_Current_Cites_ Volume 4, no. 11 November 1993 Information Systems Instruction & Support The Library University of California, Berkeley Edited by David F. W. Robison ISSN: 1060-2356 Contributors: David B. Rez, Teri Rinne, Vivienne Roumani-Denn, Mark Takaro, Roy Tennant _______________________________________________________________________ From the Editor: At the beginning of this month, I began working as the Educational Documentation Specialist at NorthWestNet, a mid-level Internet service provider. In order to make the transition to a new editor and staff easier, I will continue to edit and contribute to Current Cites for the last two months of this year. Since I am now "dot net", rather than, "dot edu", to avoid a conflict of interest, I have asked Roy Tennant to review those articles that deal directly with network service providers. I am truly excited to be working at an organization providing Internet access and services and I am grateful to Berkeley, the staff of Information Systems Instruction & Support, and the TechWatchers for providing the environment that has lead me to this juncture. Of course, Current Cites has been an important part of my life these past three and a half years, and the encouragement of so many readers has been crucial to our success. It has been a real pleasure, and I hope to see you on the net! Cheers, David F. W. Robison --------------------- Electronic Publishing Franks, John. "The Impact of Electronic Publication on Scholarly Journals" posted on VPIEJ-L@VTVM1 (November 4, 1993) as a reprint from the Notices of the American Mathematical Society 40(9) (November 1993):1200-1202. Franks addresses some interesting issues facing authors, publishers, readers, and librarians, in a time when serial prices are increasing rapidly, university budgets are shrinking, and electronic publishing is taking hold. Although Franks works in the Department of Mathematics at Northwestern University, he has a good sense of the issues facing librarians and their role in the information industry. Franks also published an article on PACS-L last Spring, entitled, "What is an Electronic Journal." This new article examines the changes in the economics of scholarly publishing where authors, universities, and readers play the necessary parts to create, publish, and archive referreed works. Further, Franks offers this analysis in a clear and concise manner. - DFWR Networks and Networking Christian, Eliot. "Government Information Locator Service (GILS)" (draft of Novermber 11, 1993). Available via anonymous FTP as text (gils1111.txt), Word for Macintosh (gils111.Word.hqx) and Windows (gils1111.doc), and PostScript (gils1111.ps) at . Christian outlines the plans for a system designed to help users locate govrenment-produced information in a networked environment. According to this plan, GILS would offer a variety of views of the data to satisfy both inexperienced and expert users across a number of systems (i.e., the Internet, BBSs, CD-ROMs). The GILS would also be agency- based, with maintenance of the data decentralized. The system as a whole would comply with the current version of the Z39.50 standard. Included in the forward to the paper is a request for comments. Comments should be received by December 15, 1993. - DFWR Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. "Serving the Community: A Public Interest Vision of the National Information Infrastructure" (October 1993) [available via anonymous ftp in Rich Text Format (cpsr_nii_policy.rtf - though I was unable to get my word processor to read this version) and plain text (cpsr_nii_policy.txt) at ]. This CPSR policy paper makes a number of recommendations about the development of the NII, in terms of economics, social issues, and technical issues. While most of the recommendations have been made before, they are well articulated here, and placed with an historical context. The 26 page text rests on the idea that the NII will most likely be an outgrowth of the Internet, and even if not, it should take lessons from the Internet. To this end, CPSR has included a short history of the Internet and examined some of the social, technical, and political issues of it. A notable reminder is that the most popular use of the Internet (in terms of number of transactions), is personal communication of one kind or another. - DFWR DeLoughry, Thomas J. "Surviving in the Internet Era" The Chronicle of Higher Education 40(12) (November 10, 1993):A22. The organization the runs BITNET has recognized that it can not compete with the Internet, so they have come up with a plan to remain valuable in the academic world. With BITNET III, users associated with colleges and universities will be able to look in the phone book for a local Internet-access number, and gain access to their home institution's computers when they are travelling. The pilot project should begin this Spring, with local access numbers in 10 cities. - DFWR Electronic Frontier Foundation. "Open Platform Campaign: Public Policy for the Information Age" (November 1, 1993). Available via anonymous FTP as both gzip'd PostScript (op2.0.ps.z - use GNUs gunzip to uncompress, then remove the first line) and text (op2.0) at . The EFF has just released its second revision of the Open Platform proposal, bringing it up to date with recent developments in networking and telecommmunications policies and technologies. The idea behind the proposal is to encourage the development of a national information infrastructure that offers open-access, affordable service, and with sufficient bandwidth both to and from consumers. Specifically, "Open Platform service must meet the following criteria: widely available, switched digital connections; affordable prices; open access to all without discrimination as [to] the content of the message; sufficient 'up-stream' capacity to enable users to originate, as well as receive, good quality video, multimedia services." The proposal is also reviewed in EFFector Online 6(5) . - DFWR "FBI's Operation "Root Canal" Documents Disclosed" CPSR Alert 2(5) (November 12, 1993) . Through documents released through a Freedom of Information Act request, the Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility have discovered that the Federal Bureau of Investigation undertook an orchestrated effort to convince congress and the public of the dangers of non- breakable cryptography. While this is not so surprising, it is interesting to read that field offices were unable to provide evidence that modern telephony created any additional challenges to law enforcement. - DFWR "GAO Report Criticizes Gov't Crypto Policy" CPSR Alert 2(5) (November 12, 1993) . A Government Accounting Office report indicates the restrictions on the sale of cryptographic software by US firms to foreign countries has far reaching effects. The loss of sales due to the restrictions has limited the developers' ability to produce new and better software, thereby leaving US businesses more vulnerable to computer espionage. - DFWR "Intenet is a Tough Sell on Wall Street" The Internet Letter 1(2) (November 1, 1993):1, 6-7. While most Wall Street firms are unsure and a bit afraid to get on the net, others are using it to their advantage. The Internet offers the possibility of better communications with customers and potential customers, the ability to transfer data within the company (when security is not a great concern), and access to a wealth of economic data. As an example, J.P. Morgan & Co. receives almost 10 Gigabytes of data a month from the Internet. - DFWR Kriz, Harry M. "Windows and TCP/IP for Internet Access" posted in two parts on PACS-L@UHUPVM1 (Novemmber 16, 1993). Kriz has compiled a list of public domain and shareware programs available via anonymous FTP that allow a PC running Windows with an Internet connection (hardwired or dialup SLIP or PPP) to run TCP/IP applications. Also included are brief instructions for installation of each package. Even if you already have TCP/IP applications running on your Windows PC, you may find this list helpful. - DFWR "Library Groups Join in Issuing Telecommunications Policy Principles" ALAWON 2(49) (October 27, 1993). The American Library Association, the American Association of Law Libraries, the Association of Research Libraries, the Coalition for Networked Information, Libraries for the Future, the Medical Library Association, and the Special Libraries Association have all joined the Telecommunications Policy Roundtable. The Roundtable has seven principles relating to the developing information infrastructure: universal access; freedom to communicate; vital civic sector; diverse and competitive marketplace; equitable workplace; privacy protection; and democratic policy making. - DFWR Markoff, John. "Keeping Things Safe and Orderly in the Neighborhoods of Cyberspace" The New York Times v.143 (October 24, 1993):E7. Markoff introduces us to Richard Petthia, the coordinator of the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT). As the Internet grows in leaps and bounds, so does the number of malicious computer break-ins. CERT helps site administrators handle attacks as well as offering prophylaxis. For those unsure of the real danger behind computer break-ins, there is the attack in England that knocked out weather warnings for the English Channel and a ship was lost. - DFWR Markoff, John. "Traffic Jams Already on the Information Highway" The New York Times v.143 (November 3, 1993):A1, D9. Markoff describes some interesting events that caused literal traffic jams on the Internet. Because of the speed with which information about events and resources travels, host computers offering new resources can be deluged with requests causing both problems for the server itself, as well as x for the network. As Mark Rotenberg of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility says, "If there is a lesson to be learned it is that you must create technical fixes for these problems because you can't create social fixes." Once again, we are reminded that the Internet is not about computers, but about people. - DFWR "Retrieving the National Information Infrastructure Documents" EFFector Online 6(5) (November 15, 1993) . Find out how to get copies of the Clinton Administration's National Information Infrastructure reports, press briefings, and more. This fact sheet lists the multiple paths of access currently available via Gopher, FTP, Email, and BBS. - DFWR Wilson, David L. "Near-Disaster on the Internet" The Chronicle of Higher Education 40(13) (November 17, 1993):A26-27, A29. A patch for a security whole in common Unix network software was recently released by the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT). The patch should be installed on Unix machines that are connected to the Internet to protect them from unauthorized access. Information on the fix is available from . - DFWR New ejournal announced: Meta. The first issue of a Meta, an ejournal covering issues of interest to the networking community, was published last week in both PostScript and Replica formats. The journal will be published each month and distributed freely via anonymous FTP and email. Included in the journal are fairly high quality color graphics and advertisements. The Replica viewer is free, and includes seach capabilities. The articles in the first issue are a bit slim, but cover Internet service providers, multimedia MOOs (M[ulti-User Dungeon (MUD)] Object Oriented), Linux (a free Unix system for PCs), and the legacy of Unix. According to the publishers release, future issues will cover topics such as cryptography, electronic publishing, free software development, intellectual property, and internet commercialization. Access: files meta1193.ps (PostScript(R)), meta1193.rpl (Replica version without viewer), meta1193.exe (Replica version with reader) at ; or email to mlinksva@netcom.com with a subject of: send1193ps, send1193rpl, or send1193exe. The exe version includes an imbedded copy of the replica reader. Just plug and play. - DFWR Optical Disc Technologies Atkins, Susan L. "CD-ROM: A Review of the 1992 Literature" Computers in Libraries 13(8) (September 1993):20-53. Atkins' annual tour de force does not disappoint. In the past, this comprehensive review was featured in CD-ROM Librarian. Earlier this year, CD-ROM Librarian changed its name and its focus, becoming CD-ROM World. Due to popular demand, CD-ROM Librarian returns as a regular feature within the pages of Computers in Libraries. Its debut appropriately showcases this review of literature published during 1992 which summarizes developments in CD-ROM technology, with special emphasis on its impact in libraries. The article provides an overview of the CD-ROM industry from an international perspective and summarizes the effects of CD-ROM on librariy policies and practices governing selction, budgeting, collection development, reference, staffing, users, and instructions. Major issues associated with networking, licensing, publishing, and standards are also prominently featured. An extensive bibliography, with nearly 400 entries, concludes the review. - TR Spanbauer, Scott. "The Write Stuff: CD-Recordable" New Media 3(10) (October 1993):62-68. This article describes the capabilities and drawbacks of the new CD-R systems, from a multimedia publisher's perspective. Although CD-R has real potential in the multimedia market, Spanbauer sees CD-R's true niche as a corporate archiving and back-up medium that will compete head on with tape, rewritable magneto-optical and even hard disk drives. Although CD-R recording systems now cost between $6,000 and $7,000, it is predicted that prices will drop to below $2,000 within the next two years. - TR General Crawford, Walt. "Dreams, Devices, Niches, and Edges: Coping with the Changing Landscape of Information Technology" The Public- Access Computer Systems Review 4(5) (1993):5-21 [available via email by sending the following message to LISTSERV@UHUPVM1 or LISTSERV@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU: GET CRAWFORD PRV4N5 F=MAIL]. With the explosive growth of information technology in the last few years, many librarians have felt bewildered and even threatened by the changes. Not only must we deal with the actual changes we see around us, but also with the visions of the dreamers among us who envision an even more radical future. Crawford offers some succor. While the dreamers are important, their dreams must be viewed in the context of reality. And while information technology is changing our profession, each library fills an important niche, filled with both paper- and non-paper-based materials, not likely to be replaced entirely by electronics. Crawford, himself, envisions a "library beyond walls, but not [a] library without walls." - DFWR Rooks, Dana. "The Virtual Library: Pitfalls, Promises, and Potential" The Public-Access Computer Systems Review 4(5) (1993): 22-29 [available via email by sending the following message to LISTSERV@UHUPVM1 or LISTSERV@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU: GET ROOKS PRV4N5 F=MAIL. Rooks reminds us that the shift towards the virtual library is just one more step in the ongoing evolution of libraries. Further, she exhorts librarians to become involved in the development of the technologies and user interfaces, saying, "It is imperative that librarians become involved in the technical design issues of the virtual library, or we and, most importantly, our users will pay the price of our failure." - DFWR ------------------------------------------------------------------- Current Cites 4(11) (November 1993) ISSN: 1060-2356 Copyright (C) 1993 by the Library, University of California, Berkeley. All rights reserved. All product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Mention of a product in this publication does not necessarily imply endorsement of the product. 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. An archive site is maintained at ftp.lib.berkeley.edu in directory /pub/Current.Cites . 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