Prospects for the global Internet: new techniques for delivering rich digital collections to users world‐wide

Abstract

Every user of the World Wide Web understands why the WWW is often ridiculed as the World Wide Wait. The WWW and other applications on the Internet have been developed with a client‐server orientation that, in its simplest form, involves a centralized information repository to which users (clients) send requests. This single‐server model suffers from performance problems when clients are too numerous, when clients are physically far away in the Network, when the materials being delivered become very large and hence stress the wide‐area bandwidth, and when the information has a real‐time delivery component as with streaming audio and video materials. Engineering information delivery solutions that break the single‐site model has become an important aspect of next‐generation WWW delivery systems. Intends to help the information professional understand what new directions the delivery infrastructure of the WWW is taking and why these technical changes will impact users around the globe, especially in bandwidth‐poor areas of the Internet.

Information limits: definition, typology and types

“…Nevertheless, the majority of detailed typologies are connected with using a single source of information: for example, a library (Mount, 1966; Chacha and Irving, 1991; Andrews, 1991; Vanes, 1993; Westbrook, 2003); the internet (Dempsey, 2000; Ming, 2000; Cullen, 2001; Younis, 2002; Brophy and Craven, 2007; D'Aubin, 2007); a special kind of information, e.g. medical information (Wales, 2000); patent information (Hall et al , 1999, 2000); European information (Marcella, 2001); or in the context of everyday‐life information seeking (Harris and Dewdney, 1994, Julien, 1999).…”

“…Several types of environmental limits can be specified: Legal barriers – judicial barriers, legal policy barriers, ownership, copyright, confidential information (Mount, 1966; Engelbert, 1974; Haag, 1989; Perkins, 1997; Hertzum and Pejtersen, 2000; Moreno et al , 2009). Financial barriers – economic barriers, lack of financial support, high prices of access to databases, high prices of books and journals, costs of international travels to libraries and others institutions, sometimes cost of users' time; on the other hand financial issues are connected with library and other institutional equipment and services (Engelbert, 1974; Line and Vickers, 1983; Haag, 1989; Lundeen et al , 1994; Wilson, 1997; Hertzum and Pejtersen, 2000; Hall et al , 1999; Wales, 2000; Monopoli and Nicholas, 2000; Dempsey, 2000; Nicholas, 2001; D'Elia et al , 2002; Świgoń, 2006; Revere et al , 2007; Khasseh et al , 2009). Geographical barriers – distance to libraries and other information sources; isolation from big scientific institutions in home country and abroad (Line and Vickers, 1983; Haag, 1989; Vanes, 1993; Lundeen et al , 1994; Applebee et al , 2000).…”

“… Political barriers – (ideological, censorship) related to current political situation in the country and the world, and protection of the country's interests by means of censoring information or classifying the results of certain research (Engelbert, 1974; Haag, 1989; Havemann, 1996; Park, 1997; Perkins, 1997; Liu, 1997). Cultural barriers – national barriers, related to the differences in cultures of countries and nations; (Buckland, 1991; Vanes, 1993; Sligo and Jameson, 2000; Dempsey, 2000; REFLECT, 2002; Schaafsma et al , 2003). …”

“…Financial barriers – economic barriers, lack of financial support, high prices of access to databases, high prices of books and journals, costs of international travels to libraries and others institutions, sometimes cost of users' time; on the other hand financial issues are connected with library and other institutional equipment and services (Engelbert, 1974; Line and Vickers, 1983; Haag, 1989; Lundeen et al , 1994; Wilson, 1997; Hertzum and Pejtersen, 2000; Hall et al , 1999; Wales, 2000; Monopoli and Nicholas, 2000; Dempsey, 2000; Nicholas, 2001; D'Elia et al , 2002; Świgoń, 2006; Revere et al , 2007; Khasseh et al , 2009).…”

“…Cultural barriers – national barriers, related to the differences in cultures of countries and nations; (Buckland, 1991; Vanes, 1993; Sligo and Jameson, 2000; Dempsey, 2000; REFLECT, 2002; Schaafsma et al , 2003).…”