mithomas@bsu-cs.bsu.edu (Michael Thomas Niehaus) (11/14/89)
I had the pleasure last Thursday of listening to Bill Lord, vice-president of
ABC News Interactive, demonstrate current and upcoming products. Mr. Lord is
an excellent speaker who really "knows his stuff." Definitely a man wanting to
make an impression, he started his presentation "I'm glad to be here addressing
this large PC convention..." Then after a pause he explained "PC: Point and
Click."
I'm sure everyone has at least heard of the Vote '88 videodisk / HyperCard
stack. The second disk/stack in ABC's lineup has just been released, and it
too is excellent. Called "The Holy Wars," this disk shows the tensions and
problems in Israel/Palestine in a very thought-provoking, while yet still
neutral, way. There is nothing like a product that makes you stop and think.
Along those same lines is another ABC Interactive disk that is currently
under development. The subject of this is Martin Luther King, Jr. This
definitely shows the power that the computer and videodisk combination hold.
ABC was quick to point out that it would be easy to use this material in
order to sway someone's opinion by selectively showing clips. With this
product, everyone can become a journalist, so everyone needs to know some
journalism rules of ethics.
It also appears that a new disk on the San Francisco earthquake is also in the
works, so you can see they are wasting no time. Expect to see much come from
ABC Interactive in the future.
-Michael
--
Michael Niehaus UUCP: <backbones>!{iuvax,pur-ee}!bsu-cs!mithomas
Apple Student Rep ARPA: mithomas@bsu-cs.bsu.edu
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