Exploiting open standards in academic web services

In Digital Library-related technologies, there is a whole host of open standards and protocols that are at varying stages of definition or emergence and acceptance or agreement. Nevertheless, specifically in an academic context, these have led to some valuable improvements in the quality and value of services provided to teachers, learners and researchers alike. However, it often remains difficult for these information seekers to find relevant resources that are not immediately 'visible', they may be effectively hidden within database-driven web services or proprietary applications. The focus of this paper is upon a project based at the UK academic data centre, MIMAS, which provides web-based services to the education community in the UK, Ireland and beyond. The project's principle aim was to increase the visibility and accessibility of 'appropriate' resources by exploiting a number of relevant open standards and initiatives to ensure interoperability. This principally required focusing on machine-to-machine metadata interchange

Z39.88-2004 : The OpenURL Framework for Context-Sensitive Services : The Key/Encoded-Value (KEV) Format Implementation Guidelines

The OpenURL Framework for Context-Sensitive Services Standard [1] provides a means of describing a referenced resource along with a description of the context of the reference. Additionally it defines methods of transporting these descriptions between networked systems. It is anticipated that it will be used to request services pertaining to the referenced resource and appropriate for the requester. The OpenURL Framework is very general and has the potential to be used in many application domains and by many communities. Concrete instantiations of the various core components within the framework are defined within the OpenURL Registry [2]. The Registry is managed by a Maintenance Agency, as defined in Appendix A of the Standard. During the ballot and public review period of the Standard, the content of the Registry was static and had been pre-defined by the NISO AX Committee. There is also an experimental registry where components under development are held. It is possible to register further items. Initially there were two formats for ContextObject Representations defined in the OpenURL Framework, Key/Encoded-Value and XML. This document provides implementation guidelines for the Key/Encoded-Value Format, concentrating mainly, but not exclusively, on components from the San Antonio Level 1 Community Profile (SAP1)

Maxillofacial prostheses challenges in resource constrained regions

Background: This study reviewed the current state of maxillofacial rehabilitation in resource-limited nations. Method: A rigorous literature review was undertaken using several technical and clinical databases using a variety of key words pertinent to maxillofacial prosthetic rehabilitation and resource-limited areas. In addition, interviews were conducted with researchers, clinicians and prosthetists that had direct experience of volunteering or working in resource-limited countries. Results: Results from the review and interviews suggest rehabilitating patients in resource-limited countries remains challenging and efforts to improve the situation requires a multifactorial approach. Conclusion: In conclusion, public health awareness programmes to reduce the causation of injuries and bespoke maxillofacial prosthetics training programmes to suit these countries, as opposed to attempting to replicate Western training programmes. It is also possible that usage of locally sourced and cheaper materials and the use of low-cost technologies could greatly improve maxillofacial rehabilitation efforts in these localities

Managing obesity through mobile phone applications: a state-of-the-art review from a user-centred design perspective

Evidence has shown that the trend of increasing obesity rates has continued in the last decade. Mobile phone applications, benefiting from their ubiquity, have been increasingly used to address this issue. In order to increase the applications’ acceptance and success, a design and development process that focuses on users, such as User-Centred Design, is necessary. This paper reviews reported studies that concern the design and development of mobile phone applications to prevent obesity, and analyses them from a User-Centred Design perspective. Based on the review results, strengths and weaknesses of the existing studies were identified. Identified strengths included: evidence of the inclusion of multidisciplinary skills and perspectives; user involvement in studies; and the adoption of iterative design practices. Weaknesses included the lack of specificity in the selection of end-users and inconsistent evaluation protocols. The review was concluded by outlining issues and research areas that need to be addressed in the future, including: greater understanding of the effectiveness of sharing data between peers; privacy; and guidelines for designing for behavioural change through mobile phone applications

Using a dumb number to do smart things: learning to dance with ISSN

Abstract This written celebration of 40 years of the ISSN Network is written in two parts. The first takes its starting point in about 1995, about halfway in the life of the ISSN Network, when the Internet was well established and the Web was beginning to have significance for scholarly communication. As this was also when contact was made with the ISSN International Centre and EDINA was being established, this chronicles some of their joint activity over the past twenty years. This makes reference to the role the ISSN has had in identifying serial content during the shift from the print to the digital. The second part reflects upon the relationship between the Web, the Scholarly Record and the ISSN as part of a forward look to the next twenty to forty years. An underlying theme is focus on how to ensure continuity of access to the digital back copy of issued content from old and new forms of seriality. Keywords: ISSN. Library. Distributed systems. Digital preservation. Open Access. Usando um número silencioso para fazer coisas inteligentes: aprendendo a dançar com o ISSN Resumo Esta celebração aos 40 anos da rede ISSN é escrita em duas partes. A primeira inicia por volta de 1995, próximo da meia-vida da rede ISSN, quando a Internet estava bem estabelecida e a Web começava a ter significância para a comunicação acadêmica. Como também foi o período em que se fez contato com o Centro Internacional do ISSN e EDINA estava se estabelecendo, narram-se algumas de suas atividades conjuntas nos últimos vinte anos. Faz referência ao papel do ISSN na identificação de conteúdo seriado durante a mudança do impresso para o digital. A segunda parte reflete sobre o relacionamento entre Web, o Registro Acadêmico e o ISSN como parte de uma visão de futuro para os próximos vinte a quarenta anos. Um tema subjacente é o foco, sobre como assegurar a continuidade de acesso à cópia digital de conteúdo publicado pelas formas novas e antigas de publicações seriadas. Palavras-chave: ISSN. Biblioteca. Sistemas distribuídos. Preservação digital. Acesso aberto. Usando um número silencioso para hacer cosas inteligentes: aprendiendo a bailar con el ISSN Resumen Esta celebración de los 40 años de la red ISSN es escrita en dos partes. La primera empieza aproximadamente en 1995, cerca de la mitad de la vida de la red ISSN, cuando la Internet estaba bien establecida y la Web empezava a tener importancia para la comunicación académica. Como también fue el período en que se contactó el Centro Internacional del ISSN y EDINA se estabelecía, son narradas algunas de sus actividades en conjuntos en los últimos veinte años. Hace referencia al papel del ISSN en la identificación de contenido seriado durante el cambio del impreso al digital. La segunda parte refleja sobre el relacionamento entre Web, el Registro Académico y el ISSN como parte de una visión de futuro para los próximos veinte a cuarenta años. Un tema subyacente es el enfocado, sobre como asegurar la continuidad del acceso a la copia digital de contenido publicado por las formas nuevas y antíguas de publicaciones seriadas. Palavras-chave: ISSN. Biblioteca. Sistemas distribuídos. Preservação digital. Acesso aberto

Researcher Name Resolver: identifier management system for Japanese researchers

We built a researcher identifier management system called the Researcher Name Resolver (RNR) to assist with the name disambiguation of authors in digital libraries on the Web. RNR, which is designed to cover all researchers in Japan, is a Web-oriented service that can be openly connected with external scholastic systems. We expect it to be widely used for enriched scholarly communications. In this paper, we first outline the conceptual framework of RNR, which is jointly focused on researcher identifier management and Web resource linking. We based our researcher identifier scheme on the reuse of multiple sets of existing researcher identifiers belonging to the Japanese grant database KAKEN and the researcher directory ReaD & Researchmap. Researcher identifiers are associated by direct links to related resources on the Web through a combination of methods, including descriptive mapping, focused crawling on campus directories and researcher identification by matching names and affiliations. Second, we discuss our implementation of RNR based on this framework. Researcher identifiers construct uniform resource identifiers to show Web pages that describe researcher profiles and provide links to related external resources. We have adapted Web-friendly technologies—e.g., OpenSearch and the RDFs of Linked Data technology—in this implementation to provide Web-friendly services. Third, we discuss our application of RNR to a name disambiguation task for the search portal of the Japanese Institutional Repositories Online to determine how well the researcher identifier management system cooperates with external systems. Finally, we discuss lessons learned from the entire project as well as the future development directions we intend to take

User participation in the design and development of Web 2.0 technologies for people with learning difficulties

In the twenty-first century People with Learning Difficulties (PWLD) still face oppression, discrimination and exclusion from the mainstream of social life. Over recent decades the policy of the United Kingdom’s (UK) government and activist organisations regarding people with learning difficulties has been on enabling inclusion, ensuring rights, providing choice and developing advocacy and independence. People with learning difficulties have been moved out of institutions with the intention to be included and respected as equal members of society. During the same decades that the government and activist organisations have been striving for the inclusion and equality of people with learning difficulties, the use of Information Technology (IT) has reached pervasive levels, to the degree that it is almost impossible for individuals to socially function successfully, unless they have access to it. Unfortunately, most IT is not designed to be usable and accessible to people with learning difficulties and this is a major barrier for their social inclusion.Participatory Design (PD) methodologies which emphasise end-user involvement in the software development process are widely considered the key to system usability and accessibility. However, most researchers and software developers believe that people with learning difficulties are not capable of participating in the process of development as a result of their disabilities. Others, report that they do not know how to work with this specific group of disabled end-users. This discriminatory behaviour is a major reason why IT remains inaccessible to people with learning difficulties. The study described in this thesis combined Evolutionary Prototyping, a software development methodology and Participatory Action Research (PAR), a social science methodology, in order to involve a cohort of four Health Trainers with learning difficulties in the development of a Web 2.0 based system. The aims of the study were to explore how people with learning difficulties could be involved in the development of a software system and if they could use a system developed with their participation. A further aim was to explore how software developers can approach the field of Learning Disability, the issues they will face and how those issues can be overcome. Qualitative data was gathered during fourteen Participatory Action Research meetings, in which the Health Trainers were involved in research, software development and system use. The data was analysed using Thematic Content Analysis facilitated by the use of the NVivo software package. The findings were validated by the participating Health Trainers.The findings suggest that during software development participation, the Health Trainers faced a number of challenges. However, the Health Trainers indicated the type of support they needed from the researcher in order to overcome them. The support required was easy to provide and the Health Trainers managed to engage in the software development process. The study conducted a system use evaluation to explore if the developed system was usable and accessible to the Health Trainers. The Health Trainers managed to complete all the system tasks posed to them during the evaluation. This suggests that the developed system was usable and accessible to the Health Trainers. Further evidence suggests that a number of factors affected the participation of the Health Trainers during development and during the use of the system. Finally, the study explored how the developed system was used over the long run, in a period of eighteen months. The findings suggest that system use over time was affected by factors other than the system’s accessibility and usability. Concluding, the findings suggest that with easy to provide support, the Health Trainers with learning difficulties could be involved in software development and they could use a system developed with their participation. It is hoped that the findings be used by policy makers and advocacy groups, to make a case towards convincing researchers and software developers to involve more people with learning difficulties in software development, thus making systems accessible to this community of end-users