robertj@tekgen.BV.TEK.COM (Robert Jaquiss) (10/31/89)
I know the meeting is long past but there is useful information hre.
I head the following material with an OCr machine. I
have corrected some misread words. I apologize for any mis-
takes.
Robert S. Jaquiss Jr.
robertj@tekgen.bv.tek.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Special Interest Group on CD-ROM Applications& Technology
August 30,1989 Moding
Welcome to Washington's summer doldrums.
To help bring you oust of them and into the Augut SIGCAT
meeting, we're offering a little incentive beyond that nor-
mally provided by our agenda. Each attendee at this month's
meeting will receive a copy (please, only one per attendee)
of the CD-ROM disc that resulted from the recent GRIPS
'89 meeting. In case you missed it, this seminar was held
last month to put together some of the country's best
government-developed image-processing software running
in both the PC and Mac environments. The latest versions
of these packages, together with hundreds of megabytes of
actual image data, were placed on a CD-ROM that by vir-
tue of the ISO 9660 format, are not only accessible but also
executable from both computing platforms. Meridian Data
and Philips Dupont Optical (PDO) cosponsored the project,
and the resulting disc should be very useful to those wish-
ing to explore state-of-the-art raster image processing on a
personal computer.
Until the price of CD-ROM drives drops a bit more (al-
though this situation may be right around the corner--see the
SIGCAT Recap for the June 28,1989 meeting) or until some
of the commercial CD-ROM products provide more attrac-
tive quantity discounts, there will be a continuing need for
accessing a CD-ROM drive over a local area network.
Several companies have developed technologies for doing
that and this month's SIGCAT Technology Tutorial will
focus on the options currently available in the marketplace.
On hand to present an overview of the characteristics, con-
siderations and pricing of networked CD-ROM solutions
will be Martin Ennis, technical editor of the CD-ROM End-
User. Martin has hands-on exponence with many of the
products that he will be discussing and should provide a
wealth of practical information for those considering using
CD-ROM on networks.
One of the exciting things about CD-ROM is how it can
significantly enhance projects and programs that deal with
large scientific databases. Such is the case with the Side-
&"g Airborne Radar (SLAR) program within the U. S.
Geological Survey. This activity roughly deals with in-
dividual image files typically ranging up to 150 megabytes
in size. Until discovering CD-ROM, the SLAR folks used
minicomputers and the wonderful world of nine-track tape
for their image processing and analysis. In addition, the
limitations inherent in photochemical processing often hid
suttle features in associated photographic output. Now, CD-
ROM allows the manipulation of multiple SLAR images on a
desktop PC. Clark Cramer, SLAR Program Analyst, will
provide some insight into how the use of CD-ROM has im-
proved access to and processing of valuable remotely sensed
information.
CD-ROM industry periodicals continue to tell us that we
are rapidly moving in the direction of multimedia applica-
tions. Microsoft is apparently convinced of this trend and
has recently formed a new Multimedia Division to further
advance the technology. But the real proof of progress is in
the applications we're beginning to see emerge. CD-ROM
products are now delivering imagery that rivals the printed
page (see for yourself at this month's meeting). We're for-
tunate in having one of the more innovative developers in
the industry with us to discuss several new low-cost multi-
media CD-ROM products. In addition to demonstrating ap-
plications ranging from medical journals to the works of
Sherlock Holmes, Chris Kitze, president of CMC Research,
will announce several brand-new titles, including one that
might prove to be a very popular 'horizontal' product. Chris
will also discuss multimedia database design and prepara-
tion considerations, including 'notes from the field" anec-
dotes from CMC's experience in pioneering this area. His
perspective on the economic driving force behind electronic
publishing in the technical fields should be of interest to
anyone looking to develop the next generation of CD-ROM
applications. And finally, the "Kitze Crystal Ball" will make
a rare appearance to deliver its riot annual forecast of fu-
ture CD-ROM events.
How would you find out how many Navy contracts in-
volve ceramics and communftdons, except antennas,
were being carried out in Virginia and California? Well, if
you had a disc called the Federal Prime Contracts on CD-
ROM, you could have that answer in a few seconds. The
Federal Government with approximately 400,000 prime
products every year to over 30,000 companies. The General
Services Administration (GSA) maintains a compilation of
each Federal agency's contractual dealings in the GSA's In-
dividual Comment Action Record database. Each record in
this database contains information on the contractor, pur-
chasing office, name of the work or service, place of per-
formance, type of business, contract competition, and
amount of obligation. An enterprising organization called
MSRS recognized the potential value of such records and
set about producing a CD-ROM disc containing this infor-
mation in a highly indexed form. The result was a disc that
allows users to locate all of the contract records for any
given product or service within a specified State, county, or
city. MSRS has developed a simple, 'get-to-the-facts" user
interface that supports context-sensitive help, pop-up win-
dows, and extremely flexible output data formats. Paul Mur-
phy, President of MSRS, will present the latest disc and, in
the process, relate yet another success story of how the
private sector is using CD-ROM technology to add value to
publicly available information.
More and more organizations are realizing the benefits
of placing their technical documentation on CD-ROM. The
advent of affordable high-resolution monitors and as-
sociated video cards, along with the growing number of
retrieval packages that handle both text and imagery, now
allows many more applications to be considered for CD-
ROM. One such application is the massive technical
documentation produced by the U.S. Army Corps of En-
gineers for use by its engineers throughout the world. The
Corps recently decided to place some 17,000 pages of en-
gineering manuals, regulations, specifications, and other
textual and graphic material onto a two-disc CD-ROM set.
Ron Kercheval, chief of the Printing and Distribution
Management Branch, will provide an overview on this
project, which included converting those 17,000 pages of
material from paper into machine-readable form. The func-
tions of full-text inputing, image decompression, and dis-
play will be demonstrated by using concurrent windows--an
image can be viewed in one while text is scrolled in another.
Ron will also describe a related effort in which the Corps
has elected to store and distribute many of its forms on CD-
ROM. This effort is intended to produce significant cost
savings in the handling, printing, distributing, and storing of
large quantities of printed forms. The experience of the
Corps on this project should be watched very closely by the
entire Federal sector. After all, how many copies of the
Paperwork Reduction Act do we have to keep printing
before people begin to see the (Lua) light?
As the Nation's factfinder, the Bureau of the Census
provides government, academia, private organizations, and
the general public with exhaustive statistical information
about subjects ranging from demographics to foreign trade.
The agency has always been directly involved in the dis-
txibution of its collected statistics and is a leader in the use
of electronic dissemination technologies. This past month,
the Bureau released its fourth CD-ROM disc, the 1988
County/City Data Book on CD-ROM. Two of its discs are
being distributed to the Federal Depository Libraries. In the
near future, the Bureau plans to release data from the 1987
Economic and Agricultural Censuses, and it is now a well-
known fact that they also plan to release the 1990 Decen-
nial Census on CD-ROM (perhaps 20 to 25 discs). In a
recent announcement, the Bureau made known its plans to
produce CD-ROM discs containing digital mapping infor-
mation. These discs will support the Topologically In-
tegrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing system and
will contain various map features such as streets, roads,
waterways, and power lines, as well as political and statis-
nationwide database is important to the many firms and
agencies that must maintain computer mapping capabilities
or geographic information systems. Updating the SIGCAT
audience on all of this activity will be Forrest Williams,
chief of the Systems Programming Branch at the Census
Bureau. Forrest will also be making an additional an-
nouncement that will further underscore the leadership role
of the Census Bureau as the first Federal statistical agency
to incorporate this significant new medium into major,
agency wide publication programs.
When most industry pundits are asked about how many
commercially available CD-ROM titles there are "out
there," the response usually falls somewhere between 400
and 600. However, a statistic that is not so well known is the
number of titles that have been actually made to date. It turns
out that one mastering and replication facility--Digital
Audio Disc Corporation (DADC)--alone has produced over
1,300 CD-ROM titles. Although DADC is the largest CD
plant in the United States, this figure seems to indicate a
rather significant amount of "behind-the-scenes" CD-ROM
activity. Onhand to offer some insight into these figures as
well to as provide an overview (including a video tour) of
the vast DADC facility will be Cliff Brannon, Disc Produc-
tion Manager at DADC. Cliff will also discuss the success
that DADC is having with its recently instituted statistical
process control procedures, which help DADC maintain its
recognized high levels of quality assurance while produc-
ing over 8 million compact discs a month.
One of the problems government agencies have had with
CD-ROM is that the information and associated indexes that
are placed on a disc are usually tied to proprietary vendor
software. This limitation makes it difficult to reuse the in-
formation with another application, another publishing
medium, or another computer and operating system. Ibis
situation exists even though there is a great deal of stand-
ardization in the CD-ROM industry. Some feel that what the
electronic publishigg industry lacks is an overall architec-
ture or frame of reference for publishing and delivery func-
tions. Consequently, the concept of an Open Electronic
Publishing Architecture (OEPA) has been proposed to help
put existing standards in perspective and target those func-
tions that still require standards development. Current
standards-related efforts like those of the CD-ROM XA
Development Group, the CALS committee, and the SIG-
CAT ISO 9660 Working Group all fall within the
framework of OEPA. Network Technology Corporation is
documenting the OEPA concept and acting as a clearin-
ghouse for information regarding OEPA. Amy Kovarick is
the Optical Publishing Manager for Network Technology
and the author of 'A Tutorial on the Open Electronic
Publishing Architecture.' She will provide an overview of
the OEPA and how it might help the CD-ROM industry
grow. Amy will also introduce Barbara Rose for an update
on the activities of the ISO 9660 Working Group.
If you're a Federal type and you have a CD-ROM project
growing questions about Federal CD-ROM activity, we are
now establishing a database in the U.S. Geological Survey
Library to keep us of this type of information in an or-
ganized manner. We plan to make this information public-
ly available in our library as well as through the various
SIGCAT channels.
Parking is unrestricted as long as you use only the desig-
nated roadside areas. As always, the meeting will be held in
the main auditorium of the U.S. Geological Survey, 12201
Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, Virginia. If you need direc-
tions, please call (703) 649-4452 for verbal instructions. I
once again invite you to use the Survey's revered cafeteria
facilities and help yourself to one of the few proven
remedies for the doldrums--frozen yogurt. For questions, I
can be reached at (703) 648-7126 or FIS 959-7126.
E. J. (Jerry) McFaul
Computer Scientis4 USGS
SIGCAT - August 30,1989 - AGENDA
9:30 am. - 10:30 a.m.
Mam Eruns, Technical Editor
CD-ROM EndUser Magazine - 703/237-0682
10:35 am. - 11:05 a.m.
Clark Cramer, SLAR Program Analyst
SLAR Program - U.S. Geological Survey - 703/648-5465
1 1: 10 am. - 11:40 a.m.
Chris Kitm, President
CMC Researck Inc. - 503/639-1796
11:45 am. - 12:15 p.m.
Paul Muorphy, President
MSRS, Iw. - 703/687-6777
12:15 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Lunch
1:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Ron KerchavaL Chief, Prbdng & Distr. Mgmt. Branch
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
1:35 p.m. - 2:OS p.m.
Dr. Forrest Williams, Chief, Branch of Sys. Programming
U.S. Census Bureau - 301fl634677
2: 10 p.m. - 2:40 p.m.
Ms. Amy Kovarick, Optical Publishing Manager
Network Technology, Inc. - 703/866-9000
2:45 p.m. - 3:15 p.m.
Mr. Chi Brannon, Disc Production Manager
Digitd Audio Disc Corporation (DADC) - 812/462-8286
-- Active SIGCAT Working Groups
SIGLIT
Special Interest Group on Library Information
Technology
'This SIGCAT working group focuses on CD-ROM ap-
plications in the library and information sciences. SIGLIT
is very active and very often holds field trips to libraries in
the metropolitian area.
Contact: Susan David, Library of Congress-
(202) 707-7169.
SIGACE
This SIGCAT working group was formed to examine,
review, and demonstrate CD-ROM discs appropriate for use
in training and education. SIGACE meets at the Technol-
ogy Resources Center which houses a variety of CD-ROM
discs and players.
Contact: Sheldon Fisher, Department of Education-
(202) 357-6699
ISO 9660
This SIGCAT workin group tracks the progress the ISO
9660 logical format standard as it is being implemented
across a wide variety of computing forms. Since this
standard is critical to the world-wide proliferation of CD-
ROM technology, the activities of this group are very im-
portant.
Contact: Barbara Rose, Army Corps of Engineers-
(202) 355-3029
SIGACE UPDATE
SIGCAT LAB MERGES WITH TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES CENTER
The Technology Resources Center at the U.S. Department of Education Research
Library is the one place in Washington to see what is new in educational
applications of technology and especially what is new in CD-ROM.
For the past several years it has been building a collection of hardware and
software to provide professional educators with demonstrations on the effective
use of technology. Visitors have come from all over the country, from every
level of education, and from over 30 different foreign countries.
During the past year, the Center has expanded its CD-ROM collection and can
demonstrate 21 educational discs in the MS/DOS mode and 10 on the Apple HFS
system.
This month, the Technology Resources Center will be absorbing hardware and
software from the SIGCAT CD-ROM Lab which has been located at the National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Due to a reorganization within
the NIST, it became necessary to find a new "home" for the SIGCAT Lab.
With the addition of these discs and CD-ROM players, the Technology Resources
Center is expanding and will have CD-ROM units on two new IBM PS-2 systems, and
an Amiga 2000 in addition to CD ROM's already installed on a Apple IGS, Macintosh
IIx, Tandy 3000, and a complete Bibliofile Intelligent Catalog work station.
The Center plans to standardize on ISO 9660 discs and is seeking demonstration
copies of new products. Especially needed are materials useful in vocational
education, bilingual education, and English as a second language. The Center
also collects for distribution to visitors floppy disk samples of CD-ROM
programs, print materials, and general information pieces.
The Technology Resources Center is located in the Research Library of the U.S.
Department of Education at 80 F Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20208-5725. For
further information contact Sheldon Fisher at (202) 357-6699.robertj@tekgen.BV.TEK.COM (Robert Jaquiss) (10/31/89)
I head the following material with an OCr machine. I
have corrected some misread words. I apologize for any mis-
takes.
Robert S. Jaquiss Jr.
robertj@tekgen.bv.tek.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SIGCAT
RECAP
Special Interest Group on CD-ROM Applications & Technology
Minutes of the June 28,1989 Meeting
The meeting began with a tutorial on CD-ROM pubfish-
ing workstations given by Timothy H. Hinds, President, In-
tegrity Data Systems Corporation. Mr. Hinds described the
functions, components, and methods of acquiring a CD-
ROM workstation. The workstation functions range from
data capture through the various "massaging" steps required
to build and index the database to the actual creation of the
CD-ROM image on tape or on some other medium that can
be sent to a CD mastering facility. The components consist
of a processor platform, some peripheral storage devices, an
operating system, system support software, and application
software for creating the CD-ROM image. The typical
workstation consists of an AT bus 80386 processor plat-
form, 4.64 megabytes of RAM, 1.2 gigabytes (billion bytes)
of disk storage, a 6250 BPI nine-track tape drive, and MS-
DOS. Such a workstation costs from $25,000 to $35,000.
Mr. Hinds highly recommended that CD-ROM developers
adhere to the ISO 9660 CD-ROM logical formatting stand-
ard and that they only invest in workstation software capable
of producing and supporting it For generic applications, he
recommended that developers acquire package software
with development tool kits for supporting unique require-
ments. Workstation architecture should be "open"; that is,
it should be well documented, adhere to industry standards,
and be third-party accessible. Finally, Mr. Hinds warned
not to underestimate the staff rcsources needed to install and
operate a workstation. If necessary, consider hiring a con-
sultant or other outside help for developing requirements,
integrating components, and &"g the in-house staff. For
further information, contact:
Mr. Timothy Hinds, President
Integrity Information Systems, Inc.
3011 Teak Lane
Bowie, MD 20715
(301)464-7330.
Dr. Carl Abston, Chief of the Systems Integration and
Planning Office of the National Geophysical Data Center
(NGDC), presented the latest NOAA CD-ROM entitled
"Geophysics of North America." NGDC is distributing the
definitive databases on North American geophysics in a
machine with EGA graphics capability and a CD-ROM
reader. The data, consisting of magnetic, gravity, ther-
modynamic, 30-second topography, and other information,
is stored in 630 files that collectively take up 588 million
bytes. No compression is used, and the data are replicated
in different forms such as ASCII, binary, and raster images.
The CD-ROM disc, including software and documentation,
costs $600 for the first copy. An organization can purchase
additional copies for $200 each.
Dr. Abston conducted a tour of the disc, starting with a
topographic map of the southern California coast with
elevations shown in color. He added the coast, county lines,
and 20-meter contours. He also produced a cross section.
Washington State was next, including Puget Sound and the
Mount St. Helen's area. Dr. Abston concluded by stating
that the disc contains just data. There is no analysis, and the
software comes on a separate floppy disc. For further infor-
mation, contact:
Dr. Carl C. Abston
Chief, Systems Integraton and Planning Office
National Geophysical Data Center
325 Broadway
Bolder, CO 80303
Telephone: (303) 497-6276
FrS: 320-6276
FAX: (303) 497-6513
Telex: 592811 NOAA MASC BDR
The next speaker was Mr. Stephen R. Macdonald of
Patent Search Systems, Inc. (PSSI). PSSI has developed a
system for searching the massive U.S. Patent Library
database on CD-ROM. Since 1971 alone, about 1.2 million
patents have been granted and have generated over 10 mil-
lion pages of graphics and text. To accommodate it, PSSI
has made a 240 disc 'carousel' the heart of the system. The
rest of the hardware is an AT-compatible machine with a
high-resolution monitor capable of displaying both text and
drawings. The original documents, both text and illustra-
tions, were scanned into machine-readable form and run
through image compression software to reduce the size of the data.
"carousel" is connected to a single PC/AT and provides ac-
cess to data on any given disc in about 12 seconds. The
retrieval software is by Dataware, and the access points for
the database are assignee code, patent count, and assignee
name. The patent database is updated weekly when the new
patents are released. The U.S. Patent Library Workstation
is a multiple-use system, and the "carousel" can be
programmed to hold other databases as well. For further in-
formation, call or write:
Mr. Stephen R. Macdonald, Vice President
Patent Search Systems, Inc.
2001 Jefferson Davis Highway
Crystal Plm One, Suite 802
Arlington, VA 22202
Phone: (703) 521-9030
The next speaker was Fred Meyer, President of Meridian
Data, Inc. Meridian Data has just opened an office in Res-
ton, Va., to service CD-ROM developers in the Washington,
D.C., area. According to Mr. Meyer, the D.C. area does as
much CD-ROM development as Europe and Japan com-
bined. Meridian Data is committed to building this
industry's infrastructure, and wants to hear the needs of the
Federal sector for future product development Meridian
Data supports existing CD-ROM standards, is working with
Microsoft and UNIX standards makers to extend the scope
of standards, and will stay current with the state of the art as
this dynamic technology continues to change.
Mr. Meyer then announced Meridian Data's newest
product the CD Professional, which allows a user to actual-
ly create a CD-ROM disc in house, "while you wait." The
growth of in-house CD-ROM product development now
dominates the industry. Meridian Data's original product
for the CD-ROM industry was CD Publisher, which first
made possible in-house product development. Most CD-
ROM retrieval software was developed by using CD
Publisher. Meridian followed up by releasing CD Master
and CD NeL Using a write-one-time-only CD-ROM disc,
CD Publisher lets the user create a complete, finished, ISO
9660 format CD-ROM disc that is stable in a normal office
environment. The bIM discs can be purchased in quantity
for about $100 each and have a 5-year shelf life. The CD
Professional can be used for prototyping new applications,
as an in-house service bureau, for small-run production, or
for high-security applications. Inquiries should be directed
to:
Mr. Greg Smith, Director of Sales
Meridian Data, Inc.
5615 Scotts Valley Drive
Scotts Valley, CA 95066
Phone: (408) 438-3100
Fax: (408) 438-6816
Telex: 988330 CDROM OR
Mr. Matt Leek, Eastern Area Sales Manager
12200 Sunrise Valley Drive, Suite 125
Reston, VA 22091
Phone: (703) 620-4200
Fax: (703) 620-5100
After lunch, Ms. Susan David announced up coming ac-
tivities of SIGLIT, the Special Interest Group on Library and
Information Technology. SIGLIT is a SIGCAT working
group that focuses on library applications of CD-ROM tech-
nology. On July 12, SIGLIT will visit the Howard County
Central Library to see their Novell local area network, to
which they have added six CD-ROM workstations. On
August 15, SIGLIT will meet in room LM-215 of the
Library of Congress to hear conference reports from area
librarians who have recently attended professional con-
ferences. SIGLIT is also involved in promoting the ISO
9660 standard for CD-ROM and is interested in hearing
about any user problems with it For further details, contact
Ms. Susan David at (202) 707-7169.
The distinction of making the day's most unusual presen-
tation went to Cliff Mass of the University of Washington.
Not being able to make the trip in person, Dr. Mass sent a
videotape of his presentation, which was projected on a
screen at the front of the auditorium. Dr. Mass, a
meteorologist, described the past and current projects that
have created CD-ROM's containing large meteorological
databases: the National Meteorological Center Grid Point
Data (NMC) disc, the Genesis of Atlantic Lows Experiment
(GAILE) CD-ROM, and the World Weather Disc. Dr. Mass
also demonstrated that his CD-ROM's can work on Sun and
MicroVAX workstations as well as PC's and Apple Macin-
toshes. Other CD-ROM titles currently under development
include Stratosphere-Troposphere Exchange Data, the
Voyager Data Set from Jet Propulsion Labratory, and the
Geomagnetic and Ionospheric Data of the U.S. Geological
Survey. For additional information, call or write:
Professor Cliff Mass
Department of Atmospheric Science, AK-40
University of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195
Phone: (206) 545-0910
CD-ROM can be used for other purposes besides the
mere distribution of data. The next speaker, John Garofolo
of the National Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST), formerly the National Bureau of Standards, showed
just how flexible CD-ROM can be. For some time, NIST
has been distributing digitized speech databases on mag-
netic tape. However, this medium has undesirable integrity
and storage density characteristics. NIST has decided to use
CD-ROM to distribute TIMIT, a speech database, to the
speech research community. TIMIT gives examples of the
different dialects of English spoken around the United
States. It provides straight data for speech analysis and is
directed to a wide audience of speech researchers. The data
can be used as input for spectral analysis and other analyses.
TINUT consists of 6300 sentences in 18,900 files. The
occupies 430 million bytes on a single CD-ROM disc. The
files are organized into 4200 hierarchical directories, which
are visually navigable. The CD-ROM disc is in the ISO
9660 format and is being used around the world on IBM
PC's, Apple Macintoshes, and Sun workstations. To
demonstrate TINUT, Mr. Garofolo conducted a dialect tour
of the United States, producing examples of New England,
nonhem, north midland, south midland, southern, New
York City, western, and "army brat" speech. For further in-
formation, or if you are a speech researcher and wish to ob-
tain a copy of TINUT, contact:
Mr. John Garofolo, Computer Scientist
National Institute of Standards and Technology Bldg 225
Room A-216
Gaithersburg, MD 20899
Phone: (301) 975-3193
Sherman Woo, of the U.S. West Advanced Technologies
Group, presented the "Electronic Yellow Pages" CD-ROM,
a prototype application developed in cooperation with the
Microsoft Corporation and containing the 39 separate Yel-
low Page directories published by U.S. West in the State of
Colorado. It is searchable by heading, brand name, com-
pany name, and geographic area. It is also a multimedia disc
containing text, graphics, photographs, sound, and anima-
tion. As such, "Electronic Yellow Pages" is designed to
show the different ways information can be stored and dis-
played on CD-ROM and the impact that these methods will
have on the future of electronic advertising. 'Electronic
Yellow Pages" requires an IBM PC/AT with a Paradise
VGA Plus board and Nccrosoft Windows as a minimum
platform. Mr. Woo stated that the amount of memory
provided for images and pixel storage are crucial for suc-
cessfully synchronizing sound and video. A video sequence
requires at least a one-million-byte. Mr. Woo also said
that CD-ROM/XA will provide the solution to buffering in
multimedia CD-ROM. For further information, contact:
Mr. Sherman Woo
U.S. WEST Advanced Technologies
612 N. 47th
Seattle, WA 98013
(206) 646-74%
Next, Mr. Mark Foster, president of Quanta Press, Inc.,
spoke on 'How to Get Out of CD-ROM, or to Get in Cor-
recity.' Quanta Press is a 4-month old CD-ROM publish-
ing company that has already released six discs, with more
on the way. Mr. Foster said that the first step for getting in
correctly is to go with a 'Cadillac' system (that is, the best
you can afford). If you cannot afford to buy one, lease it.
Quanta Press endorses a 'cottage industry' approach to CD-
ROM development. It will lease the necessary equipment
to developers and guarantee them a minimum amount of
work. Quanta Press also offers a finders fee for databases
that it can publish. The fee is a perceptage of the net income
products so far. Quanta Press also provides a marketing
network for the databases that it publishes that includes
Radio Shack and other mass marketers. To date, Quanta
Press has published the following tides: "Shareware Gold";
'RBBS Bulletin Board on a Disc", the definitive BBS CD-
ROM; "CIA World Fact Book"; "U.S. Civics/How to Be a
U.S. Citizen"; "Wheeler Clip Art," a compendium of
graphic images for desktop publishers; and "Federal Seals
and Logos." Mr. Foster concluded his talk by making a
non-announcement" He asked members of the audience
to send him letters if they could use a $300 CD-ROM drive.
Send your response to:
Mr. Mark Foster, President
Quanta Press, Inc.
2239 Carter Avenue
Suite 205
St. Paul, MN 55108
Phone: (612) 641-0714
The last speaker on the program was Mr. John Sands,
Technical Operations Manager of Nimbus Information Sys-
tems, Inc., a CD-ROM mastering and replication company
and a subsidiary of Nimbus Records. Mr. Sands presented
an overview, with slides, of Nimbus' mastering facility, one
of the most advanced in the country. This plant features
automated quality control that starts with a digital tape
analyzer reading an incoming data tape and applying a
cyclic redundancy check analysis of all errors. Proprietary
mastering equipment is used to create the master disc image.
Although the cost of reproducing the discs is only about
$2.00 each, discs are metalized one at a time. According to
Nimbus, this process is slower but more reliable than batch
metalizing. Quality control of the reproduced discs is
maintained by checking each and every byte against the
original rotating image. For those who wish to check the
quality of CD-ROM's that they have already purchased, Mr.
Sands offered a procedure that involves making a binary
copy of the files on a CD-ROM to a null device by using the
MS-DOS copy command. Allow about 1 1/2 hours per CD-
ROM. Although this procedure tells you only whether or
not there are any hard errors on the disc, but it is better than
no check at all.
To obtain a copy of the Nimbus Block Access Test Pro-
cedure, please contact:
Mr. John L. Sands
Technical Operations Manager
Nimbus Information Systems
Charlottesville, VA
Phone: (804) 985-1 100
Hotline: (800) 782-0778
Mr. Larry Boden, marketing vice president of Nimbus
Informattion Systems, offered some thoughts on what to con-
sider for higher density CD-ROM. Potential users should
evaluate the following factors: (1) Is it downwardly compatible
*** missing text ***
(3) Is there any change in the molding process?
(There should be none.) (4) Does it conform to an industry
standard? (There are none yet for hi density CD-ROM.)
Larry can be reached at the same address as John Sands.robertj@tekgen.BV.TEK.COM (Robert Jaquiss) (12/19/89)
I head the following material with an OCr machine. I
have corrected some misread words. I apologize for any mis-
takes.
Robert S. Jaquiss Jr.
robertj@tekgen.bv.tek.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Special Interest Group on CD-ROM Applications& Technology
December 7,1989 Meeting
The December 7 SIGCAT meeting will return to the pic-
turesque setting of the U.S. Geological Survey in Reston,
Va. The theme of the holiday SIGCAT session, starting at
9:15 a.m in the main auditorium, is what many believe to
be the future of CD-ROM--multimedia. Although we are
only just beginning to explore the vast potential of CD-
ROM, it's often useful and always fun to fantasize a bit
about what lies ahead for this exciting medium. When one
goes beyond text and begins to incorporate features like
graphics, maps, animation, and sound, the information
transfer goes up exponentially. Then we can really begin to
take advantage of that multimedia multisensory processor
we all carry around in our craniums.
We're fortunate in the CD-ROM industry to have lead-
ing-edge organizations like the Microsoft Corporation,
which possess both the vision and the wherewithal not only
to explore the future but also to play a significant role in
shaping it. Certainly the CD-ROM industry would not be
where it is today if it were not for the vision of people like
Bill Gates, who recognized the potential of this new medium
and then committed significant resources to underwriting
the embryonic phase that we are now passing through.
Things like sponsoring the annual Microsoft CD-ROM con-
ferences, developing the MIcrosoft CD-ROM Extensions,
and pioneering the concept of a multimedia encyclopedia
are not trivial endeavors. Indeed, they are the acts of true
believers. As such, it's quite appropriate that Microsoft is
now continuing to invest in the futare with the creation of
an entirely new corporate entity dedicated to the next phase
of CD-ROM--multimedia.
"Over the next few years, a radically new form of per-
sonal computer will emerge that combines high-speed
processors, high-resolution displays, and optical media,"
says Bitt, co-founder and CEO of Microsoft. "These multi-
media personal computers will appeal to both the home and
business users. The charter of the new Multimedia Division
at Microsoft is to lead our work in this area." Thus, on June
5,1989, the Multimedia Division was born, dedicated to the
development and marketing of multimedia systems
software and consumer products. SIGCAT is pleased to
have Ron Glaser, general manager for the Multimedia Sys-
tems Group, at the December meeting to share with us
Microsoft's vision of the future relative to multimedia and
CD-ROM. Ron will outline the brief history of the PC
market for CD-ROM and the emergence of multimedia in
this market. Be sure to attend Ron's presentation and get a
peek at the computing platform of tomorrow from the
Microsoft perspective.
Since multimedia is still a relatively new environment to
most CD-ROMers, we thought it would be appropriate to
dedicate this month's Technology Tutorial to exploring ex-
actly what multimedia entails. We are fortunate to have one
of the industry's recopm experts on the subject to help
us navigate through these unfamiliar waters. Doug Carson,
president of DCA, Inc., will put things in perspective by first
defining multimedia-related terms in plain English. He will
then cover the related topics of mixed-mode, multimode,
file interleaving, data compression, multichannel, and sub-
channel techniques. A basic understanding of these con-
cepts is essential in determining whether CD-ROM, CD-I,
CD-XA, DVI, CD-G, or some other technology is ap-
propriate for your intended applications. Doug has written
many articles on the subject, several of which will be
reprinted and made available (courtesy of CD Data Report
and Diversified Data Resources, Inc.) at the meeting.
One of the definite signs that CD-ROM has "arrived" can
been seen in the coverage that it is now receiving in the mass
media. A recent Cable Network News story presented an in-
depth look at the incredible new Compton's Multimedia En-
cyclopedia. Not only does this product embody all 8.8
million words found in the printed version of the famous
reference series, but it also includes 15,000 pictures and il-
lustrations (VGA resolution), 65,000 dictionary entries, 60
minutes of sound (20 minutes of which are used to
"pronounce" over 1,500 glossary terms), and 45 separate
animation sequences! Presenting this truly remarkable
achievement will be Larry Van Cantfort, director of techni-
cal services at Britannica Software (an Encyclopedia
Britannica company). If you want a true glimpse of the fu-
ture, you must catch Len's prmntafion. What a Christmas
present this would make!
Multimedia is fast finding its way into the business world
as well as the fields of education and entertainment (some
say "edutainment"). One of the first companies to effective-
ly cmbine high-resolution color graphics linked to fun text
was the KnowledgeSet Corporation. Its highly accimed
Boeing 757 maintenance manual application proved that
multimedia can bring technical documentation to life.
KnowledgeSet is now moving into audio, animation, and
other techniques that will greatly enhance the effectiveness
of CD-ROM in training, maintenance, and other business
applications. Chris Bowman, director of marketing, will
present KnowledgeSet's view of multimedia technology
and provide examples from recent projects involving the
European Space Agency as well as the Guinness Disc of
Records (at a stocking-stuffer price, no less).
After you've had a chance to digest both your lunch and
the morning's Technology Tutorial, Doug Carson will
retum to present a session on multimedia standards (or lack
thereof). In this session, Doug will address the current dif-
ficulties in getting multimedia CD's created, simulated, and
mastered, including a brief history of the various attempts
to solve these problems. A Disc Description Protocol (DDP)
has been proposed as a standardized solution to these
problems. The proposal apparently makes a lot of sense, as
many mastering facilities are now supporting DDP. Doug
will provide a comprehensive overview on the subject,
again complete with corresponding CD Data " article
reprints. For those of you contemplating the use of multi-
media in your CD-ROM applications, the DDP might make
your life as lot easier.
CD-ROM and multimedia go hand in hand for one
simple reason. Multimedia, by its very nature, usually re-
quires significant amounts of digital storage. CD-ROM is
now recognized as the ideal vehicle for the mass distribu-
tion of huge amounts of digital information. Thus, when a
publisher such as Electromap, Inc., decides to produce a
product containing things like statistical and topographic
maps of the entire world, CD-ROM is the obvious medium
of choice. The Electromap World Atlas is a computer-based
reference work that is actually an atlas, an almanac, and a
world fact book aB rolled into one. It contains 239 full-color
thematic, relief, and reference maps as well as facts and
statistics on more than 55 different topics for every country
in the world. Both maps and text can be printed or exported
to other software in a wide variety of formats. 'The high
quality maps, comprehensive text, and intuitive interface
make the Electromap World Atlas a useful reference and re-
search tool for students, librarians, and globe-trotters. Dick
Smith, the president of Electromap, will be on hand to
demonstrate this innovative product. Priced at a very
reasonable $159.00, it provides yet another possibility for
the last-minute Christmas shopper.
A Geographic Information Systems (GIS), although
generally not yet employing multimedia in the convention-
al sense, does use multilevel data to analyze and display in-
terrelated data. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is
heavily committed to GIS and houses a major multigigabyte
cartographic database of Digital Line Graph (DLG) vector
information. Several companies are now using these DLG
files as a basis for value-added commercial products. One
such company is the TerraLogics Corporation, which has
just produced a CD-ROM containing geographic data and
allowing extremely rapid display and control of the myriad
layers of data inherent in the DLG database. Matt
which, among other things, can simultaneously display
USGS DLG, GBF/DIWFIILE, and TIGERFILE data on a
variety of computing environments, including MS-DOS,
MS-Windows, VAX/VMS, and UNIX.
Historically, the manufacturing of compact discs, includ-
ing CD-ROM, has necessitated facilities requiring tens of
millions of dollars worth of capital investment, clean-room
environments, and highly trained, highly skilled personnel.
CD Audio has subsidized the majority of these endeavors to
date, allowing CD-ROM to "piggy-back" on these produc-
tion facilities. As their experience has increased, many
facilities have recognized that the requirements for produc-
ing CD-ROM discs are somewhat different. Typical runs of
CD-ROM discs are much smaller than audio runs, quality
assurance is more critical, and quick turnaround time is
often a high- priority item. In addition, concern for the con-
fidentiality of the data going onto some CD-ROM's--par-
ticularly from the Department of Defense and other
intelligence agencies--is growing. Sensing this dichotomy,
a company called Optical Digital Mastering (ODM) cur-
rently the world's largest supplier of traditional mastering
equipment) has developed and introduced an integrated CD-
ROM manufacturing system aimed at those organizations
for which a total "in-house" mastering and replication sys-
tem makes sense. Dave Pushic, general manager at ODM,
will present a brief description of the equipment and proces-
ses and discuss the issues and tradeoffs involved in consider-
ing in-house versus contract CD-ROM production.
Activity in several of the SIGCAT Working Groups has
been growing to the point where it now seems useful to
schedule some of these meetings to coincide with the full
SIGCAT meeting. Thus, we have arranged for the ISO 9660
Working Group and the CD-ROM Data Origination Work-
ing Group (CDOWG) to meet the day before SIGCAT,
December 6, at the USGS in conference room BA-102A.
This conference room is located directly adjacent to the
Survey's marvelous cafeteria, home of our famous frozen
yogurt.
Parking for December's SIGCAT meeting is unrestricted
along the designated roadside areas around the Survey
building. The meeting will be held in the main auditorium
of the U.S. Geological Survey, 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive,
Reston, Va. If you need additional directions, please can
(703) 648-4452 for verbal instructions. If all else fails, I can
(eventually) be reached on (703) 648-7126 or FI'S 959-7126
for questions.
EJ. (jerry) McFaul
Computer Scientist, U.S. Geological Survey
SIGCAT - December 7,1989 - AGENDA
9:15 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.
Opening Remarks
9:30 a.m. - 10:30 am.
Doug Carson, President
DCA, Inc. - (918) 225-0346
10:30 am. - 11:00 a.m.
Rob Glaser, General Manager, Multimedia Systen:s Group
Microsoft Corporation - (206) 882-8361
11:00 a.m. - 11:30 am.
Larry Van Cantfort, Director of Technical Services
Briuffica Software (415) 546-1866
11:30 am, - 12:00 p.m.
Chris Bowman, Director ofmarketing
KnowledgeSet Corporation - (415) 968-9888
12:00 pm. - 12:45 p.m.
Lunch
12:45 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Worldng Group Updates
1:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Doug Carson, President
DCA, Inc. - (918) 225-0346
1:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Dick Smitk President
Electromap, Inc. - (501) 442-2309
2:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Matt Goldwonn, Vice President of Technology
TeffaUgics Coqwration - (603) 889-1800
2:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Dave Pushic, General Manager
Optical Disc Mastering - (704) 542-5305
Co-Located
- SIGCAT Working Group Meetings -
ISO 9660 Working Group
The ISO 9660 Working Group auks the progress of the
ISO 9660 logical format standard as it is being implemented
on various computing platforms.
Wednesday, December 6,1989
9:30 am. - 11:30 a.m.
USGS - Room BA-102A
For additional information, please contact Barbara Rose,
Army Corps of Engineers, (202) 355-3029.
CDOWG
- CD-ROM Data Origination Working Group -
The CDOWG is a network of users of premastering
workstation equipment. AU brands of manufacturers are
represented in this group, which provides both a technical
support network as well as a forum for maintaining a
dialogue with industry.
Wednesday, December 6,1989
12:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
USGS - Room BA-102A
For additional information, please contact Lee
Brotzman, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, (301) 286-
6953.
Other Working Groups
Additional SIGCAT working groups (listed below) con-
tinue to focus on other issues involving CD-ROM technol-
ogy. Pleam contact the comsponding chair for information
on the group and the next meeting information.
Search Software
Chair - George Knapp - Geological Survey-
703/648-6823
This working group is constantly evaluating new search
software which is applicable to CD-ROM applications. A
matrix of software products and their various functional
characteristics has been created and is available to SIGCAT
members.
SIGLIT
Special Interest Group on Library Information
Technology
Chair - Susan David - Library of Congress-
2021707-7169
One of the most promising application areas for CD-
ROM is proving to be the library and information science
environment. The SIGLIT working group is very active in
this arena and holds its own meetings in addition the
scheduled SIGCAT meetings.
SIGACE
Special Interest Group for the Application of
CD-ROM in Education
Chair - Sheldon Fisher - DepL of Education-
202/357-6699
Another active working group is SIGACE which was
formed to examine, review and demonstrate CD-ROM discs
appropriate for use in training and education. Discs are
available for demonstration at the Department of
Education's Technology Resource Center, 80 F street,
Washington, DC. This group is also interested in reviewing
teacher training materials using CD-ROM for the effective
use of this medium in the classroom. Professional educators,
vendors and others interested in educational aspects of CD-
ROM should contact Mr. Fisher.
Common Index Working Group
Chair: Lt. Larry Schanldn - U.S. Air Force-
617/377-2105
An effort is underway to look into the feasibility of
developing the specifications for a neutral or common index
for use with texwffl CD-ROM discs produced by the
Federal GovemmenL If such an index were available, or-
ganizations could produce CD-ROM discs complete with
indexes that could then be read by a variety of retrieval
software packages. This working group win serve as a focal
point for information on the status of such a common index-
ing structure.
robertj@tekgen.BV.TEK.COM (Robert Jaquiss) (11/02/90)
I read the following material with an OCr machine. I
have corrected some misread words. I apologize for any mis-
takes.
Robert S. Jaquiss Jr.
Internet: robertj@tekgen.bv.tek.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Special Interest Group on CD-ROM Applications& Technology
November 8,1990 Meeting
Hello once again from SIGCAT. September was a bit hectic with SIGCAT
participating in back-to-back computer conferences in Washington, D.C. October
started off in a state of budget confusion, which made for an interesting trip to
the CD-ROM Expo in Boston, where I learned a lesson: never stay in a hotel right
next to Fenway Park during a pennant playoff, no matter how reasonable the rate!
We're now getting ready for next SIGCAT meeting which will be held again in
Washington, D.C., on November 8, 1990. But before discussing the particulars of
that meeting, I thought I'd take a minute and bring everyone up to date on SIGCAT
as an organization.
SIGCAT is now the world's largest CD-ROM user group. Its almost 4,000
members from all parts of the globe constitute a network of people from all walks
of life who share a vision that CD-ROM will somehow profoundly change the way in
which they deal with information. For many members, this vision has already come
true. CD-ROM has revolutionized the information dissemination activities of
dozens of agencies in the U.S. Government as well as of many organizations in the
private sector. It's appropriate, therefore, that one of the primary purposes of
SIGCAT should continue to be getting the word out about these "success stories"
so that other agencies and organizations, both here and abroad, can benefit and
learn by example.
In an effort to extend the word on CD-ROM even farther, I am proud to
announce that SIGCAT has been voted in as a member council of the Federation of
Government Information Processing Councils (FGIPC). This worldwide network of
user groups has worked long and hard over the past 11 years to enlighten users in
the Federal sector about the benefits of using the latest information resource
management technologies. The primary objective of FGIPC is to "enhance the
four-way channel of communications between managers/users of information
technology, government agencies regulating use of those technologies, industry,
and academia." FGIPC provides many valuable services to agencies, including the
publication of FEDFACTS and sponsorship of many regional conferences. I'm
confident that the association of SIGCAT and FGIPC will be a synergistic one that
will extend the understanding and application of state-of-the-art information
management technologies such as CD-ROM.
Another function of SIGCAT is to provide information and expertise on various
focused areas of CD-ROM technology and applications through working groups and
committees. Included with this mailing is an updated SIGCAT Fact Sheet listing
these SIGCAT "spinoff organizations" and their corresponding areas of interest.
Each group is independently chaired and serves as a point of reference and source
of information for those interested in that aspect of CD-ROM. The November
meeting will focus on the working groups and provide updates from several of the
chairs. More on this later.
Perhaps the main raison d'etre for SIGCAT lies in the simple fact that to
effectively use any new technology, you must first understand that technology.
Such an understanding typically comes from two main resources: print and people.
The "print" is typically the various periodicals, books, and other literature
(including glossy brochures) that contain information on the myriad topics related
to CDROM. The "people" are the peer networks and industry professionals who share
their experiences and information either on a one-to-one basis or across a podium.
SIGCAT addresses the latter resource by helping to facilitate these peer networks
and by providing a forum through which people are able to interact and share
experiences on new CD-ROM applications and emerging CD-ROM technologies.
Judging by the feedback I get, SIGCAT serves a useful purpose. However, its
growth has reached the point where some additional organizational assistance is
needed. SIGCAT has grown beyond the point where it can be run as a "one-man show"
(my wife will attest to this). If SIGCAT is to continue to grow and serve an
expanding network of CDROM enthusiasts, we need a few more people behind the
scenes. Therefore, a call is going out to the SIGCAT membership for volunteers
to assist in the following areas:
Meeting Secretary - This person will attend the full SIGCAT meetings (working
groups usually have their own secretaries) and take the minutes, which will be
published in the next SIGCAT Recap.
Newsletter Editor - This person win coordinate all input to the SIGCAT
Newsletter, including such things as the meeting agenda, working group updates,
and other segments as they evolve. Of course, electronic input
and desktop publishing help to minimize the logistical burdens of this function.
Program Coordinator - This person will develop programs and themes for future
SIGCAT meetings, including recommendations for potential speakers.
Publicity Coordinator - This person will make sure that the word about SIGCAT
(notice of meetings, working groups, etc.) gets out to the world. Many
publications and periodicals would gladly carry notices of SIGCAT meetings if they
were made aware of them.
Bulletin Board Coordinator - This person will manage all aspects of the
SIGCAT Bulletin Board System. This communications medium can provide the
membership with many useful things in machine-readable form such as copies of the
newsletters, CD-ROM standards, and various software routines. In addition, the
BBS can also support a very useful forum for questions (and, hopefully, answers)
relating to CD-ROM technology.
There are undoubtedly additional functions that will evolve as SIGCAT
continues to grow, but the above list needs immediate attention. If you believe
in SIGCAT and think it performs a useful purpose, please consider getting a little
more involved. A call to me on (703) 648-7126 or a letter (U.S. Geological
Survey, 904 National Center, Reston, VA 22092) will get you started.
Next SIGCAT Meeting
The next meeting of SIGCAT will take place on Thursday, November 8, 1990 in
conjunction with the ONLINE/CD-ROM Conference and Exposition. The conference
itself will be held November 5 to 7 at the Washington Hilton and Towers, 1919
Connecticut Avenue, Washington, D.C. SIGCAT will be part of the post-conference
sessions and will be located in the Hilton's Thoroughbred Room on the Concourse
Level beginning at 9:00 a.m. I think it is significant that this 12-year-old con-
ference (formerly called just the ONLINE Conference) has now changed its name to
reflect the exploding interest in CD-ROM technology. As such, the conference
(including the extensive pre- and post-conference workshops) is permeated with a
wide-ranging series of in-depth CD-ROM sessions. Novices and seasoned CD-ROMers
alike should definitely make time to attend this event (including, of course, the
SIGCAT meeting).
In addition to the standard cross section of CD-ROM applications and
technology, the November SIGCAT meeting wig give the various working groups a
chance to update the membership on the latest developments in these focused areas.
First off, we've scheduled a series of brief updates from Susan David, Chair of
SIGLIT; Sheldon Fisher, Chair of SIGACE; and Larry Schanldn, Chair of the Common
produce Mike Rubinfeld, who will be taking over the Chair of the ISO 9660 Working
Group from Barbara Rose, who is talking a well-deserved break from her duties at
the Army Engineer Topo Labs. Barbara was instrumental in establishing this
working group and for focusing the efforts of many people who are concerned with
the ISO 9660 standard and how it can be used to expand the effective use of CD-ROM
on even more computing platforms. Barbara is to be congratulated for her fine job
in focusing this working group in its formative stages, and we wish her well in
her new pursuits.
In welcoming Mike Rubinfeld as the new Chair of the ISO 9660 working group,
I thought it appropriate to provide a little background on Mike's involvement with
CD-ROM and related standards activities at his place of employment, the National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
NIST is developing an architecture for CD-ROM technology. In his position
as a computer scientist, Mike is the lead engineer developing this architecture.
He is a member of the Office Systems Engineering Group in the Systems and Software
Technology Division of the National Computer Systems Laboratory (NCSL) within
NIST. The CDROM architecture that Mike is developing will lead to a family of
Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) for the logical format structure
for CD-ROM technology.
As an initial phase of this assignment, NIST will make a thorough review of
all standards work that has been completed to date, especially that pertaining to
the ISO 9660 Standards activities. NIST will also conduct analysis of 9660
extensions relating to Open Systems Environments. A NIST report, based on this
analysis, scheduled for a January 1991 deadline, will include recommendations for
guidelines pertaining to the FE?S and will emphasize the development of an
architectural framework for both the DOS and the Open Systems environments. This
framework will identify areas for physical and logical encoding structures,
indexing architectures, and any special considerations relating to the storage of
textual data, imaging data, and interleaved audio. The report will further
identify all interfaces associated with the CD-ROM architecture.
Mike and his group will develop specific guidelines for the Open Systems
environment, taking into consideration the work that has been accomplished by both
the POSIX and the GOS II? groups. To enhance this effort, Mike has agreed to act
as Chair for the ISO 9660 Working Group of SIGCAT as a means of opening
communication channels for gathering information from the CD-ROM community.
Results and recommendations obtained from CD-ROM working groups such as the one
sponsored by SIGCAT will be included and made part of any guidelines or
recommendations produced at NIST.
The ultimate success of this project is directly contingent upon a positive
spirit of cooperation and a very active communication within the CD-ROM community.
SIGCAT win do everything it can to foster this spirit of cooperation and
communication. Welcome aboard, Mike!
Following the updates from the SIGCAT working groups, we have several
presentations on new CD-ROM applications emerging from the Federal sector. First,
the Forest Service (par L of the Department of Agriculture) is about to release
its first CD-ROM product. Dale Petersen, a civil engineer with the Forest
Service, will be joined by Steve Oxman, president of the OXKO Corporation
(contractors for producing the disc) to describe and demonstrate a very
sophisticated CD-ROM disc. Not only will it contain conventional textual data
(parts of the Forest Service Handbook, Road and Bridge specifications, etc.), but
this disc will also provide 35-mm slide images, animations, and thousands of
AutoCAD and TontoCAD drawings, complete with an on-disc viewer utility. As you
can imagine, this project has been quite an ambitious undertaking, and Steve will
relate many of the "behind-the-scenes" considerations and tradeoffs that went into
the production of this disc.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) is one of the branches of the
Federal Government that touches just about all of us. The regulations that govern
how the benefits of the SSA are dispensed are both voluminous and in great demand
by many people. What does that suggest? CD-ROM, of course. Rapid and precise
access to all of the latest SSA regulations is something that can immensely
benefit both the private and the public sectors. The SS A recognized this fact
and has produced its first CD-ROM disc. This disc is intriguing not only for the
benefits alluded to above but also for the fact that SSA is talking advantage of
multimedia to enhance the actual use of the product. Reds Hof focks, a
microcomputer analyst for the SSA, is the mastermind behind this innovative disc
and will be on hand to discuss its development and how multimedia techniques such
as sound and motion bring this disc to life. Reds' presentation is guaranteed to
be both enlightening and entertaining.
The afternoon portion of the November SIGCAT meeting will lead off with
representatives from one of the true pioneers in the field of optical storage --
the 3M Corporation. Dick Pendill, senior account representative for CDROM, and
Mark Arps, marketing and sales manager, will combine forces to convey some
fundamental but extremely important information about CD-ROM. Those of you new
to the technology will benefit from an overview on the entire optical storage
spectrum, including Videodisk, WORM, Erasable, and, of course, CD-ROM. There is
still a lot of confusion about the various types of optical technologies and the
types of applications to which they are best suited. Dick will try to eliminate
some of this confusion and better define the optical spectrum from an applications
perspective. Nftk will then continue the educational process by elaborating on
how erasable optical media and CD-ROM work to ether help as an application
development
platform and as an input medium for CD-ROM mastering and replication. Mark will
also provide an overview on statistical process control, which is the technique
used by 3M to ensure a high level of quality control in the disc manufacturing
process. Finally, those individuals or organizations interested in placing
classified materials on CDROM will hear how 3M provides one of the few "cleared"
facilities in the country for supporting these types of applications. As an added
bonus, 3M will be showing a videodisk which provides a fascinating "tour" of their
optical production facilities.
One of the functions of SIGCAT is to provide a glimpse of innovative new
CD-ROM products coming into the marketplace. The November meeting highlights
three such products. The first disc is very timely in light of the upcoming
November elections and, appropriately enough, is known as the Registered Voter
Disc. Actually, this product consists of a- series of discs (one for each State);
Maryland, Illinois, Kentucky, Alaska, and Iowa are currently available. Paul
Murphy, president of Eagle Eye Publishers, Inc., will describe and demonstrate
this new series of products, which contain the complete listings on all registered
voters in a particular State, including key demographic and voter history data.
The discs are finding a whole host of applications in the election and
special-issue campaigns as well as in those things that are fundamental to our
democratic processes such as voter canvassing and jury selection. Since you may
actually be on one of these discs, you might take the opportunity to verify that
they've got your correct political profile. I'm sure Paul will welcome your
interest and try to accommodate all of your queries. Fortunately for Paul, his
discs use one of the fastest retrieval engines in the industry from the Dataware
Corporation.
After you've verified your voter profile, you may want to try your luck at
locating your long-lost Uncle Harry. The next product presentation at the SIGCAT
meeting allows you to do just that. Known as PhoneDisc USA, this incredible
two-disc set contains over 90 million listings of names, addresses, and telephone
numbers! It can be searched by name or name in combination with the street, city,
State, zipcode, or telephone number. If you can believe it, this disc contains
the equivalent information from over 5,000 printed directories, which together
would weigh some 60,000 pounds and consume about 50 trees. Imagine searching all
of the white pages in the entire United States in seconds. In fact, that's
exactly what you'll see when Claude Schoch, principal in the PhoneDisc USA
Corporation, demonstrates this remarkable achievement and describes some of the
breakthroughs in data compression technology that enabled this product to be
developed.
The final product presentation comes to us from the Bureau of Electronic
Publishing (no, it's not a government agency--it's just a very clever private
corporation). The Bureau, as they like to be known, is now one of the largest and
most successful retailers of CD-ROM products in the country, stocking several
hundred CD-ROM titles and just
about every available CD-ROM drive. Their chief executive officer, Larry Shiller,
will be on hand to describe the Bureau's first internally produced product called
the L& History on CD-ROM. This comprehensive disc provides detailed coverage from
over 100 historical books and documents on the political, aerospace, geographic,
social, military, and economic history of our country. In addition, the disc
contains over 1,000 VGA-quality photographs, maps, and tables relating to
historical events. Larry will also discuss some of the strategic decisions and
tradeoffs that went into producing this disc, such as market analysis, data
conversion, data preparation, target computer platforms, and retrieval software.
For a fascinating tour of American history via CD-ROM as well as some valuable
insight into the development of such a disc, make sure you catch Larry's
presentation. As an added benefit, Larry will be handing out the latest edition
of the Bureau's CD-ROM Product Guide, which continues to be one of the industry's
most informative and useful resources on available CD-ROM titles and technology.
That about rounds out the November meeting, except for one other thing. As
you know, I have been harping for years about the high price of CD-ROM drives.
After all, they're technologically similar to audio drives, which were designed
to be produced on a mass-production, low-cost basis. Indeed, CD audio drives can
be purchased quite readily for under $ 1 00. Even adding in another couple of
hundred dollars to account for the differences between CD audio and CD-ROM (chip
sets, enhanced pickup head, controller card, cable, etc.), the price of drives
ought to be in the $300 to $400 range. Well, our ship may be on its way in. I
expect to have some dramatic announcements concerning the prices of CD-ROM drives
at the close of the November 8 SIGCAT meeting. If you're in the market for
drives, I strongly urge you to drop by. As always, for questions, I can be
reached at (703)-648-7126 or FIS -959-7126.
EJ. (jerry) McFaul
Computer Scientist, U.S. Geological Survey
SIGCAT - November 8,1990 - AGENDA
9:00 a.m.- 9:15 a.m.
Opening Remarks
9:15 a.m.- 9:35 a.m.
Susan David, Chair - SIGLIT
Library of Congress - (202) 707-7169
9:35 a.m.- 9:50 a.m.
Sheldon Fisher, Chair - SIGACE
Department of Education - (202) 357-6699
9:50 a.m.- 10:10 a.m.
Larry Schankin, Chair - Common Index Working Group
U.S. Air Force - (617) 377-2105
10:10 a.m.- 10:30 a.m.
Mike Rubinfeld, Chair - ISO 9660 Working Group
Nat'l Institute of Standards and Technology - (301) 975-3064
10:30 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.
Morning Coffee Break
10:45 a.m.- 11:30 a.m.
Dale Petersen, Civil Engineer U.S. Forest Service - (202) 453-9398 Steve Oxman,
President
OXKO Corporation - (301) 266-1671
11:30 a.m.- 12:00 p.m.
Reds Hoffocks, MicroconWuterAnalyst
Social Security Administration - (301) 965-5820
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Lunch Break
1:00 p.m. - 1:45 p.m.
Dick PendiH, Senior Account Representative, CD -ROM
3M Corporation - (612) 736-5399
Mark Arps, Marketing and Sales Manager for CD-ROM
3M Corporation - (612) 736-3274
1:45 p.m. - 2:15 p.m.
Paul Murphy, President
Eagle Eye Publishers, Inc. - (703) 687-6777
2:15 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Afternoon Refreshment Break
2:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Claude Schoch, Principal
PhoneDisc USA Corporation - (800) 284-8353
3:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Larry Shiller, Chief Executive Officer
Bureau of Electronic Publishing, Inc. - (201) 808-2700
3:30 p.m. Adjournment