INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION TO NIT CONFERENCES  AND NIT '94 PARTICIPANTS

Ching-chih Chen

Professor & Associate Dean & Chief Conference Organizer
Graduate School of Library and Information Science
Simmons College, Boston, MA 02115, USA
cchen@vmsvax.simmons.edu

OVERVIEW

Welcome to NIT (International Conference on New Information Technology) '94. It is incredible to have such a distinguished group of professionals in one room. Each one of us shares a common interest in international work. But, what we do are not as homogeneous as we might like to think. This meeting's focus is planning the Global Information Infrastructure (GII). I am sure many of us would like to have a good definition of GII to start off with; however, I am afraid that it is not easy to offer a clear definition right away. So this issue together with many others will be interesting topics for all of us to explore in the next three days. We all know why we are here, because in my numerous pre-conference communications, I have clearly stated the purpose of NIT '94 (see Appendix 5), and therefore will not repeat that again.

History of NIT Conferences

Many of you have asked me how this series of NIT meetings evolved? How is it possible for us to have brought together such a distinguished group of pro-fessionals, representing different types of organizations -- every type of libraries, some government, some private, some academic, some commercial, etc. -- from different parts of the world? Most of you in this group have been related to NIT in some way -- some from the very beginning in 1987. Therefore, I think it is appropriate for me to start with a very quick historical background and review of NIT conferences, so that we are able to move on to serious business in the next three days in the same spirit in which these series of conferences were started.

The need for such a series of conferences has been clearly felt many years ago when I started to be involved in numerous international consulting activities for UNESCO, World Health Organization, World Bank, USIS, and other organiza-tions in different parts of the world some 20 years ago. Each time I was in a developing country, I was asked to help bring timely information on the effective use of new information technology to that country. People are so hungry for this type of information. Specifically due to economic reasons, many professionals in developing countries are unable to participate in anything held outside of their own country or region, particularly those held in the United States and Europe. Professionals are very much hungry for this information, but it is out of reach from financial point of view. By bringing the opportunities to these developing countries, many more professionals from that region can benefit from the offerings.

I did not forget about those requests in those early days. As to the use of new information technology, it was very limited and unaffordable to many countries prior to the 1980s. So I filed those requests to the back of my mind until the mid-1980s when the time was more appropriate. In 1986, I began to think about this idea more seriously because technology applications in libraries were much more widespread worldwide. With the introduction and proliferated use of microcom-puters, automation and technology applications were much more affordable to libraries, even to those in many developing countries.

New information technology is dynamic and ever changing; therefore, when I started thinking about conferences related to this kind of topics, I did not want very rigid and structured meetings. I wanted to offer opportunities to different parts of the world in order to promote more informal interaction and dialogue among library and information professionals from developing and developed countries. I wanted them to be flexible and timely. When we are dealing with new information technology, we have to respond quickly, and any conference that takes more than a year to organize will not be very suitable for this type of topic. In addition, I also wanted these meetings to be somewhat unconventional and cross subject and professional organizational lines. Many of you know that I do work extremely well with professional organizations*; yet, it is in my view that each organization, rightly so, has its own specific emphases and interests. We need something broader and less confined so that participants can benefit more from a cross-fertilization of ideas from different professionals. Thus, in 1986, at the IFLA meeting in Tokyo, ideas to start something in the Pacific Region was conceived.

Introduction to Participants of NIT '94

I now give you a very quick overview of the history of NIT conferences, which is also my chance to introduce the participants of this conference by relating them to the context of NIT conferences.

At the IFLA meeting in Tokyo, I started explore the ideas with several li-brarians from the Pacific region as well as Dr. Hwa-wei Lee. In the following year, the First Pacific Conference on New Information Technology was offered in Bangkok, Thailand in May 1987. It was a brave attempt to try to organize something like this, with absolutely no financial support from any organization except my own limited resources and the motivations of those who volunteered their time and effort. Dr. Lee served as the Regional Coordinator, and Dr. David Raitt offered a great deal of program assistance. To start something half of the world away was very difficult logistically, but the results were most positive -- over 175 participants attended. Miraculously, on the day of the registration, we also presented each participant a 390-page printed Proceedings. This was a rare achievement!

With the tremendous success of the 1987 conference, we moved on to the 2nd Pacific Conference in Singapore in 1989. Unfortunately, the local organizers, Mr. Lim Hong Too and Mr. F. P. Foo, were unable to be with us at this meeting. NIT grew from about 175 participants to over 300 in Singapore. This conference also marked the beginning of a joint partnership with the U.S. National Commis-sion on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) for this series of NIT conferences. NCLIS has provided NIT the much needed baseline partial support to carry on the activities in order to fulfill the needs of many library and information professionals in developing and developed countries. Needless to assistance, although modest, has been vital to the success of this series of con-ferences.

In 1990, for the first time, the conference moved to Guadalajara, Mexico to reach the Latin American region. The slides (a few selected ones are included in Appendix 5) show the active participation of my very good and long-time friend, Bob Hayes. Bob has supported this series of conference from the beginning wholeheartedly, even when he was unable to participate. In fact, NIT activities are only a small part of our overall international involvement. Bob and I share some very treasured and difficult memories of our experience in Dubrovnik, where Bob was instrumental in organizing a series of conferences for more than 10 years in war-ridden former Yugoslavia. Several others were also instrumental to the success of that meeting, for example, Rachel Barreto Edensword, the USIS Regional Librarian, and Don Riggs, the Director of University of Michigan Libraries, who has not missed a NIT meeting since then.

In 1991, we moved from Latin America to Eastern Europe and held the con-ference in Budapest. We all remember the political weather at that time. It was tempestuous to say the least. So it was a nightmare for the organizers, but again, amazingly, we had more than 250 participants. With the war going on, we also had a truck load of participants come from the former Yugoslavia. It was a very touching meeting for many of us! The American delegates included my good friend, David Penniman, Don Riggs, my former doctoral students -- Diane Teb-betts, the Associate Librarian of the University of New Hampshire, and Daniel Ortiz, Collection Development Librarian at the University of Massachusetts, and several others. Both Diane and Daniel were very gracious in offering their sup-port to me at NIT '94.

At NIT '91, we also had a good Scandinavian delegation from Sweden and Norway, from which comes my good friend from Sweden, Kari Marklund. Kari, a physicist in training, was the Library Director at the University of Lund and University of Linköping before he took the Editor-in-Chief job for the first multi-volume Swedish Encyclopedia. He is now the Rector of Mid-Sweden University in Sundsvale, Sweden.

In 1992, NIT '92 went back to the Pacific region in Hong Kong. The local conference chair, Minmin Chang, is from there. The conference was held at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), where Minmin is the Library Director. HKUST is probably one of the most high-tech oriented universities. Aside from over 300 participants from the region, we also attracted those from far away, such as Profs. Stefan Kimlicka and Sona Makulova from Slovakia, who considered NIT '92 was one of the most memorable conferences they ever attended. They were unable to attend NIT '94, but we were happy to have Dr. Steinerova representing their university. Dr. Jela Steinerova is the Soros Fellow, spending a few months at the Library of Congress.

Also attending the Hong Kong Conference was Professor Neelameghan from India, a long-time UNESCO consultant, whose work is instrumental for develop-ing countries, especially in the Pacific and African regions. Prof. Neelameghan was also at the Singapore Conference in 1989, and I am delighted that he was able to attend NIT '94.

In the fall of 1992, prior to the NIT '92 in Hong Kong, I was involved in a major consulting assignment with the Soros Foundation for exploring possible new information technology programs in Eastern European countries. As consult to Mr. George Soros, I traveled during September/October to eight countries in that region -- Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia (later divided into the Czech Republic and Slovakia). Dur-ing this extensive trip, I made many good friends. I am delighted to introduce one of them -- Andris Vilks, the National Librarian of Latvia.

In 1993, NIT '93 moved back to the Latin American region, in Puerto Rico. It was another incredibly successful conference, and I am delighted that the most able local conference organizers, Drs. Annie Thompson (Local Chair) and Mariano Maura, were in attendance at NIT '94.

In 1994, I had the privilege of serving on the International Advisory Commit-tee of the lst Crimea '94 international conference organized by Dr. Yakov Shrai-berg, First Deputy Director of the Russian National Public Library of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine, where I delivered a couple keynote speeches. Following that I also made my second rather extensive visit to Moscow and had wonderful exchanges with many leading Russian colleagues. I am delighted that our distinguished colleagues from Moscow -- Dr. Shraiberg and his Telecommunication Network Division chief, Mr. Mikhail Goncharov -- both were able to attend NIT '94.

For the Crimea conference, the international participants took an 18-hour train ride, and 2 more hours by bus, each way between Moscow and Eupatory. Thus, we had plenty of opportunities to discuss and get to know each other well. I am delighted that two of these colleagues -- Beth Boswell of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and Marinus Swanepoel from South Africa -- were able to attend NIT '94.

This is not all. In 1993, I was invited to speak and chair a session at an inter-national conference organized by the National Central Library in Taipei, ROC. The conference was on a topic very much related to this one. At that conference, my distinguished colleague and the National Librarian of Nigeria, Mr. Wali, co-chaired a session with me. I am delighted that he traveled a long way to attend NIT '94. Peter Young, the Executive Director of the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, was also a special guest and session chair at that conference. So, it is my great pleasure to introduce Peter, who has been a long-time professional friend and very instrumental for NCLIS's continuing sup-port to this series of conference. I wish to offer on behalf of all the beneficiaries my sincere thanks for his support. In introducing Peter, this gives me the plea-sure to introduce John Lorenz, the NCLIS Consultant, who has been a constant advisor in all my activities with NCLIS. His advice has been always timely, responsive, and certainly much needed. I thank John for his counsel and support.

This concludes the introduction of those whose pictures are included in the photos presented at this meeting. Throughout the years, I have benefited from my contact and working relationship with many others who are here, but their pictures are not included. So, let me offer a quick introduction to only those who are present, but have not yet been introduced:

Herb Achleitner is the author of an article published in my journal, Micro-computers for Information Management. From that, I know of his extensive work with the World Bank and other agencies from the Latin American region, particularly Paraguay. He is also organizing the 5th Conference of Librarians in International Development in Kansas in May 1995, where I shall offer a major presentation.

Pam Andre, the newly appointed Director of the U.S. National Agricultural Library (NAL), has been a long-time friend, and we have worked on many inter-national-related programs, particularly for Library Information Technology Asso-ciation's (LITA's) International Relations Committee. Of course, NAL has a lot of exciting international activities specifically in the Eastern European and Latin American regions in recent years. Congratulations to Pam for a most exciting new appointment!

Chris Casey is the Technical Advisor for Senator Ted Kennedy and is respon-sible for making the Senator's office one of the most high-tech one for the infor-mation superhighway. Chris and I spoke at MacWorld last year in Boston, and I am delighted that he can take his busy time to share with us his experience.

Bob Doyle, Director of International Program of American Library Associa-tion (ALA), is responsible for many exciting, ongoing ALA international pro-grams, specifically the USIS Fellows program, which has made some very subs-tantial global impact in the field of library and information development in developing countries. I have worked with Bob on many ALA international activities by serving as member of both the International Relations Committee and the Subcommittee on China. I have benefited a great deal from his advice.

Daniel Duncan is the Senior Advisor on Global and Industry Affairs of the Information Industry Association (IIA). IIA has been very vocal on a number of significant issues related to information infrastructure, regardless of whether it is NII or GII, specifically those on copyright and intellectual properties. I am de-lighted that he is able to take time to join us.

Steve Goldstein is known as an Internet "guru," who has been instrumental for the development of Internet at NSF since the beginning. Steve just returned from Paris, with the Paris flu, so I cannot thank you enough for coming from your sick bed. He has a lot to share, particularly his experience with developing countries in the world, specifically in the Eastern European region in the last two years.

Marjorie Hlava is President of Access Innovations, Inc., and a past president of American Society for Information Science (ASIS). We have known each other for a long time since my old days of serving on the Board of ASIS. We have also spoke in many technology-related conferences in different parts of the world.

Woody Horton is the Vice President of International Federation for Informa-tion and Documentation (FID) and has been very instrumental in FID's GII acti-vities. Throughout the years, I have been involved in many FID activities as keynote speaker and seminar leader, particularly at the FID meetings in Cuba and Finland. So, I look forward to the opportunity to know Woody more at NIT '94 and to benefit from his wisdom.

Richard Hsieh is the Director of International Programs of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM). NLM has had very active and diverse international activities, some of which I had the pleasure of being involved. I look forward to his contribution to this meeting.

Neal Kaske of the Office of Library Programs of the U.S. Department of Edu-cation has been a long-time friend for many years, way back to the time when he was the Director of Research at OCLC. Since then, we have worked together on and off, but we have never stopped communicating with each other. I have con-tinued to benefit from much of his ideas and discussions.

Both Elizabeth Kirk and Lisbeth Levey represent AAAS, because each is res-ponsible for a very interesting project for developing countries. Betty Kirk is the Director of AAAS Project on Europe and the Countries of the Former Soviet Union (FSU) and Lisbeth Levey represents the Sub-Saharan Africa Project for Research Libraries. Prior to NIT '94, we already had numerous productive e-mail exchanges, and I look forward to their contributions.

Richard Quandt of Princeton University has been a vital force in pushing for a number of very significant library automation projects in the Eastern European countries for Mellon Foundation. I am sure that his experience will be of great interest to many of us. So, I look forward to knowing more of the Mellon's international activities and to having his active participation at NIT '94.

Helena Slezáková of the Institute of Agricultural and Food Information of the Czech Republic is currently visiting the National Agricultural Library, and I am delighted to have her participation.

Finally, Wendy White of the National Research Council is one of the most conscientious members of this entire group. She has shared with me via e-mail so much in the last couple of months -- her ideas and her extensive working ex-perience with developing countries, particularly in Africa. Much of her com-ments have been incorporated into the development program for NIT '94. I thank her.

WHAT HAS NIT ACCOMPLISHED?

Having introduced everyone, I would like to conclude this background infor-mation by covering a few other things. What has been done at all these conferen-ces? Because NIT conferences are nonprofit, we cannot measure the success by how much money they have made. So, how to measure the success of the NIT conferences? We can measure it by the enormously powerful and informal net-work these conferences have been able to build and strengthen. The reason I am taking the time to introduce everyone here in the context of NIT conferences is to show how such an informal and interactive network has been able to bring such an eclectic group together in a much more cordial way than most other gather-ings.

The past six NIT conferences have also produced Proceedings, each of which was available for the participants immediately on the day of registration. We used the available technologies to demonstrate how they could be immediately useful for such a production. For NIT '94, there was no Proceedings at NIT '94, not because we failed to do so, but because the nature of the conference is dif-ferent. As already clearly expressed in the conference materials, because this is an intensive and very high-powered roundtable meeting, during which we are searching for directions, the real "meat" of the meeting is yet to come. The se-lected papers on the program are only to serve as background documents; the real content is expected to come from the 3-day interaction and discussion. There-fore, it is appropriate to produce a Proceedings after the conference so that the real content as well as the prepared papers can be integrated together into one final volume that is available for wide distribution.

In addition to the published proceedings, NIT conferences have also utilized the existing electronic publishing technologies effectively by producing a full-text CD-ROM in 1991, which includes full contents of all NIT conferences from 1987 to 1991. With practically no money, and with the contribution from the CD-ROM publishing software company, Knowledge Access, Inc., for the use of its software, KAware™, and the CD publishing company, DMI, the NIT-CD-ROM was also made freely available to all participants of NIT '91 in Budapest. It was a fantastic success, and the CD was one of the hottest products at that conference. In 1992, with the contribution of HKUST, an image CD-ROM was produced to include only the contents of the Proceedings of NIT '92.

Despite all these byproducts, the most important thing is "humanware," if there is such a word. It is the informal network among people, not the hardware or software, that will push us forward together. For the last six NIT conferences, we have had a network of over 2,000 library and information professionals from over 25 countries in the world. Many who attended NIT '94 represent the nodes of this powerful network. Therefore, NIT '94 is a wonderful opportunity to push for planning the Global Information Infrastructure (GII).

With the endorsement of the Clinton administration, National Information Insfrastructure (NII) is already a hot topic everywhere, and recently GII is begin-ning to be tossed around a great deal! If we only discuss the GII in the techno-logy domain, we will sadly miss a lot of major issues. That is why NIT '94 is timely in that it brings together such a powerful and diversified group to conduct a "mind meeting" about GII from a very baseline starting point.

So much for this brief historical overview of the NIT conferences. It is my distinct pleasure to introduce now to you, Mrs. Jeanne H. Simon. Mrs. Simon needs no introduction, therefore I shall be very brief by simply introducing her as the Chairperson of the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science. Given her incredibly busy schedule, I am delighted that she has graced us with her presence.