Web 1
Introduction
Internet revolutionized communications and way of commerce by allowing large
number of computer networks around the world to interconnect. Internet provides
powerful means that allows it to be used for almost all the purposes that
depends on information and accessible by every individual who connects to one
of its constituent networks (Jain, 2012). When the Internet was first born as a
military electronic communication project in the 1960’s no one had thought that
the Internet along with all its services that run over its infrastructure will
become an important part of our life. There are so many definitions of internet
but the easiest way to think of the internet is a network of networks that consists of millions of private,
public, academic, business, and government networks (Whittaker, 2002).
Evaluating
and employing appropriate technologies for the digital representation of
information
Information retrieval means finding specific
information from stored data. There have been efforts of the scholars and
librarians to retrieve right information at right time. At every age, available
tools and techniques were used for retrieval. This age is considered as the age
of computer and Digital Technology which uses computer to store, process and
retrieval of information speedily. Information Retrieval deals with
unstructured information and focuses on the ranked recovery of documents from
archives by the probabilistic matching of document contents with natural
language requests using relevance as a test (Macfarlane, 2011). Request is made
for information to a database where the information is stored in a way that
could be retrieved easily. There are many ways of evaluating the results of
retrieval systems for example its relevancy of the result against a query or
search term, its recall precision value and user satisfaction.
Any retrieval model is judged by the result derived from it. There are
two main types of information retrieval or search models that are, the exact
match and the best mach. Both models are used to get the relevant documents
related to a query made by users.
Exact match deals with precise retrieval. It is based on Boolean logic
using AND, OR, and NOT operator. The best match doesn’t require any operator it
allows users to enter a natural language query which fetch a ranked list of
documents which describes good or best. Choosing the right retrieval model is
important to get the relevant results as the requested information type varies
from data, images, audio etc. According to (Morville and Rosenfeld ,2007) when
a user knows what he/she is looking for at the same time he /she wants to find
similar information search term. This need of the user is fulfilled by search
engines that give users
the option to find the similar pages. While using the search engines like
Google and Bing, I used some quires to retrieve information from a data base of
the query. I found that exact matching either
retrieves very few or so many documents. As (Chowdhury ,2004) points out
regarding
precision evaluation method of information retrieval that a user has to decide what results are
relevant from their results list. Therefore, evaluation of information
retrieval is based on opinions. He further says that everyone has different
information needs, so a piece of information that may be relevant to someone
may not be relevant to another. So it depends upon users what is relevant for
them.
Managing data with
appropriate information technologies:
There are so many retrieval models to manage
data one of them is the Boolean model. It is the most common exact match model.
It has three operators, AND/OR/NOT which plays important role in the retrieval
of document. In this model when we put the search term in the search Box it combines words and phrases using the words AND, OR, NOT
to limit, widen, or define the search and the words searched are compared to the index. On
the other hand, when the user uses the search engine in advance search, it
gives option to create a query to use the operators, because the operators are
an integral part of the search page in the search engine.
On
the contrary (Chowdhury, 2004) pointed out that the Boolean model has some
disadvantages, the results created through the system does not indicate which
of the results are the most related to a query. (Langville and Meyer ,2006) have further pointed out some disadvantages
and say that the terms that are searched against the index do not search
synonyms. They on the other hand presented
another model which allows the results for a query to be listed in order of
relevance. But according to them this model is not for a large amount of
documents that need to be stored.
However, Information
retrieval of non-structured information depends mainly on indexing, which can
be achieved by 3-4 steps:
1. Identify the fields such as Author, title,
date etc to maximize accuracy
2. Removing Stop words by splitting up text with
blank spaces
3. Stemming by removing suffixes e.g. water,
waters, watered and watering as they all lead to one meaning.
4. Synonyms, specifying a list of similar
meaning words will increase the relevant results.
Conclusions
Due to the exponential growth of information, information retrieval
models and searching techniques have been considered an important tool to
access the required information at right time. Accessing required information
at right time is only possible if the information is managed in an easily
accessible and user friendly way and we are aware of different methods of retrieval.
However this study has given me good understanding of Information retrieval methods and its various models. Especially
the Boolean searching Method which is used by
most Internet search engines and Web directories as default search parameters
but a good Web searcher should know how to use basic Boolean operators. It further made me learnt about various digital
information technologies such as Web search that allows much more flexibility
and access to information by using natural language.
References
Chowdhury, G.G. (2004) Introduction to Modern Information Retrieval.
London: Facet.
Jain, P. (2012) Internet Service Provider.
[Online] Available from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/746032/Internet-service-provider-ISP [Accessed 05th Aug 2012]
Langville, A.N. and Meyer, C.D. (2006) Google’s Page Rank and beyond:
the science of search engine ranking. Oxford: Princeton University Press.
MacFarlane, A. (2011) Session04-Information Retrieval INM348: Digital
Information Technologies and Architectures. (Online) [Accessed 28 July
2012]
Morville, P. and Rosenfeld, L. (2007) Information Architecture for
the World Wide Web. 3 rd.
End. CA : O’Relly.
Whitaker, J. (2002) the internet: the basic. London:
Rutledge.
Blog address: http://asma-library.blogspot.com/ [Accessed 01 Aug 2012]
Web2.0
Introduction:
The information communication environment is continuously changing.
The ways in which people today communicate, interact, acquire and share
knowledge have changed due to advancements in the information and communication
technologies. Users no longer want to be passive consumer of information but
would like to contribute and share their recommendations, views, knowledge and
opinions with other likeminded peers Web 2.0 is one of the new emerging
technologies which is utilized in various fields to make the services more
interactive. Web 2.0 has its application in many spheres, it facilitates users
to express their views and publish them online through the services of Web2.0 (Anderson,
2007)
Using the Internet and evolving standards and
technologies associated with the World Wide Web to publish information in
effective and accessible ways:
Today Internet has become the indispensable need of the people. It
has changed the direction of surfing internet from checking e-mail to an active
content creator. They can not only find the information, rather they can create
information, discus and present/publish new idea on the net in a variety of
medium and get interacted to large number of people, all this activities and
services allowed and provided by the web
is called web 2.0
Web2.0 is the label attached to new capabilities and services
offered by the second generation WWW that facilitate online collaboration and
sharing among users. These capabilities include Social Networking, Wikis,
Instant messaging, and Social Tagging.
According to O’Reilly (2005)
“application that make the most of the intrinsic advantages of that platform:
delivering software as a continually-Updated
service that gets better as more people use it, consuming and remixing
data from multiple sources, including individual user, while providing their
own data and service in a form that allows remixing by others, creating network
effects through an architecture of participation and going beyond the page
metaphor of Web 1.0 to deliver rich user experiences”.
There are many advantages of web 2.0 over
web 1.0 some are mentioned below:
·
The web
2.0 users can create and design their own web pages in a short time; they can
add the text, video, news in the created page. Moreover users no need to learn
HTML and access any software to create the web pages for example the Wikipedia
(Anderson, 2007).
·
Social
networking: allows the users to connect together the best examples are the
Facebook and twitter. According to Butterworth (2011) Web 2.0 has been the
easier and cheaper technology that allows the users to do the web pages with
the help of internet and computer.
Identifying appropriate and
innovative methods of digital data representation and organization and
assessing their potential for use in the information sciences
Tools and Technologies
Technologies that are associated with the Web 2.0 include the
following:
Mash up
A Mash up is a combination of data sources to create a unified
interface and experience. It is a term that's become popular to describe Web
2.0-ish sites that combine the features or functions of one website with
another.
There are a number of platform that can be used to create mashups,
e.g. Intel Mash Maker, Google Mash up editor, Yahoo pipes, Microsoft Profile,
Serena Mash up Editor etc.
Ajax (Asynchronous Java
Script and XML)
AJAX (Asynchronous Java Script and XML) is a group of inter related
web development techniques used for creating web application more interactive.
The technology facilitates web pages to interact with users by exchanging small
amounts of data with the server “behind the scene”.
Application Programmer
Interface (API):
It is developed by (API) developed by Library Management System
vendors and service providers, i.e. Amazon.com and search engines such as
Google. These are also web service based and many have a low implementation
barrier. Some are based on PHP code (Butterworth, 2011).
Google Web Toolkit
Google Web Toolkit is an open source Java software development
framework that makes it easy to develop and debug AJAX applications. It also
provides widgets to construct the user interface elements comprising an AJAX
application. So AJAX GWT overcomes the limitations of writing AJAX applications
using a mix of technologies, while offering users the same dynamic, standard
compliment experience.
Web
applications and popular services:
Web 2.0 is the network as platform,
spanning all connected devices; Web 2.0 applications are those that make the
most of the intrinsic advantages of that platform: delivering software as a
continually-updated service that gets better the more people use it, consuming
and remixing data from multiple sources, including individual users, while
providing their own data and services in a form that allows remixing by others,
creating network effects through an “architecture of participation,” and going
beyond the page metaphor of Web 1.0 to deliver rich user experiences.
In other words, Web 2.0 has enormous
potential to bring user-generated content to the Internet. The idea is to free
data from corporative control and allow anyone to assemble and locate content
to meet their own needs or the needs of clients. Rather than having to conform
to the paths laid out for us by content owners or their intermediaries, we create
the content (Anderson, 2007).
There are so many usefulness of the
web 2.0 in Library services point of view, such as instant messaging (IM),
text-based communication between two or more participants over the internet or
intranet is being used by Libraries to facilitate reference service in online
mode called reference Librarian or reference desk or ask a Librarian which is
more interactive. Another application is Streaming
media, one of the important Web 2.0 enhancements that enable real-time or
on-demand access to audio, video, and multimedia content via the Internet or an
intranet. Streaming media is transmitted by a specialized media server
application, and is processed and played back by a client player application,
as it is received, leaving behind no residual copy of the content on the
receiving device. Streaming allows timely, dynamic content to be seen by a
larger, even global audience, helping to cost-effectively disseminate
information, to address new markets, and to bring corporate culture closer to
far-reaching constituencies. It is used to provide the Library instructions,
short films and Music to the users. Short films, Music and different forms of
streaming media are catalogued and given to the users. YouTube and Flicker are
used for this purpose (Thomas, 2006)
Social Networking, One of the most
important applications of web 2.0, allows grouping of
individuals into specific groups, especially in schools or in the
workplace. Examples include Facebook, MySpace for social networking and
LinkedIn for professional networking have open up new ways of users to connect
to each other, engage in discussions and share content dynamically with other
users. It provides great opportunities for Librarians to interact with their
users. The website of the Library is being used effectively for this purpose to
understand the behavior of the users and accordingly design service to meet the
needs of the users.
Another application of Web 2.0 is Wikis which is often used to create collaborative websites and to
power community websites. An example of a large wiki is the Wikipedia, a free
encyclopedia in many languages that anyone can edit.
Many news-related sites, weblogs and other online publishers
syndicate their content as an RSS
feed to whoever wants it. It provides users a way to syndicate and
republish content on the Web. Such syndication of the content is another web
2.0 application that is already having an impact on Libraries, and could
continue to do so in remarkable ways.
Similarly Blogs have many applications in the library. Librarians
can utilize it potentially for the advancement of services such as Current
Awareness Service (CAS), Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI), Online
Teaching and Internal Communication etc.
Utilizing recent advances in information and
communications technology to support the successful completion of a wide range
of information related tasks with proficiency and efficiency in an online digital
environment:
The
effect of Web 2.0 services on libraries and education:
Application of web2.0 tools and technologies to Libraries resulted
in the coining of the term “Library2.0”. Therefore, here let us see some
important changes takes place after becoming the Library2.0. It enables users
in finding and sharing of information. It recognizes that human beings do not
seek and utilize information as individuals, but as communities. There are
drastic effects have been observed after implementing web 2.0 in library
especially if we compare with Web1.0.
·
Email
reference/Q&A pages are now used as
Chat reference
- Text-based tutorials can be used as
Streaming media tutorials with interactive databases
- Email mailing lists, webmasters can be
replaced by Blogs, wikis, RSS feeds
- Controlled classification schemes converted
into Tagging coupled with controlled schemes
- OPAC now became Personalized social network
interface
- Catalog of largely reliable print and
electronic holdings now in web 2.0 is Catalog of reliable and suspect
holdings, web-pages, blogs, wikis, etc. (Arora,2008)
Web 2.0 or Library 2.0 allows Users to participate in the creation of the content and
services they view within the library's web-presence. It provides a multi-media experience in both the collections and
services of Library. It is considered
as socially rich because it provides both synchronous (e.g. IM) and
asynchronous (e.g. wikis) ways for users to communicate with one another and
with librarians. The most important aspect of Library 2.0 is that it is communally innovative. It lies on
the principal of libraries as a community service, and as communities change,
libraries must not only change it with them, albeit library should allow users
to change the library by themselves. It seeks to continually change its
services, to find new ways to allow communities, not just individuals to seek,
find, and utilize information (Maness, 2006)
Conclusion
Web2.0 and its every tool are so powerful that it can bring change
irrespective of time and place. For example the whole world is witness of the
changes brought by social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube
etc. in the Egypt and other Arabian Countries in the Middle East. Application
of web2.0 tools and technologies to Libraries resulted in the coining of the
term “Library2.0”. Earlier in Web1.0 environment users read what others wrote.
However now Web2.0 facilitates users to express their views and publish them
online through service like Blogs and Wikis. The increasing use of social
computing for work, leisure and learning, especially by young internet users,
puts pressure on Library and education institutions to adapt their educational
practices to cope with the new and emerging trends and demand of the new
generation. The process of acceleration of changing in Technology in Libraries
is well charted over the years but looking to the future Librarians to maintain
the new essential technologies along with a careful mix of alertness and
interrogation. Libraries must adapt to
it, much as they did the Web originally, and must continually adapt for the
foreseeable future. In this "perpetual beta" (O'Reilly,
2005), any stability other than the acceptance of instability is insufficient.
My
reflection:
Web2.0 has found its application in several spheres of
activities, which in turn, led to the evaluation of concepts like Business 2.0,
Travel 2.0, Library 2.0, Librarian 2.0 etc. Web 2.0 has wide scope in its
application. So as a student of Information Science I am here concerned with to
learn the use of web 2.0 services in the Libraries. The basic reason for
selecting this topic is to learn the concept and application of Web 2.0 so
that, I could help to get the maximum benefit of its application in the
Libraries of my country and other region of Arabian Peninsula. The study
conducted has been a joyful experience full with knowledge and hands on
experiences. It gave me a broader idea of web2.0 and its several applications
in every field of knowledge. By and large web 2.0 and its tools and technology
are a boon to the human society that made it possible to bring human being more
closely.
References:
Abram, S. (2006)’ Web
2.0, Library 2.0, and Librarian 2.0: Preparing for the 2.0 World’.2(1)
[Online] Available from: http://www.imakenews.com/sirsi/e_article000505688.cfm
[Accessed 06th Aug 2012]
Anderson, P. (2007) what is web? Ideas, technologies and
implications for education, [Online], Available from: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/techwatch/tsw0701b.pdf [Accessed
05 Aug 2012].
Arora, j. (2008) Library2.0: Innovative Technologies for
Building Libraries of Tomorrow.
Butterwoth, R. (2011) Lecture 05: Web 2.0- Because all your
friend live inside your computer, [Online], Available from: http://moodle.city.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=267321 [Accessed
05 Aug 2012].
Butterwoth, R. (2011) Lecture 06: Web services and
Apis, [Online], Available from:
Casey,
M .(1/08/2006) Library 2.0 Theory: Web 2.0 and Its
Implications for Libraries.
[Online] Available from:
http://www.librarycrunch.com/2006/08/_library_20_theory_web_20_and.html [Accessed 07th Aug 2012, GMT: 10:10:15]
Maness, J. (2006) ‘Library
2.0 Theory: Web 2.0 and Its Implications for Libraries’.3 (2)
[Online] Available from : http://www.webology.org/2006/v3n2/a25.html
O’Reilly,T. (2005) Web 2.0 [Online] Available from: http://www.oreillynet.com/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html
[Accessed 07th Aug 2012]
Thomas, S. (2006) Web 2.0 Library 2.0 and the future for library
systems [Online] Available from: http://digital.library.adelaide.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/2440/14789/1/Web2.0.pdf
[Accessed 07th Aug 2012]
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