin boards for librarians around the world, asking for a vote on the most fascinating library buildings in the world.
The four new categories voted for were:
a. 10 Most fascinating national library buildings in the world.
b. 10 Most fascinating university library buildings in the world.
c. 10 Most fascinating public library buildings in the world.
d. 10 Most fascinating special library buildings in the world.
Each respondent voted for one or more of the four categories.
The response for my request for votes was beyond my expectations. I received over 279 e-mails in the 2-month period, with some still arriving late. The origin of e-mails received was diverse as expected with any communication on the Internet, thus making the search for the most fascinating library buildings in the world a truly global quest!
What really makes a library building fascinating? The size of the building, the shape of the building, the age of the building? Perhaps the architecture of the building is groundbreaking, or perhaps it is simply a very expensive library building!
While I will not reveal the results of the votes for the most fascinating library buildings in the world, until the publication of the book later this year, the old 1999 Internet edition of the Book of Library Records does give some insight to the diversity of library buildings around the world. For instance, Sao Paulo Municipal Library (or the Mario de Andrade Library), in Brazil, has the tallest skyscraper library building in Latin America. This is significant because most of the skyscrapers in this city (the financial nerve center of Brazil), are either banks or corporate buildings. Across the other side of the world, in the National Library of China, Beijing, the main building is the largest single library building in the world, giving 140,000 square meters of floor space. [2], [3].
 |
| The University of Massachusetts Library - The tallest library in the world. Image courtesy of University of Massachusetts Library, Amherst |
I will resist here for once, the temptation to at least provide some information on one votes for the fascinating university library buildings in the world received. It is a vote for the University of Massachusetts Library, in Amherst in the United States. According to the voter in the also based in the US, (and later verified by myself from three independent sources at the British Library), this American academic library, which opened in 1973, is the holder of the “prestigious” title of the tallest library building in the world. It has 28 floors, scaling over 295 feet from the base. Now how many bank buildings in the UK have more than 20 floors? But grand as the building might be, can you imagine if a librarian at the University of Massachusetts Library told you that a text book you urgently needed for your exams due in a few hours time, was on the 28th floor and the lift had broken down!
My own vote for the most fascinating public library building in the world went to the Peckham Public Library in London. Its architectural design is breathtaking. In fact a new arrival to London would probably mistake the library building for a shopping mall or a big theatre.
 |
| Peckham Public Library Image courtesy of Alsop Architects Photograph taken by Roderick Coyne |
The search for the most fascinating library buildings in the world is over, if you you are eager to find out more, please wait for the book’s publication. Thank you.
Finally you may wonder if there will be a Book of Library
Records 2? Well certainly the first printed edition of the
Book of Library of Library Records, could not have listed
all possible mouth watering facts about libraries around the
world, so certainly a next all-new edition of the Book of
Library Records is in the pipeline. If you would like to
among the first to contribute to the Book of Library Records
2, the e-mail address is: infolibrary@yahoo.co.uk
Remember to use the subject heading: Book of Library records 2. All e-mails will be individually acknowledged.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Godfrey Oswald, BSc, MSc.
I am an information scientist based in London, UK. I hold a
biomedical first degree from London University, and a masters
degree in Information Science, from City University, London.
Although my specialised interest is in online biomedical
information retrieval, by expanding my horizons, my information
science / librarianship career has over the years been in
multi-disciplinary fields, which has included professional work
in law and academic libraries, as well as specialised libraries
and information centres in the pharmaceutical, business and
biomedical fields. Apart from being the author of the Info
Connect LIS Directory (http://www.geocities.com/infolibrary/Page1.htm
) and
the Internet edition of the Book of Library Records , (http://www.geocities.com/infolibrary/Page16.htm
)
first written in 1997 and updated in 1999, I contributed for the
recently published ASLIB book Tips and Tricks for Web Site
Managers. ISBN. 0851424392 (http://www.webtipsandtricks.com/contributors.html
).
(Published April 2001).
My current ongoing book project is the printed version of the Book of Library Records.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
For citation purposes:
Oswald, G. "The Search for the most Fascinating Library Buildings in the World", Cultivate Interactive, issue
5, 1 October 2001
URL: <http://www.cultivate-int.org/issue5/buildings/>
-------------------------------------------------------------
By Philip Hunter - October 2001
Philip Hunter follows on from a recent Ariadne article with a detailed list of the different Content Management Systems currently available.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
In the last edition of Ariadne [1], I wrote about the importance of Content Management Systems for the future of Universities. As a follow-up, I've prepared a selective list covering many of the different systems available. The overwhelming majority of these systems have been developed commercially, and are aimed at corporate users. The list opens with some general and introductory resources, and concludes with a pointer to another list of systems and links prepared by Paul Browning and Mike Lowndes, which was drawn to my attention shortly after this gazetteer was put together. Some CMS related tools are also in the list. System capabilities are as reported in company publicity materials. Content management systems, as with any other significant software committment, should be evaluated carefully before acquisition.
.
Please read the list archives
(also at:) http://www.camworld.com/cms/
before posting your question, since it is likely that it has
already been answered. To post, you must send email to cms-list@camworld.com
from
the exact email address you subscribed to the mailing list with.
This list is owned and moderated by Cameron Barrett and Phil Suh,
and is an important one. It is not associated with a vendor, so
the horror stories will appear here as well as the stories of
successful implementations.
An article in the Journal of Electronic Publishing
(University of Michigan Press) "A Content Management System
allows content to be stored, retrieved, edited, updated,
controlled, then output in a variety of ways such that the
incremental cost of each update cycle and output production
shrinks dramatically over time. It is a great concept. CMS
solutions involve the integration of database, workflow, and
editorial tools".
Robin Cover's XML Cover Pages. Useful general
resource, though not always as up-to-date in all respects as it
should be. Contains section on SGML/XML publishing tools, both
freeware and commercial.
"At Architag our vision is to educate our students and clients
in the latest developments in electronic business technologies.
This includes XML, XSLT, SOAP, BizTalk, and intelligent
structured information design and implementation. We use the
latest tools and techniques to solve our clients' e-business
needs." XML News is available from the site.
Document/Content Management Systems: Categories covered include:
Application-to-Application / Object Serialisation, Conversion
Tools, Database Systems, Document / Content Management Systems,
DTD/Schema Editors, Publishing Systems, Search engines,
Utilities/Tools/APIs, Web Service Tools, XLink/XPointer Tools,
XML Browsers, XML Editors, XML Parsers/Processors, XML schema
processors/tools, XPath utilities, XSL formatters, XSLT editors
XSLT engines, XSLT utilities. Site authored by: James Tauber,
Linda van den Brink, Jamie Rice, Daniel Krech. The site "aims to
provide well organised information and resources on the
Extensible Markup Language (XML), one of the most significant
developments on the World Wide Web and in electronic publishing
and electronic commerce". Publishing section at:, http://xmlsoftware.com/publishing/
and Document/Content Management Systems section at: http://www.xmlsoftware.com/dms/
.
http://www.adobe.com/products/main.html
"The multichannel SGML technical publishing solution for print
and Web Adobe® FrameMaker®+SGML 6.0
delivers everything you need to create, edit, and publish complex
documents in Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML). A
required format for documentation in some industries, SGML
enables organizations to share volumes of complex, frequently
revised documents across applications and computer platforms in a
variety of media. Publish to multiple channels - the Web, CD-ROM,
and print - all while retaining the document's structure and
organization. With its accessible user interface, FrameMaker+SGML
lets you focus on content without having to learn the
complexities of SGML. New with FrameMaker+SGML 6.0 is XML
publishing capability through the included Quadralay
WebWorks® Publisher Standard Edition. For documents
not requiring a tightly structured environment, Adobe FrameMaker
gives you powerful authoring features for multichannel
publishing. Current version: 6.0 Platforms: Macintosh, Windows,
UNIX Key features are: SGML Capability • Productivity and
Automation • Open Architecture • Structured Document
Support • SGML Handling Powerful Authoring Tools • Word
Processing and Layout • Graphics and Tables • Text and
Graphics Filters Productive Book Building • Book-wide
Commands • Book Window Multichannel Publishing • HTML
and Dynamic HTML Generation • XML Publishing •
Integration with Adobe GoLive™ and Other Web Tools •
Enhanced PDF Support
http://www.adobe.com/products/framemaker/prodinfosgml.html
. See
also a Review of Framemaker 6 in Internet Eye
magazine
http://the-internet-eye.com/reviews2000/Aug/framemaker6/default.htm
".
Midgard 1.4 is an Open Source (OS) content
management system based on Apache and MySQL. The system uses PHP
as its scripting language. Version 1.4.1 is currently available
for download.
Mason is a Perl-based web site development and
delivery engine. With Mason you can "embed Perl code in your HTML
and construct pages from shared, reusable components. There is an
optional web-based content management interface Content
management allows designers and programmers to work on a site
remotely. It supports staging/production sites, RCS versioning of
files, global content searching, ispell-based spell checking,
etc".
"Zope is the leading Open Source web application server. Zope
enables teams to collaborate in the creation and management of
dynamic web-based business applications such as intranets and
portals. Zope makes it easy to build features such as site
search, news, personalization, and e-commerce into your web
applications'. Organisations who have used Zope are listed at:http://www.zope.org/Resources/CaseStudies
"
Hiawatha-Java is, as Paul says, now 'freezed. For many reasons.
Check out: HiawathaZ - plugin for Zope ...' Hiawatha is/was a
standalone webserver with build-in support for XML, XSL,
XSLScript, HTTP, CGI (GET and POST). Hiawatha is written in Java
and it is Open Source (and 100% free). Hiawatha distribution
includes SAXON XSLT engine (http://users.iclway.co.uk/mhkay/saxon/
)
developed by Michael Kay of ICL. http://www.pault.com/pault/prod/Hiawatha
.
This site uses Zope, as the 404 will tell you if you attempt to
find a non-existent page.
.
eContentMgr "optimizes the publishing process by empowering
people across an organization to produce and manage their own
sections of the Web site. eContentMrg also gives site end users a
consistent, attractive, and personalized viewing experience....
eContentMgr is an XDisect-enabled product that streamlines the
entire creation and maintenance processes for high-volume
document Web sites. Supports on-the-fly, substantive redesigns of
rapidly evolving Web sites. Optimizes your site to increase value
and benefit to your viewers.(Increases Stickiness.) Allows
individual personnel to control their own sections of your site.
Helps end users keep up with recent and expected changes to your
site.(Increases Stickiness.) Manages document publishing for
teams distributed around the world. Offers a dynamic environment
that's lacking in static site tools like Microsoft Front Page,
enabling even large teams to frequently contribute to your site.
Permits documents to be published on more than one Web site.
Features of eContentMgr Advanced security -- protects site
integrity and allows personalization". http://www.pybiz.com/products/e_content_mgr/
.
"It is intended to improve collaboration between participating
websites in a portal network or in an online marketplace. CEF is
based on open source technology using HTTP/XML. The CEF protocol
and source code are both open source and can be found on the
SourceForge website. CEF is language and technology neutral and
is intended to integrate and allow collaboration between websites
that could potentially be written in diverse sets of web
technologies, languages and platforms. To achieve this, CEF
adopts a lowest common denominator approach to the technology
requirements placed on the participating websites. Sites should
only have to adopt or change the minimum technology possible to
work with other sites. Just because a vendor decides to
participate in a portal framework does not imply that they should
have to reimplement their complete website. CEF Features Single
sign on – CEF facilitates a single user login throughout the
portal network. Thus the user does not have to deal with multiple
logins and password maintenance issues at each site they visit
within the portal network. Session sharing – CEF allows
websites in a portal network to share session information about
users. This can be very useful when customizing or personalizing
the user experience. Customized and selective sharing of
information with partners – CEF makes it easy to share
selective user information between various sites. This
information sharing can be modified based on the level of trust
between the central portal and the various sites. Enables dynamic
gathering of user attributes – CEF enables gathering of user
information when it is needed rather than forcing users to fill
out lengthy registration forms". http://www.pybiz.com/products/cef/cef_design.html
FileMaker Pro 5.5 is a workgroup information
management tool which has powerful features, broad platform
support, and an easy to use interface, "FileMaker Pro 5.5 is a
must have application for anyone who needs to track and manage
people, projects, and information".
SoftQuad's site. SoftQuad's main product is currently
XMetaL 2.1. SoftQuad XMetaL is described as:
"the premier enabler for XML-based content applications".
Arbortext is a well established company, which now markets Epic
software. The software creates a single source of content and
automatically publishes to multiple types of media: Web, print,
CD-ROM and wireless. The Epic E-Content Engine
(E3) is a powerful document processing and publishing server.
Arbortext also markets Epic Editor, (formerly
Adept Editor) Version: 4.0. Platforms: Unix,
Windows. Epic Editor is a high-end validating SGML/XML authoring
and publishing tool for serious document work. Supported
XML-related technologies include XSL, XLink, and DOM. Product
Page
.
Intermarket is "a catalog content management
solution which enables organisations to keep product information
current and consistent and complete across all media: Web print
and CD-ROM". Arbortext News pages at:
http://www.arbortext.com/News_and_Events/recent_news_pages/Recent_39/recent_39.html
Company called Media Design in·Progress. Media Design
in·Progress provides WWW and XML software and solutions
for web professionals, publishers, on-line merchants, application
service providers, businesses and educators. (For the Macintosh
platform)."Media Design in·Progress is the leading
developer of XML based applications for the Macintosh platform
and a pioneer in web based education and virtual community
servers. ..... In addition to our software products, we design
and implement tailor-made web applications and XML solutions for
individual clients". The company produces XPublish. "XPublish is
a Macintosh website publishing system based on extensible markup.
It is used for efficient building and maintainance of
middle-sized and large websites. XPublish generates HTML pages
from XML documents and Cascading Style Sheets..." Version: 2.0a-2
Developer: Media Design in
Progress
License: Commercial; free evaluation Platforms: Macintosh
"XPublish (TM) is a professional Macintosh XML publishing system
for efficient development and maintainance of websites. It works
by automatically generate standard HTML pages from XML documents
based on a style sheet and processing rules."Product
Page
. A
content and process management system for creating and managing
SGML/XML documents. Features versioning, access control, a
built-in workflow tool, an open API, and a web interface. This
former Texcel product is now a core part of Interleaf's
Bladerunner concept. Platforms : Servers: Unix
(HP/Sun), Windows NT; Clients: Windows 95/NT.
License: Commercial Platforms: Server: Windows NT 4.0; client:
Windows 95/98/NT XML-based content management system consisting
of different components:
http://www.aspect.com.au/Aspect/Products/products_sim.html
Platforms : Windows NT, Unix/Solaris. SGML/XML based content
management system. Includes content server, web server, scripting
language (Ace), and administration tools. Supports XML, SGML,
Unicode, Z39.50, MARC, RTF and Http. Offers functionality for
indexing and searching native SGML, XML, MARC and RTF
documents.
Platforms: Windows NT, Solaris Tridion DialogServer is an
XML-based content management and e-marketing system.
(Now
Starbasehttp://www.starbase.com/
)
Platforms: Java (Jre 1.2); any server and webserver with servlet
support. "Expressroom is a content management platform designed
to create, manage, and deploy Web content. It combines the power
of XML and Java resulting in a platform-independent,
media-independent, and vendor independent application. Designers
and writers can easily create web pages using GUI interfaces and
truly dynamic XML templates. Content or components, such as text,
images, video, or sound are stored as XML objects, also easily
managed by non-technical users."http://www.starbase.com/products/tools.asp?ID=1400
. Online demo at: http://www.worldweb.net/xpdemo/index.htm
Free evaluation version for up to 1000 documents. Platforms:
Server: Windows NT 4.0; Client: Internet Explorer 5.0. The TEXTML
Server is an XML document server whose purpose is to store, index
and retrieve large quantities of XML documents. Geared for anyone
looking to implement a web-based XML document management
component within a larger solution the TEXTML Server features a
documented COM API with an Active Server Page toolkit.
Platforms: WindowsNT, UNIX, and IBM AIX. Content and document
management application that manages structured or unstructured
source data within a structured environment. The base Content@
system provides users the ability to continue employing common
desktop applications such as Microsoft Word and Adobe FrameMaker
while managing document objects or entire files in a secure and
flexible workflow environment. Content@XML
manages structured XML source data at varying levels of
granularity from individual objects to entire collections of
content. It works with leading XML editors. It also provides data
management support for graphics, text, audio, and visual content
and offers extensive project-centric workflow while supporting
metadata from a wide variety of sources.
Product Page
Content Management products:
http://www.xyenterprise.com/solutions/solutions_content_management.asp
;
http://www.xyenterprise.com/solutions/contentaxml.asp
;
Virtual Tour at:
http://www.xyenterprise.com/solutions/content_virtual_tour.asp
Version: 7.0 Developer: XyEnterprise
XML Professional Publisher (XPP) http://www.xyenterprise.com/solutions/xpp.asp
;
Platforms: WindowsNT, UNIX and IBM AIX High performance content
formatting and publishing application that composes pages from
XML source data and outputs high quality results in XML, PDF,
HTML and traditional PostScript. Product
Page
Platforms: Oracle Server/ windows and/or web browser client.
Extensible Content Management/Processing Database. Incorporates
an object oriented/relational database and
"Tag-Neutral-Technology"(tm) (i.e. storage independent of
SGML/XML definition) for management, processing, and re-use of
content and multi-media assets. Offers version and revision
control, Check-in/Check-out, WEB Editorial Interface, an API, and
integrated workflow. Integrations with XMetaL, Epic, FrameMaker,
3B2, and others.Product
Page
Target 2000 Version: 4.1 Developer: The Magnus Group, Inc.
Platforms: Server: Unix, Windows NT; Client: WIndows 95/98, MAC.
"Target 2000 is an Oracle based product to assist users to
repurpose, repackage, and republish subsets of their content for
print, on-line, web, and multimedia. Supported by an easy to use
multiuser GUI toolkit which provides: multiuser editing,
automatic creation of new products, storage of multimedia data,
CDROM creation, fully tagged SGML, XML, or HTML pages, adding and
cross-referencing content, Query Tool, archive and change
retention, complete redline reports, auto-loading of SGML parsed
word processing files; user defined security by user, role,
product, shadow files, cloning, spell checking, checkin/checkout
capability, and integrated work flow. Target also has Internet
functionality, a full featured API, and support COM/Corba
objects". Product
Page
Platforms: Windows NT. A content management system for creating
and managing SGML and XML document components. Features include
access control, detailed versioning, information reuse, and an
open API. Under separate license Astoria also has a Web interface
and a translation management tool, Lingua. Product page at: http://www.chrystal.com/product/index.htm
Astoria page at: http://www.chrystal.com/product/astoria/index.htm
Platforms: Windows NT, Windows 2000, Solaris. "Rhythmyx Content
Manager is a native XML content management system that automates
content publishing to company Web sites. Each part of the site
managed by Rhythmyx is defined through a set of XML content
elements called 'resources'. Content for each resource may come
from content authors, database repositories, existing live data
sources, and external data feeds and files. Rhythmyx can assemble
the content independent of the eventual output format, and can
apply relevancy information. Rhythmyx uses XSL to convert the XML
file to whatever format is required to support the content
delivery, including HTML, WML, or other XML dialects. Rhythmyx
completely automates content generation and publication to all
company Web sites. Content can originate from any sources,
including automated content feeds, and can be published to any
number of sites and output formats, including both files and
application servers. Rhythmyx manages content at the item level
allowing content to be reused and re-purposed. The dynamic
workflow engine accommodates rapidly changing review processes
with no coding required".http://www.percussion.com/products/index.htm
.
Rhythmyx product page at: http://www.percussion.com/rhythmyx/index.htm
Demo available on request.
"Native XML data and document management system. Offers an XML
repository for storage on any standard relational database;
allows integration, management, and serving of dynamic
information; includes a transformation engine and a rendering
engine; integrates with MS Office; offers workflow; and supports
automated delivery of content via the web, email, and file
transfer protocols".Product Page
Document management system with SGML/XML support. Based on
relational database. Includes versioning, workflow, FOSI support.
Product page at:http://www.stepuk.com/products/prod_ove.asp
;
SigmaLink page at: http://www.stepuk.com/products/prod_sig.asp
Frontier is a powerful Web content management system, built
around an object database, scripting language, script editor and
debugger, outliner, multi-threaded runtime, integrated HTTP
server, distributed computing protocols such as XML-RPC and SOAP.
Frontier also includes ... [a] browser-based content system,
Manila.... ($899), with free updates for one year. Windows and
Macintosh. Frontier supports SOAP 1.1 and XML-RPC, COM and
AppleScript.
Platforms: Frontier. Xmltr is a suite for UserLand
Frontier. "You can use xmltr to translate
documents marked up with Extensible Markup Language (XML) into
alternate representations such as HTML for publication on the web
via the Frontier Web Site Framework or to a tool-specific markup
language for print publication".Product Page
(QuarkDMS™) "is an enterprise-level content and asset
management system. It lets publishers manage, maintain, and
archive all their digital assets, including text files, images,
graphic files, video, audio files, and other resources. Using
QuarkDMS, you can track asset usage, manage revisions, and easily
search for and locate any assets stored in the system. QuarkDMS
accommodates assets and file types created in a wide range of
publishing and media applications. It integrates seamlessly with
other publishing tools of Quark™ to create the repository of
a true media-independent publishing environment. Can import
assets from other QuarkDMS systems or other databases by using
the XML import/export feature. The QuarkDMS Evaluation Program
lets you evaluate, for a fee, how QuarkDMS will integrate with
your workflow and support your asset management requirements.
Working with a certified QuarkDMS system integrator, you install
a complete version of QuarkDMS on your network. Additionally,
Quark™ provides the QuarkDMS condensed training program for
two people in your organization". Avenue.quark
Platforms: Mac OS, Windows. a "tool that lets you extract the
content of QuarkXPress documents and store that content in an XML
format specified by a DTD. Tagging rules in Avenue.quark let you
associate styles and structures in QuarkXPress documents with XML
elements".http://www.quark.com/products/avenue/index.html
Free demo version available.
for
bulk data transformation OmniMark
Merlin
for
dynamic back-end web content management and engineering
applications and for general publishing applications
OmniMark SpellCaster
for
web portal and on-line shopping applications
OmniMark SpellBinder
for
B2B e-commerce applications". The OmniMark company is at: http://www.omnimark.com/home/home.html
"Resin Core JSP 1.1 support Fast Servlet 2.2 engine Automatic
Servlet and Bean compilation Load Balancing with Apache,
Netscape, and IIS Distributed Sessions Caching XML Application
Server Virtual Hosts Many deployment options: HTTP/1.1 web server
Servlet support for Apache, ISAPI, and NSAPI EJB client for
third-party EJB servers SSL Security; Developer Source license".
http://www.caucho.com/products/index.xtp
(Now acquired by: http://www.citrix.com/
- users trying to reach the Sequoia site are redirected to
Citrix. Currently the Citrix site lists only the Citrix products
from before May 1, 2001, and not Sequoia products. These should
be listed in due course). Platforms: Windows NT." The XML Portal
Server provides an information delivery mechanism powerd by XML.
Offers strong search and retrieval capabilities. You can connect
it to any business application and streamline data to and from
the portal".
Platforms: Unix, Windows. "GUI-based publishing and delivery
environment for transforming proprietary word processing
documents directly into XML, SGML and DynaText electronic books.
Supports conversion of documents authored in Word, FrameMaker,
Interleaf, and WordPerfect. Non-programmers can easily create
processes to transform groups of word processing documents into
valid SGML/XML. For advanced users, complete control over the
final markup is possible. There is also a Dynatag batch utility,
which runs on both Windows and Unix platforms.Only available as
part of a software suite".
License: Commercial Platforms: Windows 95/98/NT4.0/2000. "Native
WYSIWYG integrated XML editor solution. UltraXML is a
comprehensive XML solution that allows document creation,
workflow and publishing. Needs PowerPublisher". Features:
License: Commercial; free trial available Platforms: Windows
95/98/2000/NT. "XBuilder is a tool that speeds up page downloads
on database-driven web sites. This version supports XML and XSL.
When an XML site is compiled by XBuilder, the software transforms
the XML and XSL at compile time resulting in HTML that can be
served directly to any browser". Product Page
License: Open source (LGPL) Platforms: Java "XML/Java portal (in
the form of a Java servlet) which provides a simpe-to-use
platform to process XML over HTTP". Product Page
License: Commercial; free 21 day test version available
Platforms: Windows 3.1/95/98/NT. "Application for publishing and
browsing SGML and XML documents located on the Internet,
Intranet, LAN, WAN and CD-ROM. Can be used as stand-alone
SGML/XML document browser, or as a plug-in for Web browsers.
Supports HyTime and TEI pointers".
.
Open source software. Platforms: Java. "Servlet that supports the
use of DOM, XML, and XSL to provide web content. The content is
created in XML, conforming to a DTD. Cocoon can then process the
XML and apply an XSL stylesheet to it for rendering (different
stylesheets for different browsers can be used. You can use
Cocoon, for example, to create well-formed HTML pages from an XML
source)".Product Page
License: Commercial; free evaluation available Platforms: Windows
+ IIS. "Set of web server components for transformation of XML
content on request and for retrieval of XML-formatted data from
RDMS databases. The transformation component works with MSXML 2
and the Microsoft XSL dialect".
.
"... Enigma 3C creates collaborative e-commerce Web Sites that
combine transactional processes such as spare parts ordering and
inventory management with illustrated parts catalogs and rich
maintenance content. The Enigma 3C Platform Includes: InSight,
CommerceSight, CommunitySight, DynaWeb, PartSight, Xtend. DynaWeb
automates the production and distribution of XML-based technical
information on a Web Site or customer-hosted intranets.
DynaWeb can accept any XML/SGML DTD, and
supports the use of other authoring platforms, including MS-Word,
FrameMaker and Interleaf, to deliver XML-based applications.
DynaWeb assembles and indexes the XML or SGML data or transformed
word processing content. It then creates presentation templates,
customized user interfaces and search forms, and combines all the
content into a dynamic Web application. End-users can navigate
through thousands of pages of text, graphics and parts
information with powerful search and navigation capabilities such
as topic-specific searching, Visual Access and user-specific
hyperlinks". http://www.enigma.com/e/solutions/index.html
.
http://www.enigma.com/e/company/index_web_demo.html
eBT (eBusiness Technologies - USA) http://www.ebt.com/
eBT (eBusiness Technologies - USA) http://www.ebt.com/
eBT (eBusiness Technologies - USA) http://www.ebt.com/
License: Commercial; free evaluation version available.
Platforms: Windows NT/ME/2000. "XML data transformation and
development platform. Includes a runtime engine for transforming
native XML and legacy data into XML documents using XSLT
transformations. Supports major editing environments such as XML
Spy and XMetal Pro. The PerXML Server supports dynamic content
integration and delivery in XML, HTML, WML and most other Web
environments". Product Page
License: Free for non-commercial use Platforms: Windows.
Framework for creating XML-based web sites. "In a nutshell,
Rocket is a collection of skeleton XML documents, XSL style
sheets, and DTD's that you can use as a basis for creating your
own XML-based Web site. Using Rocket, you can transform XML
documents and serve them to any browser, regardless of its
capabilities. Rocket also allows you exchange XML streams between
XML-capable browsers and HTTP servers. Currently, Rocket is set
up to operate with Active Server Pages (ASPs). However, there's
nothing to prevent you from dropping the framework into a servlet
environment, or running it in conjunction with Perl's xml::parser
module. The one caveat is that some style sheets may have to be
tweaked to work with newer style-sheet processors." Product Page
.
The page contains links to a developing list of Content
Management Systems - the latest of which is part of a JISC
TechWatch report, co-written by Paul Browning and Mike Lowndes.
The list is currently available from: http://www.bris.ac.uk/ISC/cms/TableA2.htm
.
My thanks to Paul Browning and Judith Clark for bringing the list
to my attention.
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Philip
Hunter
Information Officer
Editor of Ariadne
UKOLN
University of Bath
BATH
BA2 7AY
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 1225 826354
p.j.hunter@ukoln.ac.uk
<http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/
>
<http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/>
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For citation purposes:
Hunter, P. "A Content Management and Web Publishing Systems Gazetteer", Cultivate Interactive, issue
5, 1 October 2001
URL: <http://www.cultivate-int.org/issue5/cms/>
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By Eva Smirli - October 2001
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In a survey [1] carried out in June 2001, over 320 respondents across Europe gave their views about accessibility to eLearning for people with disabilities. Most respondents were extremely positive about the potential benefits and opportunities for learners with disabilities opened up by technology, but few know how to increase accessibility or about international best practice.
The survey hosted by the
Electronic Training Village (ETV) [2] the
interactive web service of Cedefop (the European Centre for the
Development of Vocational Training), is one of a series examining
European attitudes and trends in eLearning. The survey was in
English, French, German and Spanish. Over 90% were from European
countries. About half the respondents come from the public
sector, and approximately 17% of respondents work directly in
services for people with disabilities. Private sector respondents
totalled about 30.2%.
When asked to indicate the nature of the disability facing their learners, 28.6% cited hearing, 27.7% vision, 17.5% voice, 30.4% learning, 33.1% physical and 15% ‘other’ (including mental illness, psychiatric problems, brain injury, and behavioural difficulties).
The highest number, 32.5% say their learners require additional visual assistance (from spectacles to Braille). A similar number 31.6% require additional hearing aids or signing. As these two groups comprise two thirds of the community with disabilities, it suggests that even simple responses, such as being able to switch between text and sound, could increase accessibility for users of eLearning.
Some 22.6% require voice or speech technologies to communicate with information technology and 28% require other technologies to assist with the physical manipulation of information. Around 3% say they are seeking ways of improving access for those with learning difficulties, notably dyslexia.
Half the respondents believe eLearning offers learners with disabilities more opportunities to learn. 54.8% think it will open up new and innovative opportunities for communities of learners with disabilities. Only 1.5% consider eLearning is inappropriate for most learners with disabilities.
Although most respondents were very positive about potential benefits of eLearning for people with disabilities, only about a third are actively developing an understanding and awareness of current research and practice. Less than 18% of respondents were aware of any of the major global reports or guidelines on accessibility. It appears that most respondents see current eLearning technology provision as largely screen based text for reading rather than as a set of interactive multimedia services.
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Eva Smirli
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For citation purposes:
Smirli, E. "Technology Will Improve Access to Learning for People with Disabilities", Cultivate Interactive, issue
5, 1 October 2001
URL: <http://www.cultivate-int.org/issue5/cedefop/>
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By Eva Smirli - October 2001
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Au cours du mois [1] de juin 2001, une enquête a été réalisée dans toute l’Europe sur l’accès des personnes handicapées à l’apprentissage électronique (eLearning). La plupart des 320 personnes interrogées ont insisté sur les avantages et les perspectives qu’offre la technologie aux apprenants handicapés, mais peu d’entre elles ont indiqué connaître les moyens d’accroître l’accessibilité et les meilleures pratiques.
Les résultats de l’enquête ont été publiés
sur le site du Village électronique de la formation [2],
le site interactif du Cedefop (Centre européen pour le développement
de la formation européenne). Cette enquête, réalisée
en français, anglais, allemand et espagnol, fait partie d’une
série d’études sur les attitudes et les tendances européennes
en matière d’apprentissage électronique. Plus de 90%
des réponses recueillies parviennent de pays européens.
Environ la moitié des personnes interrogées appartiennent au
secteur public, et 17% travaillent dans les service d’aide aux
personnes handicapées. 30,2% sont employées dans le secteur
privé.
L’enquête précise la nature du handicap dont souffrent les apprenants: audition (28,6%), troubles de la vision (27,7%), de la parole (17,5%), de l’apprentissage (30,4%), handicap moteur (33,1%), autres (troubles mentaux, psychiatriques, lésions cérébrales ou troubles du comportement) (15%).
En ce qui concerne les dispositifs requis, le groupe le plus important (32,5 %) des interrogés déclarent que leurs apprenants ont besoin d'une assistance visuelle supplémentaire (lunettes, braille, etc.). Un pourcentage similaire (31,6 %) ont besoin d'une aide acoustique supplémentaire ou du langage des signes. Dès lors que ces deux groupes constituent les deux tiers des personnes handicapées, on peut estimer que même des solutions simples, telles que pouvoir passer du texte au son ou du son au texte, pourraient améliorer l'accessibilité pour la majorité des utilisateurs de services d'apprentissage électronique.
22,6 % des apprenants ont besoin de technologies vocales/de la parole pour communiquer avec les technologies de l'information et 28 % ont besoin d'autres technologies pour les aider dans le traitement physique de l'information. Parmi le faible pourcentage de ceux qui ont spécifié leurs besoins, la plupart appartiennent aux catégories ci-dessus. Cependant, environ 3 % déclarent être à la recherche de moyens permettant d'améliorer l'accès des individus ayant des difficultés d'apprentissage, notamment des individus dyslexiques.
50 % estiment que l'apprentissage électronique accroît les perspectives d’apprentissage des handicapés. En outre, 54,8 % estiment que l'apprentissage électronique ouvrira des possibilités nouvelles et novatrices pour certains groupes d'apprenants handicapés.
Bien que la majorité des interrogés estiment que l’apprentissage électronique offre de nombreux avantages pour les apprenants handicapés, seulement un tiers font de réels efforts pour se documenter sur l’état de la recherche et de la pratique.
Les réponses font apparaître que moins de 18,7 % ont connaissance des rapports et/ou lignes directrices publiés au niveau international concernant l’accessibilité. La plupart des interrogés considèrent les dispositifs technologiques actuels d'apprentissage électronique essentiellement comme des outils de lecture de texte sur écran, plutôt que comme un ensemble de services multimédias interactifs.
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Eva Smirli
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For citation purposes:
Smirli, E. "La Technologie Facilitera l’accès des Handicapés à l’éducation", Cultivate Interactive, issue
5, 1 October 2001
URL: <http://www.cultivate-int.org/issue5/cedefop-fr/>
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Time again for a bit of light relief with the Cultivate Interactive Competition.
Below are two sets of four pictures. Each set of four represents a different European city. All you have to do is decide which cities are being shown.
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The answers should be sent to cultivate-editor@ukoln.ac.uk
before the closing date of 2nd January 2002. Names will be drawn out of a hat and the winner will receive a book token. Good Luck!!
The winner from issue 4 was Tom Wilson from Sheffield. Congratulations!! A book token is on its way to you.
The answers were:
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The content on this page is current at the time of publication (October 2001), but will become out of date. To reach a more recent issue of Cultivate Interactive use the 'Current Issue' link in the top green navigational bar.
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Position?: Project manager for the Subject Portal Project
Company?: UKOLN, University of Bath, UK
Closing Date?: 18 October 2001
The Subject Portal Project will develop portal services that provide subject-based access to the wide range of networked learning and research materials available to UK HE and FE.
You will be an enthusiastic individual with the experience and confidence to project manage a distributed project team and to liaise with a variety of external contacts. Ideally you will have experience of an operational information service environments preferably within the education, heritage or library sectors. You will have an interest in and understanding of resource discovery technologies, and be committed to the production of quality deliverables within the context of a project consortium.
Informal enquiries should be made to Rachel Heery. Phone (0)1225 826580 or
email r.heery@ukoln.ac.uk
Further information is available from the UKOLN Web site at:
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk
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Position?: Assistant Librarian, Reader Services
Company?: James Hardman Library, National University of Ireland, Galway
Closing Date?: 12 October 2001
This is a key frontline post; the person appointed will assist in managing an evolving range of services provided directly to users by the Library and will supervise the team of staff delivering these services. S/He should have relevant work experience in an academic library and familiarity with Reader Services operations. Experience in staff management is essential.
URL: <http://www.nuigalway.ie/news/vacancies.php3?v_id=37
>
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Position?: EEVL Development Officer
Company?: Heriot Watt University Library, Edinburgh
Closing Date?: 19 October 2001
EEVL: the Guide to Engineering, Mathematics and Computing Information on the Internet (http://www.eevl.ac.uk/
), which is based in the University Library, requires a Development Officer to work with the EEVL Team to help create various exciting new services in Engineering disciplines. These will include remote cross-searching access to a range of datasets, community building services and user profile services within the JISC Subject Portals Programme.
The postholder will undertake a range of duties related to information discovery, information retrieval and interoperability, and will provide support to and obtain feed-back from both data providers and end-users.
Candidates for the post should have a degree or equivalent qualification, and have an understanding of academic information resources preferably in the field of engineering, together with an awareness of their significance for learning, teaching and research. Excellent IT skills are also a requirement and the postholder will need to be adaptable and be comfortable working in a project environment. Experience of project work would be an advantage.
The post is initially until 31 July 2003 and salary will be on ALC2 scale (£20,267 - £26,229), according to qualifications and experience.
Applications in the form of a CV and Letter of Application should be sent to Personnel Office, Heriot-Watt University, EDINBURGH EH14 4AS by 19th October. Interviews will be held on Friday, 2nd November. Further particulars can be found at:
URL: <http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/projects.html
>
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Position?: Executive Director
Company?: Electronic Information Services for Libraries Consortium eIFL-NET
Closing Date?: 30 November 2001
eIFL-Net is a new independent, non-profit, multi-country consortium of library consortia dedicated to leading, supporting, motivating, and advocating for the electronic information needs of all library users in countries of transition. Its main mission is to deliver affordable access to electronic information through collaboration with member consortia. There are currently more than 40 member countries, with membership expected to expand to well over 70 countries.
eIFL-NET is seeking an Executive Director who possesses strong diplomatic, interpersonal and communication abilities, combined with the depth of experience to be able to handle general management, fiscal affairs, technology, and negotiations with providers and members in a multi-national, multi-cultural and multi-lingual environment. In addition, the executive director must have a strong grasp of the forces that are shaping the electronic information environment.
A detailed description of the position and the required qualifications is available on http://www.eifl.net The venue of eIFL-NET will be in Western Europe, probably Amsterdam. Salary and Benefits: Highly competitive, depending upon qualifications. Salary bonus may be available depending upon success in fundraising.
Interested applicants should send their cover letter, full curriculum vitae in English, and contact details of three professional referees to:
Martin Dunstone
Adminconsult Rt. / Human Resources Department
Oktober 6. u. 12
H-1051
Budapest
Hungary
Applications may also be sent by fax to: +36-1-327-3133
e-mail:
applications@adminconsult.hu
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In this section we will review some of the sites that have chosen to link to us. If you would like to be mentioned in the next issue then please Contact Us.
If you would like to see how many sites are linking to Cultivate Interactive have a look at
Link Popularity
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Web Site Name?: What's New in eLearning
URL?: <http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/elearning/what.htm>
Description?: What's New in eLearning is provided by the European Commission and aims to provide the most relevant and timely news and information on the eLearning initiatives to European audiences and key players in the field, including policy makers, industry leaders and those in the education and training sectors.
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Web Site Name?: CEDEFOP: The European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training
URL?: <http://www.cedefop.eu.int/>
Description?: CEDEFOP is the European agency that helps policy-makers and practitioners of the European Commission, the Member States and social partner organisations across Europe make informed choices about vocational training policy. Cedefop can provide you with the latest information on the present state of and future trends in vocational education and training in the European Union.
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