IRLIST Digest ISSN 1064-6965 July 3. 1995 Volume XII, Number 25 Issue 262 ********************************************************** II. JOBS 1. U. Sheffield: Chair, Networked Information Retrieval 2. Los Alamos National Lab: Research Librarian 3. CLASS: Internet Specialist III. NOTICES B. Meetings 1. Message Understanding Conference - 6 2. ASIDIC '95 Fall Meeting 3. Obtaining Public Information on the Internet: Workshop C. Miscellaneous 1. US Business Advisor ********************************************************** II. JOBS II.1. Fr: H.M.Grindley Re: U. Sheffield: Chair, Networked Information Retrieval THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD Chair in Networked Information Retrieval Applications are invited for the above new Chair tenable in the Department of Information Studies from a date to be arranged as soon as possible. Candidates should be able to demonstrate a substantial research record in any existing area of information retrieval systems, and should have the ability to develop a strong research programme in the specific area of Networked Information Retrieval. REF: R683 Further particulars are available from: The Director of Human Resource Management, The University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK. Tel: +44 (0)114 282 4144 Closing Date for applications: 4th August 1995 Founded in 1905, the University of Sheffield provides higher education within a research led environment. We encourage equality of opportunity for all. Dr. Helen M. Grindley Academic Support Officer Department of Information Studies, University of Sheffield Western Bank, Sheffield, S10 2TN. Tel: (0114) 282-5080 Fax: (0114) 278-0300 Email: h.grindley@sheffield.ac.uk URL: http://www.shef.ac.uk/uni/academic/I-M/is/home.html ********** II.2. Fr: Lou Pray Re: Los Alamos, NM, Research Librarian Job Number: 951104 Series: SSM 01 Organization: CIC-14 Date Posted: 06/16/95 Availability: This job is open to all applicants Job Title: TECH INFO SPEC 2 Job Status: Open No. Openings: 1 Clearance: Q (Position will be cleared to this level) Salary Range: ($32232 54096) (Regular Full-Time) SUMMARY: Responsible for research and information services; collection development and maintenance of traditional and electronic chemistry and chemical engineering resources; on-line, CD-ROM and Internet searching, library user research staff. Job duties require creativity, flexibility and versatility, and the ability and willingness to work both as a team member and independently. Must be service-oriented and able to set priorities and manage multiple tasks. REQUIRED SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE, ABILITIES: Demonstrated professional level library experience, preferable in scientific/technical library utilizing resources in the physical sciences. STN searching experience. Background in collection development with emphasis on chemistry and chemical engineering literature. Experience in at least two of the following on-line resources: DIALOG, STN, CD-ROMs, bibliographic utilities, the Internet. Excellent interpersonal skills including the ability to work well with library patrons and colleagues. Excellent written and oral communication skills. Strong commitment to public services and to the profession. DESIRED SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE, ABILITIES: Familiarity with STN Express. Familiarity with numeric file structure or substructure searching. Background in electronic resources collection development. Bibliographic instruction or teaching experience. Familiarity and experience with technical reports and standards. PC experience in word processing, spreadsheets, and personal file management software. EDUCATION, TRAINING, OR LICENSING: ALA-accredited MLS or equivalent combination of relevant education and experience. Upper level course work in chemistry or demonstrated expertise. For more information call the Los Alamos National Laboratory Human Resources representative at (505) 667-5404. Submit resume or application materials to Los Alamos National Laboratory HR Division-Staffing Group, MS P286 PO Box 1663 Los Alamos, NM 87545 Lou Pray Los Alamos National Laboratory MS P362, CIC-14 Los Alamos, NM 87501 (505)667-5809 (505)665-2948 (fax) lpray@lanl.gov http://lib-www.lanl.gov ********** II.3. Fr: Richard W. Morris Re: CLASS: Internet Specialist POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT TITLE: Internet Specialist: Technical Support (Coordinator II) APPOINTMENT SALARY RANGE: Mid 30s + PERS, medical, dental, vision, life insurance, and other benefits STARTING DATE: 7/1/95 LOCATION: San Jose The Cooperative Library Agency for Systems and Services (CLASS) is a membership based, self supporting public agency serving the library community since 1977. Its goal is to promote, enhanceand advocate cooperation and resource sharing among libraries and information organizations. CLASS provides libraries nationwide with access to appropriate technology, information, education, user support and training. We are looking for an individual to provide technical support for the CLASS Internet Access program. CLASS facilitates Internet access and services for librarians, information professionals, and their constituents by cost-effectively providing quality connectivity, training and support. To that end we offer connectivity through a variety of Internet systems and software, the CLASS Web page, user training via on-line relay Internet chat, custom proposals, and web page authoring, maintaining, and updating. POSITION RESPONSIBILITIES: Maintain the CLASS Internet computing environment by keeping up to date on hardware and software changes; planning upgrades; and working with our Internet provider to enhance system performance. Maintaining the integrity of CLASS Internet sites and data by: authoring and formatting information to be served, such as Gopher menus and HTML documents; maintaining organization's listserv; and providing and maintaining links to other Gopher, WWW, and FTP sites, as well as WAIS and TELENET-based services. Developing support documentation. Assisting members of the Internet Team to develop and enhance new products and services for members and the internal organization. Contributing to the service and marketing plan for the products' use in libraries. Participating in Internet activities to promote products and services through conferences, demonstrations, etc. QUALIFICATIONS: A degree in a technical field or an equivalent combination of education and related work experience. Library automation experience highly desirable. Experience with telecommunications hardware and software. Familiarity with TCP/IP, Windows, Mac, Internet client/servers, UNIX, Novell Network operating systems. Excellent verbal and written communication skills. A commitment to customer service and flexibility. Send cover letter and resume to: L. Weldon c/o CLASS 1415 Koll Circle, Suite 101 San Jose, CA 95112 ********************************************************** III. NOTICES III.B.1. Fr: Beth M. Sundheim Re: Sixth Message Understanding Conference (MUC-6) THIS NOTICE IS HEAVILY CUT FOR SPACE PURPOSES. FURTHER INFORMATION, INCLUDING THE FULL ANNOUNCEMENT, MAY BE OBTAINED ON THE WWW FROM http://cs.nyu.edu/cs/faculty/grishman/muc6.html SIXTH MESSAGE UNDERSTANDING SYSTEM EVALUATION AND MESSAGE UNDERSTANDING CONFERENCE (MUC-6) Evaluation: 1-6 October, 1995 Conference: 15-17 November, 1995 (tentative), Washington, D.C. area Sponsored by: The Human Language Systems Tipster Text Program of the Advanced Research Projects Agency Software and Intelligent Systems Technology Office (ARPA/SISTO) The Message Understanding Conferences have provided on ongoing forum for assessing the state of the art and practice in text analysis technology and for exchanging information on innovative computational techniques in the context of fully implemented systems that perform realistic tasks. The evaluations have provided researchers and potential sponsors and customers with a quantitative means to appreciate the strengths and weaknesses of the technologies, and the results reported on at the conferences have sparked customer interest in the potential utility of the technologies. A number of innovations in the evaluation design make the Sixth Message Understanding Conference (MUC-6) a significant departure from previous evaluations: * Opportunity to select among a variety of evaluations: Named Entity (NE), Coreference (CO), Template Element (TE), and Scenario Template (ST) * Two new tasks for evaluating component technologies (NE and CO), which use Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) as output format * Redesigned Information Extraction (IE) task, with domain- independent subtask (TE) separated from domain-dependent subtask (ST) * Emphases of ST task on portability and on minimizing resources required to participate in the evaluation Participation in MUC-6 is actively sought from both new and veteran organizations. With the new and redesigned evaluation tasks, MUC-6 offers a good opportunity for organizations to try out new ideas for handling NLP problems that are of both scientific and practical interest. Attendance at the conference is limited to evaluation participants and to guests invited by the ARPA Tipster Text Program. SCHEDULE: 24 July: Application deadline 1 August: Release of NE, CO, and TE training data 5 September: Release of ST task definition and training data (and additional TE training data) 2-6 October: Performance evaluation on new test corpus 15-17 November: 6th Message Understanding Conference (tentative dates) DATA AND TASK DESCRIPTION: Four separate evaluations will be conducted as part of MUC-6. The definition of these evaluations has been worked out since late 1993 by members of the MUC-6 Annotator Committee, many of whom also participated in a dry run of the evaluation in April. The evaluations may be viewed as capturing the results of text analysis at various levels of aggregation of information: * Named Entity (NE) requires only that the system under evaluation identify each bit of pertinent information in isolation from all others. * Coreference (CO) requires connecting all references to "identical" entities. * Template Element (TE) requires grouping entity attributes together into entity "objects." * Scenario Template (ST) requires identifying instances of a task-specific event and identifying event attributes, including entities that fill some role in the event; the overall information content is captured via interlinked "objects." There is a World Wide Web page with information on MUC-6. The page is http://cs.nyu.edu/cs/faculty/grishman/muc6.html. The following are available at this time from the above WWW page: * excerpts from sample texts and the corresponding output expected for each evaluation task; * current task definitions for NE, CO, and TE; * the ST task definition from the dry run conducted in April; * summary score reports for the dry run conducted in April (more extensive information will be made available to those who respond to the call for participation); * the MUC-6 participation agreement, which concerns constraints on access to 1993-94 articles and publicity of test results. Please try to find answers to your questions about participating in MUC-6 by exploring the WWW page and to defer other questions until the deadline for responding has passed. If some questions cannot be deferred, you may send them by email to Beth Sundheim (sundheim@nosc.mil), WITH COPIES TO Ralph Grishman (grishman@cs.nyu.edu) and Nancy Chinchor (chinchor@gso.saic.com) to ensure that your message receives a timely response. ********** III.B.2. Fr: dthk@mantic.ho.att.com Re: ASIDIC '95 Fall Meeting ASIDIC 1995 FALL MEETING October 1-3, 1995 San Francisco, CA The Association of Information and Dissemination Centers (ASIDIC) is pleased to announce that its 1995 Fall Meeting will be held in San Francisco on October 1-3, 1995. Randy Marcinko, EBSCOdoc, will be the local host, and the technical program chair will be Miriam Drake, Georgia Institute of Technology. The conference theme will be "Information Competency," an essential element in using information productively. It involves knowing what information is available and how to gather, analyze, synthesize, and use it for problem solving and decision making. Speakers will address such key questions as: -- How can primary and secondary publishers design products and services that promote information competency? -- How can software producers use artificial intelligence, new retrieval methods, and other processes to aid in information gathering and analysis? Always a favorite meeting place, San Francisco is lovely in the fall. The meeting will be held in the newly refurbished Hotel Monaco, located just a few steps from Union Square. The hotel offers exquisitely decorated rooms and a host of amenities including a spa, sauna, and massage room; business facilities; evening wine service; and full concierge services. It is an excellent centrally located site for a small meeting such as ASIDIC. In addition to the exciting technical program, activities such as a Bay cruise or a trip to the Napa Valley wine country are under consideration. Be sure and mark your calendars now and plan to attend this exciting event! For further information on the meeting, contact Ms. Jeanette Webb at ASIDIC, P.O. Box 8105, Athens, GA 30603, USA, call (706)542-6820, or send e-mail to jwebb@uga.cc.uga.edu. ********** III.B.3. Fr: Kemberly A Meiners Re: "Obtaining Public Information on the Internet" Workshop Central Ohio Chapter of the American Society for Information Science presents "Obtaining Public Information from the Internet" Featuring Helen Burwell, Pres., Burwell Enterprises July 21, 1995 Fawcett Conference Center, Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio SEMINAR CONTENT: * Sources of Information * Information on People * What's Legal/Illegal * Obtaining the Records * Database Producers/Vendors * Putting the Pieces Together * Uses for Public Record Information * Other Resources SEMINAR INFORMATION: Date: July 21, 1995 Registration: 8:00am - 9:00am Seminar: 9:00am - 5:00pm (Includes lunch and breaks) Location: The Ohio State University, Fawcett Conference Center, Columbus, Ohio REGISTRATION INFORMATION: * Register by July 14! * No Onsite Registration * No-Shows Will Be Billed COSTS: * CO-ASIS and OCLIS members: $60.00 * Non-Members: $75.00 FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeffrey Heard State Library of Ohio 65 South Front Street Columbus, OH 43266-0334 Phone: 614/644-6944 E-Mail: jheard@slonet.ohio.gov ********** III.C.1. Fr: Paul Evan Peters Re: US Business Advisor: http://www.business.gov THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release: June 15, 1995 President Clinton, Vice President Gore Put Government On-Line for Business President Clinton and Vice President Gore announced a new on-line computer service directly linking the federal government to American businesses. Their announcement was included as a highlight of the 1995 White House Conference on Small Business now underway at the Washington Hilton Hotel. The U.S. Business Advisor, on display at the Conference's Small Business Administration booth, was developed by the Vice President's National Performance Review in cooperation with federal agencies, the Department of Commerce and the Small Business Administration. It will provide users with one stop electronic access to the more than 60 different organizations which assist or regulate business. The complexity of dealing with innumerable agencies was listed as one of their leading frustrations by delegates to this week's Small Business Conference. In presenting the U.S. Business Advisor to them, the President said, "In the past it has been difficult for businesses to communicate efficiently with the federal government. This is a step toward fixing that. We're building this web site as one stop for all the services and information government offers American businesses." The U.S. Business Advisor will be opened as a single World Wide Web site, accessible through Internet (http://www.business.gov). Initially, only the Regulatory Assistance Center will be available, with information on labor, trade, finance and selling to the government to follow. Once in full operation, the Advisor will provide an interactive environment where businesses can retrieve timely information, ask questions, find out about best practices, send comments, get the names and phone numbers of regulators, and electronically file documents with the government. The Vice President said: "This is going to help both Fortune 500 and start-up businesses. And it's going to be a better system because the final design will be based on input from the business community. They know what they need and we'll do our best to provide for them." President Clinton named David Barram, Deputy Secretary of Commerce, and Phil Lader, head of the Small Business Administration, to lead a task force that will work with the business community in further developing the U.S. Business Advisor. They are to report back in six months with a design concept, action plan and timetable. The President also told the Conference of other information technology initiatives including increased use of the Internet to promote broader public participation in the rulemaking comment process, and creation of a digital signature infrastructure for government use in 1996. ********************************************************** IRLIST Digest is distributed from the University of California, Division of Library Automation, 300 Lakeside Drive, Oakland, CA. 94612-3550. Send subscription requests and submissions to: NCGUR@UCCMVSA.UCOP.EDU Editorial Staff: Clifford Lynch calur@uccmvsa.ucop.edu Nancy Gusack ncgur@uccmvsa.ucop.edu The IRLIST Archives is now set up for anonymous FTP, as well as via the LISTSERV. Using anonymous FTP via the host dla.ucop.edu, the files will be found in the directory pub/irl, stored in subdirectories by year (e.g., /pub/irl/1993). Using LISTSERV, send the message INDEX IR-L to LISTSERV@UCOP.EDU. 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