A practical, no-nonsense roadmap for people who want to champion Intranet development within their organizations, this book works from the premise that a successful Intranet is one that becomes essential to the way a company does business. The CD-ROM contains a demo version of Wisdom Link's Intranet-based groupware application and a collection of worksheets, templates, and project management flowcharts.

Many situations we encounter in daily life force us to recognize that we already live in the age of the information-oriented society. We also hear future prospects for life and society discussed in terms of expected advances in information and communications technologies. However, in these rapidly changing technologies, two weeks is a very long time and anything going back two years is almost a fossil. For instance, the word 'Internet' was little used two years ago, but now it attracts intense worldwide attention. This makes it very difficult to read the future with any degree of confidence. Generally, the key to creating new products and new markets is thought to lie in fostering market-oriented development. Today, though, when it is hard to grasp changes in the market place, we need to consider the case for basing our suggestions for new products and markets on readings of the future that reflect a proper understanding of the nature of technology, later 'brushing up' these suggestions with user- and market-oriented improvements. This book adopts the latter method. The book is divided into three parts. In the first, for technologies that promise to make great future advances, current efforts and achievements are described along with the directions in which these technologies are headed. In the second part of the book covers the development and production technologies that will be needed to bring new products to market. Finally, the third part explores systems based on these products and technologies, and share our practical vision of what the advanced information-oriented society will be like. Readers: engineers and technologists, IT-experts.

The intranet is among the primary landscapes in which information-based work occurs, yet many info pros continue to view it with equal parts skepticism and dread. In Intranets for Info Pros, editors Mary Lee Kennedy and Jane Dysart and their 10 expert contributors provide support and encouragement to the information professional responsible for implementing or contributing to an intranet. Chapters demonstrate the intranet's strategic value, describe important trends and best practices, and equip info pros to make a key contribution to their organization's intranet success.

I am honored to chair this International Workshop on Functionally st Graded Materials in the 21 Century: A Workshop on Trends and Forecasts, and would like to first express my sincere gratitude to everyone participating. The Mechanical Engineering Laboratory and the Japan International Science and Technology Exchange Center (JISTEC) have co-organized this workshop with the sponsorship of the Science and Technology Agency of Japan and the cooperation of the Association of Mechanical Technology. This workshop is an international conference to focus on functionally graded materials and the aim is to provide an overview of the present global technical trends and the future development of functionally graded materials over the next 10 years. I am very happy to see many researchers meeting together here - including seven researchers invited from abroad. During the three-day oral sessions, 36 research reports will be presented, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who is very anxious to hear and participate in the upcoming interesting discussions. At present, the Mechanical Engineering Laboratory is conducting fundamental and ground-breaking research in such major areas as materials science and technology, bioengineering, information & system science, advanced machine technology, energy technology, manufacturing technology and robotics. In particular, we consider research on materials science and technology to have the highest priority for the 21st century. and since 1996 have participated in the US-Japan joint research project, Precompetitive Processing and Characterization of Functionally Graded Materials.

This guide examines the use of technology for sharing information, both within an organisation, and between companies and their clients and customers. It looks in particular at the use of push/ pull technologies for delivering current awareness services. The guide also discusses the pros and cons of the technology, particularly information overload, and suggests a number of ways of minimising the problems. The guide contains a useful list of books, reports, journals and other information sources. Contents: Introduction; Intranets; Extranets; Groupware; Case studies; Push/pull technologies; Information overload; Key players; Useful information sources; References; Further reading.

Get the most from your electronic marketing resources! Internets, Intranets, and Extranets: New Waves in Channel Surfing examines cutting-edge research on the strategies and practices for managing electronic channels of information distribution. The leading experts working in Web-enabled marketing technologies address the most pressing topics of channel management, presenting descriptiveand prescriptiveinsights into the complex network of virtual links between people and places. This unique book looks at the death of distance from a global perspective, offering critical commentary on how to strengthen the connection between Web-linked buyers and sellers. Internets, Intranets, and Extranets presents a framework for working with e-business technologies that will help you develop electronic distribution strategies to maximize channel efficiency. The book addresses the signaling cues in marketing channels, examining the issues that affect the systemic flow of information, products, and services, including: the mediating role of channel structure on channel performance the transaction costs of cybermediaries the Internet's impact on independent sales agents the effects of brand familiarity and Web site vividness the analysis of electronic intermediaries in conventional distribution channels and the organizational and environmental factors involved in Internet-based marketing channels Internets, Intranets, and Extranets: New Waves in Channel Surfing is an essential resource for distribution managers, logisticians, and researchers interested in cutting-edge principles and practices in electronic distribution channels. The book is also an ideal supplement for academics working in electronic commerce study.

For the past decade, e-mail has been the preferred method of internal communication in libraries. However, relying on email for organizational knowledge management seems a bit like storing birth certificates, car titles, and deeds in a pile of junk mail: the important documents are lost amongst other items of only minimal or fleeting importance. A successful intranet can provide a secure place for information exchange and storage; however, in order to be successful, a library intranet must be easy to use, have the functionality desired by its users, and be integrated into the daily workflows of all library staff. Accomplishing this can be challenging for web librarians. The book covers, among other topics, third-party hosting; the use of freely available blog and wiki software for internal staff communication; and developing library intranets in ColdFusion, Microsoft SharePoint, and the open source Drupal content management system (CMS). More importantly, the authors examine in detail the human factors, which, when not thoroughly addressed, are more often the cause for a failed intranet than the technology platform. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of Web Librarianship.

Why Intranets Fail (and How to Fix Them) is a practical guide to some of the common problems associated with Intranets, and solutions to those problems. The book takes a unique end-user perspective on the role of intranets within organisations. It explores how the needs of the end-user very often conflict with the needs of the organisation, creating a confusion of purpose that impedes the success of intranet. It sets out clearly why intranets cannot be thought of as merely internal Internets, and require their own management strategies and approaches. The book draws on a wide range of examples and analogies from a variety of contexts to set-out in a clear and concise way the issues at the heart of failing intranets. It presents step-by-step solutions with universal application. Each issue discussed is accompanied by short practical suggestions for improved intranet design and architecture. - Jargon-free and aimed at information professionals with sole/mixed responsibilities - Draws many examples from broader library management contexts - Clearly distinguishes between intranet and Internet technologies