Editorial
In this issue
We have a diverse set of papers in this issue, with, however, some relationships. Thus, two papers deal with aspects of the information professions and five are Web-related.
Turning first to the two papers on the profession or professions. In one, a Working Paper, Miriam Vieira da Cunha has analysed job vacancies in Brazil, advertised on the Internet. Her principal finding is rather interesting, given the 'hype' surrounding the idea of the new information professional:
Yet, in spite of the changes and of the reorganization of the workspace, and of new partnerships, the informational field in Brazil still is resistant to expansion, and shows little sign of change. We must conclude that job opportunities in the information field in our country continue to be dominated by the traditional professionals. The data shows that the typical professional advertised using the specific sites and discussion lists on the Internet between January 2005 and February 2008 is a librarian who is a graduate in Library Studies, with information technology experience, required to perform technical and management functions in a private institution in São Paulo.
The other paper dealing with a professional group is by Hemalata Iyer on the development and implementation of standards for visual resources management. In this, the first of two papers (the second will be published in the next issue), the author presents the organization's view on what is needed through an analysis of job advertisements. Perhaps because of the focus on a very narrow area of professional activity, her conclusions are very different from those of da Cunha
Overall, visual resources appears to be an emerging area of knowledge and expertise that needs to be systematically addressed. This is indeed a profession in transition moving from slide curators and slide librarians to a field that encompasses a broad range of skills applicable in a wide range of environments.
The five Web-related papers are quite diverse: Deborah Soun Chung and Kwan Yi examine how news stories are shared on the Delicious Website; EunKyung Chung and JungWon Yoon explore the differences between user-supplied tags and search query terms for images through an analysis of user-supplied tags on the Flickr photography site and Web search terms; and Sara Kjellberg explores scholarly blogging practice within a framework based on genre theory. These three papers are about interaction, the remaining two in this group deal with publication, although in different ways. First, in a contribution in Spanish, Enrique Orduña-Malea and Joséö-Antonio Ontalba-Ruipéörez, propose metrics for determining the impact of Web newspapers through their citation on the Menéame social bookmarking site. In the second paper Mohammad Hanief Bhat presents the results of research on open access publishing in Indian research institutions, finding that very little of the output of these institutions is openly available and then mainly through Indian open access journals.
The final paper, which doesn't fit into either of these two groups is a study of the information needs and the information sources of dairy farmers in Inner Mongolia by Yuanfeng Zhao, Ruijin Zhang and K. K. Klein who conclude:
Small-scale farmers in the key dairy production area of Inner Mongolia still operate their businesses on the basis of limited industry information but most have recognized the need for improved availability of accurate information and appear willing to share in the cost of providing it. There appears to be an opportunity for government and private organizations to work together to develop advanced information dissemination systems for small dairy producers in Inner Mongolia.
Finally, we have a smaller than usual set of book reviews (which probably means we shall have a lot in December!). They are diverse, as usual, however, covering ontologies for the Semantic Web, the economics of ordinary knowledge, managing information for research, searching and how to employ graphics effectively. There should be something for everyone there. I would particularly recommend Hardin's book on ordinary knowledge as offering ideas for information research.
My thanks, as usual, to the Associate Editors, copy-editors, referees and my colleagues at Lund University Libraries for helping to bring this collection to your screen.
Professor Tom Wilson, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
June, 2009