Infopeople - Archive June 1994 to June 1995: Current Cites 6, No. 4 (1995)

Current Cites 6, No. 4 (1995)

Cary Gordon (libsher2@cerf.net)
Thu, 27 Apr 1995 22:46:01 -0700

>Date: Thu, 27 Apr 1995 16:58:22 CDT
>Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU>
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>From: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <LIBPACS@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU>
>Subject: Current Cites 6, No. 4 (1995)
>To: Multiple recipients of list PACS-L <PACS-L@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU>
>
> _Current Cites_
> Volume 6, no. 4
> April 1995
>
> Information Systems Instruction & Support
> The Library
> University of California, Berkeley
> Edited by Teri Andrews Rinne
> ISSN: 1060-2356
> http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ISIS/current-cites/
>
> Contributors:
>
> John Ober, Margaret Phillips, David Rez,
> Richard Rinehart, Teri Rinne, Roy Tennant
>
>
>
>Editor's Note: I am pleased to announce the official debut of the
>Current Cites World-Wide Web home page. Point your web browser at
>http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ISIS/current-cites/ to find and search
>past issues of Current Cites. You can also establish a link to our
>latest issue. We will strive to add as much value to our webbed
>version of Current Cites, such as providing links to electronic
>copies of articles cited, authors' web pages when we know about
>them or can find them, and information on items mentioned in the
>cites. A special thanks to Current Cites founder, Roy Tennant,
>for his able management of this new resource.
>
>
>
>Electronic Publishing
>
>
>_Directory of Electronic Journals, Newsletters and Academic
>Discussion Lists_ Washington, DC : Association of Research
>Libraries, Office of Scientific and Academic Publishing, 1994.
>-- This fourth edition of the ARL directory of electronic
>journals has now become a standard reference source containing
>a comprehensive list of academically created and oriented
>serials on the Internet. From the 110 listings of journals and
>newsletters in the original 1991 edition, the newest edition has
>grown to include over 440 entries. The references to academic
>discussion lists is, understandably, more selective containing
>nearly 1800 listings; the editors have selected topics that are
>of primary interest to scholars, researchers and students. Of
>particular value in this volume are several reprinted articles
>on electronic publishing including Geoffrey Nunberg's article on
>"The Places of Books in the Age of Electronic Reproduction,"
>Jean-Claude Guedon's "Why are Electronic Publications Difficult
>to Classify?," Birdie MacLennan's "Electronic Serial Sites:
>Collections, Resources, and Services on the Networks," Steve
>Outing's "List of Newspaper Publishers with On-line Services in
>Operation," and a bibliography by former Current Cites editor
>David F.W. Robison, "Bibliography of Articles Related to
>Electronic Journal Publications and Publishing." -- MP
>
>Eaton, Flynnette. "Preservation Strategies for Electronic
>Records" Spectra 22(3) (Winter 1994-95):22-24. -- Eaton
>draws upon her experience at the U.S. National Archives
>and Records Administration to outline strategies that will
>be useful for any archivist or information systems manager
>in ensuring the longevity of their digital legacy data.
>Many aspects are covered in this useful article, from
>data-migration and disaster planning to physical media
>formats and software obsolescence. Spectra is a quarterly
>publication of the Museum Computer Network; online information
>is available at gopher://world.std.com -- RR
>
>
>Multimedia and Hypermedia
>
>Burger, Jeff. "The Making of Nightclub Earth" New Media 5(4)
>(April 1995):84-85. -- This article covers the technical details
>behind producing a video CD-ROM. Of primary interest however is
>the use of AppleMedia Tool and the QuickTime video format for
>Windows and Macintosh which was used to produce this cross-
>platform multimedia CD-ROM. Some CD-ROMs duplicate both Mac and
>Windows file formats on a CD-ROM, delivering a bi-platform
>package, but using only half the disc for each. All the large
>media-objects on this CD-ROM are recorded only once, in
>QuickTime format, and only the retrieval tool is duplicated for
>each platform. -- RR
>
>
>Networks and Networking
>
>Archee, Ray. "Freenets: Community Access for All" Online Access
>10(4) (April 1995):43-49. -- In all of the excitement of World
>Wide Web sites and technology leaps, the importance of truly
>public access to locally useful information is sometimes lost.
>This article relates the history and current vibrancy of
>community-based freenets. The article is useful in large part
>because of its list of 26 freenets. -- JLO
>
>Bailey, Charles W., Jr. "Network-Based Electronic Publishing of
>Scholarly Works: A Selective Bibliography" The Public-Access
>Computer Systems Review 6(1) (1995). [URL:
>http://info.lib.uh.edu/pr/v6/n1/bail6n1.html] -- Bailey has
>long provided good bibliographies on electronic publishing --
>first focusing on electronic serials, now on scholarly
>electronic publishing. The Web version is recommended, as it
>makes appropriate links to online sources when available. -- RT
>
>Caruso, Denise. "Digital Commerce" The New York Times 144
>(March 20, 1995):C9. -- A new biweekly feature in the New York
>Times business section, Caruso's column provides commentary and
>analysis of information technology. Her first column discusses
>the implications of a recent ruling by the Federal Communications
>Commission that could raise the cost of ISDN -- the relatively
>low-cost digital network service provided by local telephone
>companies that allows users to connect to the Internet. The
>recent ruling means that anyone who needs to increase the
>bandwidth provided through their ISDN lines in order to browse
>the Web more efficiently could face significantly increased rates
>for this service. The FCC's ruling will mean higher costs which
>could, in turn, make access to the Internet out-of-reach for an
>even greater segment of the population. -- MP
>
>Cerf, Vinton. "Life in a New World," OnTheInternet 1(1)
>(March 1995):22-27. -- Cerf has been living in the "new world"
>of the Internet longer than just about anyone, and in this
>thoughtful piece he offers useful advice for keeping it a
>civil place. He identifies three types of behavioral constraints
>on Internet users: technical, legal, and moral. After a brief
>history of the Internet relating to behavior constraints, he
>deals mainly with moral constraints as "users of the
>Internet bear personal responsibility for their own actions."
>[By the way, this is the first issue of a new publication by
>the Internet Society] -- RT
>
>"Digital Libraries," Communications of the ACM 38(4)
>(April 1995):22-96. -- Virtually the entire issue is devoted
>to this topic, with over 70 pages of text. Major sections
>include general articles, supporting technologies,
>projects, and initiatives. In the projects and initiatives
>sections, Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) are provided
>when appropriate. Some of the major articles include:
>
>* Fox, Edward A., et al, "Digital Libraries: Introduction,"
>p. 23-28.
>
>* Levy, David M. and Catherine C. Marshall, "Going Digital:
>A Look at Assumptions Underlying Digital Libraries,"
>p. 77-84.
>
>* Marchionini, Gary and Hermann Maurer, "The Roles of
>Digital Libraries in Teaching and Learning," p. 67-75.
>
>* Rao, Ramona, et al, "Rich Interaction in the Digital
>Library," p. 29-39.
>
>* Samuelson, Pamela, "Legally Speaking: Copyright and
>Digital Libraries," p. 15-21;110.
>
>* Wiederhold, Gio, "Digital Libraries, Value, and
>Productivity," p. 85-96. -- RT
>
>Dorcey, Tim. "The CU-SeeMe Desktop Videoconferencing
>Software" ConneXions: The Interoperability Report 9(3)
>(March 1995):42-45. -- Along with virtual reality,
>interactive video technologies promise to produce the next
>wave of hot Internet tools. CU-SeeMe is a tool for online
>videoconferencing on the Internet that is available today.
>This developer of CU-SeeMe describes the technology behind
>it, and even (briefly) the compression algorithm that allows
>the rapid transmission of such bandwith-intensive information.
>Unfortunately the article does not include a screenshot of
>a CU-SeeMe session. -- RT
>
>Handley, Mark and Jon Crowcroft. "The World-Wide Web:
>How Servers Work," ConneXions: The Interoperability Report
>9(2) (February 1995):12-24. -- For those of us who wonder
>exactly how the World-Wide Web works underneath what
>we see, this is an enlightening article. In simple yet exact
>language, such topics as proxy servers, the Common Gateway
>Interface (CGI) forms processing, and server performance
>are discussed. Examples and diagrams are also provided.
>This article is not for the beginning Web user, but if you
>feel ready to look under the hood you could do a lot worse
>than this piece. [Article based on the forthcoming book
>The World Wide Web: Beneath the Surf] -- RT
>
>Kent, Peter. "Browser Shootout" Internet World 6(4)
>(April 1995):46-59. [Also available at URL:
>http://www.mecklerweb.com:80/mags/iw/v6n4/feat46.htm]
>-- Another contribution to this issue's focus on the
>World-Wide Web (a little too cutely titled "Webaganz"),
>Kent contributes a very useful comparison among the
>proliferation of Web browsers. His evaluative comparisons
>lead him to suggest that the stand-alone browsers
>InternetWorks and Netscape are front-runners. He helpfully
>summarizes the incorporation of browsers into suites of
>Internet tools as well as those incorporated into
>proprietary systems like Netcom's Netcruiser and The
>Pipelines Internaut. A sidebar explains Internet access
>without SLIP software, as with Slipknot and The Internet
>Adapter. -- JLO
>
>Stoll, Clifford. _Silicon Snake Oil: Second Thoughts on the
>Information Highway_ New York: Doubleday, 1995. -- The
>author of _The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze
>of Computer Espionage_ takes on the hype and myth surrounding
>the Internet. Since the Internet is often over-hyped, Stoll
>has no problem finding targets, but he also makes up his own.
>While some of his criticisms are as simplistic as 'if you
>are in front of a computer you are not doing something
>else' (with the 'something else' assumed to be of more value),
>some are not as easy to criticize. His polemic can be redundant
>and ill-informed at times, but it is also funny, entertaining,
>and certainly controversial. This is the kind of book that
>has already incited arguments, sometimes heated, and will
>continue to do so for some time to come. Whether you agree
>or disagree with what he has to say, if you are going to
>argue about it -- read it. -- RT
>
>Tennant, Roy. "The Virtual Library Foundation: Staff Training
>and Support" Information Technology and Libraries 14(1)
>(March 1995):46-49. [Also available at URL:
>http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ISIS/ITAL.html] -- Current Cites'
>own Roy Tennant has penned a straightforward summary of the
>basic strategies for staff training and support of digital
>library initiatives. Along the way he makes a strong case
>for the necessity of staff development for the kinds of
>imaginative innovation that all information service agencies
>must seek. -- JLO
>
>Tropiano, Lenny and Dinah McNutt. "How to Implement ISDN"
>Byte 20(4) (April 1995):67-74. -- More and more Internet
>trainers are acknowledging that Integrated Services Digital
>Network (ISDN) access through the local phone company is
>close-at-hand in most of the U.S. This article explains the
>availability and complexity of ISDN access, including a
>checklist of questions to ask an ISDN provider. A side-bar
>compares ISDN access with the fastest modems. All in all
>this is a valuable read for those considering ISDN as
>another alternative to providing personal or organizational
>network access. -- JLO
>
>Vacca, John. "The Net's Next Big Thing: Virtual Reality"
>Byte 20(4) (April 1995):28. -- Vacca briefly explains the
>philosophy behind presenting Virtual Reality through the
>Internet via the emerging standard called Virtual Reality
>Markup Language (VRML). This may well be the next logical
>extension of Internet functionality and complements the
>announcement (at the Spring Internet World conference in
>San Jose, California) of Silicon Graphics VRML browser
>development. [URL:http://www.sgi.com/]. -- JLO
>
>Weiss, Aaron. "Hop, Skip, and Jump: Navigating the
>World-Wide Web" Internet World 6(4) (April 1995):41-44.
>[Also available at URL:
>http://www.mecklerweb.com:80/mags/iw/v6n4/feat41.htm]
>-- In typical Internet World style, Weiss provides a
>whirlwind tour of the major sources of well-organized
>directories of Web sites and of Web search tools. The
>search tools summary, which mentions the Jumpstation,
>the Webcrawler, LYCOS, WWW Worm, RBSE, and CUIs W3,
>is useful for its brief descriptions of the tool's
>embedded strategies and comparisons among tools. -- JLO
>
>Wilson, David L. "Senate Bill Takes Broom to Internet"
>Chronicle of Higher Education 41(30) (April 7, 1995), A21.
>-- New legislation intended to spur growth on the National
>Information Infrastructure by deregulating the telecommuni-
>cations industry has met with criticism from many Internet
>users because it includes restrictions on the distribution
>of obscene or indecent material. Both the Office of
>Intellectual Freedom of the American Library Association as
>well as the Electronic Frontier Foundation have expressed
>their opposition to the legislation and questioned the
>constitutionality of restricting free speech on the Internet.
>Those who otherwise support the legislation are hoping that
>the anti-pornography provisions will be altered by the time
>it comes up for vote later this year. -- MP
>
>
>Optical Disc Technology
>
>
>Desmarais, Norman. "How Fast is Fast?" CD-ROM Professional
>8(3) (March 1995):119-121. -- Desmarais cautions librarians
>against throwing their older CD-ROM drives onto the trash
>heap. Since most library and information applications use
>text almost exclusively (indexes, abstracts, and full-text)
>rather than multimedia applications, single-speed CD-ROM
>drives, which are now dirt cheap, should suffice. However,
>since the increasingly popular multimedia titles require
>double-speed to quadruple-speed drives for satisfactory
>playback, few if any manufacturers will be producing
>single-speed drives. As librarians replace existing
>equipment with only multispeed drives to choose from,
>they should opt to put heavily-used and multimedia
>applications in the newer, faster drives while loading
>the text-only CD-ROM applications in the slower drives.
>-- TR
>
>
>Hudson, Barry J. "CD-ROM Network Access: Problems, Pitfalls
>and Perils" CD-ROM Professional 8(3) (March 1995):98-108.
>-- Although there are often many potential benefits assoc-
>iated with shared access to CD-ROMs over a network, Hudson
>argues quite convincingly, as the title suggests, that
>shared access is not necessarily the best course to take
>for every organization. Foremost reasons are the technical
>and administrative obstacles associated with the successful
>sharing of CD-ROMs. Quite simply, many CD-ROMs are just not
>suited for LAN access. Hudson provides many examples and
>offers practical tips on how to determine the likely costs
>and benefits of shared access. Useful sidebars include
>"(14) Questions to Ask Before Establishing a CD-ROM Server"
>and "A Technical Compliance Checklist" which Hudson
>designed to assist server administrators in determining
>a CD-ROM's fitness for use. If a title scores more than
>40 penalty points on the checklist, it should not be
>considered for centralized support. -- TR
>
>Lieberman, Paula. "Multiple Disc CD-ROM Systems" CD-ROM
>Professional 8(3) (March 1995):60-74. -- Lieberman provides
>a concise overview of the plethora of multiple disc
>CD-ROM systems: CD-ROM towers, CD-ROM arrays, CD-ROM
>servers, six-disc and 18-disc changer/jukeboxes, and
>jukeboxes that can access anywhere from 100 to more than
>1400 discs. A comprehensive multidisc vendor directory
>accompanies the article. -- TR
>
>
>
>-------------------------------------------------------------------
>Current Cites 6(4) (April 1995) ISSN: 1060-2356
>Copyright (C) 1995 by the Library, University of
>California, Berkeley. All rights reserved.
>
>All product names are trademarks or registered trademarks
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>
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Cary Gordon libsher2@cerf.net
Community Partner 72477.62@compuserve.com
Sherman Oaks Branch
Los Angeles Public Library