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Current Cities Volume 06 Number 07
_Current Cites_
Volume 6, no. 7
July 1995
Information Systems Instruction & Support
The Library
University of California, Berkeley
Edited by Teri Andrews Rinne
ISSN: 1060-2356
URL:http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ISIS/current-cites/cc95.6.7.html
Contributors:
Campbell Crabtree, John Ober, Margaret Phillips,
David Rez, Richard Rinehart, Teri Rinne, Roy Tennant
Electronic Publishing
_Directory of Electronic Journals, Newsletters and Academic
Discussion Lists_ Washington, DC: Association of Research
Libraries, Office of Scientific and Academic Publishing,
1995. -- Only one year after the publication of the fourth
edition, ARL has already published a fifth edition of its
directory of electronic journals, further establishing itself
as the standard reference work listing academically-related
serials on the Internet. A two-thirds increase in the number
of titles added since last year brings the number of listed
titles to almost 700, evidence of the ever-burgeoning field
of electronic serials publishing. (The first edition of the
directory, published in 1991, included only 110 in its list.)
The second part of this resource includes a list of 2500
academic discussion lists. This list is the printed version of
the online list maintained at Kent State University whose
editors carefully select among the estimated 30,000 discussion
lists in existence to come up with these titles which they judge
to be of primary interest to scholars, researchers and students.
As always, the directory includes several reprinted articles
that discuss issues and trends related to electronic publishing.
Among them are "First Steps towards Electronic Research
Communication" by Paul Ginsparg, "Serials in Cyberspace:
Collections, Resources, and Services on the Networks," a review
article by Birdie MacLennan, "Network-Based Electronic Publishing
of Scholarly Works: A Selective Bibliography," by Charles W.
Bailey, and "Online Newspaper Services," a list compiled by Steve
Outing. An abridged version of the ARL directory is available on
the ARL gopher [gopher://arl.cni.org:70/11/scomm/edir]. -- MP
Dyson, Esther. "Intellectual Value" Wired 3(7) (July 1995):
137-141, 182-184. -- Dyson discusses the "economics of content"
on the Net. In an environment where intellectual property is
easily copied and widely re-distributed, controlling copies is
still an expensive and complicated, or near-impossible feat.
The author proposes the goal of content creators should be to
provide intellectual value through information-based services
or processes. In many cases, the value of content on the Net
lies less in the actual intellectual property than in the
processes required to create it. Interesting sidebars do
consider new methods of controlling use including software
metering, tracking usage rights and digital watermarks to
ensure authenticity. -- CJC
Graham, Peter S. "Long-Term Intellectual Preservation"
[http://aultnis.rutgers.edu/texts/dps.html] -- This article
was presented at the RLG Symposium on Digital Imaging
Technology for Preservation at Cornell University March 17
& 18, 1995. Graham tackles the problems of long term
authentication of any type of digital information, as well
as preservation of that data. Any digital document, if it is
to convey authority, must be an exact duplicate of the
original or contain a record of all deviations from the
original. One proposed solution for authentication is Digital
Time Stamping, whereby a one-way algorithm is used to generate
a key that can be produced only by the original document. These
keys would be made public, thus ensuring the validity of the
documents. This article is a useful, non-technical starting
point in puzzling out these critical issues of the longevity
and authenticity of any type of digital information. -- RR
Multimedia and Hypermedia
Strand, John. "High Art, High Tech: The National Gallery of
Art's New Micro Gallery" Museum News 74(4) (July/August 1995):
35-39. -- This article profiles the Micro Gallery project, which
is one of the largest computer-based public access and education
centers to be developed at a museum yet. Similar to the Micro
Gallery of London's National Gallery, the U.S. version will be an
entire room in the National Gallery of Art dedicated to
computer-based education about the art contained in the museum's
permanent collection. The author outlines the depth of information
possible with hypertext and image rich kiosks, placed near the
original object to be studied. He also notes the most common fear
of such education tools: that they will prove a distraction from
the original, thereby subverting their very purpose. After
exploring the issue through the interviews, he ends however by
asserting that the kiosks will more likely aid to the public's
understanding of the works, and thus increase their interest in
seeing the originals. -- RR
Networks and Networking
Adam, Anthony J. "Internet Resources for Film and Television"
College & Research Libraries News 56(6) (June 1995):397-400.
-- With the proliferation of Internet sites related to film and
television, this article provides a small yet selective list of
World Wide Web sites for both popular and academic use. Especially
helpful are the annotations which describe and evaluate the
contents of sites. Keep in mind that most of the sites listed
require audiovisual software to be fully utilized. While the
article focuses primarily on WWW sites, it also includes a list
of the more popular discussion groups related to film and
television. -- MP
Barry, Aileen. "NASA Launches a Web Site," OnTheInternet
1(2) (May/June 1995):22-26. -- The modest title belies a
fact that soon becomes apparent to the reader, and that is
that NASA has launched much, much more than a Web "site."
Rather, NASA has launched the Web equivalent of a Saturn 5
rocket, in that they have a network of NASA Web sites that
tie together and share information in new and effective ways.
NASA is using the Web to share vast amounts of astronomical
data in interactive ways with researchers, amateur astronomers,
and curious onlookers around the world. A prime example was
the collision of the Shoemaker-Levy comet with Saturn, an
event that found so many Internet users clamoring for online
photos from NASA sites that the Internet infrastructure was
significantly strained. If anyone needs an example of why the
Internet in general, or the Web in particular, is important, this
article is an excellent example. Now if I had only had this
available when I was writing reports on space missions in
grade school! -- RT
Bosseau, Don L., Beth Shapiro and Jerry Campbell. "Digitising the
Reserve Function: Steps Toward Electronic Delivery" The Electronic
Library 13(3) (June 1995):217-223. -- Transcripts of papers given
at ALA's Midwinter meeting by University Librarians from San Diego
State, Rice and Duke Universities discuss the experiences with
electronic reserves at their institutions. They identify issues
involved in delivering e-reserves including technology and data
standards, design considerations for useful files, hardware and
software availability and evolution of copyright and the idea of
fair use. -- CJC
Brodsky, Ira. "Wireless World" Internet World 6(7) (July 1995):
34-41. [URL:http://www.iw.com/iw/v6n7/feat34.htm] -- Many of us
work every day on a computer network of one type or another --
and some of us use several different networking protocols every
work day without even thinking about it. But now it seems we are
still not as connected as we could be. The last networking
frontier has been identified, and it is the very air we
breathe. Wireless networks enable the checking of your email
from such locations as your car (stuck in traffic), the local
park (while watching the kids), or the beach (while fighting
that white-skinned nerd look). This article describes the
present and planned future capabilities of wireless computer
communications. Brodsky compares the major wireless services,
the technologies they use, and their benefits and drawbacks,
particularly in relation to using such services to access the
Internet. If you're thinking about going mobile, you might
want to check out this article to see who you should go with.
-- RT
Cobb, Flora Shrode and Edward F. Lener. "Internet Resources for
the Earth Sciences" College & Research Libraries News 56(5) (May
1995):319-321, 325. -- Another in the regular C&RL News feature
on Internet resources in specific subject areas, this articles
lists a wide range of Gopher, ftp and WWW sites in the very broad
and interdisciplinary field of earth sciences. -- MP
Doty, Ted "A Firewall Overview" ConneXions 9(7) (July 1995):
20-23. -- For those for whom firewalls are a mystery, this brief
but informative article is an excellent overview of the technologies
used to "keep out the jerks." Corporate network administrators
probably already know more than they would like about firewalls,
but if not, they could do a lot worse than this quick read to get
a basic understanding of their choices. Doty includes pointers to
the main electronic discussion, a book, and FTP archives of papers
on the topic. -- RT
Locke, Christopher. "Rock Steady" OnTheInternet 1(2) (May/June 1995):
16-21. [http://www2.pcy.mci.net/whats-new/editors/locke/050595.html]
-- Locke embeds pithy and insightful advice on how businesses can
best use the Internet amidst rock music lyrics and references. At
first it may seem like a mere gimmick, but his evaluation is real,
and businesses which dream of making it big on the Internet would do
well to heed warnings and advice such as "Instead of immediate sales,
companies might better focus on how their participation with the vast
array of micromarkets the Internet represents can help ensure such
future gains." Ultimately, Locke asserts, "it's not the logic,
it's the vibe." Seldom have we seen such down-to-earth, rock steady
comments on such an over-hyped topic as Internet commerce. -- RT
Maxwell, Bruce. _How to Access the Federal Government on the
Internet._ Washington, DC : Congressional Quarterly, 1995. -- A
companion to Bruce Maxwell's earlier book _How to Access the
Government's Electronic Bulletin Boards_ issued early in 1995, this
book focuses on federal information that is available on the Internet.
A representative sample of some 300 Internet sites, the annotated
entries explain how to access each site and describe the site's focus
and coverage. Maxwell's approach is to explain how to search for
information and he always indicates if a particular site has a
searchable index or contains a search program such as jughead. Users
of this book will find the index to be a particularly useful way of
finding out which Internet resource will list information on a given
topic. The author is quick to point out, however, that the Internet
does not list "everything" published by the government and that
researchers must also look for federal information in the books,
documents, CD-ROMs and other sources available in traditional
libraries. -- MP
Optical Disc Technology
Parker, Dana J. "High Density & Re-inventing the Disc" CD-ROM
Professional 8(6) (June 1995):21-33. -- In the first of two articles
in this month's CD-ROM Professional about the promising new high
density CD-ROM, Parker describes the battle of the titans, pitting
two industry alliance heavies, Philips/Sony against Toshiba/Time
Warner. While both formats promise a total of 270 minutes of video,
the Philips/Sony HDCD disc has a capacity of 7.4GB, while the
Toshiba/Time Warner DVD disc offers 10GB. Philips/Sony is targeting
the high performance computer user market, whereas the Toshiba/Time
Warner proposal is geared toward the entertainment industry.
Although these two groups of consumers are becoming less
differentiated in this age of converging technologies, there still
exists a substantial gulf in the ways the two-markets-in-one are
perceived. Parker postulates that "despite the prevailing viewpoint
that one standard for high-density is foreordained, and that one
standard will be the Hollywood version, it is far too soon to
declare a victor in this battle... The final say, in this case will
be in the hands of the buying public. The buying public may well
decide that there is room for two standards and divide neatly
along computer-user and television watcher, even if those lines
are no longer neat..." -- TR
Schwerin, Julie B. "Video CD and High Density CD Futures" CD-ROM
Professional 8(6) (June 1995):34-42. -- In this second of two
articles on the high density compact disc (HDCD), Schwerin
describes this next generation of CD and then predicts that the
Toshiba/Time Warner Digital Video Disc (DVD) may become its
embodiment. Schwerin divides the world of HDCD into three separate
categories: digital videodisc for feature films and music videos,
HDCD TV Settop for video games and interactive entertainment, and
HDCD PC Desktop for games, arts/entertainment education, reference,
training or multivolume institutional (text/numeric/image data).
Each of these categories is analyzed from a market perspective to
round out this informative article. -- TR
General
Roberta Y. Rand, ed. "Global Change Research and the Role of
Libraries" Library Hi Tech 13(1-2) (1995):7-84. -- This special
double issue devotes the entire first half to Global Change
Research. Topic sections arrange articles and figures to provide
a background for the Global Change Data and Information System
(GCDIS) and state the goals of the Library Information Subgroup
of the Global Change Data Management Working Group: to suggest
promising new technologies and to provide "accurate and precise"
access to the system. There are several project descriptions as
well as resources and tools highlighted to help the information
professional manage large amounts of data in disparate formats
to facilitate useful access. Topic sections include: "The U.S.
Global Change Research Program: History and Organization,"
"Libraries, Global Change Data, and Information Management,"
"Global Change Resources, Projects, and Tools" and "U.S Federal
Agency Implementation Overviews." -- CJC
Lyman, Peter. "Computing as Performance Art" Educom Review 30(4)
(July/August):28-31. -- The author explores the changes that
happen when learning is changed from use of tools (computers,
rules) to play, where the tool becomes secondary to the flow of
the act, or performance. Confronting the computer as a "thing" to
be used is much different from seeing it as a "field" in which to
problem solve. When the act (of learning, creating) becomes
ascendant over the tool, you not only have better learning, you
may have art. This article lets you step back to view your thinking
on the human-computer interface, and it's implications for
education. -- RR
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Current Cites 6(7) (July 1995) ISSN: 1060-2356
Copyright (C) 1995 by the Library, University of
California, Berkeley. All rights reserved.
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