_Current_Cites_ Volume 2, no. 5 May 1991 Library Technology Watch Program University of California, Berkeley Edited by David F.W. Robison ISSN: 1060-2356 Contributors: Clifford Lynch, Teri Rinne, Vivienne Roumani, Lisa Rowlison, Mark Takaro, Roy Tennant Expert Systems Belew, Richard K. "Artificial Life: A Constructive Lower Bound for Artificial Intelligence" IEEE Expert 6(1) (Feb. 1991):8-15. The goal of Artificial Life (ALife) "is to abstract the 'logical form' of life" in order to understand and possibly create artificial life. Unlike genetic engineering, ALife does not begin with organic matter, rather, like AI, its development occurs via computer. Making the claim that "the dumbest smart thing you can do is stay alive," ALife considers itself to be a lower bound for the work of AI. While this is not immediately relevant for the field of library and information science, this work does present itself as an interesting development in the current AI-related technologies. Tuthill, G. Steven "Legal Liabilities and Expert Systems" AI Expert 6(3) (March 1991):45-51. Mr. Tuthill briefly presents the potential areas of liability in knowledge programming. While there has yet to be a great deal of AI-related court cases, he offers his view on the specific types of risk which are imminent in knowledge programming and suggests a corresponding seat of responsibility. This is an area that we, as information providers, will be very concerned with if we do indeed choose to develop expert systems. West, David M. and Larry E. Travis "The Computational Metaphor and Artificial Intelligence: A Reflective Examination of a Theoretical Falsework" AI Magazine 12(1) (Spring 1991):64-79. An excellent article which discusses the role and importance of metaphor in science generally, and then focuses on the predominant metaphor of AI (the computational metaphor: computer as mind, mind as computer) West and Travis present an interesting assessment of the value and shortcomings of both this strongly challenged metaphor and of its alternatives. Hyper- and Multimedia Steffey, Ramona J. "Compton's MultiMedia Encyclopedia: Bringing Multimedia to the Masses" CD-ROM Professional 4(3) (May, 1991):13-20. A description and review of the award-winning multimedia encyclopedia from Britannica, which contains the full text of the 26-volume printed version integrated with images, maps and 60 minutes of sound. A dictionary accompanies the work, rounding out a package that will set the standard for future products. A variety of search tools leads the user through a chosen path that can include bookmarking of articles, cut and paste options and other features. Communications of the ACM 34(4) (April 1991). An entire issue of this journal devoted to digital multimedia systems, with a number of very technical articles and some of more general interest. Standards are emerging for a number of multimedia tools, the most notable being from the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) and the Moving Picture coding Experts Group (MPEG). Standards such as these will govern design of these aspects of multimedia and make development of products by individual companies more likely in the near future. As common coding, compression and authoring standards are used in new products, further interest in the field becomes a better investment. Information Transfer Cornwell, Douglas W. "Downloading from Dialog into dBase III Plus" Online 15(3) (May 1991):91-93. Cornwell details procedures for downloading records from Dialog to dBase III Plus using the Dialog Report function. Jackson, Mary E. "Library to Library" Wilson Library Bulletin 16(5) (April 1991):84-87. Jackson describes the RLG Document Transmission Workstation (Ariel) its functions, capabilities, and its integration in ILL department procedures (with UCB as one of the test cites). It's an improvement over the fax. Networks and Networking Dempsey, Lorcan Libraries, Networks and OSI: A Review of North American Developments. Bath: UK Office for Library Networking, 1991. [210] p. : ill. ISBN 0951685600 (pbk), 0951685 600. This book, is a detailed study of library application protocols for information retrieval and interlibrary loan, plus a discussion of EDI, X400 and X500, and their use in library networking. It covers developments both in the US and in Europe, and provides a fascinating European perspective on recent developments in the US. Considerable attention is given to policy and infrastructure Q resource sharing, the NREN movement, the Coalition for Networked Information -- and to existing projects, such as Carnegie-Mellon's project MERCURY, UC's MELVYL system, and CARL. -- Clifford Lynch Dictionary of Data Elements for Online Information Resources (MARBI Discussion Paper no. 49). USMARC Advisory Committee, [199?] Distributed by CNIDIR-L@UNMVM.BITNET. This paper, up for discussion at ALA in Atlanta (7/1/91 2:00-5:30), is a look at where the MARC format is heading with respect to online information resources. Using Berkeley's own GLADIS OPAC as an example (among others) we can see how these resources can be cataloged to give the fullest and most useful access. Just trying to cite the paper itself has heightened my appreciation of the issue! Hall, Stephen C. "The Four Stages of National Research and Education Network Growth" EDUCOM Review 26(1) (Spring 1991):18-25. In this article Hall describes the projected growth of the NREN by looking at the history of computing and the needs of the network's constituencies. According to Hall, we are in stage IIQgrowthQ with the stages of reduced or controlled growth (a privatized network) and maturity (a public network) to follow. Jacobsen, O. and D. Lynch A Glossary of Networking Terms . Interop, Inc., March 1991. Network Working Group RFC 1208. This 18 page glossary covers terms of the more technical aspects of networking, as well as the numerous acronyms. Very handy for someone delving into the networking world. Available via anonymous ftp from nnsc.nsf.net (128.89.1.178) with pathname rfc/rfc1208.txt. Michalak, Thomas J. and Thomas Kirk "Coalition for Networked Information Maps Directions" C&R Libraries News 52(4) (April 1991):229-230. Michalak and Kirk point out that CNI is becoming the "primary forum for discussing development of a national computer network and capabilities for publishing and sharing information electronically." The Coalition has organized seven working groups to focus on specific issues: non-commercial publishing; commercial publishing; architecture and standards; legislation, codes, policies and practices; directories and resource information services; teaching and learning; and management and professional and user education. "Network Management" BYTE 16(3) (March 1991):154-219. Actually this is a group of seven articles and a resource guide providing some of the latest information on managing a LAN. Perhaps the most interesting article is Peter Stephenson's "Mixing and Matching LANs" (pages 155-164) where one can learn the in's and out's of interconnecting heterogeneous networks. Pool, Ithiel de Sola Technologies Without Boundaries: on Telecommunications in a Global Age. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1990. 283 p. Pool's untimely death in 1984 deprived us of one of the great thinkers about the social and political impacts of the new electronic technologies. This book is the manuscript he had almost completed at the time of his death; it extends and expands upon concepts discussed in his 1983 classic work Technologies of Freedom (Harvard U. Press, 1983) and focuses particularly upon international implications of the revolutions in mass media, publishing, and computer networks. The book contains a wealth of information about the impact of technological changes on society, including many analogies between earlier communications advances such as the telephone and telegraph and what is happening today. -- Clifford Lynch Price-Wilkin, John "Text Files in RLG Academic Libraries: A Survey of Support and Activities" The Journal of Academic Librarianship 17(1) (March 1991):19-25. Textual analysis using electronic text files is opening up new windows in the academy. Textual analysis, as a specialized part of full-text retrieval, allows for the user to interact with the text in the fashion of a concordance In addition the user can. engage in stylometrics where the style of the author is studied. Many text files are available through the Internet. Stein, Richard Marlon "Browsing Through Terabytes: Wide-Area Information Servers Open a New Frontier in Personal and Corporate Information Services" BYTE 16(5) (May 1991):157-164. Stein takes us on a trip to the land of mass storage, retrieval and data/text manipulation using Wide Area Information Servers (WAIS). As he puts it, "WAISes can distill the contents of vast archives into neatly manageable and browsable folders." Included are some really interesting visual examples using the Macintosh platform. Weingarten, Fred "Five Steps to NREN Enlightenment" EDUCOM Review 26(1) (Spring 1991):26-30. Weingarten argues that now is the time to articulate the vision of what we think the NREN should be. He sees two visions being articulated currentlyQthe techie and the universal, with "the true NREN vision" somewhere in between. Optical Disk Technology Bunge, Charles A. "CD-ROM Stress" Library Journal 115(7) (April 15, 1991):63-64. In the first of two articles dealing with resistance and stress related to CD-ROM technology featured in this month's Current Cites, Bunge explores this new villain of library stress. Giesbrecht, Walter "Staff Resistance to Library CD-ROM Services" CD-ROM Professional 4(3) (May 1991):34-38. This article examines reasons for resistance to CD-ROM among library staff, including psychological reasons, the problem of multiple interfaces, increased teaching load, increased costs, increased stress, time required to maintain CD-ROM service, and hardware/software issues. Myslewski, Rik "Is it Time for CD-ROM?" MacUser 7(6) (June 1991):151-166. In answering the title's question, Myslewski asserts that all signs indicate that the CD-ROM breakthrough is finally underway. This article features a survey of CD-ROM disk drives currently available for the Macintosh platform. "Silver Platters that Matter" MacUser 7(6) (June 1991):171-186. The editors of MacUser have compiled a descriptive list of interesting CD-ROM titles ranging from state-of-the-art multimedia extravaganzas to simple text dumps of books. General Larson, Ray "The Decline of Subject Searching: Long-Term Trends and Patterns of Index Use in an Online Catalog" Journal of the American Society for Information Science 42(3) (April 1991):197-215. Larson studies MELVYL usage data and concludes that as the database has grown, users are increasingly turning away from subject searching to the use of title word searching due to various dissatisfactions with subject retrieval, including problems in formulating subject search terminology. -- Clifford Lynch Schuman, Patricia Glass "Reclaiming Our Technological Future" Library Journal 115(4) (March 1, 1991):34-38. New Electronic Newsletter Announced The Association of Library Collections & Technical Services of ALA has announced a new electronic newsletter, ALCTS Network News (or AN2), available through Internet/Bitnet and ALANET. According to the press release distributed on PACS-L@UHUPVM1, "AN2 aims to provide timely and comprehensive coverage of items of concern to librarians engaged in collection management, acquisitions, cataloging, serials, preservation, and the reproduction of library materials. To subscribe, send the following message to LISTSERV@UICVM.BITNET SUBSCRIBE ALCTS Your-First-Name Your-Last-Name ------------------------------------------------------------------- Current Cites 2(5)(May 1991) ISSN: 1060-2356 Copyright (C) 1992 by the Library, University of California, Berkeley. All rights reserved. Copying is permitted for noncommercial use by computerized bulletin board/conference systems, individual scholars, and libraries. Libraries are authorized to add the journal to their collections at no cost. This message must appear on copied material. All commercial use requires permission from the editor, who may be reached in the following ways: drobison@library.berkeley.edu // drobison@ucblibra // (510)642-7600 -------------------------------------------------------------------