January 2001--CS 430: Information Discovery with Professor William Arms. This course looks at the methods used to search for and discover information in digital libraries and web information systems. Methods that are covered include information retrieval, which includes techniques for searching, browsing and filtering information, the use of classification systems and thesauruses, and web search systems. CS 502: Computing Methods for Digital Libraries with Professor Herbert Van de Sompel. This course examines the architectural methods used to build information systems, including web information systems, digital libraries and electronic publishing. A central topic is the representation of complex information in computer systems. This includes object models, which describe the relationships between intellectual works and their various manifestatons, and metadata, which is data that describes other data.
Related Link: http://www.cs.cornell.edu/courses/

January 2001--On January 23, 2001 the specifications for the OAI interoperability architecture will be released. This architecture will provide an easy way for data providers to expose their metadata, essentially the cataloging information for their site. This will allow service providers to access that metadata and use it to create value-added services. These specifications will be fixed for a one year period of experimentation. The Open Archives Inititative 'Open Day' to be held in Washington, D.C., will include an overview of the organizational and historical context of the Open Archives Initiative, a detailed presentation of the OAI interoperability architecture, presentations by alpha testers who have experimented with the protocol, and opportunities for break-out groups to facilitate building of communities within the OAI technical framework.

January 2001--Rich Site Summary (RSS) is a lightweight XML format designed for sharing Web content. SITE for Science information architect Rich Marisa uses RSS channel architecture to deliver up-todate science, math, engineering and technology education information as prototype content is built on line. More information about how to use RSS for web site 'information updates' is available http://www.webreference.com/authoring/languages/xml/rss/; as well as http://purl.org/rss/1.0/.

January 2001--The Learning Technology Standards Committee Learning Objects Metadata (LTSC-LOM) Working Group of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) and the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) today announced their joint commitment to develop interoperable metadata for learning, education and training. The joint Memorandum of Understanding is signed by officers representing the LOM Working Group and DCMI.

January 2001--The premiere demonstration of the Cornell 'SITE for Science' is scheduled for the Open Archives Initiative 'Open Day' on January 23. 'SITE for Science' is a core integration system project of the National Science Digital Library Program funded by the National Science Foundation. Using OAI to achieve interoperability, 'SITE for Science' will demonstrate interoperating science information resources in a user interface designed to help teachers and students access online learning resources tailored to their needs.

January 2001--eBookNet is building the eBook community and aims to be the best-known and highest quality place on the Web for people interested in electronic books to exchange news, information, ideas, and writings.

January 2001--Is there an alternative to wireless Internet connectivity?

January 2001--The latest on digital library research, resources, and global initiatives.

January 2001--Visit the NSDL 'Community Forum' and find out how forty-four different National Science Foundation projects are organizing science, mathematics, engineering, and technology education digital resources into an on-line library system to transform science education.

January 2001--'Founded in March of 2000, The dbXML Group L.L.C is dedicated to producing next-generation application development tools for XML and related technologies. Technologies based on XML are becoming incredibly popular. The IT industry has widely accepted XML as the preferred mechanism for data exchange and representation in the next generation of information systems. These applications will need a robust mechanism for storing this XML data and it is this problem that we have targeted with our first product, the dbXML XML Database Application Server. This server vastly simplifies the development of XML based applications by removing the unnecessary overhead of mapping XML to legacy relational databases.'

January 2001--An interview with Jeffery Veen, noted web design pioneer, about his new book, 'The Art and Science of Web Design.'