Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Incentives in Profit–Oriented Firms Supplying Open Source Products and Services  

This paper contributes to the literature on Open Source (OS) software by providing empirical evidence on the incentives of firms that engage in OS activities. Data collected by a survey conducted on 146 Italian companies supplying OS solutions (Open Source firms) show that (surprisingly) intrinsic, community–based incentives do play a role but are not, in general, put into practise. We investigate this discrepancy between attitudes and behaviours and single out groups of firms adopting more consistent behaviours. Our results are in line with the literature on business models of the firms that enter the Open Source field.

Rossi, Cristina and Andrea Bonaccorsi. First Monday (2005). Articles>Information Design>Case Studies>Open Source

Introducción a la Arquitectura de Información

Una introducción a la profesión, escrita por el Arquitecto de Información chileno Javier Velasco.

Velasco, Javier. PeterMe (2001). (Spanish) Articles>Information Design

Introducing JSON (JavaScript Object Notation)

JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is a lightweight data-interchange format. It is easy for humans to read and write. It is easy for machines to parse and generate. It is based on a subset of the JavaScript Programming Language, Standard ECMA-262 3rd Edition - December 1999. JSON is a text format that is completely language independent but uses conventions that are familiar to programmers of the C-family of languages, including C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Perl, Python, and many others. These properties make JSON an ideal data-interchange language.

JSON (2007). Articles>Information Design>Standards>Ajax

Introducing XML Internationalization

One key benefit of XML is the fact that it was designed for international use. But do you really understand the concepts of internationalization and localization? This article explains what they are, how they work, and why you want to use them.

Silberman, Hernan. IBM (2007). Articles>Information Design>XML>International

An Introduction to Database Normalization

When users ask for advice about their database applications, one of the first things I try to help them with is the normalization of their table structure. Normalization is the process of removing redundant data from your tables in order to improve storage efficiency, data integrity and scalability. This improvement is balanced against an increase in complexity and potential performance losses from the joining of the normalized tables at query-time.

Hillyer, Mike. MySQL (2004). Articles>Information Design>Databases>SQL

Introduction to DITA References

DITA is quickly becoming the dominant XML schema for topic-oriented authoring. DITA is a highly practical way of moving to XML authoring in general and granular content reuse in particular. DITA distinguishes itself from predecessor standards by explicitly rejecting the book paradigm in favour of a topic-oriented model.

Prescod, Paul. IDEAlliance (2004). Articles>Information Design>XML>DITA

An Introduction to Extensible Stylesheet Language  

Introduces the three technologies that comprise the Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) family of specifications as defined by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

Hodge, Drew W. Intercom (2004). Articles>Information Design>XML>XSL

An Introduction to Metadata

Metadata is structured data which describes the characteristics of a resource. It shares many similar characteristics to the cataloguing that takes place in libraries, museums and archives. The term 'meta' derives from the Greek word denoting a nature of a higher order or more fundamental kind. A metadata record consists of a number of pre-defined elements representing specific attributes of a resource, and each element can have one or more values.

Taylor, Chris. University of Queensland (2003). Articles>Information Design>Metadata

Introduction to OMG's Unified Modeling Language (UML)

Large enterprise applications - the ones that execute core business applications, and keep a company going - must be more than just a bunch of code modules. They must be structured in a way that enables scalability, security, and robust execution under stressful conditions, and their structure - frequently referred to as their architecture - must be defined clearly enough that maintenance programmers can (quickly!) find and fix a bug that shows up long after the original authors have moved on to other projects. That is, these programs must be designed to work perfectly in many areas, and business functionality is not the only one (although it certainly is the essential core). Of course a well-designed architecture benefits any program, and not just the largest ones as we've singled out here. We mentioned large applications first because structure is a way of dealing with complexity, so the benefits of structure (and of modeling and design, as we'll demonstrate) compound as application size grows large. Another benefit of structure is that it enables code reuse: Design time is the easiest time to structure an application as a collection of self-contained modules or components. Eventually, enterprises build up a library of models of components, each one representing an implementation stored in a library of code modules. When another application needs the same functionality, the designer can quickly import its module from the library. At coding time, the developer can just as quickly import the code module into the application.

UML Resource Page (2005). Articles>Information Design>XML>UML

Introduction to Relations in XML Schema

This is the first article in a series concentrating on implementing relations for designing robust XML schema definitions.

Chaterjee, Jagadish. Dev Articles (2006). Articles>Information Design>Databases>XML

Introduction to Syndication: (RSS) Really Simple Syndication

Are you ready to find out more about RSS, Atom, and feed readers? Such as, why is RSS so popular and what are the benefits? Learn what feed readers are available and which one might fit your needs. Find out what RSS and Atom subscriptions are available to you from IBM.

Lauria, Vincent. IBM (2006). Articles>Information Design>RSS

Introduction to the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA)

The Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) is an XML-based, end-to-end architecture for authoring, producing, and delivering technical information. This architecture consists of a set of design principles for creating 'information-typed' modules at a topic level and for using that content in delivery modes such as online help and product support portals on the Web. This document is a roadmap for DITA: what it is and how it applies to technical documentation.

IBM (2001). Articles>Information Design>XML>DITA

An Introduction to the Principles of an SGML Application  

SGML (ISO 8879-1986, The Standard Generalized Markup Language) is now in the mainstream of document design and development. Effective application of this International Standard demands a through understanding of Document Analysis and the four components of an SGML Application. The SGML Declaration establishes the overall syntax. The SGML Prolog uses this syntax to define a document model. An SGML Instance is a data file created in conformance with the Prolog's model and an SGML Canonical file is the output ofParsing the Instance. This paper reviews the application and interrelationship of these components.

Oster, John W. II. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Information Design>SGML

Introduction to XML Document Object Model

Learn about XML and the hierarchical structure of the Document Object Model. Nodes, NodeLists, NameNodeMaps, as well as properties such as parentNodes, childNodes, nodeNames, and nodeValues are explored, explained and code is given.

Gokul, Gayathri. ASP Free (2002). Articles>Information Design>XML

Introduction to XPath

XPath is a language for addressing parts of an XML document, designed to be used by both XSLT and XPointer. In this article we will learn about XPath, XPath expressions and how to use XPath in .NET and Java.

Zaman, Mamun. Dev Articles (2007). Articles>Information Design>XML>XSL

Is the Internet a Self-Correcting Mechanism?  

The hype surrounding the hype surrounding the Internet has made it into all kinds of animals. But it's a self-correcting mechanism.

Fleishman, Glenn. Adobe Magazine (1996). Articles>Information Design>Collaboration

Issues in Information Modeling  

A brief overview of a unified content strategy.

Kostur, Pamela. STC Region 7 Proceedings (2002). Articles>Information Design>Content Strategy

Judgment Day: Google Strikes Back

Google has never cared for search engine optimization and has always looked at it as an attempt to taint what they hold as precious. The question that must be asked is, 'Why?' Why does Google see search engine optimization as the enemy and are they justified in their thinking?

Angeletti, Mark. Search-This (2003). Articles>Information Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Keeping Pace with Change

Documentation isn't the most fun part of design and IA, but does it have to be the most painful? Samantha Bailey looks at a tool that may help.

Bailey, Samantha. Boxes and Arrows. Articles>Documentation>Information Design

Keeping Tabs

The original tab signaled an information storage revolution and helped enable everything from management consulting to electronic data processing.

Tenner, Ed. Technology Review (2005). Articles>User Interface>Information Design>History

Keyword Perspective: Avoid This Mistake At All Cost

In this article, we are going to discuss a major problems involving keyword selection for existing businesses. It is a simple mistake, but one most people do not think about. The two prime Internet marketing platforms are pay-per-click advertising and search engine optimization. The issue we are going to discuss today applies equally to either of these platforms as well as any other internet advertising you undertake.

Pires, Halstatt. Ezine Articles (2006). Articles>Information Design>Metadata>E Commerce

Keyword Research and Product Lines

As you have probably heard over and over, keyword research is a pivotal step for success. Taken a step further, it can develop your product lines for you.

Pires, Halstatt. Ezine Articles (2006). Articles>Information Design>Metadata>E Commerce

Knowledge Audit: Is it Necessary for Your Organization?  

Views on various dimensions of the knowledge audit (KA) process, and how organizations can use this tool to achieve organizational objectives. During the discussion, participants analyzed the pre-requisites, advantages, and process of the knowledge audit. This article presents a summarized version of the issues discussed.

George, Ginu. International Journal for Technical Communication (2007). Articles>Information Design>Knowledge Management

Knowledge Management--Issues and Challenges in the Corporate World

The first of those challenges is merely getting individuals within the company to communicate with each other, wherever they are located. Many organizations have trouble getting people to share information who aren't on the same floor, so adding remote workers or those in other geographical locations can prove difficult. Corporations are realizing how important it is to 'know what they know' and to be able to make maximum use of the knowledge. This knowledge resides in many different places, such as, databases, knowledge bases, filing cabinets, and people's heads, and it is impossible to keep track of and make use of this distributed knowledge. Knowledge Management (KM) needs careful planning and analysis. While technology can support KM, it is not the be all and end all of KM. Knowledge Management decisions should be based on who (people), what (knowledge), and why (business objectives). Critical success factors for KM can be broadly categorized into four classes: people, processes, technology, and sustained strategic commitment. The four pillars of the model are also used to explain the critical success factors in Knowledge Management.

Kumar, Pankaj and Jaya Kalra. International Journal for Technical Communication (2007). Articles>Information Design>Knowledge Management>Workplace

A Knowledge Network Constructed by Integrating Classification, Thesaurus and Metadata in a Digital Library

Knowledge management in digital libraries is a universal problem. Keyword-based searching is applied everywhere no matter whether the resources are indexed databases or full-text Web pages. In keyword matching, the valuable content description and indexing of the metadata, such as the subject descriptors and the classification notations, are merely treated as common keywords to be matched with the user query. Without the support of vocabulary control tools, such as classification systems and thesauri, the intelligent labor of content analysis, description and indexing in metadata production are seriously wasted.

Jun, Wang. ASIST (2002). Articles>Information Design>Metadata