June 2004 Issue

In March 2004, representatives from 48 leading non-profit medical and scientific societies and publishers announced their commitment to providing free access and distribution of published research findings.

A serendipitous result of the vast amount of information now available on the Internet is that it can be sifted and used by organizations for the betterment of the general population. While some of the health conscious may surf for nutritional data or new exercises, the possible impact of widespread access to this type of information extends far beyond, to diseases that are mysterious, life altering, and—thus far—incurable.

Later this year, Adobe plans release a series of new 2D barcode technology products dubbed the Intelligent Document Platform. The product line, which was beta released at the March AIIM On Demand show, is aimed at government and enterprise users who have to process a mix of online and offline forms.

Most Americans have at least a general understanding of the atrocities of slavery, but that knowledge likely comes from middle school history class, the media, and works from historical figures such as Frederick Douglass. One aspect many are not aware of is how geographically widespread slavery was and how it extended far beyond the small set of Confederate states all the way to the golden state of California.

In an effort to release wireless’ potential, the the New Media Institute (NMI) has launched a Mobile Media Consortium to foster collaborative relationships with mobile-minded companies.

What we think we know about digital asset management and collaboration by teams using rich media assets constantly changes. Today the process differs from only a few years ago due to modern work habits, the economic downturn, and the increased use of outsourced service providers to manage and contribute broadly to projects.

In these days of random hacking and other senseless acts of computer violence, how do you give the people the information they need to do their jobs wherever they are doing them, without saddling them with long delays or sacrificing computer security?

For those who have experienced the efficiency of P2P technologies leveraged for legitimate business use, its place in the digital content lifecycle is welcomed. With its reputation on the mend, P2P faces new hurdles and new promise for developers and would-be users alike.

There is a deep, truly invisible Web of information that will forever exist beyond the scope of search engines—the knowledge residing in the brains of experts.

For some reason, everyone in the industry is loathe to admit what the numbers clearly demonstrate: Web content—or at least some important sectors of the digital content economy—has waged a quiet but remarkable comeback.

I am old and grey (and still peruse bookshops) and there will be readers of this column who have already hit the Amazon site to look for books on intranets. But like me, they probably didn’t find much out there.

Understanding information arbitrage affords intriguing opportunities worth exploring, if you’re on the sell side of the econtent business, or exploiting, if you’re an information consumer.

The ever-evolving English language takes on new life in the OED Online.

"The amount of information that has been created just in the last two years is more than in all of human history before."