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Current Cities Volume 09 Number 05
_Current Cites_
Volume 9, no. 5
May 1998
The Library
University of California, Berkeley
Edited by Teri Andrews Rinne
ISSN: 1060-2356
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/CurrentCites/1998/cc98.9.5.html
Contributors:
Christof Galli, Kirk Hastings, Terry Huwe,
Margaret Phillips, Richard Rinehart, Roy Tennant
Jim Ronningen, Lisa Yesson
Digital Libraries
Fox, Edward A. and Gary Marchionini. "Toward a Worldwide Digital
Library" Communications of the ACM 41(4) (April 1998). -- As they have
done before, (see the April 1995 issue of Current Cites) the
Communications of the ACM has devoted an issue to the topic of digital
libraries. Anyone involved in digital library development probably has
favorite online resources (such as our own Digital Library SunSITE
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/) for diving deep into specific problems,
but this provides a wide scope in one neat package. To quote from the
introduction, "This special section is a snapshot of the current state
of digital library development around the world." The worldwide
digital library theme has been carried out by including articles which
focus upon technical, informational and social interoperability across
national boundaries. The special section is broken up into the
following categories: Interoperability, Special Types of Digital
Libraries, Multilingual Support, National Efforts, and Supporting
Technologies. And there's a related "Legally Speaking" column by
Pamela Samuelson titled "Encoding the Law into Digital Libraries." As
always with CACM, the work is scholarly, well-documented and
foot-noted. -- JR
Hanson, Terry. "The Access Catalogue Gateway to Resources" Ariadne 15
(May 1998) [http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue15/main/]. -- Libraries can
no longer be complacent with merely providing structured access to
their holdings through their library catalog. Users must also be
guided to CD-ROM and Internet resources in a way that makes sense and
that integrates them as much as possible with traditional print
resources. The typical strategies so far include adding electronic and
Internet resources to the library catalog or creating a separate and
parallel catalog to the existing catalog of print materials. Neither
solution is without its problems. In this article Hanson proposes a
new kind of access paradigm that subsumes the library catalog of print
materials beneath an over-arching "Access Catalogue." This catalog
would provide integrated access to the complete breadth of information
resources, from which the user could leap off into the one they feel
is most appropriate to their need -- whether it be the traditional
library catalog, or a CD-ROM database, or a Web site. A number of us
have been slouching toward just such a solution, but it is refreshing
to see it so clearly and openly stated. Although this brief piece is
hardly more than the statement of an idea, it is nonetheless of
potentially much greater impact than a longer and more fully
documented article. Those of us who were using Gopher when Mosaic was
introduced understand the power of the right idea at the right time.
Although I don't want to imply that Hanson's model is as potentially
powerful, I do think it is well worth heeding. -- RT
Jensen, Ann. "Taking Local Resources Global: The NCSTRL Experience at
UC Berkeley Library" Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship 18
(Spring 1998)
[http://www.library.ucsb.edu/istl/98-spring/article1.html]. -- This
piece is a straightforward report on a library project to take over
the management of a repository of computer science technical reports
from a computer science department that had participated in a
ground-breaking digital library project called NCSTRL. Although the
topic may not be as "sexy" as other digital library projects -- being
based on technology that has existed for years -- it nonetheless is an
example of the kind of digital library function that should be a
library's bread-and-butter -- providing long-term, structured, and
usable access to useful information. -- RT
Electronic Publishing
Kelly, Brian. RDF Tools Briefing Sheet (May 1998)
[http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/seminars/what-is-rdf-may1998/
rdf-briefi ng.html]. -- This summary sheet on RDF tools and resources
is extremely helpful for anyone interesting in the Resource
Description Framework, or RDF. RDF is an emerging standard for
encoding metadata using XML syntax. RDF is likely to be an important
standard for anyone creating, exchanging, or using metadata. This
document is extremely up-to-date as of this writing, but as Kelly
wisely notes, this is a "very volatile area." It is available in Adobe
Acrobat, Word 97, and HTML formats. Our readers in the U.S. should
select the option "shrink to fit" when printing it from Adobe Acrobat,
as it is formatted for A4 paper. It is also designed to be distributed
as a one-page, back-to-back, folded handout. You would be hard-pressed
to find any better RDF summary sheet than this. -- RT
Kelly, Brian. What is XML? Ariadne 15 (May 1998)
[http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue15/what-is/]. -- The question posed by
the article title is on the lips of many individuals these days, and
will be pondered by even more in the days to come. Kelly's piece,
written in the question-and-answer format popularized by net
"Frequently Asked Questions" documents (FAQs), is aimed at answering
only the most basic questions about XML. However, those who know a bit
more than the basics may be pleasantly surprised by up-to-date
pointers to some interesting papers from the Seventh International
World Wide Web Conference. -- RT
Miller, Eric. "An Introduction to the Resource Description Framework"
D-Lib Magazine (May 1998)
[http://www.dlib.org/dlib/may98/miller/05miller.html]. -- Let's not
mince words. The Resource Description Framework, or RDF, is not for
the faint of heart. Anyone who has difficulty with the concept of
_labeled directed graphs_, yours truly included, will find themselves
wishing they had a dentist's appointment they could rush off to when
confronted with RDF syntax. But surely, you think, this preamble is
leading up to something more engaging than having one's teeth pulled,
right? Right. There _is_ a reason to endure such pain. If you've ever
wished for a mechanism by which you could encode, exchange, and use
structured metadata on the Web, then here it is. RDF is an emerging
solution to a variety of problems, from "cataloging" Web pages to
providing browsing of a Web site hierarchy and more. So pull up an
armchair, lean back, and open wide. The doctor is "in." -- RT
Stepanek, Marcia. "From Digits to Dust" Businessweek 3574 (April 20,
1998): 128. -- Librarians will be shocked! Shocked! To learn that
digital preservation is a vital issue. This article covers the growing
awareness among technology managers that digital information, much of
will never appear on paper, is subject to decay and degradation. In
many cases, the actual life span of CD-ROMs and other formats are no
longer than the life span of paper copies, despite the fact digital
copies are far more expensive to develop. Although this article is
very well written and informative, it falls into a very common trap of
business writers: a lack of research on the preservation initiatives
that originate in the library world. Maybe if digital preservation
values and strategies of librarians were more widely known, we
wouldn't be in such a pickle. This article makes it abundantly clear
that consideration of preservation issues must be folded into the
design process for digital formats. -- TH
Multimedia & Hypermedia
Donovan, Kevin. "The Promise of the FlashPix Image File Format" RLG
DigiNews 2(2) (April 15, 1998)
[http://www.rlg.org/preserv/diginews/diginews22.html#FlashPix]. -- One
of the critical questions at the moment for anyone doing serious image
work on the Web is what the next image format will be. It's clear that
the ubiquitous formats of GIF (Compuserve's Graphic Interchange
Format) and JPEG (the Joint Photographic Engineers Group
specification) are sufficient for providing Web eye candy, but they
are clearly deficient for serving high-resolution images. The problem
is that there is no clear winner among several competing formats.
FlashPix is one of these formats, and this article does a decent job
of explaining what it is all about. Can you implement it and be
certain it will be the format of the future? Perhaps, perhaps not. But
with Eastman Kodak, Hewlett-Packard, Live Picture, Inc., and Microsoft
behind it, you can't count it out either. At least with the help of
this article you will know about about your options. -- RT
Gulick, Rebecca. "Adobe Proposes PGML as Web Image Standard" MacWeek
12(15) (April 20, 1998): 1,8 -- Adobe, along with Netscape, IBM, and
other supporters proposed PGML as the new standard for vector-based
images for the Web to the W3C. Vector-based images are not defined as
a fixed set of pixels, but rather as algorithims. One of their
benefits is that a Web site could host a very high-resolution
vector-based image, which when delivered by the intelligent Web server
gets "dumbed down" into a lower-resolution image for the browser for
speed, but the end-user could "zoom" in on the image and request
higher and higher resolutions from the server. This would obviously
enable many uses for which the Web is now impractical, and could
greatly reduce the storage and mangement problems of multiple versions
of image files. PGML is not the only standard being proposed, but the
move toward vector-based images in general should be watched closely.
-- RR
Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) 1.0 Specification
(April 9, 1998) World Wide Web Consortium. -- A new proposal for a Web
based standard for multimedia. the Synchronized Multimedia Integration
Language (or SMIL; thanks Timothy Leary 8-) ) is an XML-based language
for integrating multimedia (audio, video, images) on the Web. Full
approval is pending and the SMIL specification can be found at
http://www.w3.org/TR/PR-smil. -- RR
Networks & Networking
Platt, Nina. "GPO Access - Government At Its Best?" Database 21 (2)
(April/May 1998): 41-43. -- If you've ever been frustrated by trying
to locate U.S. government information you may be pleased to read Nina
Platt's review of recent improvements to GPO Access
[http://www.access.gpo.gov/], the U.S. Government Printing Office's
electronic directory of Federal Government information. GPO Access
includes government information databases (such as The Federal
Register and The Code of Federal Regulation), individual Federal
agency files from the Federal Bulletin Board and tools for finding
government information. GPO Access also provides multiple access
options and general and specialized search pages. Platt acknowledges
that GPO Access has been available since 1994, but only recently has
begun to live up to its promise, by adding more resources and
simplifying the search process. -- LY
Proceedings of the 7th International World Wide Web Conference,
Brisbane, Australia April 14-18, 1998
[http://www7.conf.au/programme/fullprog.html]. -- The International
WWW Conference is the Web conference for academics and researchers.
Unlike conferences such as Internet World or Interop, you won't be
bumping into too many suits in the halls. This is both good and bad,
if you're of a practical bent. If you're looking for Web solutions you
can implement today, you will find few of them here. But if you want
to know where the Web may be heading, discover what technical
possibilities there are, and sample some cutting-edge solutions to Web
problems, this is the place. You will likely find that many of the
papers are of limited interest, but even if you find only one or two
that expands your knowledge about what is possible on the Web, it will
be worth a visit. My guess is you will. -- RT
Udell, Jon. "Effective HTML Forms" BYTE 23(5) (May 1998): 103-106
[http://www.byte.com/art/9805/sec7/art1.htm]. -- I don't normally cite
individual articles on creating Web documents, but this one has such
great advice about a Web structure that is so often done poorly, I
couldn't help myself. Udell, who doubles as the BYTE Web manager, not
only targets the markup with comments like "Mark required elements"
and "Use layout and visual cues to organize elements" (he gives
examples), but also the programs that will process the input: "Accept
all unambiguous inputs" (for example, (XXX) XXX-XXX or XXX-XXX-XXXX
for phone numbers) and "Use short error messages linked to longer
explanations." By the way, it's not absolutely necessary, but it will
help a lot if you know a little Perl, or at least some programming
language. -- RT
Optical Disc Technology
Herther, Nancy K. "CD-ROM to DVD-ROM: Moving Optical Storage Along a
Bumpy Road into the New Century" Database 21 (2) (April/May 1998):
26-36. -- Will the deployment of DVD technology benefit from the
CD-ROM learning curve? This is the question that Nancy Herther
discusses in this overview of the optical storage industry. DVD is the
next generation high density compact disc. While CD-ROMs can store
about 650MB of data or music, DVD discs can store between 4.7 GB to 17
GB - enough for more than a full-length MPEG-2 compressed motion
picture. DVD, if successful, will eventually replace videotapes,
laserdiscs, CD-Audio, CD-ROMs and other video game formats. After
interviewing over 35 industry participants and experts, Herther
concludes that this will depend on the resolution of remaining
standards issues, Win98 support for DVD, the number of available DVD
titles and backward compatibility with current CDs (DVD and DVD-ROM
players must be able to play today's current CDs). She also provides a
brief history of the CD-ROM industry, a helpful summary of the the
various CD and DVD formats (including recordable) and an extensive
list of Web resources for additional background information. -- LY
_________________________________________________________________
Current Cites 9(5) (May 1998) ISSN: 1060-2356 Copyright
1998 by the Library, University of California, Berkeley. _All rights
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