============================================================================== RED CIENTIFICA PERUANA BASES ============================================================================== El siguiente estudio podri'a ser de intere's para aquellos pensando en implementar o facilitar acceso a los casi inagotables recursos de la Internet, comenzando por las bases de datos locales. -------------------------------------------------------------- Andre's L. Pacheco Staff Engineer Aspen Technology, Inc. ten Canal Park Cambridge, MA 02141 USA Internet e-mail: pacheco@moon.aspentec.com Phone: 1+617+577-0310 x344 Fax: 1+617+577-0303 ACM member since 12/90 #3799129 Internet Society member since 9/92 #1315845 ------- Forwarded Message Date: Wed, 06 Jan 93 12:39:15 -0600 From: githeko@UXA.CSO.UIUC.EDU To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L Subject: Internet Resource Access Barriers I recently completed a small study of the barriers to accessing Internet resources by taking the University of Illinois Library's remote access facility as a case study. Attached is an abstract from my report (I am a PhD student) which may be of interest to some. Jason M. Githeko e-mail: j-githeko@uiuc.edu ABSTRACT Githeko, J. (1992). On-line library catalogs and other Internet resources: Barriers to access. Urbana-Champaign: Author This brief study consists of an examination of the problems experienced by users in the process of accessing resources on the Internet with particular reference to the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Library databases. The study consisted of a questionnaire survey of a section of the student and staff on campus, interview with persons connected with the databases and their provision, and reading of relevant literature on the Library computer system. Most of those interviewees are librarians on campus but include a librarian from the University of Southern California and a programmer from CARL(Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries) in Colorado. The limited response from the survey is insufficient to offer a basis for firm conclusions. However it indicated that users experience problems in accessing the Library databases from remote sites due to complexity of the access procedure as compared to the competing Library terminal system and lack of a clear understanding of system and its resources. The response suggests that remotely accessing Library databases is not a widely used facility on this campus with an estimated user population of 7% or less of the faculty and students. At present the Library has not set clear objectives on how to deal with the new generation of multimedia resources due to an apparent lack of standardization in hardware and other components of the multimedia environment. Network access problems due to barriers of complexity of user-machine interface operation will have to be seriously addressed in order for the full benefits of this relatively new facility to be realized especially for the wider population. It is suggested that the present rapid expansion of the Internet will lead to development of specialized electronic navigators to search, sort, and select information accompanied by the disappearance of the present microcomputer as we know it as the computing functions become secondary. The Internet is expanding at phenomenal rates accompanied with an increase in electronic publishing. The attendant problems of intellectual property protection methods have not yet been resolved although there are some proposals including one hardware solution adopted by the Japanese which makes use of a hardware switch that blocks execution of illegal software and gathers client's usage information for billing purposes. There is no doubt that networking applications are here to stay, however the directions and implications of this relatively new branch of information technology are the subjects of contemporary discussion and debate. This study is my little contribution to an understanding of current trends in network development and usage. ------- End of Forwarded Message .