CNI Report: Campus Technology Infrastructure: Are We Ready for Content? Copyright 1993 CAUSE. From _CAUSE/EFFECT_ Volume 16, Number 4, Winter 1993. Permission to copy or disseminate all or part of this material is granted provided that the copies are not made or distributed for commercial advantage, the CAUSE copyright and its date appear, and notice is given that copying is by permission of CAUSE, the association for managing and using information resources in higher education. To disseminate otherwise, or to republish, requires written permission. For further information, contact Julia Rudy at CAUSE, 4840 Pearl East Circle, Suite 302E, Boulder, CO 80301 USA; 303-939-0308; e-mail: jrudy@CAUSE.colorado.edu CAMPUS TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE: ARE WE READY FOR CONTENT? by Richard P. West One of the tenets of the Coalition for Networked Information is that networks will enable higher education institutions to change the way students, faculty, and staff can review and obtain information. When the Coalition was formed in 1990, collectively we had attained considerable familiarity with providing information about information, or, as it is often called, secondary data as opposed to primary data. The best example of the type of secondary data we had experience with on most of our campuses is the automated card catalog or online public access catalog (OPAC). (I should note that "public" in this context means non-librarian campus users--initially within the campus physical library--and not the greater citizenry of your local community.) It was quickly recognized, however, that the campus online catalog was one of the most popular early networked resources available to the campus community on the campus general-purpose data network. Not all online catalogs have identical functions, and each system has a different set of commands and user interface conventions. This variation is handled well via the Z39.50 protocol, which allows a particular user interface to work with a number of databases (and which was the subject of this column in the Fall 1993 CAUSE/EFFECT). As we gained experience and our users became comfortable with online catalogs, campuses have added other abstract and indexing databases and reference materials traditionally found in print form in our libraries. The natural next step forward for networked resources has been the addition of databases such as MEDLINE(R) and other article- level reference material. Practically all of our network resources about traditional library materials, however, still refer the patron back to print documents held in the campus library. Primary information Continuing forward, the next step in implementing networked resources is the evaluation of full-content or primary information. Primary information can be either full-text or a series of bitmapped images. CNI is currently sponsoring experimental projects testing both approaches. There is still much to be learned about how to design delivery systems for primary information, and what tools users will need in networked environments to allow us to replace paper-based documents with electronic ones. Although the primary content projects are deserving of an article of their own describing their features and promise, this article focuses on the fundamentally important element underlying all our efforts to provide networked information: the campus network infrastructure. In our current phase of implementing networked resources, i.e., ASCII-encoded text and secondary data that do not have graphics, pictures, and images, the Internet-based network strategies that form the current campus backbone perform satisfactorily. As we move to provide primary information, the services of the campus networking infrastructure need to expand beyond the basic transport function of today's campus networks. Although there are probably many additional components in an ideal campus networking infrastructure that deal with network and capacity management issues, let me suggest three functions that need to be implemented as part of the campus network if we expect to have a vibrant and robust primary information networked environment: ability to handle fee-based networked services, user authentication, and printing. These capabilities do not refer to the transport function of the network, but rather to functions related to the use of information resources on the network. Multiple fee arrangements for primary data A journal article provided in a networked version raises difficult economic issues. These issues are often characterized as copyright issues, but, in fact, the basic issue is how we should appropriately compensate an owner of the journal article for how much that particular piece of information (property) is used. Regardless of the type of license (e.g., site or per-copy) agreed to between the parties, some compensation for the use of primary information will be required.[1] There will be a variety of ways such compensation will be determined, and the network and campus infrastructures will need to support multiple economic arrangements for primary information. Authentication of users Authentication of a user to gain access to information on the campus network may be required of some users, while of others it will not. For example, most campuses allow anyone, whether affiliated with the campus or not, to use the campus online catalog, while only faculty and students formally associated with the campus may have unlimited access to an electronic journal because of a site license acquired by the campus. Some networked resources will be made available without charge; other services will have a specific fee. Institutional and individual payment (e.g., by credit card) mechanisms across campus need to be accommodated for a variety of networked resources. Printing Finally, printing strategies that support the delivery of networked resources need to be developed. One aspect of the experimental bitmapped image projects under way (e.g., TULIP) is to determine how much "reading" of network-based articles occurs on the workstation screen, as opposed to "browsing" to determine if the article is worth a careful and thorough reading by the user. In the latter case, browsing will result in a print request. Early results suggest that most users want to print the article and read it in the traditional form of print on paper. Although user behavior is always difficult to predict, lots of printing of networked resources is expected. To do so, the campus infrastructure needs to be well thought out; among the issues to be addressed are what assumptions we can make about a print capability being close to where the patron is at the moment. Will we charge for printing on public printers? Should there be public printers or will everyone have their own? How will we direct printing to personal and departmental printers? Some may say these problems have been solved. All of us are used to seeing screens of network-connected printers, but that does not mean we have created a print infrastructure that will allow us to replace print-based documents with networked equivalents. A forum for sharing To achieve the campus network infrastructure needed to provide primary-content, networked resources requires a partnership between information providers (government and commercial generators of information), technology managers, and librarians. Providing forums for establishing such collaboration is one of the reasons CNI was created. The meeting of the Coalition's Task Force is one forum for the exchange of information among these parties. This year another initiative of CNI is to prepare descriptive materials that will help a campus partnership of technology managers and librarians jointly determine the campus infrastructure needs for providing networked information from both a technological and library perspective. Suggested policies and strategies for supporting networked information will be included in the materials. This information will be distributed via CNI's Internet server[2] in early 1994. In addition, CNI-sponsored regional workshops are being planned around these network infrastructure themes. The first workshop is being scheduled for late next spring, and will be co-scheduled with the first regional workshop in CAUSE's newly expanded professional development program. ======================================================================== Footnotes: 1 CNI's initiatives on the licensing and economics of networked information will be the subject of this column in a forthcoming issue. 2 CNI's host address is gopher.cni.org; port number is 70. ======================================================================== Richard P. West was recently appointed Vice Chancellor for Business and Finance for The California State University System. He has chaired the steering committee of the Coalition for Networked Information since its establishment in 1990. ************************************************************************