http://www.sajim.co.za/editorial.main.11nr3.asp?print=1 Editorial Vol.11(3) September 2009 The first article in this issue, Improving the knowledge exchange landscape in the Cape Flats, a developing community in South Africa by Parker and Wills is also the first article in which Web 2.0 is the standard for information transfer. To be more specific, this article explores the use of Web 2.0 services to ease the access to information by people living in a socially and economically deprived area. Even more barriers exist, namely that the investigative group is affected by gangsterism and drugs. To be more specific, the article reports on an investigation into the use of Web 2.0 technologies to enhance the information flow within the community to assist preventing the growth and spread of gangsterism and the use of drugs among South African communities, especially those in the Cape Flats. Ex-gang members and ex-drug addicts were interviewed, none of whom finished high school or had previous experience of using ICT. The findings showed that, through the use of Web 2.0 technologies, interviewees learnt to use, exchange and disseminate information. We know now, especially in South Africa, that small businesses are playing critical roles in providing job opportunities and that they are indispensible for penetrating new markets, thus advancing entrepreneurial or innovative activities. The fact of the matter is that these businesses demonstrate the same information needs as their larger counterparts. They therefore require the same type and level of information services as large firms. The second article (A study of South African small retail businesses' utilisation of information resources) moves to this world of small and medium-sized businesses (or SMEs as they are called). Authors Chen and Rensleigh argue that Web portals can offer small businesses platforms to identify and consult information resources effectively and hence 'create a stimulating business community for entrepreneurship'. To establish the validity of this argument the authors had 150 questionnaires completed by representatives of a number of small retail businesses. The questionnaire consisted of four sections: business biographical information; business information and agencies; information and communication technologies usage; and community and portal activities. It was inter alia found that owners and managers of small business were unwilling to disclose business information, especially their financial information, but that they are very interested in networking with other businesses, in particular with potential customers and suppliers. The third article represents an important theoretical contribution to the quality and level of access to information. Indexing and abstracting theorists will find much to ponder about in Kroeze's Bootstrapping an XML schema of syntactic functions into a skeleton ontology. The author at first reflects about the current upsurge in the study and use of ontologies in information systems, bridging the disciplines of philosophy and computing. The article begins with an overview of an XML schema that was used as a thesaurus to ensure consistency in the syntactic tagging of the Hebrew text in Genesis 1. The broader syntactic taxonomy, on which the XML schema is based and which may be used to analyse the syntax of Biblical Hebrew texts, is discussed in detail. The research also investigates how the ontology is used in computational linguistic projects. This forms the building blocks for suggesting an ontology of syntactic functions for Biblical Hebrew, which may be implemented and used by linguistic information systems to ensure its quality and reliability. In the article some possibilities are also described of how such an ontology may be put to use. Pieter van Brakel Scientific Editor Disclaimer Articles published in SAJIM are the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Editor, Board, Publisher, Webmaster or the Rand Afrikaans University. The user hereby waives any claim he/she/they may have or Page 1 of 2 2010/03/11http://www.sajim.co.za/editorial.main.11nr3.asp?print=1 acquire against the publisher, its suppliers, licensees and sub licensees and indemnifies all said persons from any claims, lawsuits, proceedings, costs, special, incidental, consequential or indirect damages, including damages for loss of profits, loss of business or downtime arising out of or relating to the user's use of the Website. ISSN 1560-683X Published by InterWord Communications for Department of Information and Knowledge Management, University of Johannesburg Page 2 of 2 2010/03/11http://www.sajim.co.za/editorial.main.11nr3.asp?print=1