Access To Public Information Research Articles

Advocacy and evidence for sustainable public computer access

PurposeThis paper aims to draw together the evidence‐based advocacy experience of five national programs focused on developing public access information and communications technologies (ICT) via public libraries as grantees of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Global Libraries Initiative.Design/methodology/approachThe authors describe a common approach to strategic advocacy and to impact planning and assessment. They then outline the experience of each program in using a range of evidence to help meet specific advocacy objectives. They give particular attention to how each program is using specific evidence to convince key players of the importance of public access ICT provided by public libraries in meeting the objectives of the key players.FindingsThis collective experience shows that when advocating at the national level, statistical data and empirical evidence can demonstrate that public libraries contribute to stakeholders' goals. Such data can include technology skills that users have gained as well as how users improve their businesses, become better educated, and access government services. Common denominators from the programs include a disproportionate positive impact achieved (or anticipated) in rural communities and on relatively disadvantaged groups such as older workers, old people and unemployed people.Practical implicationsBoth the general approach to evidence‐based advocacy described and the specific messages about targeting advocacy efforts on key players and on the service users who are most likely to benefit from public access ICT are of potential value to anyone planning a national, regional or local advocacy program focused on public libraries and their services.Social implicationsAs the paper deals with global library advocacy issues, and impact planning, it is hoped it is a step towards more measurable social impact for libraries.Originality/valueThis is the first full public report of the Global Libraries approach to evidence‐based advocacy as conducted in the five countries represented in the paper. It is part of a steadily growing body of knowledge being amassed by Global Libraries about effective provision of public access ICT via public libraries in a range of countries.

Ensuring public access to information in Ukraine

У статті проаналізовано питання діяльності державних органів щодо забезпечення доступу до інформації в Україні.

Corruption and transparency in Russia: the anti-corruption role of libraries

Russia is one of the world’s most corrupt countries. The conditions of social transformation over the past twenty years have provided good grounds for corruption to grow. Public information access which should be free is restricted for different reasons. One of the main problems in Russia today is the privatization of public information. Can libraries as places of free access to information solve this problem? The experience of Russian libraries says that it can.

Mobile technologies and the holistic management of chronic diseases

Ageing populations and unhealthy lifestyles have led to some chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease reaching epidemic proportions in many developed nations. This paper explores the potential of mobile technologies to improve this situation. The pervasive nature of these technologies can contribute holistically across the whole spectrum of chronic care ranging from public information access and awareness, through monitoring and treatment of chronic disease, to support for patient carers. A related study to determine the perceptions of healthcare providers to m-health confirmed the view that attitudes were likely to be more important barriers to progress than technology. A key finding concerned the importance of seamless and integrated m-health processes across the spectrum of chronic disease management.

Immediate usability: a case study of public access design for a community photo library

This paper describes a novel instantiation of a digital photo library in a public access system. It demonstrates how designers can utilize characteristics of a target user community (social constraints, trust, and a lack of anonymity) to provide capabilities, such as unrestricted annotation and uploading of photos, which would be impractical in other types of public access systems. It also presents a compact set of design principles and guidelines for ensuring the immediate usability of public access information systems. These principles and guidelines were derived from our experience developing PhotoFinder Kiosk, a community photo library. Attendees of a major HCI conference (CHI 2001 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems) successfully used the tool to browse and annotate collections of photographs spanning 20 years of HCI-related conferences, producing a richly annotated photo history of the field of human–computer interaction. Observations and usage log data were used to evaluate the tool and develop the guidelines. They provide specific guidance for practitioners, as well as a useful framework for additional research in public access interfaces.

New tools for governing international watercourses

The last decade has seen the scholarly and institutional debate turn from whether public involvement in international watercourse management is necessary to how it should be realised. Experiences in various contexts present options for further development. These options include providing public access information on the status of watercourses, factors that could affect the watercourse, and decisionmaking processes; participation in decisions regarding proposed projects (through environmental impact assessment or EIA) and policies; and access to mechanisms for redress of grievances. Emerging tools, such as transboundary EIA and Internet-based tools, offer prospects for improving public involvement in international watercourse management.

Survey of public information about ongoing clinical trials funded by industry: evaluation of completeness and accessibility

Objective: To evaluate the completeness and accessibility of public information about US clinical trials of drugs in development.Design: Review of online registers of clinical trials.Data sources: Drugs in phase III...

Web based information on clinical toxicology for the United Kingdom: uptake and utilization of TOXBASE in 2000.

To examine the use and uptake of TOXBASE, an Internet database for point of care provision of poisons information in the United Kingdom during its first calendar year of web-based access. Interrogation of the database software to examine: use by different types of user and geographical origin; profile of ingredient and product access; time of access to the system; profile of access to other parts of the database. Registered users of the system increased in the first full year of operation (1224 new users) and usage of the system increased to 111 410 sessions with 190 223 product monograph accesses in 2000. Major users were hospitals, in particular accident and emergency departments. NHS Direct, a public access information service staffed by nurses, also made increasing use of the system. Usage per head of population was highest in Northern Ireland and Scotland, and least in southern England. Ingredients accessed most frequently were similar in all four countries of the UK. Times of use of the system reflect clinical activity, with hospitals making many accesses during night-time hours. The most popular parts of the database other than poisons information were those dealing with childhood poisoning, information on decontamination procedures, teratology information and slang terms for drugs of abuse. This Internet system has been widely used in its first full year of operation. The provision of clinically relevant, up to date, information at the point of delivery of patient care is now possible using this approach. It has wide implications for the provision of other types of therapeutic information in clinical areas. Web-based technology represents an opportunity for clinical pharmacologists to provide therapeutic information for clinical colleagues at the bedside.

Interface Design Considerations in Libraries

Summary The potential of new approaches for information system interface design is truly immense. Interactive, engaging and compelling interfaces and systems for information retrieval and visualization are under development. These will rely on greatly enhanced user options and controls that will fully involve all users at all levels of finding expertise. A major component of these interfaces will be well evolved multi—and hypermedia systems that will better apply traditional, textu-ally presented information while going greatly beyond this to fully emphasize visual metaphor and other “sensorial” modes of understanding to facilitate the information seeking process. This article discusses these developments and associated research in regard to library related public access information systems. It is available on the Web at: http://libwww.ucr.edu/pubs/stlinfoviz.html

Global networking

I would like to welcome Dr Clifford Lynch: if you were here four years ago you will know he gave our opening address on that occasion: a brilliant speech. Clifford is a man of many interests in his own right and a member of many influential committees on technical questions, standards, library matters and data base issues and he is one of the few people who can see how all these phenomena link together. He can synthesise and can make some sense of it for the rest of us. Presently he is the director of Library Automation at the University of California, Office of the President, where he is responsible for the Melvyl system, which he told me yesterday is now around sixteen years old. It is one of the largest public access information retrieval systems in existence. Clifford also manages the network that links the nine University of California campuses to each other and to the broader Internet. He has been at the University of California since 1979. He received his PhD in computer science from the University of California at Berkeley: he is active in the development of standards and is the leader of the Coalition for Network Informations Architecture and Standards Working Group. He has served as director of, and is currently immediate past-president of the American Society for Information Science. When we contacted Clifford to see if he would be willing to come and speak he e-mailed back immediately saying ‘I would be delighted to do this if I can fit it into my schedule.’ Several weeks went by arranging other people to fit in with various meetings, and in the end Clifford had to commute to give this address; he arrived yesterday and he is leaving tomorrow! I have much pleasure in inviting our first keynote speaker, Dr Clifford Lynch to address us.

Why are online catalogsstill hard to use?

We return to arguments made 10 years ago (Borgman, 1986a) that online catalogs are difficult to use because their design does not incorporate sufficient understanding of searching behavior. The earlier article examined studies of information retrieval system searching for their implications for online catalog design; this article examines the implications of card catalog design for online catalogs. With this analysis, we hope to contribute to a better understanding of user behavior and to lay to rest the card catalog design model for online catalogs. We discuss the problems with query matching systems, which were designed for skilled search intermediaries rather than end-users, and the knowledge and skills they require in the information-seeking process, illustrated with examples of searching card and online catalogs. Searching requires conceptual knowledge of the information retrieval process—translating an information need into a searchable query; semantic knowledge of how to implement a query in a given system—the how and when to use system features; and technical skills in executing the query—basic computing skills and the syntax of entering queries as specific search statements. In the short term, we can help make online catalogs easier to use through improved training and documentation that is based on information-seeking behavior, with the caveat that good training is not a substitute for good system design. Our long term goal should be to design intuitive systems that require a minimum of instruction. Given the complexity of the information retrieval problem and the limited capabilities of today's systems, we are far from achieving that goal. If libraries are to provide primary information services for the networked world, they need to put research results on the information-seeking process into practice in designing the next generation of online public access information retrieval systems. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Why are online catalogs still hard to use?

Author(s): Borgman, Christine L. | Abstract: We return to arguments made 10 years ago (Borgman, 1986a) that online catalogs are difficult to use because their design does not incorporate sufficient understanding of searching behavior. The earlier article examined studies of information retrieval system searching for their implications for online catalog design; this article examines the implications of card catalog design for online catalogs. With this analysis, we hope to contribute to a better understanding of user behavior and to lay to rest the card catalog design model for online catalogs. We discuss the problems with query matching systems, which were designed for skilled search intermediaries rather than end-users, and the knowledge and skills they require in the information-seeking process, illustrated with examples of searching card and online catalogs. Searching requires conceptual knowledge of the information retrieval process—translating an information need into a searchable query; semantic knowledge of how to implement a query in a given system—the how and when to use system features; and technical skills in executing the query—basic computing skills and the syntax of entering queries as specific search statements. In the short term, we can help make online catalogs easier to use through improved training and documentation that is based on information-seeking behavior, with the caveat that good training is not a substitute for good system design. Our long term goal should be to design intuitive systems that require a minimum of instruction. Given the complexity of the information retrieval problem and the limited capabilities of today's systems, we are far from achieving that goal. If libraries are to provide primary information services for the networked world, they need to put research results on the information-seeking process into practice in designing the next generation of online public access information retrieval systems.

Public Information Access Policy in the Digital Network Environment

Public Information Access Policy in the Digital Network Environment

A marriage of high‐tech and fine art: the National Gallery's Micro Gallery Project

The Micro Gallery is a computerised, interactive, public access information system, located in the Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery in London. It provides detailed information about the Gallery's collection of paintings in an accessible form, using digitised colour images and touch screen technology. A member of the team responsible for its development, here discusses the evolution of the system, its reception, and the projects it has spawned.

Freedom of information in Atlantic Canada

Freedom of information legislation was enacted in three of Canada's four Atlantic Provinces between 1977–1982 in response to public demand for more open and participatory government. The New Brunswick and Newfoundland statutes have conferred broad public information access with a right of appeal to the Ombudsman or a judge. This legislative structure has effectively sustained the remedial objectives of the legislation—an assessment qualified by low rates of recorded information requests and appeals, deficient public information systems, legislative exceptions, and the absence of privacy protection legislation. The Nova Scotia legislation provides broad information access rights, but lacks any independent review mechanism and is arguably a statement of principles of little more import than Prince Edward Island's absent legislation.