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Current Cities Volume 02 Number 01
_Current_Cites_
Volume 2, no.1
January 1991
Library Technology Watch Program
University of California, Berkeley
Edited by David F.W. Robison
ISSN: 1060-2356
Contributors:
Clifford Lynch, Teri Rinne, Vivienne Roumani,
Lisa Rowlison, Mark Takaro, Roy Tennant
Expert Systems & Artificial Intelligence
Aluri, Rao and Donald E. Riggs. Expert Systems in Libraries. Norwood,
New Jersey: Ablex Publishing, 1990. A plethora of expert system
knowledge ranging from essays on general background information,
library applications (both public and technical service), and future
implications. While most of the essays are written or co-authored by
library professionals, library professors and computer scientists also
have their input. In the following months you will find abstracts of
specific essays from this volume in this section of Current Cites.
Emdad, Ali. "A Synergetic Model for Building an Intelligent
Documentation System (IDS)" Microcomputers for Information
Management 7(2) (June 1990):115-125. This article presents the
idea of an intelligent documentation system (IDS). Emdad recognizes
the shortcomings of most printed documentation, as well as online
user documentation. Hence he proposes an I.D.S. which incorporates
the use of expert systems and hypertext. While his focus is on
software documentation, the application of such a system to
bibliographic instruction seems natural. The expert system is first
used to ascertain the user's ability (skill level) and then to determine
the most appropriate path of help. The help screens it locates for the
user are all done with hypertext. This feature leads the user through
a series of text, video and audio (as appropriate) to provide the user
with the needed assistance.
Leonard, W. Patrick. "On My Mind: Are Librarians Reluctant to
Explore Expert Systems?" Journal of Academic Librarianship 16(5)
(November 1990):302, 307. An interesting appeal by Mr. Leonard,
Vice-Chancellor for Academic Services, Purdue University, calling for
greater involvement on the part of Librarians in the use and
development of expert systems. He describes our lagging behind
many of the other professions' applications of the technology and
succinctly cites the well known reasons for applying expert system
technology in the library environment.
Portante, Tom. "The Common Sense Machine." Patricia Seybold's
Office Computing Report 13(11) (November 1990):17-19. It has long
been recognized that expert systems are brittle (they function only
within a narrowly defined domain under standard circumstances)
because of their lack of common sense knowledge (that knowledge
humans have in virtue of experiencing the world first hand). A
consortium, Computer Technology Corporation, founded by Digital
Equipment, Bellcore, Kodak, and others has been created to work on
this problem. Currently they're at the midpoint of a 10 year
schedule aiming at equipping their CYC ("psych") knowledge base
with common sense knowledge (e.g. Animals live for a contiguous
time period). As a result of this work other useful AI tools have
emerged: Full Text Retrieval, and Natural Language Understanding
(among others). It is hoped that the CYC knowledge base will, at the
end of the project, be self-learning; that the manual input of common
sense knowledge will cease and the machine will be able to reason
by analogy and generalization and be able to make discoveries on its
own. Should this become the case, expert systems may actually live
up to their name and become "experts."
Hyper- & Multimedia
Bobay, Julie., Ed Stockey and Mary Pagliero Popp. "Library Services
for Remote Users with LINKWAY." Reference Services Review (Fall
1990):53-57. A description of the Indiana State University Library
Automation Network (SULAN) which uses the IBM hypermedia
product LINKWAY to connect public, academic and special libraries in
a union catalog that provides library information, news and
instruction, in addition to remote catalog access to major collections
in the state. Users can adapt viewing and printing to their needs and
may soon have other services such as CD-ROM access and
hypermedia capabilities.
Quillan, Lon and Ken Gruberman. "Buyer's Guide: The MacUser
Multimedia Encyclopedia." MacUser 7(2) (February 1991):105-172.
A comprehensive look at the state of the art in Multimedia, this
section goes beyond a "buyer's guide," to include truly informative
and in-depth news about the tools available for multimedia users.
Sections on video, audio and animation/authoring technologies
describe the rapid progress being made in expanding the
hypermedia capabilities of the Macintosh platform.
Vaccaro, Bill. "HyperCard 2.0: A closer look." Computers in Libraries
10(8) (September 1990):10-13. The Apple platform continues to
lead in the hypermedia/multimedia competition with the
introduction of HyperCard 2.0, a 1990s update of the original
HyperCard released in 1987. Variable card sizes, multiple windows,
varying text styles and other enhancements are likely to make
HyperCard 2.0 the new standard for both the casual and the
advanced Macintosh user.
Information Transfer
Kalal, Bob. "The Ohio State University Network Fax Project." Research
and Education Networking 1(2) (November/December 1990):9-11. A
description of a project to transmit facsimile images over the
Internet using inexpensive, off-the-shelf microcomputer and fax
components.
Marshak, David S. "Filters: Separating the Wheat from the Chaff."
Patricia Seybold's Office Computing Report. 13(11) (November
1990):1-16. Marshak asks, "Where's your information? It's
somewhere in my data." Library users are not the only ones hit by
the deluge of data born of the information age. People in other
professions, especially in the corporate realm, are finding that
computerized information sources are giving them more than they
can possibly absorb. The solution is of course a computerized one:
filters. A filter is a computer application that "sits" between the
incoming data source and you. You define a profile of your interests,
or priorities and the information coming to you via electronic mail,
news feeds, computer conferences, online databases is filtered
through it. Items may be stored in files of different names (urgent,
desk schedules, meetings, etc.) or as in the case of news feeds and
online databases, the information may simply be ranked, the most
important appearing first. For those people who dread coming back
from vacation to an e-mail box with 200+ messages, filters appear to
be a blessing.
Networks and Networking
"LITA at ALA Annual: The Network Programs" LITA Newsletter
12(1) (Winter 1991):19-31. A series of reports on the programs
LITA sponsored at the 1990 ALA annual conference on networks and
networking. The next-best thing to being there.
Nelson, Nancy Melin. "Meet Allan H. Weis, President and CEO of
Advanced Network & Services, Inc." Research and Education
Networking 1(2) (November/December 1990):13-15. More
information for anyone who is still trying to figure out what the
creation of this not-for-profit organization by IBM, MCI and Merit
means for the future of networking.
Peters, Paul Evan. "CNI Activity Report" ARL Newsletter 154 (January
4, 1991):9. A brief report on the activities of the Coalition for
Networked Information, including a list of the CNI Working Groups
and their convenors.
Optical Disc Technologies
AMIGOS. "Microsoft CD-ROM Extension software explained." OCLC
Micro 6(2) (April 1990):4. A brief explanation of the software that
allows DOS to work with CD-ROM's comparatively massive storage
capacity.
Gilliam, Ellen and Karen Sluzeenski. "CD-ROM Report: CD-ROM user
groups: the experience of Digital Equipment Corporation's Digital
Library Network." Database 13(6) (December 1990):105-108. This
article discusses the conception and formation of a CD-ROM user
group for Digital Equipment Corporation's corporate library network.
It is interesting to note that although DEC is the second largest
computer company in the nation with vast technological resources,
CD-ROM in the library is a relatively foreign element.
Rosen, Linda. "CD-ROM hardware choices." Online 14(5) (September
1990):121-124. Reviews the features of currently available CD-ROM
drives from Pioneer, Hitachi, Laser Magnetic Storage, and Chinon.
General
Hickey, Thomas and Chandra Prabha. "Online Public Catalogs and
Large Retrievals: Methods for Organizing, Reducing, and Displaying."
Proceedings of the 53rd ASIS Annual Meeting 27 (1990):110-116.
As the size of online catalogs increase, users will more frequently
retrieve more items for a given search than they can easily handle.
This paper proposes some "postprocessing" techniques for organizing,
reducing, and displaying large retrievals.
More, Elizabeth. "Information Systems : People Issues." Journal of
Information Science 16(5) (1990):311-320. An excellent research
article which lays out the important issues facing the "people" side of
technology. More says, "for too long decisions and general thinking
about information systems have, in the main, been narrowly
economically and technologically focused, without adequate regard
for the people factors involved." She suggests that the areas of
organizational culture, the structure of power and politics (within an
organization) and the practice of organizational communication are
where the "people" issues lay. It is in these areas where a deeper and
more responsive change to the impact of technology needs to take
place to reach a more human-sensitive environment.
Pfaffenberger, Brian. Democratizing Information: Online Databases
and the Rise of End-User Searching. Boston, MA: G.K. Hall, 1990. This
book, which won the ASIS Information Science Book of the Year
Award in 1990, is a very interesting study of the development of the
online database industry, the role of the search intermediaries in this
industry, and the prospects and failures in trying to make these
databases available to end-users. While the book is flawed in some
ways (for example, it does not seem to be aware of either the effects
of the Internet or the development of online library catalogs), it
presents a very interesting view of developments over the last 20
years, including an examination of the parallels between the online
database industry's growth and the growth of earlier technological
infrastructures, such as the electric power industry. The point of
view is more sociological than technical. - Clifford Lynch
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Current Cites 2(1)(January 1991) ISSN: 1060-2356
Copyright (C) 1992 by the Library, University of
California, Berkeley. All rights reserved.
Copying is permitted for noncommercial use by computerized
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material. All commercial use requires permission from the editor,
who may be reached in the following ways:
drobison@library.berkeley.edu // drobison@ucblibra // (510)642-7600
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