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5. Internet publications : principles for national
bibliographic inclusion criteria Contents In the previous section, 2 fundamentally different bibliographic categories of Internet publications were outlined: static and dynamic. These 2 categories also form the basis of this section, although we will consider homepages in special detail because they constitute a highly complex group in terms of content, and present special problems in terms of inclusion. As a result, we found it useful to regard homepages as an independent category of dynamic publication.
Homepages can also be sub-categorised into several groups (cf.
section 5.2.4.1.).
Based on the idea that some homepages should be registered independently,
and that some (static or dynamic) parts of homepages should also
be registered independently, we will use the following categories
of publications, which should prove more helpful in terms of outlining
certain principles for inclusion criteria. 1) Static publications 2) Dynamic publications (not homepages) 3) Homepages 5.2.2. General criteria for all 3 categories
A number of criteria have been formulated to regulate inclusion
in the national bibliographic lists which register publications
in physically fixed form, regardless of whether books or magazines,
magazine articles, sound recordings, pictures etc. are involved
(cf. the national bibliography agreement). Among other things, these criteria make a number of demands in terms of content which can in general be regarded as expressing the wish that national bibliographic lists should register publications which have a certain information value. In other words, most of the content of the publications included should not be of a commercial, internal, highly local or private nature. Basically, these criteria should also apply to inclusion of net publications.
So the principle is that we do not register any net publications
that we would not register if they were available in physically
fixed form. For instance, an advertisement does not acquire a
different information value because it is available on the net.
The object registered must have demonstrated a certain permanence
before we would consider inclusion. It must not be regarded as
(or obviously be) provisional/volatile in nature, and it must
not only have current interest. In other words, it must not be
expected to disappear in the near future. This would apply, for
instance, to festival programmes and to various types of advertisement.
Linguistic and geographical restrictions: Publications in Danish,
no matter what their origin, are covered by the criteria. Publications
in other languages will be considered if the person or corporation
making the publication available on the net (i.e. the publisher)
is based in Denmark. This means that publications from corporations
based in Denmark will be considered regardless of whether the
web server (i.e. the machine in which the publication is stored)
is physically located abroad. 5.2.3. Static and dynamic publications
In principle, these types can stand "alone" on the net,
although they will often be part of a homepage or other dynamic
publication, such as an article in a net magazine. 5.2.3.1. Content criteria for static and dynamic publications
There are no special demands in terms of content apart from those
referred to in section 5.2.2. 5.2.3.2. Formal criteria for static and dynamic publications
Many homepages contain one or more publications. If this (static
or dynamic) publication, which is part of a larger unit, is to
be entered independently, there is a general criterion that the
publication should be presented formally and clearly with its
own title and clearly distinguished from the rest of the homepage.
If this is not the case, at least 1 of the following 3 demands
must also be met:
(generally the corporation). Personal homepages must be outside the private area,
c) It must be published in another form (e.g. as a book). If the publication being assessed cannot meet these conditions, any homepage registration set up must be regarded as sufficient. However, if the publication in question is on a homepage that does not meet the inclusion criteria, it is necessary to determine whether the publication can be regarded in terms of content as being sufficiently valuable to justify national bibliographic registration - not of the publication itself, but of the homepage as a whole. This would be an emergency solution, which may be necessary if the publication cannot be described (easily) in purely bibliographic terms (if it does not have its own title and is not clearly distinct from the rest of the homepage).
Let us consider the example of a homepage for a firm of plumbers
presenting their services, staff, etc. Such a homepage would not
be entitled to inclusion, but if a directory of plumbing firms
in Denmark was on the homepage without its own title or clearly
distinct from it, then independent inclusion and registration
of the homepage might be possible. Dynamic publications: It is difficult to apply a rigid criterion in terms of the length of dynamic publications, since the length of such publications will probably change over time. However, a minimum of 6,000 typographical units (corresponding to the length of the Article Index) is regarded as appropriate. This criterion applies to both dynamic publications which are part of larger units, and dynamic publications which are available as independent entities on the net.
This demand in terms of length should be regarded as a starting-point
for inclusion practice, and may have to be moderated when we have
more experience in this field. Static publications: If a publication is on a research institution's homepage or a conference homepage, for instance, or if it is an article in a net magazine (i.e. if it is part of an editorially processed framework), its length must correspond to at least 6,000 typographical units. If this is not the case a length corresponding to that of the Book List applies. Converted to net conditions, this means that the length must be at least about 30,000 typographical units.
This will make it possible to avoid a great number of independent
registration of short publications which are published on the
net without any form of editorial filter. 5.2.4.1. Content criteria for homepages The demands mentioned in section 5.2.2. also apply in general to homepages.
As mentioned above, homepages are dynamic publications; to characterise
this group even further a distinction is drawn between 4 types:
a) personal homepages, b) company homepages, c) association and
organisation homepages, and d) institution homepages.
For all 4 types, exclusion of a homepage does not in itself disqualify
all the individual parts of the homepage, which may qualify for
independent entry. In addition, if certain publications which
are entitled to inclusion are part of a homepage which is not
entitled to inclusion, the homepage may be included nonetheless
(see section 5.2.3.2.): a) Personal homepages
Not normally included unless they primarily contain information
of particular value, e.g. extensive collections of Internet addresses
(links). Personal homepages are often of an extremely private
nature, and are therefore of no interest in a national bibliographic
connection. They may contain a presentation of someone's name,
address, hobbies, wedding photographs etc. b) Company homepages Not normally included unless they primarily contain information of particular value. Are often dominated by commercial information, or deal with affairs of an internal, administrative nature (e.g. product catalogues, descriptions of current projects, annual reports, accounts).
However, company homepages may contain certain publications that
can be included and registered independently - e.g. Bibliotekernes
Internetvejviser on DBC's homepage and Kraks virksomhedsinformation
on Kraks Forlag's homepage. c) Association and organisation homepages Normally included because unlike company homepages they often contain information of particular value which would have resulted in registration if it had been present in a different form.
However, homepages of local branches of nationwide organisations
or associations are normally excluded. d) Institution homepages This group comprises homepages for state and municipal authorities and institutions in particular (e.g. ministries, agencies, universities, research institutions, schools, libraries, museums).
We plan to include homepages for institutions with nationwide
activities and homepages for institutions whose activities are
not associated with the local region as administrative units.
In other words, in general homepages for certain (county) municipalities
and certain (county) municipal institutions such as schools and
libraries will be excluded. 5.2.4.2. Formal criteria for homepages It is difficult to justify a length criterion for homepages, as it was with regard to other dynamic publications. However, as a starting-point we will also require that homepages comprise at least 6,000 typographical units.
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