Concerned Technology

Abstract

In May 1988 UNESCO set up a Regional Seminar ‐‐ ‘New Technologies for Handicapped in Special Education’ ‐‐at the Wenner‐Gren Centre at Sveavagen in Stockholm, Sweden. This short paper reflects initial draft statements on the conference and is included here to identify the extent of common apprehensions and expectations. It covers the areas of information services, studies and research activities, international co‐operation through staff exchanges and conference activities, and looks briefly at future trends.     

Diversity in the Information Seeking Behaviour of the Virtual Scholar: Institutional Comparisons

The logs of four universities using the OhioLINK journal system were evaluated for a period of fifteen months using deep log analysis methods in order to compare and contrast the information seeking behaviour of their users. Large differences were found, especially between the research and teaching universities. Methodological problems associated with making the comparisons are discussed in some detail especially in terms of defining online sessions.     

人之悟感发展与教育的生本化改革

悟感是一种前意识现象,其主要功能在于提供产生感悟的基础和激活思想。悟感在人的精神生活中起着普遍的基础性作用,具有可求同性、能动性、对于符号世界的蕴涵性以及使认识回归本体的还原性。儿童的悟感与生俱来,又在他们的自主活动中发展,因而儿童是最重要的教育资源。教育要取得成效,就要高度尊重和全面依靠学生,即实施生本教育。     

Access — the Problem and Potential

The article sketches the centrality of 'access' to Government thinking but questions the compatibility of this ideological commitment with the current funding regime. Whilst focussing upon the success of 'access courses' in promoting alternative, high quality routes to higher education it indicates the depth of cultural and institutional change required if access and mass higher education are to become realities. By clearly distinguishing between expansion and opening access, the article makes some pragmatic suggestions as to how the latter can be achieved.     

Project ISLA: A space/time/full-text/format search and retrieval system designed by end users

This article discusses the role of end users in the design of a multi-format digital library project (ISLA) being developed at the University of Southern California Library for the study of the Los Angeles region. ISLA focuses on the specific needs of cross-disciplinary research involving large urban regions.     

What do they know?: An assessment of undergraduate library skills

This article, which examines variables affecting scores on a test of library skills, finds that the frequency with which students receive assignments requiring library research is the best predictor of a score. The unevenness is students' research skills has implications for bibliographic instruction.     

Aid policy for universities in developing countries: A British view

This article draws attention to the implications of recent British government policy decisions for cooperation with universities in developing countries. The writer, the former head of the Inter-University Council for Higher Education Overseas, suggests that the increasing amount of central government control has led to a deterioration. Traditional governmental methods of organising technical assistance are unduly expensive in terms of cost and staff time and are unsuited to the type of institution-to-institution collaboration which is essential if aid programmes are to he effectively focussed upon key universities in the Third World. There has been an unnecessary proliferation of in-house expertise in various government or semi-government agencies. The author calls for a return to the de-centralised policy of the late 1960s when the government helped British universities to reconstitute the Inter-University Council for Higher Education Overseas. The present policy of merging the activities of organisations such as the British Council and the Inter-University Council under the Overseas Development Administration is criticised and a case made for recognising that higher education should be a separate and distinct element in the programme for each country. Such activities are best handled by a single specialist agency which uses the method of facilitating direct collaboration between identified institutions.[/p]