278 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
278 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
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_Current_Cites_
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Volume 5, no. 10
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October 1994
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Information Systems Instruction & Support
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The Library
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University of California, Berkeley
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Edited by Teri Andrews Rinne
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ISSN: 1060-2356
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Contributors:
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John Ober, Margaret Phillips, Dave Rez,
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Richard Rinehart, Teri Rinne, Roy Tennant
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Electronic Publishing
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Cryan, Shelley. "Great Expectations" CD-ROM World 9(9) (October
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1994):56-61. -- This article bills itself as "the ultimate guide
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to electronic literature" on CD-ROM. The three distinct
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approaches to electronic publishing on CD-ROM are outlined:
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simple text dumps, collections of related literary works, and
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single titles enhanced with multimedia elements. The straight
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text dumps of the past are no longer acceptable to multimedia
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saavy consumers, claims Cryan. Better publishers are adding
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extra source material, sound, video and illustrations to offer
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an experience different than one can get from the printed
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page alone. Pegged as a particular standout of this genre is
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the recently released _Halderman Diaries: Inside the Nixon White
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House_ which contains 2,200 pages of complete and unedited
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text, home movies, 700 photographs, and 2,000 pages of
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additional text related to White House affairs. -- TR
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Eglowstein, Howard. "Due Recognition for OCR" Byte 19(10)
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(October 1994):145-148. -- Eglowstein presents a product review
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of four Optical Character Recognition (OCR) programs for Windows:
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OmniPage Professional 5.0, Recognita Plus 2.0 International,
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TextBridge 2.0 and WordScan Plus. Each product was tested for
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accuracy and throughput (accuracy divided by speed) and compared
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with price in mind. -- DR
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Silverman, David. "SGML Takes on Database Management Responsibility"
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ImageWorld 3(9) (September 19, 1994): 35,37. -- Imaging, by its
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very nature, is one-sided. Textual information is not readily
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searchable when simply digitally stored as an image. The result of
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this structure creates 'chunks' of data which require indexes and
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pointers to organize it into a searchable form. If one OCRs the
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text, it does become searchable by keyword in addition to its
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pointers. But what if you want to use large amounts of textual and
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image data in a more strenuous manner? SGML offers one way to
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structure data by 'tagging' text and images according to a logical
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set of tags. Where HTML, a subset of SGML, structures data for
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display (to WWW clients), other forms of SGML can similarly
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organize data for searching, collecting and re-purposing in a
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variety of ways. SGML is becoming the standard for many types of
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information, and agreed upon by groups from the Coalition for the
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Interchange of Museum Information (CIMI) to the U.S. departments
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of Defense, Energy, and the FDA. This article is extremely useful
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in that it avoids hyping SGML, and simply offers the reader a
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concise explanation of what it is. -- RR
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Multimedia and Hypermedia
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Jerram, Peter. "Who's Using Multimedia" New Media 4(10)
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(October 1994):48-58. -- This article examines a recent
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survey, conducted by Dataquest, of businesses about their
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use of multimedia technology. Education and other non-profit
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markets are not well-represented, as this is a business
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survey, and neither is the market that is really fueling the
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multimedia industry: the consumer market. However this survey
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can be very useful in outlining the types of use multimedia
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is often put to most (presentations) and by which business
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type (manufacturing) and by what profession (engineers). The
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article is more than a series of statistics though, as it
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cites case studies of how six businesses have put multimedia to
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use, as well as delving into future trends such as
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video-conferencing and multimedia public kiosks. This article
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is an informative snapshot of the current forces driving the
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multimedia market; forces which can eventually affect everyone
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who uses multimedia technology. -- RR
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DeLoughry, Thomas J. "Museums Go High-Tech" Chronicle of Higher
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Education. 40(3) (September 14, 1994):A47,A49. -- As an
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introduction to the world of information technology in museums,
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this article offers a brief, concise guide. It touches upon some
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of the salient issues facing museums using new technology, from
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the need to garner administrative commitment to improving services
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with technology, to the changing nature of the traditional, quiet,
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museum-going experience. A variety of approaches to using technology
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are covered, from a WWW site at the Krannert Art Museum [http://www.
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ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/UIUC/KrannertArtMuseum/KrannertArtHome.html]
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to a kiosk at the Michael C. Carlos Museum which allows visitors to
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"play" an ancient flute in the museum's collection by choosing
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various finger positions via a multimedia kiosk and hearing the
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resulting sound. One of the most useful parts of the article is the
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sidebar listing addresses of several museum efforts on the Internet.
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The article ends by making the point that new developments in the
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'virtual museum' will not replace the traditional museum, but will
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draw new types of visitors and increase interest in the museums of
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the future. -- RR
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Networks and Networking
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Cage, Mary Crystal. "The Virtual Library" The Chronicle of Higher
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Education 40(4) (September 21, 1994): A23, A27. -- There is a wide
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range of challenges faced by institutions trying to establish fully
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digitized libraries. Among them are the technical challenges of
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providing optical-character-recognition of images that are scanned
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from poor quality originals; the high cost of the supercomputers;
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and the development of a system for protecting copyrighted material.
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On the other hand, many digital library projects such as Chicago-Kent
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College of Law and Project Janus out of Columbia University are
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working on such innovations as natural language searching which will
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allow users to browse and discover texts serendipidously. They are
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also working cooperatively with business and industry to help offset
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some of the costs associated with creating digitized library
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collections. -- MP
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DeLoughry, Thomas J. "Grant Provides $24-Million for 'Virtual
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Libraries' Projects" The Chronicle of Higher Education 40(6)
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(October 5, 1994): A26. -- The National Science Foundation, the
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National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Advanced
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Research Projects Agency of the Defense Department will award a
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total of $24-million to six universities to digitize materials in
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their libraries so that the texts can be accessed through computer
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networks. The six institutions receiving funds are: Carnegie-Mellon,
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Stanford, University of California at Berkeley, University of
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California at Santa Barbara, University of Illinois and the
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University of Michigan. -- MP
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Frappaolo, Carl. "The Emerging Text Retrieval Market Caters to
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Client-Server Computing" ImageWorld 3(9) (September 19, 1994):
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20,48. -- To deliver text to the user, this article poses three
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models: stand-alone computers, host-based network computing, and
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client-server computing. The model gaining most prominence of the
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three is the client-server model. Within the client-server model,
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three approaches are outlined. These approaches, which could also
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be offered for other forms of information needing organized
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access such as images, offer varying degrees of power, flexibility
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and appropriateness. The range starts from one near to the
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mainframe host-based model where the client merely connects the
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user to the monolithic host which processes all commands,
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searches, and displays records the mostly passive client machine.
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The last model is the fully distributed model, where there are
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several local servers dynamically linked to an institution-wide
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network. This article indicates yet another area of computing
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affected by the move away from expensive centralized mainframe-type
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systems to flexible, locally controlled, yet intelligently
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connected servers. -- RR
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Hancock, Lee. "Internet Resources for Health and Medicine" College &
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Research Libraries News 55(9) (October 1994):564-465, 609. This article
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provides an overview of Internet resources for health and medicine
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including listservs, ftp sites, gophers and World Wide Web sites for
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general health issues as well as disease-specific resources. -- MP
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Kantor, Andrew and Michael Neubarth. "Internet Interfaces: The Next
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Generation" Internet World 5(7) (October 1994):30-32. -- The authors'
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article is the lead piece in a series of well-written, concise (four
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to five page) articles discussing all-purpose Internet tools, the first
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of which has been the Mosaic browser. In addition to describing the
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history and future of Mosaic (there is an interview with Mosaic
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developer Marc Andreessen), articles cover NetManage's Internet
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Chameleon and O'Reilly's Internet in a Box products. Although Internet
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World may not be the first place to hear about Internet developments,
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their timely articles, especially the thematically grouped ones, are
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are well-edited and well worth perusal. -- JLO
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"Making the Internet Connection" PC Magazine 13(7) (October 11, 1994)
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-- PC Magazine devotes the lion's share of this issue to its cover
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story on the Internet. Included are product and service provider
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reviews, introductory and how-to articles, and definitions of terms,
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accompanied with color graphics that enhance understanding. -- RT
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Morgan, Eric Lease. "The World-Wide Web and Mosaic: An
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Overview for Librarians" Public Access Computer Systems
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Review, 5(6) (1994):5-26. [available via World-Wide Web at
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http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/staff/morgan/www-and-libraries.html,
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or Gopher at gopher://info.lib.uh.edu:70/00/articles/e-journals/
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uhlibrary/pacsreview/v5/n6/morgan.5n6 or via email by sending
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the message "GET MORGAN PRV5N6 F-MAIL" to listserv@uhupvm1.uh.edu.
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-- In this excellent and easy to understand overview of the
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World-Wide Web, Morgan explains the basic technologies, protocols
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and software of the World-Wide Web. However, as Morgan is known
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for doing (ask him about "Mr. Serials," for example), he also gives
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us much more by describing imaginative and effective ways in which
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the technology can be used to create and manage library services.
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For this, and for serving the article in HTML to enhance its
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usefulness to his readers, Morgan gets high marks and the gratitude
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of this reviewer. -- RT
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Morgan, Keith and Deborah Kelly-Millburn. "Internet Resources
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for Economics" College & Research Libraries News 55(8) (September
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1994):475-478. -- Another in the regular series of articles in C&RL
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News that lists essential Internet resources in specific academic
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disciplines, this article provides a thorough yet selective list of
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resources in economics. It includes references to Internet collections
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of statistical data, private datasets, software libraries, biblio-
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graphies of working papers as well as a related newsgroups. In addition
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to a list of important sources, the article also discusses the Internet
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tools that researchers can use to find other relevant resources. -- MP
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"Special Training Issue," Internet Business Journal 2(3) (September
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1994). -- This special issue on Internet training profiles several
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Internet training providers, gives pointers to good online resources
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for trainers, lists some books specific to Internet training, offers
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some training tips, and highlights training in the K-12 environment.
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-- RT
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Wilson, David L. "A Death en Route to the Data Highway" The Chronicle
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of Higher Education 40(6) (October 5, 1994): A21. -- Legislation that
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would have removed many restrictions on the telecommunications
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industry and would have therefore encouraged more development of the
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information infrastructure has been declared dead in Congress. Among
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the amendments added to the bill was a requirement that communications
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companies provide network access to schools at "preferential rates;"
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the bill would also have imposed price caps in order to provide
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"universal service" on the Internet. Analysts believe that the
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legislation died because the package contained too much regulation on
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the one hand and not enough protection for consumers on the other.
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-- MP
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Optical Disc Technology
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Sengstack, Jeff. "Fast Drives" CD-ROM World 9(9) (October 1994):39-45.
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-- Sengstack presents both an excellent review of the latest
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generation of double, triple, and quadruple-speed CD-ROM disc drives
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and a frank and entertaining accompanying commentary. The speed demon
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quad drives are not necessarily the best choice for some explains
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Sengstack: "Quad-speed drives can push 386 PCs and slow Macs beyond
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their processing limits, and putting a quad on a slow computer is like
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putting a turbocharger on a lawn mower." Beyond that, most of today's
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multimedia software is specifically designed to run on a single-speed
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drive and does not appear to run any faster on a quad-speed. However,
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the quad-speed drive definitely makes a difference if it being used
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for text retrieval or business applications and they are absolutely
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essential for achieving acceptable quality video output. Is there an
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end in sight? Indeed, claims an industry expert. From a technological
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point of view, it is thought that a six-speed is a possibility,
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whereas an eight-speed is only a minor possibility. Reason being,
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ironically enough, is that faster drives may have slower access rates.
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What is looming on the horizon is a new blue-light laser technology
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which will increase the storage capacity of a CD-ROM disc to 1.6
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gigabytes compared to the 650 MB CD-ROM disc of today. -- TR
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Current Cites 5(10) (October 1994) ISSN: 1060-2356 Copyright (C) 1994
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by the Library, University of California, Berkeley. All rights reserved.
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All product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their
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respective holders. Mention of a product in this publication does not
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necessarily imply endorsement of the product.
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To subscribe, send the message "sub cites [your name]" to
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listserv@library.berkeley.edu, replacing "[your name]" with your name.
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Copying is permitted for noncommercial use by computerized bulletin
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board/conference systems, individual scholars, and libraries. Libraries
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are authorized to add the journal to their collections at no cost. An
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archive site is maintained at ftp.lib.berkeley.edu in directory
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/pub/Current.Cites [URL:ftp://ftp.lib.berkeley.edu/pub/Current.Cites].
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This message must appear on copied material. All commercial use requires
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permission from the editor, who may be reached in the following ways:
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trinne@library.berkeley.edu // trinne@ucblibra // (510)642-8173
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------
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