IRM——Chapter 7 7. Internet Information Resources Management 7.1 The introduction of Internet information Resources

The Internet is a communication channel consists of large number of interconnected computers. Each computer with individual IP addresses can exchange digitized information with any or all connected computer. Advantages of the Internet are its speed, timeliness, and ability to communicate instantaneously and availability of free information and freeware/shareware. It reduces barriers to publishing, facilitates quick revision of documents, and makes information easily available universally. “Moving wall ” principle affects long-term availability of resources. Increasing use of the Internet for communication and phenomenal increase of Internet resources stimulate different types of services like E-mail, Mailing Lists, Usenet, WWW, Telnet and FTP. Examines potentialities of these services to meet users needs in accessing, communicating and disseminating data, information and other resources including computer files. Addresses of selective sites provide glimpses of current Indian activities in social sciences on the Internet. 7.2.1 Characteristics of Internet Resources The salient characteristics of the Internet Resources are as follows: • Resources may be peer reviewed and/or self-published; • Resources are not indexed &/or ranked using uniform techniques; • No use of control vocabulary system for indexing; • Time lag in indexing resources by search engines; • “Moving wall ” concepts affects long-term availability of information; • URL and information content may change quickly; • Troubles in network affect the access to information; • Calls for new security mechanism because Internet is a public media