IRList Digest Wednesday, 19 October 1988 Volume 4 : Issue 49 Today's Topics: Email - Address for Charles Meadow (requested in #42) - Address for KL Kwok - Addresses for AIList and Prolog list Interests - Group involved in videotex and multimedia Discussion - Future of libraries and online systems Call - ACM SIGOIS Workshop: Impact & Value of Inf. Systems News addresses are Internet: fox@fox.cs.vt.edu or fox@vtopus.cs.vt.edu BITNET: foxea@vtcc1.bitnet (replaces foxea@vtvax3) Sorry for lapse in service - will try to catch up - Ed. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 12 Aug 88 16:26 PDT From: IIN4CLB@UCLAMVS.BITNET Subject: IRLIST; address for Charlie Meadow Ed, re: IRLIST inquiry [Note: that was in V4 #42 - Ed.] The address I have for Charles T. Meadow is meadow@utflis.uucp This seems to work. Christine Borgman ------------------------------ From: BITNET%CTSTATEU::KWOK Date: 17-OCT-1988 17:03 Subj: New address for KL Kwok ... I have changed my affiliation lately, now at Math/CS Dept, Western Connecticut State University, Danbury, CT 06810. My bitnet addr is kwok@ctstateu. However, my old addr KKLQC@cunyvm is still good for some time. I would also like to know what kind of hardware and optical disk standard do I need if I want to read your Virginia 1 Disk? I seem to remember that the Disk will be out soon (and you probably have answered this question many times!)? thanx and best wishes, KL Kwok (10/17/88) [Note: KL Kwok has done some nice work on citations and retrieval using probability theory. Regarding Virginia Disk 1, we have sent out many beta copies and hope to get all revisions in soon and to press within a month or so. We will use High Sierra format so any MS-DOS machine and CD-ROM player should (hopefully!) do. - Ed.] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Oct 88 10:04:55 EDT From: Edward A. Fox To: brajnik%uduniv.infnet%icineca2.bitnet@cunyvm.cuny.edu Subject: other addresses you requested Hi! The address for AIList is to Nick Papadakis at AIList-REQUEST@AI.AI.MIT.EDU The address for Prolog is Prolog-request@sushi.stanford.edu Hope this helps - Ed Fox ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 18 Oct 88 15:13 EDT From: bogers@hlsdnl5 Subject: interests in videotex and multimedia Please put me on your mailing list, I'm an information researcher at the research laboratories of the Netherlands Telecommunication Administration, involved in videotex and multi media. Currently my group is working on an experimental multi media videotex configuration and the application of windows-like interfaces in videotex environments. Mark Bogers (bogers@hlsdnl5) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Aug 88 21:03 EDT From: Subject: the future of libraries and on-line systems Our law school is considering constructing a new wing on our building with a large portion of the new space being for our library. I understand that the central university administration has raised a question as to whether we will actually need so much additional space, considering that in the future libraries _may_ rely primarily on computerized information systems and databases and that a large percentage of the remaining books will will be stored in warehouses. It does not appear that the administrators are convinced that this will happen, but they do want us to consider the possibility in making our proposals. Our dean would like to know if there are any persuasive studies of the future of libraries and, in particular, of law school libraries. My guess is that studies exist, but I doubt that I could be persuaded that any of them is better than a guess. We would, however, appreciate references to any studies. I find the administrators' scenario rather unattractive. I think that computers are wonderful for locating information, but I would much rather read the books that contain the information than look at it on a computer screen. From the administrators' point of view, I suppose that the major consideration is the relative costs of a traditional library with books and some sort of high technology information center. I suspect that they grossly underestimate the costs of the high technology system. I am not even sure that the capital costs of an "information center" would be less than those of a traditional library. We could get rid of the books, which would reduce the required space, but that reduction would be offset by the need to supply terminals--and presumably printers--for all our students (and, of course, the faculty). I am not sure that the space savings would be that great, though the floors would not have to bear so great a load. An additional capital cost, of course, would be entailed in purchasing the terminals, and their life expectancy would obviously be far less than that of a building. It seems to me that the annual cost of maintaining an on- line information center would be considerably greater than that of maintaining a traditional library. My suspicion is that such a system would have considerably higher personnel costs, since it is hard to imagine that it could run efficiently without the services of a large number of computer wizards. [I admit, however, that some of this cost may be carried by commercial information suppliers; but if that is so the cost will simply reappear as part of the cost of using the commercial systems.] Much more important than personnel costs is the cost of accessing on-line data bases. There would seem to be two possibilities. A library could purchase CD ROMs (or their future equivalents), but I can't see how such storage devices will ever be appreciably cheaper than books--especially since, for sets that are in high demand, would one have to buy several ROMS. A library that can get along with one set of the United States Supreme Court Reporter, might have twenty people using individual volumes in the single set at one time. Would twenty people be able to access a single CD ROM at the same time? Or a library could subscribe to an off-site on-line service like Dialog or Lexis. I cannot believe, however, that the access charges for such services would ever fall below the costs of purchasing books. Lawyers in the United States are probably ahead of any other profession in their access to full text data bases. A large number of case reports are available from the Lexis and Westlaw services. My impression is that the primary use of such systems is to find cases. Once one has found the case one wants, one is likely to actually read it from a hard copy. If one wants to cite a case in a brief, or quote the case, one _has_, at the present time, to use hard copy. Page numbers, formatting information, and typographical signals, such as italics, cannot be obtained from these full-text systems. I often down load such cases, but it then takes me considerable time to edit them into a form where they are usable. If I were in practice, I would just tell my secretary to type the materials that I want to quote from the hard copy. I cannot believe that on-line systems will ever replace books--as opposed to indexes. But maybe that's just because I am getting old. I also have difficulty in believing that most older books, like 19th Century legal treatises, will ever be placed on-line. Such books would not be in enough demand to justify commercial suppliers undertaking to put them on line and I cannot imagine an academic wasting his time coming up with an on-line version of, say, Gould on Waters and Watercourses. Yet our library does have to have a copy of Gould, and I imagine that someone looks at it at least once a year. Perhaps "intelligent" OCRs will overcome some of my objections. If current publications are placed on line, I suppose that it is possible that the accelerating demand for shelf space will be somewhat abated. But I don't believe that we will ever be able to reduce the amount of shelving that is needed to less than we need today. Certainly microfilm and microfiche has not greatly reduced the amount of space needed for books. I cannot imagine that on-line systems will do that much better. It may be that libraries in law firms will all go electronic. I don't, however, believe that academic libraries, including academic law libraries, will be able to dispense with books and periodicals so easily. I hope my remarks and speculations have been irritating enough to draw some response. I really would like to know what your predictions are. I hope that you will forgive me for cross-posting this to HUMANIST and IRLIST. Peter D. Junger--Case Western University Law School--JUNGER@CWRU ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Aug 88 13:11:32 EDT From: rba@flash.bellcore.com (Robert B Allen) Subject: ACM SIGOIS WORKSHOP - Impact & Value of Inf. Systems Call for Particiaption SIGOIS WORKSHOP ON: The Impact and Value of Information Systems May 2 and 3, 1989 Hyatt Regency Hotel, Minneapolis, MN 1 INTRODUCTION Over the past decade, hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent on information systems (I.S.). Most of this money has been spent by business and government organizations seeking greater productivity, cost savings, or a competitive edge. However, the true organizational impacts and financial outcomes of the vast majority of these expenditures have not been systematically assessed. Today, organizations still do not know whether their investments in information systems are really paying off. Therefore, they do not know whether they are spending too much, too little, too fast, too slow, for the right systems, or in the right areas. For sure, there have been some overwhelming successes and some outright disasters. In these extreme cases, measurement of outcomes might be solely of academic interest. Most cases, however, have fallen somewhere between these extremes, where the true impacts and values of the information systems are unknown and largely unexplored. Under increasing domestic and international competitive pressures, corporate executives (and public sector managers as well) today are reluctant to sanction I.S. investments which do not have clearly articulated benefits and costs. Gone forever are the days when systems could be justified by blind faith in technology. For better or worse, our ability to identify, measure and value the impacts of information systems is influencing the pace and direction of business investment. And clearly, our abilities in these areas are lacking. There are few accepted methodologies, few compelling empirical studies, and much confusion. The time is upon us to synthesize what we do know, to identify what we don't know, and to formulate a research agenda to address the difference. That is the purpose of the ACM Workshop on the Impact and Value of Information Systems. 2 TOPICS The Workshop will address the following topics and areas as they relate to information systems: * productivity measurement methodologies * work measurement methodologies * cost justification methodologies * organizational impact assessment * benefit assessment methodologies * social impact assessment * measurement of strategic impacts * case studies * risk assessment * cost analysis /estimation /forecasting * impact, productivity or value assessments of specific technologies (e.g. OA, CAD, image processing, desktop publishing, workgroup systems, teleconferencing, DSS, artificial intelligence, etc) 3 PAPERS We invite technical and survey papers in the topics listed above, or in related areas. Papers will be selected for the program on the bases of technical merit, relevance to the workshop, and quality of exposition. Papers describing or summarizing empirical work are especially encouraged. Papers must be in English, must not exceed 3000 words, and must be single spaced. A separate cover sheet should include the title, the author(s), affiliations, addresses (postal and electronic), telephone numbers, and a 100 word abstract. The papers will be bound and distributed to Workshop attendees for their perusal and critique. Following the workshop, we intend to publish and widely distribute a revised Proceedings on the Impact and Value of Information Systems. Authors will be expected to revise their papers based on the workshop (evaluations and comments by referees, discussants and other workshop participants) and submit camera-ready copy on a timely basis for inclusion in the symposium. The final decision to include papers in the symposium will be made by the editor. Please submit 5 copies of your paper by January 31, 1989 to the chairman of the workshop: Peter G. Sassone College of Management Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA. 30332 Papers that are late, exceed 3000 words, are not single spaced, or omit the cover sheet cannot be reviewed. Authors will be notified of acceptance of their papers by February 28, 1989. 4 PARTICIPATION We invite everyone with an active interest in the identification, measurement and valuation of the impacts of information systems to attend this workshop in Minneapolis Minnesota. In addition to academic researchers, I.S. consultants, and vendors; we especially encourage the participation of corporate and government I.S. managers and analysts. We solicit participation in the form of papers, discussants, session organizers, panel organizers, and session chairs. Contact Professor Peter G. Sassone at the above address or phone (404) 894-4912 or electronic mail (BITNET) IMPGSAA@GITNVE2. ------------------------------ END OF IRList Digest ********************