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Publishing takes a long time in economics. Consequently, many authors release “working” versions of their papers. Using data on the NBER working paper series, we show that the dissemination of economics research suffers from an overcrowding problem: An increase in the number of weekly released working papers on average reduces downloads, abstract views, and media attention for each paper. Subsequent publishing and citation outcomes are harmed as well. Furthermore, descriptive evidence on viewership and downloads suggests working papers significantly substitute for the dissemination function of publication. These results highlight inefficiencies in the dissemination of economic research even among the most exclusive working paper series and suggest large social losses due to the slow publication process.

his past year my sophomore English classes had begun inching down the on-ramp to the Information Superhighway. For nearly half a year one class had exchanged email with a class in Placerville, California, and the other class with one in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Every few weeks, they enjoyed reading the three-inch-long slips of computer paper filled with tidbits of life from America's rural landscape. While the stories of boredom and freez

Introduction Many organizations provide Information and Referral (IR Childers, 1984; Durrance and Pettigrew, 2000). There is limited research that focuses specifically on the provision of web-enabled IR Van Camp, 1990). One document that takes a larger view of the issue is the AIRS position paper on the role of I&R in the national information infrastructure. The report found that "political and legislative decision makers are largely unaware of the role we [I&R professionals] play in the information arena and continue to draft proposals that duplicate our efforts and assign to others responsibilities that we are better equipped to handle" (AIRS, 2001b). The report takes the position that the professional I&R providers represented by AIRS should play a key role in determining how I&R services are provided on the information superhighway and identifies a number of issues that should be addressed. The position of I&R providers regarding web-enabled I&R services can be summed up by this statement from the AIRS' Standards for Professional Information and Referral manual: "Under no circumstances shall technology reduce or replace supported access through a qualified I&R specialist. The main role of technology is to enhance or strengthen person-to-person contact, not to reduce or eliminate such contact or to make it more difficult" (AIRS, 2000, p. …

Publisher Summary This chapter provides an overview of Internet as the foundation of the information superhighway and e-commerce. The backbone of the information superhighway and e-commerce is the Internet. The Internet is a collection of millions of computers and network systems of all sizes. One can simply refer to the Internet as the “network of networks”. Navigational tools allow the user to surf the Web, and search engines provide access to various resources available on the Web, such as library searches for writing a term paper or making a reservation for an airline ticket. Directories use indexes of information based on keywords in the document. The lack of bandwidth or network capacity may soon become an issue with increasing number of users, high volume e-commerce activities, and large files such as multimedia applications. New multimedia capabilities such as transmitting live video consume extensive Internet resources. The chapter also provides a brief history of the Internet, reviews various access options such as domain name systems, navigational tools, directories, and search engines. The chapter concludes with an outlook for the future development of the Internet, a discussion of Internet 2, and highlights Netscape Corporation as the industry connection.

Since the early 1990s the arrival of an Information Superhighway has gripped the imaginations of the citizens, politicians and industrialists of Europe. But the concept of a ‘wired society’ is not new: similar prophecies were voiced in the 1970s and early 1980s before the failures of the French Minitel and British Prestel experiments due to the lack of consumer demand for the pre-digital analogue coaxial versions of the superhighway (Dutton 1995). Compression and digitisation promise to open the way for the merging of telephony, televison and computers with the bandwidth capacity to support full real-time multi-media applications (voice, text and video) on an Integrated Broadband Network (IBN). The digitisation of voice, image and data has undermined the discrete regulatory regimes that have governed the European telecommunications and television industries. We are witnessing a global rush to position nations, regions and industrial interests at the forefront of the next great consumer revolution.

In 1995 the Audit Commission urged the NHS to revise its information systems, changing their goal from managing financial data to improving clinical information.1 In his foreword to the white paper Tony Blair promises “a new NHS information superhighway that links GP surgeries to any specialist centre in the country,” and we are invited to judge progress towards the new NHS by the efficiency of this highway and the NHS direct information service for the public. Suddenly, improved clinical information is central to modernising the NHS, facilitating integrated care, and ensuring that NHS organisations focus on quality and clinical accountability, or “governance.” The 1 shows the new information services and flows underlying the new NHS, the main innovations being the following. Proposed additional clinical information flows in the new NHS NHS Direct patient information service —This help line should ensure a more informed public—a key feature of 21st century health care2 —by providing “immediate, convenient access to advice and information.” Free …

Purpose: The aim of the paper was to present the research methods used in scientific research projects led by M. Popławski, PhD entitled "Modeling of socio-economic security in Polish regions" (Project No: 119/WZA/72/DzS financed in 2019 by the Ministry of National Defense), "Multifactorial model of socio-economic security" (Project No: 108/WZA/61/DzS financed in 2018 from the statutory funds the Gen. T. Kościuszko Military Academy of Land Forces and partly by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education) as well as "Multifactorial system for managing the economic security of Lower Silesia" (Project No: 69/WZA/45/DzS financed in 2016-2017 from statutory funds of the Gen. T. Kościuszko Military Academy of Land Forces) in the part concerning research on the information infrastructure of a military university library. Design/Methodology/Approach: In the introduction to this paper, the justification for the need to undertake research in relation to the research problem posed was presented, and then the research methodology used in the above-mentioned projects was presented in the following order: goal, research hypotheses, scope and sources of work. The last part of the paper presents the research methods in detail together with the justification for their application. The paper ends with summary, where it is indicated how the selected research methods allowed to solve the research problem, and thus to achieve the aim of the work and verify the hypotheses. Findings: The research problem was solved in the conducted scientific process, which referred to its material scope – the library of military universities, the subject – the management and management system, and space-time – data from domestic and foreign military university libraries from the past. The use of selected research methods allowed for the achievement of the research goal and confirmation of research hypotheses, which were verified through the obtained results of comparative and index analysis carried out in the analyzed libraries of selected military universities. Practical Implications: The comparative analysis made it possible to indicate which specific elements of the information infrastructure have the most important impact on the functionality of a given library. Originality/value: As a result of the research undertaken, using the methods presented in the paper, on the one hand – in the cognitive sense, contributed to the enrichment of knowledge in the discipline of management and quality sciences, on the other – in the normative sense, the issues of key information resources for the library of a military university were identified, and on the other hand, the third – in the axiological sense, a useful tool was created in the form of the resulting diagram, which can be used to improve the management of information infrastructure., peer-reviewed

Faster developments in handheld devices, internet connectivity and easy and fast access to information has always been helpful to human being all over globe. These developments in technology had opened gates for everyone to enter this information superhighway, however this information superhighway must not have a data which is private to someone, especially the data in hospitals run by government where thousands of patients visit every day. Hospitals have information such as medical prescription and reports such as pathology, x-ray, electrocardiogram, blood sugar, blood pressure, vision correction to name the few. This information needs to be secured and only the intended recipient should get the report, To solve this issue this paper proposes a secure health center management application where the authenticated user will only have access to the information and communication between the entities will be secured by AES and DES algorithm. In this paper an attempt is made to secure communication between entities along with encrypting medical information. Implementation of the proposed system shows that it protects the privacy of individual and for encryption and decryption of medical reports AES shows better performance over DES.

The IT revolution brings with it a series of challenges that societies are ill prepared to face. While surprisingly large numbers of people unthinkingly renounce such of their privacy as remains for trifles, the idealistic hopes of early pioneers and freedom-loving ‘netizens’ remain largely unfulfilled. Benign notions such as 'cyber democracy' and the ‘information superhighway’ have all but disappeared. In place of these optimistic hopes and projections there's a growing sense of uncertainty, disillusion and, in some cases, fear. Those driving various components of the IT revolution claim new benefits and highlight examples of successful implementation - email, tablets, health innovations and so on. Yet, despite these obvious successes, it's hard to avoid the fact that many IT practices are powerfully disposed in favour of the interests of corporations, innovators and entrepreneurs. This enquiry takes the form of three separate but interrelated papers and has two main purposes. The first paper seeks to account for the underlying polarity between the promoters of high-tech 'solutions' and those who view the world differently. Drawing on a sample of literature including informed journalism it begins by outlining key assumptions (including that technology is 'not merely stuff” and 'new technologies are ambiguous'). It then outlines aspects of the territory through a critical review several key works. Some general conclusions provide starting points for the second and third articles.

Since the invention of the Internet in 1962 when J. C. R Licklider of MIT presented the first recorded description of the social interactions that could be enabled through networking in his Galactic Network concept, what has come to be known as social media has gained a lot of prominence and momentum in the dissemination of information. Prior to the dawn of the Internet age other communication tools like the telegraph, telephone, radio, and computer had served as precursors. A tool of immeasurable capabilities, the Internet is also a medium for collaboration and interaction between individuals and their computers without regard for geographic location. Other social media tools that have boarded this 20th Century information superhighway wagon include Yahoo co-founded by Jerry Yang and David Filo in 1994, Facebook co-founded mainly by Mark Zuckerbeg in 2004, Twitter by Jack Dorsey in 2006, WhatsApp by Jan Koum and Brian Acton in 2009 and Instagram by Kevin Systrom in 2010. Our focus in this paper is on the use of WhatsApp as a social media tool. Adjudged one of the fastest and easiest to use, people of all walks of life have taken full advantage of it. Our aim in this paper is to examine how it has impacted on the use of English and French by Anglophones and Francophones in Nigeria and Cameroon so far as neologisms and abbreviations are concerned. Our approach which is comparative in nature has as its principal tenet the implications for translation to and from the two languages involved in this study.

In the era of big data, the speed of information dissemination is accelerating and the amount of data is increasing. People in all corners of the world can quickly share information through the network, and the computer network has become an information superhighway for various applications. However, science and technology is a double-edged sword. Computer networks are facing security problems such as hacker attacks, virus intrusion and information leakage. In order to provide users with a safe network environment, this paper analyzes the security problems and security protection strategies of computer networks, and takes the network construction of colleges and universities as an example, puts forward the design of the network security system of colleges and universities.

Keynote AddressCALICO 1994 Annual SymposiumFlagstaff, Arizona, 16 March 1994 Much has been written about the "information superhighway' of late, but few of us have more than a superficial sense of what it is all about. This paper attempts to present the information superhighway — more properly, the "National Information Infrastructure' — as a graspable whole, beginning with its improved human factors (ease of use, or ergonomics), increases in the extent of its offerings and number of users, and its advancing technology that is growing ever faster, better, and cheaper. The information superhighway is described as having four principal functions: information, communication, services, and entertainment. Finally, this paper suggests some of the challenges that the information superhighway presents to the foreign language teaching profession.

Digital environment that is represented to intern et is displacing business way of industry and business achievement way with the fast speed being giving great change on life whole, improve existence business process utilizing internet and Web connection technology, information superhighway to tradition industrialist manufacture and etransformation's propulsion that wish to maximize productivity and administration efficiency is spread vigorously. In this paper, we wish to accomplish generation equipment's heighten stability and believability through remote monitoring and control of PV system. This paper describes the design of the monitoring system for sensing the monitoring data and indirect controlling of the PV system. Most of the conventional monitoring system depend on the special hardware and software. Basic design goal of monitoring system is to provide the convenience for the user and the portability for the system. In order for the system to fulfill its requirements, it was designed using Labview GUI facility based on the Windows 2000 environment of IBM PC compatible and Addon card based on the TCP/IP protocol. Advantage of the monitoring system are a personnel expenses curtailment effect, free of the place restriction and unmanned system of the generation plants, etc .

The leapfrogging developments in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) are rapidly connecting the world into a smaller, 'global village' scenario. The rewards of connectivity, are however, deeply marred by the multifarious threats impinging on the information infrastructure. It is reckoned that the Morris Worm (also known as the Internet Worm) in 1988, initially exposed the vulnerability of Internet, and ushered a new era in information security. Since then, the nature of threat has only progressed to more lethal and sophisticated levels. This has been clearly manifested by the recent Code Red, Sircam and Nimda worms. This paper, while attempting to evaluate these emerging patterns, emphasizes upon the dire need for enhanced information security mechanisms and practices. In the aftermath of 9-11, the US envisages similar attacks on its homeland, which includes cyber-attacks carried out by terrorist outfits on America's information assets. Reflecting on the cyber capabilities of contemporary terrorist groups, especially Al Qaeda, the paper also draws attention to the increasingly blurring lines between the state and non-state actors plying on the slippery lanes of the information superhighway.

Globalization has opened up more markets to manufacturers and generated exceeding pressure on them to provide high-quality products fast, economically, and with high level of adaptability. This pressure is more of an encumbrance to small manufacturing enterprises (SMEs). The paper explores a virtual manufacturing strategy that SMEs could adopt to maintain and gain competitiveness. Also, the paper traces technological advances in manufacturing from the cottage industry to the present day information superhighway and how it might impact the future of manufacturing. How these advances impact SMEs is explored. A possible infrastructure for integrating IT/IS and manufacturing strategies is presented.

From the early days of the Internet, metaphors have been important in shaping how we think about it. The “Information Superhighway”; the “Web”; the “cloud”; “Tubes”, “Cyberspace”, among others. Such appellations may seem trivial, even jokey, but metaphors actually can pow-erfully influence how we think about something. Metaphors imply regulatory policies. If we say the Internet is like the electrical grid, that’s one thing; if we say it’s like a public bazaar that may have very different results in the way we think about its regulation. A currently popular, perhaps even dominant, metaphor is that of the “ecosystem”, appearing var-iously as the ICT ecosystem, the Internet ecosystem and the broadband ecosystem. They all convey the image of things that are interconnected and interdependent. The embrace a world where multiple formerly independent industrial sectors are overlapping, at least at the margins, creating new “platforms” of good and services to be provided to consumers. What are often un-der-recognized are the long-term implications of adopting this metaphor. It is now 18 years since the passage of the ’96 Telecommunications Act. It was a step in the long process of competition and consolidation, but hardly an endpoint. The “Internet” is mentioned only in two areas (e-rate and child protection). It could be argued its drafters were shortsighted, but it would have required a bold imagination to foresee how things have evolved since then. So what sort of policy/regulatory regime will be appropriate for 18 years into the future, 2032? Or even for 2025? We need to be prepared for substantial – but foreseeable – major changes. The paper will build on the “broadband ecosystem” metaphor, looking forward to a time when the “Intercloud” and inter-cloud networks step into the dominant role; when there is no need to “log in” as the network increasingly becomes the environment in which we move; in which the dominant part of the broadband network is not the public Internet but private and public clouds; and in which artificial intelligence and big data combine to create an overall shared data envi-ronment for which we do not yet even have a common name. Noting that the broadband network is much more than just the “Internet”, the paper will identify the key, forward looking policy issues: ecosystem/platforms vs. terminating access; scope of the broadband ecosystem; focus on innovation or competition; social interventions; and jurisdictional basis, scope and locus of regulatory authority. It will then review three primary forward-looking policy models (the platform model, the protocol layers model, and the policy space model) and evaluate how well they address these policy issues and lay the groundwork for the information environment of the future.

The Internet we know today is both content filtered and packet shaped. Subsequently, it is not the free operating zone of meta-space early proponents expected. Contrary to conventional wisdom, a multitude of actors have shown an increased willingness to intervene and control communication via the Internet with precision and effectiveness. This paper employs the Copenhagen School’s conceptualisation of securitisation at the macro level to address the issue of global Internet filtering from a “network” position between traditional “national” security and critical “individual” security. It looks at the ways in which intervention into the Internet’s infrastructure is leveraged for governance through various research programs such as Ronald Deibert’s Open Net Initiative, which probes all aspects of a national information infrastructure over the long term, concluding that the scope, scale, and sophistication of global Internet filtering are increasing in non-transparent fashions. It should come as no surprise that since its dissemination, authoritarian regimes such as China, Iran and, Saudi Arabia have actively engaged in Internet filtering practices. What is troublesome is that advanced industrialised countries including Canada, Germany, and the United States have also followed suit. Reasons for doing so include: the securitisation of information communication after 9/11, to restricting access to material involving the sexual exploitation of children as well as ‘extremist’ websites. Considering these securitising moves, this paper argues that the more that filtering practices are withheld from public scrutiny and accountability, the more temping it is for framing authorities to employ these tools for illegitimate reasons such as the stifling of both opposition and civil society networks. Furthermore, due to increased connectivity, transparent Internet requires desecuritisation of social agents and international security structures in order to ensure more free information.

Leading industrialized nations are now involved in the full implementation of national information superhighways. Their efforts will depend largely on the roles and levels of involvement of public institutions and how this is perceived and reacted to by the private sector. Through the evolution of eight scenarios of public institution involvement, this paper extrapolates the consequences that each brings about in the development of a national information superhighway. In particular, this paper examines the consequences of the development of an information superhighway for the UK within the context of each scenario and draws comparisons with developments in other countries. Contrary to popular belief, we show that there is no full solution for the shortcomings experienced in the development of the UK’s information superhighway; rather, each scenario offers solutions for a subset of the shortcomings.

Print news, a traditionally change-resistant profession, surprisingly has embraced the coming of the internet and the world wide web. But as newspapers race into electronic publishing in record numbers (2,297 online worldwide at the latest 1997 Editor & Publisher count), they seem to be forgetting the most important thing: their readers. Perhaps motivated by dreams of profit, or perhaps by a fear of getting left behind, many newspapers are entering the information superhighway without knowing exactly where they're going. Pegie Stark Adam of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies noted in a 1995 conference on interactive media that newspapers are rushing "to dump anything they can online, as fast as they cart, with little customization." Even industry executives admit this is the case. Mercury Center managing editor Bruce Koon told attendees at the same conference that writing for an online newspaper "is like a revolutionary war. You go into action not when you are ready, but when the opportunity presents itself." The result, according to media futurist Roger Fidler, quoted in a 1995 Editor & Publisher story: "Online publications are still uncompelling, frustrating and time-consuming to use." Although good things can come out of the profession's open-mindedness and willingness to experiment, things seem to be moving too fast. Currently, "so much experimentation is going on so fast you can see the changes daily." Indeed, the industry would do well to keep its enthusiasm for electronic publishing but back away from this haphazard, trial-and-error approach - which has included everything from a love-letter service offered by the Raleigh News and Observer's Nando.net to a virtual museum exhibit of Russian history offered by the St. Petersburg Times - and instead try to find out what really works. Among the many questions that need to be addressed is how to best make use of the hyperlinked environment, or the ability to build stories in layers of information so related material or additional details are just a click away. According to a 1995 speech by Nora Paul of the Poynter Institute, "Too many electronic news products are simply shovelware - scooping up the old flat text used in the ink-on-paper product and throwing it on the screen." Hypertext, however, gives us the opportunity to "rethink reporting as a layering of news" - the opportunity to create content with depth by providing links to other relevant documents. This study addresses how to best present stories in such layers and links to make them of maximum usefulness and appeal to readers. Specifically, it attempts to determine the amount of information most desirable in the top layer of any story and the best way to incorporate links from a story to sidebars or other related material. Literature review Until the last three years, most studies related to electronic publishing primarily were concerned with whether computer presentation of news may be inferior to traditional newspaper presentation in terms of readers' processing of information. However, the studies showed there were no differences in reading speed, comprehension or recall of facts between news stories presented on paper and the same stories presented on a computer screen. Researchers also found that recall for computer screen presentation did not differ significantly from that of newspaper presentation. Other studies have examined audience reaction to information on paper vs. screen vs. multimedia (text on screen with a sound bite); user perceptions of teletext; college students' satisfaction with electronic newspapers and preferences for electronic newspapers vs. traditional newspapers; effects of time spent on the internet upon time spent with traditional media; and editors' responses to questions regarding startup costs, revenue strategies, staffing, content and number of subscribers to online newspapers. None of these studies, however, directly addresses presentation in layers and links. …

I have always been fond of the comparison between social change agents and traditional farmers. That is, while farmers plant seeds and nurture crops to sustain the masses, leading thinkers cultivate ideas that help to enrich and advance us as a species. This brings to mind an amusing quip from one of my high school teachers many years ago: that a farmer is a person “out standing in their field.” With that as background, this article illustrates that Dr. Mark Griffiths, likely well known to most who consult this and peer-reviewed journals, is a contributor who is similarly “outstanding in his field.” By anyone’s criteria, he has “planted” far more than his fair share of ideas that will benefit many people for years to come. During the later half of the 1990s, a time when I was working on my doctoral thesis, there was very little published regarding the role of the Internet within the fields of mental health and addictions. In particular, the problem gambling arena, an area where I was hoping to explore Internet-based peer-support as an emerging trend, was especially plagued by a paucity of any published accounts in peer-review journals. This is not too surprising given that the Internet was still a very new phenomenon back then. At the time, I was working on a paper and cited NUA data regarding the number of people who were connecting to the Internet on a regular basis (early 1999). NUA estimated these numbers to be 159million worldwide and roughly 88million North Americans (NUA as cited in Cooper 2001). The NUA group appears to have stopped counting as of 2003, however, their estimates for that year still far surpassed the 1999 numbers: 600 million worldwide and 165 million in North America (NUA 2003a, b). Today, high volume traffic on the Internet (remember the term “information superhighway”?) is taken for granted; just a decade ago, however, it was quite a novelty. The Internet’s infancy is even more noteworthy because Griffiths was among the research pioneers, publishing papers on related themes during this period. For example, he was writing about “Internet Addiction” (Griffiths 1996a) and “Internet Gambling” (Griffiths 1996b; Int J Ment Health Addiction (2007) 5:103–105 DOI 10.1007/s11469-007-9059-7

Several years ago, I wrote a paper on some of the general problems for humanists associated with the use of technology in teaching and scholarship. The paper contained a fantasy about a next-century scholar who was able to write a major multimedia monograph on that great literary artist, Jacqueline Susann. I will not subject those of you who escaped that paper to a complete rendition of the fantasy. Through hyperbole it attempted to establish that scholars of the future will have access to amounts and kinds of information of which we can only dream, and that such access will make possible a kind of scholarship and teaching that is quite difficult, if not impossible, to accomplish at present. The title of this paper derives from that other essay, which imagined what sort of work might be done on Susann in the future and how such works of literary genius might be assessed by a technologized, poststructural critique of the genre of popular fiction that she helped to initiate. The title of the resulting imagined monograph was Valley of the Trash: Jacqueline Susann and the Semiotics of Mediocrity in Late Twentieth-Century American Literature. I thought myself rather clever for using an example combining both the power of emerging technologies and important trends in humanistic scholarship and teaching. My intention was only partially satirical, for it seemed to me then-as now-that scholarship in the humanities has significantly broadened and deepened in both method and sources and that this expansion of the ambit of scholarly work is remarkably well-suited to the power the new technologies offer. Name your discipline-social history, literary criticism, art history, philosophy, area studies of any kind-and I think you will agree that what scholars are now doing matches beautifully the capacities of electronic technology to locate information, access it, and analyze it. The paper was actually quite prescient, if I do say so myself, since it predicted that technologies we now associate with the World Wide Web would soon make images, sound, and full-motion video available to anyone with a desktop computer of reasonable power. Three years later that technology is exploding, and we are only at the beginning! So I can feel quite smug and proud of myself. However, I have also come to recognize that my naivete about the economic context of technological change was much more impressive than my prediction of universal access to the diaries and library check-out cards of Jacqueline Susann. I understood then that technology is not free. In that paper and in a series of essays on similar subjects I emphasized that the financial resources required both to put such technology on the professorial desktop and to create the electronic information to which it would provide access were not trivial. I worried aloud a good deal about where the dollars would be found. Now, with the National Endowment for the Humanities on the block and public support for higher education dwindling, I am a good deal more concerned. Technologist friends had assured me that there was nothing to worry about, that everything would soon be so cheap that we would be foolish to be concerned about a phenomenon-the high cost of technology and electronic information-that was likely to be transitory in any case. While I did not accept this argument entirely, it did seem to me that the history of technology indicated that consumer technologies tend to decline in price until they are either replaced or disappear.

Not too long ago, transacting business involved nothing more than paper, pen and face-to-face contact. Whether you were building a house or publishing a book, the dealings relied on physical space: a meeting, a written contract, a finalizing handshake. But even then, when intentions could be expressed clearly by all parties, countless legal problems arose. With the arrival of telephones, televisions, telexes and fax machines, the landscape of business liability changed considerably, and legislators and the courts struggled to keep the law apace with technology. But none of these legal developments of the past could have prepared us for the transformations in business law that are happening right now — with the recent predominance of computers in the marketplace. What promises to be the most exciting, and most complex, area of future legal development is that of ‘cyberspace’, a term that encapsulates numerous terms-of-art: the ‘Information Superhighway’, the Internet, and the World Wide Web, among others. The law in Cyberspace poses many challenges precisely because of the radical departure, in cyberspace, of most of our preconceived notions about business transactions. Cyberspace allows its users to obliterate, and declare obsolete, physical space and time: business dealings can occur across the globe in an instant, without paper, pen, or face-toface contact. But this remarkable technology does not come without risks: like any new business terrain, cyberspace can be a legal minefield for the unprepared. What follows is a discussion of the various liability issues involved in contracting for online products and services, with an emphasis on practical suggestions to reduce exposure by anticipating trouble spots.

Discussion about the information superhighway and the global information infrastructure has now spread to many countries and governments are active in formulating responses to these technological challenges. Australia is no different and there have been numerous official reports on the matter over the past year. This paper aims to provide a commentary on why the adoption by governments of a concept such as the information super-highway can be made so relatively easily and uncritically. It is argued that the dynamics of international modelling plays an important role. First, states are involved in international competition underpinned by technological change. Second, modelling theories suggest that bureaucrats will act “rationally” by following leader countries. Finally, it is argued that during the 1980s the political myth of Silicon Valley promoted a boom in high technology development — including technology parks. There seems to be a similarity in process between this recent period of technological development and the information superhighway debates. This paper puts forward these explanations as reasons contributing to the popularity of the information superhigh-way concept.

The dramatic growth of World Wide Web (WWW) indicates that graphical and multimedia protocols on the Internet are gaining popular, wide-ranging acceptance. Such protocols are becoming the bases of new devices such as network computers (NCs) and information appliances, devices that are likely to widen the reach of the information superhighway. This paper discusses the equipment, software, and infrastructure factors that affect the possibility and quality of users' access to WWW. Based on an understanding of these factors, it is possible to develop categories of access ranging from threshold access to premium access. The paper offers a conceptual framework for understanding the technological aspects of access to the information superhighway and concludes with a discussion of the role of technological developments in affecting access.

This special section is dedicated to five papers which were presented in the Fall of 1995 on the Internet in two research forums: ITFORUM1 and PSYGAME2. These papers represent how research involving information and instructional technologies can be facilitated using the Internet. A number of related themes are involved, including interactivity and learning effectiveness, automatic collection of data on human-computer interactions, and rights and responsibilities with regard to Internet-related materials. These papers are collected and presented here along with excerpts and extracts from the Internet discussions which they prompted, so as to provide a concrete representation of how the Internet is supporting and serving its many academic and research users. An attempt has been made to retain the less formal character of Internet discussions while illustrating how serious and fruitful exchanges can develop in such an environment. These discussions happen to fit well within the scope of this journal, and they occurred at a time when censorship of the Internet was a much discussed topic in many countries. Our thanks to the moderators and maintainers of these and the many other meaningful Internet discussion groups.

This paper is concerned with the social and cultural implications of converging technologies. It offers answers to questions about the implications for our quality of life, social justice and for politics in the context of post-modernity. Drawing together arguments from key commentators and critics from within and beyond cyberspace it identifies possibilities and potential dangers. The purpose of the paper is to assist educators to move beyond current instrumental perspectives.

The increasing use of computers as information storage devices is leading more and more publishers, data and information providers to use electronic interactive information systems (IIS) as the delivery medium for their information. These new technologies are being used in place of conventional sources such as paper and books. Further developments in the information field, such as the availability of information through telecommunications technologies and the information superhighway, are destined to increase the application and use of IIS as standard information services. Electronic and interactive information systems differ considerably from their conventional counterparts. There are many new and unique features with which the naive IIS user must contend. This paper reports on research conducted among naive users of IIS which has found significant limitations in the ways in which these users are able to access and retrieve information from electronic sources. Despite skills and knowledge in use of conventional information sources, and guided instruction, naive users of IIS were found to experience many difficulties when interacting with IIS. This paper discusses some of the problems facing naive users and suggests the need for teaching and learning within schools to address specifically information retrieval and access from electronic systems. The paper indicates key content areas that need to be considered and covered.

The paper is a transcribed and edited version of Patrick Tierney's keynote address to Information Online & On Disc 95, on 31 January 1995. The paper considers both popular and serious forecasts of our contemporary world, made in the early 1950s. These predictions sensed the impact that technology would have, but were wrong in almost all aspects of detail. Reasons for not being right about the details are fourfold: forecasting the pace of change is hard; feasible technologies may be too expensive; social conservatism may slow acceptance of viable technologies; and key enabling technologies may speed the pace of change.The author uses these reasons to predict slower development of the information superhighway and the Internet than popular hype would suggest. In his view traditional online services will still be in place in the year 2000, but with better user interfaces, better connectivity between interfaces, and client-server technology will be universal. Pricing levels will drop slightly and will be based...

Hypermedia provides a formidable tool for the study of drama: the possibility of merging different media in a single document and of expressing knowledge in a non sequential manner are particularly suited to the research needs of this field. This paper discusses an electronic edition of El burlador de Sevilla , which uses state of the art hypermedia technology to construct a research environment around the play. The unanswered questions and controversies surrounding this comedia —authorship, relationship with Tan largo me lo fiais —as well as its foundational role in the development of the myth of Don Juan make El burlador an ideal comedia to test the potential of this new technology. The paper describes the building blocks of this hypermedia environment, reports on the design decisions which are driven by the need to meet the requirements of the drama scholar, and discusses the implications and benefits that the use of such a system has for us as scholars.

The paper identifies copyright implications of convergence in India, examining especially how Indian law is approaching convergence of telecommunication, broadcasting and information technology issues. The delicate balance of rights and obligations of intermediaries of Internet such as copyright owners, domain name holders, consumers, netizens and internet service providers can be upset when trying to keep the legal developments abreast with the technological advances. As more and more digital products in network environment are emerging efficient management and controlled distribution of such products have become one of the important considerations, in an unprecedented way. The copyright owners are under a constant threat of loosing control over their products on the information superhighway and are experimenting various technological adjuncts to retain control. Differences in rules are beginning to be questioned. Now legal regulation is a great challenge before the world because the way legal and regulatory reforms are carried out will eventually determine the manner in which convergence affects our lives. The converging technologies raise several core issues such as telecom sector is concerned with infrastructure regulation and access issues; broadcasting industry is more worried with access and content issues; information technology is trying to deal with contribute with new regulatory issues of framing, hyper linking, deep-linking, inlining, fixation, communication, publication, parallel imports, rights management information, allocation of frequency spectrum, fair dealing, implied license, liability of Internet Service Providers (ISP), and jurisdiction etc.This paper in particular questions the regulatory framework for the telecommunications, broadcasting and information technology sectors in a convergence environment, and taking in to account relevance and need to safeguard the public interest.

The disparities in access to and use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) comprise a divide between those who can and cannot reap the benefits of the information superhighway. Electronic commerce appears to enable this divide to be overcome. This paper provides insight into the ways in which development is brought about through ICTs. Following an analysis of the key factors effecting development through e-commerce, the contribution of this paper is in a framework that describes the relationship between the tools and benefits of e-commerce and its effect on development

Early evidence of economic and social change related to the diffusion of a number of information and communication technologies (ICTs) suggests that public sector actors face significant opportunities, as well as some unexpected barriers while "paving the information highway". These technologies have generated significant changes in the nature, and operation of communication and delivery of services by the private sector increasing the impetus to accelerate adoption of these technologies in the public sector. While the advantages of accessing these services is well accepted, the benefits of the use of these technologies has been observed to occur in a distressingly uneven or patchy manner. This variation, which for the sake of simplicity has been described by extending the information superhighway metaphor as "gaps" or "divides" in the development of the "highway". This paper suggests that a disservice is done in reducing the apparent inequities in the diffusion of the technologies to a simple socioeconomic concern. Rather than a one-dimensional "digital divide," more accurately there is a policy problem related to the use and deployments of ICTs with multiple geographic, social, economic and organizational components. Further, ICTs present policymakers with an array of complex issues that extend beyond purely internal technological concerns. Rather than answering the question of how should public sector functions respond to the changes made possible by diffusion of ICTs, a more critical step seems to be to accurately gauge the nature of the issue rather than jump in and lay "digital pavement". This paper explores ramifications of the deployment of these technologies and suggests dimensions of the problem that merit further assessment.

Privacy management online requires both social and technological skills/behaviors.More than a third of young adults in the sample reported privacy turbulence online.Emotional repercussions were more common than tangible fallouts (e.g., job loss).Those with higher Internet skills are less likely to experience online turbulence.Turbulence online may be more attributable to others' behaviors than one's own. Managing our personal information is becoming increasingly complex as people share more and more about themselves and others online. Beyond the ordinary challenges people face in disclosing information in face-to-face settings, the Internet presents additional demands users must take into account related to the size and diversity of their audience as well as the longevity and accessibility of their communication. Using survey data from a diverse group of young adults, this paper explores turbulence online, that is, the breakdown of privacy expectations that result in information spreading beyond a user's desired audience. More than a third of these young adults reported at least one turbulent encounter online ranging in tangible consequences like ending a friendship or trouble at work or school to emotional trouble like feelings of embarrassment or betrayal. Results suggest that successful privacy management online requires a combination of social and technological skills and behaviors. Findings also bring to light new questions on self- versus other-generated turbulence and broader implications for researchers, designers, and users.

With the advent of multimedia technology and the information superhighway, storage and transmission of digital video is no longer a difficult job, different sports events directly led to the explosive growth of sports video data and therefore efficient sports video analysis is necessary. This paper studies basketball video analysis of key technologies, including shot segmentation, rough classification and scoreboard camera detection and location.

Abstract Environmental safety and health (ES&H) compliance is strongly regulated by the Government. Most companies that have to deal with these regulations are forced to grapple with volumes of Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) documentation and in some cases, the International Organization for Standards (ISO) if they sell their products abroad. This includes understanding the regulations as well as having to refer to various parts, sometimes on a daily basis. Being compliant with these regulations is further complicated by numerous reports, many of which overlap and are due to the Government at different times during the year. The problem is that ES&H professionals and managers spend an inordinate amount of time digging through regulations and filing reports rather than focusing on the ES&H job. By automating this process, the ES&H professional can spend more time out in the field implementing ES&H programs and less time ensuring compliance documentation is filed on time and wasting time manually digging through regulations. Examples include, having Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) available on computer at sites requiring employee review, managing the document flow through the review process using computers, integrating engineering drawings and other documents using computers, and managing and tracking all of the training requirements using computers required for OSHA EPA and ISO compliance. This paper addresses computer technology in solving ES&H-related issues. State-of-the-art hardware architectures including client-server and Computer Output to Laser Disk (COLD) are presented. Solutions are presented for various systems sizes. Introduction This paper covers many aspects regarding today's information superhighway. Initially, for those who may not be as computer literate, a discussion on choosing a personal or portable computer is presented. This includes an assessment of today's technology and where the technology appears to be going. This followed by a discussion of the Internet and current uses and warnings. The last section presents a discussion of technologies that assist safety professionals in managing the paper chase. Choosing the Right PC-The On-Ramp to the Superhighway I have observed the information highway go from the Model A to the Lambourghini. That is, I have seen the personal computer go from a huge two-person lift to a wafer-thin subnotebook that actually fits into a briefcase with room to store things other than computer parts. While I have finally gotten on the Information Superhighway On-Ramp. as I now have a portable computer at my current job (courtesy of my company), I am a far cry from the super-fast, triple-twist non-interlaced Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) "Lambourghini" subnotebooks that are being used today. I have researched portable/personal computers and their attributes and have made several conclusions. What you will find in this section is an attempt to provide a methodology for selecting a portable/personal computer depending on individual needs and a brief look into the future of computers in the workplace. Getting Started In choosing a portable/personal computer today, you must play a game of give and take in the area of attributes and functionality. The more options you pick the better and faster for desktops and the bigger and heavier the portable computer gets. Some of the attributes include weight, keyboard size, screen, pointing device, processor, memory, hard drive, speed, expandability, disk drives, etc. See Table 1 for a list of tips for buying a portable/personal computer. The best place to start is usually the guts of the computer. the processor, memory, and the hard drive. How fast do you want the computer to run? How much Random Access Memory (RAM) do you think you will need? P. 593

In this paper we will explore the various ways in which Computer Vision techniques can aid and sometimes even replace the classical algorithms used in many still image and video coding standards. Because compression factor is one of the most important performance criteria of image/video coding we will examine the effectiveness of these techniques in achieving low and very-low bit rates. Motivation for the recent demand of very low-bit rate algorithms stems in part from the introduction of advanced multimedia applications. The desktop computer, for instance, is fast becoming much more than a number crunching machine and will likely become the main channel for interpersonal communications as well as our interface to what is being called the information superhighway. The video inputs to such systems will not only need to capture and code images and video but also obtain some measure of understanding of the scenes before them. Classical or first generation coding algorithms, while indispensable in many fields of communications, fall short of this task. Only a fusion of such algorithms with the work currently being done in computer vision, image understanding, and artificial intelligence will produce a viable system. Since, traditionally, these communities have been rather disparate, it is necessary to begin at a basic level and explore the ways in which techniques from each field can be integrated to create a system that is truly more than the sum of its parts. With that end in mind, this paper will address some of the common aspects of image and video coding with a concentration on one of the more important research areas — the estimation of 2D and 3D motion to use in efficiently compressing video sequences using 3D models.

This paper presents the main political information superhighway (ISH) initiatives undertaken in Belgium, a small but centrally located European member state. Belgium is a federal state with regions and communities whose competences concerning multimedia and ISHs are not clearly defined. This paper shows that this fuzzy situation slows down ISHs' development in Belgium and reveals the weakness of a federal pattern for the definition and management of a coherent ISH strategy. Belgium has two main cultures which express themselves in the initiatives taken at the northern and southern parts of the country. These examples reveal that the use of ISHs to express national cultures and identities, and the cohesive effect of ISHs on European member states, underlined by the Bangemann report, may be contradictory.

This paper reviews the origin of the information superhighway paradigm and the many resulting national initiatives or plans, including the US NII and the world-wide GII. The guiding principles are quoted, and a list of possible future services is presented, together with an overview of the major technological avenues. Then, the paper discusses the current prototype of the future universal information infrastructure, that is the Internet and its killer application, the World-Wide Web. It discusses which requirements are currently satisfied by the Internet plus WWW combination, and which capabilities are not yet provided. It concludes by presenting a possible scenario of evolution. Several parts of this article are reproduced from the book Understanding Networked Multimedia by Francois Fluckiger (Prentice-Hall, 1995).

The information superhighway (or, as we Europeans prefer, the infobahn) is an economic phenomenon, driven by widespread changes in the nature of the commerce, rather than a technological fad. Commerce depends on the interrelated concepts of property rights and money. The relationship between them and the needs of commerce is one of feedback and reinforcement: the development of paper money, for example, not only supported but drove the development of banking systems to facilitate widespread commerce. In a business planning context, then, it is the economic imperatives of the infobahn that determine direction. Individual technologies, such as ADSL or ATM, are enablers for some implementations but they are not the driving force. As the infobahn-using different technologies as they evolve-causes shifts in the paradigms for commerce, it will generate feedback to accelerate changes in the nature of commerce and society as a whole. The widespread implementation of electronic property rights and electronic cash-two aspects of the same technological developments: the former linked to personal and corporate identities, the latter anonymous-will therefore catalyse revolutionary changes in commerce and society. These changes will mean winners and losers: this paper draws on some of Hyperion's recent experience in helping to develop the Mondex electronic cash scheme (and other projects, ranging from the re-engineering of financial institutions to procuring advanced communications networks for developing countries) and attempts to describe the nature and future of the infobahn in a wider context. (10 pages)

The emergence of a knowledge-based economy has been identified as a central trend in modern economies as a result of the increasingly important role of information technology and learning in economic performance. In recognition of this most governments throughout the developed world have responded with a series of policy initiatives since the late 1990’s to either introduce or significantly increase information technology provision in schools to prepare students for life in the twenty first century. Ireland, with its growing reliance on the knowledge economy sector for employment and continued economic prosperity, developed its own policy initiative for computerizing the nations’ schools known as“Schools IT 2000: A Policy Framework for the New Millennium”. It was an ambitious programme with high expectations for the integration of ICT (Information and Communications Technology) in education. This paper examines two longitudinal educational ICT projects in Ireland in the first decade of the new millennium to query how far schools have travelled along the information superhighway and to ponder how well the catalytic capabilities of ICT have become embedded in the realities of classroom life and teachers pedagogic practices, with attendant implications for Ireland’s economic development.

As an increasing number of Government services have moved away from traditional modes of provision to online formats, there has been a corresponding need to ensure greater access to the internet. Although older people (those over 60) are least likely of all age groups to have access to the internet in their homes, the internet holds much potential as an information and advice resource for those older people who may find it difficult to access advice over the telephone or in person. Realising this potential extends beyond issues of physical access; consideration must necessarily be given to issues of internet literacy and the inclination of this cohort to utilise what may be new and unfamiliar technology. This paper examines these matters in the context of the resolution of everyday problems with a legal dimension. Looking first at the use of the internet for information and advice seeking related to such problems, we find that those aged over 60 demonstrate the least use of the internet for problems with a legal dimension. Simultaneously, those aged over 60 are also the group with the lowest level of home access – a particular issue given that for over 60-year-olds, home access is a far stronger determinant of internet use for problems than it is for other age groups. Examining use of the internet for advice seeking over the last decade, findings demonstrate the existence of a general increase in use amongst all age groups over time, albeit with a lower rate of growth amongst those currently over 60. As an indication of future growth, this will have implications for the provision of services. Whilst the ‘young old’ will utilise the internet to a greater degree and will require websites which are tailored to their needs, those individuals at the older end of the age spectrum may best be served by continued access to face-to-face or outreach advice. The implications these findings pose for policy makers in setting priorities in the remit of online service provision are discussed, with results having particular relevance in England and Wales given planned changes to civil legal aid.

Information technology (IT) has the potential to transform the means by which society learns and accesses information. Electronic commerce is a rapidly growing area enjoying considerable attention in conjunction with the emergence of the Information Superhighway or the building of the National Information Infrastructure (NII). Numerous firms are beginning to position themselves on this superhighway in terms of providing hardware, software, information content or services. Economic growth is a significant point for profit making organization, and many organizations need multi-aspect in-depth analysis for finding the effective criteria to grow economically. This paper introduces integration between regression methodology and the fuzzy logic approach to analyze the effects of e-commerce on economic growth in an organization. The numerical results in the Iranian economy reveal that the proposed methodology is efficient in terms of accuracy and policymaking.

The paper presents a preliminary investigation of some Moroccan students' use of the Internet, finding that they are more concerned with obtaining everyday information and communicating with their peers rather than exploring new horizons, and that they often fail to discriminate valid information from hoaxes. It is therefore argued that the impact of the Internet as a diffuser of knowledge and an enhancer of intercultural understanding cannot be taken for granted. The Internet and the World Wide Web are constantly be- ing hailed as one of the greatest revolutions in social history. We can distinguish two major reasons for this. Metaphors describing the web as an information superhighway, a foun- tain of knowledge, or a gateway to the world reflect some of the ways in which its possibilities have been perceived. One of the pervading images used to describe the impact of Inter- net use on the world is the notion of the democracy of information (Friedman, 1999) - the idea that the net has made accessible to the masses a wealth of information that formerly was available only to an elite. To quote Kofi Anan, as far back as 1998: 'The quantity and quality of available information is changing dramatically every day, in every country, in every corner of the world. Citizens are gaining greater access to information, too.' (UN Press Release, 1998). A second set of images are those which focus on the Internet as a meeting place, a means of crossing frontiers and bridging oceans, facilitating communication between individuals around the world and supposedly thereby enhancing intercultural understanding. A corollary of this second idea is the often expressed view that Internet communication can be exploited as an educational tool for promoting intercultural awareness and communication skills. For instance, many studies have recommended the use of emailing and participation in Internet forums as part of courses in language and communication (see, for instance, Chen, 1998). However, these strong claims may well need to be tem- pered. The Internet does indeed give access to a seemingly unlimited amount of accurate, up-to-date and authoritative information. Unfortunately, it also offers an unrivalled col- lection of outdated, distorted and downright false informa- tion. Some of this is only unintentionally misleading (old web pages, personal websites and blogs which represent only their authors' views). But alongside this is the extensive use of the Internet to disseminate propaganda, disinformation and misinformation for purposes which may range from the merely ludic to the seriously malevolent. As Internet com- munication has expanded, Internet hoaxes have proliferated, to be followed, fortunately, by a host of sites like Snopes and Hoaxbusters, aimed at exposing them. There are also numer

Modern automotive electronic control technology is the integration of electronic technology and automotive mechatronics. It is increasingly widely used in the car. Application and development of electronic technology and electronic car will drive into a new era, not only in the 21st century car traveling on the highway, also flew on the information superhighway. This paper introduces the concept of automotive electronic control technology, modern automotive electronic control system applications and the development of feelings of automotive electronic control technology.

Before the Internet, social media and searchengine optimisation, there was the “information superhighway” and the “Megachip age” in the 1980s. This paper, drawing on the archive of the International Public Relations Association (IPRA),reviews early discussion and adoption of innovative technology by practitioners through the application of historical method. It finds they were slow to appreciate the benefits of technicaladvances in communication and held doggedly to print-based models of mediated communication. Practitioners and thought leaders did not foresee that information would be available tomore people through ICT developments. Practice responses,developed by reference to Rogers’ Diffusion Theory, were in three categories (in descending order of frequency) of Ignorers,Cautious/Sense-makers and Modernists/Adopters.

This paper presents an essay aimed at prompting broad discussion crucial in keeping the interaction design discourse fresh, critical, and in motion. We trace the changing role of people who have advanced from consumers to producers, from stationary office workers to mobile urban nomads, from passive members of the plebs to active instigators of change. Yet, interaction designers often still refer to them only as 'users.' We follow some of the historic developments from the information superhighway to the smart city in order to provide the backdrop in front of which we critically analyse three core areas. First, the issue of echo chambers and filter bubbles in social media results in a political polarisation that jeopardises the formation of a functioning public sphere. Second, pretty lights and colourful facades in media architecture are increasingly making way for situated installations and interventions fostering community engagement. And third, civic activism is often reduced to forms of slacktivism. We synthesise our discussion to propose 'citizen-ability' as an alternative goal for interaction designers to aspire to in order to create new polities and civics for a better quality of life.

There continues to be a perception that online education is inferior to traditional education. In the U.S. online learning is more developed than in the U.K. This paper provides insights into a U.S. provision and takes a close look at what are per ceived as weak nesses of on line learn ing and ar gues that these are not necessarily inherent weaknesses of this form of educational delivery. Then, results of two major studies, undertaken in the U.S. are provided comparing the effectiveness of online education to traditional education as perceived by current MBA students and past graduates. Results of these studies suggest that students of MBA modules and MBA graduates perceive the quality and effectiveness of online education to be similar to, if not higher than, the quality and effectiveness of traditional modules and programmes.

The use of metaphors can provide useful insights into understanding the inherent technical and institutional complexities of spatial data infrastructures (SDI). In this paper, we examine how metaphors have been used in organization studies, information systems, and also in the information infrastructure domains. We examine some dominant metaphors being used to guide the research and practice of SDIs, including that of the “information superhighway,” “marketplace,” and the “rainbow.” We draw upon the rainbow metaphor, which has its origins in the analysis of information and communication infrastructure in Canada, adapt it to the Indian national SDI (NSDI) context, and develop implications to guide research and practice. We conclude that a judicious combination of metaphors can serve not only as a heuristic device for thinking about the development pattern of the emerging Indian NSDI infrastructure, but also as a culturally sensitive rhetorical argument for promoting the NSDI concept to political decision m...