vol25S.1 IASSIST FEATURES QUARTERLY Volume 25 Number 1 Spring 2001 The IASSIST QUARTERLY represents an international cooperative effort on the part of individuals managing, operating, or using machine-readable data archives, data libraries, and data services. The QUARTERLY reports on activities related to the production, acquisition, preservation, processing, distribution, and use of machine-readable data carried out by its members and others in the international social science community. Your contributions and suggestions for topics of interest are welcomed. The views set forth by authors of articles contained in this publication are not necessarily those of IASSIST. Information for Authors: The QUARTERLY is published four times per year. Authors are encouraged to submit papers as word processing files. Hard copy submissions may be required in some instances. Word processing files may be sent via email to: kbr@sam.sdu.dk. Manuscripts should be sent to Editor: Karsten Boye Rasmussen, Department of Organization and Management, University of Southern Denmark, SDU-OU, Campusvej 55, DK-5230Odense M, Denmark The first page should contain the article title, author's name, affiliation, address to which correspondence may be sent, and telephone number. Footnotes and bibliographic citations should be consistent in style, preferably following a standard authority such as the University of Chicago press Manual of Style or Kate L. Turabian's Manual for Writers. Where appropriate, machine- readable data files should be cited with bibliographic citations consistent in style with Dodd, Sue A. "Bibliographic references for numeric social science data files: suggested guidelines". Journal of the American Society for Information Science 30(2):77-82, March 1979. Announcements of conferences, training sessions, or the like, are welcomed and should include a mailing address and a telephone number for the director of the event or for the organization sponsoring the event. Editor Karsten Boye Rasmussen, Department of Organization and Management, University of Southern Denmark, SDU-OU, Campusvej 55, DK-5230 Odense M, Denmark Phone: +45 6550 2115 Email:kbr@sam.sdu.dk Production William Block, Walter Piovesan Minnesota Population Center, Maps/Data/GIS Library, University of Minnesota, Simon Fraser University, 537 Heller Hall Burnaby, B.C 271 19th Avenue South. Canada V5A 1S6. Minneapolis, MN 55455. Phone: (604) 291-5869. Phone: 612-624-7091 Email:walter@sfu.ca Email:block@socsci.umn.edu Title: Newsletter - International Association for Social Science Information Service and Technology ISSN - United States: 0739-1137 © 2002 by IASSIST. All rights reserved. C O N T E N T S 5 Understanding Barriers to the Use of Numeric Data in Learning and Teaching Robin Rice 10 The Virtual Training Suite: Internet Skills for Teaching and Learning Heather Dawson 15 MISSION (Multi-Agent Integration of Shared Statistical Information Over the [inter]Net) - The data archive perspective Joanne Lamb 21 Research for Building a Better Data Community Charles K. Humphrey The articles in this issue are based on presentations from the IASSIST conference in Amsterdam in 2001. The articles show great involvement and enthusiasm in data archiving and dissemination. We begin with a paper from the session on "Learning and Teaching" by Robin Rice from the Data Library at Edinburgh. The title is "Understanding barriers to the Use of Numeric Data in Learning and Teaching" and starts by stating as a fact that "data resources are under-used in the learning and teaching environment". Robin Rice quotes that there is a lack of "statistical literacy". The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) funded this project on – among other issues – "the extent of use and the practicalities of using Editor's Notes Continued on page 4 Understanding Barriers to the Use of Numeric Data in Learning and Teaching The Virtual Training Suite: Internet Skills for Teaching and Learning MISSION (Multi-Agent Integration of Shared Statistical Information Over the [inter]Net) -The data archive perspec- tive Research for Building a Better Data Community mailto:kbr@sam.sdu.dk mailto:walter@sfu.ca mailto:block@socsci.umn.edu 4 IASSIST Quarterly Spring 2001 data in teaching". A survey was carried out and I have observed that one of the results was that only "one-quarter of those who teach with data" were familiar with the national data services. The late Per Nielsen from Denmark often mentioned that data archivists also should be "data pushers" – a marketing effort is needed! The article concludes by wondering how information technology will change into learning beyond the traditional classroom, the "virtual classroom" concept comes to mind. This leads to the next article – from the same session – where Heather Dawson with assistance explains about "The Virtual Training Suite: Internet Skills for Teaching and Learning" aiming to "support lecturers, students, and researchers in finding and using resources on the Internet". Again the JISC has funded the project, which has developed 40 free Web based Internet tutorials that cover a wide range of the academic subjects taught in UK universities and colleges aiming to provide a structured learning environment. In the session "Tools for Data Services" Joanne Lamb from Edinburgh talked about MISSION (Multi-Agent Integration of Shared Statistical Information Over the [inter]Net", in this article " – the data archive perspective" has been added. This time the project is funded by the European Commission to develop software "to allow consumers of statistics to access these data in an informed manner with minimum effort". The article also includes some technicalities about the architecture of the system as well as showing the use of metadata and connects to IASSIST well-known acronyms as XML, DDI and FASTER. You could call it "navel-gazing" or "praxis related research" when we had a session on "IASSIST" at the IASSIST conference. From Canada Charles K. Humphrey writes on "Research for Building a Better Data Community". And I simply have to quote him on: "I was exited by the research carried out by Karsten Boye Rasmussen and Repke de Vries about IASSIST as a virtual community". In this community we are (still) facing the problem of "how to get researchers to conduct their projects so that their data products meet archival standards". In a study on practitioners use of medical research findings one objective was to identify data products from the researchers. A survey with attitudinal items shows that (only) around 80 percent regard "data a valued by-product" and "secondary analysis as a valid research method". Do we have a 20-80 problem here? Furthermore Charles Humphrey shows that about half (!) of the researchers regard it as a "waste of funds to save" data and do not agree in "archiving is integral". Indeed, a marketing effort with argumentation is required towards both producers and consumers. Presentations from the conference are available for view at the IASSIST web-site http://www.iassistdata.org. From this top- page you can then click "Multimedia Presentations at the IASSIST 2001 Conference". Enjoy! Karsten Boye Rasmussen http://www.iassistdata.org