Tony Barry
tony@info.anu.edu.au
Head, Centre for Networked
Access to Scholarly Information
Australian National University Library
References to sources of material and information on the network are made in the form of Universal resource Locaters (URLs). While there is a great deal of written about the internet and available through bookshops, and can be easily found there providing background reading, the nature of the print medium , coupled with the rate of change on the network, leads to this material being dated.
There are various of estimates of the number of users of the internet but no easy way to make an accurate estimation. Making such estimates is like trying to estimate the number of telephones and telephone users. The telephone companies do not know the number of phones in each PABX and nobody can be sure of how many people share each telephone subscription. The internet is now too large, too decentralised and too complex to make accurate estimates. At best you can sample how many users there may be for each connected computer and then multiple by the number of connected computers as that figure can be assessed with reasonable accuracy by automated methods. By comparison the proprietary commercial online vendors are small
Even two years ago universities were still dominated in much of their thinking by internal concepts such as Campus Wide Information Systems , designed mainly for the internal delivery of information with some access to external material . The legacy of this can still be seen in attempts to mould paper based procedures upon network delivery within Universities.
The fundamental differences in communication which are driving the use of the internet are -
As an interim stage network technology is enhancing mechanisms to speed the delivery of paper based documents via document delivery technologies These are mostly operating under print-based assumptions that there are physical documents to copy and that these will be delivered from a centralised point. Services such as the Colorado Alliance of Research Service's Uncover service offer a database formed from the tables of contents of journals which may be searched and copies of articles then faxed to the inquirer.
As electronic publishing using World Wide Web and its successor technologies become more prevalent the model is likely to be very different. In this model documents, or components of documents will be mounted on servers which may also be the author's work station. These documents can be accessed remotely over the network and the contents viewed on local machines and then manipulated. This model is already being used for conference papers and in some disciplines.
Electronic publishing via networks is likely to have a major impact on those industries which support the dissemination of print media, publishers, booksellers and libraries.. While other forms of electronic publishing, particularly CD-ROMs, which was heralded as the great growth industry of the future in the Prime Minister's Cultural Statement, they, like books, are artefacts. CD-ROMs are an interim technology.
We are leaving the period when communication was dominated by paper and moving to one which is electronic. In the dissemination of information we also appear to be at a watershed where the dominance of large central organisations, delivering information to relatively passive recipients, is being challenged by a new information model driven by the economics of silicon-based products, where individuals and small groups are empowered to generate information services that formerly were the domain of larger bodies.
Few question the efficiency of print yet the huge infrastructure required to make print work is all around us. Booksellers and libraries exist as institutions in the form that they do because books are artefacts and the bulk of the work of booksellers, librarians and publishers derives from the physical form of the communication medium. These three groups largely exist to eliminate the deficiencies in print-based communication and fill in the functions that the technology does not perform.
Networked communication also has its deficiencies but they are quite different to those of print. The supporting professions and industries required to make this form of communication work are likely to be quite different to those required for print on paper. Distribution mechanisms are built into the technology. In many ways such publishing is more like a community notice board or a library reserve collection as only one copy is needed which everyone can see and copy. The act of publishing has effectively placed the document directly to the shelves of a network wide, global library. Unlike the library however you may be charged to view the material.
In effect, the warehouse of the publisher, the stock of the bookseller, the shelves of the library and even the manuscripts of the author, become the same - documents available on the network.
The dynamic nature of the electronic medium also raises new issues. We are so used to print documents as static, it is difficult to consider a situation where this constraint of print is removed. Many of our procedures for producing a publication are based upon the achievement of quality and finality of content because the version once printed can no longer be improved.
We use databases that are modified on a continuous basis such as library catalogues. This capability can now be extended to any document that needs frequent updates such as encyclopedias, loose-leaf services etc. But this also extends to textbook material that can be continuously updated rather that being produced in new editions with further print runs. We need to change our viewpoint to one of saying that everything should be continuously updated rather than thinking of only making changes by the creation of a new document. We need good reasons for material to be maintained in a dated form.
A further conceptual problem arises in a definition of a document. In a static print medium the concept of a document is well defined. It has a physical form and boundary. But electronic documents on the net give a range of new problems. They can be linked together not just within on machine but even across national boundaries. Through hypertext, a single `conceptual' document may be made up of many interlinked individual files that not only may be the work of many authors but may be mounted on many machines not even in the same country let alone the same institution. The boundaries of a document become imprecise, many distributed parts making up a `virtual' whole.
The range of the kind of material which is starting to become available is immense as the following examples show -
These groups variously called, listservs, newsgroups, E Conferences, Bulletin
Boards or lists - the names are a hangover from the technology originally used
- can be found on almost any topic imaginable. As the scope of the net is
global people sharing very unusual interests are able to band together and swap
ideas. It is this form of socialisation and cooperation which gives the net
much of its flavour. There are a variety of directories which have attempted to
provide access to these lists but the size of the task is beginning to be
beyond the capacity of individual groups. Within the academic sector Diane K.
Kovacs, at Kent State University Libraries. has maintained a listing for some
years which now runs to thousands of items. Linda Heron at Griffith University
maintains a directory of Australian groups. Both of these directories can be
access via the Elisa service at ANU
<HREF>.
Finding email addresses is still a problem. The X500 directory scheme has had
less than complete take up although there is considerable use in parts Europe.
Most institutions have used other systems which have been locally deployed. The
use of World Wide Web as a unifying mechanism enables web pages to be created
which link through to indexes and listings of such directories. Within
Australia. Mark Prior at the University of Adelaide has provided such an entry
point.
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There are however increasing numbers of global indexes springing up and most of
these are based on research projects. Some however have become commercial such
as the Lycos service to which the Netscape browser provides
access.
<HREF>.
Within Australia the Australia Internet Working Group has deployed an
experimental server to give access to the main Australia indexes
.
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A brief description of some of the technologies used follow.
The web comprises a series of components.
One factor which enabled the rapid adoption of this technology was that it was able to build upon that material based on the technologies described below such that material published through these systems became part of the corpus of information available through web technology.
There are still areas using gopher and one of the few new sites is the Australian Bureau of Statistics which started a gopher site to deliver its time series information in the form of spreadsheets. The original developers of gopher at the University of Minnesota have now teamed with the University of Graz in Europe to link Hyper-G (an alternative of WWW) to gopher using a system of three dimensional display which may become popular in the future.
Within Australia the ANU provides an index to all Australian gophers and a link
to overseas sites.
<HREF>
Globally sites using this system are index via the "archie" indexing system
developed at McGill university. AARNet maintains the Australian based index on
a machine archie.au
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Individually libraries are also starting to add servers which deliver information about their services, guides tours to information resources on the internet and interactive forms which can be used to request services. In particular, developments are underway to integrate the interlibrary lending systems into the catalogue such that an individual can request a book found on a remote catalogue which will then be delivered to the library where that user belongs.
With the entry of the Microsoft Network in August, which plans to offer access to the network, and with Telstra, through its takeover of AARnet's business side, the situation is likely , for a time, to become even more complex but there will be no shortage of ways to get a connection.
Zik Saleeba at Monash University publishers a listing of network access
providers and some details of their service with hypertext links to any network
based publicity.
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Use of the net has been pushed both from the top and the bottom of Government. Most practical services which have started were commenced independently of the main policy announcements and seemed to be the result of individual initiate rather than deliberate policy action either at a political or departmental level.
The Expert Group recommends the development of a National Strategy for Broadband Networking in Education in anticipation of the extension of high capacity links to educational institutions by 2001. The Group recommends that Open Net be funded to administer a program of pilot projects on broadband services such as the sharing of visual resources through, for example, image libraries.They also recommended national coordinating bodies -
The Expert Group recommends that, to provide leadership for the national strategy, the Government establish a National Information Services Council, chaired by the Prime Minister, and in his absence the Minister for Communications and the Arts, and including visionary and informed people drawn from industry, creators, carriers, users, consumers and researchers.and a Ministerial Committee on National Information Services
The Expert Group recommends that the Government establish a Ministerial Committee on National Information Services, to be chaired by the Minister for Communications and the Arts, with membership including the Ministers for Finance, Industry, Science and Technology, Consumer Affairs, and Employment, Education and Training. The Committee would have responsibility for coordination of policy across the relevant sectors, including government use of networks.<HREF>
Influential in these consideration of the BSEG report and probably in the Government's thinking was the Cutler report which stated -
On the domestic front, both private and government-owned enterprises could become critical early adopters of on-line multimedia applications. For examples, we briefly consider here education services, classified advertising and directories, government information, products of cultural significance, and on-line services with potential for audiovisual content (such as electronic catalogues). These are each potentially large segments, which could in aggregate provide a solid domestic business base to local content developers, provided that the content development requirements are effectively contestable.<HREF>
ASTEC recommends that the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology and other relevant Ministers promote and fund the use of global electronic information and communication services in selected programs, including the AusIndustry and BusinessLink initiatives, to three particular ends:<5.2 Creative nation statement The Prime Minister's initial response to these enquires was in his Creative nation statement last year where he said -
- to facilitate better technology diffusion, especially to small and medium-sized enterprises,
- including improved interaction between such enterprises and the research community;
- to broaden industry and commercial access to national and international markets, including
- programs aimed at the export of Australian electronic network resources and services;
- to stimulate Australian industrial research and development in the generation of new electronic network services.
But it is content which is absolutely critical: it is what we put onto the highway that really matters. Australian content development industries already generate domestic revenues in the order of $8.4 billion and we have considerable strengths in areas relevant to the creation of interactive multi-media products. We have a strong and innovative film and television industry, recognised software skills and a long tradition of innovation and entrepreneurial endeavour. However, if we are to create a market for Australian content both at home and abroad, we must make a fundamental conceptual shift to this new form of information packaging and presentation. In response to this, the Government has moved quickly to re-assess traditional policy settings across government.To do this he made a series of announcements establishing multimedia initiatives initially, regrettably, concentrating on CD-ROMs.
To foster these very positive developments, the Government will seed the development of up to six Cooperative Multi-media Centres over the next two years. The Centres will be collaborative enterprises between the education and training sectors and other public and private organisations. The Government will commit up to $56.5 million over nine years to establish the Centres ($20.3 million over the first four years) and provide them with initial funding of up to $2 million per year for seven years.Although it may be that these centres will shift their interest to networked publication as the statement also said-
Access to information for all Australians is an important element of Commonwealth cultural policy. Information is a key resource for all Australians - for full participation in our society, and for our quality of life. The Government will continue to work with the States to ensure that existing information resources and the new networking technologies are widely available. The Government will work with the States to enable the resources in libraries throughout the nation to become available to all. .(.....) Information will be available through the new communication networks.<HREF>
In April the Government followed up with another series of statements which should lead to an expansion of the Australia material available over the network. These announcements includes the creation of a national education network, a community access experiment and new administrative machinery.
For the first time Australia will have a network which will link all schools.TAFEs and universities and other education and training providers across the nation, as well as internationally through a service network and modern technology for interactive communication"<HREF>
Initially this caused a flurry of concern both on the network and in the media that Microsoft had the inside running to provide this service. The department from it's web server has now given further details of how this service will operate and how some basic information on how a tender will be let for the service. They stated -
A number of principles have been set out to guide the process of establishing a national network service. Key principles include the following: The service must offer national coverage. The service must, over time, provide a vehicle for convergence of current networking initiatives, including, for example, Open Net. The service should meets the needs of all sectors, school, vocational education and training (VET), further education and higher education. The service should be fully accessible individuals and institutional users should be able to access the service at affordable rates regardless of location. all mainstream reception infrastructure should be able to access the service.<HREF>
To provide open leaning course material across the network the Government established Opennet
OPEN NET was established late in 1994 with a Federal Government mandate to bring modern electronic infrastructure to open learning. OPEN NET's board is chaired by Brian Johns, leader of the Broadband Services Expert Group, whose recent report is a blueprint for the nation's network future. OPEN NET provides a local call access to the Internet and World Wide Web, supported by a Help Desk and Local Access Points. Educational providers from schools, TAFE, universities and business are bringing their courses on-line.<HREF>
In doing this the Government is setting itself up in opposition to network access providers and is providing course related material which normal educational providers are now able to provide themselves should they wish to do so.
Over the next few months I will be examining options for a National Community Information Network (CIN) which will link a range of community facilities around Australia, including libraries and community organisations, into a public computer network. I will take a submission to Cabinet in August concerning its implementation The network will provide access to information and communication facilities such as e-mail and bulletin boards to people who do not have a computer. As a first step in this process the Government is establishing the Community Information Network (CIN) which will soon be operating in selected sites, to provide public access to these emerging new technologies.<HREF>
This service is now operational and can be inspected at 200 local community access sites or on the network at http://www.cin.gov.au/
To achieve this, we will establish an Ad Hoc Committee of Cabinet, which I will chair, which will consider the development of a national strategy on information and communications networks and services. We will also establish a high level policy body within government, reporting to the Ad Hoc Committee of Cabinet through the Minister for Communications and the Arts. This body will provide advice on broad national policy issues, and also identify matters for discussion by government, industry and the community.<HREF>
develop a consistent approach across the Governments of Australia for the presentation and placement of Government information on public networks such as the AARNet/Internet.They hoped to provide a one stop shop for Government information -
To facilitate access and the organisation of Government information, the CSIWP has developed an official hierarchical information framework which, at its highest level, is based on a Whole-of-Government Entry Point<HREF>
Although they opted for this to be provided by the National Library at www.nla.gov.au, the Office of Government Information and Advertising has also set up the "Official Signpost to the Australian Government ..." at www.ogia.gov.au, competing with the National Library. With greater reliance on flashy graphics this seems to have been more successful at attracting politicians and the Prime Minister has a home page being established there.
The letter of agreement with between the Australia Vice-Chancellors Committee and Telstra stated -
As part of this agreement Telstra will provide Internet Services within Australia as well as provide international links to connect Australia with other Internet networks throughout the world. These services will also be provided to the member universities of the AV-CC, the CSIRO, and will be the largest Internet Service in Australia.<HREF>
Despite the transfer to AARNet the universities are still dominant in the provision of information content on the network in Australia and in the provision of gateways to the more substantial information sources across the world via their campus information systems. Al but one university now offer such services to their own community and freely to others.
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The universities with some Government assistance are also pursing the establishment of useful infrastructure to assist in locating material. For instance DEET has provided funding under the National Priorities Reserve Fund: Library projects to establish "Improved Information Infrastructure - Network Information Support" Under this program 2 (a) will develop projects in the following areas:
establishment of a Network Information Service development and provision of network training programs electronic document delivery electronic copyright<HREF>
Bids are currently being sought for this program which is coordinated from Griffith University.
My own institution, the Australian National University as with others has an
active program of electronic publishing designed to make course material and
research information available to the network
community.
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The Australian Capital Territory Education Information Network (ACTEIN) Program is a collaborative venture between the four Universities within the ACT: The Australian National University, the University of Canberra, the Australian Defence Force Academy and the Australian Catholic University - Signadou Campus. The project evolved from a number developments, though its inception largely came from a mutual interest within the Australian National University, the University of Canberra and the Australian Defence Force Academy in the establishment of a broadly-based ACT network linking public and private organisations in the ACT to each other and into AARNet and the Internet. From these initial discussions evolved the plans for the ACT Education Information Network (ACTEIN) pilot program to provide Internet access to schools in the ACT. The aim of the ACTEIN pilot was to examine in collaboration with members of the ACT teaching community the educational benefits of Internet access and indeed the feasibility of Internet access to the K-12 education environment. The schools were selected from the independent and government sectors and spanned the range from Kindergarten through to year 12.<HREF>
This service is providing opportunities for schools to share and publish educational material, access educational material throughout the world, and participate with many schools in Europe and US in the Global Schoolhouse projects communication between schools with email and video conferencing,
The Commonwealth Government and the States and Territories have agreed on a major initiative, the establishment of a comprehensive education network service, Education Network Australia (EdNA), which will deliver educational services and products across the nation and contain the costs of accessing interactive information networks. .... At a meeting of the Ministerial Council on Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs(MCEETYA) held on 26 May 1995, Ministers agreed to a broad framework for the establishment of a national education network. In particular, Ministers agreed that such a network must offer Australia wide coverage, avoiding discrimination on the basis of geographical location, and must be subject to an appropriate governance structureThe document spells out details of governance and mechanisms for joint purchasing, consultation and policy.
Certain key principles were put forward which include the following:
The service must offer national coverage. The service must, over time, provide a vehicle for convergence of current networking initiatives, including, for example, Open Net. The service should meets the needs of all sectors, school, vocational education and training (VET), further education and higher education. The service should be fully accessible individuals and institutional users should be able to access the service at affordable rates regardless of location. all mainstream reception infrastructure should be able to access the service.<HREF>
The Department expects that the process of developing the definition of a network business requirement will be completed by September and the process of tendering for network services would be completed by the end of the year. This seems a very ambitious timetable. The governing body of EdNA will be based on the Open Learning Technology Corporation (OLTC). OLTC is a company owned by Commonwealth, State and Territory Ministers for Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs.
The Government clearly intends that within the framework of EdNA a considerable amount of educational material will be made available and have committed themselves to the provision of a range of directory services. The degree to which this material will be available to the general community and at what cost is not yet clear.
It is likely that the provision of commercial services will pick up rapidly now that major credit card firms and financial institutions are addressing secure funds transfer. It is too early to say whether some of the more extreme projections for network based commerce will be realised.
What is certainly occurring is that many firms, including most major firms , are establishing a presence on the web to advertise their products even if not involved in direct sales. Of the latter, most seem to be either selling information services requiring password access to tap into the material they provide, or businesses which can operate well via mail orders. It may also be that this is a medium where very specialised firms with narrow markets can achieve a much wider exposure that hitherto.
Directories of commercial services are in their infancy. This might well be a useful project for the Internet Industry Association of Australia, one of the sponsors of this conference to consider. To locate such activities in Australia is possible by consulting the services which list web servers such as -