*Apologies for cross posting*


Update 2004
The Annual Conference of the Aslib IT & Communications Special Interest 
Group
Danbury Park, Chelmsford, Essex
12 - 14 May 2004
Join us for an interesting, varied programme and enjoy good company in 
pleasant surroundings.

Wednesday evening
8:00
Blogging - the next big thing or just a fad
Mark Brady, Researcher, University of Essex.

Mark will describe the concept of web logging (or blogging) which is 
increasing its profile and perhaps moving into the mainstream. Blogging 
is an easy-to-use web publishing tool that allows people to converse 
over the internet. Ph.D. students are blogging their research work. 
Disney Corp use blogging to communicate within teams. Lucent's library 
collect blogs within their company in the same way they do journals and 
reports. Mark will help you understand blogging and what it might offer you.

Thursday
9:00
An Introduction to Data Fusion
Blaise Egan, Principal Research Statistician BT

What is it? What is it good for? What are the principal challenges? Data 
fusion promises to bring information and data from a variety of sources 
and present it in a simple, usable way.

10:30
Proving the value of information
Ann Clarke, British Library

A recent study by the British Library showed that for every £1 of public 
money the library receives it gives back £4 to the economy. On top of 
this, the library generates an additional £363m, and without it, the 
report argues, the economy would lose £280m a year. Ann will describe 
the methodology used in the study and stimulate discussion of how it can 
be applied in your own information service or library.

2:00
Now you see it, now you don't -- how XML is changing the face of online 
searching
Jonathon Eaton, Electronic Resources Manager
London Business School
The increasing use of eXtensible Markup Language (XML) and Web Services 
has created new development opportunities for different kinds of 
information service providers to offer new search interfaces and 
integration tools based around Application Programming Interfaces 
(APIs).  These tools enable searching functions in software applications 
other than the web browser.  This model promises to reach a wide market 
in Microsoft's new Office 2003 suite, where it's possible to select text 
in a document or spreadsheet and then pass it as a search to Factiva or 
Amazon.  The  "open" nature of the XML and web services model means that 
no single platform or vendor has a monopoly on this new functionality. 
This paper will examine in outline the new infrastructure that promises 
to transform how (and from where) we search online in future.

3:30
Mining text for trends
Dr David Holland Smith, DSTL Team Leader Knowledge Research

David will describe the technique of database tomography used to extract 
intelligence and trends from textual databases. He will discuss how the 
technique works and give information about how it is applied in DSTL and 
perhaps suggest how attendees might apply similar techniques in their 
own systems.


Friday morning
9:00
What's really happening to scholarly communication?
Sally Morris, Chief Executive
Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers

This talk will look at the pressures for change in the current 
situation, the way publishers are reacting, the extent to which scholars 
are (or are not) reacting, and where we go from here (including 
discussion of the possible pros and cons of Open Access)

10:30
Emerging Metadata and Identifier Standards
Cliff Morgan, Planning & Development Director
John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Libraries and their systems depend upon identifying and describing 
material. Established identifiers such as the ISBN and ISSN are being 
revised and new identifiers such as the DOI and ISTC are already being 
used or on the verge of being launched. MARC is not the only metadata 
scheme with which librarians need to be familiar, with Dublin Core, ONIX 
and ONIX for Serials all having significance. Cliff will discuss 
emerging metadata and identifier standards that will impact libraries 
and library systems.

The conference is held at Danbury Park, just outside Chelmsford.

Aslib members £399, non-members £469

Contact David Alsmeyer([log in to unmask]) for more information



-- 
Sally Patalong
Publicity, IT&C Group.