_Current_Cites

_Current_Cites_
Volume 5, no. 9
September 1994

Information Systems Instruction & Support
The Library
University of California, Berkeley
Edited by Teri Andrews Rinne
ISSN: 1060-2356

Contributors:

John Ober, Margaret Phillips, Richard Rinehart,
Teri Rinne, Roy Tennant

Electronic Publishing

Martin, Katherine. "Understanding the Forces for and against
Electronic Information Publishing" CD-ROM Professional 7(4)
(July/August 1994):129-134. -- An analysis of the market
forces promoting and inhibiting the publishing of electronic
information, this article clearly comes out in favor of
electronic publishing. There are powerful forces promoting the
mass dissemination of electronic information including such
factors as the volume of information that now exists, the low
cost of technologies and the environmental considerations of
reducing paper not to mention the advantages of searching
electronic texts and the increasing richness of electronic
information that now includes text, graphics, sound and full-
motion video. Yet there are some equally powerful forces which
are inhibiting the growth of the electronic publishing industry;
these include such factors as habit and tradition, incompatible
standards, security concerns and the problem of portability of
electronic information. -- MP

O'Connor, Mary Ann. "CD-ROM Pricing Still Creating Dilemmas for
Publishers" CD-ROM Professional 7(4) (July/August 1994): 107-108.
-- Although CD-ROM technology has been in place for over a decade
now, the pricing dilemma still exists. The concept of turning an
entire database over on CD-ROM is daunting to the traditional
print publisher; costs are typically passed on to the customer
in the form of higher pricing for CD-ROM versions of products.
In this article, O'Connor outlines various pricing strategies
employed in today's CD-ROM marketplace. While not arguing in
favor of one pricing strategy over another, O'Connor does con-
vincingly argue that all too often "pricing is determined after
the development effort is complete and the product is ready for
market. At this point, pure economics tend to drive the pricing
decisions." O'Connor views this progression as one of the biggest
mistakes a publisher can make: "Pricing strategies should be
thoroughly researched and intergrated into the development
process during the early product planning stages. Having a clear
pricing strategy in can help control costs and to ensure the
success of the product." -- TR

Multimedia and Hypermedia

Bonime, Andrew. "Kodak's New Photo CD Portfolio: Multimedia for
the rest of us" CD-ROM Professional 7(4) (July/August 1994):
16-26. -- For institutions that are information-rich, but
cash-poor the problem of distributing that information in
digital form may have become a bit less daunting. Kodak's
Photo-CD technology allows one to use relatively inexpensive
software (Kodak's Arrange-It @ $395), any Photo-CD capable
CD-ROM player and computer to publish multimedia CD-ROM titles.
This means of publishing multimedia discs was also covered in
an article previously cited here [see Current Cites, March 1994:
Kim and Sunny Baker, "Grandma and Me & Photo CD" CD-ROM World
9(4) (April 1994): 64-67.] The present article is a more complete
explanation of the steps for using this technology (also
inherently more up-to-date), and includes additional information
on the more complex Arrange-It authoring software. -- RR

Goodpasture, Victor. "Mountain Travel*Sobek and The Adventure Disc:
Trailblazing with Kodak's Photo CD Portfolio" CD-ROM Professional
7(4) (July/August 1994):74-83. This article describes the production
of a commercial CD-ROM title using the technology described above.
An interesting note at the end of the article compares the cost of
producing this CD-ROM "travel-brochure" to the cost of an analogous
paper catalog: each print catalog costs $3.50 + $1.00 postage to
produce and distribute, whereas each CD-ROM costs $1.35 + $.29 in
postage. This article is informative in that it does not dwell
so much on the content of the CD-ROM (a collection of wilderness
trips offered by a travel company), but details in a brief narrative
the course taken in a real-world implementation of Photo-CD
technology for multimedia CD-ROM publishing. -- RR

Networks and Networking

Clement, Gail P. "Library Without Walls" Internet World 5(6)
(September 1994):60-64. -- A high-level overview of how libraries
are using the Internet to build "virtual" libraries or libraries
"without walls." Those doing the building will find little new
here, but it is one of the better insights into the process for
those who are not. Clement does not fall into the trap of dis-
regarding present roadblocks and limitations, but rather makes
note of them in a very level-headed way. Altogether an insightful
and well-written piece. A sidebar includes pointers to a selected
sample of virtual libraries under construction. -- RT

Internet World 5(6) (September 1994) - This issue has a number of
articles relating to the history and growth of the Internet. They
include:

* Taylor, Roger. "Brave New Internet: Changes in Culture and
Technology are Driving the Internet into the Next Millenium,"
p. 36-42. Internet history from the NSFNet perspective.

* Calcari, Susan. "A Snapshot of the Internet," p. 54-58. Internet
statistics and where to get them.

* Ubois, Jeff. "Present at the Creation: An Interview with Vinton
Cerf," p. 66-69. An interesting conversation with a bona fide
Internet pioneer.

* Salus, Peter. "Internet Pioneers," p.70-72. Focuses mainly on
Cerf (see above interview) and Bob Kahn, although others were
also blazing IP trail.

* Kantor, Andrew and Michael Neubarth. "The Greatest Network
Story Ever Told," p. 74-75. An Internet timeline.

* Lear-Newman, Elizabeth. "Internet Blues," p. 76-79. Problems
relating to the rapid growth of new Internet users. -- RT

Lewis, Peter H. "Library of Congress Offering to Feed Data
Superhighway" The New York Times (September 12, 1994): B1.
-- Having obtained a copy of a draft Library of Congress memo, the
New York Times reports on an upcoming announcement to be made by
the Library of Congress about its plans to convert into digital
form significant materials from its collections by the year 2000.
The memo further states that the Library of Congress will take the
lead in coordinating both the technologies and the policies for
digitized libraries throughout the country so they can be connected
to the same computer networks. Funding for the project will be
provided by a mix of private gifts, industry donations and
appropriations from Congress; the initial phase of the project,
which will focus on the technologies needed to create digitized
images, will be financed with private money. -- MP

"Road Map to the Internet" Supplement to PC Computing 7(9)
(September 1994). Reprints (in quantities of 500 or more) from
Ziff-Davis Publishing Co., One Park Ave., New York, NY 10016.
-- This supplement, in actual folded road-map format, is a very
impressive effort to depict the Internet visually. Using color
coded lines to represent major subject orientation, links are
drawn among approximately two dozen "servers" and several dozen
"site listings." The verso contains an index similar to a street
or city index, in this case listing organizations and resources
coded to site locations on the map. There are also short text
pieces on "Connecting to the Internet," "Internet Highlights,"
and "How to Use the Internet Road Map." The map is an excellent
way to help visualize the interconnectedness of the net from a
resource perspective. It would be a useful tool for teaching and
explaining Internet concepts. Its one drawback is in not
prominently stating that, in fact, only a very small portion of
the Internet is depicted. Viewers might mistakenly believe they
are seeing the entire picture. -- JLO

Wilson, David L. "'Crackers': a Serious Threat" The Chronicle of
Higher Education 40(50) (August 17, 1994): A23-A24. -- In a series
of sophisticated attacks, malevolent hackers -- or, so-called
"crackers" -- have tampered with key technologies associated with
the Internet. Specifically, they have taken aim at such Internet
mechanisms as Domain Name Servers and Routers which have the
potential of derailing all data headed to a particular network,
university or individual. While security threats to the Internet
are not new, recent attacks suggest that the intruders are
particularly "network aware." Moreover, these attacks serve as
examples of the potential for damage to network security in the
future. A number of government security teams has been charged
with investigating these attacks while researchers are searching
for easy to use and inexpensive ways to protect network security.
-- MP

Optical Disc Technology

Herther, Nancy K. "The Rise of CD-Recordable: A Report from the
Corporate Front" CD-ROM Professional 7(4) (July/August 1994):
142-146. -- Former CD-ROM Professional editor Herther presents the
encouraging results of a survey of corporate users of CD-R. CD-R
technology is seen both as a method for fast, safe data back-up,
and economical information distribution. The factors identified
as influencing a move toward CD-R include dramatically low prices
(many expect the price of CD-R hardware to dip below $1000 within
the next two years), networking capability for data sharing,
familiarity with CD-ROM which translates into no major shifts
in resources or training, and the ability to do-it-yourself
rather than outsource. Herther concludes that these factors are
bringing CD-R into the forefront of important new corporate
technologies for 1994 and beyond. -- TR

General

Kelly, Julia. "Downloading Information Using Bibliographic
Management Software" CD-ROM Professional 7(4) (July/August 1994):
123-128. -- Kelly rightfully claims that without the proper tools,
a hard disk can become the electronic equivalent of a file cabinet
stuffed with poorly-labeled papers and printouts. To prevent this
from occurring, Kelly offers an antidote in the form of biblio-
graphic management software to organize electronic references to
books, journal articles or other items which have been downloaded
from CD-ROM or online databases. Software packages reviewed
include Library Master, Papyrus, Pro-Cite, and Reference Manager.
-- TR

News Bits

CAUSE, the association for managing and using information resources
in higher education is producing an electronic newsletter called
CAMPUS WATCH. This newsletter is designed to "share news concerning
effective management of information resources and technology in
higher education with stories about IT-related projects of note on
college and university campuses." To subscribe to CAMPUS WATCH send
email to [email protected] with the message: subscribe
campuswatch.

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Current Cites 5(9) (September 1994) ISSN: 1060-2356 Copyright (C) 1994
by the Library, University of California, Berkeley. All rights reserved.

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