Infobits is an electronic service of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ITS Teaching and Learning's Center for Instructional Technology. Each month the CIT's Information Resources Consultant monitors and selects from a number of information and instructional technology sources that come to her attention and provides brief notes for electronic dissemination to educators.

Smart Mobs
The Internet Goes to College
Electronic Scholarly Publishing Articles
Is Fair Use Dying?
Educational Technology Shapers of the Future
Recommended Reading
Editor's Note

SMART MOBS

Howard Rheingold, author of The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier and Tools for Thought: The History and Future of Mind-Expanding Technology, recently gave a talk at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He spoke on the topic of his forthcoming book, Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution [due out November 2002].

"Smart mobs emerge when communication and computing technologies amplify human talents for cooperation. The impacts of smart mob technology already appear to be both beneficial and destructive, used by some of its earliest adopters to support democracy and by others to coordinate terrorist attacks. The technologies that are beginning to make smart mobs possible are mobile communication devices and pervasive computing - inexpensive microprocessors embedded in everyday objects and environments."

In 1985, Rheingold became involved in the WELL [Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link], an online conferencing system, which led to his continuing interest in and writings about virtual communities. Rheingold's "Smart Mobs" website at http://www.smartmobs.com/ contains links and references to materials that he cites in the book. Links to Rheingold's writings and projects are available at http://www.rheingold.com/

THE INTERNET GOES TO COLLEGE

"The Internet Goes to College: How Students are Living in the Future with Today's Technology" (September 15, 2002) reports on the findings of a Pew Internet & American Life Project survey of U.S. students at two-year and four-year public and private colleges and universities between March 2002 and June 2002. Some of the study's findings include:

-- 79% of college Internet users say the Internet has had a positive impact on their college academic experience.

-- 73% of college Internet users use it for research more than they use the library.

-- Nearly half of college Internet users email ideas to professors that they wouldn't dare say in class.

-- 56% believe that email has enhanced their relationship with professors.

The complete report is available on the Web at http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/toc.asp?Report=71

The Pew Internet & American Life Project is an initiative of the Pew Research Center and funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts. The Project creates and funds original, academic-quality research that explores the impact of the Internet on children, families, communities, the work place, schools, health care, and civic/political life. For more information, go to http://www.pewinternet.org/

ELECTRONIC SCHOLARLY PUBLISHING ARTICLES

Recent articles and papers on the topic of electronic scholarly publishing include:

"Talking Past Each Other: Making Sense of the Debate over Electronic Publication" by David J. Solomon
First Monday, vol. 7, no. 8, August 2002
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue7_8/solomon/index.html

The paper discusses how electronic dissemination affects the three core functions of the peer-review system for scholarly publications: "the ranking of scholarship, facilitating interactive communication among scholars, and creating a comprehensive archive of scholarly and scientific knowledge."

First Monday [ISSN: 1396-0466] is an online, peer-reviewed journal whose aim is to publish original articles about the Internet and the global information infrastructure. It is published in cooperation with the University Library, University of Illinois at Chicago. For more information, contact: First Monday, c/o Edward Valauskas, Chief Editor, PO Box 87636, Chicago IL 60680-0636 USA; email: ejv@uic.edu; Web: http://firstmonday.dk/

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"The Use of Electronic-Only Journals in Scientific Research" by Richard D. Llewellyn, Lorraine J. Pellack, and Diana D. Shonrock
Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, Summer 2002
http://www.istl.org/02-summer/refereed.html

The article surveys the state of "e-only" journals and their growing acceptance in the scientific research community. The authors touch upon the perceived impermanence of electronic materials, problems with citing these materials, and considerations, especially for libraries, for further study.

Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship [ISSN: 1092-1206] covers materials of interest to science and technology librarians. It is published quarterly by the Science & Technology Section of the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL). For more information, contact: Andrea L. Duda, Editor; email: aduda@istl.org; Web: http://www.istl.org/
For more information about ACRL, link to http://www.ala.org/acrl/

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"Scholarly Reviews Through the Web" by Sarah Milstein
New York Times, August 12, 2002
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/12/technology/12NECO.html

The article describes how publishers of peer-reviewed journals are using the Web to streamline the review process.

For more online New York Times articles, link to http://www.nytimes.com/

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The October 2002 issue of Cites & Insights: Crawford at Large includes several articles on scholarly publication:

"Who's Going to Preserve E-Zine Content?"
"Ebooks and Etext"
"The Access Puzzle: Notes on Scholarly Communication"

The issue is available on the Web (in PDF format) at http://home.att.net/~wcc.techx/civ2i13.pdf

Cites & Insights: Crawford at Large [ISSN 1534-0937] is a free, online newsletter self-published by Walt Crawford, a senior analyst at the Research Libraries Group, Inc. Current and back issues are available on the Web at http://home.att.net/~wcc.techx/
For more information contact: Walt Crawford, The Research Libraries Group, Inc., 1200 Villa Street, Mountain View, CA 94041-1100 USA; tel: 650-691-2227; email: wcc@notes.rlg.org; Web: http://walt.crawford.home.att.net/

IS FAIR USE DYING?

"Recent actions by Congress and the federal courts -- and many more all-too-common acts of cowardice by publishers, colleges, developers of search engines, and other concerned parties -- have demonstrated that fair use, while not quite dead, is dying. And everyone who reads, writes, sings, does research, or teaches should be up in arms. The real question is why so few people are complaining." So writes Professor Siva Vaidhyanathan (Department of Culture & Communication, New York University) in his recent opinion piece, "Copyright as Cudgel" (The Chronicle of Higher Education, August 2, 2002, p. B7). Vaidhyanathan recounts events, laws, and lawsuits that threaten academe's right to fair use of intellectual property in the U.S. The article is available at http://chronicle.com/free/v48/i47/47b00701.htm

The Chronicle of Higher Education [ISSN 0009-5982] is published weekly by The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inc., 1255 Twenty-third Street, NW, Washington, DC 20037 USA; tel: 202-466-1000; fax: 202-452-1033; Web: http://chronicle.com/

EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY SHAPERS OF THE FUTURE

The September/October 2002 issue of Converge magazine lists their picks for the "Shapers of the Future 2002" -- "today's leaders and innovators who have dreamed and accomplished mighty things in technology and education." Each person's profile also includes email and web links. The article is available online at http://www.convergemag.com/magazine/story.phtml?id=3030000000022198

Converge: Education >> Technology >> Fast Forward [ISSN: 1530-3357] is published monthly by e.Republic, Inc., 100 Blue Ravine Rd., Folsom, CA 95630 USA; tel: 916-932-1300; fax: 916-932-1470; email: oamador@convergemag.com; Web: http://www.convergemag.com/
Subscription information is available at http://www.convergemag.com/subscribe/

Information Technology Services at UNC-Chapel Hill

Teaching and Learning

CIT Infobits - September, 2002

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