Tuesday, 30 October 2012

Objective Questions

1. Posting the right person at the right place is called ________
A. Recruitment
B. Coaching
C. Deployment
D. Induction

2.TQM is a system of continuous improvement employing participative management and centered on needs of the ________
A. Customers
B. Staff
C. Organization
D. Government

3.Financial support given to libraries are of . two types
(i) Recurring and
(ii)………
A. Ad-hoc
B. Endowments
C. Annual
D. Non-recurring

4. Principle of maximum aggregate benefit is concerned with________
A. growth of library
B. library use
C. library service
D. library fee

5……….. takes items of expenditure for libraries as the working data for allocation
of funds.
A. Method of details
B. Per capita method
C. Principle of economy
D. Library budget

6.A budget which mainly covers items of current revenue and expenditure is called
___.
A Programme budget
B. Welfare economics
C Current budgeting
D. Capital budgeting

7._______ budgeting does not take into account what happened in the past but
emphasizes on current activities.
A. formula
B. performance
C. programme
D. zero-base

8. The library budget of a university is passed by the ?
A Senate
B. Executive Council
C. Academic Council
D. Research Council

9. In fund accounting, _______ fund can not be used for other purposes.
A Recurring
B. Non-recurring
C. Restricted
D. Encumbering

10. Scrutiny of financial transactions is called
A. Budgeting
B. Programming
C. Accounting
D. Auditing

11. A good library building is an outcome of librarian and _________.
A. Registrar
B. Building Corporation
C. Finance Officer
D. Architect

12. ________ are the storage areas for the various types of documents kept in a library.
A. Tasks .
B. Racks
C.Stacks
D. Desks

13. Study carrels are exclusive areas meant for……………
A. students
B. public
C. women
D. researchers

14. Library catalogue cards are filed in specially designed. drawers called ________
A. Charging tray
B. Catalogue cabinet
C. Display rack .
D. Filling equipment

15.. Information Gatekeepers come under ________ sources.
A documentary
B. human
C. institutional
D. neo-conventional

16…………… categorises documents into three types such as primary, secondary and.
tertiary.
A. Grogan
B. Skeltor
C. SR. Ranganathan
D. Hanson

17. ________ is a legal document and can be used as a source of industrial information.
A. Report
B. Law Review
C. Patent
D. Specification

18. In Encyclopaedia Britianica, ___________ acts as an index to macropaedia.
A. Bibliography
B. Introduction Part
C. Propaedia
D. Micropaedia

19. One of the book selection principles states that “the best reading for the largest number at the ……………Cost.”
A. maximum
B. medium
C. least
D. zero

20. Payments for the books purchased can be made only after
A. accessioning
B. classification
C Cataloguing
D arrangement in the shelve

21. The standard size of an accession register is ?
A.15” x 13”
B. 16 x 13”
C.12” x 5”
D. 5” x 3”

22. ISBN stands for ________
A. Integrated Services Bibliographic Network
B. Indian Standard Book Number
C. International Standard Book Number
D. International Standard for Book and Non- book

23. The three card system introduced by Ranganathan are
(i) Register Card
(ii) Check Card
(iii)……..
A. KARDEX
B LINDEX
C. Ledger Card
D. Classified Index Card

24. Technical section performs mainly two functions namely classification and……….
A. accessioning
B. bills payment
C. cataloguing
D. shelving

25. PRECIS was developed by Derek Austin for use in the ________
A. BNB
B. INB
C. ISBD
D. ISBN

26. ________ is one of the records of circulation section.
A. Accession Register
B. Day book
C. Catalogue Card
D. AACR-2 (R)

27. Getting books back from the users and releasing the borrower’s ticket is known as
A. charging
B. holding
C. reserving
D. discharging

28.While entering the library, the personal belongings of a reader is kept in ________
A. Cloak room
B. Property counter
C. Gate counter
D. Store room

29. Physical condition of the books should be property maintained. This is known as
A. collation.
B. conservation
C. shelf-arrangement
D. organization

30.________ is an important record of books, which shows the position of any book on the shelves.
A. Bay Guide
B. Authority File
C. Accession List.
D. Shelf. .List

31.Books misplaced on the shelves by readers are restored. This work is referred to
as .
A. Shelving
B. Stock verification
C. Shelf rectification
D. Shifting

32. Books lost from the library are known through ________
A. Stock verification
B. Charging and discharging
C. Shelf list
D. Accession Register

33. Outdated and seldom used books are withdrawn from the library is otherwise
known as – .
A. Shelving
B. Weeding
C. Circulating
D. Guiding

34. The objective of library binding is ________
of the library materials.
A. Proper organisation
B. accessibility.
C. durability
D. humidity control
B. Imitation
D. Sheep skin

35.All part and pages of a volume are correctly sequenced in the first stage of binding
process known as?
A. sewing
B. guard
C. pulling
D. collation

36. Sheets before and after the text of a book are called _________. .
A. End papers
B. Attach cover
C Head bands
D Gilding

37.Leather being used as one of the binding materials i.e., _________ is the strongest
leather.
A Roan
B. Imitation
C. Pig skin
D. Sheep skin

38. ________ has prescribed certain standards for library binding.
A. ILA
B. ALA .
C. BLA
D. NBT

39 ________ is a process of helping employees in an organization to acquire new skills
and competence on a continuing basis
A. Total Quality Management
B Management Information System
C. Financial Resources Development
D. Human Resources Development.

40. A skillful method of providing means, mechanism and structural elements to.
streamline organizational work is known as _______
A. Strategic planning
B. Role analysis
C. Work culture
D. Autonomous planning

Friday, 12 October 2012

First in Library and Information Science in India

Aligarh Muslim University: First B.Lib. Science Course was introduced.
Calcutta University: First five years integrated course in LIS was introduced.
Calcutta University: The First and Oldest University Library was established in British India.
Calcutta University: The first university in India where library committee is formed.
Connemera Public Library: First Public Library in India.
DELNET: The first Library Network to provide e-mail service in the country.
Delhi University: First University to introduce, MLibSc., MPhil and PhD in LIS in India.
Delhi University: Firstly establish a full-fledged Department of Library Science.
DRTC: The first centre to use computer in the library and information activities in India.
ERNET: Firstly provide E-mail service in India.
LIS Links: First social network for Indian Library and Information Science professionals.
Madras: Enacted first Public Library Act in India.
Madras University: First P G Diploma in Library science was introduced.
Sravasti: The first library noticed in India.

year wise details in Library Science

Year Wise Development of Library and Information Science in India.

1774: Rampur Raza Library, Uttar Pradesh.
1808: Funds for the encouragement of literature.
1835: National Library of India.
1856: Intellectual Property Right Act.
1867: The Press and Registration of books Act was enacted.
1890: Connemara Public Library.
1891: Khuda Baksha Oriental Public Library.
1910: A. W. Borden start a refresher course for librarians in India.
1911: The Design Act.
1914: The Andhra Desa Library Association was founded.
1914: Andhra Pradesh Library Association.
1917: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune.
1918: Sarasvati Mahal Library.
1921: Maharashtra Library Association.
1925: Bengal Library Association.
1928: Madras Library Association.
1929: Punjab Library Association.
1929: Karnataka Library Association.
1931: ‘Five Laws of Library Science’ was first published.
1931: Samastha Kerala Pustakalaya Samiti.
1933: Colon Classification (CC) was first published.
1933: India Library Association (ILA).
1936: Bihar Library Association.
1938: Assam Library Association.
1944: Utkal Library Association.
1945: Kerala Library Association.
1947: Indian National Bibliography first appeared.
1947: National Medical Library, New Delhi.
1948: Tamil Nadu (formerly Madras) Public Libraries Act.
1951: Delhi Public Library.
1951: National Library of India.
1951: Uttar Pradesh Library Association.
1951: Hyderabad Library Association.
1953: Gujarat Library Association.
1953: Delhi Library Association.
1954: The Delivery of Books (Public Libraries) Act was passed.
1955: Hyderabad public libraries Act.
1955: Indian Association of Special Libraries and Information Centre (IASLIC) was founded.
1956: Delivery of Books (Public Libraries Act) 1954 was amended.
1957: Indian Library Association (ILA) became the member of International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA).
1957: Indian National Bibliography (INB) first appeared.
1957: Madhya Bharat Library Association.
1958: First Ph.D in the Library and Information Science in India.
1960: Andhra Pradesh Public Libraries Act.
1961: Gomantak Library Association.
1962: Rajasthan Library Association.
1962: Dr. S. R. Ranganathan was appointed as a National research professor of Library science.
1962: Documentation Research and Training Centre (DRTC), Bangalore.
1965: Karnataka Public Library Act.
1966: Jammu & Kashmir Library Association.
1967: Maharashtra Public Libraries Act.
1867: The Press and Registration of books Act Enacted.
1967: Tripura Library Association.
1972: Raja Rammohan Roy Library Foundation (RRRLF) was established.
1977: NICNET
1979: West Bengal Public Libraries Act.
1985: Committee On Library and Information Science (CONPOLIS India) was set up.
1986: ERNET.
1986: National Information Policy.
1986: CALIBNET.
1987: Mizoram Library Association.
1987: Manipur Library Association.
1988: Manipur Public Libraries Act.
1988: INFLIBNET.
1989: Haryana Public Libraries Act.
1989: Kerala Public Libraries Act.
1992: DELNET.
1993: Goa Public Libraries Act.
1993: MALIBNET.
1993: ADINET.
1993: Mizoram Public Libraries Act
1993: UGC Curriculum Development Committee.
1994: MYLIBNET.
1994: Meghalaya Library Association.
1996: Nagaland Library Association.
2000: Information Technology Act.
2000: SOUL Software.
2001: J-Gate, an electronic gateway to global e-journal literature.
2002: UGC INFONET.
2002: Gujarat Public Libraries Act.
2002: Orissa Public Library Act.
2003: HELINET.
2005: Uttaranchal Public Libraries Act.
2006: Rajasthan Public Libraries Act.
2006: Uttar Pradesh Library Act.
2007: National Knowledge Commission on Libraries.
2007: NEWGENLIB.
2011: International Standard Book Number (ISBN) allocation office in India shifted from Kolkatta to Delhi.
UGC – National Eligibility Test
June – 2010
1-      Which is not near synonym term to information :-Catalogue
2-      CCF stand for :- Common Communication Format
3-      Resource sharing among libraries was prompted by the factors :- Price acceleration & Information explosion
4-      The library Association (UK) is now the component of :- CILIP
5-      Real time to access refers to :- Access after some time
6-      Which of the following professional Association does not exist now :- IASLIC
7-      Theory X and Theory Y relate to :- Motivation
8-      Dewey Decimal Classification is now looked after by :- OCLC
9-      INSDOC has been merged with :- NISCAIR
10-   World Wide Web first designed by :- Tim Berne’s Lee
11-   ISBN consists of :- 13 digit
12-   Bibliographical coupling is related to :- Bibliometric studies
13-   Dublin Core metadata consists of :- 15 elements
14-   A type of indexing where terms are coordinated prior to searching :- Post coordinate indexing
15-   Use of ICs were made in :- Third generation computers
16-   The network topology in which nodes are connected to a central hub is known as :- Star topology
17-   Which of the following is a term used for working assumption of a solution to a problem :- Hypothesis
18-   Computer memory measured in :- Bytes,Kilobytes,Megabytes
19-   DELNET stands for :- Developing Library Network
20-   Right to Information act :- 2005
21-   Information Technology act :- 2000
22-   Freedom of Information act :-2002

Tuesday, 9 October 2012

Internet

Internet: Information technology consists of different components like electronics, computer hardware, software, and telecommunications. Integration and application of the above technologies in information handling for efficient and effective information management is termed as information technology. By using IT we can obtain, process, store, transmit and output information in the form of voice, picture or text. A part of information technology is the Internet. If one has heard anything about computers, then he/she would have certainly heard about the Internet as well, as it is so popular that there is hardly any one who has not come across the term.

Internet, a computer network, rather a network of networks, makes any information available at the touch of a button. The importance of internet lies on the fact that it is like a printing press of the technology era. It is like a huge central warehouse of data that can be accessed by people from all over the world. The internet represents one of the most successful examples of the benefits of sustained investment and commitment to research and development of information infrastructure. The internet today is a widespread information infrastructure, the initial prototype of what is often called the national (or global or galactic) information infrastructure comprising more than thousands of regional, national and international networks which connect people from all over the world.
Internet has brought about drastic changes in social contact and tries to by pass physical face to face contact. Today, it is used daily by millions of people, who access it for a variety of purpose.  There has been practically no technology being adopted at a rate similar to the internet.
1. Definition: On October 24, 1995 the FNC unanimously passed a resolution defining the term Internet. This definition was developed in consultation with the members of the internet and intellectual property right communities. “The Federal Networking Council” (FNC) agrees that the definition of the term “Internet” is reflect in the following expression: “Internet refers to the global information system that
a) is logically linked together by a global unique address space based on the Internet Protocol (IP) or its subsequent extension (follow-ons;
b) is able to support communication using the Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Suits or its subsequent extension / follow-ons and / or other IP compatible protocol
and
c) provides uses or makes accessible either publicly or privately high level services layered on the communication and related infrastructure, described here in http://www.fnc.got/internet-res.html.”
            In simple term, the internet is an enormous network of millions of computer allowing constant communication throughout the world. It is a loose connection of related networks or a network of networks. It is made up of Local Area Network (LAN), Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) and huge Wide Area Network (WAN) of the whole world. It is a global information highway and a universal database of knowledge which itself collectively represents human society on a virtual life.
2. History: The first recorded description of the social interaction that could be enabled through networking was a series of memos written by J. C. R. Licklider of MIT, USA in August 1962 discussing his “Galactic network” concept. He envisioned a globally interconnected set of computers through which everyone could quickly access data and program from any site. The internet began to evolve when packet switching network came into operation in the 1960s. In Europe, when transmitted data is broken up into small packets and sent to its destination then the reassembled packet can also be compressed for speed and encrypted (converted into code) for security.
a) ARPANET: In 1968, a similar system as that of packet switching was developed in the USA. In 1969, Pentagon Commissioned Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) for research into networking. In the following year Vinton Cerf and others published their first proposal for protocol that would allow computer to “talk” to each other. Thus, ARPANET began operating using the Network Control Protocol (NCP). The first host to host protocol, which went into operation at the US Defence Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) in 1969-1982. In 1974, Vinton Cerf joined Bob Kahn to present their “protocol for packet network interconnection” specifying the detailed design of Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), the basis of the modern internet. In 1978, TCP was split into TCP (now short for Transmission Control Protocol) an Internet Protocol (IP). When NCP was replaced by the new widespread Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), a number of interconnected US military computers formed the first sizable internet for defence use (communication in the event of nuclear attack).
b) National Science Foundation: Internet really took off in the year 1980s when the National Science Foundation (NSF) used ARPANET to link its five regional super computer centres at major universities so that many users could share their work. Later on NSF created National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET), a series of networks for research and education communication. It was provided free to any US research and educational institution.
c) USENET: Usenet is actually a companion network to electronic mail started at Duke University and the University of North Carolina, USA and it also offers an unusual service called “Network News”. Email was developed through ARPANET as did the Bulletin Board System (Usenet). Usenet, which began in 1979 contributes enormously to the internet’s rapid expansion. Its spirit of information sharing and discussion was the hallmark of its system and was reflected in the Internet as a whole.
d) World Wide Web: By the end of 1980s the European Particle Research Laboratory (CERN) in Geneva was one of the premier internet sites in Europe. CERN desperately needed a better way of locating all the files, documents and other resources that now threatened to overwhelm it. Tim Berners Lee, a young British scientist working as a consultant for CERN, had found out an answer for the above problem. In 1991 his World Wide Web system assigned a common system of written addresses and hypertext link to all information. In 1991, the first www files were made available on the internet for downloading using File Transfer Protocol (FTP). In October, 1993 there were around 200 known HTTP servers. In 1993, the National Centre for Supercomputer Application (NCSA) developed web browser (namely Mosaic) which took the internet by storm.
3. Components of Internet: The Internet consists of the WWW and all the hardware, software, protocols on which WWW runs. One of the main characteristics of Internet is that it is a decentralized system i.e there is no single person or organization that owns or control Internet, all who use Internet or supply material to it, have a role to play. However, there are organizations such as InterNIC, the National Science Foundation, the Internet Engineering Task Force, ICANN and the Internet Architecture Board which oversee and standardize what happens on Internet.
a) World Wide Web: The WWW is also called web. The WWW is a set of programs, standards, and protocols (set of rules) governing the way in which multimedia files (files containing a combination of text, graphics, photographs, audio, video) are created and displayed on the Internet. The difference between the Internet and the WWW is similar to the distinction between a computer and a multimedia program that runs on the computer. The Internet is a decentralized global network of computers that transfer information and the wiring that makes all these possible, whereas the web is a collection of documents or websites, that users can access using the Internet and a web browser.
b) Hardware: It means the computer (supercomputer, web server, and personal computer), modem (external or internal) and cables or telecommunication lines. The cables with jacks and rackets connect the modem with the computer and telephone. The users possess the terminal or the computer, modem, etc. The ISP procures the server that serves up web pages upon request.
i) Modem: Modem is a device that allows computers to communicate over telephone lines, it converts a digital signal to an analog signal and vice versa.
c) Software: It includes the operating system and web browser.
i) Operating System: In case of Operating System, Windows, Linux or others will do. The higher versions of the OS are preferable because it has an inbuilt component to support internet connections.
ii) Web Browser: A web browser is the software program that is used to access the WWW or to visit web pages and display it in the computer screen, e.g. Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Netscape Navigator, etc.
iii) Telecommunication Lines: The telephone companies own the equipment and cables that carry signals to the service providers.
d) Internet Protocol Suite: The Internet Protocol Suite [also known as Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)] is the set of communication protocols used for the Internet and other similar networks. It governs the way data travels from one machine to another across a network. It is named from two of the most important protocols in it: the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Internet Protocol (IP), which are the first two networking protocols defined in this standard.
            The Internet Protocol Suite, like many protocol suites, may be viewed as a set of layers. Each layer solves a set of problems involving the transmission of data, and provides a well-defined service to the upper layer protocols based on using services from some lower layers. Upper layers are logically closer to the user and deal with more abstract data, relying on lower layer protocols to translate data into forms that can eventually be physically transmitted.
The Internet Protocol Suite consists of four layers. From the lowest to the highest, these are the Link Layer, the Internet Layer, the Transport Layer, and the Application Layer.
            In the application layer, the following are the common types of protocols
i) HTTP: Web pages are transferred between computers using Hyper Text Transfer Protocol.
ii) FTP: Excluding web pages other types of files are transferred between computers by using FTP. It is a mechanism that allows placing and retrieving of files over the Internet. It allows anyone to download software, upgrading of downloaded softwares, information and so on. It provides authorization of persons allowed to copy the files.
iii) Telnet Protocol: It is a simple programme created by National Centre for Supercomputer Application (NCSA) that uses TCP/IP to provide connection into another computer. Telnet allows a users’ work station or terminal to behave as though it is directly connected to the machines where the user is logged in. It means that Telnet helps to operate remote computers from one’s own desktop. The condition is that the user must have log-in account and passwords to access the remote computer.
iv) Gopher Protocol: The University of Minnesota Microcomputer work-station centre created gopher to find information on the internet in a user friendly way. It is a menu-driven programme that allows one to click with information server or “Gopher Holes” on the Internet to retrieve the information including text, sound and images. The gopher system is impressive owing to its simplicity volume and variety of information available. To retrieve information an indexing tool called Veronica is used that searches all gopher server using a set of keywords.
e) Internet Service Provider (ISP): An Internet service provider is an organization that provides some crucial portion of the Internet infrastructure to help connecting to the Internet. Sometimes the Internet Service Provider also responsible for telecommunication link i.e telephone connection to users’ site, or in today’s context Data Card providers and an internet account (username and password). The ISP provides the Internet connection to the user.
f) The Website: The Hyper Text Mark Up Language (HTML) is the commonly used language for creating the web documents or webpage. However it is not the single one. A website is a set of related (linked through hypertext link) web pages, published by an organization or individual. Normally it contains a home page along with other additional pages. The home page is the starting point or doorway to a website providing an overview of what could be found at the website. Home page is also known as the index page or index.
In Internet environment, the download refers to copying or saving the data, information from the internet to the local computer. Uploading is just the opposite of downloading. It is the sending of the data or information from the local computer to the Internet. The Online means staying connected to the Internet. The offline is just the opposite. Offline means that the user is no longer connected to a remote computer or the internet.
In Netscape Navigator, Bookmarks is a list of favourite web pages and Internet resources. One can add items to this menu at any time. Bookmarks are equivalent to favourite in Microsoft Internet Explorer.
4. Internet Protocol Address: An Internet Protocol (IP) address is a numerical label that is assigned to devices participating in a computer network utilizing the Internet Protocol for communication between its nodes. An IP address serves two principal functions in networking: host or network interface identification and location addressing. The role of the IP address has also been characterized as a name that indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A route indicates how to get there.
The network portion of the IP address is allocated to the Internet Service Providers (ISP) by the InterNic under authority of the Internet Assigned Number Authority (IANA). ISPs then assign the host portion of the IP address to the machines on the network that they operate.
a) Uniform Resource Locator (URL): The location of a web page on the internet can be identified by a unique address which is called URL. Every single page of the hundreds of millions of pages stored on the web has a URL. The URL or the address tells the browser which document to fetch and exactly where to find it on a particular host computer some where on the internet.
b) Domain Naming System (DNS): The Internet uses an addressing scheme that employs the Domain Naming System (DNS). Domain names provided a system, an easy to remember internet address which can be translated by the Domain Names System (DNS) into the numeric address (Internet Protocol Number). The internet protocol number is the numeric location of a particular computer so that it is an identifiable machine to all the other computers connected to the internet. The IP address is a 32 bit number divided into four octets and these octets are written in dotted decimal format eg. 11.245.196.212. Each octets numbers lie in between o and 255.
c) Internet Address: The Internet address is needed so that massage can be correctly routed to and from the machine over the network. Each part of the address goes from general to specific and consists of letters, numbers, and punctuation. The basic structure of URL is hierarchical. i.e
Protocol:// Server name. Domain name. Top level domain name. port / Directory / File name.
Eg: http://www.liswiki.com/wiki/index
Protocol: The protocol is generally Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP).
://: It is a kind of separator that tells the browser that the next words will be actual URL.
Server: WWW. It indicates the site as part of the World Wide Web. The web is a subnet of Internet that uses multimedia objects.
Domain Name: Liswiki is the domain name. This is a unique name which has to be registered with InterNIC, an organization which has official authority over all domain names.
Top Level Domain Name: It indicates the purpose of the institute / organization associated with the website. Some of the top level domains are-
Organizational Domain
.com: Commercial entities;
.edu: Educational institutions;
.gov: US government institutions;
.int: International institutions;
.mil: US Military institutions;
.net: Network resource providers;
.org: Non profit organization.
Geographic Domain: Outside the United States a code is included to which country a URL belongs. Though United States also have a domain code (US) yet in reality it is used in rare instances on the Internet. It is assumed that if there is no geographic code then the domain is located within the United States.
For example:
.au:      Australia;
.ca:       Canada;
.in:       India;
.va:      Vatican, etc.
Directory: The next is the directory on the host computer that contains the specific website.
5. Types of Internet Connections: The type of internet connection requirement depends on its uses. If the user wants an Internet mainly for sending e-mail, occasional chats, infrequent browsing then he should go for a dial-up connection. If the user is using the internet frequently for research, downloading or uploading a fair amount of data, play multi-player video games or live audio or video streaming, then he should look into other high speed accesses such as a cable modem or ISDN. The Internet connection generally can be categorized into the following-
i) Dial-up (analog up to 56k): In a Dial-up, the telephone lines are used to connect to the Internet. Here to get connected, the user needs to specify a username, a password, and a telephone number.
ii) Digital Subscriber Line (DSL): DSL operates over normal telephone lines and it can be used simultaneously with the telephone. It can increase the connection speed by ten times from a standard dial-up modem.
iii) Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN): ISDN involves the digitization of the telephone network so that voice, graphics, text, and other data can be provided to users from a single terminal over existing telephone wiring. It is four times faster than a Dial-up network.
iv) Cable Internet: A cable modem connects the user to the Internet through a cable television line. A cable modem will typically have two connections, one to the television outlet and the other to the computer. It is 10-100 times faster compared to the dial-up modem and added interactivity to the television.
v) Leased Line: Leased line facility is provided via fiber optic or copper lines to provide data, voice and video links between two parties. It provides for a consistent amount of bandwidth. For example, T-1 Lines, T-3 Lines, etc. It is especially useful for businesses connecting to the Internet and for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) connecting to the Internet backbone.
vi) Internet over Satellite (IoS): Here the data are transmitted via satellite to a dish antenna at the users’ house. It allows a user to access the Internet via a satellite that orbits the earth. A satellite is placed at a static point above the earth's surface in a fixed position. Because of the enormous distances signals must travel from the earth up to the satellite and back again. IoS is slightly slower than high-speed terrestrial connections over copper or fiber optic cables.
vii) Wireless Internet Connections: Wireless Internet or wireless broadband is one of the newest Internet connection types. Instead of using telephone or cable networks for your Internet connection, one can use radio frequency bands. Wireless Internet provides an always-on connection which can be accessed from anywhere- as long as one is geographically within a network coverage area. It is typically more expensive and mainly available in metropolitan areas.
Broadband is often called "high-speed" access to the Internet, because it usually has a high rate of data transmission. In general, any connection to the customer of 256 kbit/s (0.256 Mbit/s) or greater is more concisely considered broadband Internet access. The standard broadband technologies in most areas are DSL and cable modems. Newer technologies in use include pushing optical fiber connections closer to the subscriber in both telephone and cable plants.
Modems which use mobile phone lines [General packet radio service (GPRS), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Wired Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), etc.], are known as cellular modems. Cellular modems can be embedded inside a laptop or an appliance, or they can be external to it to access the Internet. External cellular modems are datacards and cellular routers. The datacard is a PC card or ExpressCard which slides into a Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA)/PC card/ExpressCard slot on a computer.
6. Factors Affecting Speed of Internet Connectivity: The speed of internet connectivity is influenced by the following factors-
a) Speed of the Modem: The speed of the modem greatly influences the speed of internet connectivity So, for getting higher speed one must procure a modem with a maximum speed of 56kbps or higher, if possible.
b) Quality of Phone Line: Noise on the phone line, running into the home, can disrupt internet connection with a modem. So, higher quality phone line should be used. If possible, ISDN should be implemented to solve the problem.
c) Internet Traffic: While hitting a popular site, one may be competing with the hundreds or thousands of others for the attention of that site server resulting in slow speed of access. The web traffic generally tends to expand throughout the day and peaks around the evening. So, for getting high speed one should try to change the time of the day he/ she is going for online.
d) Personal Computer: There are some other factors which are associated with personal computer. They are-
i) Processor: For getting higher speed one should procure processors which have 650 MHZ or higher speed.
ii) RAM: Working with other software application at the time of browsing decreases the RAM capacity resulting in slow speed of access to the Internet. So, it is better to get higher RAM or avoid working with other software application while surfing.
iii) Hard Disc: A highly fragmented hard disc can slow down web surfing considerably. So, it is good to practice to keep the hard drive defragmented and optimized.
iv) Browser’s Cache: Web browser’s cache is a storage area on the computer’s hard disc. As one surfs the browser stores the web pages that are already visited in the cache up to the disc space limit that one has set. When anyone tries to retrieve the same page after its first visit the browser displays the cached WebPages from the hard disc which is very fast and not from the Internet. So, if cache memory is small it slows down the access to the Internet. The solution is to increase the browser cache limit.
v) Image Loading: Today many files are very big and rich of data, picture, image, etc. and so it takes longer time to download the images resulting in slow speed to Internet access. One can solve the problem by turning off image loading and java in the browser without affecting the content of a webpage. This can be done by selecting advanced Tab of Internet options in the Tool menu.
vi) Working with Two or More Browser Windows at a Time: To increase further surfing speed one can surf with two or more browser tabs or windows at a time. This will enable one to read the content of one page while allowing another page to load in the second windows. This may help to cut down the time lag and frustration.
7. Internet Applications: Internet is the network of networks. It provides a base structure for different applications / services. Such applications may include Email, chat, discussion group, discussion forum, social network and so on. Almost every protocol type available on the Internet is accessible on the web. There are many activities that can be preformed online. Some of the commonly used applications are only listed here in the following paragraphs;
i) World Wide Web: It is a subset of Internet and it presents text, images, animation, video, sound, and other multimedia in a single interface. The operation of the web relies primarily on hypertext, as it is a means of information retrieval. Hypertext is a document containing words that connect to other documents and resources throughout the Internet.
ii) Email: Electronic mail or e-mail is a fast, easy, and inexpensive way to communicate with other internet users around the world. Email can be defined as the process of exchanging messages electronically, through a communication network, using the computer. Using email, one can exchange messages with someone else on the internet. It reaches its addresses within seconds and the people at large using it. Email overcomes most of the problems and delays of getting a physical document from one person. It is one of the basic and earliest services of the Internet and the most used application on the Internet too.
iii) File Transfer Protocol (FTP): It is a system of rules and a software program that enables a user to log on to another computer and transfer information between it and his/her computer. FTP can be done using the command prompt, browsers, and various GUI based FTP softwares such as CuteFTP and WS_FTP.
iv) Telnet: It allows a user to log on to a remote computer in such a way that a person may interact with another machine as if it is being used locally. The user’s monitor displays what is taking place on the remote computer during the telnet session.
v) Chat: Chat puts people online in a live conversation with other internet users around the globe. Chat programs allow the users on the Internet to communicate with each other by typing in real time. It is sometimes included as a feature of a website.
vi) Internet Telephony: Internet telephony is the use of Internet to exchange spoken or other telephonic information. The required hardware for Internet telephony generally consists of end devices (either traditional telephone or audio-equipped personal computers) and gatekeepers that provide call admission control, bandwidth management, addresses translation, authentication, and user location. There are many Internet telephony applications available, for example CoolTalk, NetMetting, etc.
vii) Video Conferencing: It enables direct face-to-face communication across networks using audio, video, and the data. In video conferencing, web cameras, microphone, and other communication tools are necessary.
ix) E-Commerce: E-commerce refers to buying and selling goods and services online.
x) Mobile Commerce: M-commerce or mobile commerce refers to transactions through a mobile phone network and data connection that results in the transfer of value (monetary or otherwise) in exchange for goods and services.
xi) Mailing List (Listserver): It is a method of sending and receiving discussions via e-mail, organized around some topics within a large community.
A search page is a web page where a search of the web can be conducted. If some one is good at framing the search queries, it will help them in finding exactly what they are looking for, anywhere on the web. The web directories provide direction to the web sites by listing relevant web pages in some easy to browse categories. Many web directories also provide search facilities to the user for easy location of the pages. Web directories are especially useful when someone is new to some topic.
Groups and discussion forums are great ways to keep up with a subject. It broadens one’s mind by displaying different points of view or perception on a single idea or concept. The social network is the virtual social life of the people over the web.
Advantages and Disadvantage of Internet: The internet has the following advantages-
i) Central Repository of Information: The Internet is like a huge central warehouse of data that can be accessed by people from all over the world.
ii) Direct Communication: Through email, chat, internet telephony, video conferencing, etc. one can directly communicate with others.
iii) Round the Clock Availability: Information on the internet is available to the user 24 hours a day and 365 days of the year.
iv) Cheapest Medium: Internet is perhaps the cheapest medium for online help, trouble shooting assistance, for getting specific information, etc.
v) Distance Learning: It provides the facility of learning remotely without physically coming in contact with the teacher, the school or university.
vi) No Barrier: In the internet environment any one can be author / writer / publisher and users of the information. There is no barrier in this regard.
The disadvantages of Internet can be as follows-
i) Copyright: Digitization violates the copyright laws as the thought content of one author can be freely transferred to another without his acknowledgement.
ii) Incompatible Hardware and Software: The hardware and software are modified every day. So a document that is available in one format may not be accessible in the days to come. So, one has to upgrade the hardware and software configuration as and when needed.
iii) Artificial Environment: The environment created by Internet is an artificial one.
iv) Volatile Information: The electronic environment though very exciting and stimulating is also quite volatile.

Let Us Sum Up: Internet is the largest of all other networks connecting a large number of smaller interconnected networks, so it is a computer based worldwide network connecting other smaller networks. It is a global network linking millions of computers and people cutting across all barriers and boundaries of countries, race, class or sex.  Internet can also be described as a collection of government, academic, commercial and individual sites.
The launching of ARPA in 1957 by Sputnik, and European Particle Research Laboratory (CERN) are at the backend in the development of the Internet. The Internet mainly consists of the WWW and all the hardware, software, and protocols. To get connected to the internet, the user will need a computer, a modem (internal / external), and an Internet account with the ISP.
The usefulness of Internet lies in its characteristics of the Worlds Greatest Library where everybody will find it as a vast pool of information; it is the Wide Area Network, and much more. Besides, it also provides the latest information on any topic available round the clock and from a wide distance.

Librametric, Bibliometric, Scientometrics, Informetrics

Librametric, Bibliometric, Scientometrics, Informetrics: The Librametric, bibliometric, scientometrics, informetrics are overlapping areas, though their scopes are not the same.
1. Librametry: Dr. S. R. Ranganathan coined the term librametry and presented his concept in 1948 at the ASLIB conference held at Lemington Spa. He said that “there is a need to develop this subject on the lines of Biometry, Econometry, Psychometry, etc. He used the term to include statistical approaches to the study of library and its services. However, the practice of using quantitative method to measure information sources were made even before Dr. S. R. Ranganathan either under different name or without any name at all. For instance E. J. Cole and Nellie Eales in 1917, graphically mapped the literature and called this as “Statistical analysis”, E. Wyndham Hulme in 1922 studied the literature and called it “statistical bibliography”, but the terms were found to be clumsy as it could easily be mistaken.
2. Bibliometrics: The formal term “bibliometric” was first used by Alan Pritchard in his article “Statistical bibliography or bibliometric” in 1969 published in the “Journal of Documentation”. “Biblio” means book and “metric” means a scale or measure. Bibliometric means application of statistical studies in library and information science.
            Pritchard defines bibliometric as “the application of mathematical and statistical methods to books and other media of communication”.
            Potter defines bibliometric as “the study and measurement of the publication pattern of all forms of written communication and their author”.
Thus bibliometric is a sort of measuring techniques by which interconnected aspect of written communication can be quantified. It is the study, or measurement, of texts and information. Bibliometrics utilizes quantitative analysis and statistics to describe patterns of publication within a given field or body of literature. Researchers may use bibliometric methods of evaluation to determine the influence of a single writer, for example, or to describe the relationship between two or more writers or works. One common way of conducting bibliometric research is to use the Social Science Citation Index, the Science Citation Index or the Arts and Humanities Citation Index to trace citations.
a) Bibliometric Techniques: There are different kinds of bibliometric techniques. For example-
i) Productivity Count: It deals with books articles, words in a text, place of publication, subject matter, time and date of publication, publishing institution, authors, author’s institution, etc. Nicholas and Ritchie in the book “Literature and Bibliometrics” called it as productivity count or descriptive.
ii) Literature Usage Count: It deals with citation in published works, circulation, frequency of borrowing or browsing different library material, failure and success in search strategies, search option , etc. Nicholas and Ritchie called it as “Evaluative”.
b) Laws of Bibliometrics: One of the main areas in bibliometric research concerns the application of bibliometric laws. The three most commonly used laws in bibliometrics are - Lotka's Law of Scientific Productivity, Bradford's Law of Scatter, and Zipf's Law of Word Occurrence;
i) Lotka's Law of Scientific Productivity: In 1926, Alfred J. Lotka proposed an inverse square law relating to scientific papers to the number of contributions made by each author. Lotka's Law describes the frequency of publication by authors in a given field. It states that ". . . the number (of authors) making n contributions is about 1/n² of those making one; and the proportion of all contributors, that make a single contribution, is about 60 percent". This means that out of all the authors in a given field, 60 percent will have just one publication, and 15 percent will have two publications (1/2² times . 60), 7 percent of authors will have three publications (1/3² times . 60), and so on. According to Lotka's Law of scientific productivity, only six percent of the authors in a field will produce more than 10 articles.
Lotka’s equation is xn.y= Constant.
Where
Y= Frequency of authors making n contribution, the value of the constant was found to be 0.6079
ii) Bradford's Law of Scatter: Samuel Clement Bradford in 1934 points out that if scientific journals are arranged in order of decreasing productivity of articles on a given subject, they may be divided into a nucleus of periodicals more particularly devoted to the subject and several groups and zones containing the same number of articles as the nucleus when the number of periodicals in the nucleus and succeeding zones will be 1: n: n2.
Bradford's Law states that journals in a single field can be divided into three parts, each containing the same number of articles:
* A core of journals on the subject, relatively few in number, that produces approximately one-third of all the articles;
* A second zone, containing the same number of articles as the first, but a greater number of journals, and
* A third zone, containing the same number of articles as the second, but a still greater number of journals.
The mathematical relationship of the number of journals in the core to the first zone is a constant n and to the second zone the relationship is n². Bradford expressed this relationship as 1 : n : n². Bradford formulated his law after studying a bibliography of geophysics, covering 326 journals in the field. He discovered that 9 journals contained 429 articles, 59 contained 499 articles, and 258 contained 404 articles. So it took 9 journals to contribute one-third of the articles, 5 times of 9, or 45, to produce the next third, and 5 times 5 times 9, or 225, to produce the last third.
Bradford's Law serves as a general guideline to librarians in determining the number of core journals in any given field. Bradford's Law is not statistically accurate, but it is still commonly used as a general rule of thumb.
iii) Zipf's Law of Word Occurrence: George K. Zipf, 1947 states that if the words occurring in a natural language text of sizable length were listed in the order of decreasing frequency then the rank of any given word in the list would be inversely proportional to the frequency of occurrence of the word. Zipf’s equation is
r . f = k
Where
r = Rank;
f = Frequency of Word;
k = Constant
The Law states that in a relatively lengthy text, if you "list the words occurring within that text in order of decreasing frequency, the rank of a word on that list multiplied by its frequency will equal a constant. The equation for this relationship is: r x f = k where r is the rank of the word, f is the frequency, and k is the constant. Zipf illustrated his law with an analysis of James Joyce's Ulysses. "He showed that the tenth most frequent word occurred 2,653 times, the hundredth most frequent word occurred 265 times, the two hundredth word occurred 133 times, and so on. Zipf found, then that the rank of the word multiplied by the frequency of the word equals a constant that is approximately 26,500".
c) Uses of Bibliometric Studies: Historically bibliometric methods have been used to trace relationships amongst academic journal citations. The bibliometric research uses various methods of citation analysis in order to establish relationships between authors or their work. The Bibliometric studies are used in
i) Measuring the scattering of articles on a subject in various periodicals (Bradford).
ii) Measuring the productivity of an author based on the number of published articles. (Lotka).
iii) Ranking of words in a text based on frequency of occurrence of words.
iv) Productivity count of literature.
v) To identify the peers, social change and the core journal, etc.
vi) Indexing and Thesaurus;
vii) Research;
viii) Formulating search strategies in case of automated system;
ix) Comparative assessment of the secondary services;
x) Bibliographic control;
xi) Preparation of retrospective bibliographic and
xii) Library Management.
3. Scientometrics: This term was introduced and came into prominence with the founding of the journal named “Scientometrics” by T. Braunin in 1977, originally published in Hungary and currently from Amsterdam.
            The term “Scientometrics” was used to mean the application of quantitative methods to the history of science but it is now generally used as a generic term for a variety of research approaches within the study of science that a quantifiable aspect of science can be utilized to assess the characteristic of science.
            Marton and Garfield have defined it as the field of enquiry given over to the quantitative analysis of science and scientific field.
4. Informetrics: According to Brooker the term “informetrics” was first proposed by Otto Nacke of West Germany in 1979. It focused on information productivity. It interprets information technology and considers interaction of information theory, cybermetrics, decision theory, etc.
5. Webmetrics: Webmetrics can be defined as using of bibliometric techniques in order to study the relationship of different sites on the World Wide Web. Such techniques may also be used to map out (called "scientific mapping" in traditional bibliometric research) areas of the Web that appear to be most useful or influential, based on the number of times they are hyperlinked to other Web sites.
6. Let Us Sum Up: According to Sen, bibliometric deals with document and its component while informetrics studies pertaining to information. Morales use the term informetrics to cover almost all the aspect of bibliometric and librametrics.


                                                     Blog

 Blog: The term "weblog" was coined by Jorn Barger on 17 December 1997. Then Peter Merholz, jokingly broke the word weblog into the phrase we blog in the sidebar of his blog Peterme.com in 1999, from where it becomes popular as "blog". Thus Blog is derived from Weblog. Blog or weblog is a web-based publication consisting primarily of periodic articles normally in reverse chronological order with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer.

1. Definition: Blogs have different meaning to different people, ranging from “online journal” to “easily updated personal website”. A weblog is a journal (or newsletter) that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption. Blogs generally represent the personality of the author or the Web site.
According to Concept Websites Ltd (http://www.conceptwebsites.com/SEO/common-terms.htm), “a blog is basically a journal that is available on the web. The activity of updating a blog is "blogging" and someone who keeps a blog is a "blogger." Blogs are typically updated daily using software that allows people with little or no technical background to update and maintain the blog”.
In simple, it can be said that it is a web based website where articles posted will automatically be arranged in reverse chronological fashion or in a chronological fashion. The owner/member will post message which are sometimes rich with graph, audio, video and hyperlink periodically enabling others to view and comment. Topics often include the owner's/member’s daily life or views on a particular subject or topic of important to the group. The original post with its associated comments and discussion provide a very insight to the topic at hand.
            Many blogs are frequently updated and publicly accessible i.e they allow anybody to sign up at any time; some others are private where entry to the group is restricted. Some advanced users have server-side software, and often implement membership management and password protected areas. Others have created a mix of a blog and wiki, called a bliki.
2. History: At the initial stage of internet development, Usenet, e-mail lists, Bulletin Board Systems (BBS), chronicles, commonplaces, diaries, and perzines were used as a form of Citizen Media. Bulletin Board is a service whereby messages and points of interest can be posted to be read and replied to unlike list server. The news group provides access to thousands of topic based discussion group services which are open to all. The news reader software allows one to post an article to any group for others to read. A comment to the message (original) can be added to the thread of the article. In recent times these are effectively replaced by the “blog”.
During recent days, blog has evolved into a tool that offers some of the most insightful information on the Web. It provides self-publishing phenomenon represented by blogging and becoming much more common in LIS, as librarians, libraries and library associations have begun to blog as a way of communicating with their patrons and constituents. Many librarians world wide also publish their personal blogs that offer a wealth of information about librarianship, their parent institution and sometimes to their personal lives as well.
The emergence of blogging provides a medium to give readers of the library new perspectives on the realities, as well as often offering different viewpoints from those of its official news sources. Many bloggers began to provide nearly-instant commentary on televised events, creating a secondary meaning of the word "blogging": to simultaneously transcribe and editorialize speeches and events shown on television (liveblogging).
3. Anatomy of a Blog Entry: Blog uses web interfaces that allow anyone over the Internet, to create blogs by their own. It usually does not demand the maintenance of server software by the users themselves. It also does not demand to go for the HTML. A blog entry typically consists of the following:
a) Title: The main title, or headline, of the post;
b) Body: Main content of the post;
c) Permalink: The URL of the full, individual article;
d) Post Date: Date and time the post published.
A blog entry optionally also includes the comments or feedback. Comments are a way to provide discussion on blog entries. Readers can leave a comment on a post (a way of correcting one’s error) or they can also leave their personal opinion on the previous post(s).
4. Types: There are various types of blogs, and each differs in the way content is delivered or written. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic, the ability to quote another user's post with special formatting in ones post is also a special feature of many blogs. Generally, blog can be categorized as follows:
a) Linklog: A blog comprising links;
b) Moblog: A blog written by a mobile phone or Personal Digital Assistant (PDA);
c) Photoblog: A blog comprising photos;
d) Podcasting: Blog containing audio;
e) Vlog: A blog comprising videos.
Blog can also be categorized based on a particular subject, such as political blogs, travel blogs, legal blogs (often referred to as a blawg), Library blogs, Academic Library blogs, Librarian’s blogs and so on.
5. Importance: Blogging combined the site with tools to make linking to other pages easier specifically permalinks, blogrolls and TrackBacks. This, together with blog search engines enabled bloggers to track the threads that connected them to others with similar interests.
a) Blog as a Forum: The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format and the scope for adding more than one author in a blog, can be used to create discussion forum. Wordpress comments at the bottom of a blog post allow for a single-threaded discussion of any given blog post. Slashcode, on the other hand, is far more complicated, allowing fully threaded discussions and incorporating a robust moderation and meta-moderation system as well as many of the profile features available to forum users.
b) Blog as a Group: The Blog’s RSS Feed or Atom by burning with some feed burning services can be used to provide email subscription option (some blog hosting service even produce it by default). This feature can be used as a group to notify the intended users or reader or subscribers about some announcement.
Blog also have blogrolls (i.e. links to other blogs which the owner reads or admires), and indicate the social relationship of a particular blog to those of other bloggers. Pingback (links to other sites that refer to the entry) and trackback (one of three types of Linkbacks, methods for Web authors to request notification when somebody links to one of their documents) allow one blog to notify another blog, creating an inter-blog conversation. In summary, blogs engage readers and build a virtual community around a particular person or interest, which have immense implication in library and information science.
c) A Major Part of the Internet: Blogs are easy to create and maintain as compared to websites. As a result, people are turning towards blog as a publication medium. Day by day, its volume as well as quality increases and now we are in a position where we can say that if one is unable to locate any information over internet by searching in the traditional general purpose search engine then it must be in blog.
d) Latest Information: The literature search forms the backbone of any research activities. In recent times, a part of this business relies on internet and for a comprehensive list of resources over internet, the search should extend to blog also, as it contains the latest, up to the minute information on a given topic.
e) Substitute of Mainstream Media: Blog increasingly considered as a substitute of the mainstream media for news services, consultants, etc. As blog becomes a standard part of the publicity arsenal, it is used extensively as a tool for outreach and opinion forming and as means of applying pressure upon concern authority and like other. It can also be used to push the messages directly to the public by avoiding the filtering process of the mainstream media (the editorial board of which often cut down the massage as a means to avoid the legal liabilities, to present credible news or at times to justify their presence!).
6. Finding a Blog / Blog Search Engine: The general purpose search engines generally avoid displaying results from blogosphere. So, for searching the blog over internet, reliance must be placed on the specially designed blog search engines. Several blog search engines are used to search blog contents (also known as the blogosphere), such as blogdigger, Feedster, and Technorati, which helps one to find out what people are saying on any subject of his/her interest. In the following paragraph an attempt is made to list and discuss some of the most popular blog search engines.
a) Blogdigger (http://www.blogdigger.com/index.html): Blogdigger is a blog and media search engine founded in March 2003 by Greg Gershman. Blogdigger began as an experiment with RSS and search technologies, developing into a search engine that provides fast, up-to-the-minute search results of the latest posts collected from blogs and syndicated content feeds, such as RSS and Atom.
b) Bloglines (http://www.bloglines.com): Bloglines is a web-based news aggregator for browsing weblogs and other news feeds. Mark Fletcher founded the site in 2003 and sold it in February 2005 to Ask.com. Bloglines uses an interface with the blogs names in one frame and their most recently updated content in another pane.
c) Feedster (http://www.feedster.com): Feedster was founded in March 2003 by Scott Johnson. In June 2003, it merged with RSS-Search founded by François Schiettecatte. Feedster began as a weblog search tool, indexing and archiving individual blog posts based on a site's RSS feed. Feedster gained popularity with blog enthusiasts because it indexed new information fast, let users sort search results chronologically, and made it possible to subscribe to search results as an RSS feed. It has now expanded to offer a wide range of related services, including "Feed of the Day".
d) IceRocket (http://www.icerocket.com): IceRocket is an Internet search engine specialized in searching blogs. IceRocket is backed by Mark Cuban and headquartered in Dallas, Texas. In 2005, CNet reported that it may be re launched as Blogscour.
e) PubSub: PubSub is an Internet search engine for searching blogs which was founded in 2002 by Bob Wyman and Salim Ismail. The site operates by storing a user's search term, making it a subscription, and checking it against posts on blogs which ping the search engine. When a new match is found, the user is notified, even if it occurs months after the initial search. This feature has led PubSub to call itself a matching engine. Results can be read on the service's website or on an optional sidebar, available for both Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. PubSub is currently having problem as noted in by Bob Wyman.
f) Sphere (http://www.sphere.com): The Sphere search engine delivers blog posts based on algorithms that combine semantic matching with authority factors to deliver results relevant to the search query. Sphere also organizes bloggers by topic. The company produces an application called Sphere It! allowing users to seek blog posts related to news articles based on the contents of a particular web page they're viewing. The function is accessed from a browser navigation bar plug-in. Upon clicking the plug-in button, a semantic analysis is performed on the text within the page and blog posts related to the text of the article are returned.
g) Technorati (http://www.technorati.com): Technorati is an Internet search engine for searching blogs, competing with Google, Yahoo, PubSub and IceRocket. As of November  2006, Technorati indexes over 60 million weblogs. The site won the SXSW 2006 awards for Best Technical Achievement and also Best of Show. It has also been nominated for a 2006 Webby award for Best Practices. Technorati provides current information on both popular searches and tags used to categorize blog postings. Blogs are also given rankings by Technorati based on the amount of incoming links and Alexa Internet based on the web hits of Alexa Toolbar users.
h) Google Blog Search (http://www.google.co.in/blogsearch?hl=en): Google Blog Search is a search engine focused on blogs, with a continuously updated search index. Results include all blogs, not just those published through Blogger. Results can be viewed and filtered by date. Google provides following option to search for blog
i) Google-style interface (blogsearch.google.com)
ii) Blogger-style interface) (search.blogger.com)
iii) The Blogger Dashboard
iv) The Navbar on any Blog
All of the above provide same search, no matter where one searches. The Navbar, however, provides two buttons: one to search the blog that one currently viewing, and one to search all blogs. It also provides “Advanced Search” features where one can specify titles, authors, languages and more. After getting the search results, it also provides an additional link that allows to switch between displaying the results with either the most relevant or recent results at the top.
7. Blog Hosting Services: Blogs are generally hosted by dedicated blog hosting services or on regular web hosting services. Most of the free blog hosting services are ad-supported but generally have unlimited posting bandwidth and storage space.  Generally, a small advertisement square banner is placed on the user blog, which does not affect the overall make up the said blog. Many blog hosting services also notified the blogger when someone adds some comments on his/her blog. Examples include the following
i) Blogger (https://www.blogger.com/start): Blogger was started by Evan Williams and Meg Hourihan (Pyra Labs of San Francisco) in August 1999 and was purchased by Google in February 2003.
ii) coComment (http://www.cocomment.com/): coComment is a Swiss startup company funded by Swisscom Innovations and focused on providing high quality services to internet users worldwide. The company is based in Geneva, Switzerland.
iii) LiveJournal (http://www.livejournal.com/): Brad Fitzpatrick started LiveJournal in March 1999. The LiveJournal can be used as a private journal, a blog, a discussion forum, a social network, and like other.
iv) Open Diary (http://www.opendiary.com/): Launched in October 1998, soon growing to thousands of online diaries. Open Diary becomes the first blog community where readers could add comments to other writers' blog entries.
v) Pitas.com (http://www.pitas.com/): Andrew Smales created Pitas.com in July 1999 as an easier alternative to maintaining a "news page" on a website, followed by Diaryland in September 1999, focusing more on a personal diary community.
vi) Xanga (http://www.xanga.com/): Launched in 1996, had only 100 diaries by 1997, but over 20 million as of December 2005.
            Other blog hosting service includes Blog (http://www.blog.com/), DreamHost (http://www.dreamhost.com/), Salon.com (http://www.salon.com), Tripod (http://www.tripod.lycos.com/), Vox (http://www.vox.com/), WordPress (http://www.worldpress.org/), etc.