Intellectual Property Research: From the Dustiest Law Book to the Most Far off Database

This issue of IDEA introduces a regular series of articles on intellectual property research tools and strategies based on my experience for over a decade as Intellectual Property Librarian and Research Professor at Franklin Pierce Law Center. Pierce Law is consistently ranked among the top law schools training IP professionals. I have taught IP legal research, patent, trademark and copyright searching to hundreds of students and IP professionals in Pierce Law Graduate Programs. I have tackled hundreds of reference and research questions as well as working on countless projects requiring IP information. So I have been faced with challenges and changes common to consumers of IP information. What are the types of data IP researchers seek? What are the options for access to such data? How do we evaluate the access points? What is the value added to our information access choices? The mission of this series is to present tools and strategies and answers some of these consumer questions within evaluative frameworks appropriate to the tools under consideration. Each information acquisition choice is made on a moment-by-moment basis subject to the press of business. Choices are made by the totality of the circumstances. Pressures and factors such as time and money often drive information consumption and will be acknowledged and addressed in the series. Despite the intense growth of IP as a legal specialty, the widespread focus on IP in other disciplines outside the law and the increasing use of non-legal data such as patent statistical indicators, little has been written on IP research. There are no dedicated treatises or periodicals on IP legal research. There are no comprehensive treatises on patent, trademark or copyright searching. The intent of this series is not scholarship and footnotes. The intent is to provide some helpful tools and strategies to those performing IP research on the spectrum from law to facts. So, the phrase IP research in this introduction, unless otherwise specified, refers to the acquisition all types of IP information by the full range of consumers

From the invalidity of a General Classification Theory to a new organization of knowledge for the millennium to come

Proceedings der 10. Tagung der Deutschen Sektion der Internationalen Gesellschaft für Wissensorganisation. Wien, 3-5 Juli 2006The idea of organizing knowledge and the determinism in classifícation structures implicitly involve certain limits which are translated into a General Theory on the Classifícation of Knowledge, given that classifícation responds to specific parameters and structures more than to a theoretical concept. The classifícation of things is a refiection of their classifícation by man, and this is what determines classifícation structures. The classifícation and organization of knowledge are presented to us as an artificial construct or as a useful fiction elaborated by man. Positivist knowledge reached its peak in the 20* century when science classifications and implemented classifícation systems based on the latter were to be gestated and Consolidated. Pragmatism was to serve as the epistemological and theoretical basis for science and its classifícation. If the classifícation of the sciences has given rise to clastification systems, the organisation and representation of knowledge has to currendy give rise to the context of the globalisation of electronic information in the hypertextual organisational form of electronic information where, if in information the médium ivas the message, in organisation the médium is the structure. The virtual reality of electronic information delves even deeper into it; the process is completed as the subject attempts to look for information. This information market needs standards of an international nature for documents and data. This body of information organization will be characterized by its dynamic nature. If formal and material structures change our concept of knowledge and the way it is structured, then this organization will undergo dynamic change along with the material and formal structures of the real world. The semantic web is a qualitative leap which can be glimpsed on tiie new knowledge horizon; the latter would be shaped with the full integration of contents and data, the language itself would include data and its rules of reason or representation system. The new organisation of knowledge points to a totally nCw conception; post-modern epistemology has yet to be articulated. In the 21 st century, the organization of electronic information is presenting a novel hypertextual, non-linear architecture that will lead to a new change in the paradigm for organization of knowledge for the mülennium to come.Publicad

Foreword

[Excerpt] This volume is designed to commemorate the distinguished history of the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University, especially the various disciplines and fields that are inter-woven within its domain. For this book, many of those who have been a significant part of the ILR School’s history were invited to write a scholarly overview of some aspect of industrial and labor relations. These essays analyze developments in one or more of the various subfields in which many of the school’s alumni and faculty have been so active and prominent. The volume is being published by the ILR School on the occasion of the formal dedication of a new classroom and library complex

Incorporating interactive 3-dimensional graphics in astronomy research papers

Most research data collections created or used by astronomers are intrinsically multi-dimensional. In contrast, all visual representations of data presented within research papers are exclusively 2-dimensional. We present a resolution of this dichotomy that uses a novel technique for embedding 3-dimensional (3-d) visualisations of astronomy data sets in electronic-format research papers. Our technique uses the latest Adobe Portable Document Format extensions together with a new version of the S2PLOT programming library. The 3-d models can be easily rotated and explored by the reader and, in some cases, modified. We demonstrate example applications of this technique including: 3-d figures exhibiting subtle structure in redshift catalogues, colour-magnitude diagrams and halo merger trees; 3-d isosurface and volume renderings of cosmological simulations; and 3-d models of instructional diagrams and instrument designs.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, submitted to New Astronomy. For paper with 3-dimensional embedded figures, see http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/s2plot/3dpd

Incorporating interactive 3-dimensional graphics in astronomy research papers

Most research data collections created or used by astronomers are intrinsically multi-dimensional. In contrast, all visual representations of data presented within research papers are exclusively 2-dimensional. We present a resolution of this dichotomy that uses a novel technique for embedding 3-dimensional (3-d) visualisations of astronomy data sets in electronic-format research papers. Our technique uses the latest Adobe Portable Document Format extensions together with a new version of the S2PLOT programming library. The 3-d models can be easily rotated and explored by the reader and, in some cases, modified. We demonstrate example applications of this technique including: 3-d figures exhibiting subtle structure in redshift catalogues, colour-magnitude diagrams and halo merger trees; 3-d isosurface and volume renderings of cosmological simulations; and 3-d models of instructional diagrams and instrument designs.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, submitted to New Astronomy. For paper with 3-dimensional embedded figures, see http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/s2plot/3dpd

Participation in the global knowledge commons : challenges and opportunities for research dissemination in developing countries

Due to improving Internet connectivity and a growing number of international initiatives, knowledge workers in developing countries are now getting access to scholarly and scientific publications and electronic resources at a level that is unmatched historically. This is highly significant, particularly in areas of medicine, agricultural and environmental sciences, and development literature that are much needed if developing countries are to meet the Millennium Development Goals. At the same time, the Open Access movement and the growing number of Open Archive Initiative (OAI) compliant institutional repositories promise to provide even greater access to resources and scientific publications that were previously inaccessible. These low cost technology and interoperability standards are also providing great opportunities for libraries and publishers in developing countries to disseminate local research and knowledge and to bridge the South-North knowledge gap. This article reviews these recent trends, discusses their significance for information access in developing countries, and provides recommendations for knowledge workers on how to actively participate in and contribute to the global knowledge commons

Achieving the Millennium Development Goal of reducing maternal mortality in rural Africa: an experience from Burundi.

OBJECTIVES: To estimate the reduction in maternal mortality associated with the emergency obstetric care provided by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and to compare this to the fifth Millennium Development Goal of reducing maternal mortality. METHODS: The impact of MSF's intervention was approximated by estimating how many deaths were averted among women transferred to and treated at MSF's emergency obstetric care facility in Kabezi, Burundi, with a severe acute maternal morbidity. Using this estimate, the resulting theoretical maternal mortality ratio in Kabezi was calculated and compared to the Millennium Development Goal for Burundi. RESULTS: In 2011, 1385 women from Kabezi were transferred to the MSF facility, of whom 55% had a severe acute maternal morbidity. We estimated that the MSF intervention averted 74% (range 55-99%) of maternal deaths in Kabezi district, equating to a district maternal mortality rate of 208 (range 8-360) deaths/100 000 live births. This lies very near to the 2015 MDG 5 target for Burundi (285 deaths/100 000 live births). CONCLUSION: Provision of quality emergency obstetric care combined with a functional patient transfer system can be associated with a rapid and substantial reduction in maternal mortality, and may thus be a possible way to achieve Millennium Development Goal 5 in rural Africa

Measuring the Global Research Environment: Information Science Challenges for the 21st Century

“What does the global research environment look like?” This paper presents a summary look at the results of efforts to address this question using available indicators on global research production. It was surprising how little information is available, how difficult some of it is to access and how flawed the data are. The three most useful data sources were UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Research and Development data (1996-2002), the Institute of Scientific Information publications listings for January 1998 through March 2003, and the World of Learning 2002 reference volume. The data showed that it is difficult to easily get a good overview of the global research situation from existing sources. Furthermore, inequalities between countries in research capacity are marked and challenging. Information science offers strategies for responding to both of these challenges. In both cases improvements are likely if access to information can be facilitated and the process of integrating information from different sources can be simplified, allowing transformation into effective action. The global research environment thus serves as a case study for the focus of this paper – the exploration of information science responses to challenges in the management, exchange and implementation of knowledge globally