textfiles/magazines/CURRENTCITIES/1993.4-7

                                _Current_Cites_
                                Volume 4, no. 7 
                                   July 1993
 
                   Information Systems Instruction & Support
		       		 The Library
                      University of California, Berkeley
                         Edited by David F. W. Robison
                                ISSN: 1060-2356 
       
                                 Contributors:
    Teri Rinne, Vivienne Roumani-Denn, Lisa Rowlison, Mark Takaro, Roy Tennant
      ______________________________________________________________________


Hyper- and Multimedia

Tierney, John. "In Multimedia Storm, Text Thrives" The New York
Times 142(49,383) (July 5, 1993).  The written word (and even 
paper!) are here to stay, at least for a while.  Noting the 
parallels between multimedia and television while addressing the 
prominence of text in electronic forms, the new journals NewMedia 
and Wired are profiled as representative of the future of text.  
Tools such as the briefly described reading tablet for electronic 
works may ease the transition of text to future media. - MT


Information Transfer 
 
Kennedy, Bev. "Comparing Menu Systems for End-Users: After Dark,
Knowledge Index, and FirstSearch" ONLINE 17(4) (July 1993):52-58. 
An informative comparison of BRS After Dark, Dialog Knowledge 
Index, and OCLC FirstSearch, including comparisons of costs, type 
of databases, time available, search features, and display 
options.  Kennedy includes a "User-Friendly Checklist"
comparing menu designs, response time, command language. - VR
 
O'Leary, Mick. "Dialog and Data-Star Look To Online's Future"
ONLINE 17(4) (July 1993):14-19. O'Leary describes the history and 
customer reactions of Dialog's purchase of Data-Star, and looks 
at the future development and challenges facing Dialog. - VR
 
Tenopir, Carol. "When Is the Same Database Not the Same?:
Database Differences Among Systems" ONLINE 17(4) (July 1993):20-
27.  Tenopir examines differences among the major databases
produced by the major database vendors and provides a table
comparing database updates, date ranges covered in the databases, 
price per hour. She also reports on the treatment of field 
subdivisions content, and support features in the various
databases. - VR


Networks and Networking

"ANS CO+RE's Security Services to Incorporate RSA Public Key 
Cryptography" HPC Select News 2(27) (July 9, 1993) [article 
available by sending an e-mail message to more@hpcwire.ans.net 
with the number 738 in the subject].  ANS announces the 
release of RSA public key cryptography for Internet users 
scheduled for later this year.  This implementation of the RSA 
encryption scheme will be compatible with the full suite of 
TCP/IP applications: Telnet, FTP, SMTP (e-mail), X windows, and 
NNTP, and includes digital signature data authentication. - DR

Carson, Sylvia MacKinnon and Dace I. Freivalds. "Z39.50 and 
LIAS: Penn State's Experience" Information Technology and 
Libraries 12(2) (June 1993):230-237.  Carson and Freivalds 
describe their experience developing and deploying a Z39.50 
client/server pair for their local online catalog system.  The 
client has allowed them to successfully connect to a number of 
remote databases across the US, and the server allows remote 
users to access the Penn State system.  One of the interesting 
things the authors noted is the Z39.50 paradox: when Z39.50 is 
successful, users don't know it is there and can't understand 
what the excitement is about.  The users wonder why it took the
developers two years to make their catalog look the same! - DR

"Clinton Administration Aims for Open Information Policy" posted 
on Clinton-News-Distribution@campaign92.org (June 28, 1993) and 
reposted on GOVDOC-L@PSUVM.BITNET on July 1, 1993. 
[URL=ftp://nis.nsf.net/omb/omb.a130.rev2; also available via e-
mail by sending a message to nis-info@nis.nsf.net with no 
subject, and with send omb.a130.rev2 as the first line of the 
body of the message.]  This press release announces the latest 
revisions to OMB Circular A-130, which is titled "Management of 
Federal Information Resources".  These much anticipated 
revisions state that, among other things, federal agencies must 
treat electronic documents in the same fashion that they treat 
print documents, must not place restrictions on secondary user 
of government data, nor charge users more than the cost of 
dissemination of that data.  The circular also requires that 
agencies develop indexes, directories, and other tools to assist 
users in locating such information. - DR

Cooke, Kevin and Dan Lehrer. "The Internet: The Whole World is 
Talking" The Nation 257(2)(July 12, 1993):60-66.  Cooke and 
Lehrer provide an excellent overview of the Internet in a way 
that will help mainstream readers understand its power.  They 
cover how the Internet has already affected world events (i.e. 
Tiananmen Square), the current size and growth of the net, 
current legislation about the net, and privacy on the net.  The 
strength of this article is that it provides a broad overview of 
network issues in lay terms without losing the important 
details. - DR

DeLoughry, Thomas J. "Compromise Reached on Legislation Leading 
to National Information Network" The Chronicle of Higher 
Education 39(42) (June 23, 1993):A15, A17.  Unlike the usual 
compromises on the Hill, this one seems to make everyone happy.  
A bill, known as the Boucher bill (for Rep. Rick Boucher), 
unanimously passed the House Science Subcommittee and if made 
law, would take the US on the next step to creating a National 
Information Infrastructure.  One of the reasons the bill passed 
the subcommittee is that it relies on previously authorized 
funds, not new ones.  In the long run, the bill puts most 
networking activity in private hands and reduces the federal 
role to certain subsidies, test-bed projects, and the national 
supercomputing centers.  In the shorter term, the bill provides 
that the government will not force the research and education 
users of the NSFNet to use private network service providers 
unless they are of satisfactory availability - including being 
affordable.  Included with DeLoughry's discussion of the bill is 
a sidebar listing the provisions of the bill which include a 
directive to apply $110 million to develop library applications. 
- DR

DeLoughry, Thomas J. "Software Designed to Offer Internet Users 
Easy Access to Documents and Graphics" The Chronicle of Higher 
Education 39(44) (July 7, 1993):A23.  DeLoughry provides a brief 
description of the much heralded Mosaic interface.  Currently 
only available in an X-Windows version (but slated for release 
for Macintosh and MS Windows in the Fall), Mosaic starts with a 
graphical World-Wide Web browser, and then adds other Internet 
services like Gopher and file transfer (FTP), all in a seamless 
interface.  In its more developed form, Mosaic is intended to 
not only assist users in accessing information, but also in 
managing the information they gather as well as create.  Not to 
be outdone, Mosaic is engineered and distributed freely by the 
National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). - DR

Edwards, Morris. "Leaders Vie for Positions in Mobile Computing" 
Communications News 30(7) (July 1993):39.  Major communications 
companies like AT&T, MCI, GTE, and the regional Bell operating 
companies are preparing for the rapid increase in wireless 
computing.  Part of the increase will be spurred by the 
appearance of personal communications service (PCS) devices like 
Apple's Newton and the auctioning of bandwidth by the Federal 
Communications Commission.  The PCS network will operate on a 
smaller, but just-as-ubiquitous, scale as the cellular network 
does now (i.e. using smaller cells).  There are also a number of 
plans to employ satellite transceivers, including Motorola's 
Iridium project which will provide world-wide satellite coverage.  
Fasten your seat belts and unplug the computer! - DR

Kapor, Mitchell. "Where is the Digital Highway Really Heading?: 
The Case for a Jeffersonian Information Policy" Wired 1(3) 
(July/August 1993):53-59, 94. Kapor argues that with 
technologies like ISDN (integrated services digital network) and 
ADSL (asynchronous digital subscriber loop - see Negroponte 
below), and the cable and telephone companies poised, the 
question is no longer who will be your network service provider, 
but rather who will control what information comes in and goes out 
of your network connection.  Kapor believes that the cable and 
telephone companies can use the pay-per-view Hollywood movies to 
fund the availability of two-way high-bandwidth network service 
to the home.  The bandwidth is already widely available in the 
form of a hybrid network of fiber optic cable, coaxial cable, 
and copper wire.  What's left is to be sure that the network is 
switched so that data can be sent to specific places (and both 
to and from the home), lifeline access that is cheap enough for 
people with a low income, and standards that allow for 
interoperability on a mass scale. - DR

Love, James P. "Information Policy for the Clinton/Gore 
Administration: A Viewpoint" Government Publications Review 20 
(1993):245-249.  Love, Director of the Taxpayer Assets Project, 
describes the legacy of the Reagan/Bush years that has allowed 
government agencies to charge market-based prices for government 
information.  In many cases, Love charges, this has left 
citizens in the research community out in the cold.  Love 
proposes that the Clinton/Gore administration and Congress set 
information policy for the electronic media the way it has for 
the printed media.  This would mean that government agencies 
would not only be forced to provide access to information 
produced by the agency, but provide it at the cost of 
dissemination, not market value (see the revisions of OMB 
Circular A-130, above). - DR

Negroponte, Nicholas. "Debunking Bandwidth: From Shop Talk to 
Small Talk" Wired 1(3) (July/August 1993):112.  Negroponte 
points out that the problem is not getting enough bandwidth into 
the home, but using what we already have.  As an example, ISDN 
could provide video on demand by distributing part of the signal 
on a CD-ROM.  On the other hand, ADSL (asynchronous digital 
subscriber loop) allows a compressed video signal to be sent 
over copper wire.  Negroponte asks: "Which would you prefer: 500 
channels from which you can choose one, or one channel that can 
be switched to any source on the network?" - DR

"New Coalition Formed to Advance Public Interest Positions on 
Telecommunications Infrastructure" posted on tap-info@
uunet.UU.NET (July 13, 1993) [available from the following 
servers: ftp: ftp.cpsr.org; gopher: gopher.cpsr.org; wais: 
wais.cpsr.org].  The Taxpayer Assets Project reports on the July 
8th meeting of a number of people hoping to create a new 
organization focused on public interest issues of the National 
Information Infrastructure (NII).  The new group is tentatively 
called the Telecommunications Policy Roundtable and includes 
Jeff Chester, from the Center for Media Education (CME), Marc 
Rotenberg, from Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility 
(CPSR), and Prue Adler, from the Association of Research 
Libraries (ARL),  Carol Henderson from the American Library 
Association (ALA), Richard Civille from the Center for Civic 
Networking (CCN), and members of several other groups.  The 
Roundtable adopted six principles (and hope to receive comment 
on them): the NII must include a public and civic sector, there 
must be universal access, privacy must be protected, the NII 
must be an open and accessible system, the NII must be a diverse 
and competitive marketplace, and noncommercial programs and 
services must be preserved. - DR

Raisch, Robert. "Registrar -- Resource Registration Service" 
posted on uri@bunyip.com, com-priv@psi.com, and www-
talk@nxoc01.cern.ch (July 7, 1993).  Raisch has posted this 
discussion of a proposed Uniform Resource Name/Locator (URN/L) 
registration server.  In short, the Registrar accepts a URN (a 
network analog to an ISBN) and returns a URL along with other 
pertinent information for each instance of the object such as 
type, size, encoding, who has access, and payment method and 
cost.  While all of the pieces are not quite complete, there is 
a test version of the server running that users may try. - DR

Sulzer, Jack. "What Now? Is There Life After Access?: The 
Government Printing Office Electronic Information Access 
Enhancement Act and Its Implications" The Dupont Circle Reporter 
9 (June 22, 1993) [posted on GOVDOC-L@PSUVM.BITNET as well as on 
MAPS-L, AND LAW-LIB].  Sulzer provides an analysis of the 
recently signed GPO Access Bill (see above).  While there are 
varying opinions about the effectiveness of the law, Sulzer 
points to the indisputable lack of funding the law provides for 
implementation.  With the costs of implementation estimated to 
be up to $10 million per year, it is not clear how the already-
strapped GPO will come up with the money. - DR

Wilson, David L. "Clinton Signs Bill on Electronic Access to 
Government Data" The Chronicle of Higher Education 39(42) (June 
23, 1993):A15, A16.  Wilson describes the GPO Access bill that 
was signed into law by President Clinton.  The law requires the 
Government Printing Office (GPO) to maintain an electronic 
directory of federal electronic information, make the 
Congressional Record and the Federal Register available 
electronically within one year, and maintain a storage facility 
for federal electronic information.  What the bill does not do 
is require government agencies to provide all their electronic 
data to the GPO for publication nor provide any new funding for 
electronic services. - DR


General

Rotenberg, Marc. "CPSR Workplace Privacy Testimony" posted on 
CPSR@GWUVM.BITNET (July 2, 1993) [available from the following 
servers: ftp: ftp.cpsr.org; gopher: gopher.cpsr.org; wais: 
wais.cpsr.org].  Rotenberg testified before the House 
Subcommittee on Labor-Management Relations, Committee on 
Education and Labor in support of H.R. 1900, the Privacy for 
Consumers and Workers Act.  Arguing that workplace privacy is of 
increasing concern in an increasingly electronic office, and 
representing the Computer Professionals for Social 
Responsibility (CPSR), he says, "It is our belief that computer 
systems and information policies that are designed so as to 
value employees will lead to a more productive work environment 
and ultimately more successful companies and organizations."  
CPSR recommends that the electronic monitoring of workers be 
kept to a minimum, and that all such monitoring be known to the 
employees being monitored. - DR


Forthcoming

McClure, Charles R., et al. "Toward a Virtual Library: Internet 
and the National Research and Education Network" The Bowker 
Annual (1993):25-45.  McClure and his colleagues provide 
background information on the Internet itself and the NREN 
program, how libraries use the Internet today, and key issues 
that face libraries in this period of transition to a ubiquitous 
network.  This last section is the most interesting, as it 
outlines the barriers to network use faced by academic, special, 
public, and school libraries.  As is expected, the barriers 
differ by library type. - DR

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Current Cites 4(7) (July 1993) ISSN: 1060-2356
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