ASIST 2001 Annual Meeting
   November 2-8, 2001
   J.W. Marriott Hotel, Washington, D.C.

Technical Sessions

Wednesday, November 7

9:00am Sessions

Kids' Trek: The Next Generation
(SIG USE)

Overview
To adults who grew up in the pre-Internet age, it may seem that surfing the net is as second nature to children today as breathing. But despite their immersion in the Internet, research indicates that most children are not as successful as they should be at finding and evaluating information on the Web and at navigating the Internet efficiently. Studies point to two main factors that influence children's success: search engine design and the level of adequate information-seeking skills kids possess. In this session, speakers will discuss research aimed at understanding how children use the Internet and what can be done to help them use it more effectively. Presenters will explore what design interfaces children like and dislike in Web search engines, whether children can effectively design their own interfaces for search engines and what such an engine would look like, and how students and teachers would reconceptualize the "research mode" in the digital age.

You Will Learn About

• How a group of middle school students reacted to the design and use of four Web portals
• An analysis of how students make sense of the information they find on the Web and what the implications are for teaching and learning
• A model of the strategies students develop to learn deeply and meaningfully from the tasks they perform
• A prototype design for a Web search engine that was developed by a group of middle school children

Presenters
Andrew Large, McGill University
Jamshid Beheshti, McGill University
Jinx Watson, University of Tennessee
M. Delia Neuman, University of Maryland, College Park

Moderator
Dania Bilal , University of Tennessee

Privacy: An International Perspective
(SIG IFP, III, TIS)

Overview
Advances in technology, such as the Internet and e-mail, have made it easier for people to communicate with one other and to share information. These same changes, however, have made it more difficult to protect the privacy of our communications and information-sharing. What does privacy mean in the information age and can it be protected? Can we prevent phone calls or email messages from being intercepted? Is medical information too easily accessed by employers or creditors? Are governments consolidating too much data on individuals and providing hackers with onestop shopping? This session will explore these and other issues of privacy from an international perspective, with presenters from the European Union, Canada and the United States.

You Will Learn About

• Current international privacy laws and how they are being implemented
• Whether regional privacy rules can work
• What level of privacy organizations and individuals can reasonably expect in the future

Presenters
Shelly Warwick, Queens College, City University of New York

The Making of a DL: Getting the Census Bureau Online
(SIG DL)

Overview
Are you building a digital library? If so, this session could be invaluable, as Jim Madigan and his team from the U.S. Census Bureau discuss the lessons they have learned over the past year building the agency's digital library, which is scheduled to go live in 2001. The project merges both OPAC and document delivery functions through the library catalog and links Census Bureau published content, including over 5,000,000 pages of the U.S. Census from 1790 forward, and papers by Census Bureau staff.

You Will Learn About

• What works and what does not work when developing a large digital library
• How to integrate e-books into a collection

Moderator
Suzie Allard, University of Kentucky

Information Seeking/Text Summarization
(Contributed Papers)

InSook Choe and Young-Mee Chung, Yonsei University
Development of a Text Summarization System Using VerbBased Sentence Patterns

W. John Wilbur and Won Kim, National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information.
Flexible Phrase Based Query Handling Algorithms

Berry De Bruijn and Joel Martin, National Research Council of Canada; and Cheryl Wolting and Ian Donaldson, Mt. Sinai Hospital
Extracting Sentences to Justify Categorization

Web Information Architecture
(Contributed Papers)

Rong Tang, State University of New York, Albany
Developing Multilingual Academic Web Sites: A Study of Chinese University Web Design for the Chinese and the English Versions

Phillip Christian, Systems Design
6D, A Process Framework for the Design and Development of Webbased Systems

Douglas Oard and Jinmook Kim, University of Maryland, College Park
Modeling Information Content Using Observable Behavior

10.45am Sessions

Human Computer Interaction  Possibilities, Potential, and Problems
(SIG HCI)

Overview
In 1965 E. Llewellyn Thomas said, "Man is one of the best generalpurpose computers available and if one designs for man as a moron, one ends up with a system that requires a genius to maintain it. Thus we are not suggesting that we take man out of the system, but that he be properly employed in terms of both his abilities and limitations." What have we learned about human and computer interaction in the 36 years since Llewellyn wrote those words? In this session, speakers will explore developments over the last three decades related to technology, technological design and how best to "employ" users in terms of their abilities and limitations. Presenters will examine the consequences and implications of technological change for individuals, groups and society.

You Will Learn About

• Advances in the study of human problem solving and learning The advantages and drawbacks of technological tools and techniques designed to understand and predict human behavior
• What lies ahead in this field of study

Presenters
Andrew Dillon, Indiana University
Joette SteflMabry, Long Island University

As Sharp as a Pen: Direct Semantic Ratification in Oral, Written, and Electronic Communication
(SIG HFIS)

Overview
Direct semantic ratification traditionally has referred to the ability to question the producer of a statement and to immediately gain knowledge about the statement's social and spatial context. More recently, it has also been interpreted to include a human bodily presence, which allows for the possibility of expressing and interpreting nonverbal signs. Direct semantic ratification forms a crucial dimension, which differentiates oral from written and electronic communication. In this session, speakers will take an in-depth look at direct semantic ratification from both an historical and humanistic perspective and from a more scientifically informed viewpoint.

You Will Learn About

• The potential for social rather than purely individual learning of the appropriate use of communication forms
• How strategies for avoiding inappropriate communication uses must be grounded in a deeper understanding of communicative behavior rather than imposed by technical constraints

Presenters
Julian Charles Warner, Queen's University of Belfast
Cate Cox, Queen's University of Belfast

Digital Divide: Issues, Policy and Case Studies
(SIG III)

Overview
The flood of breakthroughs in information technology (IT) in recent years has changed almost every aspect of our lives. One of the less positive changes has been a growing divide between the information rich and the information poor. In this session, speakers will deal with the challenges posed by the wide disparities worldwide in digital access to information and the Internet.

You Will Learn About

• Current IT trends in Kenya, which reflect the challenges facing all African countries as they struggle to keep pace with IT developments
• A model electronic library implemented by the Pakistan Country Office Library/Public Information Center
• Case studies of ongoing projects aimed at bridging the genderbased digital divide in the Middle East and North Africa
• A study analyzing the cultural and social factors influencing the use of computers and the Internet in the United States

Duncan Wambogo Omole, University of Nairobi
Embracing Information Technology: The Case of Kenya

Mary Stansbury, Kent State University
Understanding the Digital Divide

Diane Hopkins, Susan O'Neil Johnson, Arleen Canata, World Bank
Electronic Libraries in Developing Countries

Moderator
Hong Xu, University of Pittsburgh 

Bibliometrics
(Contributed Papers)

Theodore Morris, Kent State University
Visualizing the Structure of Medical Informatics Using Term CoOccurrence Analysis: II. INSPEC Perspective

William White, Rutgers University
The Contribution of Bibliometric Methods to a Theory of Scientific Communication

Jodi Williams and Abby Goodrum , Drexel University
Scholarly Publishing on the Web: Link Analysis of the Top 200 Highly Cited Computer Science Articles on the World Wide Web

Building Digital Repositories: A New Role for Academic Libraries
(SIG MGT)

Overview
Increasingly, university libraries are being called on to take an active role in developing systems to capture, manage, distribute and store the digital collections and research products developed by their institutions. In this session, speakers will explore how several libraries have addressed the technical and policy challenges associated with developing an institutional digital repository.

You Will Learn About

• System design and architecture
• Metadata issues
• Authentication and authorization
• Rights management

Presenters
Mackenzie Smith, Harvard University
Thornton Staples, University of Virginia
Michael Bass, HewlettPackard Company
Margret Branschofsky , Massachusetts Institute of Technology

1:30pm Sessions

Viewing the Intellectual Horizons of Information Science
(SIG HFIS)

Overview
In this session, speakers will discuss some of the most recent developments in information theory.

You Will Learn About

• Theories on the role of information as a "thing" (documents, data, and signals) and as a process (the act of becoming informed)
• The interconnections between classification, rhetoric, and the making of knowledge

Moderator
Mikel Breitenstein , Long Island University

Next Generation Usability Testing
(SIG IA)

Overview
In this session, speakers will examine leading-edge approaches to automated usability assessment.

You Will Learn About

• Instrumented browsers
• Remote logging tools
• Intelligent agents

Presenters
Judy Cantor, Giantstep
Sharon Laskowsky, National Institute of Standards and Technology
Melody Ivory, University of California, Berkeley
Bonnie Brown , Vividence
Kelly Rupp, Webcriteria

Genomics, Proteomics and Beyond: Meeting the Information Needs of Bioinformatics Researchers
(SIG STI)

Overview
The Human Genome Project has been called by some researchers the single most important development ever in biology and the biomedical sciences. Because of the project and related research initiatives, vast amounts of biological sequence data (both genes and proteins) have been compiled in a myriad of databases. Now researchers face the tremendous challenge of making sense of these huge amounts of data. The need to manage this vast pool of information resources has led to the rapid expansion of the field of bioinformatics, which encompasses the generation, handling, storage, retrieval and analysis of biological sequence data. Unlike traditional bibliographic databases, bioinformatics resources must be capable of storing, manipulating and analyzing huge quantities of nontextual biological information. In this session, speakers will discuss the burgeoning field of bioinformatics and the challenges posed by such large and complex information resources.

You Will Learn About

• The current and future information needs of bioinformatics researchers
• The accessibility and use of available information resources and services
• Problems that must be solved as research moves from the relatively "simple" world of gene sequencing to the more complex world of protein structure and function

Moderator
Kate McCain, Drexel University

International Digital Library and Information Science and Technology Advances in Developing Countries, 2001
(SIG III)

Overview
Information science experts in developing countries face a unique set of opportunities and challenges as they work to put today's evolving technologies to use to benefit their nations. This session will provide a first-hand look at the issues they face, as the winners of the SIG III 2001 international competition present their research (if a winner is unable to attend an ASIST member will read their paper). The winners, who are all residents of developing nations, will receive a twoyear individual membership in ASIST, and the opportunity to publish their paper.

You Will Learn About

• Efforts to create practical, collaborative applications of information science and technology in developing countries
• The challenges involved in creating digital libraries in developing nations

Moderator
Nathalie Leroy, United Nations

Categorization in Industry: Case Studies
(SIG CR)

Overview
Automatic text categorization can be an invaluable tool for improving the design of retrieval systems and expediting user searches. In this session, speakers will present three case studies exploring how automatic and semi-automatic text categorization is being used in industry.

You Will Learn About

• A project in which queries of an historical photograph database are being topically categorized, so that data from the transaction logs associated with the queries can be mined to suggest improvements in the retrieval system
• How to analyze transaction logs to develop profiles of individual users, so that search results can be individualized, leading to better accuracy and reduced search time for most users
• Ten different categorization technologies that have been developed by LexisNexis over the past twelve years

Presenters
Paul Thompson, University of St. ThomasMark Wasson, LexisNexis
Examining Categorization Technologies in the Context of Product Requirements

Hinrich Schuetze, Outride
Why We Need Individualization for Better Search

Ernie Dornfeld, City of Seattle
Classification of Queries and Query Sessions for a Webaccessible Historical Photograph Database

Moderator
Andrew Grove, Microsoft

3:30pm Sessions

Social Epistemology and Information Science
(SIG HFIS)

Overview
Social epistemology (SE) is defined as "the study of those processes by which society as a whole seeks to achieve a perceptive or understanding relation to the total environment; physical, psychological, and intellectual." Increasingly, information scientists are finding SE theories to be of invaluable assistance in analyzing information systems, particularly citationbased and recommender systems, which depend in part on the user's level of trust in the testimony of others. In this session, speakers will examine how SE theories have been utilized in the information science field.

You Will Learn About

• The historical development of the concept of SE in the literature of information science
• Definitions and applications of SE and their place in information science today
• Two epistemic concepts for information studies

Presenters
John Budd, University of Missouri, Columbia
Don Fallis, University of Arizona
Jonathan Furner, University of California, Los Angeles
Leah Lievrouw , University of California, Los Angeles

U.S. Information Policy in a New Federal Environment
(SIG IFP)

Overview
This session will examine U.S. information policy trends, exploring recent developments and possible future actions.

You Will Learn About

• The National Commission on Library and Information Science's Report on federal information dissemination
• The review of the Paperwork Reduction Act, database protection, and other "hot topics"
• The future of information policy in the new administration and Congress

Presenter
Gail Hodge, Information International Associates

Bringing the PDA into LIS: Applications for Palms and Related Wireless Devices
(SIG LAN)

Overview
The growing popularity of personal digital assistants (PDAs) is opening up an array of new opportunities and challenges for information specialists. In this session, speakers will provide an overview of the PDA application marketplace and explore potential educational and library uses for PDAs.

You Will Learn About

• Library applications for PDAs
• Where PDA and wireless technology is taking libraries

Presenters
Theresa Ross Embrey, Chicago Library System
Gail Thornburg, OCLC
Tony Murillo, Barcode Systems Inc.
Shelley Neville, epixtech, Inc.

Trends in Knowledge Management Initiatives: From the Enterprise Level to the Team Level
(SIG MGT)

Overview
In this session, speakers will explore how the implementation of knowledge management (KM) initiatives has changed in recent years, including its evolution from a strictly enterprise-wide concept to one that also can be applied in a more targeted fashion to teams within an organization or even to individual projects. Speakers also will discuss some key factors to consider when implementing a KM program.

You Will Learn About

• A risk assessment tool that can help identify potential risks to workflow, productivity and other areas that could result from implementing a KM initiative
• A case study highlighting how one company's KM initiative has evolved, including a look at the benefits realized and lessons learned

Presenters
Beverly Colby, Battery Ventures
Kris Liberman, Fiducite
Chris Bednar, Bain & Company, Inc.
James L. Poage, U.S. Department of Transportation
Michael J.D. Sutton, McGill University
A Provisional Knowledge Management Taxonomy – The Need for a Community of Interest to Create an Authoritative Taxonomy (contributed paper) 

Information Architecture: The Value Proposition
(SIG IA)

Overview
In this session, speakers will examine the growing role of information architecture as it applies to both external consultancies and internal integration.

You Will Learn About

• The role of information architecture
• Lessons learned from real-world applications

Presenters
Adam Polansky, Rare Medium
Thomas Haller, Info.Design
Louis Rosenfeld, Argus Associates

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