Volume
2007, Issue 1
March 2007
Inside this Issue:
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Headquarters Happenings
Shades of Grey: Carroll Addresses International Conference Attendees
IIa president Bonnie Carroll focused on Shades of Grey in her keynote speech for the 
Eighth International Conference on Grey Literature in New Orleans in December 2006. Carroll’s speech to attendees from 50 countries focused on the evolution of grey literature from the traditional print publication to today’s electronic publishing world.
Even the definition of grey literature has changed. In 1997, the definition talked about literature that wasn’t controlled by commercial publishers. With advances in technology and the growth of the electronic world, a definition of grey literature today also has to include the concept of information that is only available on the deep web.
Carroll pointed out that to talk about the volume of information that exists today, you talk in terms of exabytes. To put that in perspective, 5 exabytes of new information was produced in 2002. That is the equivalent of 500,000 new libraries that are each the size of the Library of Congress print collection.
Access to the information is through either the surface web with the popular search engines like Google or through the deep web. Less than 1% of government research results is available to popular search engines. The rest resides in huge data collections on the deep web, which is more difficult to access.
Carroll challenged listeners to consider whether the lines between grey literature and other forms of publishing have been blurred to the point that it is no longer useful to distinguish. She suggested that there may need to be a redefinition of grey literature or its characteristics to clarify whether grey literature today means “hard to find” or “hard to get.”
Rumble receives international recognition
Dr. John Rumble, IIa’s technical director, was awarded the 2006 CODATA Prize in Beijing, China, in late October 2006. The biennual prize recognizes outstanding achievement in scientific and technical data. Rumble was honored as “an innovator in the world of scientific and technical data.” During his career, he has been instrumental in extending data evaluation techniques in new disciplines, including engineering, materials, and biotechnology.
Rumble is past president of CODATA (the Committee on Data for Science and Technology), an interdisciplinary committee of the International Council for Science. Accepting the award, Rumble said it underscored “my belief that scientific data is a team effort involving scientists from every country and every discipline.”
IIa president Bonnie Carroll, the U.S. delegate to CODATA, said, “[John] has been instrumental in extending data evaluation techniques in areas outside the physical sciences, including engineering, materials, and even information technology data themselves.”
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Dr. John Rumble, far left, receives 2006 CODATA award from CODATA president Professor Shuichi Iwata. |