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Focuses on research publications from the department of general practice at Glasgow University in Scotland. Importance of publications in learning; Use of proper key words for computer reference systems; Tips to help contributors of medical journals.

An introduction is presented to articles within the issue on the theme of Muslims in Western countries with topics, including the role of whiteness in white converts to Islam, the impact of Muslims on the political culture of Leicester, England and online Islamophobia.

EPOS is an established and rapidly growing feature of the UK retail scene with a wide range of potential impacts across the whole value chain. This paper focuses upon the more immediate impact of EPOS on the marketing strategies of retailers and their suppliers and on the retailer-supplier relationship. Emphasis is given lo the potential which EPOS presents for the development of new approaches to channel co-operation and for the building of new patterns of strategic alliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to investigate pupil use of a newly-created section of a school intranet established to promote greater interest in the organisation's library. Design/methodology/approach -- In October 2006, data collected over a two-week period via Microsoft SharePoint, the software which supports the intranet, were examined in order to explore overall levels of use of the library pages, differences in interest between girls and boys, variations in use among youngsters in the particular year groups and the extent to which use changed over time. Findings -- Although an equal number of girls and boys visited the library pages, the former recorded more hits. Use was greatest among Year Eleven females but few youngsters of either gender or any age returned to the library section on a day subsequent to their initial visit. Interest fell away rapidly within days of the principal phase of data collection commencing. Research limitations/implications -- The data employed were limited to the usage figures provided by the SharePoint log. Future research should, if possible, address whether the new intranet section has led to greater use of the actual library. Practical implications -- To ensure that consultation of library pages is sustained over a prolonged period, much needs to be done to tie their content into wider school activities. Originality/value -- This is the first paper devoted to pupil use of a section of a school intranet specifically developed to publicise the organisation's library, and it will interest both academics studying young people's information behaviour and school librarians considering ways of promoting their libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keeping in mind the potential consequences that digital communication may hold for democratic societies, this research focuses on better understanding the web presence of UK youth organizations. It is interesting to examine how such organizations tie their theoretical conception of citizenship (their ‘offline’ philosophy) to the choices they make about web presence (their ‘online’ structure). Web presence – in this case, websites but also the use of Web 2.0 applications – can aim to provide information and promote participation, but can also encourage a particular view of citizenship and use certain forms of communication to advance this view. This paper focuses on seven youth organizations that embrace either a more conventional or non-conventional view of citizenship and have expanded their web presence from a dedicated website into Web 2.0, particularly social networking sites. First, I will summarize interview findings with web producers to better understand the philosophy behind web presence of the youth organization, along with a look at official website content. Second, I will provide a first look at how such organizations have adapted to Web 2.0, specifically via Facebook and Twitter. This paper contributes to an understanding of how online spaces and in particular the adaptation to Web 2.0 reflect offline views towards citizenship, a particularly important focus in an environment of increasing concern as to how to reach youth via technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many organizations are waking up to the fact that customer data is a valuable corporate asset that needs careful protection and their value actively managed or 'governed'. An increasing number are also discovering the hard way that data can also be a significant liability. Zurich Insurance was recently fined a UK record £2.27 m by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for losing details on 46,000 customers. This paper highlights the need for taking the utmost care with management of your customer data. It also makes the case for investing in, and actively developing, its value for much broader business benefit of increased sales, reduced operational cost, greater profits and long-term growth. It defines and details an emerging management discipline called data governance, explaining exactly what is meant by the term, and what people are trying to achieve by introducing data governance discipline within their organization. It's an important subject that's going to get bigger and more central to organizations in the future. The paper explains the strong links between corporate governance, risk and compliance and how data underpin all three, and how it too needs to be 'governed'. Without strong data governance the organization will fail to provide effective corporate governance and compliance, and will open the organization to significant risk of failure in both. Not least, without effective data governance the organization will fail to maximize the value of its data assets. With the case made for data governance, the second part of the paper focuses on how organizations of any size can understand their own current data capability using the powerful Data Governance Maturity Model approach first developed for IT Governance. You will understand how to develop your own ideal 'to be' state and what actions you need to take to get there. The approach is illustrated through a case study for a leading 'not for profit' organization that is embarking on a major data governance programme. Its aim is to help maximize the benefits (and avoid failure) of its investment in a substantial Customer (Supporter) Relationship Management (SRM) programme to create a single view of all its supporters. This paper is the first of a series on this important topic of data governance. Through the series, we will follow this not for profit organization as it develops a new data organization, a realistic data strategy and roadmap and makes its way towards establishing optimal data governance throughout the organization and the highest level on the Data Governance Maturity Model. This is to both achieve success with its SRM programme and to really unleash the value of its supporter data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose — This paper aims to provide an overview of the published literature and current use of social software by libraries primarily in the UK and USA. Design/methodology/approach — The paper's approach is a literature review and desk research. Findings — Libraries are experimenting considerably in this area and many Web 2.0 applications have been developed by libraries and librarians over the past few years. These tools offer the potential to enhance library services. Research limitations/implications — The area is one of rapid change, so the findings will date quickly. Practical implications — An overview of which technologies are being used most widely and might offer the most potential for library staff considering experimenting in this area. Originality/value of paper — Web 2.0 is an area with which many library staff need to become familiar quickly. This paper provides a useful overview of the topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2002 the UK Government produced a report highlighting the problems faced by women returning to employment in science, engineering and technology (SET) after a career break. In response to this report, a national strategy was developed, with funding from the UK’s Department of Trade and Industry and the European Social Fund ‘Equal’ Programme, to address the issues highlighted by the report. One of the key parts of the strategy was the creation of a short (100 hours), online course by the Open University (UK) aimed at supporting and empowering women who were returning to employment in SET after a break. An ePortfolio forms an integral part of the course experience. This paper reports the experiences of the first group of 100 women who participated in this course. A range of data sources have been used to analyse the responses of participants to the course including questionnaires, emailed ‘critical incident’ narratives, discussion board postings and telephone interviews. This paper draws on that evaluation research to discuss the perceptions that women scientists, engineers and technologists had about the usefulness of personal/professional development planning (PDP) and an ePortfolio in helping them re-enter employment, and their intentions to use it in future. Some of these findings can be generalised to other groups (either employed or not) who might benefit from a similar approach, i.e. developing an ePortfolio through a set of structured and guided e-learning activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes an overview of the work of the Securing a Hybrid Environment for Research Preservation and Access (SHERPA) team and the SHERPA Partnership institutions in the area of developing, populating and maintaining institutional open access repositories. Crucial to this work has been the development of a mutually supporting and enabling Partnership community, something that has now been recognised as needed by institutions that lie outside it. To this end, SHERPA is involved in efforts to support the individuals and institutions across the United Kingdom and Europe who are engaging with the open access agenda on a practical level; through setting up community networks and disseminating experience. Key in the experience of the SHERPA Partnership has been the role of advocacy of open access and institutional repositories to the research community. Whilst this experience has been unique to each institution, there are many shared lessons and best practice that the Partnership has recently reflected on and that are articulated within this paper. Finally, brief coverage on some of the vital community tools developed and maintained by SHERPA, and reflections on the evolving direction of open access in the United Kingdom, are made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the disclosures made on English credit unions’ websites. Credit unions without a website are presumed to be small. Community credit unions with websites tend to offer basic services with a limited range of products that may appeal to poorer members of society. Occupational credit unions appear more likely to have a greater range of products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine and evaluate current directions in construction site health and safety management by examination of large UK industry contractors' web sites, revealing the motivators that are potentially informing and driving these directions. Design/methodology/approach - A desk study approach examined 20 large UK contractor web sites. Subsequent hermeneutic content analysis established current industry direction, enabled comparison to comparable government and academic directions, and also revealed potential motivators and influences behind recent innovations. Findings - Large UK contractors have readily adopted corporate social responsibility and placed health and safety under this remit. Industry direction correlates with current government approaches, however academia appears to influence industry through government, rather than direct conduits. Bespoke safety management programmes have been a key innovation, but the influence of marketing was clear and may have led to focus on easily promotable goals, rather than the processes and methods needed to achieve them. Practical implications - Marketing may overtake practicality in the direction of health and safety management on construction sites; industry innovation focused on the promotable rather than the practical, could stagnate. The lack of direct influence of academia on industry direction indicates a requirement for relationships to be better established in order to inspire continuous improvement. Originality/value - Aholistic review of large industry contractor approaches to site health and safety management has not previously been undertaken. Neither has the use of promotional web-based data been examined; thereby providing a unique insight into the direction of current efforts within industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reports on the results of the project 'Evaluating the usage and impact of e-journals in the UK'. Using deep log analysis techniques, we evaluated the use of the Oxford Journals database in regard to life sciences, economics and history by 10 major UK research institutions. The aim of the study was to investigate researchers' digital behaviour, and to ascertain whether it varied by subjects and disciplines, or in relation to the institutions. The findings revealed significant subject and institutional differences. Life scientists were the biggest users. Economists made the greatest use of abstracts. Historians proved to be the most active searchers. Research intensive universities were characterized by high volume use and short session times, light sessions, and sessions which utilized few of the search functions available. Open access journals featured strongly in the ranked lists of life sciences and history; and Google was an extremely popular means of accessing journal content, especially so in the case of historians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Privacy has been and continues to be one of the key challenges of an age devoted to the accumulation, processing, and mining of electronic information. In particular, privacy of healthcare-related information is seen as a key issue as health organizations move towards the electronic provision of services. The aim of the research detailed in this paper has been to analyse privacy policies on popular UK healthcare-related websites to determine the extent to which consumer privacy is protected. The author has combined approaches (such as approaches focused on usability, policy content, and policy quality) used in studies by other researchers on e-commerce and US healthcare websites to provide a comprehensive analysis of UK healthcare privacy policies. The author identifies a wide range of issues related to the protection of consumer privacy through his research analysis using quantitative results. The main outcomes from the author's research are that only 61% of healthcare-related websites in their sample group posted privacy policies. In addition, most of the posted privacy policies had poor readability standards and included a variety of privacy vulnerability statements. Overall, the author's findings represent significant current issues in relation to healthcare information protection on the Internet. The hope is that raising awareness of these results will drive forward changes in the industry, similar to those experienced with information quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reports a case study assessing asynchronous text-based online discussion amongst trainee teachers in Britain. It describes the project as working ‘along the grain’ of current technology and educational culture since it aims to exploit the capabilities of the ICT used (e.blackboard1) in ways which could be enacted in schools today whilst at the same time giving due attention to modify the constraints of time, place and hierarchy that the ICT revolution threatens in schools. Quantitative and qualitative results are discussed. The relationship between ICT and the wider social, political and cultural context is also discussed. The paper concludes with areas for further research and points to the need to review current assessment cultures in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT A huge change has occurred in the way people obtain weather information in the last few years and a large percentage of the population now get weather forecasts on their mobile phones. There is currently a wide range of smartphone weather apps available: in 2014, iTunes App Store alone offered 5043 active applications in the weather category. The rapid penetration of new broadcasting technologies strongly affects the way weather forecasts are communicated to, and used by, people. Portability, permanent connectivity and geolocalization allow location-specific and time-sensitive weather forecasts to be provided. This paper explores the main features emerging in the 39 most popular weather apps in the United States, United Kingdom and Italy, and focuses on the implications in the communication of uncertainty. The results show that even if the advances in mobile communication technologies could, in principle, improve the effectiveness of weather communication enormously, the expectations created around weather forecasts appear to be inconsistent with current forecasting capabilities, particularly with their inherent uncertainties in space and time, as well as in the nature of the predicted weather events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online news platforms and social media increasingly influence the public agenda on social issues such as human trafficking. Yet despite the popularity of online news and the availability of sophisticated tools for analyzing digital texts, little is known about the relations between news coverage of human trafficking and audiences’ reactions to and interpretations of such coverage. In this paper, we examine journalists’ and commenters’ topic choices in coverage and discussion of human trafficking in the British newspaperThe Guardianfrom 2009 to 2014. We use latent semantic analysis to identify 11 topics discussed by both journalists and readers, and analyze each topic in terms of the degree to which journalists and readers agree or disagree in their topic preferences. We find that four topics were preferred equally by journalists and commenters, four were preferred by journalists, and three were preferred by commenters. Our findings suggest that theories of ‘agenda setting’ and of the ‘active audience’ are not mutually exclusive, and the scope of explanation of each depends partly on the specific topic or subtopic that is analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper describes a process used to develop and test a framework to produce thermal simulation post-processed information meaningful to building design decision-making. The framework adopts a user-centred approach in which the building designer is considered the ultimate simulation tool user either directly or indirectly when supported by consultants. The framework supports the building designer's ‘modus operandi’ and is developed through a set of interdisciplinary research methods. Participatory Action Research, Thematic Analysis and Grounded Theory are used, together with principles from Information Visualization, dynamic thermal modelling and Building Design, following a design approach to problem-solving taken from the discipline of Interaction Design. The various elements of the framework and their connections are derived from analysis of sequences of design actions made by novice designers undertaking complex design activities. Tests of the framework are undertaken through an online questionnaire and five semi-structured interviews with UK architectural design practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Location, locality, and localism have long been important characteristics of news, but their functions have been given a dramatic twist with the advent of locative, mobile media. The capabilities of mobile media devices to determine, sense, incorporate, and conjure with the relative locations of reporting and audiences have emerged as key to alternative, small- and large-scale networked news-gathering and dissemination ventures. This paper explores the kinds of places and spaces these mobile worlds of news-making and consumption entail—and how news is being located in and through such new mobilities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In 2011 the Home Office released the police.uk website, which provided a high-resolution map of recent crime data for the national extents of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Through this free service, crimes were represented as points plotted on top of a Google map, visible down to a street level of resolution. However, in order to maintain confidentiality and to comply with data disclosure legislation, individual-level crimes were aggregated into points that represented clusters of events that were located over a series of streets. However, with aggregation the representation of crimes as points becomes problematic, engendering spurious precision over where crimes occurred. Given obvious public sensitivity to such information, there are social imperatives for appropriate representation of crime data, and as such, in this paper we present a method of translating the 'point' crime events into a new representational form that is tied to street network geography; presenting these results in an alternate national crime mapping portal . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The internet is now an important element of most political parties' communication strategies during elections. While online communication might be claimed to enable smaller parties and marginal voices to compete more effectively with major parties, it might also enable minority languages to challenge the existing dominance of majority languages in traditional political communication. This paper explores Welsh-language provision on the websites of the 18 parties which fielded candidates in Wales during the 2010 UK General Election. Three websites making bilingual provision are examined in greater detail, considering the Welsh-language experience in terms of information seeking tasks, the use of web2.0 and resource generation. Overall the provision of regional information relating to Wales and of Welsh-language material has remained remarkably static since the last General Election in 2005. It appears that only parties which regularly contest seats in Wales make regional provision and that Welsh-language provision is limited to those parties who have websites specifically orientated to Wales. The Welsh language does not appear to have been a priority in terms of online political communication for most of the parties campaigning in Wales during the General Election. Even on those sites making a bilingual provision, the quality, timeliness and extent of the Welsh-language experience varied considerably. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The widespread adoption and entrenchment of online price comparison sites as a customer acquisition route by insurance companies, coupled with rapidly increasing use of such sites by consumers has had a profound effect on the profitability dynamics of the UK general insurance market. This paper discusses the emergence of price comparison sites and examines their effectiveness in acquiring and retaining customers. Drawing on case study figures and using a hypothetical model, the longer-term implications for company profitability and that of the wider industry are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health and social care students spend up to 50% of their course in practice. Placements are distributed across a wide geographical area and have varying degrees of IT access and support. Consequently, students may feel isolated from peers, academic staff, and resources required for effective learning. Mobile technology has considerable potential to enhance the learning of these students. This paper presents the development and implementation of the Centre for Excellence in Professional Placement Learning's mobile learning project and the principles that both drove and emerged from this work. Handheld devices were matched to students' pedagogic need. Principles covered areas such as pedagogy, partnership working, technology, inclusivity, evaluation, and research. Collaboration across sectors and institutions and an understanding of professional cultures and contexts were seen as key in instigating and embedding mobile learning to support students on placement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper argues that if new communications technologies and online spaces are to yield ‘new relationship[s] with learners’ (, p. 11) then research that is tuned to recognize, capture and explain the pedagogical processes at the centre of such interactions is vital. This has implications for the design of pedagogical activities within Initial Teacher Education (ITE) intended to develop student teachers’ professional knowledge and understanding of e-learning strategies. A case study is presented of an intervention, which attempted to synthesize a face-to-face and online school-based experience with University-based lectures, in order to develop student teachers’ capacity to theorize and reflect upon the development of their online pedagogical practice. Theory that focuses on the complex and symbiotic nature of professional knowledge and learning was developed to analyse data in the form of interviews with student teachers and archived extracts from their online interactions with the children. The aim was to evaluate the effectiveness of a pedagogical-research design based upon the authentic and situated use of e-learning strategies and technologies for developing student teachers’ professional knowledge and understanding of online pedagogy. Ultimately the paper concludes that, from the perspective of a dynamic conceptualisation of e-learning as continuously emerging () then a pedagogical-research design that develops and captures student teachers’ capacity to reflect upon the development of their own online pedagogy and professional knowledge and understanding in relation to e-learning is vital. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article presents the author's insights on the topics discussed within the journal concerning information polity. It says that the use of social networking sites in the 2008 U.S. Presidential election shows that they are significant in conducting democratic discourse in the modern polity. It also discusses the declining number of political websites in the Welsh language in Great Britain and the shifting preference of citizens in interacting with the government.

The internet has created opportunities to restructure communication between MPs and constituents and has led to an increase in opportunity and, in some cases, motivation for MPs to communicate online. This paper reports the findings of a survey of 168 MPs and a subsequent focus group of MPs and parliamentary staff. The research shows that email has become a ubiquitous tool of choice for most MPs and it is clearly perceived as a valuable tool for keeping in touch with constituents. The research describes both the rise of social networking and the reticence of MPs to adopt blogging; which is seen as a negative space and scatterun tool. The findings show that, where adopted, digital media can and does change the relationship between MPs and their constituents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a platform on which a new generation of applications targeted to aid the self-organised learner can be presented. The new application is enabled by innovations in trust-based security of data built upon emerging infrastructures to aid federated data access in the UK education sector. Within the proposed architecture, users and data providers (within Virtual Organisations formed for specific learning needs) collaborate in a more dynamic and flexible manner by defining their own data-object-based security policies. This is enabled using a Service Orientated Architecture (SOA) that presents trusted services to ensure that these policies are both applied and enforced. The work is significant because it presents a new level of both distributed and live data integration into the ePortfolio domain. New data objects can be integrated into the learning process from emerging areas like social networking, giving the learning processes more depth. For the learner this approach enhances the quality and range of data that they can use in the ePortfolio, and has the potential to enhance the self-organised learning process, which for society in general will enhance learning processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Westminster Parliament has been prompted to develop an e-Petitions system in light of the fact that similar tools are now well established in the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly. The Number Ten e-Petitions site, too, has proved inspirational although discussions within Westminster about the development of a comparable system have focused on the risks associated with it. This paper describes the momentum towards a Westminster-based e-Petitions system, highlighting the dilemmas that have emerged during discussions about the form it should take: should Westminster try to replicate the popular style of the Number Ten website and risk inundation with Parliamentary graffiti? Or would it be better to develop a system that ties in with Parliamentary processes-and do these processes themselves need to change? We discuss the move towards e-Petitions in the context of broader debates about e-Democracy and its role in revitalising political engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the evaluation of the impact of a training programme in the use of Interactive whiteboards in Secondary English lessons. It is based on work commissioned from NATE by Becta that produced the publication, Entitlement to ICT in Secondary English ( NATE, 2002 ). Drawing from the work of Kress (2003) , the author argues that new technologies can help teachers to address confidently aspects of multimodality that are a core aspect of the New Literacies. Data collected from a small sample of Secondary English teachers who engaged in the training suggest that all teachers benefited from the training; however, it was found that there has been insufficient support in schools to date for the development of fully confident practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'British Slave Trade Legacies' is a web archiving project that collected websites and online material related to and generated from the 2007 bicentenary of Parliament abolishing the British slave trade. The Internet Archive donated their Archive-It service to harvest websites for this collection, and now provides public access to digital objects within it. This paper describes two issues that the project raised: firstly, the validity of the 2007 anniversary as marked by cultural stakeholders; secondly, the challenges of documenting it, thereby adding to historical legacy material of this topic. The archivist's role in the 21st century will also be discussed in the context of new digital age challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The year 2007 marked the bicentenary of an act of parliament that abolished slave trading in the British empire. Throughout the UK, British heritage and educational institutions, the government sector, and other organisations decided to use this anniversary to look at the legacy of the slave trade as a vehicle for community outreach, sharing of their collections through imaginative, moving, and provocative online projects that also address contemporary issues related to identity, race, poverty, and migration in a multicultural, global society. Most of the 2007 event driven websites, news articles, publications, education resources, and online exhibitions or those created just prior to 2007 or just after, which are meant to be long term resources on these issues, have been organised into a web collection on the Internet archive (IA). This paper aims to provide a critical look at online exhibitions versus online collections in the context of the 2007 bicentenary, specifically comparing the effectiveness of websites called "online exhibitions" from a user perspective with websites called "educational resources," in this IA collection. In addition to defining and providing examples of "collections" or "exhibitions" this paper attempts to explore ideas for the types of institutional and shared material that lend themselves to creating either an online exhibition or an online education resource. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the content and usability of a sample of 50 UK MPs' web sites. Design/methodology/approach -- Score sheets were developed for the evaluation of web sites based on an extensive review of the relevant literature. In addition, a questionnaire was sent to all MPs who had a web site at the time of the research. Findings -- The web sites in general scored poorly in terms of content and usability. Liberal Democrats' web sites scored the highest overall. The main reason why MPs set up web sites was to improve communications with their constituents. However, many MPs had problems finding the time and funds to set up and maintain their web sites. There is a growing interest in interactive web sites. Research limitations/implications -- Not every MP's web site was evaluated, nor was every MP approached regarding their attitude to web sites. Practical implications -- A series of recommendations on how MPs can improve their web sites is provided. It is clear that MPs' web sites are a long way from being ideal. Funding issues need to be addressed. Originality/value -- This is the latest such survey for a number of years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of the paper is to summarize the findings of a survey of UK universities about how their websites are managed and resourced, which technologies are in use, and what are seen as the main issues and priorities. Design/methodology/approach - The paper is based on a web-based questionnaire distributed in summer 2006, which received 104 usable responses from 87 institutions. Findings - The survey showed that some web teams were based in IT and some in external relations, yet in both cases the site typically served internal and external audiences. The role of web manager is partly management of resources, time and people, partly about marketing and liaison and partly also concerned with more technical aspects including interface design and HTML. But it is a diverse role with a wide spread of responsibilities. On the whole web teams were relatively small. Three-quarters of responding institutions had a CMS, but specific systems in use were diverse. Sixty per cent had a portal. There was evidence of increasing use of blogs and wikis. The key driver for the website is student recruitment, with instituitional reputation and information to stakeholders also being important. The biggest perceived weaknesses were maintaining consistency with devolved content creation and currency of content; lack of resourcing a key threat while comprehensiveness was a key strength. Current and wished-for projects pointed again to the diversity of the sector. Research limitations/implications - The lack of comparative data and difficulties of interpreting responses to closed questions where respondents could have quite different status (partly reflecting divergent patterns of governance of the web across the sector) create issues with the reliability of the research. Practical implications - Data about resourcing of web management, technology in use, etc. at comparable institutions is invaluable for practitioners in their efforts to gain resources in their own context. Originality/value - The paper adds more systematic, current data to our limited knowledge about how university websites are managed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collecting feedback from students on their experiences of higher education has become one of the central pillars of the quality process. Many surveys are being carried out but it is not always clear how fit for purpose they are. This paper compares the fitness for purpose of a nation-wide survey and a tailor-made institutional survey. The National Student Survey, recently introduced in the UK, aims to provide information for prospective students and address public accountability, whereas the Student Satisfaction Approach is designed primarily to inform internal quality improvement processes but also to supply some information to prospective students. The two surveys are also very different in content and presentation of results. The two surveys are not interchangeable in use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose — The paper seeks to propose a method for selecting menu items based on an analysis of user-entered search terms. Menu pages inform users what is coming next and what questions are going to be answered by an information communication technology service. Menus need to reflect user needs. The paper aims to argue that users reveal the scope of their information needs by the words used in their search expressions and these can be analysed to inform menu titles. Design/methodology/approach — The paper presents an analysis and classification of user search expressions that are automatically collected by the server. The paper examines the search expressions of about 1,000 users of the BBC site related to search expressions on diabetes. Findings — The search expressions were classified, analysed and compared with the diabetes menu of three health sites: NI-IS Direct (www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk); BBC health (www.bbc.co.uk); and Diabetics UK (www.diabetes.org.uk). Finally, a six-point menu is derived. Practical implications — The practical implication of this paper is development of relevant web menus based on user information needs as revealed in search expressions entered by users. Originality/value — This is the first explanation of how search logs can be used to construct menu lists. Previously menus have been designed at worst to suit producers and site designers based on the information that they have available and at best on interviews with small usability or focus groups who are not necessarily users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2002, a discussion in the United Kingdom (UK) between South-west Information for Clinical Effectiveness (SWICE) librarians and a member of the South Australian Department of Human Services Libraries’ Consortium (SAHSLC) raised the possibility of developing an after-hours virtual reference service between the two consortium groups. The aim of the service is to put medical practitioners in contact with a librarian when urgent help is required in finding clinical medical information after hours.A trial project has begun and has been given the name‘Chasing the Sun’. The service will make use of time-zone differences between the UK and Australia, so that librarians at work in another country will be able to answer urgent patient-related queries that cannot wait until normal office hours.This paper looks at the development of‘Chasing the Sun’ from initial concept, funding proposal and trial project stage to implementation. It includes details of the groundwork, software evaluation, trials, outcomes, cost and benefits, future directions and potential problems yet to be experienced or overcome.This service is the first of its kind between health libraries in the world and offers potential for future worldwide expansion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since its inception, the volume of WWW traffichas grown by a factor of 10 each year (Berners-Lee, 1996) with increasingamounts of both valuable information and trivial or even harmful material.The pressure on resources in higher education also continues to grow, andin particular the cost of providing enough transatlantic capacty to cope withdemand continues to escalate (Dearing, 1997; Schonfelder, 1997; Read, 1997).This paper explores the use of the world-wide-web (WWW) within the specificcontext of a large UK university. It considers, in particular, a considerationof the extent of WWW adoption and use for professional application comparedto personal interest. The study involved an analysis of student leisure browsingthrough direct interaction with the subjects, using both quantitative andqualitative techniques. A survey was distributed to a sample of 12,728 studentsand 3,883 staff nationally, and 2,927 students and 941 staff at the ManchesterMetropolitan University (MMU). In addition to this postal survey, a set of26 face-to-face interviews with a specialist student sample was conducted.It is concluded that, on average, leisure activities comprise 35%±5%of all student use of the WWW. The findings include evidence demonstratingthat the results may be generalised. The study also proposes that leisurebrowsing should not be seen as something to be discouraged, but that it cancontribute to the overall educational experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ensuring that all graduates are able to exploit new technologies is a primary goal of all UK universities and a variety of assumptions have underpinned policies designed to promote this goal. This paper explores some of these assumptions through the findings of a longitudinal study involving a cohort of over 800 university students. The study adopted a student perspective to examine the factors affecting their use of computers over a three year period. Unsurprisingly, the results indicated that situational factors (e.g. access, training and time) influence the extent to which students use computers, but a disparity was found in the importance attributed to these factors by the academic staff, who focused on the needs of their department, and by the students, who focused on their individual needs. Results suggest that increased attention to a student perspective may lead to improved strategic planning in students’ use of computers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at the contribution that computers have made to the delivery of the National Health Service through a period of major reform that began in 1986, and is still ongoing. The paper starts with a retrospective analysis of the first generation of NHS Reforms and the role played by computer systems. The major empirical component is a case study looking at the impact of computers on health promotion activities among over 1 million patients in Lancashire. Finally, the paper looks forward to the latest NHS reforms, as outlined in the 1997 White Paper The New DHS (Department of Health, 1997, HMSO, London) and outlines the information implications and a strategic framework to deliver changes required if the reforms are to succeed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author focuses on e-learning in adult and continuing education. Particular attention is given to the impact of computer network resources on education. Article topics include the potential of smart cards for e-portfolios, the development of The Learning Credit Card, the evolution of library science and its relationship to technology, as well as why projects from the 1980s-1990s are evading the attention of the current generation of researchers. Additional article topics include educational research taking place in Great Britain in the 21st century and a historical review of technology in education and training since the 1950s.

The UK Defence Review in 2010 shed light on the real concerns that Britain could be facing a new threat from cyber-terrorists. Indeed, extremist groups and organisations are increasingly using cyberspace for terrorist purposes and as a result the role of the Internet has meant that terrorist are able to play the role of hostile actors willing to cause mass carnage and destruction through technological means. This threat has led to many questions for example, what the term cyber-terrorism means? The paper examines the case for two schools of thought. It concludes that the current nature of terrorism provides more support for the Weimann argument, but that things could change if terrorists are given more appropriate training and skills in cyberspace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives To analyse the quality of online information available to patients regarding dental implants.Design Cross sectional survey.Setting The websites analysed were UK based, owned by private practices and NHS secondary and tertiary care services. Information was collated in November 2013.Methods UK-based websites were analysed using UK based search engines.Outcome measures Websites were analysed based on content and reliability. Information regarding the speciality of authors and accreditation/affiliation to professional groups/medical institutions was also collated.Results Overall, website content quality was low, with 63% of sites averaging below 7/14 for their mean summed website content scores, and 67% of sites averaging below 8/16 for their mean reliability scores. 86.7% were accredited by a recognised national/international dental/surgical body but only 26.7% were affiliated to a professional group/medical institution. The authors were mainly dentists (73.3%).Conclusions These findings suggest that the online information regarding implant treatment is generally of low quality and many aspects such as long term outcomes and complications are overlooked. There is a need for the improvement of the quality of online information available to patients in order to make the best use of this tool in helping patients to make informed choices about their dental care. The Internet has the potential to dramatically change the clinician-patient relationship. Moreover, in light of the guidelines produced by the General Dental Council (GDC) in 2012 on the principles of ethical advertising, GDC registrants run the risk of fitness to practise proceedings and medico-legal challenges if the website content has potential to mislead patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this paper is the provision of terminology- and classification-based terminologies interoperability data via web services, initially using interoperability data based on the use of a Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) spine, but with an aim to explore other possibilities in time, including the use of other spines. The High-Level Thesaurus Project (HILT) Phase IV developed pilot web services based on SRW/U, SOAP, and SKOS to deliver machine-readable terminology and cross-terminology mappings data likely to be useful to information services wishing to enhance their subject search or browse services. It also developed an associated toolkit to help information services technical staff to embed HILT-related functionality within service interfaces. Several UK information services have created illustrative user interface enhancements using HILT functionality and these will demonstrate what is possible. HILT currently has the following subject schemes mounted and available: DDC, CAB, GCMD, HASSET, IPSV, LCSH, MeSH, NMR, SCAS, UNESCO, and AAT. It also has high level mappings between some of these schemes and DDC and some deeper pilot mappings available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I argue that the notion of paranoia can inform a post-panoptic theory of surveillance, without simply functioning as a pre-emptive dismissal of a critical engagement with technologies and regimes of surveillance as just paranoid. Rather, I seek to address how paranoia can be rearticulated to serve a productive, non-pathological function in an analysis of logics of surveillance. To this end, I consider the manner in which paranoia is characterised in popular cultural narratives and how the advent of cultural paranoia can be understood in the context of the expansion of state and corporate surveillance, especially in the UK and post-9/11 North America. Drawing on this notion of cultural paranoia, I then argue for three modalities of paranoia-as-surveillance theory. The first modality, the paranoia of the subject of surveillance, addresses the divergent panoptic subject who rejects the disciplinary logic of the panopticon; the second modality considers how the paranoid as the suspicious subject could be used to characterise the expansion of surveillance regimes through an ever-present need to observe; and the third modality of conspiracy theory proposes that a paranoid logic, akin to that of the conspiracy theory, sutures over epistemic gaps in the interpretation of information in instances of analytic deficit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Document delivery is a fast-changing practice, being highly subject to economic and technological developments. The FIDDO project, supported by the UK Electronic Libraries Programme, has as a major objective to supply relevant and up-to-date inform ation to library managers in this dynamic field. This review of Websites concerned with document delivery aims to contribute to that objective. The review identifies a selection of the more important Websites that might be used by a library manager, and supplies a review of each from both practitioner and academic perspectives.The Websites reviewed include indexes of document suppliers, reports of research projects, system developments and national initiatives, and professional sites. The scope of the r eview is worldwide, although a specific effort has been made to include sites based outside the USA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the contents of several web sites that provide information on industrial management and relations in Great Britain. Warwick Business School's http://www.wbs.warwick.ac.uk/HotTopics/index.html produces papers on current management issues. Business and management school sites can be found via http://www.bizednet.ac.uk. Meanwhile, Bradford University's http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/mancen/ugcat/index.htm and Queen's University-Belfast http://prince.qub.ac.uk web sites contain limited lecture materials.

The article cites several online resources related to economics and society, including the Poverty Site produced by the New Policy Institute, information about The Florida Sanctions Project and a weblink to data on area variations in household income across in Great Britain.

This paper focuses on the use of local government Web sites in the United Kingdom to encourage and facilitate democratic deliberation. The question addressed is to what end, and on whose terms, citizens are being encouraged to engage local government via computer–mediated communication. After an initial investigation into the legislative framework of local e–democracy, this paper examines opportunities available for citizens to deliberate by examining 469 local government Web sites. This information is then reviewed in the context of empirical evidence on the practices and attitudes of those responsible for the management and upkeep of the specific sites under question. It appears that while interaction is being encouraged, it is limited and tends towards an individualistic liberal model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Editorial. Presents several web sites that can be used as educational resources in Great Britain.

This article offers an overview of the development of women's history in the UK over the last twenty years or so. It is noted that over this period women's history has expanded massively, an expansion that has cut across national boundaries and drawn in scholars from other disciplines than History. Eight themes in women's history are identified as being prominent during this time—a focus on the modern period (post 1780), a strong empirical bent, a questioning of the dominance of a separate spheres discourse, a ‘spatial turn', an interest in life stories and biographies, an interest in the women's suffrage movement, a ‘religious turn’ and a ‘transnational turn’. Lastly, consideration is given to the influence of the digital revolution on the development and direction of women's history. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this Viewpoint we wish to stimulate debate concerning the impact on citizens of the move to deliver more and more public services online (e-government) in urban and rural areas. It is now widely accepted that we are moving more and more online as society. However, there has been a lack of discussion about the implications of the government's strategy to move services online especially for those most disadvantaged. The increasing focus and use of Information and Communication Technologies is changing the ways we can access public services, goods and services and health information. There is an increasing separation between those who have the skills, knowledge and economic resources to do so with those who do not - how we ensure full citizenship for all remains unanswered if not too often unconsidered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]