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Current Cities Volume 02 Number 02
_Current_Cites_
Volume 2, no. 2
February 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
Minasi, Mark. "More Complex Knowledge Representation." AI Expert
(January 1991):15-19. Mr. Minasi offers brief and intelligible
descriptions of the various methods of knowledge representation
used in A.I.: semantic nets, object-attribute-values (OAV), frames
and scripts.
Vizine-Goetz, Diane, Stuart Weibel and William Oskins. "Automating
Descriptive Cataloging." Expert Systems in Libraries. Norwood,
New Jersey: Ablex Publishing, 1990. Ch.10, pp.123-134. In an effort
to further automate the cataloging process, the folks at OCLC are
developing a descriptive cataloging expert system. This chapter
gives details of the OCLC Automated Title Page Cataloging Project
and an analysis of the system's performance. While the project can
so far claim only a moderate (73%) success rate, the possibility of
this project developing into a future service from OCLC is quite
exciting.
Walters, Samuel T. "Expert Systems and Artificial Intelligence in
Reference." Expert Systems in Libraries. Norwood, New Jersey:
Ablex Publishing, 1990. Ch.3, pp. 24-40. This chapter offers an
excellent use and development of expert systems. Mr. Walters does a
fine job in explicating the use and value of expert systems in
reference work. Additionally, he offers valuable practical advice for
the development of systems.
Information Transfer
Balas, Janet. "Pictures from Space." Computers in Libraries 10(10)
(November 1990):29-30. Balas describes the mechanics of
transferring picture files to a microcomputer via modem using the
GIF format, a software program.
Busby, Brian. "Pro-Cite in a Special Library." Computers in Libraries
10(10) (November 1990):44-48. Busby describes in detail the
bibliographic information management software, Pro- Cite, and its
capabilities. He also relates his experience using Pro-Cite at the
Information Resources Facility of the University of Wisconsin
Biotechnology Center.
Edwards, Shirley J. "The TransImage 1000 Handscanner." CD-ROM
Professional 4(1) (January 1991):54-57. Edwards, Head, Indexing
Branch at NAL, reports on a study conducted at NAL using optical
character recognition (OCR) technology to process bibliographic
records. She compares time and accuracy using the traditional
keying of information versus scanning. The result was that keying
was generally more efficient mainly due to the number of errors
resulting by scanning. Edwards leaves us with a hope: "NAL staff has
identified a scanning system that it believes will meet our
requirements for speed and accuracy."
Lesk, Michael. "Image Formats for Preservation and Access"
Information Technology and Libraries 9(4) (December 1990):300-
308. As the title well describes, this article is about the role of
digital imagery technology as it relates to preservation efforts and
access. If this area interests you continue reading through the
Special Section for more information on the same topic.
Meeks, Brock. "PC Fax: Shaping the Product to Fit the Marketplace."
Link-Up 7 (5) (September/October 1990):22-23. Meeks does a good
job describing faxcards capabilities and manufacturers' efforts in
trying to improve faxcards.
Networks and Networking
Branscum, Deborah. "Ethics, E-Mail, and the Law: When Legal ain't
Necessarily Right." MacWorld (March 1991):63-83. Branscum begins
this article with a two-page story about an e-mail administrator
who alleges she was fired for protesting her company's monitoring
of e-mail. This story brings up numerous issues of privacy and
property rights in a new arena. Such issues will continue to be the
subject of much debate for at least the next decade.
Electronic Frontier Foundation, Inc. EFF News . January 1991-. The
Electronic Frontier Foundation is committed to protecting free and
unfettered access to electronic information as well as protecting
the privacy of users. They frequently file amicus briefs on behalf
of computer users who have been arrested for "hacking." EFF News is
distributed electronically.
Gier, Sue. "How to Use Electronic Mail and Bulletin Boards
Effectively." The Computer Connection, January 1991. Available
from the CCNEWS archive (CCNEWS@BITNIC.BITNET). This guide to
effective e-mailing starts with a look at which tools are most
effective for different kinds of communication. The author then
gives a detailed description of the etiquette of electronic
communication. (We have also included a copy of
the Unofficial Smilie Dictionary.) :-)
West, Richard P. and Richard N. Katz. "Implementing the Vision: a
Framework and Agenda for Investing in Academic Computing."
EDUCOM Review 25(4):32-37. West and Katz, who both work at UC
Information Systems and Administrative Services, foresee the
future of academic information delivery and communication
becoming increasingly tied to network-based information
exchange. Further, they write, "To facilitate this shift, all elements
of the academic information infrastructure will undergo change."
Some of their ideas of the future are illustrated here.
Optical Disc Technologies
Hutchison, Roger. "Benchmark testing of CD-ROM drives." CD-ROM
Professional 4(1) (January 1991):31-34. This is the first in a series
of articles which will compare the results of independent
performance tests on several of the more common brands of CD-ROM
drives. This month's comparison finds the Toshiba XM 3201 out-
performing the Texel DM 3020. Part II will compare several portable
CD-ROM drives; Part III will compare the Sony and Hitachi drives.
Jasco, Peter. "Data transfer capabilities of CD-ROM software: part I."
CD-ROM Professional 4(1) (January 1991):63-66. This two-part
study maintains that CD-ROM software designers need to place a
greater emphasis on more powerful output options for data transfer.
Currently, very few CD-ROM products offer appropriate facilities for
formatting the results of a search. This month's installment
reviews the scope of output and downloading requirements; the
March installment will discuss the exchange formats most
commonly used for importing data.
Morrow, Blaine Victor. "Do-it-yourself CD-ROM LANs: a review of
LANTASTIC and CD-CONNECTION." CD-ROM Librarian 5(10)
(November 1990):12-24. This article provides highly technical and
detailed descriptions of two local area network systems for CD-
ROMs. Appended to the article is an unofficial listing of CD-ROM
products that work with both systems and a useful glossary of
networking terms.
Zink, Steven. "Toward more critical reviewing and analysis of CD-
ROM user software." CD-ROM Professional 4(1) (January 1991):16-
22. This article calls for a more critical and rigorous evaluation of
user software interfaces not only as a source of evaluation
information for potential buyers, but also as a means of actively
influencing manufacturers of library CD-ROM products to devote
more resources to making user interfaces more intuitive. The author
asserts that clumsy user interfaces prevent many current products
from reaching their true potential. Congressional Information
Service's MASTERFILE 2 is used as an example of a product's less-
than-perfect user interface which was revised in response to
customer concerns.
General
Anderson, Charles. "Using Technology: Gain Without Pain?" Wilson
Library Bulletin (January 1991):92-95, 146. Mr. Anderson raises the
question, "what is computer literacy and to what degree must
librarians be computer literate?" His analogy to the automobile is
quite telling: must we know all about the internal workings of the
machine merely to drive well? It appears that, as with most other
areas of librarianship, those who really like and show a talent for
computers, become the resident experts. However, as libraries
become more and more involved with electronic formats and
systems, the librarian's role as facilitator will require that s/he
become increasingly more computer literate.
Clarkson, Mark. "An Easier Interface." BYTE 16(2) (February
1991):277-282. Describes the Information Visualizer technology
under development by Robetson, Card and Mackinlay at Xerox PARC
(including illustrations), which is one of the first really new
approaches to graphical user interfaces I have seen in some time.
There are a number of technical papers coming out on these
developments, but this article presents an easily accessible
overview of the approach, which includes a model of the user
interface as windows into a series of "rooms" or virtual workspaces,
which can contain a number of types of moving, three-dimensional
graphical displays of information. - Clifford Lynch.
Ryan, Bob. "Dynabook revisited with Alan Kay." BYTE 16(2) (February
1991):203-208. Alan Kay, who originally envisioned the Dynabook in
the late 1960s (a sort of portable personal computer/information
access device) looks backwards, talks about today's computers, and
looks forward to the 1990s. Includes some very provocative
discussion about the need to develop intelligent software agents as
a key component of user interfaces in the 1990s. - Clifford Lynch.
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Current Cites 2(2) (February 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
bulletin board/conference systems, individual scholars, and
libraries. Libraries are authorized to add the journal to their
collections at no cost. This message must appear on copied
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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