Toronto-based Paradigm Advanced Technologies Inc. [PRAV], expects its next generation of personal location devices (PLDs) to be launched in second quarter 2002, integrating Global Positioning System (GPS) chipsets from SiRF Technology Inc., said Paradigm's Eduardo Guendelman, its president and CEO.


"For some time emergency response workers have recognized the need for improved technology to identify the physical location of people in emergencies. While some such devices currently exist, they tend to be heavy and cumbersome. The new generation of plds that we are developing based on SiRF's GPS technology features a much higher degree of miniaturization while offering enhanced performance and reliability," Guendelman said. >TK Aether Systems Inc. [AETH]:

Many educators have suggested that teachers hold the authority, and thus the responsibility, for initiating the curricular and instructional changes made within their own classrooms (Carr & Kemmis, 1986; Ross, 1994; Stenhouse, 1983). One implication of this suggestion is that teachers be reflective about their practice. Yet, reflection is a difficult process that requires critical thought, self-direction, and problem solving coupled with personal knowledge and self-awareness (Elliott, 1991). As classroom teachers, we believed that thorough reflection and teacher inquiry were important and related assumptions of quality teaching. However, we also realized as teachers that our daily obligations impacted how we implemented these processes as they, at times, became isolated and fragmented tasks. How then could we as teacher educators help our candidates develop their skills at action research and systematic reflection as an integrated activity within their preservice teacher education program? This article describes a study that utilized personal theorizing as a mechanism to guide the action research of individuals within an elementary preservice teacher cohort during their four-semester, teacher education program.



Action research has been defined as the attempt by teachers to study and improve their practice as a result of classroom experiences (Connelly & Clandinin, 1988). Numerous studies have indicated that practicing teachers conducting action research as part of their graduate education programs can improve teaching and enhance student learning (Burnaford & Hobson, 1995; Johnson & Button, 2000; Sax & Fisher, 2001). Others have indicated that graduate preservice teacher candidates benefit from completing action research as part of their preservice education (Crookes & Chandler, 2001; McEwan, Field, & Kawamoto, 1997; Valli, 2000), while others, more recently, have asserted that action research can even benefit undergraduate teacher candidates (Price, 2001; Rock & Levin, 2002).

Clearly, the benefits of action research are becoming well recognized and have prompted the call for action research to be included as part of preservice teacher development (Fueyo & Koorland, 1997). The responses to this call include a variety of strategies aimed at helping preservice candidates complete action research. Auger and Wideman (2000) describe how 42 elementary and secondary teacher candidates individually identified an action research question and developed improvement projects that were pursued during their student teaching experiences. Moore, Bartlett, and Garrison (1999) guided a collaborative action research process that was co-developed with six preservice elementary candidates in an attempt to better understanding their use of inquiry curriculum. Rock and Levin's (2002) study utilized a pool of five preservice candidates implementing a collaborative action research project designed to understand the perceptions of their students regarding their school.

Personal Theorizing

Personal theorizing, the systematic reflection process undertaken by teachers in an attempt to recognize and utilize personal understanding as part of instructional improvement, has gained value as a viable component of preservice teacher education (Kleinsasser, 1992; Ross, 1992). A number of studies suggest that teachers use a personal guiding theory to influence instructional actions and classroom decision making (Chant, 2002; Clandinin, 1986; Cornett, 1990a; Pape, 1992). Cornett stressed that personal theory exists as a result of teachers' personal and professional experiences and that such theory, once recognized and understood, could be utilized as a basis for the improvement of practice. Given Cornett's assumption, then, the inclusion of personal theorizing may be a logical precursor to the completion of action research.

Connecting Personal Theorizing and Action Research

Historically, the relationship between personal theorizing and action research can be linked to Dewey's (1938) suggestion that experiences influence teacher beliefs and, once these beliefs are reflected upon critically, provide the basis for professional growth (pp. 38-39). Schwab (1969) further emphasized the connection between beliefs and action when he recommended that teachers rely on reflection as a means to examine how personal understanding impacts curricular actions. Others have also expressed the opinion that teacher beliefs have an influential, if not the central, role in the implementation of curriculum innovation and change (Berman & McLaughlin, 1976; Fullan, 1982).

There is evidence suggesting that teachers bring into the classroom specific beliefs that have developed due to their own environmental influences and these beliefs have the potential to influence the classroom community (Danielewicz, 1998; Fickel, 2000). Research related to these influences, labeled teachers' practical knowledge, has recently emerged and incorporates teachers' beliefs as the center of inquiry (Ross, Cornett, & McCutcheon, 1992). Teachers' practical-knowledge studies often examine how teaching beliefs develop into practical theories of teaching and how these theories influence teachers' decision making. Sanders and McCutcheon (1986) defined such theories as the conceptual structures and images that provide teachers with the reasons for acting as they do and for choosing the teaching activities and curriculum materials that are most effective for student learning. Cornett (1990a) later modified the term practical theories to personal practical theories (PPTs) because the theories represent contributions grounded in both the teacher's personal experience (outside the classroom) and practical experience (inside the classroom).

BALTIMORE -- Personal health records may be the next step in the evolution of health information technology, but these electronic documents raise several legal and security issues for long-term care facilities.

"PHRs might in fact have the opportunity to leapfrog over things that are happening in electronic health records," Dr. Steven Labkoff, director of business technology for Pfizer Inc., said at a meeting on long-term care health information technology.


The main difference between personal health records (PHRs) and electronic health records is who owns them. Ideally, patients should own their PHRs. But it is still unclear who should control what information is entered in the document and, perhaps more important, who should be able to delete information from the record, experts said at the meeting, sponsored by the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA).

An online public survey conducted in 2003 found that 71% of respondents believed that personal health records would improve the quality of health care, said Jill Burrington-Brown, the practice manager for health information management products and services at AHIMA.

"The time is now to accelerate the development of personal health records," she said, citing a report from Connecting for Health, a project of the Markle Foundation to promote the adoption and use of personal health records.

"A second finding was that PHRs are a means to necessary ends, such as increased consumer health awareness, activation, safety, and self-efficacy," she said.


During roundtable discussions, meeting attendees said that they thought personal health records are a potentially important component of health information technology efforts, but many also had misgivings about the security risk represented by giving seniors, some with cognitive deficits, electronic access to their health records.

"Every day is a day that we work on security to make sure it is tight and concise," said Daniel Wilt, director of information technology for Erickson Retirement Communities.

Erickson has launched a pilot program that allows residents to remotely access laboratory results, physician notes, and medical histories. The system also allows them to set appointments and keep health journals.

"They want their labs. That's the one thing they really want. They go to the medical center, they run back upstairs, they go to their computers, and they ask 'It's been 20 minutes; where are my labs?' We have to explain it takes 24 hours," he said.

While most users really like the system, administrators have had to struggle with how much access the public should have. For example, Mr. Wilt said, should administrators allow adult children to look at records or let residents change information that they deem incorrect?

By definition, personal health records need to be individually owned, said Ms. Burrington-Brown.

"The individuals own the PHR in a similar way as we own money in the bank. There is some conversation in the industry about who really owns that, because of who produces it. That is a conversation that is going to be going on" for quite some time, she said.

Industry groups are working on a standard format for personal health records, while groups such as the American Health Information Community and the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics are developing standards to ensure interoperability and security of those documents.

"We have a lot of PHR activities occurring at many levels," she said.

The study examines change in relation to the personal development and creditability of students as they progress through a high school in Tennessee. It is suggested as a model for all high schools to insure that personal development and creditability of students occurs. Clearly, female students tend to do better than male ones, but for this group of 550 students both male and female student show excellent progress in such development. The PDT test promises to be an excellent means for use by high schools and colleges to insure progress is being made in the personal development of students.


The American Psychiatric Association used 26 advisory committees in the development of DSM-III-R and DSM-IV (1994) where the Global Assessment Functioning Scale was determined to be critical in the health and success of individuals. It consists of a five point scale where a rating of 5 suggests excellent Global Functioning, a rating of 3 as average, and a rating of 1 as the absence of effective Global Functioning. The problem with the DSM-IV scale is that it fails to identify any of the critical elements involved in Global Functioning or Personal Development; so that specific change can be planned for. From Third Force Psychology and Person-Centered Theory by Rogers (1945) and Maslow 1954) we learn that Global Functioning is based on the Personal Development of the individual, and introduces some of the basic critical elements involved in Personal Development.

Assessing Personal Development


The Personal Development Test (PDT) (Cassel & Chow, 2002) is designed to measure the Personal Development of youth and adults. It is comprised of 200 true/false type items with 25 in each of the 8 part scores. It is based on Dewey's definition of a democracy--the interdependence of independent individuals. The first 4 part scores measure Personal Maturity for the Independence element in the Dewey definition, and the second 4 part scores measure Social Integration for the interdependnce one. Each one of the 8 part scores provides a meaningful understanding of the functioning basis of Personal Development.

I Personal Maturity--able to compete and succeed in an economic based society:

Self-efficacy--Exercise of personal control with high expectations and long staying power, and the development of long-term goals..

Coping Skills--possession of personal manipulative skills with a willingness and ability to develop others as needed.

Positive Assertiveness--begins with character education involving use and abuse of tobacco, alcohol, and drugs; and including action towards goal-attainment.

Locus of Control--belief that success is not luck, but scientific decision making.

II Social Integration--ability to get along with all kinds of people--different races and religions:

Conformity--accept and become an integral part of community and nation with a "team' like spirit.

Sympathy--ability to empathize and put self in place of the other person, and feel their pain and pleasures.

Self-esteem--sensing that peers have a lofty and important image of you as a team member.

Caring--Whatever happens to one person or animal anywhere in the world is important to all persons everywhere.

Confluence Score

The Confluence Score is comprised of 42 items; which includes 21 pairs of the 200 PDT items, and deals squarely with agreement and harmony of one's responses--creditability. About half of those 21 pairs are direct opposites, and the other half lack agreement with the other item in the pair in varying degrees. If the individual, for example, scores one of those items in the pair "true," and fails to score the second item in the pair "false," there is a lack of congruence--agreement or harmony. In this sense, then, the "Confluence Score" is a measure of "creditability" of the person taking the test; as well as the test results. It may mean, of course, that the Test Taker did not read or understand the items involved. What ever the reason for such failure, the notion of creditability still holds. People are inclined to want to make self look favorable and tend to answer test questions in agreement with own positive image; often not in agreement with facts. The Confluence Score seeks to verify creditability of the test taker as well as the test results.

Validity of Confluence Score

Validity means the statistical degree of agreement between the item or score and other data of relevance. It is clear beyond any doubt that the Confluent Score could be used very effectively to predict the student's PDT scores (Personal Development of students), or even the student's GPA (Grade Point Average) (r = 0.399). The Confluence Score is an integral part of the PDT test--same items used to measure Personal Development; not an addition as in the Minnesota Multiphaisc Inventory (1970).

1. Older students tend to have higher Confluent Scores-less creditability in test--(r = 0.204).

2 Male students tend to have higher Confluence Scores than females--(r = 0.257).

Editor's Note: Boyd Rayward was the recipient of the ASIS&T Research Award for 2004. The award honors outstanding research contributions in the field of information science.

My research over the years has focused on historical questions related to library and information science as providing the intellectual underpinning of a variety of professional practices related to the dissemination and use of information. I have published a number of historical studies examining Utopian schemes for managing knowledge, the evolution of institutionalized or organizational aspects of information infrastructure (as represented especially by libraries, museums and systems for the international organization and dissemination of information), and the emergence of what I think of as an interdiscipline - nowadays often designated library and information science - concerned with the study of these phenomena.


Studies of the Life and Work of Paul Otlet

The Universe of Information: The Work of Paul Otlet for Documentation and International Organization was an initial study of a hitherto neglected figure. A Russian translation of this book was published in 1977 and a Spanish edition in 1996. With the advent of the Internet and the Web, it has become clear how pioneering and important historically the work of Paul Otlet and his colleagues was. It seems yet even more relevant today with the recently announced agreement between Google and a number of research libraries to digitize and make their collections available through the Web. I have argued that in Otlet's world of paper, card and cabinet technology he provided a theoretical basis for, and described many of the functionalities characteristic of, today's information technology and the uses to which it has been put. Two articles that might be mentioned in this context are "Visions of Xanadu: Paul Otlet (1868-1944) and Hypertext," and "The origins of information science and the International Institute of Bibliography/International Federation of Documentation (FID)." Both articles were reprinted in ASIS&T's Historical Studies in Information Science.


Otlet's innovative thinking encourages us to question and to broaden our understanding of what constitutes a document. His technological experiments and speculations suggest how clearly he understood that technology limits not only what we can do but also what we realize is possible in the management of information and that, reciprocally, technology can open up what we can think as well as what we can do. Many of the failures he experienced and his conceptual struggles with them also made him acutely aware that managing and deploying information are profoundly social processes that are embedded in political and ideological structures of various kinds. Otlet's Traité de Documentation is, for me, the first systematic information science treatise. I believe that his ideas have a historical role in our understanding of the emergence of the Internet and World Wide Web and the functionalities they represent that is as important as any of the roles attributed to such pioneering and iconic figures as H.G. Wells, Vannevar Bush, Ted Nelson and others. The World Wide Web: how readily he would have embraced this simple evocative locution for what he called the International Network for Universal Documentation!

International Organization and Dissemination of Knowledge: Selected Essays of Paul Otlet was designed to make some of his thinking available in the English-speaking world. A collection of my own papers on Otlet-related matters has been translated by Pilar Arnau Rived into Spanish as Hasta Ia Documentacion Electronica. A recent article, "Knowledge Organization and a New World Polity: The Rise and Fall and Rise of the Ideas of Paul Otlet," is an attempt to assess the historiography that has developed around Otlet and his work in the last 25 years or so and introduces the Otlet-themed issue of the bi-lingual Transnational Associations/Associations Transnationales, the journal of the Union of International Associations.

Historiographical Questions Related to Library and Information Science

My studies of Otlet's work made me aware that asking, "What is a library or bibliography or information or librarianship or library and information science?" is to ask interesting historically contingent questions. My first exploration of some of these questions took a kind of "evolutionist" view in "The Development of Library and Information Science: Disciplinary Differentiation, Competition and Convergence," in Machlup and Mansfield's The Study of Information: Interdisciplinary Messages. Later in "The History and Historiography of Information Science: Some Reflections," which introduced an issue that I edited of Information Processing and Management on the history of information science, I tried to give a broader view of what I saw as the nature of information and the roles and functions of the systems that we have devised as a society to manage information, of which the library is an historically important example. I think of all of these elements as society's information infrastructure - before the term was taken over and limited in its designation by the telecommunications industry ("History and Historiography of Information Science"). The first of two more recent studies explores the idea of emergent communities that are both national and international in their interest in historical study of information systems and science, while the second explores the idea of how we might think about pioneers in a field like library and information science ("Scientific and Technological Information Systems" and "When and Why Is a Pioneer?").

The Personal Development Test is designed to identify the "at-risk" high school and college freshmen student for dropping out of school. In repeated tests the PDT scores were able to discern between high school and college drop-out students and corresponding typical individuals. In addition, it provides a meaningful index of honesty, and serves to identify the gifted individuals. This is done through the use of 21 Pairs of items from the test scored separately as a Confluence core. Half of those items are opposites, and the other half are at odds to each other in varying degrees; so if an individual scores one of the pairs one way, and fails to score the second item in the pair the opposite, the scores are at odds to fact.


The Personal Development Test (PDT) (Cassel, & Chow, 2002) is designed and validated for use with adolescent youth, and this includes high school students and freshmen in college. Because female students tend to score significantly higher than male students on personal development during adolescent years, and because personal development is correlated positively with maturity, male norms must be used with male student, female norms for female students, high school norms for high school students, and college norms for college students. By comparing typical students with scores for prison inmates, who represent high school and college drop-out students, it provides a meaningful index of "at-risk" students for drop-out prediction purposes. Data from the PDT test provides school administrators with the following meaningful indices:


1. Possible Non-literate in english language.

2. Honesty, and degree of honesty; possibility of lack of English literacy.

3. Gifted and Superior Intelligence.

4. Depicting "at-risk" students for dropout prediction purposes.

Based on DSM-IV Research

The DSM-IV is the culmination of almost a decade of research by the American Psychiatric Association involving more than 1,000 people to identify critical factors underlying the health and welfare of people. It is one of the great studies of all times in helping better understand psychological dynamics underling human behavior. In this study the Global Functioning Assessment Scale proved to be one of five indices underling the health and welfare of all individuals. The PDT is designed to provide a meaningful understanding of such global functioning by individuals as a meaningful index of their personal development (DSM-IV, 1994).

Adapted to a Democracy

The PDT structure is based largely on the words and description of John Dewey (1938) in relation to democracy. He insisted that a democracy is "The interdependence of independent individuals." The two main parts of the PDT are based largely on Dewey's description of a democracy. The Personal Maturity portion has four different parts that seek to cover the "independence" aspects of a democracy: (1) Self efficacy, (2) Coping Skills, (3) Positive Assertiveness, and (4) Locus of Control-Decision Making. The Social Integration portion covers the "interdependence" element of the Dewey definition, and has four part scores: (5) Team Member, (6) Sympathy, (7) Self-esteem, and (8) Caring

Main Part of PDT

There are 200 true/false items in the PDT test with the primary focus of assessing the Personal Development using the 8 part scores described for the test. The main function of the test is to identify the "at-risk" adolescent individuals for dropping out of high school and later as freshmen in college. The two million prison inmates in our country are comprised of one million high school drop-out students, and the other million are largely college dropout students. Comparisons in repeated studies with the PDT show that prison inmates lack personal development in comparison to typical high school and college freshmen (Cassel, R.N. Education, 2003, pending). A comparison of prison inmate scores with typical individuals provide the basis for identifying the "at-risk" student from dropping out of high school or as freshmen in college. In order to adapt to age and gender differences, it is essential that the appropriate respective norm be utilized for such purposes--male for male students, female for female students, high school for high school students, and college norms for college students.

Test Within a Test

Twenty-one pairs (42 items) of the 200 items in the test have been selected with half of the pairs being direct opposites, and the other half of the pairs lacking agreement with each other in varying degrees. These 42 items are scored separately and variously by the computer to yield a meaningful Confluence Score; with acceptable reliability (r = 0.818) it provides information that serves as a real break through in test construction

Test Validity

First and foremost the 42 items serve as a basic test of validity of the PDT test data.. If an individual scores one of the pairs a (+ or -), and fails to score the second item in the pair the opposite direction (- or +);h/she (test taker) simply does not agree with fact. This means that all such test data has no value. When data from individuals with a Confluence Score of 13 or higher are included, the reliability of the 8 test scores is lost almost completely; so such data must be excluded from analysis of meaningful group data. When the confluence score is 13 or greater it means generally that the individual failed to score half of the 11 pairs of opposite test items in opposite directions; which is contrary to fact. First, and foremost it may suggest lack of literacy in the English language, or even literacy in general.

It sounds strange, but from the perspective of an educational psychologist, "playing games" is "serious business." As young children figure out strategies and compete with their peers and their parents, they acquire, exercise, and refine a wide variety of critical skills and concepts in several areas of development. More importantly, the fun and excitement they experience inspires them to steady improvement and ultimately leads to optimal progress.


The trick is to make sure that the games are well matched to the interests and abilities of young children while simultaneously providing them with a significant challenge at different stages of development. Unfortunately, most commercial games on the market are either so sophisticated, involving purely abstract thinking, that they cause enormous frustration; or so simple, involving just pure luck, that they represent nothing more than a few moments of passive entertainment.

There are, however, a number of commercial products and many free-form activities that are right on target. Preschoolers are just beginning to "use their heads" to deal with the world and are still more comfortable with games directed primarily toward their physical talents. Therefore, something like dominoes or war with a deck of cards entice them to "think" about concepts like classification, numbers, and spatial relationships while allowing them to "strut their stuff" in terms of their sensory discrimination and fine motor skills.


Preschoolers are highly "egocentric" and tend to analyze everything strictly from their own point of view. The ample pleasure they get from "beginner" games like Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders encourages them to patiently take turns and carefully look at things through the eyes of others without inappropriately taxing their growing abilities to do this.

During the elementary school years, children become much more capable of complex problem-solving that includes their own increasingly intricate thought processes and incorporates a much greater awareness and appreciation of the thought processes of others. But new capacities for analysis, memory, focus, and innovation do not arrive in complete form or all at once.

Children need plenty of time and practice, both on their own and in conjunction with playmates. The abundant enjoyment they get from games like Go Fish, checkers, Battleship, Simon, etc. supplies them with a very effective continuing education in all sorts of complicated "intellectual" and "interpersonal" subjects.

But perhaps the most significant benefits are derived through family togetherness. When mothers and fathers play mutually challenging games like gin rummy, Hangman, or Parchesi with their children, or when everyone watches Wheel of Fortune or Who Wants to be a Millionaire? together, the kids have the chance to observe incredibly important behaviors and attitudes in the people who have the greatest influence over them. Restraint, tenacity, courtesy, cleverness, and determination do not evolve naturally - they are learned by imitating good models. Similarly, employing both victory and defeat as inspiration to continued improvment, as opposed to wallowing in either unpleasant gloating or unproductive complaining, is something children learn best by watching how the adults they admire and adore handle such situations.

And it is not only the children who learn. When parents spend time playing games like Monopoly, Scrabble, I Spy, chess, or 20 Questions with their kids, the "fun for all" interactions give them a superb peek inside the hearts and minds of their offspring. The more they learn about their children's strengths, weaknesses, inclinations, and preferences through such activities, the more competent they become to accurately monitor and guide their children's development creatively and compassionately.

Michael K. Meyerhoff, Ed.D., is executive director of The Epicenter Inc., "The Education for Parenthood Information Center," a family advisory and advocacy agency located in Lindenhurst, Illinois. His e-mail address is epicntrinc@aol.com. He welcomes your thoughts and comments.

Meet new colleagues. Renew old acquaintances. Learn new skills. Develop problem-solving strategies. Re-energize personally and professionally. These are opportunities unique to conferences and conventions.

Professional conferences provide a place to interact with colleagues who face the same challenges you do on a daily basis. Networking at conferences allows you to build a resource pool of people, ideas and advice that can lead to a solution to a nagging problem, a new job opportunity or a new friendship.

By setting specific pre-conference goals, you can focus on maximizing your opportunities at the conference. Don't be among the highly motivated people who make the mistake of attempting to do everything and meet everybody.


Time to Network

Before you arrive, ask yourself: What are my personal and professional goals? Who can help me meet those goals?

"Your conference objectives should reflect specific projects you're working on, whether you're seeking research data on reading programs or selecting an architect for a new school," recommends D. Sharon Hill, a former superintendent and host of KXAM's popular education radio show "Learning Vistas" in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Networking expert Donna Messer, president of ConnectUs Communications in Oakville, Ontario, suggests preconference networking tactics like obtaining a list of attendees and highlighting those whom you know and those whom you want to know.


Then as early as possible before the conference, contact those people with whom you hope to connect. Messer suggests when setting up the meeting that you let them know a little bit about you and why you want to meet so they will be prepared to add value to the meeting.

Do your homework. If a presenter on your list has written a book, Messer suggests reading it in advance and commenting on it when setting up the meeting. Most important, she says, is to "come prepared to share your resources and your knowledge. You will get more in return when you offer to share."

Working the floor

Time is precious. As you network, try to present your case in 10 seconds or less. For instance, when asked what you do, reply with a short infomercial like: "Thanks for asking. My name is Theresa Cruz and I'm the assistant superintendent for curriculum for Iowa's Twin Rivers School District. We are a rapidly growing multicultural suburban district with 1,200 special-needs students." These three informative sentences help determine whether continuing this discussion will be mutually productive.

Successful networking is based on good listening techniques, which include watching facial expressions, hand gestures, body posture, voice inflections and even eye movements. Listen for key points and clarify any confusion by asking follow-up questions. Respond enthusiastically to colleagues' suggestions or insights, but never interrupt or second guess.

Hill recommends that attendees have a goal of exchanging information with at least five new acquaintances each day and joining people you don't know for two meals a day.

"Listen more than you talk and pay attention to your new acquaintances' particular needs and interests," she says. "Be specific about potential projects and collaborations. If you establish common interests, exchange business cards and ask whether they prefer being contacted by e-mail or phone."

Keep in mind that it is not the number of people you meet but whom and the positive impressions you leave with them. Networking is about exploring the experience of others, testing new ideas and sharing resources.

Messer stresses the importance of treating everyone in your network as equals. "There is no real value in title or prestige alone. A network is not a bureaucracy or a hierarchy. It is a level and fair playing field. Value is in the information and support people can give, and that often comes from surprising sources. Find common interests and watch your value grow."

Fifteen Seconds

Psychologists tell us it takes less than 15 seconds for others to form an impression of us based on what they see. In those 15 seconds people assume our social status, our economic status, our educational level and our likelihood of success. Image shouldn't matter, but it does.

What impression will you make in both planned and unplanned interactions with colleagues?

"How you dress, how you think and how you act affects how others respond to you," says corporate image consultant Juanita Ecker of Troy, N.Y. "Your attire, body language, etiquette skills and conversation skills will help or hinder your professional image," she says. That's why it is important that you plan your conference attire carefully.

Be conservative in your choice of clothing," Ecker recommends. "Find out ahead of time what events you'll be at. tending and each event's appropriate dress code. You want to make sure that you have a variety of clothing that will be appropriate for various social events. Pack at least one casual outfit, one business casual outfit and one business suit."

Personal Affects Power and Poetics in Contemporary South African Art

by David Brodie, Laurie Ann Farrell, Churchill Madikida, Tracy Murinik, and Liese van der Watt

New York: Museum of African Art and the Church of St. John the Divine, 2004. 175 pp., 200 color illustrations. $40.00 paper.


The catalogue Personal Affects: Power and Poetics in Contemporary South Africa Art details an exhibition of the same name recently held in New York City at the Museum for African Art and the Cathedral of St John the Divine. The curators bring together Jane Alexander, Wim Botha, Steven Cohen, Churchill Madikida, Mustafa Maluka, Thando Mama, Samson Mudzunga, Jay Pather, Johannes Phokela, Robin Rhode, Claudette Schreuders, Berni Searle, Doreen Southwood, Clive van den Berg, Minette Vari, Diane Victor, and Sandile Zulu. Utilizing a variety of media, including drawing, video, sculpture, dance, and installation, these seventeen artists investigate subtle intricacies of identity and agency in a post-apartheid world. Imbued with elements of the personal, this catalogue brings together a generation of artists who raise innovative questions about memory, the body, and personal histories. Most important, Personal Affects highlights how these sentiments are reflected through processes of artistic production and how artistic practices effectively blur the boundaries of identity categories.


The beautifully illustrated catalogue is divided into two main sections. The first section consists of two essays, written by Okwui Enwezor and Liese van der Watt. In "The Enigma of the Rainbow Nation," Enwezor explores the function of art as it relates to a South African colonial and apartheid past. In doing so, he highlights art's archival role, particularly as an archive of memory. Complementing this interpretation, van der Watt explores the changing nature of identity, namely post-identity, in "Towards 'Adversarial Aesthetics.'" For her, "Personal Affects" transgresses normative notions of identity politics, thereby opening up a realm of possibility that recognizes the failure of identity in a South African context. Both essays provide necessary historical and theoretical backgrounds for the catalogue and exhibition, thus further elucidating the larger factors motivating the curators to organize an exhibition around these contemporary identity issues.

The second section of the catalogue presents artist interviews conducted by Tracy Murinik, an art critic based in Cape Town. The interviews are a welcome addition to the catalogue format, providing readers with a unique insight into the creative processes of each artist. By privileging the voices of the artists, the catalogue provides a space for them to verbally locate and interpret their artwork in relation to the larger themes of the exhibition. Additionally, the interviews provide a sort of chronological reference point from which readers can discern the artistic and curatorial processes shaping the development of the exhibition over time.

The beautiful color illustrations and format of Personal Affects are thoroughly enjoyable. The catalogue enlightens readers on not only the exhibition, but also the larger issues facing these artists in the everyday. The introductory essays address the identity issues laid out by the curators, providing just enough background reading so that the reader can fully appreciate the scope of the exhibition. Instead of forcing the artists to articulate their South African-ness, Murinik utilizes the interview format to highlight the connections between artists, such as recurring themes, ideas, and motivations influencing their working processes. However, because the questions differ from interview to interview, the resulting collection lacks cohesion at times. I was often left wondering, asking questions, wanting to know more.

Nonetheless, the catalogue for "Personal Affects" engages with identity in a transformative way, acknowledging its changing nature and fluidity through and across time. By focusing on South Africa, a country very much still dealing with the legacy of apartheid, the curators and contributors successfully highlight the differing atmospheres in which identities are negotiated and mediated through artistic processes. While apartheid may be officially over, the artists in this exhibition highlight the importance of articulating the wounds and fissures left behind, still affecting South Africa and South Africans ten years later. Personal Affects serves as a way to celebrate and commemorate the progress made, the uncertainties remaining, and the work that still needs to be done. By bringing the work of these artists together, this catalogue reveals the differing practices each artist employs in order to make visible the simultaneity of identity markers, shaping what it means to be an individual within and outside of a South African context.

Allan Houston flexed his arms, scowled, and launched a jumper from the baseline over former teammate Glen Rice to hand the New York Knicks a two-point win over the Houston Rockets.

"He hit a tough shot, but Allan has done that over and over and over," Rice said. "There really wasn't much I could do."

Houston, a broad-shouldered scoring machine who has the smile of Will Smith and the quick feet of Jackie Chan, credits strength and conditioning for his resiliency and ability to adjust to all facets of the NBA game.


"My workouts build power and endurance so that I can fight for a rebound or go to the hole and have that extra strength, that mental and physical edge, to prevail over bigger guys," says Houston, no slouch in the lean-muscle-mass department. "I give full credit to Joe Dumars and Isiah Thomas, two of my teammates on the Detroit Pistons, for preaching the necessity of working hard in the summer to prepare for the intense physical requirements of playing in the NBA, night in and night out, all season long."

Houston and his trainer Anthony Gray, a New York City strength and conditioning specialist, use a unique training strategy that combines weightlifting and body-weight-bearing exercises to build a world-class physique, nowhere more impressive than in Houston's shoulders.

We turned to Houston and his trainer for Part 2 of our program to help you create barn-door width. This plan, along with the chest-training section from Part 1, will help you craft the appearance of a narrow waist, even if you don't have those ripped abs quite yet.


Gray has teamed up with Houston for the past five years to prepare his star athlete for the extreme physical challenges of professional basketball. Their strategy is ideal for any weight trainer or athlete looking to improve his deltoid width--and, if hoops is your game, score from way downtown.

GRAY'S ANATOMY: A MASTER CLASS ON SHOULDERS

Take a gander at Houston's upper body; those immense delts pop out at you in three-dimensional splendor. Houston doesn't train like a bodybuilder to get big, bad delt caps--the secret to his success is not heavy weights or genetic gifts, but a three-pronged attack on each head of the deltoid complex along with a full dose of functional-strength training.

"Forget about building impressive shoulders unless you are willing to pay the price in hard work," says Gray, who has improved Houston's endurance and stamina with an array of body-weight resistance exercises. "The difference between typical body-part workouts and what I recommend is the integration of functional-strength exercises--dips, pull-ups and push-ups--into the heart of the training session."

A typical deltoid workout for Houston includes:

* Machine shoulder presses, to hit anterior (front) delts.

* Lateral raises on a machine, to hit medial (side) delts.

* Rear-delt flyes on a machine, to bring up the posterior delts and to tweak the trapezius.

The plan is to start with shoulder presses for front delts and to use a weight that allows for 12 reps on the first set, 10 reps on the second set and eight reps on the third. Houston will generally do a drop set (cutting back on the weight) of 12 more reps at the end to go for the burn. For every set, "don't take the easy way out and choose a light weight that makes it feel like butter to complete," says Gray, "because you need to go with poundages that dictate the last three reps will be a challenge to complete with proper form."

Once his front delts are fried to a crisp, Houston immediately integrates dips, a functional-strength exercise, to add an endurance component to the workout. He will do three sets of dips (12-10-8) before moving on to the lateral raises.

"The average person could not handle the dips and be able to make it through the rest of the workout," says Gray, "and that's why I recommend that you do your shoulder exercises and then hit the dips at the end of the session." If you're a beginner, it's advisable to do machine dips. By keeping your arms in front of your body, these are less likely to put a shearing force on the shoulder joint.

Why integrate dips, a chest and triceps exercise, into a delt routine?

"The added endurance from dips is invaluable to enhancing the structural integrity of the joints, tendons and ligaments that support the shoulder capsule during exercise," says Gray.

Houston adds, "You will notice immediate gains in strength and detail as soon as you add dips to your delt program on a consistent basis."

After three sets of dips, Houston move on to three sets of lateral raises--generally on a machine, but sometimes with dumbbells--and three sets of rear-delt flyes. The reps (12-10-8) stay the same, with a weight that will make it a challenge to get through the last three reps.

This intensive workout dictates at least three days of rest for the delts between sessions, though it does not preclude shooting baskets or other recreational pursuits that require shoulder strength and dexterity.

Toronto-based Paradigm Advanced Technologies Inc. [PRAV], expects its next generation of personal location devices (PLDs) to be launched in second quarter 2002, integrating Global Positioning System (GPS) chipsets from SiRF Technology Inc., said Paradigm's Eduardo Guendelman, its president and CEO.

"For some time emergency response workers have recognized the need for improved technology to identify the physical location of people in emergencies. While some such devices currently exist, they tend to be heavy and cumbersome. The new generation of plds that we are developing based on SiRF's GPS technology features a much higher degree of miniaturization while offering enhanced performance and reliability," Guendelman said. >TK Aether Systems Inc. [AETH]:

Many educators have suggested that teachers hold the authority, and thus the responsibility, for initiating the curricular and instructional changes made within their own classrooms (Carr & Kemmis, 1986; Ross, 1994; Stenhouse, 1983). One implication of this suggestion is that teachers be reflective about their practice. Yet, reflection is a difficult process that requires critical thought, self-direction, and problem solving coupled with personal knowledge and self-awareness (Elliott, 1991). As classroom teachers, we believed that thorough reflection and teacher inquiry were important and related assumptions of quality teaching. However, we also realized as teachers that our daily obligations impacted how we implemented these processes as they, at times, became isolated and fragmented tasks. How then could we as teacher educators help our candidates develop their skills at action research and systematic reflection as an integrated activity within their preservice teacher education program? This article describes a study that utilized personal theorizing as a mechanism to guide the action research of individuals within an elementary preservice teacher cohort during their four-semester, teacher education program.


Action Research


Action research has been defined as the attempt by teachers to study and improve their practice as a result of classroom experiences (Connelly & Clandinin, 1988). Numerous studies have indicated that practicing teachers conducting action research as part of their graduate education programs can improve teaching and enhance student learning (Burnaford & Hobson, 1995; Johnson & Button, 2000; Sax & Fisher, 2001). Others have indicated that graduate preservice teacher candidates benefit from completing action research as part of their preservice education (Crookes & Chandler, 2001; McEwan, Field, & Kawamoto, 1997; Valli, 2000), while others, more recently, have asserted that action research can even benefit undergraduate teacher candidates (Price, 2001; Rock & Levin, 2002).

Clearly, the benefits of action research are becoming well recognized and have prompted the call for action research to be included as part of preservice teacher development (Fueyo & Koorland, 1997). The responses to this call include a variety of strategies aimed at helping preservice candidates complete action research. Auger and Wideman (2000) describe how 42 elementary and secondary teacher candidates individually identified an action research question and developed improvement projects that were pursued during their student teaching experiences. Moore, Bartlett, and Garrison (1999) guided a collaborative action research process that was co-developed with six preservice elementary candidates in an attempt to better understanding their use of inquiry curriculum. Rock and Levin's (2002) study utilized a pool of five preservice candidates implementing a collaborative action research project designed to understand the perceptions of their students regarding their school.

Personal Theorizing

Personal theorizing, the systematic reflection process undertaken by teachers in an attempt to recognize and utilize personal understanding as part of instructional improvement, has gained value as a viable component of preservice teacher education (Kleinsasser, 1992; Ross, 1992). A number of studies suggest that teachers use a personal guiding theory to influence instructional actions and classroom decision making (Chant, 2002; Clandinin, 1986; Cornett, 1990a; Pape, 1992). Cornett stressed that personal theory exists as a result of teachers' personal and professional experiences and that such theory, once recognized and understood, could be utilized as a basis for the improvement of practice. Given Cornett's assumption, then, the inclusion of personal theorizing may be a logical precursor to the completion of action research.

Connecting Personal Theorizing and Action Research

Historically, the relationship between personal theorizing and action research can be linked to Dewey's (1938) suggestion that experiences influence teacher beliefs and, once these beliefs are reflected upon critically, provide the basis for professional growth (pp. 38-39). Schwab (1969) further emphasized the connection between beliefs and action when he recommended that teachers rely on reflection as a means to examine how personal understanding impacts curricular actions. Others have also expressed the opinion that teacher beliefs have an influential, if not the central, role in the implementation of curriculum innovation and change (Berman & McLaughlin, 1976; Fullan, 1982).

There is evidence suggesting that teachers bring into the classroom specific beliefs that have developed due to their own environmental influences and these beliefs have the potential to influence the classroom community (Danielewicz, 1998; Fickel, 2000). Research related to these influences, labeled teachers' practical knowledge, has recently emerged and incorporates teachers' beliefs as the center of inquiry (Ross, Cornett, & McCutcheon, 1992). Teachers' practical-knowledge studies often examine how teaching beliefs develop into practical theories of teaching and how these theories influence teachers' decision making. Sanders and McCutcheon (1986) defined such theories as the conceptual structures and images that provide teachers with the reasons for acting as they do and for choosing the teaching activities and curriculum materials that are most effective for student learning. Cornett (1990a) later modified the term practical theories to personal practical theories (PPTs) because the theories represent contributions grounded in both the teacher's personal experience (outside the classroom) and practical experience (inside the classroom).

BALTIMORE -- Personal health records may be the next step in the evolution of health information technology, but these electronic documents raise several legal and security issues for long-term care facilities.

"PHRs might in fact have the opportunity to leapfrog over things that are happening in electronic health records," Dr. Steven Labkoff, director of business technology for Pfizer Inc., said at a meeting on long-term care health information technology.


The main difference between personal health records (PHRs) and electronic health records is who owns them. Ideally, patients should own their PHRs. But it is still unclear who should control what information is entered in the document and, perhaps more important, who should be able to delete information from the record, experts said at the meeting, sponsored by the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA).

An online public survey conducted in 2003 found that 71% of respondents believed that personal health records would improve the quality of health care, said Jill Burrington-Brown, the practice manager for health information management products and services at AHIMA.

"The time is now to accelerate the development of personal health records," she said, citing a report from Connecting for Health, a project of the Markle Foundation to promote the adoption and use of personal health records.

"A second finding was that PHRs are a means to necessary ends, such as increased consumer health awareness, activation, safety, and self-efficacy," she said.


During roundtable discussions, meeting attendees said that they thought personal health records are a potentially important component of health information technology efforts, but many also had misgivings about the security risk represented by giving seniors, some with cognitive deficits, electronic access to their health records.

"Every day is a day that we work on security to make sure it is tight and concise," said Daniel Wilt, director of information technology for Erickson Retirement Communities.

Erickson has launched a pilot program that allows residents to remotely access laboratory results, physician notes, and medical histories. The system also allows them to set appointments and keep health journals.

"They want their labs. That's the one thing they really want. They go to the medical center, they run back upstairs, they go to their computers, and they ask 'It's been 20 minutes; where are my labs?' We have to explain it takes 24 hours," he said.

While most users really like the system, administrators have had to struggle with how much access the public should have. For example, Mr. Wilt said, should administrators allow adult children to look at records or let residents change information that they deem incorrect?

By definition, personal health records need to be individually owned, said Ms. Burrington-Brown.

"The individuals own the PHR in a similar way as we own money in the bank. There is some conversation in the industry about who really owns that, because of who produces it. That is a conversation that is going to be going on" for quite some time, she said.

Industry groups are working on a standard format for personal health records, while groups such as the American Health Information Community and the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics are developing standards to ensure interoperability and security of those documents.

"We have a lot of PHR activities occurring at many levels," she said.

The study examines change in relation to the personal development and creditability of students as they progress through a high school in Tennessee. It is suggested as a model for all high schools to insure that personal development and creditability of students occurs. Clearly, female students tend to do better than male ones, but for this group of 550 students both male and female student show excellent progress in such development. The PDT test promises to be an excellent means for use by high schools and colleges to insure progress is being made in the personal development of students.



The American Psychiatric Association used 26 advisory committees in the development of DSM-III-R and DSM-IV (1994) where the Global Assessment Functioning Scale was determined to be critical in the health and success of individuals. It consists of a five point scale where a rating of 5 suggests excellent Global Functioning, a rating of 3 as average, and a rating of 1 as the absence of effective Global Functioning. The problem with the DSM-IV scale is that it fails to identify any of the critical elements involved in Global Functioning or Personal Development; so that specific change can be planned for. From Third Force Psychology and Person-Centered Theory by Rogers (1945) and Maslow 1954) we learn that Global Functioning is based on the Personal Development of the individual, and introduces some of the basic critical elements involved in Personal Development.

Assessing Personal Development


The Personal Development Test (PDT) (Cassel & Chow, 2002) is designed to measure the Personal Development of youth and adults. It is comprised of 200 true/false type items with 25 in each of the 8 part scores. It is based on Dewey's definition of a democracy--the interdependence of independent individuals. The first 4 part scores measure Personal Maturity for the Independence element in the Dewey definition, and the second 4 part scores measure Social Integration for the interdependnce one. Each one of the 8 part scores provides a meaningful understanding of the functioning basis of Personal Development.

I Personal Maturity--able to compete and succeed in an economic based society:

Self-efficacy--Exercise of personal control with high expectations and long staying power, and the development of long-term goals..

Coping Skills--possession of personal manipulative skills with a willingness and ability to develop others as needed.

Positive Assertiveness--begins with character education involving use and abuse of tobacco, alcohol, and drugs; and including action towards goal-attainment.

Locus of Control--belief that success is not luck, but scientific decision making.

II Social Integration--ability to get along with all kinds of people--different races and religions:

Conformity--accept and become an integral part of community and nation with a "team' like spirit.

Sympathy--ability to empathize and put self in place of the other person, and feel their pain and pleasures.

Self-esteem--sensing that peers have a lofty and important image of you as a team member.

Caring--Whatever happens to one person or animal anywhere in the world is important to all persons everywhere.

Confluence Score

The Confluence Score is comprised of 42 items; which includes 21 pairs of the 200 PDT items, and deals squarely with agreement and harmony of one's responses--creditability. About half of those 21 pairs are direct opposites, and the other half lack agreement with the other item in the pair in varying degrees. If the individual, for example, scores one of those items in the pair "true," and fails to score the second item in the pair "false," there is a lack of congruence--agreement or harmony. In this sense, then, the "Confluence Score" is a measure of "creditability" of the person taking the test; as well as the test results. It may mean, of course, that the Test Taker did not read or understand the items involved. What ever the reason for such failure, the notion of creditability still holds. People are inclined to want to make self look favorable and tend to answer test questions in agreement with own positive image; often not in agreement with facts. The Confluence Score seeks to verify creditability of the test taker as well as the test results.

Validity of Confluence Score

Validity means the statistical degree of agreement between the item or score and other data of relevance. It is clear beyond any doubt that the Confluent Score could be used very effectively to predict the student's PDT scores (Personal Development of students), or even the student's GPA (Grade Point Average) (r = 0.399). The Confluence Score is an integral part of the PDT test--same items used to measure Personal Development; not an addition as in the Minnesota Multiphaisc Inventory (1970).

Editor's Note: Boyd Rayward was the recipient of the ASIS&T Research Award for 2004. The award honors outstanding research contributions in the field of information science.

My research over the years has focused on historical questions related to library and information science as providing the intellectual underpinning of a variety of professional practices related to the dissemination and use of information. I have published a number of historical studies examining Utopian schemes for managing knowledge, the evolution of institutionalized or organizational aspects of information infrastructure (as represented especially by libraries, museums and systems for the international organization and dissemination of information), and the emergence of what I think of as an interdiscipline - nowadays often designated library and information science - concerned with the study of these phenomena.


Studies of the Life and Work of Paul Otlet

The Universe of Information: The Work of Paul Otlet for Documentation and International Organization was an initial study of a hitherto neglected figure. A Russian translation of this book was published in 1977 and a Spanish edition in 1996. With the advent of the Internet and the Web, it has become clear how pioneering and important historically the work of Paul Otlet and his colleagues was. It seems yet even more relevant today with the recently announced agreement between Google and a number of research libraries to digitize and make their collections available through the Web. I have argued that in Otlet's world of paper, card and cabinet technology he provided a theoretical basis for, and described many of the functionalities characteristic of, today's information technology and the uses to which it has been put. Two articles that might be mentioned in this context are "Visions of Xanadu: Paul Otlet (1868-1944) and Hypertext," and "The origins of information science and the International Institute of Bibliography/International Federation of Documentation (FID)." Both articles were reprinted in ASIS&T's Historical Studies in Information Science.


Otlet's innovative thinking encourages us to question and to broaden our understanding of what constitutes a document. His technological experiments and speculations suggest how clearly he understood that technology limits not only what we can do but also what we realize is possible in the management of information and that, reciprocally, technology can open up what we can think as well as what we can do. Many of the failures he experienced and his conceptual struggles with them also made him acutely aware that managing and deploying information are profoundly social processes that are embedded in political and ideological structures of various kinds. Otlet's Traité de Documentation is, for me, the first systematic information science treatise. I believe that his ideas have a historical role in our understanding of the emergence of the Internet and World Wide Web and the functionalities they represent that is as important as any of the roles attributed to such pioneering and iconic figures as H.G. Wells, Vannevar Bush, Ted Nelson and others. The World Wide Web: how readily he would have embraced this simple evocative locution for what he called the International Network for Universal Documentation!

International Organization and Dissemination of Knowledge: Selected Essays of Paul Otlet was designed to make some of his thinking available in the English-speaking world. A collection of my own papers on Otlet-related matters has been translated by Pilar Arnau Rived into Spanish as Hasta Ia Documentacion Electronica. A recent article, "Knowledge Organization and a New World Polity: The Rise and Fall and Rise of the Ideas of Paul Otlet," is an attempt to assess the historiography that has developed around Otlet and his work in the last 25 years or so and introduces the Otlet-themed issue of the bi-lingual Transnational Associations/Associations Transnationales, the journal of the Union of International Associations.

Historiographical Questions Related to Library and Information Science

My studies of Otlet's work made me aware that asking, "What is a library or bibliography or information or librarianship or library and information science?" is to ask interesting historically contingent questions. My first exploration of some of these questions took a kind of "evolutionist" view in "The Development of Library and Information Science: Disciplinary Differentiation, Competition and Convergence," in Machlup and Mansfield's The Study of Information: Interdisciplinary Messages. Later in "The History and Historiography of Information Science: Some Reflections," which introduced an issue that I edited of Information Processing and Management on the history of information science, I tried to give a broader view of what I saw as the nature of information and the roles and functions of the systems that we have devised as a society to manage information, of which the library is an historically important example. I think of all of these elements as society's information infrastructure - before the term was taken over and limited in its designation by the telecommunications industry ("History and Historiography of Information Science"). The first of two more recent studies explores the idea of emergent communities that are both national and international in their interest in historical study of information systems and science, while the second explores the idea of how we might think about pioneers in a field like library and information science ("Scientific and Technological Information Systems" and "When and Why Is a Pioneer?").

AT ONE point Ken Hinckley's hand-held computer may have been a store-bought model, but now it's covered with funky bulges, wrapped in white electrical tape, and bears only a superficial resemblance to a pocket PC you might carry. However, Ken Hinckley's hand-held computer is a lot smarter than yours. It knows to turn itself on when Hinckley picks it up. When he tilts the computer on its side (so the screen is lengthwise), the text automatically shifts 90 degrees, too, making it easy for Hinckley to read Excel spreadsheets. And when he's finished, all he has to do to turn it off is put it down.

Hinckley, a Microsoft researcher, is among the techno vanguard--with counterparts at Apple, IBM, Intel and a legion of other high-tech firms--whose job it is to figure out what must-have, practical and just plain neat-o advances will be next to hit your local Best Buy. And if you link the crystal balls of these researchers together, the word that best describes the next big things in personal electronics is connectivity.

Connectivity will come in two important forms. First, various devices--hand-helds, phones, computers, TVs, DVD players--will work together so seamlessly that the devices will blend together physically. RealNetworks, the Internet's leader in bringing video and audio to computers, is already working with cell-phone and handheld computer makers to develop models that play music and video. Says Ralph Bond, consumer-education manager for Intel: "The emphasis on digital music and digital video is really just the beginning."


The second important goal of connectivity is to make electronic devices, like Hinckley's hand-held computer, that respond to human habits, rather than making humans adapt to machine protocols.

The tech companies recognize that adapting devices to their owners' individual needs isn't just a job for engineers. The Microsoft research team also includes artists, graphic designers, linguists, psychologists and sociologists, all working to reduce the amount of time and adaptation it takes for people to learn to work with computers. For example, when you organize your house, you may put a favorite book on your nightstand, magazines in a basket in the den, and a list of what to buy at the store in a kitchen drawer. Physical space and special locations help you organize. So, instead of storing his favorite Web pages in a folder and accessing them through a drop-down menu, Microsoft researcher Dan Robbins keeps his Web bookmarks in a virtual "room" on his computer.

This room, complete with tables, chairs and a couch, is littered with miniature Web pages "copied" from the real Web. Robbins stores the pages on the walls, floors and even the ceiling of his virtual room--wherever it seems natural. "People are used to keeping their possessions in real space," Robbins says. "I'm trying to reproduce that natural organization here on the screen." (Don't expect to find virtual-room software in stores anytime soon.)

Not soon enough

ALL THIS innovation can't come soon enough for Silicon Valley. The market for personal computers is nearly saturated, and the number of people going online for work and play is starting to plateau. So high-tech companies need more compelling reasons for us to buy more electronics, especially faster computers.

And until we have such good reasons, we're not buying. Intel has spent this year trying to persuade consumers that a $1,500 Pentium 4 computer is better than a $900 Pentium III--with little success. The bottom line: Few new software programs take advantage of the Pentium 4 chip.

The industry has a litany of uses for Pentium 4s that aren't quite ready for prime rime. For example, voice recognition and graphics as crisp as a movie screen "will really make it necessary to have a powerful computer running things," Bond predicts.

Faster chips will also drive the next wave of wireless phones, due out by the end of 2002. These phones, using what the cell-phone industry calls third-generation, or 3G, technology, will be able to handle voice and data at speeds that far surpass today's dial-up modems for computers. By 2004, most major cities should be wired to handle 3G, and you'll be able to use your phone to punch up streaming video, Web pages and even order forms for tickets and books.

But then, button pushing itself may become obsolete. Both IBM and Microsoft are working hard to make personal computers truly understand, translate and respond to human speech. Microsoft researcher Bill Dolan has created a program that gets us halfway there: It allows the user to type in a question, which the computer then answers in the form of a sentence. So if you asked the computer, "When was Abraham Lincoln assassinated?" the response, which takes about five seconds, would be: "Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865."

That simple, direct answer is deceptively simple. It actually requires a powerful computer and "half a dozen different programs, working in concert," says Dolan, to produce it. The computer has to analyze the question's sentence structure, picking out the subject, verb, qualifier, etc. It then determines the probability of the sentence's meaning; taking the top three or four probable meanings, it runs a search through a database of facts, which may be as small as a dictionary or as large as the entire Internet. The computer finds pages of information containing the words "assassination," "president" and "Lincoln," then finds a date on the same page.

The Center for Personal Development's (CPD) goal is to maximize a Sailor's human potential to enhance their professional potential. To accomplish this, CPD is working to create a Navy culture that promotes and encourages whole Sailor development.

"The Revolution in Navy Training is about developing Sailors professionally and personally," said Commander, Naval Personnel Development Command RADM Kevin Moran. "We are going to give Sailors every opportunity to be successful in their personal lives because this will give the Navy Sailors who are successful professionally."


The five areas of focus on the Personal Development Vector are interpersonal relationships, life skills, values, personal financial management and health (including physical fitness and wellness). In addition to these areas, the Personal Development Vector will also provide opportunities for Sailors to complete a college degree and earn certain industry certifications.

As the single point of contact for personal development, CPD will create a more manageable continuum of training and education for Sailors throughout their personal lives, as well as their Navy careers.

"Because the Navy believes its people to be its No. 1 resource, individualized personal development of Sailors is a major component of the training revolution," said Moran.


The recent establishment of CPD formalizes the process associated with that development. A product of the Navy's Revolution in Training, CPD will serve as the single resource for more than 200 programs once managed by the Navy's Bureau of Medicine, Chief of Naval Education and Training, and Navy Personnel Command. The center is ultimately a response to the Navy's commitment to leadership and an environment of excellence.

"The Navy is competing with industry for top talent, so you can expect the Navy to start competing like an industry," said CPD Commanding Officer CAPT Jamie Barnett. "Private industry now is interested in the way that the Navy plans to provide career advancement incentives for personal development. It is the revolution within the revolution."

By creating an environment of learning, Sailors will be given the most up-to-date training, education and tools available to ensure their success.

"Our goal is to create a Navy in which all Sailors, both active and Reserve, afloat and ashore, are optimally assessed, trained and assigned so they can contribute their fullest to mission accomplishment," said Chief of Naval Operations ADM Vein Clark. "We owe those who promise to serve the best possible training throughout their Navy experience, so they can succeed and prosper in their professional and personal lives."

To learn more about the Navy's Revolution in Training and the Center for Personal Development, visit www.nko.navy.mil or www.excel.navy.mil.

For related news, visit the Naval Personnel Development Command/Task Force EXCEL Navy NewsStand page at www.news.navy.mil/local/tfe.

It seems as though a growing number of consumers not only believe you are what you eat, but you are what you put on your skin.

America's obesity epidemic, the media frenzy surrounding it and the integrity of the food supply have led many people to turn to natural and organic foods. Now, that trend is gaining steam in the personal care category, and drug chains would be wise not to stand on the sidelines.

"In the last couple of years, once the [United States Department of Agriculture] organics program took effect, consumers started to understand what organic really means, and we are seeing a corresponding interest for organic personal care as a result," said Paddy Spence, president of Levlad, maker of Nature's Gate personal care products.


In fact, the overall natural grooming market is expected to reach $5.9 billion at retail in 2008, according to a "U.S. Market for Natural Personal Care Products" report from Packaged Facts.

However, industry sources agree that, for the most part, this category remains underdeveloped, in drug outlets and that much of the category's attractive double-digit growth in recent years continues to stem from the natural product stores.

"If you go into a drug store or mass retailer, the selection of natural and organic is limited, and yet that segment is where we are seeing some of the most exciting and rapid development," noted Spence.

Suppliers agree that now is a good time for drug retailers to become dedicated players in the category. There are several reasons:


* Americans are paying closer attention to healthy diets and food safety--giving rise to successful natural grocers like Whole Foods and Wild Oats--which is translating into a holistic approach to health and fitness. Aromatherapy, yoga, natural foods and personal care products free of potentially harsh chemicals are all part of that equation.

* The science behind how best to use natural ingredients more effectively is improving, and products are more effective than ever. In the past, some consumers believed, sometimes rightly so, that using a natural product meant sacrificing efficacy.

* There's a growing trend of converging upscale with natural and organic. The upscale shopper is equating premium with natural and organic, so by offering such products, drug chains can better position themselves against specialty retailers and attract the premium shopper.

* In general, natural personal care products have higher price points (and fatter margins), but consumers have shown that they are willing to open their wallets in exchange for a pure product that works.

Manufacturers undoubtedly are taking notice of the trend, developing innovative natural and organic personal care products for women, men and babies--the latter being an area that has seen a lot of activity lately.

One such example is Jason Natural Products, which the Hain Celestial Group snapped up last year. The company now has entered the cosmetics category with its new Lip Temptations, a three-SKU collection of moisturizing lip tints. The lip tints, which retail for $6 each, are all-natural, 100 percent vegetarian and are free of preservatives, lanolin, mineral oil or petroleum.

We looked at the marketplace and felt that there was a lack of a good natural alternative,' said Diana Wang, Jason Natural Products director of marketing, who noted that the cosmetics also could attract new consumers to the Jason brand.

Also breaking into a new beauty category is Nature's Gate with its new Advanced Skin Care line. Looking to tap into the high-growth anti-age market, Nature's Gate created the five-SKU line that contains no parabens--commonly used as preservatives--but rather is made with certified organic botanicals and is cruelty-free.

The collection features Walnut Therapy for Overnight Renewal for $24.95, Chardonnay Hydrator for Daytime for $29.95, Wrinkle Diffuser Serum with Ameliox for $29.95, Lemon Skin Brightening Serum for $29.95 and Vitamin C Texturizing Serum for $34.95.

Spence noted that over the next 12 months, Nature's Gate will release a whole range of products that further combine efficacy with science-backed organic botanicals and pure ingredients.

Meanwhile, Kiss My Face has revamped its hair care line, developing shampoos and conditioners that match in formula and fragrance. Products include Whenever shampoo and conditioner for everyday use, Big Body shampoo and conditioner for fine hair and Miss Treated shampoo and conditioner for dry and damaged hair. Complementing the line is a new mousse, dubbed Hold Up. The suggested retail price is $7.95 each.

Baby care

One segment that is experiencing a great deal of activity is baby care.

"Babies come out, and their skin is so thin and delicate," said Jason's Wang. "We wanted to put products out there that would put [parents'] minds at ease, at least from a personal care perspective, on what they put on their babies."

Enter Earth's Best Organic Baby Care by Jason. Developed in partnership with its sister company, organic baby food maker Earth's Best, the six-SKU line features products that are 70 percent organic and 100 percent natural.

Techtium Ltd. and Energizer Holdings will pursue the joint development and marketing of hybrid batteries for high-drain personal electronic devices. The innovation platform will center on Techtium's hybrid battery and charging technology, powered with Energizer batteries, to provide greater power for portable devices that require longer battery life for current features, as well as more power for other features that currently are not possible because of limited battery life and run time.

At the beginning of the year, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Vern Clark challenged Navy leaders in his 2005 Guidance to develop a Human Capital Strategy (HCS) that would provide the Navy with tools to remedy the imbalances in community manning and retention, revise the ratio of restricted line officers to unrestricted line officers, and adjust infrastructure manning to better mesh with future technologies, concepts and initiatives.

The task of bringing HCS to life is the responsibility of many Navy commands that are already working in concert to demonstrate the potential power this strategy will have when brought to fruition. In order for HCS to be successful, it must be incorporated into the Navy's Revolution in Training (RIT) and Sea Warrior initiatives, a task that has, in part, fallen to the Naval Personnel Development Command (NPDC).


"We are moving with as much speed as possible toward the CNO's goal," said Rear Adm. Ann Rondeau, commander of NPDC. "We have Navy Knowledge Online (NKO), which is the delivery portal to Sailors for communication, mentorship, education and career progression tools. We have developed the Learning Centers, which are the homes for communities of practice where they can go to find resources they can utilize in their day-to-day work," she said.

"We are also developing the 5 Vector Model (5VM) in an automated fashion so that the Total Force leaders, supervisors and mentors can access the resumes of their personnel and ensure the individual is matched up correctly to the job he or she is being assigned. This is very important because we want to tie the training directly to the skill sets the Navy needs," said Rondeau.


With all of these developmental tools available and more on the way, it is not hard to understand why HCS is a major focus for the Navy in 2005. The strategy is based upon mission focus, total force, and achieving a work/life balance in a wartime Navy that delivers the right Sailors with the right skills at the right time for the right work.

Simply put, HCS is a view of how the Navy values its people and how leadership can use the genius of its people--the human capital resource--in a way that gives the best possible alignment to the current mission. This meshes directly with the RIT and falls under the larger umbrella of the Sea Warrior initiative.

Fred Bertsch, assistant chief of staff for Functional Integration Management (FIM) at NPDC, explained that the RIT brought two models to the table that are in use today. The first was the human performance systems model, and the second was the 5VM. Understanding the symbiotic relationship between the two models is essential to understanding how the HCS will create a Sea Warrior who has the capability to access, develop, maintain, optimize and provide the human capital to meet the mission of the Navy.

"The human performance systems model said whenever you develop a solutions set for optimizing performance, you always start with the requirements. You then look at the solutions available to fulfill those requirements, and then you determine how best to integrate and implement it," Bertsch explained. "Next you execute--and the most important piece is to obtain feedback to measure and analyze. The final step is to provide feedback into the system. It's a closed loop process, which allows us to start to look at things through a systems model."

The 5VM provides the ability to look at a person in terms of skill set performance. Human capabilities are divided into four areas with a Performance Vector that allows leadership to measure how well a person is doing. The four other vectors are professional, leadership, personal development, and certifications and qualifications.

"We are trying to craft the 5VM as a spiral development process," Rondeau said. "The 5VM allows Sailors to see their development and allows leaders to see how the skills of Sailors, both officer and enlisted, fit mission needs and requirements. The more we can match Sailors' choices with mission requirements the better we can maximize mission capability and force capacity toward Sea Power 21."

The human performance systems model and 5VM, along with RIT and HCS, are part of the foundation for Sea Warrior. Sea Warrior brings together fleet requirements, distribution of man power, personnel development and acquisition of new weapons systems. This ensures the Navy has the right inventory of people and equipment that are developed correctly from both a cultural (Navy basic training) and skills standpoint.

"When we put our people in a particular situation, we want to feel confident that they can handle the work that has been assigned to them at a standard that is acceptable to the Navy," Bertsch said. "We also want to make sure we are not spending money, time and effort on things that are not important to the Navy's core competencies."

Bertsch said a primary focus now in bringing HCS to life is automating learning capabilities in the schoolhouses. He concedes that the Navy will never and should never totally get away from having instructors and facilitators, but points out that shaping training into a "reusable format" that can be launched through an Integrated Learning Environment (ILE) is beneficial to both Sailors and the taxpayers who support them.