Joint Academic Network Research Articles

Obstacles to adopting access grid technology in UK primary care research networks

TheelectronicPrimaryCareResearchNetwork (ePCRN) is a collaborationbetween theuniversitiesofBirmingham, UK and Minnesota, USA, that aims to develop software for the recruitment of subjects for andmanagement of trials in primary care. Over the past three years this collaboration has been facilitated using the Access Grid (AG). Weekly team meetings have been held face to face across the Atlantic, enabling far richer communication than audio alone. In fact it would be hard to imagine how the project would have progressed without this facility. The US Federation of PracticeBased Research Networks (FPBRNs) have also taken up the challenge of AG for their weekly director’s meetings, but in the UK AG remains very much a tool for computer science departments in universities, and has not been widely taken up. It is worth considering why this might be and whether the obstacles are insurmountable. The Technology AcceptanceModel is an extension of Fishbein’s Theory of Reasoned action. It postulates that actual system use will be determined by behavioural intention to use, itself determined by perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. In the case of AG, existing technologies (the phone and travelling for a face-to-face meeting) have a very widespread use and perceived ease of use. AG, and similar Video Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services have many barriers to surmount before they will be perceived as easy to use as the telephone. Nagykaldi et al describe many of these barriers, in particular the need to negotiate a way through firewalls and institutional security policies. In addition, running a personal AG node requires a knowledge of drivers, audio device settings etc that would be well outside the familiarity of an average PC user. An alternative strategy is to invest, not only in the hardware, but in the expertise required to install and maintain it. Within the context of a high-profile international project, this is not a major issue, but with research networks and practices, this can present an insurmountable barrier. In the USA, the much larger distances preclude frequent face-to-face meetings, without adding the additional factors of carbon emissions and the sheer hassle of flying with today’s security problems. AG offers a much richer experience than a phone conference, with the ability to share presentations and documents, as well as picking up non-verbal cues essential to proper discourse in a larger group. Within the UK, the NIHR National School for Primary Care Research is now supporting the development of the ePCRN in the UK. As part of this, the use of VoIP for training and supporting practices over a network would be advantageous. We have conducted some experiments with VoIP via the Universities Joint Academic Network (JANET) and the NHS N3 network. Firewalls, lack of adequate bandwidth tomany practices, lack of multicasting and poor IT support in practices are currently insurmountable problems. In future, the development of telemedicine services that require a better infrastructure may enable use of VoIP for research purposes. At present AGwill likely remain a tool formanaging regularmeetings between research groups with well-supported infrastructure in universities.

NHSnet—learning from academia

The government white paper The New NHS has suggested that all general practices will be connected to NHSnet, the NHS computer network, by the year 2002.1 NHSnet is a secure...

The Case for Integration of JANET and NHSnet: a pragmatic proposal for its implementation

The NHSnet, to achieve public and professional confidence, needs to be secure. In order to achieve this, its code of connection requires general practices to remove any Internet connections they might have including connections to JANET (the Joint Academic Network). Whilst this rationale is understandable, other pressures are pushing undergraduate medical education into general practice. An increasing part of medical student learning is self-directed and computer-based. Tutors working in general practice need both to be able to access patient data, as well as to communicate with their educational peer group at their University Department. This paper sets up a pragmatic staged process whereby a practice could in a secure way access both email and educational material at its medical school, whilst at the same time linking to NHSnet.

ABC of Medical Computing: ONLINE SEARCHING

Searching for references is part of everyday life in medicine. If your computer is equipped with a modem and communications software you can now do online searches without needing to visit a library. Online searching refers to the use of information sources held on remote computer systems, perhaps the most popular of which is Medline. The BMA library runs a Medline service for BMA members, which is available 24 hours a day through a modem and also through the Internet or Joint Academic Network (JANET). The Medline database runs on a modern PC with a very large hard disk in the library. The computer is connected to a number of telephone lines so up to 20 people can dial in and access the system simultaneously. BMA members can access the Medline database at no cost apart from normal telephone charges. You will, however, need to apply to the library for a password before using the system. BMA's Medline system. The following description is based on the OVID (3.0) DOS version of the system interface. It is best to use Norton pcAnywhere to access the BMA's Medline service as this gives best performance but you can also use any standard communications program. The commands vary slightly depending on the program that you use but clear instructions are always given on the screen. When you log on to the database you need to type IBMOVID if you have Norton pcAnywhere or VTOVID if you have other communications software. Initial search screen in Medline To carry out a search on a particular subject, type the relevant term or phrase at the cursor prompt. The system will attempt to map your word(s) to relevant standard terms, known as medical subject headings (MeSH). Medline, which is produced by the United States National Library of Medicine, …

Journals are not yet obsolete

EDITOR,--Much has been forecast in the past: the creation of cinema will be the death toll for theatres; the invention of television will be the death toll for cinema; the invention of video will be the death toll for cinema; the invention of the word processor will mean the end of the pen. Now it is the 1990s and we have the worldwide web and are told that paper journals will die.1 But life is not as simple as Ronald E LaPorte and colleagues make out. Firstly, a number of journals have been largely electronic for nearly a decade. The creation of the joint academic network (JANET) …

A Virtual Library for Librarians:

The Joint Academic Network (JANET) in Ihe United Kingdom supports electronic communication, access to online library catalogs, and access to fee-based information services, maintaining services and resources targeted specifically at librarians. This paper focuses on one such service, the Bulletin Board for Libraries (BUBL), and the professional development resources it provides for librarians involved with electronic networking. These include current awareness services, full texts of publications related to networking, training materials, and other resources relevant to libraries and the networked world.

Information services for the Museum of Scotland Project

The paper discusses information services which are being developed within the National Museums of Scotland (NMS), to support the Museum of Scotland Project. NMS has started to build a new museum in the centre of Edinburgh, to display its rich collections of Scottish material. It is due to open in 1998. The information needs of project teams are examined. A strategy for responding to the rapidly changing needs of project teams is described. The approach concentrates on developing a variety of information resources, which together meet the needs of users, and making some of them accessible throughout the organization as services on a data communications network. Internal services include collections databases, a collections management system for the Museum of Scotland Project, and the library catalogue online. External services include the development of a Scottish national database of museum objects, and access to the Joint Academic Network. The data communications network is described, and the management of the system is discussed.

The consortium of university research libraries: An experiment in resource sharing in the United Kingdom

In 1982 the librarians of the seven largest university research libraries in the United Kingdom agreed to form a consortium, CURL, in order to share machine readable data. Grants were received from a research foundation and the University Grants Committee, and the establishment of the Joint Academic Network (JANET) enabled computer links to be quickly set up. A Systems Manager, Shirley Perry, was appointed and a database was loaded onto the Manchester Computer Centre Amdahl 5890. Each library provides data on magnetic tapes, and CURL subscribes to British Library and Library of Congress tapes. Access is available by ISBN, LC number, or acronym keys. Libraries can take records by online downloading, receiving tapes, or file transfer to local computers. Next stages will be retrospective conversion and input at ordering stage.

Computer Aided Information Exchange and the Control Information Database

A Control Information Database has been set up at the University of Glasgow to "facilitate information dissemination within the Control Engineering Community". The database is available for access over JANET (U.K. Joint Academic NETwork), and from other networks with connections to JANET including the Internet. This paper outlines the ways in which access to the database is available from both within the U.K. and from site throughout the world connected to the Internet.

Project Jupiter: report and assessment

The articles reports on the progress of Project Jupiter, a University Grants Committee funded project sponsored by the JANET (Joint Academic Network) user group for libraries and managed by Glasgow University. The project sought to train library staff in the use of the JANET computerized networked information system by means of seminars, published information, ad-hoc courses and other promo tional activities. The article discuss es the changes that have been made to JANET during the 5 years of the project and the ways in which these have been reflected in Project Jupiter and reports on the use of JANET within libraries; training in libraries; types of documentation developed for users; and, in particu lar, the setting up and success of the electronic bulletin board: Bulletin Board for Libraries (BUBL).

JANET: an overview for libraries

JANET, the United Kingdom Joint Academic Network, was established in 1984 by the Computer Board for Universities and Research Councils, and is now funded by its successor, the Information Systems Committee (ISC) of the Universities Funding Council. JANET links users to the facilities of over 2000 registered computers on more than 150 sites within the UK. All universities, polytechnics, and the institutes funded by the research councils are connected, as are many other educational institutions. There is also a growing number of industrial and commercial organisations connected, all working in collaboration with members of the academic community. Of specific interest to libraries, the British Library, the National Libraries of Scotland and Wales, SLS, Blackwells and OCLC are all directly linked, and many more suppliers and utilities can be reached through gateways to other networks worldwide.

END USER SEARCHING: THE INTRODUCTION OF DISTRIBUTED DATABASES ACROSS THE ACADEMIC COMMUNITY

The impact of the revolution in information technology on the academic community is assessed, detailing the new Joint Academic Network which will link all UK universities as well as many polytechnics and research councils with a terminal connected to JANET. The origins of the service are described and future benefits forecast.

Library applications of a wide area network: promoting JANET to UK academic libraries

Project Jupiter is a 2-year project aimed at promoting the UK's Joint Academic NETwork (JANET) to its member libraries. This paper describes the Project and what it hopes to achieve, and gives general information on the network itself. It looks in some detail at what uses libraries currently make of JANET, and then examines the general question of what functional and service applications are potentially available to libraries over Wide Area Networks (WANs)

The Automatic Remote Geomagnetic Observatory System (ARGOS) operated in the U.K. by the British Geological Survey

ARGOS, an instrument and recording system for performing standard geomagnetic observatory functions at the three U.K. observatories, is described. Operations are controlled by a minicomputer at each observatory communicating by modem through the public telephone system to a central computer in Edinburgh. A fluxgate magnetometer provides 10-s samples of the variation field at + 1 nT resolution. These values are filtered to produce 1-min values (centred on the minute) which in turn are used to compute hourly mean values. These and other derivatives of the raw data are stored in the observatory computer and transmitted to Edinburgh daily by operator command, where they are transferred to a data file which can be accessed by users via the Joint Academic Network computer network (JANET). Observatory data are available to users by this means within 24 h and can be made available in near real time by special arrangement. ARGOS performs standardization measurements of the values of the field components remotely using a proton magnetometer employing standard techniques for absolute observations. Comparison of these Baseline Reference Measurements with manual absolute observations shows them to be acceptable for baseline adoption. In the first year of operation it has been established that ARGOS produces data which are of comparable quality to the classical standards expected from the U.K. observatories. Data loss has been less than 1%. Further automation of routine procedures (e.g. magnetogram plotting, editing, baseline adoption and the adjustment of minute values day by day) will be the focus of attention in the next 2 years.

OPACs and JANET: a simple technique for easy user access

Online Public Access Catalogues (OPACs) in an increasing number of libraries are now available using the Joint Academic Network (JANET). Until the present time, this access has been obstructed for the casual user by the lengthy JANET addressing codes and varying log‐on procedures required by each library system.

Networking and interlending in the United Kingdom

Describes the development of the Consortium of University Research Libraries (CURL) and the initiatives which it, together with the Scottish Academic Libraries Bibliographic Information Network (SALBIN) has taken in opening up direct access to academic library catalogue databases in the UK over the Joint Academic Network (JANET). Considers the significant impact of such developments on document supply.

JANET-the United Kingdom Joint Academic Network

Serials: The Journal for the Serials Community has been digitised and can be accessed in full on this website. All content is freely available on an open-access basis. Serials was published between 1988 and 2011. In 2012, the journal was retitled and is now published as Insights: the UKSG journal.

JANET and the Librarian

JANET(the Joint Academic Network) is a wide‐area network linking together computers and users in British universities, polytechnics, establishments of the research councils, and the British Library. It provides for interactive working, file transfer, electronic mail and job transfer. Online access is possible to many catalogues of university and polytechnic libraries, the British Library's BLAISE‐LINE and ARTel services, and various bibliographic and numeric databases held on university computers. Users registered for electronic mail can use Janet to send this kind of mail to other sites in Britain, or overseas through the EARN, BITNET, and NORTHNET combined network. There are two‐way gateways between Janet and British Telecom network PDN, allowing access to commercial online hosts in Great Britain or overseas. These gateways can provide a faster and cheaper alternative to dial‐up use of PDN.

A training workshop in the use of JANET

The packet switched network JANET (Joint Academic Network) which links the academic community of universities, polytechnics, government funded research establishments and the British Library has great potential for library use. JUGL (JANET User Group for Libraries) has been established as a special interest user group to encourage libraries to make the most of these opportunities. Its terms of reference include the provision of teaching and training, and to this end the JUGL Committee decided to organise a training workshop in September 1987.

A comparison of keyword subject searching on six British university Opacs

The Library catalogues of many British universities are now accessible through the Joint Academic Network (Janet) which was established in 1984. The availability of online public access catalogues (Opacs) through Janet could be useful to students and academics for several purposes: compiling booklists, inter‐library loans and checking the books held at a neighbouring library prior to making a visit.