[comp.ivideodisc] SIGCAT Meeting January 1991

robertj@tekgen.BV.TEK.COM (Robert Jaquiss) (01/24/91)

     I read the following item with an OCR.  I tried to catch the spelling
errors but I may have missed some.  If you have any questions please call or
write.

		Robert S. Jaquiss Jr.

Phone: (503) 627-4444

Internet: robertj@tekgen.bv.tek.com

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     Special Interest Group on CD-ROM Applications& Technology

                    January 17,1991 Meeting

     Season's greeting from SIGCAT.  As the Big Day approaches and we all begin
scurrying about acquiring the necessary trappings -of "the American Christmas,"
we can at least take a little solace in the fact that our purchases, in addition
to their intended gleeful purpose, are also helping to stimulate our somewhat
sluggish economy.  Wouldn't a CDROM player look enticing under the tree this
Christmas moming? Apparently, some people are beginning to think so. This is the
first year that I've had people tell me that they're looking to buy a CD-ROM
player (with audio capability, of course) for their homes.  Confirming this trend,
those of you who receive the DAK consumer electronic catalogs might have noticed
about 25 percent of the latest issue (Winter '91) devoted to CD and CD-ROM
products.  Montgomery Ward recently offered (and sold out of) a complete
CD-ROM-based computer system from Headstart (a Philips subsidiary), which included
several thousand dollars worth of CD-ROM titles, for a total price of $800! This
type of pricing, even though it didn't include a monitor, begins to make CD-ROM
very accessible to the average consumer.  For these sorts of reasons, I believe
we're finally on the brink of a tremendous expansion in the sales of CD-ROM
players, including a significant number of "crossover" purchases from the home
market.

     SIGCAT has recently encouraged the manufacturers of CD-ROM readers to lower
their prices.  The first to respond was none other than the company that
co-founded the entire CD-ROM industry--the SONY Corporation.  By now, you may have
received an announcement offering the latest intemal CD-ROM reader, complete with
card, cable, and software, for $399 (see the SIGCAT Recap for the November 8,
1990, meeting for more details) to SIGCAT members for a limited time.  We applaud
the SONY Corporation for taking such a significant step and hope that this an-
nouncement is only the first of many from a variety of manufacturers that will
begin to make CD-ROM a true mass-market technology.

     Ours is a phased existence.  Practically everything and everybody goes
through phases.  Whether it's our teenagers or our careers or our technologies,
things tend to follow an evolutionary pattern of change over the course of their
respective life cycles.  So it is with CD-ROM.  The first phase of CD-ROM
applications were monolithic; i.e., they generally embraced only a single type of
data.  Discs were either dedicated to text (e.g., the original Grolier's En-
cyclopedia) or to graphics (e.g., clip art discs) or to imagery

(e.g., the NASA series of Voyager discs), but rarely were two or more data types
combined or integrated on the same disc.  Now, some 5 years or so into the
technology, we are seeing the second phase unfold in which text and graphics are
being combined and linked in very sophisticated and synergistic ways.  This
capability has fostered the growth of one of CD-ROM's most powerful
applications--technical documentation.  During this phase of CD-ROM, we are seeing
company after company, spurred on by the early successes at Hewlett-Packard,
Compaq Computer, and Mack Truck, transform their technical documentation from
paper to plastic.  These transitions from hardcopy to softcopy in private-sector
organizations underscore the inherent cost savings of such undertakings. 
Companies are not embracing CD-ROM simply because they're fascinated with the
technology.  They're doing it because it's saving them time and money.  But the
interesfing thing is that, beyond proving its worth on the bottom line, CD-ROM is
beginning to provide a whole new dimension of functionality by allowing users to
access and manipulate their technical information in ways that were simply
impossible in the printed medium.

     To help organizations better understand the enormous potential of using
CD-ROM to manage technical documentation (or "tech doc" as it's becoming known),
the January 17,1991, SIGCAT meeting will be devoted enfirely to this topic.  The
meeting will take place in the main auditorium of the U.S. Geological Survey in
Reston, Virginia, beginning at 9:00 a.m. The first half of the meeting will
consist of an in-depth tutorial on the issues associated with tehnical
documentation on a digital medium such as CD-ROM.  The afternoon will consist of
presentations from three of the industry's leading developers of authoring tools
used in tech-doc projects, followed by presentations from three organizations that
are actually using opfical technology to manage their technical documentation.

     To successfully convert an organization's hardcopy documentation to softcopy
on a digital medium, a basic understanding of the underlying technical issues is
a must.  There are also several strategic issues to address, such as how to sell
upper management on the concept and how to establish a realistic set of project
goals.  These and other key elements will be the topics of discussion during the
morning tutorial.  Providing this tutorial will be a team of people from one of
the most experienced companies in the CDROM industry--the TMS Corporation.  Art
Crotzer, vice president of product development and services, will lead off the
discussions on the basics of softcopy technical documentation.  Art will be joined
by members of his staff to explore other issues, including project goals,
value-added functionality, and future planning.  There are only three reasons why
an organization would want to consider a techdoc project: (1) to make money, (2)
to save money, or (3) to improve productivity.  After the tutorial by TMS, you
should have a good understanding of which motivator is most appropriate for your
organization.

     After the lunch break, the meeting will focus on some of the tools available
from the CD-ROM industry to get the job done.  Three companies will present
updates on their individual software and hardware capabilities relative to techdoc
applications.  Each update will be followed by an end-user overview on the actual
use of that particular tool.

     Leading off the afternoon will be the vice president of marketing for TMS,
Ashok Mathur, who will provide a general overview on the latest capabilities of
TMS authoring tools.  Ashok will then turn the podium over to Leon Niller from the
Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics for an end-user perspective on a
project that uses TMS products.  Leon heads a key research project involving digi-
tal delivery of an entire technical library to a broad, diverse base of submarine
community activities and personnel.  Recently, the Submarine Directorate decided
to suspend independent development and become a participant in a larger Navy
initiative to automate and standardize tech-doc research, creation, approval,
management, and delivery at major shipyards and intermediate maintenance sites and
aboard ships.  Leon's project is being evaluated as a key element in the
development of an integrated set of information handling tools.

     The next vendor update will come from Reference Technology, Inc., and will
be presented by Bill Thomburg, marketing programs manager at RTI.  Bill will
discuss the ReferenceSet modular CD-ROM development toolkit from RTI and how these
tools are being applied to a variety of tech-doc applications.  Following Bill
will be Ron Kercheval, printing manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.  Ron
is no stranger to the SIGCAT forum; he addressed the membership over a year and
a half ago when his CD-ROM project was just getting underway.  Ron is back to
provide an update on this project and share with us some insight as to what he has
learned over the past 18 months about using CD-ROM to disseminate technical
manuals and forms.  Because Ron comes from the hardcopy world of printing and
publishing, his observations should be very valuable to anyone involved with
assessing the new softcopy approach to tech doc.  We'll also get to hear firsthand
about how CD-ROM saved the day after the Corps suffered a catastrophic fire at its
headquarters building.

     For our third vendor update, we will hear from Chris Bowman, director of
markering at the Knowledgeset Corporation.  KnowledgeSet has been particularly
active in the area of tech doc for the airline industry.  Chris will provide an
overview on these activities as well as on the latest features and functions of
their multiplatform (DOS, UNIX, and Macintosh) Knowledge Retrieval System known
as KRS.  For an end-user perspective on the KRS tools, we are delighted to welcome
the IBM Corporation to the SIGCAT podium.  Discussing the IBM AIX version of KRS,
called InfoExplorer, will be Ron Reischl, a design and development manager at IBM. 
IBM is fast becoming a major force in the highly competitive workstation
marketplace with its RISC System/6000 computers.  It is significant, then, that
IBM chose to incorporate the 16,000 pages of documentation for this new family of
workstations into a single CDROM disc.  Accessed through a built-in CD-ROM drive,
InfoExplorer goes beyond simply providing online access to the pages of the manual
and allows the user to interactively explore the information (thus the name)
through a sophisticated yet intuitive linkage of text and graphics.  Be sure to
stay for Ron's presentation--it clearly represents the wave of the ftiture for
CD-ROM-based technical documentation.

                             JEDI

     To update our Joint Educational Initiative (JEdI), I'm including the wrap-up
article written by Jim Sproull, the teacher coordinator and now project manager
of JEDI.  Jim's comment sum up the purpose and accomplishments of the first phase
of JEDI.


                      A TEACHER'S VIEW OF
               THE JOINT EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVE

                              by
                          Jim Sproull
                    JW Teacher Coordinator


     The JEDI project is designed to empower teachers and students with real and
current scientific data.  Databases, made available from the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration (NASA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), have been given to
the schools.  These data sets, through the medium of CD-ROM technology and
powerful desktop computers, have the potential to change our way of teaching. 
Using what scientists use on a daily basis--i.e., image enhancement
techniques--teachers in the summer JEdi workshop have developed classroom
activities that will utilize the power of these technological features and enable
teachers to bring scientific research data sets to the classroom.

                        Project History

During the early part of 1990, the USGS initiated a feasibility study of the JEDI
project  .  With the cooperationof NASA and NOAA, approximately 30 Washington, D.C.,

area teachers were given opportunities to become familiar with many databases from
these agencies.  After these "test drives," teachers, scientists, and project
leaders met to decide two issues: (1) should JEDI continue, and (2) if it con-
tinues, what databases should be made available to teachers?

     At this meeting, participating teachers expressed their overwhelming approval
of the project and suggested a range of databases to be included on the JEDI
discs.  On the basis of this response, Nimbus Information Systems agreed to press
three discs instead of the one initially agreed upon.  The project now had the 
capability of accessing 2100 megabytes of scientific information.

     These databases are varied, broad, and deep.  Planetary images can be
accessed, processed, and displayed, and even captured to other output devices such
as a hard disk or a printer.  The powerful access software used with the
Geophysics of North America (GNA) disc can be used to study topics such as
satellite vegetation indices and the relationship between gravity, magnetic
anomalies, and crustal stress.  Other areas covered are ocean bathymetry,
temperature and salinity, Antarctic ice fluctuation, seismographic information,
ozone levels, comet spectral analysis, and Voyager images.  The JEDI data sets
have opened a new era in what science means to the student.

                       The JEdI Workshop

     From the initial stages of the JEDI project, teachers have been actively
involved.  During the February and March test drives, teachers worked along with
scientists to develop and enhance the available data sets.  Teachers were involved
in selecting the data sets, in determining their depth and scope, and in designing
the 1990 JEDI Teachers Summer Workshop.

     Twenty Workshop participants were selected from a national pool of interested
candidates.  These teachers were given the task of designing classroom activities
around the data sets.  Some of the unique aspects of the workshop for the teachers
were:

     *Three graduate credits in remote-sensing applications from George Mason
University.

     *Experience in using a powerful desktop computer equipped with
state-of-the-art image display software.

     *Access to the same extensive databases actually used by scientists.

     *Opportunity to work directly with scientists, develop activities, discuss
the scientists' research, and engage in a pupil-mentor relationship.

     *Publication, through the USGS, of the activities that have been developed.

     The workshop, for the most part, was unfunded.  Most teachers traveled at
their own expense, project people opened their homes to out-of-town participants,
and computers were borrowed from Tandy Corporation.  Contributions from industry
and the Virginia State Department of Education supported field trips and some
meals.

                      Current JEDI Status

     Ten teacher activities have been created and written.  These activities are
currently being edited, reviewed for scientific accuracy, and worked up into what
will be released as a "preliminary" USGS open-file report.  When the report is
released, sometime in the next few months, workshop teachers and other teachers
yet to be chosen for beta testing will field check the activities, submit changes,
and critique the activities' effectiveness in the classroom.  After this input is
incorporated, the activities will be released as a "formal" open-file report in
the third quarter of the school year.  After field trials during this school year,
the activities will be issued as a USGS circular.
     To maintain the momentum generated by the project, the following continuing
activities are planned:

     *Follow-up with teachers to provide classroom assistance for computers,
software, and activities.

     *Outreach to national, State and local school organizations with workshops
and short courses.

     *Continued interaction with mentor scientists to further enhance the
activities.

     *Project computer bulletin board sponsored by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

                         JEDI targets

   *Implementation on a national basis. *Parallel alignment to Project 2061
   goals. *Increased industry support.
     *Cross-disciplinary and multigrade approach in designing JEDI activities.

                      Hurdles to overcome


   *Nonavailability of computers in classrooms.

     *Lack of knowledge in the use of computer resources in the classroom.

     *Need for teacher preparation in using computers as a scientific tool.

JEDI Future


     A successful JEDI project will enable students and teachers to
augment the school learning envirorunent.  This enrichment of the learning
process will have far-reaching effects.  It is conceivable that in the
future, students will be able to access JEDI information in the classroom,
in libraries, and even in the home.  This democratization of scientific
databases will impact how science is viewed--that it is something that is
knowable by all but is still mysterious and unpredictable.

     Anyone interested in getting involved with JEDI as an evaluation site
or in simply being placed on the mailing list for additional information
should write Jim Sproull (U.S. Geological Survey, 912 National Center,
Reston, VA 22092-9998) or contact him via phone at (703) 648-6636 or fax
at (703) 648-6683.

                     GIS Working Group Meeting

     The technology of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is finding
application in a wide variety of fields, from logistics to resource
management In most of these apphcations, large amounts of data are
required to generate meaningful output.  Since CD-ROM is able to provide
this type of large data storage, a marriage of these two technologies
seems only natural.  The GIS Working Group explores this combination of
CD-ROM and GIS and serves as a focal point for information and
applications.  There will be a meeting of this working group following the
January SIGCAT meeting in Room BA-102A beginning at 3:30 p.m. Please
contact Dan Costanzo (Army Engineer Topographic Labs, (202) 355-3451 for
further information.

     That's about it for the January meeting, except for a few "belated"
Christmas gifts for the SIGCAT audience.  The CD-ROM mastering plants from
around the country have a few stocking stuffers left over and have
promised to make available a few of these discs for the January attendees. 
Be sure and get to the meeting on time, or Santa might leave you out.  For
directions, please call the SIGCAT Info Line at (703) 648- 4452.  For any
other questions, I can be reached at (703) 648-7126 or FIS 959-7126.



                                    EJ. (jerry) McFaul
               Computer Scientist, U.S. Geological Survey

     SIGCAT - January 17,1991 - AGENDA
               USGS Main Auditorium




9:00 a.m.- 9:15 a.m.
Intmductory Remarks

9:15 a.m.- 10:30 a.m.
Tech Doc Tutorial - Part 1
Art Crotzer, Vice President of Product Development and Services TMS
Corporation - (405) 377-0880

10:30 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.
Morning Break

10:45 a.m.- 12:00 p.m.
Tech Doc Tutorial - Part 2
Art Crotzer, Vice President of Product Development and services TMS
Corporation - (405) 377-0880

12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Lunch Break

1:00 p.m. - 1:20 p.m.
Ashok Mathur, Vice President of marketing
TMS Corporation - (405) 377-0880

1:20 p.m. - 1:40 p.m.
Leon Miller, Project Manager
General Dynamics - (203) 433-0292

1:40 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Bill Thomburg, Marketing Prograrm Manager
Reference Technology, Inc. - (303) 449-4157

2:00 p.m. - 2:15 p.m.
Afternoon Break

2:15 p.m. - 2:35 p.m.
Ron Kercheval, Printing Manager
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - (202) 475-9033

2:35 p.m. - 2:55 p.m.
Chris Bowman, Director of marketing
KnowledgeSet Corporation - (415) 968-9888

2:55 p.m. - 3:15 p.m.
Ron Reischl, Design and Developnwnt Manager
IBM Coqxration - (512) 823-5140

3:30 p.m. Adjournment