UKOLN News

Ariadne 42 addresses some of the current concerns with the Freedom of Information Act with articles by Steve Bailey and Lena Rohan. There are also a clutch of articles on emerging technologies: Michael Daw describes the Access Grid system and its claim to be an Advanced Collaboration Environment. Sebastian Rahtz gives us his evaluation of the Google Search Appliance, while Brian Kelly and Emma Tonkin take a look at Wikis,

assisted by Robert Bristow”s report on Wikis, Blogs and Other Strange Beasts. Patrick Lauke obliges us with a look at Firefox and points out useful features and extensions for Web developers.

All this plus articles on text mining, copyright and more, supported by the usual regular columns, reports on events and reviews.

This position provides an excellent opportunity for applied research into the development of digital libraries. The post-holder will work within the Research and Development Team at UKOLN contributing to two JISC funded projects: the JISC Information Environment Service Registry project and the eBank UK project. The closing date for applications is 11 February 2005.

A lively debate on Web accessibility has begun following the publication of an automated accessibility analysis of the Web sites of various UK disability bodies. The initial debate focuses on the merits of automated versus manual accessibility checks. UKOLN, together with its fellow JISC-funded advisory service TechDis and an e-learning developer at the University of Bath”s e-learning unit Centre for the Development of New Technologies in Learning (CDNTL), has recently published an article on a holistic framework for e-learning accessibility which seeks to provide a wider context for this debate.