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Current Cities Volume 05 Number 01
_Current_Cites_
Volume 5, no. 1
January 1994
Information Systems Instruction & Support
The Library
University of California, Berkeley
Edited by Teri Andrews Rinne
ISSN: 1060-2356
Contributors:
Nathan Meyer, David Rez, Richard Rinehart, Vivienne Roumani-Denn, Roy Tennant
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Electronic Publishing
Goodyear, Mary Lou. "Information Policy for Electronic
Information Resources" The Public-Access Computer Systems
Review 4(6) (1993):23-31. [Also available via e-mail
from LISTSERV@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU. Mail message should read "GET
GOODYEAR PRV4N6 F=MAIL"]. This article is a brief outline
of three policy issues that Goodyear believes should be
of concern to library and information professionals.
The issues outlined are access, privacy and intellectual
property. The speed with which information has become
available electronically has made it difficult for policymakers
to keep up. Legislative actions seem to be in favor of
access over privacy. However, the article warns, privacy
concerns of individuals and institutions need to be addressed
if information is to continue to flow freely. - DR
Wilson, David L. "A Journal's Big Break" The Chronicle of Higher
Education (January 26, 1994):A23, A25. The editors of the
electronic journal Online Journal of Current Clinical Trials
"believe that they may have a model for electronic journals that
can be replicated in other disciplines." One measure of success
is that the journal has been selected by the National Library of
Medicine for inclusion in the Medline database. - VR
Wilson, David L. "Project Seeks to Expand Use of Electronic
Networks For Publishing" The Chronicle of Higher Education
(January 26, 1994):A24-A25. Thirteen College and University
Presses, including UC Press, have been selected by the
Association of American University Presses and the Coalition for
Network Information to participate in an electronic publishing
project. - VR
Information Transfer
U. S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment. Making Government
Work: Electronic Delivery of Federal Services. Washington, D. C.:
U.S. Government Printing Office, 1993. Will electronic delivery
of government information to citizens, organizations,
institutions, be the norm in the future? This report examines the
myths and realities of electronic delivery of government
information, and offers some conclusions. - VR
Multimedia and Hypermedia
Parisi, Paula. "The Picture Exchange" Wired 2.01 (Jan. 1994):32.
Eastman Kodak Co. has teamed with fourteen stock photography houses
to create a commercial online image database. The database, called
"The Kodak Picture Exchange", uses Kodak's own Photo-CD technology
to mount low-resolution, searchable images. Once the online fee is
paid, and the desired image is found, the client can order a
high-resolution hard copy image from the stock photo house by filling
out an online form. A special version of Picture Exchange is aimed
at the film industry as an aid for locating appropriate filming
sites. This version, called "Eastman Exchange" is being installed
at Warner Brothers, Fox, Disney, and Universal, in the hopes that
the big four will become permanent subscribers. - RJR
Joscelyne, Andrew. "VR means Virtual Reconstruction" Wired 2.01
(Jan. 1994):115. Going well beyond postcard snapshots of ruins,
visitors to the ruins of the Abbaye de Cluny in France can now tour
a digital reconstruction of the Romanesque abbey, though it hasn't
stood intact since the French Revolution. Two engineering graduate
students from the provence of Cluny used the notes of the late
Harvard Architecture Professor, John Kenneth Conent to compile a
database of all the architectural details of the abbey. Then IBM-
France provided them the equipment to create a full virtual
reconstruction of the once great building. The virtual abbey can
presently be visited only at the real site by using VR goggles
and gloves. A digital recreation of the Thermes de Luce (the Roman
town on the site that is now Paris) has also been accomplished,
and other virtual reconstructions of gems from antiquity are on
the way. - RJR
Renjilian, Jerry. "Hypercard - The Poor Librarian's Online Card
Catalog" Computers in Libraries 13(10) (December 1993):10-12.
Librarians at New Canaan High School in New Canaan, Connecticut
created a research tool for students using the Mac based hypermedia
application, Hypercard. They combined a search screen, a dictionary
of authors, and thirteen Hypercard stacks of indexes from books in
the library. Using the search screen, students can search for instances
of a word in a title. They can search the author dictionary, or search
the full text of many of the books indexes for referrals to other
sources. For minimal cost (in equipment, not necessarily in staff's
time) they have recreated the search features of an online catalog
and a few CD-ROM literary databases. So far, they have compiled
1800 pages of indexes, and tables of contents from 763 books. This
tool can aid in research of literary topics by focusing a student's
search for material considerably before the student even approaches
the shelves, and do so in a relatively user friendly manner. - RJR
Fowler, Richard, et. al. "A Hypermedia System to Explain Library Use"
Computers in Libraries 13(10) (December 1993):14-16. The authors
describe the effort and the final result of a project to create a
hypermedia package that introduces users to The University of Texas-
Pan American Library. Since this software package was designed to
be the first level of user interaction with the library, it had to
be broad, informative, and easy to use. The creators settled on an
icon-based system on a PC that would replace, or at least supplement,
the library's handbook as well as several leaflets on topics such as
remote access, hints on using the OPAC, floor maps, and more. They
found that embedding as much information as possible in the iconic
(pictorial) layer of the system attracted users to the system, and
reduced the number of layers necessary to convey basic information.
The system designers exploited the features of hypermedia that
allow introductory information to blend into access: the top layer
(or first screen) contains an icon that allows direct access to the
online catalog. While the development of OPACs involves nation-wide
cooperative efforts, the creation of introductory software is often
done in relative isolation, making this article a useful piece. - RJR
Networks and Networking
"Gore Endorses EFF's Open Platform Approach," EFFector Online
6(8) (Dec. 28, 1993) [available via anonymous FTP from
<URL:ftp://ftp.eff.org/EFF/Newsletters/EFFector/effector6.08>].
At a speech to the National Press Club, Vice President Al Gore
presented a White House telecommunications policy that incorporates
some of the major elements of the Electronic Frontier Foundation's
Open Platform Policy recommendations [version 2.0 of this document
(cited in the November issue of Current Cites) and other related
files are available via anonymous FTP from <URL:ftp://ftp.eff.org/
EFF/Papers/Open_Platform>]. Some of the points outlined include
encouragement of private investment, promotion and protection of
competition, providing open access to the network, a regulatory
"safety net" to make sure everyone benefits (the 'have nots' as
well as the 'haves'), and encouragement of flexibility. EFF's position
will continue to be heard at the highest levels of policy making
for the National Information Infrastructure, as EFF Board Chair
Mitch Kapor and Board member Esther Dyson were two of 27 persons
recently appointed to the NII Advisory Council by the Clinton
administration. - RT
Government Information Locator Service, "Using Z39.50 in an application
for the Government Information Locator Service (GILS)." [Available via
anonymous FTP from <URL:ftp://128.230.33.81/USGS/gils_profile.txt>]
The Government Information Locator Service (GILS) project seeks to
articulate a standards-based application profile for the development
and testing of government information locator databases. This paper
describes the refinements made to the high-level specifications as
developed in the previously published _Government Information Locator
Service_ (Christian : 1993). These refinements include descriptions
of: a GILS User Model; GILS Searching; GILS Browsing; GILS use of
Z39.50. The paper includes references to previous discussions of GILS
and Z39.50 as well a list of project members and directions for
commenting on the ongoing project. - NM
McClure, Charles R. "Network Literacy in an Electronic Society:
An Educational Disconnect?" in The Knowledge Economy: The Nature
of Information in the 21st Century, Annual Review of the Institute
for Information Studies, (1993):137-178. McClure argues
persuasively that there is a need to expand the traditional
definition of literacy beyond print literacy to encompass not
only media literacy and computer literacy, but also "network
literacy" to form "information literacy". Only by having the basic
knowledge and skills required to find and utilize information on
computer networks, will all our citizens be empowered by the
network. McClure outlines what network literacy might
encompass and what may be required to achieve such a goal. This
is no paltry vision, and McClure is equal to the task of helping
us envision it as well. - RT
"Senate FTP Site Online," EFFector Online 7(2) (Jan. 25, 1994)
[available via anonymous FTP from <URL:ftp://ftp.eff.org/EFF
/Newsletters/EFFector/effector7.02>]. The U.S. Senate now has
its own FTP site <URL:ftp://ftp.senate.gov>, and while not much is
available yet, Senators Kennedy (MA) and Stevens (AK) have
information there now, it is likely to grow. There is general
information on the U.S. Senate available here as well. Although
this article does not mention it, this site also serves as the
U.S. Senate gopher server <URL:gopher//gopher.senate.gov:70>. - RT
"Wrap-Up on Technology and Networking Bills," ALAWON 3(1)
(January 3, 1994). An overview of networking-related legislation
from the library perspective, most of which has passed the House but
awaits action in the 1994 session of the Senate. Of primary interest
is H.R. 1757, which passed the House, and S. 4, with related provisions,
which was not passed prior to adjournment. - RT
Optical Disc Technology
Breeding, Marshall. "Networking Made Easy" CD-ROM World 9(1)
(January 1994):70-71. Breeding introduces the concept of adding
or enhancing the capabilities of an existing network to accommodate
CD-ROMs. This article provides capsule summaries of various
CD-ROM network solutions, such as peer-to-peer CD-ROM networks,
optical server/redirector networks, NLM-based products,
server-independent attachment hardware, expanded access
products, performance enhancement products, and menuing
systems. - TR
Flanagan, Patrick. "Rent-A-Rom: Setting Up Rental Kiosks" CD-ROM
World 9(1) (January 1994):76-77. This interview with optical
disc evangelist and president of Interactive Media/CD-ROM
Exchange Jack Olmstead describes the relatively novel concept
of CD-ROM rentals in video stores. Olmstead views the
acceptance of CD-ROM as a chicken-and-egg situation: "The only
way people can see what CD-ROM is, is to get their hands on it.
In the multimedia business, the software sells the hardware."
With so many libraries now circulating videos, can CD-ROM
circulation be far behind? - TR
Fritz, Mark. "CD-ROM Gives Trainers Room to Grow" CD-ROM World
9(1) (January 1994):85-87. This article outlines the
advantages and disadvantages to training with CD-ROMs. Among
the advantages cited is the storage capacity and
standardization. Disadvantages include access time and a
low "level of trust" among consumers. The article also
describes training projects utilizing CD-ROM undertaken by
MicroMentor. - TR
Papathakis, Scott. "Device Drivers: Is There a Difference in
Performance?" CD-ROM World 9(1) (January 1994):88-91.
Papathakis' skepticism regarding misleading advertising claims
of CD-ROM disc drive access times prompted him to conduct a
test of device drivers. The device drivers and versions tested
were: Trantor 3.10, Optical Media International 1.6, FWB CD-ROM
Toolkit 1.0.3, and CharisMac Engineering Anubis AllCache 1.17.
-TR
Schoenfeld, Noa. "Roll Yer Own: Building Your Own CD-ROM" CD-ROM
World 9(1) (January 1994):72-74. Schoenfeld outlines the
several approaches to building the perfect CD-ROM and then
highlights the way one might choose to display data onscreen.
Kodak Photo-CD and CD-Recordable are showcased. - TR
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Current Cites 5(1) (January 1994) ISSN: 1060-2356
Copyright (C) 1994 by the Library, University of
California, Berkeley. All rights reserved.
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