The Text Encoding Initiative (TEI), an international collaboration aimed at producing a common encoding scheme for complex texts, examines the requirement for generality versus the requirement to handle specialized text types. Discusses how documents and users tax the limits of fixed schemes requiring flexible extensible encoding to support…

Presents a method for augmenting a Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) document repository with database functionality. Introduces an implementation method for a complex-object modeling technique, and describes interface techniques tailored for text databases and concepts for a Structured Document Database Management System (SDDBMS)…

Discussion of Web linking behavior and how to define a Web document focuses on a study of United Kingdom university Web sites that investigated the association between research productivity of the university and the number of incoming links from its peers' Web sites. Defines three alternative heuristics for counting links. (LRW)

Discusses the relationship and value of semiotics to the established domains of information science. Highlights include documentation; computer operations; the language of computing; automata theory; linguistics; speech and writing; and the written language as a unifying principle for the document and the computer. (93 references) (LRW)

Addresses three issues of library science in the United States during the 20th century: (1) use of European documentation efforts; (2) the "information science versus library science" argument; and (3) technological innovation in librarianship. Also examines the role of technology in library science at the University of Chicago's…

Guidelines are presented for categorizing, documenting, and storing a historical videotape collection. Causes of videotape deterioration are discussed. (Contains three references.) (SLW)

Describes a study in which drug information leaflets given to patients were improved in two ways, first by adding a short introductory paragraph on the nature of side effects generally, and second by adjusting frequency descriptors to more accurately reflect pretesting of the drug. Explains that participants in the study were less likely to…

Explains the use of a topological structure to examine the closeness between documents in retrieval systems and analyzes the topological structure of a vector-space model, a fuzzy-set model, an extended Boolean model, a probabilistic model, and a TIRS (Topological Information Retrieval System) model. Proofs for the results are appended. (17…

Describes the history and methodology of a project to compile an annotated bibliography of published critical research on young adult literature. Preliminary findings include recommended book lists, articles by young adult authors, author studies, and topic analyses. Recommendations for future research are included. (EAM)

Outlines the process of planning and developing a multimedia documentation project. Discusses audience, task, and information analysis; selection of the most appropriate media; effective design; establishment of the development team; hardware and software requirements; costs; and project planning. (SR)

Argues that technical communicators should have a working definition of icons, know when to use them, and understand some of the problems inherent in icon design. Recommends using a workable icon classification system and adhering to some practical design guidelines. (SR)

Raises fundamental questions about the scope of information science and information retrieval, and illustrates how it has evolved over the last 60 years. The work of European documentalists is described, the terminology of multimedia is examined, and image handling is discussed as a method of focusing on representations other than text. (12…

States that it is theoretically, educationally, and pragmatically imperative that business and technical communicators become familiar with and informed about the legal issues surrounding products liability. Discusses the theories of negligence, breach of warranty, and strict liability. Offers guidelines for writing and organizing to avoid…

Shows how to minimize risk of an IRS audit and how to avoid traps caused by improper documentation and reporting requirements. Outlines the most likely audit areas for business tax returns. These include cash business; for sole proprietors, Schedule C; S and C corporation salary issues; shareholder loans; contractors versus employees; fringe…

Discusses data exchange over the Internet and describes the architecture and implementation of an XML document repository that promotes a navigation paradigm for XML documents based on content and context. Topics include information retrieval and semistructured documents; and file systems as information storage infrastructure, particularly XMLFS.…