Abstract: This RFC consists of notes from a meeting that was held at USC Information Sciences Institute on 11 January 1982, to discuss addressing issues in computer mail. The major conclusion reached at the meeting is to extend the "username@hostname" mailbox format to "username@host.domain", where the domain itself can be further strutured.

Abstract: Following a brief review of the status of Indian science and technology, the paper argues the case for the need to introduce information technology, user education and research into STI systems.

Abstract: The rapid growth of the computer industry has created an increasing demand for technical writers who can address the specialized problems of computer documentation. Since information science is still a very young discipline, university and college writing programs have only begun to identify the needs of this new industry and develop courses that satisfy those needs. Two interrelated factors have severely aggravated the problem. First, writing for computer systems places the writer in a rigorously specialized context as different from writing for business, law, or medicine as those disciplines are from each other. Since most computer documentation instructs readers on how to use a specific system or set of procedures to perform a specialized task, writing instruction manuals and other supporting documentation for computers must be sharply distinguished from the more traditional forms of business writing, technical report writing, and scholarly journal articles written for publication. The second factor hindering the development of new courses in this area involves the rapid advance of computer technology itself: a bewildering array of new devices and systems appear every week, training documents and reference manuals are often outdated before they are even completed, and the increased complexity of the new technology frequently requires addressing several different audiences, each possessing a widely varying level of technical knowledge. These problems require specialized teaching approaches to create a situational context resembling that of the working world. Students need large conceptual guidelines for addressing different groups of readers, yet the learning environment must remain flexible enought to adapt to rapid technological change and multiple levels of specific information needs. This article describes a course developed at the University of California, Santa Cruz which addresses these problems.

Abstract: The concept of thematic analysis, as developed by Gerald Holton, Robert Merton, and others, is reviewed and characterized. The strengths and limitations of this concept are briefly discussed. The applicability of thematic analysis to information science is explored by means of examining four thematic models of change of state of knowledge, as exemplified by terms such as “literature obsolescence.” Articles from ten years of the Journal of the American Society for Information Science (volumes 16–27) were selected for examination. Several of these articles are shown to have thematic content and to exemplify the four models of change of state of knowledge. A concluding discussion assesses the implication of thematic analysis for information science and points out some unresolved problems of such analysis.

Abstract: In 1957, the founding year of RTSD, the focus was clearly on the catalog. It was the eve of the Stanford Institute that preceded AACR1.1 It was a time for reappraisal of the physical form of the catalog and the prelude to an era of intense concentration on international agreement and standardization.2 Just prior to this Strout, in a paper on the “Development of the Catalog and Cataloging Codes,” had expressed the view that in the past, while librarians had been “intelligent and serious scholars,” they had also been very “short sighted.”3 Reflecting on this, she challenged her audience to rethink principles and practices anew, lest they take for granted things that some day “might look equally ridiculous to another age.” She warned:

Abstract: At last year's SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, we were struck by three things. First, many people were struggling with how to best teach introductory computer science to a population that is predominantly not potential computer science majors (1). Second, there is great value in the exchange of information about how we are attacking the problem, why we chose this path, and how we feel it's working (2). Third, motivation is a key element in learning (3). Many things we heard last year acted as a catalyst for us to make some changes in the core computer science course (Comp Sci 100) at the Air Force Academy. In this paper, we discuss these changes and offer a candid, but preliminary, evaluation of our success in serving the needs of a large and diverse student population.

Abstract: After a brief look backward and an examination of two previous studies dealing with the future of library education, this article focuses on what the author perceives to be the most salient trends of the 1980s: the dominance of electronic technology and its various applications in information science; the stabilization of enrollments in schools of library and information science and the virtual cessation of accreditation of new schools; the continuing shift in library education programs from private to public universities; and the lack of acceptance of two-year master's programs in the United States. Other trends include a renewed emphasis on the practicum component in library education, new incentives for continuing education, and new ways of coordinating specializations among library schools.

Abstract: The focus of information research in any given discipline depends on the meaning of the word “information” for scientists in that discipline. This article lists some of the “disciplines of information,” including several with a strong systems orientation, and identifies those information scientists for whom a knowledge of systems methodology is important. This is followed by a broad-brush treatment of the modern systems movement: its role in the changing worldview of science, some disciplines (e.g., cybernetics and operations research) that have contributed to its development, and the distinction that can be drawn between General Systems Theory (GST) and other approaches to the study of systems—a theme developed by Mattessich in the article that follows.

Abstract: Current interdisciplinary information in science and technology was studied in connection with some aspects of the integration of the sciences. The investigation was carried out by combination of research methods such as testing, surveys, and source analysis. The experimental method for tracing relevant publications unknown to the user is described. The results of questionnaires sent to 432 specialists in 16 countries are presented. Some features of the integration of the sciences were investigated together with the specific information demands which they provoke. It is shown that these demands cannot be satisfied within the limits of discipline-oriented information systems. Particular attention is given to information problems of small developed and developing countries. The efforts of these countries must concentrate on the compilation of information indexes on complex and interdisciplinary problems.

Abstract: This report continues on from a study undertaken by Nicholas L. Moore, Editor of Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA), whose findings were presented at the 1980 and 1981 meetings of the IFLA Round Table of Editors of Library Journals in Manila and Leipzig. There has been a feeling that librarianship journals published by developing countries have been relatively poorly covered by the indexing and abstracting services of the industrialized world in comparison with other countries. This has led authors from the Third World to attempt getting their work published in the journals of the developed world where a greater chance of being picked up by the secondary services and therefore a greater chance of being read and recognized by the profession throughout the world may result. This would mean that the editors in the developing countries, finding it difficult to attract the best national authors, and the best articles, would have problems in building up a wide readership to make their publication economically and commercially viable. As an example of this, an editorial from one of the primary journals covered by this survey included a plea for articles from colleagues so that another issue could be produced sometime! There are other problems for the publishers, of course, which do not affect the de-

Abstract: For the quantitative determination of the information content (IC) of documents, two requisite parameters were defined First, the information unit (IU) as the smallest unit consistent with our previous definition of information, and second, its connectivity (C), namely, the extent to which it is connected with other information units in the document The total quantity of information contained therein is then a function of the number of information units, as well as their connectivities