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Current Cities Volume 02 Number 07
_Current_Cites_
Volume 2, no. 7
July 1991
Library Technology Watch Program
University of California, Berkeley
Edited by David F.W. Robison
ISSN: 1060-2356
Contributors:
Steve Cisler, Teri Rinne, Vivienne Roumani,
Lisa Rowlison, Mark Takaro, Roy Tennant
Expert Systems
Heller, Martin "Windows Meets AI" BYTE 16(6) (June 1991):351-354.
Microsoft's Windows 3.0 has opened up AI applications for the
personal computing environment by providing a protected-mode
operation which furnishes AI applications with the necessary
amount of memory to run efficiently and by providing a graphical
user interface (GUI) which is greatly needed by those of us who wish
to use AI tools. This article discusses a few of the new AI tools
using Windows 3.0 : KEE (Knowledge Engineering Environment) and
KPWIN (KnowledgePro for Windows) are well described, the first
being a large and expensive tool and the second, a less powerful but
more affordable tool.
Hyper- and Multimedia
Heller, Marvin. "Future Documents" BYTE 16(5) (May 1991):126-135.
Software vendors for the PC continue to make inroads on the lead
held by Apple in the emerging hypermedia market. This review of
Microsoft's OLE and HP's New Wave software describes how they
integrate text with graphics using a variety of initial software
packages. Gradually the barriers between individual software
products are being dissolved as linking programs like these provide
environments in which Windows can operate on a variety of
programs and produce documents combining spreadsheets, with text
and graphics. Communication between software environments that
the programs provide enables rapid updating of changing data and the
packages are now appearing with new, object-oriented capabilities.
While still somewhat clunky in their operation, these packages are
another indicator of the changes soon to come.
Yi, Paul "Putting Your Mac on TV: Desktop Video" MacUser 7(8)
(August 1991):94-108. The MacUser Labs describe and test six
desktop video-out products ranging from relatively simple to very
spiffy special effects-capable products. Essentially these DTV
(Desktop video) hardware products translate Mac output into NTSC
video images which, to varying degrees, can be manipulated and
edited by the Mac. Overlays of graphics, still images and text on to
the video output will awaken the suppressed film producer in many
of us and open new channels for development. While your final
product may fall short of the quality seen on most home televisions,
the potential for in-house training and presentations make this
type of video a component of the future multimedia world.
Information Transfer
Basch, Reva "Books Online: Visions, Plans, and Perspectives for
Electronic Text" Online 15(4) (July 1991):13-23. Basch's article is
about electronic text using Michael Hart's (Director of the Project
Gutenberg) definition. Basch describes several issues associated
with e-text including input technology, standardization, copyright,
and future use.
Jackson, Mary "Library to Library" Wilson Library Bulletin (June
1991):97-100. More than an article this is an annotated reading list
to keep current with issues in Interlibrary Loan and information
transfer.
Networks and Networking
Fisher, Sharon "Whither NREN?" BYTE 16(7) (July 1991):181-189.
Fisher investigates the ongoing discussion of who should provide the
NREN. Should the government start it up? or should the burgeoning
commercial networks just grow into it? Both sides agree that it
should ultimately be a commercial venture.
Green, Roedy "Remote Connections" BYTE 16(7) (July 1991):161-168.
Roedy covers that various types of wide-area networks and their
resulting speeds of data transmission (the all-important parameter
of computing). Also included are inset articles on relay framing and
ISDN by Bob Ryan and Janet J. Barron, respectively.
Kahle, Brewster and Art Medlar "An Information System for
Corporate Users: Wide Area Information Servers" (June 24, 1991).
Posted as WAIS-discussion digest #13: Paper on WAIS Project on
WAIS-DISCUSSION@think.com. "The Wide Area Information Server
(WAIS, pronounced "ways") project is an experimental venture
seeking to determine whether current technologies can be used to
make profitable end-user full-text information systems....This paper
discusses the design and implementation of the prototype system."
The National Public Telecomputing Network "Infosphere Report"
(June 21, 1991). Available on CNIDIR-L@UNMVM.BITNET, PACS-
L@UHUPVM1.BITNET, and other Listservs. "This summer and fall the
National Public Telecomputing Network (NPTN), a nonprofit public
computer network headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, will be working
on its first annual 'Infosphere Report'Qa research report... which will
attempt to asses the nation's capacity to effectively and equitably
utilize telecomputing as a medium for its information and
communications needs."
Sproule, William and Jon Edwards "AppleTalk Over the Internet" BYTE
16(7) (July 1991):293-298. Using AppleShare and third party
products, Princeton and Penn State Universities were able to
establish an easy-to-use Wide-area AppleTalk network. Sproule
describes how this was accomplished and the future of such
linkings.
Stanton, Deidre "Libraries and Information Resources Networks: a
Bibliography" (June 14, 1991). Available by e-mail to
stanton@csuvax1.csu.murdoch.edu.au message "SEND NETWORKS.BIB".
This is an extensive bibliography of network and networked
information. Included is a list of relevant electronic serials.
General
Bosseau, Don L. and Susan K. Martin "Librarianship, the Profession --
Prelude to its Future" (June 21, 1991). Posted on PACS-
L@UHUPVM1.BITNET. Bosseau and Martin look at some of the issues
facing librarians as roles change but perceptions don't. Much of the
changes that are not understood by the general public involve the
interaction of library staff and technology.
Cisler, Steve "Future of Librarianship, Comments (long)" (June 25,
1991). Posted on PACS-L@UHUPVM1.BITNET. Apple librarian Steve
Cisler comments on the paper written by Bosseau and Martin. As one
might expect, Cisler concentrates on the ramifications of new
technologies on librarianship, and conversely how librarians can
affect new technologies.
Citizens Rights and Access to Electronic Information; A Collection
of Background Essays Prepared for the 1991 LITA President's
Program / edited by Reynolds, Dennis. Chicago: Library and
Information Technology Association, 1991. This collection of brief
essays solicited by LITA to distribute at the American Library
Association 1991 meeting in Atlanta investigates such issues as
information access, individual privacy, and intellectual freedom in
regards to electronic information. LITA plans to publish these papers
plus the presentations at the program itself in Fall 1991 under the
same title (sans subtitle).
Sadleir, C.D. "Evolutions in Information Technology" Bulletin of the
American Society for Information Science 17(4) (April/May
1991):20-21. Sadleir, Vice President of computing and
communications at the University of Toronto, describes the outcome
of the information technology revolution as he sees it.
Stanley, Carol A. J. "What Technology Hath Wrought the Consumer
Will Demand be Changed" Bulletin of the American Society for
Information Science (April/May 1991):23-25. Stanley suggests that
for the 90s the consumer will drive technological developments
rather than "technology [driving] product development."
Forthcoming
McClure, Charles R., et.al. The National Research and Education
Network (NREN): Research and Policy Perspectives. Norwood, NJ:
Ablex Publishing, 1991.
And everyone should be on the lookout for the September 1991 issue
of Scientific American. It's devoted to networks and has articles by
Alan Kay, [Nicholas] Negroponte [of the MIT Media Lab], [Mitch] Kapor
[creator of LOTUS 1-2-3; founder of the Electronic Frontier
Foundation], [Vinton] Cerf [of the Corporation for National Research
Initiatives], and others. Should be an important work for future
reference. -- Steve Cisler
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Current Cites 2(7)(July 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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