robertj@tekgen.bv.tek.com (Robert Jaquiss) (01/31/91)
Index Number: 13281
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
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Robert S. Jaquiss Jr.
Phone: (503) 627-4444
Internet: robertj@tekgen.bv.tek.com
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SIGCAT
R E C A P
Special Interest Group on CD-ROM Applications& Technology
Minutes of the November 8,1990 Meeting
Jerry McFaul began the meeting by providing the standard description
of SIGCAT to anyone new to the organization. Jerry emphasized the
flexible nature of SIGCAT, especially through subgroups. He emphasized
that flexibility is their strength. The chairs of several of the working
groups then presented updates on the activities and objectives of their
respective groups.
SIGLIT
Special Interest Group on Library Information and
Technology
Susan David (Chairperson)
Library of Congress
(Phone (202) 707-7169)
Susan David described the activities of SIGLIT and observed that
Washington, D.C., is "a very information-rich area." Libraries were early
users of CD-ROM and should be early users of multimedia. SIGLIT attempts
to keep its members aware of new developments through field trips to
libraries in the surrounding area. Susan mentioned that SIGLIT now has
its own CD-ROM computer bulletin board (phone (202) 707-9656). Ideas such
as videotaping the proceedings of SIGLIT meetings as a way to extend
access to those unable to attend are being considered. Susan now receives
numerous requests for information; because of the mounting volume, she
would prefer requests in writing but will still accept phone calls.
SIGACE
Special Interest Group for the Application of
CD-ROM in Education
Sheldon Fisher (ChaiTperson)
U. S. Department of Education (Phone (202) 219-1699)
Sheldon's working group continues to focus on the educational aspects
and applications of CD-ROM. The Technology Resources Center (TRC) at the
Department of Eduction invites all SIGCAT members to come by and use its
facilities.
Sheldon pointed out that today, November 8, marks 30 years since
JFK's election in 1960. Thirty years ago, the latest consumer technology
was audio cassettes. It took quite some time for them to become
mainstream, primarily because people don't like change. The way to make
new ideas acceptable, according to Sheldon, is to make them old ideas.
Many teachers have computers but don't use them because they don't know
how or don't want to know how. The TRC is helping to change this
situation by providing a place where teachers and educators can come to
experience the latest in teaching technology, with particular emphasis on
with a variety of equipment, including computers, videodisc players, CDROM
drives, and at least 75 different CD-ROM titles.
Although the TRC CD-ROM library is now primarily a focal point for
educational discs, Sheldon would like to expand it to include CD-ROM's
produced by and for govermuent agencies. The request was made to anyone
producing goverrunent-oriented discs to consider placing them in the TRC.
After working with a considerable number of different CDROM products,
Sheldon indicated that there is still much room for improvement in the
area of user-friendly installation. Many products still come with
multiple floppy disks. However, some vendors are now begining to provide
"self-contained" CD-ROM discs that contain everything needed to run the
application. The user just pops the disc into the drive and types a
simple statement (like "GO"), and the product "does its stuff."
CIAS
CD-ROM Index Architecture Specification
Working Group
Lt. Larry Schankin (Chairperson)
U.S. Air Force
(Phone (617) 377-2105)
Larry Schankin, working at the Electronic Systems Division at Hanscom
Air Force Base, has been involved in an effort to develop a CD-ROM Index
Architecture Specification (CIAS) to promote interchangeability in CD-ROM
applications. Currently, most databases placed on CD-ROM use proprietary
retrieval software packages, each of which has a different user interface.
Thus, users of multiple CD-ROM products must master a diverse assortment
of software interfaces. For organizations such as libraries, this
situation is becoming a serious problem and is beginning to hinder the
growth of CD-ROM in these arenas. The CIAS would offer a solution by
allowing CD-ROMs incorporating the new index architecture to be readable
by any retrieval software that accepts this architecture. Thus, users
could access a wide variety of databases on different CD-ROMs through a
single retrieval application. Adoption of the CIAS would permit databases
and their associated proprietary applications to be decoupled; databases
could thus be distributed without software, and users could independently
select the most appropriate retrieval mechanism for their needs.
Standards for file formats are another important aspect of inter-
changeability. To further promote this interchangeability, the CIAS will
require and support Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) for
document files.
focus attention on interchangeability in CD-ROM applications and
reported that a draft set of CIAS documents was almost at hand.
These documents, which should be available at the January SIGCAT
meeting, describe the background of the CIAS effort and the reasons
for developing and proposing a CIAS. In addition, a CIAS Working
Group meeting is scheduled in conjunction with the SIGCAT meeting
to further discuss the contents of the CIAS documents. Please
call Larry for further details.
ISO 9660 Working Group
Mike Rubinfeld (Chairperson)
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) (Phone (301) 975-3064)
Mike Rubinfeld accepted the appointment as chair of the ISO 9660
Working Group. He thanked Barbara Rose of the U.S. Army Engineer
Topographic Labs for chairing the group since its inception and
taking it through its first years.
Mike is involved in many standards activities at NIST; it is thus
appropriate that he chair the SIGCAT group that tracks developments
associated with the ISO 9660 standard. Mike would like to see the
working group focus on promoting interoperability and portability
aspects of the standard.
At NIST, Mike is involved with the Multimedia Systems Project which
is part of the Multimedia Systems Laboratory. This new NIST lab is
open to the public with sufficient advance notice. Mike's
involvement with the lab should prove very beneficial to the ISO
9660 working group as multimedia technology comes into the
mainstream of CD-ROM. Mike also brings a strong background in
Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS), developed at NIST,
to the working group.
The Forest Service Disc:
The Proponent
Dale Petersen
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
(Phone (202) 453-9398)
The Forest Service has initiated a project to test and evaluate
CD-ROM technology in a wide variety of text and image apphcations.
The project had its roots back in 1986, when Dale Petersen and his
group attended an optical storage media conference called OIS '86.
Not long after that conference, a videodisc project was initiated
but had mixed results. However, the project did serve to point the
way to CD-ROM. After seeing several successful projects from other
agencies presented at SIGCAT meetings, the Forest Service was
encouraged to take the initiative.
Engineers in the geographically dispersed Forest Service use PC's
primarily as standalone devices, even though they can access
mainframes and minicomputers. These users want data at their
fingeTtipS and can't always get it via online link to a mainframe.
Thus, CD-ROM promises to be an ideal solution to many of their
needs. The demonstration disc developed for Dale's project by the
Oxko Corporation contains a wide variety of information, including
text, engineering drawings, publications, 35-mm slides, and
specifications. It is gratifying to see that the Forest Service is
beginning to use CD-ROM instead of paper in its effort to conserve
our trees.
The Forest Service Disc:
The Producer
Eric Jan
The Oxko Corporation
(Phone (301) 266-1671)
The Forest Service CD-ROM demonstration disc was produced by the
Oxko Corporation. As explained Oxko vice president Eric Jan, this
disc contains a variety of information, including digitized maps,
engineering field notes, manuals, specifications, digitized 35-mm
color slides, digitized color and black-and-white photographic
prints, road and bridge specifications, and much more.
Oxko gained quite a bit of experience in making this disc for the
Forest Service, and Eric stressed that considerable effort and
resources were consumed in the data-preparation end of things. A
considerable amount of labor-intensive effort was involved with the
digitizing, cleaning up, and conversion of databases into formats
suitable for placing on the disc.
One of the more fascinating things included on the disc is an
animated view of the topography of Mount St. Helens, presented as a
3-D shaded terrain view as one approaches the mountain. This
particular application benefitted greatly by using one of the
faster access CD-ROM drives.
Other ffiffigs on the disc include a cartographic specifications
handbook (very colorful), digital data from the Tonto National
Forest, and the "the bearing tree guide" with full-color photos and
text. It appears to cost considerably less to put this PM of guide
onto CD-ROM than it does to produce the equivalent printed color
manual.
The message from Eric to the audience was that the conversion of
information from its existing forms (paper, slides, etc.) into
machine-readable text and graphics was very time consuming and
costly. Make sure that any project involving this y" of conversion
has been sufficiently budgeted to accommodate such an expenditure.
POMS on CD-ROM
Reds Horrocks
Social Security Administration
(Phone (301) 965-5820)
Reds Horrocks from the Social Security Administration (SSA)
provided an overview on the Program Operations Manual System or
POMS project. POMS is the first CD-ROM effort for SSA and is aimed
at people who have had the paper manual on their desk for 30
years. Reds characterized the transition from the printed POMS to
the new CD-ROM version as "sort of like meeting an old friend in a
new outfit." And after seeing a sample demonstration of the disc,
the audience agreed. The POMS disc was very impressive in that it
incorporated not only the text of the manual (37,000 pages) but
also graphic images and sound. Reds explained that, by using a
multimedia approach on the disc, SSA was able to bring its users up
to speed in a much shorter time while simultaneously generating a
high level of interest and enthusiasm in the product.
As eyecatching as the disc was, Reds admitted that, in graphics;
given the diverse audience of users, the more attractive the disc,
the better.
The CD-ROM version of the POMS, when fully implemented, has the
potential to produce significant cost savings. Printing the paper
version of POMS cost about $2.2 million in fiscal year 1989; of
course, that cost is expected to rise. A CD-ROM disc (CDPOM)
issued every 60 days would eventually reduce these costs
dramatically while also providing users with increased flexibility
and ease of access.
Reds stressed that there are ways to use information on CDROM that
have no parallel on paper. As we saw with Reds' demonstration of
the POMS disc, users can be guided to their areas of interest
through an interactive, multimedia interface and then given direct,
rapid access to the appropriate portions of text. Placing a
complicated manual such as POMS on CD-ROM can, through the
intelligent use of multimedia techniques, result in a product that
goes far beyond the simple text equivalent.
In closing, Reds brought up a very interesting point in a
discussion of accessing the POMS CD-ROM over a network. Since the
disc uses an audio track as part of its built-in tutorial, how is
the sound conveyed to the individual user in a networked
environment? The absence of a ready solution to this problem
implies that multimedia CD-ROM products using sound may require
standalone readers.
An Overview of the Optical Spectrum
Dick Pendill
3M Corporation
(Phone (612) 736-5399)
Mark Arps
3M Corporation
(Phone (612) 736-3274)
Dick Pendill and Mark Arps from the 3M Corporation provided the
audience with an overview on the different technologies and formats
comprising the "optical spectrum." There are two main categories of
optical technology: prerecorded and user-recorded.
PreRecorded Optical Media
Prerecorded applications usually involve disseminating large
numbers of products to many users. There are two types of
prerecorded optical media: analog and digital. The analog medium
is commonly referred to as Videodisk and was introduced in 1981
primarily for consumer entertainment. It is characterized by a
12inch, two-sided platter that stores analog information, much like
a standard TV image. Videodisk has found broad application in the
interactive training field, where TV-like images (either still
frame or motion sequences) can be very effective.
The other form of prerecorded optical media is digital and is known
as Compact Disc-Read Only Memory or CD-ROM. When substantial
quantities of digital information are to be disseminated to a large
audience (i.e., published), CD-ROM is the answer. As we move more
and more applications into the digital realm, CDROM is becoming the
medium of choice, because digital storage can include not only
images but also text. CD-ROM has additional characteristics that
make it particularly well suited for electronic publishing, such as
low production costs, relatively inexpensive reading devices, and
standards (both physical and logical). Dick States was a 3M plant
opened in Menomonie, Wisc., in 1985. Today, 3M offers same-day
services--customers can fly in with their data in the morning and
fly out in the evmffig with their CDROM discs. While they're
waiting, they can even go canoeing on the nearby lake!
User-Recorded Optical Media
User-recordedoptical media typically involves data-processing
applications in which the user is concerned with moving large
quantities of digital data to a convenient, removable medium. The
user is not so much concerned with making and disseminating large
numbers of copies of this information but more with creating those
copies in real time on a local device. There are two types of user
recorded optical technologies: Write Once and Multiple Write.
Write Once optical technology is also known as Write Once Read Many
or WORM. This technology comes in a variety of physical sizes,
including 14-, 12-, 8-, and 5 1/4-inch platters. WORM technology
permanently stores everything that was ever written to it, thus
providing a "built-in" audit trail of its infonnation activity.
However, the diversity of physical sizes and formats is viewed by
some as a drawback. In fact, Dick mentioned that 3M recently made
a major decision to discontinue the manufacture of WORM media
because of the continued proliferation of nonstandard WORM media
formats. Unlike the other types of optical media, WORM has never
been completely standardized at the physical level. Rather than
try to keep up with a multitude of different formats, 3M has
decided to concentrate on providing industry with the more
standardized forms of optical media.
The most recent type of user-recordable optical technology allows
for multiple writing to a disc and is known as Erasable or
Magneto-Optical (M/O) storage. Erasable optical storage is
replacing WORM in those applications where an audit trail is not
required, and it has the distinct advantage of having an ISO
standard at the physical level (325 megabytes per side, two-sided
media). It appears that erasable optical technology will serve to
complement magnetic storage in many data-processing applications.
It also is finding a niche as the medium for providing the source
material to a mastering and replication plant for the production of
a CD-ROM disc.
Mark spent some time updating the audience on 3M's use of
statistical process control (SPC) techniques to ensure a high level
of quality assurance. He pointed out that the inspection process
itself can potentially introduce product defects. Thus, by this
premise, 100% product inspection can actually lower the quality of
the final product. For example, every time you put a CD-ROM disc
in a drive for inspection (or use), you risk scratching it. The
SPC approach to quality control is 3M's solution to this problem.
The question about increasing the capacity of CD-ROMs by using both
sides was raised; Mark cautioned that although it is possible, such
an approach would violate all of the standards inherent to CD-ROM.
Another way being investigated to increase storage capacity is to
use lasers tuned to different wavelengths, which would allow
smaller (and thus more numerous) pits to be placed in the same
physical space. But again, this technology has not yet reached the
point where it is embodied in any standard. Perhaps a future
specification will incorporate such technological advances.
Since many people still confuse the various forms of optical
technology and their applications, 3M's overview was greatly
appreciated.
Registered Voter Disc
Paul Murphy
Eagle Eye Publishers, Inc.
(Phone (703) 528-0680)
The next presentation was by Paul Murphy from Eagle Eye Publishers,
which has. just begun releasing a series of CD-ROM products
containing voter registration information gleaned from the public
voter rolls. The first disc in this series covers the State of
Maryland and contains the equivalent of 1.6 gigabytes of original
rawdata. Using Dataware retrieval software and its powerful
data-compression techniques, all of the original data plus indexes
now fit in approximately 500 megabytes.
The information on these voter discs is not only voluminous but
also extremely comprehensive. One can easily find out how many
female Republican voters from Harford County, Maryland, were
registered in the last presidential election. Big Brother may not
exactly be watching, but he may be using a CD-ROM reader. Future
improvements planned for the product include combining the voter
demographic information with mapping software and puting it into a
political Geographic Information System (GIS).
Paul indicated that discs have now been created for Maryland,
Illinois, Kentucky, Alaska, Iowa, Colorado, and Louisiana. In
addition, Eagle Eye will soon be placing the database of registered
voters for the entire country on CD-ROM. The price of the in-
dividual state discs ranges from about $450 for limited disc
accesss to $5,000 for complete disc access. For more information,
please contact Eagle Eye at the above address.
The World of CD-ROM Retailing
The Bureau of Electronic Publishing, Inc.
Larry Siriller
(Phone (201) 808-2700)
The Bureau of Electronic Publishing (no, it's not a Federal agency)
is now one of the largest CD-ROM distributors in the country. The
"Bureau" carries anything and everyting having to do with CD-ROM,
including an extensive array of titles. In fact, one of the best
catalogs in the industry is available free for the asking (see
contact information above). Larry presented a CD-ROM chronology of
sorts. In 1986, CD-ROM drive prices hovered around $700, and
titles were few and far between. By the following year, drive
prices had dropped a bit and the average access time was about 500
milliseconds (resec). Then, in 1988, drive prices moved to the
$600 range, and CD-ROM titles numbered in the hundreds. By 1989,
drive prices dipped under $600, and average access times decreased
to 350 msec. Then, in 1990, a stateof-the-art drive could be
acquired for $399 (see later reference to SONY's announcement), and
access times were further reduced to only 290 msec.
Larry predicted that the entertainment/education market for CD-ROM
is "a real sleeper." Expect to see lots more "edutainment"
applications appearing on CD-ROM. Larry then demonstrated a new
disc recently produced by the Bureau called the U.S. History on
CD-ROM. It contains not only volumes of text but also thousands of
high-resolution black-and-white as well as color images. In
discussing the production of this disc, Larry reemphasized the
point made in an earlier presentation that considerable effort was
devoted to converting the information for the U.S. His-
Larry also stressed how important it was to produce a good users'
manual. It should be clear, accurate, complete, and concise. It
also helps to have attractive packaging, which, in the case of the
U.S. History on CD-ROM, resembles a leatherbound, gold-embossed
book. The product retails for $395.
PhoneDisc USA
Claude Schoch
PhoneDisc USA Corporation
(Phone (800) 284-8353)
The final product presentation provided one of the most powerful
examples of data compression currently on CD-ROM. Claude Schoch
demonstrated the PhoneDisc product, which stores the equivalent of
half of the entire country's "white pages" on a single disc.
Containing over 45 million listings, the access software allows any
single entry to be accessed and displayed in a second or two. The
proprietary data compression scheme employs about 13 different data
compression algorithms to squeeze approximately 5.5gigabytes of raw
data onto a single CD-ROM disc.
The entire country's listings comprise a two disc set, equivalent
to 5,000 phone books and 60,000 pounds of paper--about 50 trees!
The first phone disc was produced around 1986. The current
product, which sells for $995 per disc or $1,800 for the two-disc
set, is derived from over 200 reels of magnetic tape purchased from
direct-marketing and mailing-list firms. Many government
organizations, including many in the intelligence and law
enforcement arena, subscribe to the PhoneDisc product.
Special CD-ROM Drive Offer
Chris Manzione
Sony Corporation
(Phone (703) 620-1305)
Lori Gentile
SMS Data Products Group (Phone (800) 331-1767) (Phone (703) 648-3422)
The SONY Corporation took the bold step of offering its "latest and
greatest" internal CD-ROM drive to the SIGCAT membership for the
watershed price of $399! This offers follows closely on the heels
of the recent award to SONY by the Department of Defense for a dual
drive unit for $576.
The SIGCAT offer is being made available for a limited time and
includes a Sony Model CDU 531 internal half-height drive, complete
with audio out jack, controller card (for IBM PCs and compatibles,
only), cable, and Microsoft MS-DOS Extensions. Of course, the
drive conforms to the ISO 9660 Standard and can be mounted in
either a horizontal or vertical orientation. The average access
time of the CDU 531 is under 400 msec and the Mean Time Between
Failure (MTBF) is rated at 25,000 Power On Hours (POH).
SMS Data Products Group, Inc., has been designated as the point of
contact for the SIGCAT offer. Please contact Lori Gentile at SMS
on the above phone numbers for details.