Jacqueline HESS, director, National Demonstration Laboratory, served as
moderator of the "show-and-tell" session. She noted that a
question-and-answer period would follow each presentation.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
MYLONAS * Overview and content of Perseus * Perseus' primary materials
exist in a system-independent, archival form * A concession * Textual
aspects of Perseus * Tools to use with the Greek text * Prepared indices
and full-text searches in Perseus * English-Greek word search leads to
close study of words and concepts * Navigating Perseus by tracing down
indices * Using the iconography to perform research *
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Elli MYLONAS, managing editor, Perseus Project, Harvard University, first
gave an overview of Perseus, a large, collaborative effort based at
Harvard University but with contributors and collaborators located at
numerous universities and colleges in the United States (e.g., Bowdoin,
Maryland, Pomona, Chicago, Virginia). Funded primarily by the
Annenberg/CPB Project, with additional funding from Apple, Harvard, and
the Packard Humanities Institute, among others, Perseus is a multimedia,
hypertextual database for teaching and research on classical Greek
civilization, which was released in February 1992 in version 1.0 and
distributed by Yale University Press.
Consisting entirely of primary materials, Perseus includes ancient Greek
texts and translations of those texts; catalog entries--that is, museum
catalog entries, not library catalog entries--on vases, sites, coins,
sculpture, and archaeological objects; maps; and a dictionary, among
other sources. The number of objects and the objects for which catalog
entries exist are accompanied by thousands of color images, which
constitute a major feature of the database. Perseus contains
approximately 30 megabytes of text, an amount that will double in
subsequent versions. In addition to these primary materials, the Perseus
Project has been building tools for using them, making access and
navigation easier, the goal being to build part of the electronic
environment discussed earlier in the morning in which students or
scholars can work with their sources.
The demonstration of Perseus will show only a fraction of the real work
that has gone into it, because the project had to face the dilemma of
what to enter when putting something into machine-readable form: should
one aim for very high quality or make concessions in order to get the
material in? Since Perseus decided to opt for very high quality, all of
its primary materials exist in a system-independent--insofar as it is
possible to be system-independent--archival form. Deciding what that
archival form would be and attaining it required much work and thought.
For example, all the texts are marked up in SGML, which will be made
compatible with the guidelines of the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) when
they are issued.
Drawings are postscript files, not meeting international standards, but
at least designed to go across platforms. Images, or rather the real
archival forms, consist of the best available slides, which are being
digitized. Much of the catalog material exists in database form--a form
that the average user could use, manipulate, and display on a personal
computer, but only at great cost. Thus, this is where the concession
comes in: All of this rich, well-marked-up information is stripped of
much of its content; the images are converted into bit-maps and the text
into small formatted chunks. All this information can then be imported
into HyperCard and run on a mid-range Macintosh, which is what Perseus
users have. This fact has made it possible for Perseus to attain wide
use fairly rapidly. Without those archival forms the HyperCard version
being demonstrated could not be made easily, and the project could not
have the potential to move to other forms and machines and software as
they appear, none of which information is in Perseus on the CD.
Of the numerous multimedia aspects of Perseus, MYLONAS focused on the
textual. Part of what makes Perseus such a pleasure to use, MYLONAS
said, is this effort at seamless integration and the ability to move
around both visual and textual material. Perseus also made the decision
not to attempt to interpret its material any more than one interprets by
selecting. But, MYLONAS emphasized, Perseus is not courseware: No
syllabus exists. There is no effort to define how one teaches a topic
using Perseus, although the project may eventually collect papers by
people who have used it to teach. Rather, Perseus aims to provide
primary material in a kind of electronic library, an electronic sandbox,
so to say, in which students and scholars who are working on this
material can explore by themselves. With that, MYLONAS demonstrated
Perseus, beginning with the Perseus gateway, the first thing one sees
upon opening Perseus--an effort in part to solve the contextualizing
problem--which tells the user what the system contains.
MYLONAS demonstrated only a very small portion, beginning with primary
texts and running off the CD-ROM. Having selected Aeschylus' Prometheus
Bound, which was viewable in Greek and English pretty much in the same
segments together, MYLONAS demonstrated tools to use with the Greek text,
something not possible with a book: looking up the dictionary entry form
of an unfamiliar word in Greek after subjecting it to Perseus'
morphological analysis for all the texts. After finding out about a
word, a user may then decide to see if it is used anywhere else in Greek.
Because vast amounts of indexing support all of the primary material, one
can find out where else all forms of a particular Greek word appear--
often not a trivial matter because Greek is highly inflected. Further,
since the story of Prometheus has to do with the origins of sacrifice, a
user may wish to study and explore sacrifice in Greek literature; by
typing sacrifice into a small window, a user goes to the English-Greek
word list--something one cannot do without the computer (Perseus has
indexed the definitions of its dictionary)--the string sacrifice appears
in the definitions of these sixty-five words. One may then find out
where any of those words is used in the work(s) of a particular author.
The English definitions are not lemmatized.
All of the indices driving this kind of usage were originally devised for
speed, MYLONAS observed; in other words, all that kind of information--
all forms of all words, where they exist, the dictionary form they belong
to--were collected into databases, which will expedite searching. Then
it was discovered that one can do things searching in these databases
that could not be done searching in the full texts. Thus, although there
are full-text searches in Perseus, much of the work is done behind the
scenes, using prepared indices. Re the indexing that is done behind the
scenes, MYLONAS pointed out that without the SGML forms of the text, it
could not be done effectively. Much of this indexing is based on the
structures that are made explicit by the SGML tagging.
It was found that one of the things many of Perseus' non-Greek-reading
users do is start from the dictionary and then move into the close study
of words and concepts via this kind of English-Greek word search, by which
means they might select a concept. This exercise has been assigned to
students in core courses at Harvard--to study a concept by looking for the
English word in the dictionary, finding the Greek words, and then finding
the words in the Greek but, of course, reading across in the English.
That tells them a great deal about what a translation means as well.
Should one also wish to see images that have to do with sacrifice, that
person would go to the object key word search, which allows one to
perform a similar kind of index retrieval on the database of
archaeological objects. Without words, pictures are useless; Perseus has
not reached the point where it can do much with images that are not
cataloged. Thus, although it is possible in Perseus with text and images
to navigate by knowing where one wants to end up--for example, a
red-figure vase from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts--one can perform this
kind of navigation very easily by tracing down indices. MYLONAS
illustrated several generic scenes of sacrifice on vases. The features
demonstrated derived from Perseus 1.0; version 2.0 will implement even
better means of retrieval.
MYLONAS closed by looking at one of the pictures and noting again that
one can do a great deal of research using the iconography as well as the
texts. For instance, students in a core course at Harvard this year were
highly interested in Greek concepts of foreigners and representations of
non-Greeks. So they performed a great deal of research, both with texts
(e.g., Herodotus) and with iconography on vases and coins, on how the
Greeks portrayed non-Greeks. At the same time, art historians who study
iconography were also interested, and were able to use this material.
******
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
DISCUSSION * Indexing and searchability of all English words in Perseus *
Several features of Perseus 1.0 * Several levels of customization
possible * Perseus used for general education * Perseus' effects on
education * Contextual information in Perseus * Main challenge and
emphasis of Perseus *
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Several points emerged in the discussion that followed MYLONAS's presentation.
Although MYLONAS had not demonstrated Perseus' ability to cross-search
documents, she confirmed that all English words in Perseus are indexed
and can be searched. So, for example, sacrifice could have been searched
in all texts, the historical essay, and all the catalogue entries with
their descriptions--in short, in all of Perseus.
Boolean logic is not in Perseus 1.0 but will be added to the next
version, although an effort is being made not to restrict Perseus to a
database in which one just performs searching, Boolean or otherwise. It
is possible to move laterally through the documents by selecting a word
one is interested in and selecting an area of information one is
interested in and trying to look that word up in that area.
Since Perseus was developed in HyperCard, several levels of customization
are possible. Simple authoring tools exist that allow one to create
annotated paths through the information, which are useful for note-taking
and for guided tours for teaching purposes and for expository writing.
With a little more ingenuity it is possible to begin to add or substitute
material in Perseus.
Perseus has not been used so much for classics education as for general
education, where it seemed to have an impact on the students in the core
course at Harvard (a general required course that students must take in
certain areas). Students were able to use primary material much more.
The Perseus Project has an evaluation team at the University of Maryland
that has been documenting Perseus' effects on education. Perseus is very
popular, and anecdotal evidence indicates that it is having an effect at
places other than Harvard, for example, test sites at Ball State
University, Drury College, and numerous small places where opportunities
to use vast amounts of primary data may not exist. One documented effect
is that archaeological, anthropological, and philological research is
being done by the same person instead of by three different people.
The contextual information in Perseus includes an overview essay, a
fairly linear historical essay on the fifth century B.C. that provides
links into the primary material (e.g., Herodotus, Thucydides, and
Plutarch), via small gray underscoring (on the screen) of linked
passages. These are handmade links into other material.
To different extents, most of the production work was done at Harvard,
where the people and the equipment are located. Much of the
collaborative activity involved data collection and structuring, because
the main challenge and the emphasis of Perseus is the gathering of
primary material, that is, building a useful environment for studying
classical Greece, collecting data, and making it useful.
Systems-building is definitely not the main concern. Thus, much of the
work has involved writing essays, collecting information, rewriting it,
and tagging it. That can be done off site. The creative link for the
overview essay as well as for both systems and data was collaborative,
and was forged via E-mail and paper mail with professors at Pomona and
Bowdoin.
******
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
CALALUCA * PLD's principal focus and contribution to scholarship *
Various questions preparatory to beginning the project * Basis for
project * Basic rule in converting PLD * Concerning the images in PLD *
Running PLD under a variety of retrieval softwares * Encoding the
database a hard-fought issue * Various features demonstrated * Importance
of user documentation * Limitations of the CD-ROM version *
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Eric CALALUCA, vice president, Chadwyck-Healey, Inc., demonstrated a
software interpretation of the Patrologia Latina Database (PLD). PLD's
principal focus from the beginning of the project about three-and-a-half
years ago was on converting Migne's Latin series, and in the end,
CALALUCA suggested, conversion of the text will be the major contribution
to scholarship. CALALUCA stressed that, as possibly the only private
publishing organization at the Workshop, Chadwyck-Healey had sought no
federal funds or national foundation support before embarking upon the
project, but instead had relied upon a great deal of homework and
marketing to accomplish the task of conversion.
Ever since the possibilities of computer-searching have emerged, scholars
in the field of late ancient and early medieval studies (philosophers,
theologians, classicists, and those studying the history of natural law
and the history of the legal development of Western civilization) have
been longing for a fully searchable version of Western literature, for
example, all the texts of Augustine and Bernard of Clairvaux and
Boethius, not to mention all the secondary and tertiary authors.
Various questions arose, CALALUCA said. Should one convert Migne?
Should the database be encoded? Is it necessary to do that? How should
it be delivered? What about CD-ROM? Since this is a transitional
medium, why even bother to create software to run on a CD-ROM? Since
everybody knows people will be networking information, why go to the
trouble--which is far greater with CD-ROM than with the production of
magnetic data? Finally, how does one make the data available? Can many
of the hurdles to using electronic information that some publishers have
imposed upon databases be eliminated?
The PLD project was based on the principle that computer-searching of
texts is most effective when it is done with a large database. Because
PLD represented a collection that serves so many disciplines across so
many periods, it was irresistible.
The basic rule in converting PLD was to do no harm, to avoid the sins of
intrusion in such a database: no introduction of newer editions, no
on-the-spot changes, no eradicating of all possible falsehoods from an
edition. Thus, PLD is not the final act in electronic publishing for
this discipline, but simply the beginning. The conversion of PLD has
evoked numerous unanticipated questions: How will information be used?
What about networking? Can the rights of a database be protected?
Should one protect the rights of a database? How can it be made
available?
Those converting PLD also tried to avoid the sins of omission, that is,
excluding portions of the collections or whole sections. What about the
images? PLD is full of images, some are extremely pious
nineteenth-century representations of the Fathers, while others contain
highly interesting elements. The goal was to cover all the text of Migne
(including notes, in Greek and in Hebrew, the latter of which, in
particular, causes problems in creating a search structure), all the
indices, and even the images, which are being scanned in separately
searchable files.
Several North American institutions that have placed acquisition requests
for the PLD database have requested it in magnetic form without software,
which means they are already running it without software, without
anything demonstrated at the Workshop.
What cannot practically be done is go back and reconvert and re-encode
data, a time-consuming and extremely costly enterprise. CALALUCA sees
PLD as a database that can, and should, be run under a variety of
retrieval softwares. This will permit the widest possible searches.
Consequently, the need to produce a CD-ROM of PLD, as well as to develop
software that could handle some 1.3 gigabyte of heavily encoded text,
developed out of conversations with collection development and reference
librarians who wanted software both compassionate enough for the
pedestrian but also capable of incorporating the most detailed
lexicographical studies that a user desires to conduct. In the end, the
encoding and conversion of the data will prove the most enduring
testament to the value of the project.
The encoding of the database was also a hard-fought issue: Did the
database need to be encoded? Were there normative structures for encoding
humanist texts? Should it be SGML? What about the TEI--will it last,
will it prove useful? CALALUCA expressed some minor doubts as to whether
a data bank can be fully TEI-conformant. Every effort can be made, but
in the end to be TEI-conformant means to accept the need to make some
firm encoding decisions that can, indeed, be disputed. The TEI points
the publisher in a proper direction but does not presume to make all the
decisions for him or her. Essentially, the goal of encoding was to
eliminate, as much as possible, the hindrances to information-networking,
so that if an institution acquires a database, everybody associated with
the institution can have access to it.
CALALUCA demonstrated a portion of Volume 160, because it had the most
anomalies in it. The software was created by Electronic Book
Technologies of Providence, RI, and is called Dynatext. The software
works only with SGML-coded data.
Viewing a table of contents on the screen, the audience saw how Dynatext
treats each element as a book and attempts to simplify movement through a
volume. Familiarity with the Patrologia in print (i.e., the text, its
source, and the editions) will make the machine-readable versions highly
useful. (Software with a Windows application was sought for PLD,
CALALUCA said, because this was the main trend for scholarly use.)
CALALUCA also demonstrated how a user can perform a variety of searches
and quickly move to any part of a volume; the look-up screen provides
some basic, simple word-searching.
CALALUCA argued that one of the major difficulties is not the software.
Rather, in creating a product that will be used by scholars representing
a broad spectrum of computer sophistication, user documentation proves
to be the most important service one can provide.
CALALUCA next illustrated a truncated search under mysterium within ten
words of virtus and how one would be able to find its contents throughout
the entire database. He said that the exciting thing about PLD is that
many of the applications in the retrieval software being written for it
will exceed the capabilities of the software employed now for the CD-ROM
version. The CD-ROM faces genuine limitations, in terms of speed and
comprehensiveness, in the creation of a retrieval software to run it.
CALALUCA said he hoped that individual scholars will download the data,
if they wish, to their personal computers, and have ready access to
important texts on a constant basis, which they will be able to use in
their research and from which they might even be able to publish.
(CALALUCA explained that the blue numbers represented Migne's column numbers,
which are the standard scholarly references. Pulling up a note, he stated
that these texts were heavily edited and the image files would appear simply
as a note as well, so that one could quickly access an image.)
******
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
FLEISCHHAUER/ERWAY * Several problems with which AM is still wrestling *
Various search and retrieval capabilities * Illustration of automatic
stemming and a truncated search * AM's attempt to find ways to connect
cataloging to the texts * AM's gravitation towards SGML * Striking a
balance between quantity and quality * How AM furnishes users recourse to
images * Conducting a search in a full-text environment * Macintosh and
IBM prototypes of AM * Multimedia aspects of AM *
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A demonstration of American Memory by its coordinator, Carl FLEISCHHAUER,
and Ricky ERWAY, associate coordinator, Library of Congress, concluded
the morning session. Beginning with a collection of broadsides from the
Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, the only text
collection in a presentable form at the time of the Workshop, FLEISCHHAUER
highlighted several of the problems with which AM is still wrestling.
(In its final form, the disk will contain two collections, not only the
broadsides but also the full text with illustrations of a set of
approximately 300 African-American pamphlets from the period 1870 to 1910.)
As FREEMAN had explained earlier, AM has attempted to use a small amount
of interpretation to introduce collections. In the present case, the
contractor, a company named Quick Source, in Silver Spring, MD., used
software called Toolbook and put together a modestly interactive
introduction to the collection. Like the two preceding speakers,
FLEISCHHAUER argued that the real asset was the underlying collection.
FLEISCHHAUER proceeded to describe various search and retrieval
capabilities while ERWAY worked the computer. In this particular package
the "go to" pull-down allowed the user in effect to jump out of Toolbook,
where the interactive program was located, and enter the third-party
software used by AM for this text collection, which is called Personal
Librarian. This was the Windows version of Personal Librarian, a
software application put together by a company in Rockville, Md.
Since the broadsides came from the Revolutionary War period, a search was
conducted using the words British or war, with the default operator reset
as or. FLEISCHHAUER demonstrated both automatic stemming (which finds
other forms of the same root) and a truncated search. One of Personal
Librarian's strongest features, the relevance ranking, was represented by
a chart that indicated how often words being sought appeared in
documents, with the one receiving the most "hits" obtaining the highest
score. The "hit list" that is supplied takes the relevance ranking into
account, making the first hit, in effect, the one the software has
selected as the most relevant example.
While in the text of one of the broadside documents, FLEISCHHAUER
remarked AM's attempt to find ways to connect cataloging to the texts,
which it does in different ways in different manifestations. In the case
shown, the cataloging was pasted on: AM took MARC records that were
written as on-line records right into one of the Library's mainframe
retrieval programs, pulled them out, and handed them off to the contractor,
who massaged them somewhat to display them in the manner shown. One of
AM's questions is, Does the cataloguing normally performed in the mainframe
work in this context, or had AM ought to think through adjustments?
FLEISCHHAUER made the additional point that, as far as the text goes, AM
has gravitated towards SGML (he pointed to the boldface in the upper part
of the screen). Although extremely limited in its ability to translate
or interpret SGML, Personal Librarian will furnish both bold and italics
on screen; a fairly easy thing to do, but it is one of the ways in which
SGML is useful.
Striking a balance between quantity and quality has been a major concern
of AM, with accuracy being one of the places where project staff have
felt that less than 100-percent accuracy was not unacceptable.
FLEISCHHAUER cited the example of the standard of the rekeying industry,
namely 99.95 percent; as one service bureau informed him, to go from
99.95 to 100 percent would double the cost.
FLEISCHHAUER next demonstrated how AM furnishes users recourse to images,
and at the same time recalled LESK's pointed question concerning the
number of people who would look at those images and the number who would
work only with the text. If the implication of LESK's question was
sound, FLEISCHHAUER said, it raised the stakes for text accuracy and
reduced the value of the strategy for images.
Contending that preservation is always a bugaboo, FLEISCHHAUER
demonstrated several images derived from a scan of a preservation
microfilm that AM had made. He awarded a grade of C at best, perhaps a
C minus or a C plus, for how well it worked out. Indeed, the matter of
learning if other people had better ideas about scanning in general, and,
in particular, scanning from microfilm, was one of the factors that drove
AM to attempt to think through the agenda for the Workshop. Skew, for
example, was one of the issues that AM in its ignorance had not reckoned
would prove so difficult.
Further, the handling of images of the sort shown, in a desktop computer
environment, involved a considerable amount of zooming and scrolling.
Ultimately, AM staff feel that perhaps the paper copy that is printed out
might be the most useful one, but they remain uncertain as to how much
on-screen reading users will do.
Returning to the text, FLEISCHHAUER asked viewers to imagine a person who
might be conducting a search in a full-text environment. With this
scenario, he proceeded to illustrate other features of Personal Librarian
that he considered helpful; for example, it provides the ability to
notice words as one reads. Clicking the "include" button on the bottom
of the search window pops the words that have been highlighted into the
search. Thus, a user can refine the search as he or she reads,
re-executing the search and continuing to find things in the quest for
materials. This software not only contains relevance ranking, Boolean
operators, and truncation, it also permits one to perform word algebra,
so to say, where one puts two or three words in parentheses and links
them with one Boolean operator and then a couple of words in another set
of parentheses and asks for things within so many words of others.
Until they became acquainted recently with some of the work being done in
classics, the AM staff had not realized that a large number of the
projects that involve electronic texts were being done by people with a
profound interest in language and linguistics. Their search strategies
and thinking are oriented to those fields, as is shown in particular by
the Perseus example. As amateur historians, the AM staff were thinking
more of searching for concepts and ideas than for particular words.
Obviously, FLEISCHHAUER conceded, searching for concepts and ideas and
searching for words may be two rather closely related things.
While displaying several images, FLEISCHHAUER observed that the Macintosh
prototype built by AM contains a greater diversity of formats. Echoing a
previous speaker, he said that it was easier to stitch things together in
the Macintosh, though it tended to be a little more anemic in search and
retrieval. AM, therefore, increasingly has been investigating
sophisticated retrieval engines in the IBM format.
FLEISCHHAUER demonstrated several additional examples of the prototype
interfaces: One was AM's metaphor for the network future, in which a
kind of reading-room graphic suggests how one would be able to go around
to different materials. AM contains a large number of photographs in
analog video form worked up from a videodisc, which enable users to make
copies to print or incorporate in digital documents. A frame-grabber is
built into the system, making it possible to bring an image into a window
and digitize or print it out.
FLEISCHHAUER next demonstrated sound recording, which included texts.
Recycled from a previous project, the collection included sixty 78-rpm
phonograph records of political speeches that were made during and
immediately after World War I. These constituted approximately three
hours of audio, as AM has digitized it, which occupy 150 megabytes on a
CD. Thus, they are considerably compressed. From the catalogue card,
FLEISCHHAUER proceeded to a transcript of a speech with the audio
available and with highlighted text following it as it played.
A photograph has been added and a transcription made.
Considerable value has been added beyond what the Library of Congress
normally would do in cataloguing a sound recording, which raises several
questions for AM concerning where to draw lines about how much value it can
afford to add and at what point, perhaps, this becomes more than AM could
reasonably do or reasonably wish to do. FLEISCHHAUER also demonstrated
a motion picture. As FREEMAN had reported earlier, the motion picture
materials have proved the most popular, not surprisingly. This says more
about the medium, he thought, than about AM's presentation of it.
Because AM's goal was to bring together things that could be used by
historians or by people who were curious about history,
turn-of-the-century footage seemed to represent the most appropriate
collections from the Library of Congress in motion pictures. These were
the very first films made by Thomas Edison's company and some others at
that time. The particular example illustrated was a Biograph film,
brought in with a frame-grabber into a window. A single videodisc
contains about fifty titles and pieces of film from that period, all of
New York City. Taken together, AM believes, they provide an interesting
documentary resource.
******
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
DISCUSSION * Using the frame-grabber in AM * Volume of material processed
and to be processed * Purpose of AM within LC * Cataloguing and the
nature of AM's material * SGML coding and the question of quality versus
quantity *
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
During the question-and-answer period that followed FLEISCHHAUER's
presentation, several clarifications were made.
AM is bringing in motion pictures from a videodisc. The frame-grabber
devices create a window on a computer screen, which permits users to
digitize a single frame of the movie or one of the photographs. It
produces a crude, rough-and-ready image that high school students can
incorporate into papers, and that has worked very nicely in this way.
Commenting on FLEISCHHAUER's assertion that AM was looking more at
searching ideas than words, MYLONAS argued that without words an idea
does not exist. FLEISCHHAUER conceded that he ought to have articulated
his point more clearly. MYLONAS stated that they were in fact both
talking about the same thing. By searching for words and by forcing
people to focus on the word, the Perseus Project felt that they would get
them to the idea. The way one reviews results is tailored more to one
kind of user than another.
Concerning the total volume of material that has been processed in this
way, AM at this point has in retrievable form seven or eight collections,
all of them photographic. In the Macintosh environment, for example,
there probably are 35,000-40,000 photographs. The sound recordings
number sixty items. The broadsides number about 300 items. There are
500 political cartoons in the form of drawings. The motion pictures, as
individual items, number sixty to seventy.
AM also has a manuscript collection, the life history portion of one of
the federal project series, which will contain 2,900 individual
documents, all first-person narratives. AM has in process about 350
African-American pamphlets, or about 12,000 printed pages for the period
1870-1910. Also in the works are some 4,000 panoramic photographs. AM
has recycled a fair amount of the work done by LC's Prints and
Photographs Division during the Library's optical disk pilot project in
the 1980s. For example, a special division of LC has tooled up and
thought through all the ramifications of electronic presentation of
photographs. Indeed, they are wheeling them out in great barrel loads.
The purpose of AM within the Library, it is hoped, is to catalyze several
of the other special collection divisions which have no particular
experience with, in some cases, mixed feelings about, an activity such as
AM. Moreover, in many cases the divisions may be characterized as not
only lacking experience in "electronifying" things but also in automated
cataloguing. MARC cataloguing as practiced in the United States is
heavily weighted toward the description of monograph and serial
materials, but is much thinner when one enters the world of manuscripts
and things that are held in the Library's music collection and other
units. In response to a comment by LESK, that AM's material is very
heavily photographic, and is so primarily because individual records have
been made for each photograph, FLEISCHHAUER observed that an item-level
catalog record exists, for example, for each photograph in the Detroit
Publishing collection of 25,000 pictures. In the case of the Federal
Writers Project, for which nearly 3,000 documents exist, representing
information from twenty-six different states, AM with the assistance of
Karen STUART of the Manuscript Division will attempt to find some way not
only to have a collection-level record but perhaps a MARC record for each
state, which will then serve as an umbrella for the 100-200 documents
that come under it. But that drama remains to be enacted. The AM staff
is conservative and clings to cataloguing, though of course visitors tout
artificial intelligence and neural networks in a manner that suggests that
perhaps one need not have cataloguing or that much of it could be put aside.
The matter of SGML coding, FLEISCHHAUER conceded, returned the discussion
to the earlier treated question of quality versus quantity in the Library
of Congress. Of course, text conversion can be done with 100-percent
accuracy, but it means that when one's holdings are as vast as LC's only
a tiny amount will be exposed, whereas permitting lower levels of
accuracy can lead to exposing or sharing larger amounts, but with the
quality correspondingly impaired.
******
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
TWOHIG * A contrary experience concerning electronic options * Volume of
material in the Washington papers and a suggestion of David Packard *
Implications of Packard's suggestion * Transcribing the documents for the
CD-ROM * Accuracy of transcriptions * The CD-ROM edition of the Founding
Fathers documents *
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Finding encouragement in a comment of MICHELSON's from the morning
session--that numerous people in the humanities were choosing electronic
options to do their work--Dorothy TWOHIG, editor, The Papers of George
Washington, opened her illustrated talk by noting that her experience
with literary scholars and numerous people in editing was contrary to
MICHELSON's. TWOHIG emphasized literary scholars' complete ignorance of
the technological options available to them or their reluctance or, in
some cases, their downright hostility toward these options.
After providing an overview of the five Founding Fathers projects
(Jefferson at Princeton, Franklin at Yale, John Adams at the
Massachusetts Historical Society, and Madison down the hall from her at
the University of Virginia), TWOHIG observed that the Washington papers,
like all of the projects, include both sides of the Washington
correspondence and deal with some 135,000 documents to be published with
extensive annotation in eighty to eighty-five volumes, a project that
will not be completed until well into the next century. Thus, it was
with considerable enthusiasm several years ago that the Washington Papers
Project (WPP) greeted David Packard's suggestion that the papers of the
Founding Fathers could be published easily and inexpensively, and to the
great benefit of American scholarship, via CD-ROM.
In pragmatic terms, funding from the Packard Foundation would expedite
the transcription of thousands of documents waiting to be put on disk in
the WPP offices. Further, since the costs of collecting, editing, and
converting the Founding Fathers documents into letterpress editions were
running into the millions of dollars, and the considerable staffs
involved in all of these projects were devoting their careers to
producing the work, the Packard Foundation's suggestion had a
revolutionary aspect: Transcriptions of the entire corpus of the
Founding Fathers papers would be available on CD-ROM to public and
college libraries, even high schools, at a fraction of the cost--
$100-$150 for the annual license fee--to produce a limited university
press run of 1,000 of each volume of the published papers at $45-$150 per
printed volume. Given the current budget crunch in educational systems
and the corresponding constraints on librarians in smaller institutions
who wish to add these volumes to their collections, producing the
documents on CD-ROM would likely open a greatly expanded audience for the
papers. TWOHIG stressed, however, that development of the Founding
Fathers CD-ROM is still in its infancy. Serious software problems remain
to be resolved before the material can be put into readable form.
Funding from the Packard Foundation resulted in a major push to
transcribe the 75,000 or so documents of the Washington papers remaining
to be transcribed onto computer disks. Slides illustrated several of the
problems encountered, for example, the present inability of CD-ROM to
indicate the cross-outs (deleted material) in eighteenth century
documents. TWOHIG next described documents from various periods in the
eighteenth century that have been transcribed in chronological order and
delivered to the Packard offices in California, where they are converted
to the CD-ROM, a process that is expected to consume five years to
complete (that is, reckoning from David Packard's suggestion made several
years ago, until about July 1994). TWOHIG found an encouraging
indication of the project's benefits in the ongoing use made by scholars
of the search functions of the CD-ROM, particularly in reducing the time
spent in manually turning the pages of the Washington papers.
TWOHIG next furnished details concerning the accuracy of transcriptions.
For instance, the insertion of thousands of documents on the CD-ROM
currently does not permit each document to be verified against the
original manuscript several times as in the case of documents that appear
in the published edition. However, the transcriptions receive a cursory
check for obvious typos, the misspellings of proper names, and other
errors from the WPP CD-ROM editor. Eventually, all documents that appear
in the electronic version will be checked by project editors. Although
this process has met with opposition from some of the editors on the
grounds that imperfect work may leave their offices, the advantages in
making this material available as a research tool outweigh fears about the
misspelling of proper names and other relatively minor editorial matters.
Completion of all five Founding Fathers projects (i.e., retrievability
and searchability of all of the documents by proper names, alternate
spellings, or varieties of subjects) will provide one of the richest
sources of this size for the history of the United States in the latter
part of the eighteenth century. Further, publication on CD-ROM will
allow editors to include even minutiae, such as laundry lists, not
included in the printed volumes.
It seems possible that the extensive annotation provided in the printed
volumes eventually will be added to the CD-ROM edition, pending
negotiations with the publishers of the papers. At the moment, the
Founding Fathers CD-ROM is accessible only on the IBYCUS, a computer
developed out of the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae project and designed for
the use of classical scholars. There are perhaps 400 IBYCUS computers in
the country, most of which are in university classics departments.
Ultimately, it is anticipated that the CD-ROM edition of the Founding
Fathers documents will run on any IBM-compatible or Macintosh computer
with a CD-ROM drive. Numerous changes in the software will also occur
before the project is completed. (Editor's note: an IBYCUS was
unavailable to demonstrate the CD-ROM.)
******
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
DISCUSSION * Several additional features of WPP clarified *
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Discussion following TWOHIG's presentation served to clarify several
additional features, including (1) that the project's primary
intellectual product consists in the electronic transcription of the
material; (2) that the text transmitted to the CD-ROM people is not
marked up; (3) that cataloging and subject-indexing of the material
remain to be worked out (though at this point material can be retrieved
by name); and (4) that because all the searching is done in the hardware,
the IBYCUS is designed to read a CD-ROM which contains only sequential
text files. Technically, it then becomes very easy to read the material
off and put it on another device.
******
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
LEBRON * Overview of the history of the joint project between AAAS and
OCLC * Several practices the on-line environment shares with traditional
publishing on hard copy * Several technical and behavioral barriers to
electronic publishing * How AAAS and OCLC arrived at the subject of
clinical trials * Advantages of the electronic format and other features
of OJCCT * An illustrated tour of the journal *
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Maria LEBRON, managing editor, The Online Journal of Current Clinical
Trials (OJCCT), presented an illustrated overview of the history of the
joint project between the American Association for the Advancement of
Science (AAAS) and the Online Computer Library Center, Inc. (OCLC). The
joint venture between AAAS and OCLC owes its beginning to a
reorganization launched by the new chief executive officer at OCLC about
three years ago and combines the strengths of these two disparate
organizations. In short, OJCCT represents the process of scholarly
publishing on line.
LEBRON next discussed several practices the on-line environment shares
with traditional publishing on hard copy--for example, peer review of
manuscripts--that are highly important in the academic world. LEBRON
noted in particular the implications of citation counts for tenure
committees and grants committees. In the traditional hard-copy
environment, citation counts are readily demonstrable, whereas the
on-line environment represents an ethereal medium to most academics.
LEBRON remarked several technical and behavioral barriers to electronic
publishing, for instance, the problems in transmission created by special
characters or by complex graphics and halftones. In addition, she noted
economic limitations such as the storage costs of maintaining back issues
and market or audience education.
Manuscripts cannot be uploaded to OJCCT, LEBRON explained, because it is
not a bulletin board or E-mail, forms of electronic transmission of
information that have created an ambience clouding people's understanding
of what the journal is attempting to do. OJCCT, which publishes
peer-reviewed medical articles dealing with the subject of clinical
trials, includes text, tabular material, and graphics, although at this
time it can transmit only line illustrations.
Next, LEBRON described how AAAS and OCLC arrived at the subject of
clinical trials: It is 1) a highly statistical discipline that 2) does
not require halftones but can satisfy the needs of its audience with line
illustrations and graphic material, and 3) there is a need for the speedy
dissemination of high-quality research results. Clinical trials are
research activities that involve the administration of a test treatment
to some experimental unit in order to test its usefulness before it is
made available to the general population. LEBRON proceeded to give
additional information on OJCCT concerning its editor-in-chief, editorial
board, editorial content, and the types of articles it publishes
(including peer-reviewed research reports and reviews), as well as
features shared by other traditional hard-copy journals.
Among the advantages of the electronic format are faster dissemination of
information, including raw data, and the absence of space constraints
because pages do not exist. (This latter fact creates an interesting
situation when it comes to citations.) Nor are there any issues. AAAS's
capacity to download materials directly from the journal to a
subscriber's printer, hard drive, or floppy disk helps ensure highly
accurate transcription. Other features of OJCCT include on-screen alerts
that allow linkage of subsequently published documents to the original
documents; on-line searching by subject, author, title, etc.; indexing of
every single word that appears in an article; viewing access to an
article by component (abstract, full text, or graphs); numbered
paragraphs to replace page counts; publication in Science every thirty
days of indexing of all articles published in the journal;
typeset-quality screens; and Hypertext links that enable subscribers to
bring up Medline abstracts directly without leaving the journal.
After detailing the two primary ways to gain access to the journal,
through the OCLC network and Compuserv if one desires graphics or through
the Internet if just an ASCII file is desired, LEBRON illustrated the
speedy editorial process and the coding of the document using SGML tags
after it has been accepted for publication. She also gave an illustrated
tour of the journal, its search-and-retrieval capabilities in particular,
but also including problems associated with scanning in illustrations,
and the importance of on-screen alerts to the medical profession re
retractions or corrections, or more frequently, editorials, letters to
the editors, or follow-up reports. She closed by inviting the audience
to join AAAS on 1 July, when OJCCT was scheduled to go on-line.
******
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
DISCUSSION * Additional features of OJCCT *
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
In the lengthy discussion that followed LEBRON's presentation, these
points emerged:
* The SGML text can be tailored as users wish.
* All these articles have a fairly simple document definition.
* Document-type definitions (DTDs) were developed and given to OJCCT
for coding.
* No articles will be removed from the journal. (Because there are
no back issues, there are no lost issues either. Once a subscriber
logs onto the journal he or she has access not only to the currently
published materials, but retrospectively to everything that has been
published in it. Thus the table of contents grows bigger. The date
of publication serves to distinguish between currently published
materials and older materials.)
* The pricing system for the journal resembles that for most medical
journals: for 1992, $95 for a year, plus telecommunications charges
(there are no connect time charges); for 1993, $110 for the
entire year for single users, though the journal can be put on a
local area network (LAN). However, only one person can access the
journal at a time. Site licenses may come in the future.
* AAAS is working closely with colleagues at OCLC to display
mathematical equations on screen.
* Without compromising any steps in the editorial process, the
technology has reduced the time lag between when a manuscript is
originally submitted and the time it is accepted; the review process
does not differ greatly from the standard six-to-eight weeks
employed by many of the hard-copy journals. The process still
depends on people.
* As far as a preservation copy is concerned, articles will be
maintained on the computer permanently and subscribers, as part of
their subscription, will receive a microfiche-quality archival copy
of everything published during that year; in addition, reprints can
be purchased in much the same way as in a hard-copy environment.
Hard copies are prepared but are not the primary medium for the
dissemination of the information.
* Because OJCCT is not yet on line, it is difficult to know how many
people would simply browse through the journal on the screen as
opposed to downloading the whole thing and printing it out; a mix of
both types of users likely will result.
******
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
PERSONIUS * Developments in technology over the past decade * The CLASS
Project * Advantages for technology and for the CLASS Project *
Developing a network application an underlying assumption of the project
* Details of the scanning process * Print-on-demand copies of books *
Future plans include development of a browsing tool *
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Lynne PERSONIUS, assistant director, Cornell Information Technologies for
Scholarly Information Services, Cornell University, first commented on
the tremendous impact that developments in technology over the past ten
years--networking, in particular--have had on the way information is
handled, and how, in her own case, these developments have counterbalanced
Cornell's relative geographical isolation. Other significant technologies
include scanners, which are much more sophisticated than they were ten years
ago; mass storage and the dramatic savings that result from it in terms of
both space and money relative to twenty or thirty years ago; new and
improved printing technologies, which have greatly affected the distribution
of information; and, of course, digital technologies, whose applicability to
library preservation remains at issue.
Given that context, PERSONIUS described the College Library Access and
Storage System (CLASS) Project, a library preservation project,
primarily, and what has been accomplished. Directly funded by the
Commission on Preservation and Access and by the Xerox Corporation, which
has provided a significant amount of hardware, the CLASS Project has been
working with a development team at Xerox to develop a software
application tailored to library preservation requirements. Within
Cornell, participants in the project have been working jointly with both
library and information technologies. The focus of the project has been
on reformatting and saving books that are in brittle condition.
PERSONIUS showed Workshop participants a brittle book, and described how
such books were the result of developments in papermaking around the
beginning of the Industrial Revolution. The papermaking process was
changed so that a significant amount of acid was introduced into the
actual paper itself, which deteriorates as it sits on library shelves.
One of the advantages for technology and for the CLASS Project is that
the information in brittle books is mostly out of copyright and thus
offers an opportunity to work with material that requires library
preservation, and to create and work on an infrastructure to save the
material. Acknowledging the familiarity of those working in preservation
with this information, PERSONIUS noted that several things are being
done: the primary preservation technology used today is photocopying of
brittle material. Saving the intellectual content of the material is the
main goal. With microfilm copy, the intellectual content is preserved on
the assumption that in the future the image can be reformatted in any
other way that then exists.
An underlying assumption of the CLASS Project from the beginning was
that it would develop a network application. Project staff scan books
at a workstation located in the library, near the brittle material.
An image-server filing system is located at a distance from that
workstation, and a printer is located in another building. All of the
materials digitized and stored on the image-filing system are cataloged
in the on-line catalogue. In fact, a record for each of these electronic
books is stored in the RLIN database so that a record exists of what is
in the digital library throughout standard catalogue procedures. In the
future, researchers working from their own workstations in their offices,
or their networks, will have access--wherever they might be--through a
request server being built into the new digital library. A second
assumption is that the preferred means of finding the material will be by
looking through a catalogue. PERSONIUS described the scanning process,
which uses a prototype scanner being developed by Xerox and which scans a
very high resolution image at great speed. Another significant feature,
because this is a preservation application, is the placing of the pages
that fall apart one for one on the platen. Ordinarily, a scanner could
be used with some sort of a document feeder, but because of this
application that is not feasible. Further, because CLASS is a
preservation application, after the paper replacement is made there, a
very careful quality control check is performed. An original book is
compared to the printed copy and verification is made, before proceeding,
that all of the image, all of the information, has been captured. Then,
a new library book is produced: The printed images are rebound by a
commercial binder and a new book is returned to the shelf.
Significantly, the books returned to the library shelves are beautiful
and useful replacements on acid-free paper that should last a long time,
in effect, the equivalent of preservation photocopies. Thus, the project
has a library of digital books. In essence, CLASS is scanning and
storing books as 600 dot-per-inch bit-mapped images, compressed using
Group 4 CCITT (i.e., the French acronym for International Consultative
Committee for Telegraph and Telephone) compression. They are stored as
TIFF files on an optical filing system that is composed of a database
used for searching and locating the books and an optical jukebox that
stores 64 twelve-inch platters. A very-high-resolution printed copy of
these books at 600 dots per inch is created, using a Xerox DocuTech
printer to make the paper replacements on acid-free paper.
PERSONIUS maintained that the CLASS Project presents an opportunity to
introduce people to books as digital images by using a paper medium.
Books are returned to the shelves while people are also given the ability
to print on demand--to make their own copies of books. (PERSONIUS
distributed copies of an engineering journal published by engineering
students at Cornell around 1900 as an example of what a print-on-demand
copy of material might be like. This very cheap copy would be available
to people to use for their own research purposes and would bridge the gap
between an electronic work and the paper that readers like to have.)
PERSONIUS then attempted to illustrate a very early prototype of
networked access to this digital library. Xerox Corporation has
developed a prototype of a view station that can send images across the
network to be viewed.
The particular library brought down for demonstration contained two
mathematics books. CLASS is developing and will spend the next year
developing an application that allows people at workstations to browse
the books. Thus, CLASS is developing a browsing tool, on the assumption
that users do not want to read an entire book from a workstation, but
would prefer to be able to look through and decide if they would like to
have a printed copy of it.
******
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
DISCUSSION * Re retrieval software * "Digital file copyright" * Scanning
rate during production * Autosegmentation * Criteria employed in
selecting books for scanning * Compression and decompression of images *
OCR not precluded *
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
During the question-and-answer period that followed her presentation,
PERSONIUS made these additional points:
* Re retrieval software, Cornell is developing a Unix-based server
as well as clients for the server that support multiple platforms
(Macintosh, IBM and Sun workstations), in the hope that people from
any of those platforms will retrieve books; a further operating
assumption is that standard interfaces will be used as much as
possible, where standards can be put in place, because CLASS
considers this retrieval software a library application and would
like to be able to look at material not only at Cornell but at other
institutions.
* The phrase "digital file copyright by Cornell University" was
added at the advice of Cornell's legal staff with the caveat that it
probably would not hold up in court. Cornell does not want people
to copy its books and sell them but would like to keep them
available for use in a library environment for library purposes.
* In production the scanner can scan about 300 pages per hour,
capturing 600 dots per inch.
* The Xerox software has filters to scan halftone material and avoid
the moire patterns that occur when halftone material is scanned.
Xerox has been working on hardware and software that would enable
the scanner itself to recognize this situation and deal with it
appropriately--a kind of autosegmentation that would enable the
scanner to handle halftone material as well as text on a single page.
* The books subjected to the elaborate process described above were
selected because CLASS is a preservation project, with the first 500
books selected coming from Cornell's mathematics collection, because
they were still being heavily used and because, although they were
in need of preservation, the mathematics library and the mathematics
faculty were uncomfortable having them microfilmed. (They wanted a
printed copy.) Thus, these books became a logical choice for this
project. Other books were chosen by the project's selection committees
for experiments with the technology, as well as to meet a demand or need.
* Images will be decompressed before they are sent over the line; at
this time they are compressed and sent to the image filing system
and then sent to the printer as compressed images; they are returned
to the workstation as compressed 600-dpi images and the workstation
decompresses and scales them for display--an inefficient way to
access the material though it works quite well for printing and
other purposes.
* CLASS is also decompressing on Macintosh and IBM, a slow process
right now. Eventually, compression and decompression will take
place on an image conversion server. Trade-offs will be made, based
on future performance testing, concerning where the file is
compressed and what resolution image is sent.
* OCR has not been precluded; images are being stored that have been
scanned at a high resolution, which presumably would suit them well
to an OCR process. Because the material being scanned is about 100
years old and was printed with less-than-ideal technologies, very
early and preliminary tests have not produced good results. But the
project is capturing an image that is of sufficient resolution to be
subjected to OCR in the future. Moreover, the system architecture
and the system plan have a logical place to store an OCR image if it
has been captured. But that is not being done now.
******
SESSION III. DISTRIBUTION, NETWORKS, AND NETWORKING: OPTIONS FOR
DISSEMINATION
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
ZICH * Issues pertaining to CD-ROMs * Options for publishing in CD-ROM *
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Robert ZICH, special assistant to the associate librarian for special
projects, Library of Congress, and moderator of this session, first noted
the blessed but somewhat awkward circumstance of having four very
distinguished people representing networks and networking or at least
leaning in that direction, while lacking anyone to speak from the
strongest possible background in CD-ROMs. ZICH expressed the hope that
members of the audience would join the discussion. He stressed the
subtitle of this particular session, "Options for Dissemination," and,
concerning CD-ROMs, the importance of determining when it would be wise
to consider dissemination in CD-ROM versus networks. A shopping list of
issues pertaining to CD-ROMs included: the grounds for selecting
commercial publishers, and in-house publication where possible versus
nonprofit or government publication. A similar list for networks
included: determining when one should consider dissemination through a
network, identifying the mechanisms or entities that exist to place items
on networks, identifying the pool of existing networks, determining how a
producer would choose between networks, and identifying the elements of
a business arrangement in a network.
Options for publishing in CD-ROM: an outside publisher versus
self-publication. If an outside publisher is used, it can be nonprofit,
such as the Government Printing Office (GPO) or the National Technical
Information Service (NTIS), in the case of government. The pros and cons
associated with employing an outside publisher are obvious. Among the
pros, there is no trouble getting accepted. One pays the bill and, in
effect, goes one's way. Among the cons, when one pays an outside
publisher to perform the work, that publisher will perform the work it is
obliged to do, but perhaps without the production expertise and skill in
marketing and dissemination that some would seek. There is the body of
commercial publishers that do possess that kind of expertise in
distribution and marketing but that obviously are selective. In
self-publication, one exercises full control, but then one must handle
matters such as distribution and marketing. Such are some of the options
for publishing in the case of CD-ROM.
In the case of technical and design issues, which are also important,
there are many matters which many at the Workshop already knew a good
deal about: retrieval system requirements and costs, what to do about
images, the various capabilities and platforms, the trade-offs between
cost and performance, concerns about local-area networkability,
interoperability, etc.
******
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
LYNCH * Creating networked information is different from using networks
as an access or dissemination vehicle * Networked multimedia on a large
scale does not yet work * Typical CD-ROM publication model a two-edged
sword * Publishing information on a CD-ROM in the present world of
immature standards * Contrast between CD-ROM and network pricing *
Examples demonstrated earlier in the day as a set of insular information
gems * Paramount need to link databases * Layering to become increasingly
necessary * Project NEEDS and the issues of information reuse and active
versus passive use * X-Windows as a way of differentiating between
network access and networked information * Barriers to the distribution
of networked multimedia information * Need for good, real-time delivery
protocols * The question of presentation integrity in client-server
computing in the academic world * Recommendations for producing multimedia
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Clifford LYNCH, director, Library Automation, University of California,
opened his talk with the general observation that networked information
constituted a difficult and elusive topic because it is something just
starting to develop and not yet fully understood. LYNCH contended that
creating genuinely networked information was different from using
networks as an access or dissemination vehicle and was more sophisticated
and more subtle. He invited the members of the audience to extrapolate,
from what they heard about the preceding demonstration projects, to what
sort of a world of electronics information--scholarly, archival,
cultural, etc.--they wished to end up with ten or fifteen years from now.
LYNCH suggested that to extrapolate directly from these projects would
produce unpleasant results.
Putting the issue of CD-ROM in perspective before getting into
generalities on networked information, LYNCH observed that those engaged
in multimedia today who wish to ship a product, so to say, probably do
not have much choice except to use CD-ROM: networked multimedia on a
large scale basically does not yet work because the technology does not
exist. For example, anybody who has tried moving images around over the
Internet knows that this is an exciting touch-and-go process, a
fascinating and fertile area for experimentation, research, and
development, but not something that one can become deeply enthusiastic
about committing to production systems at this time.
This situation will change, LYNCH said. He differentiated CD-ROM from
the practices that have been followed up to now in distributing data on
CD-ROM. For LYNCH the problem with CD-ROM is not its portability or its
slowness but the two-edged sword of having the retrieval application and
the user interface inextricably bound up with the data, which is the
typical CD-ROM publication model. It is not a case of publishing data
but of distributing a typically stand-alone, typically closed system,
all--software, user interface, and data--on a little disk. Hence, all
the between-disk navigational issues as well as the impossibility in most
cases of integrating data on one disk with that on another. Most CD-ROM
retrieval software does not network very gracefully at present. However,
in the present world of immature standards and lack of understanding of
what network information is or what the ground rules are for creating or
using it, publishing information on a CD-ROM does add value in a very
real sense.
LYNCH drew a contrast between CD-ROM and network pricing and in doing so
highlighted something bizarre in information pricing. A large
institution such as the University of California has vendors who will
offer to sell information on CD-ROM for a price per year in four digits,
but for the same data (e.g., an abstracting and indexing database) on
magnetic tape, regardless of how many people may use it concurrently,
will quote a price in six digits.
What is packaged with the CD-ROM in one sense adds value--a complete
access system, not just raw, unrefined information--although it is not
generally perceived that way. This is because the access software,
although it adds value, is viewed by some people, particularly in the
university environment where there is a very heavy commitment to
networking, as being developed in the wrong direction.
Given that context, LYNCH described the examples demonstrated as a set of
insular information gems--Perseus, for example, offers nicely linked
information, but would be very difficult to integrate with other
databases, that is, to link together seamlessly with other source files
from other sources. It resembles an island, and in this respect is
similar to numerous stand-alone projects that are based on videodiscs,
that is, on the single-workstation concept.
As scholarship evolves in a network environment, the paramount need will
be to link databases. We must link personal databases to public
databases, to group databases, in fairly seamless ways--which is
extremely difficult in the environments under discussion with copies of
databases proliferating all over the place.
The notion of layering also struck LYNCH as lurking in several of the
projects demonstrated. Several databases in a sense constitute
information archives without a significant amount of navigation built in.
Educators, critics, and others will want a layered structure--one that
defines or links paths through the layers to allow users to reach
specific points. In LYNCH's view, layering will become increasingly
necessary, and not just within a single resource but across resources
(e.g., tracing mythology and cultural themes across several classics
databases as well as a database of Renaissance culture). This ability to
organize resources, to build things out of multiple other things on the
network or select pieces of it, represented for LYNCH one of the key
aspects of network information.
Contending that information reuse constituted another significant issue,
LYNCH commended to the audience's attention Project NEEDS (i.e., National
Engineering Education Delivery System). This project's objective is to
produce a database of engineering courseware as well as the components
that can be used to develop new courseware. In a number of the existing
applications, LYNCH said, the issue of reuse (how much one can take apart
and reuse in other applications) was not being well considered. He also
raised the issue of active versus passive use, one aspect of which is
how much information will be manipulated locally by users. Most people,
he argued, may do a little browsing and then will wish to print. LYNCH
was uncertain how these resources would be used by the vast majority of
users in the network environment.
LYNCH next said a few words about X-Windows as a way of differentiating
between network access and networked information. A number of the
applications demonstrated at the Workshop could be rewritten to use X
across the network, so that one could run them from any X-capable device-
-a workstation, an X terminal--and transact with a database across the
network. Although this opens up access a little, assuming one has enough
network to handle it, it does not provide an interface to develop a
program that conveniently integrates information from multiple databases.
X is a viewing technology that has limits. In a real sense, it is just a
graphical version of remote log-in across the network. X-type applications
represent only one step in the progression towards real access.
LYNCH next discussed barriers to the distribution of networked multimedia
information. The heart of the problem is a lack of standards to provide
the ability for computers to talk to each other, retrieve information,
and shuffle it around fairly casually. At the moment, little progress is
being made on standards for networked information; for example, present
standards do not cover images, digital voice, and digital video. A
useful tool kit of exchange formats for basic texts is only now being
assembled. The synchronization of content streams (i.e., synchronizing a
voice track to a video track, establishing temporal relations between
different components in a multimedia object) constitutes another issue
for networked multimedia that is just beginning to receive attention.
Underlying network protocols also need some work; good, real-time
delivery protocols on the Internet do not yet exist. In LYNCH's view,
highly important in this context is the notion of networked digital
object IDs, the ability of one object on the network to point to another
object (or component thereof) on the network. Serious bandwidth issues
also exist. LYNCH was uncertain if billion-bit-per-second networks would
prove sufficient if numerous people ran video in parallel.
LYNCH concluded by offering an issue for database creators to consider,
as well as several comments about what might constitute good trial
multimedia experiments. In a networked information world the database
builder or service builder (publisher) does not exercise the same
extensive control over the integrity of the presentation; strange
programs "munge" with one's data before the user sees it. Serious
thought must be given to what guarantees integrity of presentation. Part
of that is related to where one draws the boundaries around a networked
information service. This question of presentation integrity in
client-server computing has not been stressed enough in the academic
world, LYNCH argued, though commercial service providers deal with it
regularly.
Concerning multimedia, LYNCH observed that good multimedia at the moment
is hideously expensive to produce. He recommended producing multimedia
with either very high sale value, or multimedia with a very long life
span, or multimedia that will have a very broad usage base and whose
costs therefore can be amortized among large numbers of users. In this
connection, historical and humanistically oriented material may be a good
place to start, because it tends to have a longer life span than much of
the scientific material, as well as a wider user base. LYNCH noted, for
example, that American Memory fits many of the criteria outlined. He
remarked the extensive discussion about bringing the Internet or the
National Research and Education Network (NREN) into the K-12 environment
as a way of helping the American educational system.
LYNCH closed by noting that the kinds of applications demonstrated struck
him as excellent justifications of broad-scale networking for K-12, but
that at this time no "killer" application exists to mobilize the K-12
community to obtain connectivity.
******
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
DISCUSSION * Dearth of genuinely interesting applications on the network
a slow-changing situation * The issue of the integrity of presentation in
a networked environment * Several reasons why CD-ROM software does not
network *
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
During the discussion period that followed LYNCH's presentation, several
additional points were made.
LYNCH reiterated even more strongly his contention that, historically,
once one goes outside high-end science and the group of those who need
access to supercomputers, there is a great dearth of genuinely
interesting applications on the network. He saw this situation changing
slowly, with some of the scientific databases and scholarly discussion
groups and electronic journals coming on as well as with the availability
of Wide Area Information Servers (WAIS) and some of the databases that
are being mounted there. However, many of those things do not seem to
have piqued great popular interest. For instance, most high school
students of LYNCH's acquaintance would not qualify as devotees of serious
molecular biology.
Concerning the issue of the integrity of presentation, LYNCH believed
that a couple of information providers have laid down the law at least on
certain things. For example, his recollection was that the National
Library of Medicine feels strongly that one needs to employ the
identifier field if he or she is to mount a database commercially. The
problem with a real networked environment is that one does not know who
is reformatting and reprocessing one's data when one enters a client
server mode. It becomes anybody's guess, for example, if the network
uses a Z39.50 server, or what clients are doing with one's data. A data
provider can say that his contract will only permit clients to have
access to his data after he vets them and their presentation and makes
certain it suits him. But LYNCH held out little expectation that the
network marketplace would evolve in that way, because it required too
much prior negotiation.
CD-ROM software does not network for a variety of reasons, LYNCH said.
He speculated that CD-ROM publishers are not eager to have their products
really hook into wide area networks, because they fear it will make their
data suppliers nervous. Moreover, until relatively recently, one had to
be rather adroit to run a full TCP/IP stack plus applications on a
PC-size machine, whereas nowadays it is becoming easier as PCs grow
bigger and faster. LYNCH also speculated that software providers had not
heard from their customers until the last year or so, or had not heard
from enough of their customers.
******
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
BESSER * Implications of disseminating images on the network; planning
the distribution of multimedia documents poses two critical
implementation problems * Layered approach represents the way to deal
with users' capabilities * Problems in platform design; file size and its
implications for networking * Transmission of megabyte size images
impractical * Compression and decompression at the user's end * Promising
trends for compression * A disadvantage of using X-Windows * A project at
the Smithsonian that mounts images on several networks *
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Howard BESSER, School of Library and Information Science, University of
Pittsburgh, spoke primarily about multimedia, focusing on images and the
broad implications of disseminating them on the network. He argued that
planning the distribution of multimedia documents posed two critical
implementation problems, which he framed in the form of two questions:
1) What platform will one use and what hardware and software will users
have for viewing of the material? and 2) How can one deliver a
sufficiently robust set of information in an accessible format in a
reasonable amount of time? Depending on whether network or CD-ROM is the
medium used, this question raises different issues of storage,
compression, and transmission.
Concerning the design of platforms (e.g., sound, gray scale, simple
color, etc.) and the various capabilities users may have, BESSER
maintained that a layered approach was the way to deal with users'
capabilities. A result would be that users with less powerful
workstations would simply have less functionality. He urged members of
the audience to advocate standards and accompanying software that handle
layered functionality across a wide variety of platforms.
BESSER also addressed problems in platform design, namely, deciding how
large a machine to design for situations when the largest number of users
have the lowest level of the machine, and one desires higher
functionality. BESSER then proceeded to the question of file size and
its implications for networking. He discussed still images in the main.
For example, a digital color image that fills the screen of a standard
mega-pel workstation (Sun or Next) will require one megabyte of storage
for an eight-bit image or three megabytes of storage for a true color or
twenty-four-bit image. Lossless compression algorithms (that is,
computational procedures in which no data is lost in the process of
compressing [and decompressing] an image--the exact bit-representation is
maintained) might bring storage down to a third of a megabyte per image,
but not much further than that. The question of size makes it difficult
to fit an appropriately sized set of these images on a single disk or to
transmit them quickly enough on a network.
With these full screen mega-pel images that constitute a third of a
megabyte, one gets 1,000-3,000 full-screen images on a one-gigabyte disk;
a standard CD-ROM represents approximately 60 percent of that. Storing
images the size of a PC screen (just 8 bit color) increases storage
capacity to 4,000-12,000 images per gigabyte; 60 percent of that gives
one the size of a CD-ROM, which in turn creates a major problem. One
cannot have full-screen, full-color images with lossless compression; one
must compress them or use a lower resolution. For megabyte-size images,
anything slower than a T-1 speed is impractical. For example, on a
fifty-six-kilobaud line, it takes three minutes to transfer a
one-megabyte file, if it is not compressed; and this speed assumes ideal
circumstances (no other user contending for network bandwidth). Thus,
questions of disk access, remote display, and current telephone
connection speed make transmission of megabyte-size images impractical.
BESSER then discussed ways to deal with these large images, for example,
compression and decompression at the user's end. In this connection, the
issues of how much one is willing to lose in the compression process and
what image quality one needs in the first place are unknown. But what is
known is that compression entails some loss of data. BESSER urged that
more studies be conducted on image quality in different situations, for
example, what kind of images are needed for what kind of disciplines, and
what kind of image quality is needed for a browsing tool, an intermediate
viewing tool, and archiving.
BESSER remarked two promising trends for compression: from a technical
perspective, algorithms that use what is called subjective redundancy
employ principles from visual psycho-physics to identify and remove
information from the image that the human eye cannot perceive; from an
interchange and interoperability perspective, the JPEG (i.e., Joint
Photographic Experts Group, an ISO standard) compression algorithms also
offer promise. These issues of compression and decompression, BESSER
argued, resembled those raised earlier concerning the design of different
platforms. Gauging the capabilities of potential users constitutes a
primary goal. BESSER advocated layering or separating the images from
the applications that retrieve and display them, to avoid tying them to
particular software.
BESSER detailed several lessons learned from his work at Berkeley with
Imagequery, especially the advantages and disadvantages of using
X-Windows. In the latter category, for example, retrieval is tied
directly to one's data, an intolerable situation in the long run on a
networked system. Finally, BESSER described a project of Jim Wallace at
the Smithsonian Institution, who is mounting images in a extremely
rudimentary way on the Compuserv and Genie networks and is preparing to
mount them on America On Line. Although the average user takes over
thirty minutes to download these images (assuming a fairly fast modem),
nevertheless, images have been downloaded 25,000 times.
BESSER concluded his talk with several comments on the business
arrangement between the Smithsonian and Compuserv. He contended that not
enough is known concerning the value of images.
******
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
DISCUSSION * Creating digitized photographic collections nearly
impossible except with large organizations like museums * Need for study
to determine quality of images users will tolerate *
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
During the brief exchange between LESK and BESSER that followed, several
clarifications emerged.
LESK argued that the photographers were far ahead of BESSER: It is
almost impossible to create such digitized photographic collections
except with large organizations like museums, because all the
photographic agencies have been going crazy about this and will not sign
licensing agreements on any sort of reasonable terms. LESK had heard
that National Geographic, for example, had tried to buy the right to use
some image in some kind of educational production for $100 per image, but
the photographers will not touch it. They want accounting and payment
for each use, which cannot be accomplished within the system. BESSER
responded that a consortium of photographers, headed by a former National
Geographic photographer, had started assembling its own collection of
electronic reproductions of images, with the money going back to the
cooperative.
LESK contended that BESSER was unnecessarily pessimistic about multimedia
images, because people are accustomed to low-quality images, particularly
from video. BESSER urged the launching of a study to determine what
users would tolerate, what they would feel comfortable with, and what
absolutely is the highest quality they would ever need. Conceding that
he had adopted a dire tone in order to arouse people about the issue,
BESSER closed on a sanguine note by saying that he would not be in this
business if he did not think that things could be accomplished.
******
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
LARSEN * Issues of scalability and modularity * Geometric growth of the
Internet and the role played by layering * Basic functions sustaining
this growth * A library's roles and functions in a network environment *
Effects of implementation of the Z39.50 protocol for information
retrieval on the library system * The trade-off between volumes of data
and its potential usage * A snapshot of current trends *
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ronald LARSEN, associate director for information technology, University
of Maryland at College Park, first addressed the issues of scalability
and modularity. He noted the difficulty of anticipating the effects of
orders-of-magnitude growth, reflecting on the twenty years of experience
with the Arpanet and Internet. Recalling the day's demonstrations of
CD-ROM and optical disk material, he went on to ask if the field has yet
learned how to scale new systems to enable delivery and dissemination
across large-scale networks.
LARSEN focused on the geometric growth of the Internet from its inception
circa 1969 to the present, and the adjustments required to respond to
that rapid growth. To illustrate the issue of scalability, LARSEN
considered computer networks as including three generic components:
computers, network communication nodes, and communication media. Each
component scales (e.g., computers range from PCs to supercomputers;
network nodes scale from interface cards in a PC through sophisticated
routers and gateways; and communication media range from 2,400-baud
dial-up facilities through 4.5-Mbps backbone links, and eventually to
multigigabit-per-second communication lines), and architecturally, the
components are organized to scale hierarchically from local area networks
to international-scale networks. Such growth is made possible by
building layers of communication protocols, as BESSER pointed out.
By layering both physically and logically, a sense of scalability is
maintained from local area networks in offices, across campuses, through
bridges, routers, campus backbones, fiber-optic links, etc., up into
regional networks and ultimately into national and international
networks.
LARSEN then illustrated the geometric growth over a two-year period--
through September 1991--of the number of networks that comprise the
Internet. This growth has been sustained largely by the availability of
three basic functions: electronic mail, file transfer (ftp), and remote
log-on (telnet). LARSEN also reviewed the growth in the kind of traffic
that occurs on the network. Network traffic reflects the joint contributions
of a larger population of users and increasing use per user. Today one sees
serious applications involving moving images across the network--a rarity
ten years ago. LARSEN recalled and concurred with BESSER's main point
that the interesting problems occur at the application level.
LARSEN then illustrated a model of a library's roles and functions in a
network environment. He noted, in particular, the placement of on-line
catalogues onto the network and patrons obtaining access to the library
increasingly through local networks, campus networks, and the Internet.
LARSEN supported LYNCH's earlier suggestion that we need to address
fundamental questions of networked information in order to build
environments that scale in the information sense as well as in the
physical sense.
LARSEN supported the role of the library system as the access point into
the nation's electronic collections. Implementation of the Z39.50
protocol for information retrieval would make such access practical and
feasible. For example, this would enable patrons in Maryland to search
California libraries, or other libraries around the world that are
conformant with Z39.50 in a manner that is familiar to University of
Maryland patrons. This client-server model also supports moving beyond
secondary content into primary content. (The notion of how one links
from secondary content to primary content, LARSEN said, represents a
fundamental problem that requires rigorous thought.) After noting
numerous network experiments in accessing full-text materials, including
projects supporting the ordering of materials across the network, LARSEN
revisited the issue of transmitting high-density, high-resolution color
images across the network and the large amounts of bandwidth they
require. He went on to address the bandwidth and synchronization
problems inherent in sending full-motion video across the network.
LARSEN illustrated the trade-off between volumes of data in bytes or
orders of magnitude and the potential usage of that data. He discussed
transmission rates (particularly, the time it takes to move various forms
of information), and what one could do with a network supporting
multigigabit-per-second transmission. At the moment, the network
environment includes a composite of data-transmission requirements,
volumes and forms, going from steady to bursty (high-volume) and from
very slow to very fast. This aggregate must be considered in the design,
construction, and operation of multigigabyte networks.
LARSEN's objective is to use the networks and library systems now being
constructed to increase access to resources wherever they exist, and
thus, to evolve toward an on-line electronic virtual library.
LARSEN concluded by offering a snapshot of current trends: continuing
geometric growth in network capacity and number of users; slower
development of applications; and glacial development and adoption of
standards. The challenge is to design and develop each new application
system with network access and scalability in mind.
******
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
BROWNRIGG * Access to the Internet cannot be taken for granted * Packet
radio and the development of MELVYL in 1980-81 in the Division of Library
Automation at the University of California * Design criteria for packet
radio * A demonstration project in San Diego and future plans * Spread
spectrum * Frequencies at which the radios will run and plans to
reimplement the WAIS server software in the public domain * Need for an
infrastructure of radios that do not move around *
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Edwin BROWNRIGG, executive director, Memex Research Institute, first
polled the audience in order to seek out regular users of the Internet as
well as those planning to use it some time in the future. With nearly
everybody in the room falling into one category or the other, BROWNRIGG
made a point re access, namely that numerous individuals, especially those
who use the Internet every day, take for granted their access to it, the
speeds with which they are connected, and how well it all works.
However, as BROWNRIGG discovered between 1987 and 1989 in Australia,
if one wants access to the Internet but cannot afford it or has some
physical boundary that prevents her or him from gaining access, it can
be extremely frustrating. He suggested that because of economics and
physical barriers we were beginning to create a world of haves and have-nots
in the process of scholarly communication, even in the United States.
BROWNRIGG detailed the development of MELVYL in academic year 1980-81 in
the Division of Library Automation at the University of California, in
order to underscore the issue of access to the system, which at the
outset was extremely limited. In short, the project needed to build a
network, which at that time entailed use of satellite technology, that is,
putting earth stations on campus and also acquiring some terrestrial links
from the State of California's microwave system. The installation of
satellite links, however, did not solve the problem (which actually
formed part of a larger problem involving politics and financial resources).
For while the project team could get a signal onto a campus, it had no means
of distributing the signal throughout the campus. The solution involved
adopting a recent development in wireless communication called packet radio,
which combined the basic notion of packet-switching with radio. The project
used this technology to get the signal from a point on campus where it
came down, an earth station for example, into the libraries, because it
found that wiring the libraries, especially the older marble buildings,
would cost $2,000-$5,000 per terminal.
BROWNRIGG noted that, ten years ago, the project had neither the public
policy nor the technology that would have allowed it to use packet radio
in any meaningful way. Since then much had changed. He proceeded to
detail research and development of the technology, how it is being
deployed in California, and what direction he thought it would take.
The design criteria are to produce a high-speed, one-time, low-cost,
high-quality, secure, license-free device (packet radio) that one can
plug in and play today, forget about it, and have access to the Internet.
By high speed, BROWNRIGG meant 1 megabyte and 1.5 megabytes. Those units
have been built, he continued, and are in the process of being
type-certified by an independent underwriting laboratory so that they can
be type-licensed by the Federal Communications Commission. As is the
case with citizens band, one will be able to purchase a unit and not have
to worry about applying for a license.
The basic idea, BROWNRIGG elaborated, is to take high-speed radio data
transmission and create a backbone network that at certain strategic
points in the network will "gateway" into a medium-speed packet radio
(i.e., one that runs at 38.4 kilobytes), so that perhaps by 1994-1995
people, like those in the audience for the price of a VCR could purchase
a medium-speed radio for the office or home, have full network connectivity
to the Internet, and partake of all its services, with no need for an FCC
license and no regular bill from the local common carrier. BROWNRIGG
presented several details of a demonstration project currently taking
place in San Diego and described plans, pending funding, to install a
full-bore network in the San Francisco area. This network will have 600
nodes running at backbone speeds, and 100 of these nodes will be libraries,
which in turn will be the gateway ports to the 38.4 kilobyte radios that
will give coverage for the neighborhoods surrounding the libraries.
BROWNRIGG next explained Part 15.247, a new rule within Title 47 of the
Code of Federal Regulations enacted by the FCC in 1985. This rule
challenged the industry, which has only now risen to the occasion, to
build a radio that would run at no more than one watt of output power and
use a fairly exotic method of modulating the radio wave called spread
spectrum. Spread spectrum in fact permits the building of networks so
that numerous data communications can occur simultaneously, without
interfering with each other, within the same wide radio channel.
BROWNRIGG explained that the frequencies at which the radios would run
are very short wave signals. They are well above standard microwave and
radar. With a radio wave that small, one watt becomes a tremendous punch
per bit and thus makes transmission at reasonable speed possible. In
order to minimize the potential for congestion, the project is
undertaking to reimplement software which has been available in the
networking business and is taken for granted now, for example, TCP/IP,
routing algorithms, bridges, and gateways. In addition, the project
plans to take the WAIS server software in the public domain and
reimplement it so that one can have a WAIS server on a Mac instead of a
Unix machine. The Memex Research Institute believes that libraries, in
particular, will want to use the WAIS servers with packet radio. This
project, which has a team of about twelve people, will run through 1993
and will include the 100 libraries already mentioned as well as other
professionals such as those in the medical profession, engineering, and
law. Thus, the need is to create an infrastructure of radios that do not
move around, which, BROWNRIGG hopes, will solve a problem not only for
libraries but for individuals who, by and large today, do not have access
to the Internet from their homes and offices.
******
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
DISCUSSION * Project operating frequencies *
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
During a brief discussion period, which also concluded the day's
proceedings, BROWNRIGG stated that the project was operating in four
frequencies. The slow speed is operating at 435 megahertz, and it would
later go up to 920 megahertz. With the high-speed frequency, the
one-megabyte radios will run at 2.4 gigabits, and 1.5 will run at 5.7.
At 5.7, rain can be a factor, but it would have to be tropical rain,
unlike what falls in most parts of the United States.
******
SESSION IV. IMAGE CAPTURE, TEXT CAPTURE, OVERVIEW OF TEXT AND
IMAGE STORAGE FORMATS
William HOOTON, vice president of operations, I-NET, moderated this session.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
KENNEY * Factors influencing development of CXP * Advantages of using
digital technology versus photocopy and microfilm * A primary goal of
CXP; publishing challenges * Characteristics of copies printed * Quality
of samples achieved in image capture * Several factors to be considered
in choosing scanning * Emphasis of CXP on timely and cost-effective
production of black-and-white printed facsimiles * Results of producing
microfilm from digital files * Advantages of creating microfilm * Details
concerning production * Costs * Role of digital technology in library
preservation *
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Anne KENNEY, associate director, Department of Preservation and
Conservation, Cornell University, opened her talk by observing that the
Cornell Xerox Project (CXP) has been guided by the assumption that the
ability to produce printed facsimiles or to replace paper with paper
would be important, at least for the present generation of users and
equipment. She described three factors that influenced development of
the project: 1) Because the project has emphasized the preservation of
deteriorating brittle books, the quality of what was produced had to be
sufficiently high to return a paper replacement to the shelf. CXP was
only interested in using: 2) a system that was cost-effective, which
meant that it had to be cost-competitive with the processes currently
available, principally photocopy and microfilm, and 3) new or currently
available product hardware and software.
KENNEY described the advantages that using digital technology offers over
both photocopy and microfilm: 1) The potential exists to create a higher
quality reproduction of a deteriorating original than conventional
light-lens technology. 2) Because a digital image is an encoded
representation, it can be reproduced again and again with no resulting
loss of quality, as opposed to the situation with light-lens processes,
in which there is discernible difference between a second and a
subsequent generation of an image. 3) A digital image can be manipulated
in a number of ways to improve image capture; for example, Xerox has
developed a windowing application that enables one to capture a page
containing both text and illustrations in a manner that optimizes the
reproduction of both. (With light-lens technology, one must choose which
to optimize, text or the illustration; in preservation microfilming, the
current practice is to shoot an illustrated page twice, once to highlight
the text and the second time to provide the best capture for the
illustration.) 4) A digital image can also be edited, density levels
adjusted to remove underlining and stains, and to increase legibility for
faint documents. 5) On-screen inspection can take place at the time of
initial setup and adjustments made prior to scanning, factors that
substantially reduce the number of retakes required in quality control.
A primary goal of CXP has been to evaluate the paper output printed on
the Xerox DocuTech, a high-speed printer that produces 600-dpi pages from
scanned images at a rate of 135 pages a minute. KENNEY recounted several
publishing challenges to represent faithful and legible reproductions of
the originals that the 600-dpi copy for the most part successfully
captured. For example, many of the deteriorating volumes in the project
were heavily illustrated with fine line drawings or halftones or came in
languages such as Japanese, in which the buildup of characters comprised
of varying strokes is difficult to reproduce at lower resolutions; a
surprising number of them came with annotations and mathematical
formulas, which it was critical to be able to duplicate exactly.
KENNEY noted that 1) the copies are being printed on paper that meets the
ANSI standards for performance, 2) the DocuTech printer meets the machine
and toner requirements for proper adhesion of print to page, as described
by the National Archives, and thus 3) paper product is considered to be
the archival equivalent of preservation photocopy.
KENNEY then discussed several samples of the quality achieved in the
project that had been distributed in a handout, for example, a copy of a
print-on-demand version of the 1911 Reed lecture on the steam turbine,
which contains halftones, line drawings, and illustrations embedded in
text; the first four loose pages in the volume compared the capture
capabilities of scanning to photocopy for a standard test target, the
IEEE standard 167A 1987 test chart. In all instances scanning proved
superior to photocopy, though only slightly more so in one.
Conceding the simplistic nature of her review of the quality of scanning
to photocopy, KENNEY described it as one representation of the kinds of
settings that could be used with scanning capabilities on the equipment
CXP uses. KENNEY also pointed out that CXP investigated the quality
achieved with binary scanning only, and noted the great promise in gray
scale and color scanning, whose advantages and disadvantages need to be
examined. She argued further that scanning resolutions and file formats
can represent a complex trade-off between the time it takes to capture
material, file size, fidelity to the original, and on-screen display; and
printing and equipment availability. All these factors must be taken
into consideration.
CXP placed primary emphasis on the production in a timely and
cost-effective manner of printed facsimiles that consisted largely of
black-and-white text. With binary scanning, large files may be
compressed efficiently and in a lossless manner (i.e., no data is lost in
the process of compressing [and decompressing] an image--the exact
bit-representation is maintained) using Group 4 CCITT (i.e., the French
acronym for International Consultative Committee for Telegraph and
Telephone) compression. CXP was getting compression ratios of about
forty to one. Gray-scale compression, which primarily uses JPEG, is much
less economical and can represent a lossy compression (i.e., not
lossless), so that as one compresses and decompresses, the illustration
is subtly changed. While binary files produce a high-quality printed
version, it appears 1) that other combinations of spatial resolution with
gray and/or color hold great promise as well, and 2) that gray scale can
represent a tremendous advantage for on-screen viewing. The quality
associated with binary and gray scale also depends on the equipment used.
For instance, binary scanning produces a much better copy on a binary
printer.
Among CXP's findings concerning the production of microfilm from digital
files, KENNEY reported that the digital files for the same Reed lecture
were used to produce sample film using an electron beam recorder. The
resulting film was faithful to the image capture of the digital files,
and while CXP felt that the text and image pages represented in the Reed
lecture were superior to that of the light-lens film, the resolution
readings for the 600 dpi were not as high as standard microfilming.
KENNEY argued that the standards defined for light-lens technology are
not totally transferable to a digital environment. Moreover, they are
based on definition of quality for a preservation copy. Although making
this case will prove to be a long, uphill struggle, CXP plans to continue
to investigate the issue over the course of the next year.
KENNEY concluded this portion of her talk with a discussion of the
advantages of creating film: it can serve as a primary backup and as a
preservation master to the digital file; it could then become the print
or production master and service copies could be paper, film, optical
disks, magnetic media, or on-screen display.
Finally, KENNEY presented details re production:
* Development and testing of a moderately-high resolution production
scanning workstation represented a third goal of CXP; to date, 1,000
volumes have been scanned, or about 300,000 images.
* The resulting digital files are stored and used to produce
hard-copy replacements for the originals and additional prints on
demand; although the initial costs are high, scanning technology
offers an affordable means for reformatting brittle material.
* A technician in production mode can scan 300 pages per hour when
performing single-sheet scanning, which is a necessity when working
with truly brittle paper; this figure is expected to increase
significantly with subsequent iterations of the software from Xerox;
a three-month time-and-cost study of scanning found that the average
300-page book would take about an hour and forty minutes to scan
(this figure included the time for setup, which involves keying in
primary bibliographic data, going into quality control mode to
define page size, establishing front-to-back registration, and
scanning sample pages to identify a default range of settings for
the entire book--functions not dissimilar to those performed by
filmers or those preparing a book for photocopy).
* The final step in the scanning process involved rescans, which
happily were few and far between, representing well under 1 percent
of the total pages scanned.
In addition to technician time, CXP costed out equipment, amortized over
four years, the cost of storing and refreshing the digital files every
four years, and the cost of printing and binding, book-cloth binding, a
paper reproduction. The total amounted to a little under $65 per single
300-page volume, with 30 percent overhead included--a figure competitive
with the prices currently charged by photocopy vendors.
Of course, with scanning, in addition to the paper facsimile, one is left
with a digital file from which subsequent copies of the book can be
produced for a fraction of the cost of photocopy, with readers afforded
choices in the form of these copies.
KENNEY concluded that digital technology offers an electronic means for a
library preservation effort to pay for itself. If a brittle-book program
included the means of disseminating reprints of books that are in demand
by libraries and researchers alike, the initial investment in capture
could be recovered and used to preserve additional but less popular
books. She disclosed that an economic model for a self-sustaining
program could be developed for CXP's report to the Commission on
Preservation and Access (CPA).
KENNEY stressed that the focus of CXP has been on obtaining high quality
in a production environment. The use of digital technology is viewed as
an affordable alternative to other reformatting options.
******
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ANDRE * Overview and history of NATDP * Various agricultural CD-ROM
products created inhouse and by service bureaus * Pilot project on
Internet transmission * Additional products in progress *
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Pamela ANDRE, associate director for automation, National Agricultural
Text Digitizing Program (NATDP), National Agricultural Library (NAL),
presented an overview of NATDP, which has been underway at NAL the last
four years, before Judith ZIDAR discussed the technical details. ANDRE
defined agricultural information as a broad range of material going from
basic and applied research in the hard sciences to the one-page pamphlets
that are distributed by the cooperative state extension services on such
things as how to grow blueberries.
NATDP began in late 1986 with a meeting of representatives from the
land-grant library community to deal with the issue of electronic
information. NAL and forty-five of these libraries banded together to
establish this project--to evaluate the technology for converting what
were then source documents in paper form into electronic form, to provide
access to that digital information, and then to distribute it.
Distributing that material to the community--the university community as
well as the extension service community, potentially down to the county
level--constituted the group's chief concern.
Since January 1988 (when the microcomputer-based scanning system was
installed at NAL), NATDP has done a variety of things, concerning which
ZIDAR would provide further details. For example, the first technology
considered in the project's discussion phase was digital videodisc, which
indicates how long ago it was conceived.
Over the four years of this project, four separate CD-ROM products on
four different agricultural topics were created, two at a
scanning-and-OCR station installed at NAL, and two by service bureaus.
Thus, NATDP has gained comparative information in terms of those relative
costs. Each of these products contained the full ASCII text as well as
page images of the material, or between 4,000 and 6,000 pages of material
on these disks. Topics included aquaculture, food, agriculture and
science (i.e., international agriculture and research), acid rain, and
Agent Orange, which was the final product distributed (approximately
eighteen months before the Workshop).
The third phase of NATDP focused on delivery mechanisms other than
CD-ROM. At the suggestion of Clifford LYNCH, who was a technical
consultant to the project at this point, NATDP became involved with the
Internet and initiated a project with the help of North Carolina State
University, in which fourteen of the land-grant university libraries are
transmitting digital images over the Internet in response to interlibrary
loan requests--a topic for another meeting. At this point, the pilot
project had been completed for about a year and the final report would be
available shortly after the Workshop. In the meantime, the project's
success had led to its extension. (ANDRE noted that one of the first
things done under the program title was to select a retrieval package to
use with subsequent products; Windows Personal Librarian was the package
of choice after a lengthy evaluation.)
Three additional products had been planned and were in progress:
1) An arrangement with the American Society of Agronomy--a
professional society that has published the Agronomy Journal since
about 1908--to scan and create bit-mapped images of its journal.
ASA granted permission first to put and then to distribute this
material in electronic form, to hold it at NAL, and to use these
electronic images as a mechanism to deliver documents or print out
material for patrons, among other uses. Effectively, NAL has the
right to use this material in support of its program.
(Significantly, this arrangement offers a potential cooperative
model for working with other professional societies in agriculture
to try to do the same thing--put the journals of particular interest
to agriculture research into electronic form.)