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-
-The Project Gutenberg Etext of LOC WORKSHOP ON ELECTRONIC TEXTS
-
-
-
-
- WORKSHOP ON ELECTRONIC TEXTS
-
- PROCEEDINGS
-
-
-
- Edited by James Daly
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- 9-10 June 1992
-
-
- Library of Congress
- Washington, D.C.
-
-
-
- Supported by a Grant from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation
-
-
- *** *** *** ****** *** *** ***
-
-
- TABLE OF CONTENTS
-
-
-Acknowledgements
-
-Introduction
-
-Proceedings
- Welcome
- Prosser Gifford and Carl Fleischhauer
-
- Session I. Content in a New Form: Who Will Use It and What Will They Do?
- James Daly (Moderator)
- Avra Michelson, Overview
- Susan H. Veccia, User Evaluation
- Joanne Freeman, Beyond the Scholar
- Discussion
-
- Session II. Show and Tell
- Jacqueline Hess (Moderator)
- Elli Mylonas, Perseus Project
- Discussion
- Eric M. Calaluca, Patrologia Latina Database
- Carl Fleischhauer and Ricky Erway, American Memory
- Discussion
- Dorothy Twohig, The Papers of George Washington
- Discussion
- Maria L. Lebron, The Online Journal of Current Clinical Trials
- Discussion
- Lynne K. Personius, Cornell mathematics books
- Discussion
-
- Session III. Distribution, Networks, and Networking:
- Options for Dissemination
- Robert G. Zich (Moderator)
- Clifford A. Lynch
- Discussion
- Howard Besser
- Discussion
- Ronald L. Larsen
- Edwin B. Brownrigg
- Discussion
-
- Session IV. Image Capture, Text Capture, Overview of Text and
- Image Storage Formats
- William L. Hooton (Moderator)
- A) Principal Methods for Image Capture of Text:
- direct scanning, use of microform
- Anne R. Kenney
- Pamela Q.J. Andre
- Judith A. Zidar
- Donald J. Waters
- Discussion
- B) Special Problems: bound volumes, conservation,
- reproducing printed halftones
- George Thoma
- Carl Fleischhauer
- Discussion
- C) Image Standards and Implications for Preservation
- Jean Baronas
- Patricia Battin
- Discussion
- D) Text Conversion: OCR vs. rekeying, standards of accuracy
- and use of imperfect texts, service bureaus
- Michael Lesk
- Ricky Erway
- Judith A. Zidar
- Discussion
-
- Session V. Approaches to Preparing Electronic Texts
- Susan Hockey (Moderator)
- Stuart Weibel
- Discussion
- C.M. Sperberg-McQueen
- Discussion
- Eric M. Calaluca
- Discussion
-
- Session VI. Copyright Issues
- Marybeth Peters
-
- Session VII. Conclusion
- Prosser Gifford (Moderator)
- General discussion
-
-Appendix I: Program
-
-Appendix II: Abstracts
-
-Appendix III: Directory of Participants
-
-
- *** *** *** ****** *** *** ***
-
-
- Acknowledgements
-
-I would like to thank Carl Fleischhauer and Prosser Gifford for the
-opportunity to learn about areas of human activity unknown to me a scant
-ten months ago, and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation for
-supporting that opportunity. The help given by others is acknowledged on
-a separate page.
-
- 19 October 1992
-
-
- *** *** *** ****** *** *** ***
-
-
- INTRODUCTION
-
-The Workshop on Electronic Texts (1) drew together representatives of
-various projects and interest groups to compare ideas, beliefs,
-experiences, and, in particular, methods of placing and presenting
-historical textual materials in computerized form. Most attendees gained
-much in insight and outlook from the event. But the assembly did not
-form a new nation, or, to put it another way, the diversity of projects
-and interests was too great to draw the representatives into a cohesive,
-action-oriented body.(2)
-
-Everyone attending the Workshop shared an interest in preserving and
-providing access to historical texts. But within this broad field the
-attendees represented a variety of formal, informal, figurative, and
-literal groups, with many individuals belonging to more than one. These
-groups may be defined roughly according to the following topics or
-activities:
-
-* Imaging
-* Searchable coded texts
-* National and international computer networks
-* CD-ROM production and dissemination
-* Methods and technology for converting older paper materials into
-electronic form
-* Study of the use of digital materials by scholars and others
-
-This summary is arranged thematically and does not follow the actual
-sequence of presentations.
-
-NOTES:
- (1) In this document, the phrase electronic text is used to mean
- any computerized reproduction or version of a document, book,
- article, or manuscript (including images), and not merely a machine-
- readable or machine-searchable text.
-
- (2) The Workshop was held at the Library of Congress on 9-10 June
- 1992, with funding from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
- The document that follows represents a summary of the presentations
- made at the Workshop and was compiled by James DALY. This
- introduction was written by DALY and Carl FLEISCHHAUER.
-
-
-PRESERVATION AND IMAGING
-
-Preservation, as that term is used by archivists,(3) was most explicitly
-discussed in the context of imaging. Anne KENNEY and Lynne PERSONIUS
-explained how the concept of a faithful copy and the user-friendliness of
-the traditional book have guided their project at Cornell University.(4)
-Although interested in computerized dissemination, participants in the
-Cornell project are creating digital image sets of older books in the
-public domain as a source for a fresh paper facsimile or, in a future
-phase, microfilm. The books returned to the library shelves are
-high-quality and useful replacements on acid-free paper that should last
-a long time. To date, the Cornell project has placed little or no
-emphasis on creating searchable texts; one would not be surprised to find
-that the project participants view such texts as new editions, and thus
-not as faithful reproductions.
-
-In her talk on preservation, Patricia BATTIN struck an ecumenical and
-flexible note as she endorsed the creation and dissemination of a variety
-of types of digital copies. Do not be too narrow in defining what counts
-as a preservation element, BATTIN counseled; for the present, at least,
-digital copies made with preservation in mind cannot be as narrowly
-standardized as, say, microfilm copies with the same objective. Setting
-standards precipitously can inhibit creativity, but delay can result in
-chaos, she advised.
-
-In part, BATTIN's position reflected the unsettled nature of image-format
-standards, and attendees could hear echoes of this unsettledness in the
-comments of various speakers. For example, Jean BARONAS reviewed the
-status of several formal standards moving through committees of experts;
-and Clifford LYNCH encouraged the use of a new guideline for transmitting
-document images on Internet. Testimony from participants in the National
-Agricultural Library's (NAL) Text Digitization Program and LC's American
-Memory project highlighted some of the challenges to the actual creation
-or interchange of images, including difficulties in converting
-preservation microfilm to digital form. Donald WATERS reported on the
-progress of a master plan for a project at Yale University to convert
-books on microfilm to digital image sets, Project Open Book (POB).
-
-The Workshop offered rather less of an imaging practicum than planned,
-but "how-to" hints emerge at various points, for example, throughout
-KENNEY's presentation and in the discussion of arcana such as
-thresholding and dithering offered by George THOMA and FLEISCHHAUER.
-
-NOTES:
- (3) Although there is a sense in which any reproductions of
- historical materials preserve the human record, specialists in the
- field have developed particular guidelines for the creation of
- acceptable preservation copies.
-
- (4) Titles and affiliations of presenters are given at the
- beginning of their respective talks and in the Directory of
- Participants (Appendix III).
-
-
-THE MACHINE-READABLE TEXT: MARKUP AND USE
-
-The sections of the Workshop that dealt with machine-readable text tended
-to be more concerned with access and use than with preservation, at least
-in the narrow technical sense. Michael SPERBERG-McQUEEN made a forceful
-presentation on the Text Encoding Initiative's (TEI) implementation of
-the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML). His ideas were echoed
-by Susan HOCKEY, Elli MYLONAS, and Stuart WEIBEL. While the
-presentations made by the TEI advocates contained no practicum, their
-discussion focused on the value of the finished product, what the
-European Community calls reusability, but what may also be termed
-durability. They argued that marking up--that is, coding--a text in a
-well-conceived way will permit it to be moved from one computer
-environment to another, as well as to be used by various users. Two
-kinds of markup were distinguished: 1) procedural markup, which
-describes the features of a text (e.g., dots on a page), and 2)
-descriptive markup, which describes the structure or elements of a
-document (e.g., chapters, paragraphs, and front matter).
-
-The TEI proponents emphasized the importance of texts to scholarship.
-They explained how heavily coded (and thus analyzed and annotated) texts
-can underlie research, play a role in scholarly communication, and
-facilitate classroom teaching. SPERBERG-McQUEEN reminded listeners that
-a written or printed item (e.g., a particular edition of a book) is
-merely a representation of the abstraction we call a text. To concern
-ourselves with faithfully reproducing a printed instance of the text,
-SPERBERG-McQUEEN argued, is to concern ourselves with the representation
-of a representation ("images as simulacra for the text"). The TEI proponents'
-interest in images tends to focus on corollary materials for use in teaching,
-for example, photographs of the Acropolis to accompany a Greek text.
-
-By the end of the Workshop, SPERBERG-McQUEEN confessed to having been
-converted to a limited extent to the view that electronic images
-constitute a promising alternative to microfilming; indeed, an
-alternative probably superior to microfilming. But he was not convinced
-that electronic images constitute a serious attempt to represent text in
-electronic form. HOCKEY and MYLONAS also conceded that their experience
-at the Pierce Symposium the previous week at Georgetown University and
-the present conference at the Library of Congress had compelled them to
-reevaluate their perspective on the usefulness of text as images.
-Attendees could see that the text and image advocates were in
-constructive tension, so to say.
-
-Three nonTEI presentations described approaches to preparing
-machine-readable text that are less rigorous and thus less expensive. In
-the case of the Papers of George Washington, Dorothy TWOHIG explained
-that the digital version will provide a not-quite-perfect rendering of
-the transcribed text--some 135,000 documents, available for research
-during the decades while the perfect or print version is completed.
-Members of the American Memory team and the staff of NAL's Text
-Digitization Program (see below) also outlined a middle ground concerning
-searchable texts. In the case of American Memory, contractors produce
-texts with about 99-percent accuracy that serve as "browse" or
-"reference" versions of written or printed originals. End users who need
-faithful copies or perfect renditions must refer to accompanying sets of
-digital facsimile images or consult copies of the originals in a nearby
-library or archive. American Memory staff argued that the high cost of
-producing 100-percent accurate copies would prevent LC from offering
-access to large parts of its collections.
-
-
-THE MACHINE-READABLE TEXT: METHODS OF CONVERSION
-
-Although the Workshop did not include a systematic examination of the
-methods for converting texts from paper (or from facsimile images) into
-machine-readable form, nevertheless, various speakers touched upon this
-matter. For example, WEIBEL reported that OCLC has experimented with a
-merging of multiple optical character recognition systems that will
-reduce errors from an unacceptable rate of 5 characters out of every
-l,000 to an unacceptable rate of 2 characters out of every l,000.
-
-Pamela ANDRE presented an overview of NAL's Text Digitization Program and
-Judith ZIDAR discussed the technical details. ZIDAR explained how NAL
-purchased hardware and software capable of performing optical character
-recognition (OCR) and text conversion and used its own staff to convert
-texts. The process, ZIDAR said, required extensive editing and project
-staff found themselves considering alternatives, including rekeying
-and/or creating abstracts or summaries of texts. NAL reckoned costs at
-$7 per page. By way of contrast, Ricky ERWAY explained that American
-Memory had decided from the start to contract out conversion to external
-service bureaus. The criteria used to select these contractors were cost
-and quality of results, as opposed to methods of conversion. ERWAY noted
-that historical documents or books often do not lend themselves to OCR.
-Bound materials represent a special problem. In her experience, quality
-control--inspecting incoming materials, counting errors in samples--posed
-the most time-consuming aspect of contracting out conversion. ERWAY
-reckoned American Memory's costs at $4 per page, but cautioned that fewer
-cost-elements had been included than in NAL's figure.
-
-
-OPTIONS FOR DISSEMINATION
-
-The topic of dissemination proper emerged at various points during the
-Workshop. At the session devoted to national and international computer
-networks, LYNCH, Howard BESSER, Ronald LARSEN, and Edwin BROWNRIGG
-highlighted the virtues of Internet today and of the network that will
-evolve from Internet. Listeners could discern in these narratives a
-vision of an information democracy in which millions of citizens freely
-find and use what they need. LYNCH noted that a lack of standards
-inhibits disseminating multimedia on the network, a topic also discussed
-by BESSER. LARSEN addressed the issues of network scalability and
-modularity and commented upon the difficulty of anticipating the effects
-of growth in orders of magnitude. BROWNRIGG talked about the ability of
-packet radio to provide certain links in a network without the need for
-wiring. However, the presenters also called attention to the
-shortcomings and incongruities of present-day computer networks. For
-example: 1) Network use is growing dramatically, but much network
-traffic consists of personal communication (E-mail). 2) Large bodies of
-information are available, but a user's ability to search across their
-entirety is limited. 3) There are significant resources for science and
-technology, but few network sources provide content in the humanities.
-4) Machine-readable texts are commonplace, but the capability of the
-system to deal with images (let alone other media formats) lags behind.
-A glimpse of a multimedia future for networks, however, was provided by
-Maria LEBRON in her overview of the Online Journal of Current Clinical
-Trials (OJCCT), and the process of scholarly publishing on-line.
-
-The contrasting form of the CD-ROM disk was never systematically
-analyzed, but attendees could glean an impression from several of the
-show-and-tell presentations. The Perseus and American Memory examples
-demonstrated recently published disks, while the descriptions of the
-IBYCUS version of the Papers of George Washington and Chadwyck-Healey's
-Patrologia Latina Database (PLD) told of disks to come. According to
-Eric CALALUCA, PLD's principal focus has been on converting Jacques-Paul
-Migne's definitive collection of Latin texts to machine-readable form.
-Although everyone could share the network advocates' enthusiasm for an
-on-line future, the possibility of rolling up one's sleeves for a session
-with a CD-ROM containing both textual materials and a powerful retrieval
-engine made the disk seem an appealing vessel indeed. The overall
-discussion suggested that the transition from CD-ROM to on-line networked
-access may prove far slower and more difficult than has been anticipated.
-
-
-WHO ARE THE USERS AND WHAT DO THEY DO?
-
-Although concerned with the technicalities of production, the Workshop
-never lost sight of the purposes and uses of electronic versions of
-textual materials. As noted above, those interested in imaging discussed
-the problematical matter of digital preservation, while the TEI proponents
-described how machine-readable texts can be used in research. This latter
-topic received thorough treatment in the paper read by Avra MICHELSON.
-She placed the phenomenon of electronic texts within the context of
-broader trends in information technology and scholarly communication.
-
-Among other things, MICHELSON described on-line conferences that
-represent a vigorous and important intellectual forum for certain
-disciplines. Internet now carries more than 700 conferences, with about
-80 percent of these devoted to topics in the social sciences and the
-humanities. Other scholars use on-line networks for "distance learning."
-Meanwhile, there has been a tremendous growth in end-user computing;
-professors today are less likely than their predecessors to ask the
-campus computer center to process their data. Electronic texts are one
-key to these sophisticated applications, MICHELSON reported, and more and
-more scholars in the humanities now work in an on-line environment.
-Toward the end of the Workshop, Michael LESK presented a corollary to
-MICHELSON's talk, reporting the results of an experiment that compared
-the work of one group of chemistry students using traditional printed
-texts and two groups using electronic sources. The experiment
-demonstrated that in the event one does not know what to read, one needs
-the electronic systems; the electronic systems hold no advantage at the
-moment if one knows what to read, but neither do they impose a penalty.
-
-DALY provided an anecdotal account of the revolutionizing impact of the
-new technology on his previous methods of research in the field of classics.
-His account, by extrapolation, served to illustrate in part the arguments
-made by MICHELSON concerning the positive effects of the sudden and radical
-transformation being wrought in the ways scholars work.
-
-Susan VECCIA and Joanne FREEMAN delineated the use of electronic
-materials outside the university. The most interesting aspect of their
-use, FREEMAN said, could be seen as a paradox: teachers in elementary
-and secondary schools requested access to primary source materials but,
-at the same time, found that "primariness" itself made these materials
-difficult for their students to use.
-
-
-OTHER TOPICS
-
-Marybeth PETERS reviewed copyright law in the United States and offered
-advice during a lively discussion of this subject. But uncertainty
-remains concerning the price of copyright in a digital medium, because a
-solution remains to be worked out concerning management and synthesis of
-copyrighted and out-of-copyright pieces of a database.
-
-As moderator of the final session of the Workshop, Prosser GIFFORD directed
-discussion to future courses of action and the potential role of LC in
-advancing them. Among the recommendations that emerged were the following:
-
- * Workshop participants should 1) begin to think about working
- with image material, but structure and digitize it in such a
- way that at a later stage it can be interpreted into text, and
- 2) find a common way to build text and images together so that
- they can be used jointly at some stage in the future, with
- appropriate network support, because that is how users will want
- to access these materials. The Library might encourage attempts
- to bring together people who are working on texts and images.
-
- * A network version of American Memory should be developed or
- consideration should be given to making the data in it
- available to people interested in doing network multimedia.
- Given the current dearth of digital data that is appealing and
- unencumbered by extremely complex rights problems, developing a
- network version of American Memory could do much to help make
- network multimedia a reality.
-
- * Concerning the thorny issue of electronic deposit, LC should
- initiate a catalytic process in terms of distributed
- responsibility, that is, bring together the distributed
- organizations and set up a study group to look at all the
- issues related to electronic deposit and see where we as a
- nation should move. For example, LC might attempt to persuade
- one major library in each state to deal with its state
- equivalent publisher, which might produce a cooperative project
- that would be equitably distributed around the country, and one
- in which LC would be dealing with a minimal number of publishers
- and minimal copyright problems. LC must also deal with the
- concept of on-line publishing, determining, among other things,
- how serials such as OJCCT might be deposited for copyright.
-
- * Since a number of projects are planning to carry out
- preservation by creating digital images that will end up in
- on-line or near-line storage at some institution, LC might play
- a helpful role, at least in the near term, by accelerating how
- to catalog that information into the Research Library Information
- Network (RLIN) and then into OCLC, so that it would be accessible.
- This would reduce the possibility of multiple institutions digitizing
- the same work.
-
-
-CONCLUSION
-
-The Workshop was valuable because it brought together partisans from
-various groups and provided an occasion to compare goals and methods.
-The more committed partisans frequently communicate with others in their
-groups, but less often across group boundaries. The Workshop was also
-valuable to attendees--including those involved with American Memory--who
-came less committed to particular approaches or concepts. These
-attendees learned a great deal, and plan to select and employ elements of
-imaging, text-coding, and networked distribution that suit their
-respective projects and purposes.
-
-Still, reality rears its ugly head: no breakthrough has been achieved.
-On the imaging side, one confronts a proliferation of competing
-data-interchange standards and a lack of consensus on the role of digital
-facsimiles in preservation. In the realm of machine-readable texts, one
-encounters a reasonably mature standard but methodological difficulties
-and high costs. These latter problems, of course, represent a special
-impediment to the desire, as it is sometimes expressed in the popular
-press, "to put the [contents of the] Library of Congress on line." In
-the words of one participant, there was "no solution to the economic
-problems--the projects that are out there are surviving, but it is going
-to be a lot of work to transform the information industry, and so far the
-investment to do that is not forthcoming" (LESK, per litteras).
-
-
- *** *** *** ****** *** *** ***
-
-
- PROCEEDINGS
-
-
-WELCOME
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-GIFFORD * Origin of Workshop in current Librarian's desire to make LC's
-collections more widely available * Desiderata arising from the prospect
-of greater interconnectedness *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-After welcoming participants on behalf of the Library of Congress,
-American Memory (AM), and the National Demonstration Lab, Prosser
-GIFFORD, director for scholarly programs, Library of Congress, located
-the origin of the Workshop on Electronic Texts in a conversation he had
-had considerably more than a year ago with Carl FLEISCHHAUER concerning
-some of the issues faced by AM. On the assumption that numerous other
-people were asking the same questions, the decision was made to bring
-together as many of these people as possible to ask the same questions
-together. In a deeper sense, GIFFORD said, the origin of the Workshop
-lay in the desire of the current Librarian of Congress, James H.
-Billington, to make the collections of the Library, especially those
-offering unique or unusual testimony on aspects of the American
-experience, available to a much wider circle of users than those few
-people who can come to Washington to use them. This meant that the
-emphasis of AM, from the outset, has been on archival collections of the
-basic material, and on making these collections themselves available,
-rather than selected or heavily edited products.
-
-From AM's emphasis followed the questions with which the Workshop began:
-who will use these materials, and in what form will they wish to use
-them. But an even larger issue deserving mention, in GIFFORD's view, was
-the phenomenal growth in Internet connectivity. He expressed the hope
-that the prospect of greater interconnectedness than ever before would
-lead to: 1) much more cooperative and mutually supportive endeavors; 2)
-development of systems of shared and distributed responsibilities to
-avoid duplication and to ensure accuracy and preservation of unique
-materials; and 3) agreement on the necessary standards and development of
-the appropriate directories and indices to make navigation
-straightforward among the varied resources that are, and increasingly
-will be, available. In this connection, GIFFORD requested that
-participants reflect from the outset upon the sorts of outcomes they
-thought the Workshop might have. Did those present constitute a group
-with sufficient common interests to propose a next step or next steps,
-and if so, what might those be? They would return to these questions the
-following afternoon.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-FLEISCHHAUER * Core of Workshop concerns preparation and production of
-materials * Special challenge in conversion of textual materials *
-Quality versus quantity * Do the several groups represented share common
-interests? *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-Carl FLEISCHHAUER, coordinator, American Memory, Library of Congress,
-emphasized that he would attempt to represent the people who perform some
-of the work of converting or preparing materials and that the core of
-the Workshop had to do with preparation and production. FLEISCHHAUER
-then drew a distinction between the long term, when many things would be
-available and connected in the ways that GIFFORD described, and the short
-term, in which AM not only has wrestled with the issue of what is the
-best course to pursue but also has faced a variety of technical
-challenges.
-
-FLEISCHHAUER remarked AM's endeavors to deal with a wide range of library
-formats, such as motion picture collections, sound-recording collections,
-and pictorial collections of various sorts, especially collections of
-photographs. In the course of these efforts, AM kept coming back to
-textual materials--manuscripts or rare printed matter, bound materials,
-etc. Text posed the greatest conversion challenge of all. Thus, the
-genesis of the Workshop, which reflects the problems faced by AM. These
-problems include physical problems. For example, those in the library
-and archive business deal with collections made up of fragile and rare
-manuscript items, bound materials, especially the notoriously brittle
-bound materials of the late nineteenth century. These are precious
-cultural artifacts, however, as well as interesting sources of
-information, and LC desires to retain and conserve them. AM needs to
-handle things without damaging them. Guillotining a book to run it
-through a sheet feeder must be avoided at all costs.
-
-Beyond physical problems, issues pertaining to quality arose. For
-example, the desire to provide users with a searchable text is affected
-by the question of acceptable level of accuracy. One hundred percent
-accuracy is tremendously expensive. On the other hand, the output of
-optical character recognition (OCR) can be tremendously inaccurate.
-Although AM has attempted to find a middle ground, uncertainty persists
-as to whether or not it has discovered the right solution.
-
-Questions of quality arose concerning images as well. FLEISCHHAUER
-contrasted the extremely high level of quality of the digital images in
-the Cornell Xerox Project with AM's efforts to provide a browse-quality
-or access-quality image, as opposed to an archival or preservation image.
-FLEISCHHAUER therefore welcomed the opportunity to compare notes.
-
-FLEISCHHAUER observed in passing that conversations he had had about
-networks have begun to signal that for various forms of media a
-determination may be made that there is a browse-quality item, or a
-distribution-and-access-quality item that may coexist in some systems
-with a higher quality archival item that would be inconvenient to send
-through the network because of its size. FLEISCHHAUER referred, of
-course, to images more than to searchable text.
-
-As AM considered those questions, several conceptual issues arose: ought
-AM occasionally to reproduce materials entirely through an image set, at
-other times, entirely through a text set, and in some cases, a mix?
-There probably would be times when the historical authenticity of an
-artifact would require that its image be used. An image might be
-desirable as a recourse for users if one could not provide 100-percent
-accurate text. Again, AM wondered, as a practical matter, if a
-distinction could be drawn between rare printed matter that might exist
-in multiple collections--that is, in ten or fifteen libraries. In such
-cases, the need for perfect reproduction would be less than for unique
-items. Implicit in his remarks, FLEISCHHAUER conceded, was the admission
-that AM has been tilting strongly towards quantity and drawing back a
-little from perfect quality. That is, it seemed to AM that society would
-be better served if more things were distributed by LC--even if they were
-not quite perfect--than if fewer things, perfectly represented, were
-distributed. This was stated as a proposition to be tested, with
-responses to be gathered from users.
-
-In thinking about issues related to reproduction of materials and seeing
-other people engaged in parallel activities, AM deemed it useful to
-convene a conference. Hence, the Workshop. FLEISCHHAUER thereupon
-surveyed the several groups represented: 1) the world of images (image
-users and image makers); 2) the world of text and scholarship and, within
-this group, those concerned with language--FLEISCHHAUER confessed to finding
-delightful irony in the fact that some of the most advanced thinkers on
-computerized texts are those dealing with ancient Greek and Roman materials;
-3) the network world; and 4) the general world of library science, which
-includes people interested in preservation and cataloging.
-
-FLEISCHHAUER concluded his remarks with special thanks to the David and
-Lucile Packard Foundation for its support of the meeting, the American
-Memory group, the Office for Scholarly Programs, the National
-Demonstration Lab, and the Office of Special Events. He expressed the
-hope that David Woodley Packard might be able to attend, noting that
-Packard's work and the work of the foundation had sponsored a number of
-projects in the text area.
-
- ******
-
-SESSION I. CONTENT IN A NEW FORM: WHO WILL USE IT AND WHAT WILL THEY DO?
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-DALY * Acknowledgements * A new Latin authors disk * Effects of the new
-technology on previous methods of research *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-Serving as moderator, James DALY acknowledged the generosity of all the
-presenters for giving of their time, counsel, and patience in planning
-the Workshop, as well as of members of the American Memory project and
-other Library of Congress staff, and the David and Lucile Packard
-Foundation and its executive director, Colburn S. Wilbur.
-
-DALY then recounted his visit in March to the Center for Electronic Texts
-in the Humanities (CETH) and the Department of Classics at Rutgers
-University, where an old friend, Lowell Edmunds, introduced him to the
-department's IBYCUS scholarly personal computer, and, in particular, the
-new Latin CD-ROM, containing, among other things, almost all classical
-Latin literary texts through A.D. 200. Packard Humanities Institute
-(PHI), Los Altos, California, released this disk late in 1991, with a
-nominal triennial licensing fee.
-
-Playing with the disk for an hour or so at Rutgers brought home to DALY
-at once the revolutionizing impact of the new technology on his previous
-methods of research. Had this disk been available two or three years
-earlier, DALY contended, when he was engaged in preparing a commentary on
-Book 10 of Virgil's Aeneid for Cambridge University Press, he would not
-have required a forty-eight-square-foot table on which to spread the
-numerous, most frequently consulted items, including some ten or twelve
-concordances to key Latin authors, an almost equal number of lexica to
-authors who lacked concordances, and where either lexica or concordances
-were lacking, numerous editions of authors antedating and postdating Virgil.
-
-Nor, when checking each of the average six to seven words contained in
-the Virgilian hexameter for its usage elsewhere in Virgil's works or
-other Latin authors, would DALY have had to maintain the laborious
-mechanical process of flipping through these concordances, lexica, and
-editions each time. Nor would he have had to frequent as often the
-Milton S. Eisenhower Library at the Johns Hopkins University to consult
-the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae. Instead of devoting countless hours, or
-the bulk of his research time, to gathering data concerning Virgil's use
-of words, DALY--now freed by PHI's Latin authors disk from the
-tyrannical, yet in some ways paradoxically happy scholarly drudgery--
-would have been able to devote that same bulk of time to analyzing and
-interpreting Virgilian verbal usage.
-
-Citing Theodore Brunner, Gregory Crane, Elli MYLONAS, and Avra MICHELSON,
-DALY argued that this reversal in his style of work, made possible by the
-new technology, would perhaps have resulted in better, more productive
-research. Indeed, even in the course of his browsing the Latin authors
-disk at Rutgers, its powerful search, retrieval, and highlighting
-capabilities suggested to him several new avenues of research into
-Virgil's use of sound effects. This anecdotal account, DALY maintained,
-may serve to illustrate in part the sudden and radical transformation
-being wrought in the ways scholars work.
-
- ******
-
-++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-MICHELSON * Elements related to scholarship and technology * Electronic
-texts within the context of broader trends within information technology
-and scholarly communication * Evaluation of the prospects for the use of
-electronic texts * Relationship of electronic texts to processes of
-scholarly communication in humanities research * New exchange formats
-created by scholars * Projects initiated to increase scholarly access to
-converted text * Trend toward making electronic resources available
-through research and education networks * Changes taking place in
-scholarly communication among humanities scholars * Network-mediated
-scholarship transforming traditional scholarly practices * Key
-information technology trends affecting the conduct of scholarly
-communication over the next decade * The trend toward end-user computing
-* The trend toward greater connectivity * Effects of these trends * Key
-transformations taking place * Summary of principal arguments *
-++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-Avra MICHELSON, Archival Research and Evaluation Staff, National Archives
-and Records Administration (NARA), argued that establishing who will use
-electronic texts and what they will use them for involves a consideration
-of both information technology and scholarship trends. This
-consideration includes several elements related to scholarship and
-technology: 1) the key trends in information technology that are most
-relevant to scholarship; 2) the key trends in the use of currently
-available technology by scholars in the nonscientific community; and 3)
-the relationship between these two very distinct but interrelated trends.
-The investment in understanding this relationship being made by
-information providers, technologists, and public policy developers, as
-well as by scholars themselves, seems to be pervasive and growing,
-MICHELSON contended. She drew on collaborative work with Jeff Rothenberg
-on the scholarly use of technology.
-
-MICHELSON sought to place the phenomenon of electronic texts within the
-context of broader trends within information technology and scholarly
-communication. She argued that electronic texts are of most use to
-researchers to the extent that the researchers' working context (i.e.,
-their relevant bibliographic sources, collegial feedback, analytic tools,
-notes, drafts, etc.), along with their field's primary and secondary
-sources, also is accessible in electronic form and can be integrated in
-ways that are unique to the on-line environment.
-
-Evaluation of the prospects for the use of electronic texts includes two
-elements: 1) an examination of the ways in which researchers currently
-are using electronic texts along with other electronic resources, and 2)
-an analysis of key information technology trends that are affecting the
-long-term conduct of scholarly communication. MICHELSON limited her
-discussion of the use of electronic texts to the practices of humanists
-and noted that the scientific community was outside the panel's overview.
-
-MICHELSON examined the nature of the current relationship of electronic
-texts in particular, and electronic resources in general, to what she
-maintained were, essentially, five processes of scholarly communication
-in humanities research. Researchers 1) identify sources, 2) communicate
-with their colleagues, 3) interpret and analyze data, 4) disseminate
-their research findings, and 5) prepare curricula to instruct the next
-generation of scholars and students. This examination would produce a
-clearer understanding of the synergy among these five processes that
-fuels the tendency of the use of electronic resources for one process to
-stimulate its use for other processes of scholarly communication.
-
-For the first process of scholarly communication, the identification of
-sources, MICHELSON remarked the opportunity scholars now enjoy to
-supplement traditional word-of-mouth searches for sources among their
-colleagues with new forms of electronic searching. So, for example,
-instead of having to visit the library, researchers are able to explore
-descriptions of holdings in their offices. Furthermore, if their own
-institutions' holdings prove insufficient, scholars can access more than
-200 major American library catalogues over Internet, including the
-universities of California, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
-Direct access to the bibliographic databases offers intellectual
-empowerment to scholars by presenting a comprehensive means of browsing
-through libraries from their homes and offices at their convenience.
-
-The second process of communication involves communication among
-scholars. Beyond the most common methods of communication, scholars are
-using E-mail and a variety of new electronic communications formats
-derived from it for further academic interchange. E-mail exchanges are
-growing at an astonishing rate, reportedly 15 percent a month. They
-currently constitute approximately half the traffic on research and
-education networks. Moreover, the global spread of E-mail has been so
-rapid that it is now possible for American scholars to use it to
-communicate with colleagues in close to 140 other countries.
-
-Other new exchange formats created by scholars and operating on Internet
-include more than 700 conferences, with about 80 percent of these devoted
-to topics in the social sciences and humanities. The rate of growth of
-these scholarly electronic conferences also is astonishing. From l990 to
-l991, 200 new conferences were identified on Internet. From October 1991
-to June 1992, an additional 150 conferences in the social sciences and
-humanities were added to this directory of listings. Scholars have
-established conferences in virtually every field, within every different
-discipline. For example, there are currently close to 600 active social
-science and humanities conferences on topics such as art and
-architecture, ethnomusicology, folklore, Japanese culture, medical
-education, and gifted and talented education. The appeal to scholars of
-communicating through these conferences is that, unlike any other medium,
-electronic conferences today provide a forum for global communication
-with peers at the front end of the research process.
-
-Interpretation and analysis of sources constitutes the third process of
-scholarly communication that MICHELSON discussed in terms of texts and
-textual resources. The methods used to analyze sources fall somewhere on
-a continuum from quantitative analysis to qualitative analysis.
-Typically, evidence is culled and evaluated using methods drawn from both
-ends of this continuum. At one end, quantitative analysis involves the
-use of mathematical processes such as a count of frequencies and
-distributions of occurrences or, on a higher level, regression analysis.
-At the other end of the continuum, qualitative analysis typically
-involves nonmathematical processes oriented toward language
-interpretation or the building of theory. Aspects of this work involve
-the processing--either manual or computational--of large and sometimes
-massive amounts of textual sources, although the use of nontextual
-sources as evidence, such as photographs, sound recordings, film footage,
-and artifacts, is significant as well.
-
-Scholars have discovered that many of the methods of interpretation and
-analysis that are related to both quantitative and qualitative methods
-are processes that can be performed by computers. For example, computers
-can count. They can count brush strokes used in a Rembrandt painting or
-perform regression analysis for understanding cause and effect. By means
-of advanced technologies, computers can recognize patterns, analyze text,
-and model concepts. Furthermore, computers can complete these processes
-faster with more sources and with greater precision than scholars who
-must rely on manual interpretation of data. But if scholars are to use
-computers for these processes, source materials must be in a form
-amenable to computer-assisted analysis. For this reason many scholars,
-once they have identified the sources that are key to their research, are
-converting them to machine-readable form. Thus, a representative example
-of the numerous textual conversion projects organized by scholars around
-the world in recent years to support computational text analysis is the
-TLG, the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae. This project is devoted to
-converting the extant ancient texts of classical Greece. (Editor's note:
-according to the TLG Newsletter of May l992, TLG was in use in thirty-two
-different countries. This figure updates MICHELSON's previous count by one.)
-
-The scholars performing these conversions have been asked to recognize
-that the electronic sources they are converting for one use possess value
-for other research purposes as well. As a result, during the past few
-years, humanities scholars have initiated a number of projects to
-increase scholarly access to converted text. So, for example, the Text
-Encoding Initiative (TEI), about which more is said later in the program,
-was established as an effort by scholars to determine standard elements
-and methods for encoding machine-readable text for electronic exchange.
-In a second effort to facilitate the sharing of converted text, scholars
-have created a new institution, the Center for Electronic Texts in the
-Humanities (CETH). The center estimates that there are 8,000 series of
-source texts in the humanities that have been converted to
-machine-readable form worldwide. CETH is undertaking an international
-search for converted text in the humanities, compiling it into an
-electronic library, and preparing bibliographic descriptions of the
-sources for the Research Libraries Information Network's (RLIN)
-machine-readable data file. The library profession has begun to initiate
-large conversion projects as well, such as American Memory.
-
-While scholars have been making converted text available to one another,
-typically on disk or on CD-ROM, the clear trend is toward making these
-resources available through research and education networks. Thus, the
-American and French Research on the Treasury of the French Language
-(ARTFL) and the Dante Project are already available on Internet.
-MICHELSON summarized this section on interpretation and analysis by
-noting that: 1) increasing numbers of humanities scholars in the library
-community are recognizing the importance to the advancement of
-scholarship of retrospective conversion of source materials in the arts
-and humanities; and 2) there is a growing realization that making the
-sources available on research and education networks maximizes their
-usefulness for the analysis performed by humanities scholars.
-
-The fourth process of scholarly communication is dissemination of
-research findings, that is, publication. Scholars are using existing
-research and education networks to engineer a new type of publication:
-scholarly-controlled journals that are electronically produced and
-disseminated. Although such journals are still emerging as a
-communication format, their number has grown, from approximately twelve
-to thirty-six during the past year (July 1991 to June 1992). Most of
-these electronic scholarly journals are devoted to topics in the
-humanities. As with network conferences, scholarly enthusiasm for these
-electronic journals stems from the medium's unique ability to advance
-scholarship in a way that no other medium can do by supporting global
-feedback and interchange, practically in real time, early in the research
-process. Beyond scholarly journals, MICHELSON remarked the delivery of
-commercial full-text products, such as articles in professional journals,
-newsletters, magazines, wire services, and reference sources. These are
-being delivered via on-line local library catalogues, especially through
-CD-ROMs. Furthermore, according to MICHELSON, there is general optimism
-that the copyright and fees issues impeding the delivery of full text on
-existing research and education networks soon will be resolved.
-
-The final process of scholarly communication is curriculum development
-and instruction, and this involves the use of computer information
-technologies in two areas. The first is the development of
-computer-oriented instructional tools, which includes simulations,
-multimedia applications, and computer tools that are used to assist in
-the analysis of sources in the classroom, etc. The Perseus Project, a
-database that provides a multimedia curriculum on classical Greek
-civilization, is a good example of the way in which entire curricula are
-being recast using information technologies. It is anticipated that the
-current difficulty in exchanging electronically computer-based
-instructional software, which in turn makes it difficult for one scholar
-to build upon the work of others, will be resolved before too long.
-Stand-alone curricular applications that involve electronic text will be
-sharable through networks, reinforcing their significance as intellectual
-products as well as instructional tools.
-
-The second aspect of electronic learning involves the use of research and
-education networks for distance education programs. Such programs
-interactively link teachers with students in geographically scattered
-locations and rely on the availability of electronic instructional
-resources. Distance education programs are gaining wide appeal among
-state departments of education because of their demonstrated capacity to
-bring advanced specialized course work and an array of experts to many
-classrooms. A recent report found that at least 32 states operated at
-least one statewide network for education in 1991, with networks under
-development in many of the remaining states.
-
-MICHELSON summarized this section by noting two striking changes taking
-place in scholarly communication among humanities scholars. First is the
-extent to which electronic text in particular, and electronic resources
-in general, are being infused into each of the five processes described
-above. As mentioned earlier, there is a certain synergy at work here.
-The use of electronic resources for one process tends to stimulate its
-use for other processes, because the chief course of movement is toward a
-comprehensive on-line working context for humanities scholars that
-includes on-line availability of key bibliographies, scholarly feedback,
-sources, analytical tools, and publications. MICHELSON noted further
-that the movement toward a comprehensive on-line working context for
-humanities scholars is not new. In fact, it has been underway for more
-than forty years in the humanities, since Father Roberto Busa began
-developing an electronic concordance of the works of Saint Thomas Aquinas
-in 1949. What we are witnessing today, MICHELSON contended, is not the
-beginning of this on-line transition but, for at least some humanities
-scholars, the turning point in the transition from a print to an
-electronic working context. Coinciding with the on-line transition, the
-second striking change is the extent to which research and education
-networks are becoming the new medium of scholarly communication. The
-existing Internet and the pending National Education and Research Network
-(NREN) represent the new meeting ground where scholars are going for
-bibliographic information, scholarly dialogue and feedback, the most
-current publications in their field, and high-level educational
-offerings. Traditional scholarly practices are undergoing tremendous
-transformations as a result of the emergence and growing prominence of
-what is called network-mediated scholarship.
-
-MICHELSON next turned to the second element of the framework she proposed
-at the outset of her talk for evaluating the prospects for electronic
-text, namely the key information technology trends affecting the conduct
-of scholarly communication over the next decade: 1) end-user computing
-and 2) connectivity.
-
-End-user computing means that the person touching the keyboard, or
-performing computations, is the same as the person who initiates or
-consumes the computation. The emergence of personal computers, along
-with a host of other forces, such as ubiquitous computing, advances in
-interface design, and the on-line transition, is prompting the consumers
-of computation to do their own computing, and is thus rendering obsolete
-the traditional distinction between end users and ultimate users.
-
-The trend toward end-user computing is significant to consideration of
-the prospects for electronic texts because it means that researchers are
-becoming more adept at doing their own computations and, thus, more
-competent in the use of electronic media. By avoiding programmer
-intermediaries, computation is becoming central to the researcher's
-thought process. This direct involvement in computing is changing the
-researcher's perspective on the nature of research itself, that is, the
-kinds of questions that can be posed, the analytical methodologies that
-can be used, the types and amount of sources that are appropriate for
-analyses, and the form in which findings are presented. The trend toward
-end-user computing means that, increasingly, electronic media and
-computation are being infused into all processes of humanities
-scholarship, inspiring remarkable transformations in scholarly
-communication.
-
-The trend toward greater connectivity suggests that researchers are using
-computation increasingly in network environments. Connectivity is
-important to scholarship because it erases the distance that separates
-students from teachers and scholars from their colleagues, while allowing
-users to access remote databases, share information in many different
-media, connect to their working context wherever they are, and
-collaborate in all phases of research.
-
-The combination of the trend toward end-user computing and the trend
-toward connectivity suggests that the scholarly use of electronic
-resources, already evident among some researchers, will soon become an
-established feature of scholarship. The effects of these trends, along
-with ongoing changes in scholarly practices, point to a future in which
-humanities researchers will use computation and electronic communication
-to help them formulate ideas, access sources, perform research,
-collaborate with colleagues, seek peer review, publish and disseminate
-results, and engage in many other professional and educational activities.
-
-In summary, MICHELSON emphasized four points: 1) A portion of humanities
-scholars already consider electronic texts the preferred format for
-analysis and dissemination. 2) Scholars are using these electronic
-texts, in conjunction with other electronic resources, in all the
-processes of scholarly communication. 3) The humanities scholars'
-working context is in the process of changing from print technology to
-electronic technology, in many ways mirroring transformations that have
-occurred or are occurring within the scientific community. 4) These
-changes are occurring in conjunction with the development of a new
-communication medium: research and education networks that are
-characterized by their capacity to advance scholarship in a wholly unique
-way.
-
-MICHELSON also reiterated her three principal arguments: l) Electronic
-texts are best understood in terms of the relationship to other
-electronic resources and the growing prominence of network-mediated
-scholarship. 2) The prospects for electronic texts lie in their capacity
-to be integrated into the on-line network of electronic resources that
-comprise the new working context for scholars. 3) Retrospective conversion
-of portions of the scholarly record should be a key strategy as information
-providers respond to changes in scholarly communication practices.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-VECCIA * AM's evaluation project and public users of electronic resources
-* AM and its design * Site selection and evaluating the Macintosh
-implementation of AM * Characteristics of the six public libraries
-selected * Characteristics of AM's users in these libraries * Principal
-ways AM is being used *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-Susan VECCIA, team leader, and Joanne FREEMAN, associate coordinator,
-American Memory, Library of Congress, gave a joint presentation. First,
-by way of introduction, VECCIA explained her and FREEMAN's roles in
-American Memory (AM). Serving principally as an observer, VECCIA has
-assisted with the evaluation project of AM, placing AM collections in a
-variety of different sites around the country and helping to organize and
-implement that project. FREEMAN has been an associate coordinator of AM
-and has been involved principally with the interpretative materials,
-preparing some of the electronic exhibits and printed historical
-information that accompanies AM and that is requested by users. VECCIA
-and FREEMAN shared anecdotal observations concerning AM with public users
-of electronic resources. Notwithstanding a fairly structured evaluation
-in progress, both VECCIA and FREEMAN chose not to report on specifics in
-terms of numbers, etc., because they felt it was too early in the
-evaluation project to do so.
-
-AM is an electronic archive of primary source materials from the Library
-of Congress, selected collections representing a variety of formats--
-photographs, graphic arts, recorded sound, motion pictures, broadsides,
-and soon, pamphlets and books. In terms of the design of this system,
-the interpretative exhibits have been kept separate from the primary
-resources, with good reason. Accompanying this collection are printed
-documentation and user guides, as well as guides that FREEMAN prepared for
-teachers so that they may begin using the content of the system at once.
-
-VECCIA described the evaluation project before talking about the public
-users of AM, limiting her remarks to public libraries, because FREEMAN
-would talk more specifically about schools from kindergarten to twelfth
-grade (K-12). Having started in spring 1991, the evaluation currently
-involves testing of the Macintosh implementation of AM. Since the
-primary goal of this evaluation is to determine the most appropriate
-audience or audiences for AM, very different sites were selected. This
-makes evaluation difficult because of the varying degrees of technology
-literacy among the sites. AM is situated in forty-four locations, of
-which six are public libraries and sixteen are schools. Represented
-among the schools are elementary, junior high, and high schools.
-District offices also are involved in the evaluation, which will
-conclude in summer 1993.
-
-VECCIA focused the remainder of her talk on the six public libraries, one
-of which doubles as a state library. They represent a range of
-geographic areas and a range of demographic characteristics. For
-example, three are located in urban settings, two in rural settings, and
-one in a suburban setting. A range of technical expertise is to be found
-among these facilities as well. For example, one is an "Apple library of
-the future," while two others are rural one-room libraries--in one, AM
-sits at the front desk next to a tractor manual.
-
-All public libraries have been extremely enthusiastic, supportive, and
-appreciative of the work that AM has been doing. VECCIA characterized
-various users: Most users in public libraries describe themselves as
-general readers; of the students who use AM in the public libraries,
-those in fourth grade and above seem most interested. Public libraries
-in rural sites tend to attract retired people, who have been highly
-receptive to AM. Users tend to fall into two additional categories:
-people interested in the content and historical connotations of these
-primary resources, and those fascinated by the technology. The format
-receiving the most comments has been motion pictures. The adult users in
-public libraries are more comfortable with IBM computers, whereas young
-people seem comfortable with either IBM or Macintosh, although most of
-them seem to come from a Macintosh background. This same tendency is
-found in the schools.
-
-What kinds of things do users do with AM? In a public library there are
-two main goals or ways that AM is being used: as an individual learning
-tool, and as a leisure activity. Adult learning was one area that VECCIA
-would highlight as a possible application for a tool such as AM. She
-described a patron of a rural public library who comes in every day on
-his lunch hour and literally reads AM, methodically going through the
-collection image by image. At the end of his hour he makes an electronic
-bookmark, puts it in his pocket, and returns to work. The next day he
-comes in and resumes where he left off. Interestingly, this man had
-never been in the library before he used AM. In another small, rural
-library, the coordinator reports that AM is a popular activity for some
-of the older, retired people in the community, who ordinarily would not
-use "those things,"--computers. Another example of adult learning in
-public libraries is book groups, one of which, in particular, is using AM
-as part of its reading on industrialization, integration, and urbanization
-in the early 1900s.
-
-One library reports that a family is using AM to help educate their
-children. In another instance, individuals from a local museum came in
-to use AM to prepare an exhibit on toys of the past. These two examples
-emphasize the mission of the public library as a cultural institution,
-reaching out to people who do not have the same resources available to
-those who live in a metropolitan area or have access to a major library.
-One rural library reports that junior high school students in large
-numbers came in one afternoon to use AM for entertainment. A number of
-public libraries reported great interest among postcard collectors in the
-Detroit collection, which was essentially a collection of images used on
-postcards around the turn of the century. Train buffs are similarly
-interested because that was a time of great interest in railroading.
-People, it was found, relate to things that they know of firsthand. For
-example, in both rural public libraries where AM was made available,
-observers reported that the older people with personal remembrances of
-the turn of the century were gravitating to the Detroit collection.
-These examples served to underscore MICHELSON's observation re the
-integration of electronic tools and ideas--that people learn best when
-the material relates to something they know.
-
-VECCIA made the final point that in many cases AM serves as a
-public-relations tool for the public libraries that are testing it. In
-one case, AM is being used as a vehicle to secure additional funding for
-the library. In another case, AM has served as an inspiration to the
-staff of a major local public library in the South to think about ways to
-make its own collection of photographs more accessible to the public.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-FREEMAN * AM and archival electronic resources in a school environment *
-Questions concerning context * Questions concerning the electronic format
-itself * Computer anxiety * Access and availability of the system *
-Hardware * Strengths gained through the use of archival resources in
-schools *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-Reiterating an observation made by VECCIA, that AM is an archival
-resource made up of primary materials with very little interpretation,
-FREEMAN stated that the project has attempted to bridge the gap between
-these bare primary materials and a school environment, and in that cause
-has created guided introductions to AM collections. Loud demand from the
-educational community, chiefly from teachers working with the upper
-grades of elementary school through high school, greeted the announcement
-that AM would be tested around the country.
-
-FREEMAN reported not only on what was learned about AM in a school
-environment, but also on several universal questions that were raised
-concerning archival electronic resources in schools. She discussed
-several strengths of this type of material in a school environment as
-opposed to a highly structured resource that offers a limited number of
-paths to follow.
-
-FREEMAN first raised several questions about using AM in a school
-environment. There is often some difficulty in developing a sense of
-what the system contains. Many students sit down at a computer resource
-and assume that, because AM comes from the Library of Congress, all of
-American history is now at their fingertips. As a result of that sort of
-mistaken judgment, some students are known to conclude that AM contains
-nothing of use to them when they look for one or two things and do not
-find them. It is difficult to discover that middle ground where one has
-a sense of what the system contains. Some students grope toward the idea
-of an archive, a new idea to them, since they have not previously
-experienced what it means to have access to a vast body of somewhat
-random information.
-
-Other questions raised by FREEMAN concerned the electronic format itself.
-For instance, in a school environment it is often difficult both for
-teachers and students to gain a sense of what it is they are viewing.
-They understand that it is a visual image, but they do not necessarily
-know that it is a postcard from the turn of the century, a panoramic
-photograph, or even machine-readable text of an eighteenth-century
-broadside, a twentieth-century printed book, or a nineteenth-century
-diary. That distinction is often difficult for people in a school
-environment to grasp. Because of that, it occasionally becomes difficult
-to draw conclusions from what one is viewing.
-
-FREEMAN also noted the obvious fear of the computer, which constitutes a
-difficulty in using an electronic resource. Though students in general
-did not suffer from this anxiety, several older students feared that they
-were computer-illiterate, an assumption that became self-fulfilling when
-they searched for something but failed to find it. FREEMAN said she
-believed that some teachers also fear computer resources, because they
-believe they lack complete control. FREEMAN related the example of
-teachers shooing away students because it was not their time to use the
-system. This was a case in which the situation had to be extremely
-structured so that the teachers would not feel that they had lost their
-grasp on what the system contained.
-
-A final question raised by FREEMAN concerned access and availability of
-the system. She noted the occasional existence of a gap in communication
-between school librarians and teachers. Often AM sits in a school
-library and the librarian is the person responsible for monitoring the
-system. Teachers do not always take into their world new library
-resources about which the librarian is excited. Indeed, at the sites
-where AM had been used most effectively within a library, the librarian
-was required to go to specific teachers and instruct them in its use. As
-a result, several AM sites will have in-service sessions over a summer,
-in the hope that perhaps, with a more individualized link, teachers will
-be more likely to use the resource.
-
-A related issue in the school context concerned the number of
-workstations available at any one location. Centralization of equipment
-at the district level, with teachers invited to download things and walk
-away with them, proved unsuccessful because the hours these offices were
-open were also school hours.
-
-Another issue was hardware. As VECCIA observed, a range of sites exists,
-some technologically advanced and others essentially acquiring their
-first computer for the primary purpose of using it in conjunction with
-AM's testing. Users at technologically sophisticated sites want even
-more sophisticated hardware, so that they can perform even more
-sophisticated tasks with the materials in AM. But once they acquire a
-newer piece of hardware, they must learn how to use that also; at an
-unsophisticated site it takes an extremely long time simply to become
-accustomed to the computer, not to mention the program offered with the
-computer. All of these small issues raise one large question, namely,
-are systems like AM truly rewarding in a school environment, or do they
-simply act as innovative toys that do little more than spark interest?
-
-FREEMAN contended that the evaluation project has revealed several strengths
-that were gained through the use of archival resources in schools, including:
-
- * Psychic rewards from using AM as a vast, rich database, with
- teachers assigning various projects to students--oral presentations,
- written reports, a documentary, a turn-of-the-century newspaper--
- projects that start with the materials in AM but are completed using
- other resources; AM thus is used as a research tool in conjunction
- with other electronic resources, as well as with books and items in
- the library where the system is set up.
-
- * Students are acquiring computer literacy in a humanities context.
-
- * This sort of system is overcoming the isolation between disciplines
- that often exists in schools. For example, many English teachers are
- requiring their students to write papers on historical topics
- represented in AM. Numerous teachers have reported that their
- students are learning critical thinking skills using the system.
-
- * On a broader level, AM is introducing primary materials, not only
- to students but also to teachers, in an environment where often
- simply none exist--an exciting thing for the students because it
- helps them learn to conduct research, to interpret, and to draw
- their own conclusions. In learning to conduct research and what it
- means, students are motivated to seek knowledge. That relates to
- another positive outcome--a high level of personal involvement of
- students with the materials in this system and greater motivation to
- conduct their own research and draw their own conclusions.
-
- * Perhaps the most ironic strength of these kinds of archival
- electronic resources is that many of the teachers AM interviewed
- were desperate, it is no exaggeration to say, not only for primary
- materials but for unstructured primary materials. These would, they
- thought, foster personally motivated research, exploration, and
- excitement in their students. Indeed, these materials have done
- just that. Ironically, however, this lack of structure produces
- some of the confusion to which the newness of these kinds of
- resources may also contribute. The key to effective use of archival
- products in a school environment is a clear, effective introduction
- to the system and to what it contains.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-DISCUSSION * Nothing known, quantitatively, about the number of
-humanities scholars who must see the original versus those who would
-settle for an edited transcript, or about the ways in which humanities
-scholars are using information technology * Firm conclusions concerning
-the manner and extent of the use of supporting materials in print
-provided by AM to await completion of evaluative study * A listener's
-reflections on additional applications of electronic texts * Role of
-electronic resources in teaching elementary research skills to students *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-During the discussion that followed the presentations by MICHELSON,
-VECCIA, and FREEMAN, additional points emerged.
-
-LESK asked if MICHELSON could give any quantitative estimate of the
-number of humanities scholars who must see or want to see the original,
-or the best possible version of the material, versus those who typically
-would settle for an edited transcript. While unable to provide a figure,
-she offered her impressions as an archivist who has done some reference
-work and has discussed this issue with other archivists who perform
-reference, that those who use archives and those who use primary sources
-for what would be considered very high-level scholarly research, as
-opposed to, say, undergraduate papers, were few in number, especially
-given the public interest in using primary sources to conduct
-genealogical or avocational research and the kind of professional
-research done by people in private industry or the federal government.
-More important in MICHELSON's view was that, quantitatively, nothing is
-known about the ways in which, for example, humanities scholars are using
-information technology. No studies exist to offer guidance in creating
-strategies. The most recent study was conducted in 1985 by the American
-Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), and what it showed was that 50
-percent of humanities scholars at that time were using computers. That
-constitutes the extent of our knowledge.
-
-Concerning AM's strategy for orienting people toward the scope of
-electronic resources, FREEMAN could offer no hard conclusions at this
-point, because she and her colleagues were still waiting to see,
-particularly in the schools, what has been made of their efforts. Within
-the system, however, AM has provided what are called electronic exhibits-
--such as introductions to time periods and materials--and these are
-intended to offer a student user a sense of what a broadside is and what
-it might tell her or him. But FREEMAN conceded that the project staff
-would have to talk with students next year, after teachers have had a
-summer to use the materials, and attempt to discover what the students
-were learning from the materials. In addition, FREEMAN described
-supporting materials in print provided by AM at the request of local
-teachers during a meeting held at LC. These included time lines,
-bibliographies, and other materials that could be reproduced on a
-photocopier in a classroom. Teachers could walk away with and use these,
-and in this way gain a better understanding of the contents. But again,
-reaching firm conclusions concerning the manner and extent of their use
-would have to wait until next year.
-
-As to the changes she saw occurring at the National Archives and Records
-Administration (NARA) as a result of the increasing emphasis on
-technology in scholarly research, MICHELSON stated that NARA at this
-point was absorbing the report by her and Jeff Rothenberg addressing
-strategies for the archival profession in general, although not for the
-National Archives specifically. NARA is just beginning to establish its
-role and what it can do. In terms of changes and initiatives that NARA
-can take, no clear response could be given at this time.
-
-GREENFIELD remarked two trends mentioned in the session. Reflecting on
-DALY's opening comments on how he could have used a Latin collection of
-text in an electronic form, he said that at first he thought most scholars
-would be unwilling to do that. But as he thought of that in terms of the
-original meaning of research--that is, having already mastered these texts,
-researching them for critical and comparative purposes--for the first time,
-the electronic format made a lot of sense. GREENFIELD could envision
-growing numbers of scholars learning the new technologies for that very
-aspect of their scholarship and for convenience's sake.
-
-Listening to VECCIA and FREEMAN, GREENFIELD thought of an additional
-application of electronic texts. He realized that AM could be used as a
-guide to lead someone to original sources. Students cannot be expected
-to have mastered these sources, things they have never known about
-before. Thus, AM is leading them, in theory, to a vast body of
-information and giving them a superficial overview of it, enabling them
-to select parts of it. GREENFIELD asked if any evidence exists that this
-resource will indeed teach the new user, the K-12 students, how to do
-research. Scholars already know how to do research and are applying
-these new tools. But he wondered why students would go beyond picking
-out things that were most exciting to them.
-
-FREEMAN conceded the correctness of GREENFIELD's observation as applied
-to a school environment. The risk is that a student would sit down at a
-system, play with it, find some things of interest, and then walk away.
-But in the relatively controlled situation of a school library, much will
-depend on the instructions a teacher or a librarian gives a student. She
-viewed the situation not as one of fine-tuning research skills but of
-involving students at a personal level in understanding and researching
-things. Given the guidance one can receive at school, it then becomes
-possible to teach elementary research skills to students, which in fact
-one particular librarian said she was teaching her fifth graders.
-FREEMAN concluded that introducing the idea of following one's own path
-of inquiry, which is essentially what research entails, involves more
-than teaching specific skills. To these comments VECCIA added the
-observation that the individual teacher and the use of a creative
-resource, rather than AM itself, seemed to make the key difference.
-Some schools and some teachers are making excellent use of the nature
-of critical thinking and teaching skills, she said.
-
-Concurring with these remarks, DALY closed the session with the thought that
-the more that producers produced for teachers and for scholars to use with
-their students, the more successful their electronic products would prove.
-
- ******
-
-SESSION II. SHOW AND TELL
-
-Jacqueline HESS, director, National Demonstration Laboratory, served as
-moderator of the "show-and-tell" session. She noted that a
-question-and-answer period would follow each presentation.
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-MYLONAS * Overview and content of Perseus * Perseus' primary materials
-exist in a system-independent, archival form * A concession * Textual
-aspects of Perseus * Tools to use with the Greek text * Prepared indices
-and full-text searches in Perseus * English-Greek word search leads to
-close study of words and concepts * Navigating Perseus by tracing down
-indices * Using the iconography to perform research *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-Elli MYLONAS, managing editor, Perseus Project, Harvard University, first
-gave an overview of Perseus, a large, collaborative effort based at
-Harvard University but with contributors and collaborators located at
-numerous universities and colleges in the United States (e.g., Bowdoin,
-Maryland, Pomona, Chicago, Virginia). Funded primarily by the
-Annenberg/CPB Project, with additional funding from Apple, Harvard, and
-the Packard Humanities Institute, among others, Perseus is a multimedia,
-hypertextual database for teaching and research on classical Greek
-civilization, which was released in February 1992 in version 1.0 and
-distributed by Yale University Press.
-
-Consisting entirely of primary materials, Perseus includes ancient Greek
-texts and translations of those texts; catalog entries--that is, museum
-catalog entries, not library catalog entries--on vases, sites, coins,
-sculpture, and archaeological objects; maps; and a dictionary, among
-other sources. The number of objects and the objects for which catalog
-entries exist are accompanied by thousands of color images, which
-constitute a major feature of the database. Perseus contains
-approximately 30 megabytes of text, an amount that will double in
-subsequent versions. In addition to these primary materials, the Perseus
-Project has been building tools for using them, making access and
-navigation easier, the goal being to build part of the electronic
-environment discussed earlier in the morning in which students or
-scholars can work with their sources.
-
-The demonstration of Perseus will show only a fraction of the real work
-that has gone into it, because the project had to face the dilemma of
-what to enter when putting something into machine-readable form: should
-one aim for very high quality or make concessions in order to get the
-material in? Since Perseus decided to opt for very high quality, all of
-its primary materials exist in a system-independent--insofar as it is
-possible to be system-independent--archival form. Deciding what that
-archival form would be and attaining it required much work and thought.
-For example, all the texts are marked up in SGML, which will be made
-compatible with the guidelines of the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) when
-they are issued.
-
-Drawings are postscript files, not meeting international standards, but
-at least designed to go across platforms. Images, or rather the real
-archival forms, consist of the best available slides, which are being
-digitized. Much of the catalog material exists in database form--a form
-that the average user could use, manipulate, and display on a personal
-computer, but only at great cost. Thus, this is where the concession
-comes in: All of this rich, well-marked-up information is stripped of
-much of its content; the images are converted into bit-maps and the text
-into small formatted chunks. All this information can then be imported
-into HyperCard and run on a mid-range Macintosh, which is what Perseus
-users have. This fact has made it possible for Perseus to attain wide
-use fairly rapidly. Without those archival forms the HyperCard version
-being demonstrated could not be made easily, and the project could not
-have the potential to move to other forms and machines and software as
-they appear, none of which information is in Perseus on the CD.
-
-Of the numerous multimedia aspects of Perseus, MYLONAS focused on the
-textual. Part of what makes Perseus such a pleasure to use, MYLONAS
-said, is this effort at seamless integration and the ability to move
-around both visual and textual material. Perseus also made the decision
-not to attempt to interpret its material any more than one interprets by
-selecting. But, MYLONAS emphasized, Perseus is not courseware: No
-syllabus exists. There is no effort to define how one teaches a topic
-using Perseus, although the project may eventually collect papers by
-people who have used it to teach. Rather, Perseus aims to provide
-primary material in a kind of electronic library, an electronic sandbox,
-so to say, in which students and scholars who are working on this
-material can explore by themselves. With that, MYLONAS demonstrated
-Perseus, beginning with the Perseus gateway, the first thing one sees
-upon opening Perseus--an effort in part to solve the contextualizing
-problem--which tells the user what the system contains.
-
-MYLONAS demonstrated only a very small portion, beginning with primary
-texts and running off the CD-ROM. Having selected Aeschylus' Prometheus
-Bound, which was viewable in Greek and English pretty much in the same
-segments together, MYLONAS demonstrated tools to use with the Greek text,
-something not possible with a book: looking up the dictionary entry form
-of an unfamiliar word in Greek after subjecting it to Perseus'
-morphological analysis for all the texts. After finding out about a
-word, a user may then decide to see if it is used anywhere else in Greek.
-Because vast amounts of indexing support all of the primary material, one
-can find out where else all forms of a particular Greek word appear--
-often not a trivial matter because Greek is highly inflected. Further,
-since the story of Prometheus has to do with the origins of sacrifice, a
-user may wish to study and explore sacrifice in Greek literature; by
-typing sacrifice into a small window, a user goes to the English-Greek
-word list--something one cannot do without the computer (Perseus has
-indexed the definitions of its dictionary)--the string sacrifice appears
-in the definitions of these sixty-five words. One may then find out
-where any of those words is used in the work(s) of a particular author.
-The English definitions are not lemmatized.
-
-All of the indices driving this kind of usage were originally devised for
-speed, MYLONAS observed; in other words, all that kind of information--
-all forms of all words, where they exist, the dictionary form they belong
-to--were collected into databases, which will expedite searching. Then
-it was discovered that one can do things searching in these databases
-that could not be done searching in the full texts. Thus, although there
-are full-text searches in Perseus, much of the work is done behind the
-scenes, using prepared indices. Re the indexing that is done behind the
-scenes, MYLONAS pointed out that without the SGML forms of the text, it
-could not be done effectively. Much of this indexing is based on the
-structures that are made explicit by the SGML tagging.
-
-It was found that one of the things many of Perseus' non-Greek-reading
-users do is start from the dictionary and then move into the close study
-of words and concepts via this kind of English-Greek word search, by which
-means they might select a concept. This exercise has been assigned to
-students in core courses at Harvard--to study a concept by looking for the
-English word in the dictionary, finding the Greek words, and then finding
-the words in the Greek but, of course, reading across in the English.
-That tells them a great deal about what a translation means as well.
-
-Should one also wish to see images that have to do with sacrifice, that
-person would go to the object key word search, which allows one to
-perform a similar kind of index retrieval on the database of
-archaeological objects. Without words, pictures are useless; Perseus has
-not reached the point where it can do much with images that are not
-cataloged. Thus, although it is possible in Perseus with text and images
-to navigate by knowing where one wants to end up--for example, a
-red-figure vase from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts--one can perform this
-kind of navigation very easily by tracing down indices. MYLONAS
-illustrated several generic scenes of sacrifice on vases. The features
-demonstrated derived from Perseus 1.0; version 2.0 will implement even
-better means of retrieval.
-
-MYLONAS closed by looking at one of the pictures and noting again that
-one can do a great deal of research using the iconography as well as the
-texts. For instance, students in a core course at Harvard this year were
-highly interested in Greek concepts of foreigners and representations of
-non-Greeks. So they performed a great deal of research, both with texts
-(e.g., Herodotus) and with iconography on vases and coins, on how the
-Greeks portrayed non-Greeks. At the same time, art historians who study
-iconography were also interested, and were able to use this material.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-DISCUSSION * Indexing and searchability of all English words in Perseus *
-Several features of Perseus 1.0 * Several levels of customization
-possible * Perseus used for general education * Perseus' effects on
-education * Contextual information in Perseus * Main challenge and
-emphasis of Perseus *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-Several points emerged in the discussion that followed MYLONAS's presentation.
-
-Although MYLONAS had not demonstrated Perseus' ability to cross-search
-documents, she confirmed that all English words in Perseus are indexed
-and can be searched. So, for example, sacrifice could have been searched
-in all texts, the historical essay, and all the catalogue entries with
-their descriptions--in short, in all of Perseus.
-
-Boolean logic is not in Perseus 1.0 but will be added to the next
-version, although an effort is being made not to restrict Perseus to a
-database in which one just performs searching, Boolean or otherwise. It
-is possible to move laterally through the documents by selecting a word
-one is interested in and selecting an area of information one is
-interested in and trying to look that word up in that area.
-
-Since Perseus was developed in HyperCard, several levels of customization
-are possible. Simple authoring tools exist that allow one to create
-annotated paths through the information, which are useful for note-taking
-and for guided tours for teaching purposes and for expository writing.
-With a little more ingenuity it is possible to begin to add or substitute
-material in Perseus.
-
-Perseus has not been used so much for classics education as for general
-education, where it seemed to have an impact on the students in the core
-course at Harvard (a general required course that students must take in
-certain areas). Students were able to use primary material much more.
-
-The Perseus Project has an evaluation team at the University of Maryland
-that has been documenting Perseus' effects on education. Perseus is very
-popular, and anecdotal evidence indicates that it is having an effect at
-places other than Harvard, for example, test sites at Ball State
-University, Drury College, and numerous small places where opportunities
-to use vast amounts of primary data may not exist. One documented effect
-is that archaeological, anthropological, and philological research is
-being done by the same person instead of by three different people.
-
-The contextual information in Perseus includes an overview essay, a
-fairly linear historical essay on the fifth century B.C. that provides
-links into the primary material (e.g., Herodotus, Thucydides, and
-Plutarch), via small gray underscoring (on the screen) of linked
-passages. These are handmade links into other material.
-
-To different extents, most of the production work was done at Harvard,
-where the people and the equipment are located. Much of the
-collaborative activity involved data collection and structuring, because
-the main challenge and the emphasis of Perseus is the gathering of
-primary material, that is, building a useful environment for studying
-classical Greece, collecting data, and making it useful.
-Systems-building is definitely not the main concern. Thus, much of the
-work has involved writing essays, collecting information, rewriting it,
-and tagging it. That can be done off site. The creative link for the
-overview essay as well as for both systems and data was collaborative,
-and was forged via E-mail and paper mail with professors at Pomona and
-Bowdoin.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-CALALUCA * PLD's principal focus and contribution to scholarship *
-Various questions preparatory to beginning the project * Basis for
-project * Basic rule in converting PLD * Concerning the images in PLD *
-Running PLD under a variety of retrieval softwares * Encoding the
-database a hard-fought issue * Various features demonstrated * Importance
-of user documentation * Limitations of the CD-ROM version *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-Eric CALALUCA, vice president, Chadwyck-Healey, Inc., demonstrated a
-software interpretation of the Patrologia Latina Database (PLD). PLD's
-principal focus from the beginning of the project about three-and-a-half
-years ago was on converting Migne's Latin series, and in the end,
-CALALUCA suggested, conversion of the text will be the major contribution
-to scholarship. CALALUCA stressed that, as possibly the only private
-publishing organization at the Workshop, Chadwyck-Healey had sought no
-federal funds or national foundation support before embarking upon the
-project, but instead had relied upon a great deal of homework and
-marketing to accomplish the task of conversion.
-
-Ever since the possibilities of computer-searching have emerged, scholars
-in the field of late ancient and early medieval studies (philosophers,
-theologians, classicists, and those studying the history of natural law
-and the history of the legal development of Western civilization) have
-been longing for a fully searchable version of Western literature, for
-example, all the texts of Augustine and Bernard of Clairvaux and
-Boethius, not to mention all the secondary and tertiary authors.
-
-Various questions arose, CALALUCA said. Should one convert Migne?
-Should the database be encoded? Is it necessary to do that? How should
-it be delivered? What about CD-ROM? Since this is a transitional
-medium, why even bother to create software to run on a CD-ROM? Since
-everybody knows people will be networking information, why go to the
-trouble--which is far greater with CD-ROM than with the production of
-magnetic data? Finally, how does one make the data available? Can many
-of the hurdles to using electronic information that some publishers have
-imposed upon databases be eliminated?
-
-The PLD project was based on the principle that computer-searching of
-texts is most effective when it is done with a large database. Because
-PLD represented a collection that serves so many disciplines across so
-many periods, it was irresistible.
-
-The basic rule in converting PLD was to do no harm, to avoid the sins of
-intrusion in such a database: no introduction of newer editions, no
-on-the-spot changes, no eradicating of all possible falsehoods from an
-edition. Thus, PLD is not the final act in electronic publishing for
-this discipline, but simply the beginning. The conversion of PLD has
-evoked numerous unanticipated questions: How will information be used?
-What about networking? Can the rights of a database be protected?
-Should one protect the rights of a database? How can it be made
-available?
-
-Those converting PLD also tried to avoid the sins of omission, that is,
-excluding portions of the collections or whole sections. What about the
-images? PLD is full of images, some are extremely pious
-nineteenth-century representations of the Fathers, while others contain
-highly interesting elements. The goal was to cover all the text of Migne
-(including notes, in Greek and in Hebrew, the latter of which, in
-particular, causes problems in creating a search structure), all the
-indices, and even the images, which are being scanned in separately
-searchable files.
-
-Several North American institutions that have placed acquisition requests
-for the PLD database have requested it in magnetic form without software,
-which means they are already running it without software, without
-anything demonstrated at the Workshop.
-
-What cannot practically be done is go back and reconvert and re-encode
-data, a time-consuming and extremely costly enterprise. CALALUCA sees
-PLD as a database that can, and should, be run under a variety of
-retrieval softwares. This will permit the widest possible searches.
-Consequently, the need to produce a CD-ROM of PLD, as well as to develop
-software that could handle some 1.3 gigabyte of heavily encoded text,
-developed out of conversations with collection development and reference
-librarians who wanted software both compassionate enough for the
-pedestrian but also capable of incorporating the most detailed
-lexicographical studies that a user desires to conduct. In the end, the
-encoding and conversion of the data will prove the most enduring
-testament to the value of the project.
-
-The encoding of the database was also a hard-fought issue: Did the
-database need to be encoded? Were there normative structures for encoding
-humanist texts? Should it be SGML? What about the TEI--will it last,
-will it prove useful? CALALUCA expressed some minor doubts as to whether
-a data bank can be fully TEI-conformant. Every effort can be made, but
-in the end to be TEI-conformant means to accept the need to make some
-firm encoding decisions that can, indeed, be disputed. The TEI points
-the publisher in a proper direction but does not presume to make all the
-decisions for him or her. Essentially, the goal of encoding was to
-eliminate, as much as possible, the hindrances to information-networking,
-so that if an institution acquires a database, everybody associated with
-the institution can have access to it.
-
-CALALUCA demonstrated a portion of Volume 160, because it had the most
-anomalies in it. The software was created by Electronic Book
-Technologies of Providence, RI, and is called Dynatext. The software
-works only with SGML-coded data.
-
-Viewing a table of contents on the screen, the audience saw how Dynatext
-treats each element as a book and attempts to simplify movement through a
-volume. Familiarity with the Patrologia in print (i.e., the text, its
-source, and the editions) will make the machine-readable versions highly
-useful. (Software with a Windows application was sought for PLD,
-CALALUCA said, because this was the main trend for scholarly use.)
-
-CALALUCA also demonstrated how a user can perform a variety of searches
-and quickly move to any part of a volume; the look-up screen provides
-some basic, simple word-searching.
-
-CALALUCA argued that one of the major difficulties is not the software.
-Rather, in creating a product that will be used by scholars representing
-a broad spectrum of computer sophistication, user documentation proves
-to be the most important service one can provide.
-
-CALALUCA next illustrated a truncated search under mysterium within ten
-words of virtus and how one would be able to find its contents throughout
-the entire database. He said that the exciting thing about PLD is that
-many of the applications in the retrieval software being written for it
-will exceed the capabilities of the software employed now for the CD-ROM
-version. The CD-ROM faces genuine limitations, in terms of speed and
-comprehensiveness, in the creation of a retrieval software to run it.
-CALALUCA said he hoped that individual scholars will download the data,
-if they wish, to their personal computers, and have ready access to
-important texts on a constant basis, which they will be able to use in
-their research and from which they might even be able to publish.
-
-(CALALUCA explained that the blue numbers represented Migne's column numbers,
-which are the standard scholarly references. Pulling up a note, he stated
-that these texts were heavily edited and the image files would appear simply
-as a note as well, so that one could quickly access an image.)
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-FLEISCHHAUER/ERWAY * Several problems with which AM is still wrestling *
-Various search and retrieval capabilities * Illustration of automatic
-stemming and a truncated search * AM's attempt to find ways to connect
-cataloging to the texts * AM's gravitation towards SGML * Striking a
-balance between quantity and quality * How AM furnishes users recourse to
-images * Conducting a search in a full-text environment * Macintosh and
-IBM prototypes of AM * Multimedia aspects of AM *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-A demonstration of American Memory by its coordinator, Carl FLEISCHHAUER,
-and Ricky ERWAY, associate coordinator, Library of Congress, concluded
-the morning session. Beginning with a collection of broadsides from the
-Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, the only text
-collection in a presentable form at the time of the Workshop, FLEISCHHAUER
-highlighted several of the problems with which AM is still wrestling.
-(In its final form, the disk will contain two collections, not only the
-broadsides but also the full text with illustrations of a set of
-approximately 300 African-American pamphlets from the period 1870 to 1910.)
-
-As FREEMAN had explained earlier, AM has attempted to use a small amount
-of interpretation to introduce collections. In the present case, the
-contractor, a company named Quick Source, in Silver Spring, MD., used
-software called Toolbook and put together a modestly interactive
-introduction to the collection. Like the two preceding speakers,
-FLEISCHHAUER argued that the real asset was the underlying collection.
-
-FLEISCHHAUER proceeded to describe various search and retrieval
-capabilities while ERWAY worked the computer. In this particular package
-the "go to" pull-down allowed the user in effect to jump out of Toolbook,
-where the interactive program was located, and enter the third-party
-software used by AM for this text collection, which is called Personal
-Librarian. This was the Windows version of Personal Librarian, a
-software application put together by a company in Rockville, Md.
-
-Since the broadsides came from the Revolutionary War period, a search was
-conducted using the words British or war, with the default operator reset
-as or. FLEISCHHAUER demonstrated both automatic stemming (which finds
-other forms of the same root) and a truncated search. One of Personal
-Librarian's strongest features, the relevance ranking, was represented by
-a chart that indicated how often words being sought appeared in
-documents, with the one receiving the most "hits" obtaining the highest
-score. The "hit list" that is supplied takes the relevance ranking into
-account, making the first hit, in effect, the one the software has
-selected as the most relevant example.
-
-While in the text of one of the broadside documents, FLEISCHHAUER
-remarked AM's attempt to find ways to connect cataloging to the texts,
-which it does in different ways in different manifestations. In the case
-shown, the cataloging was pasted on: AM took MARC records that were
-written as on-line records right into one of the Library's mainframe
-retrieval programs, pulled them out, and handed them off to the contractor,
-who massaged them somewhat to display them in the manner shown. One of
-AM's questions is, Does the cataloguing normally performed in the mainframe
-work in this context, or had AM ought to think through adjustments?
-
-FLEISCHHAUER made the additional point that, as far as the text goes, AM
-has gravitated towards SGML (he pointed to the boldface in the upper part
-of the screen). Although extremely limited in its ability to translate
-or interpret SGML, Personal Librarian will furnish both bold and italics
-on screen; a fairly easy thing to do, but it is one of the ways in which
-SGML is useful.
-
-Striking a balance between quantity and quality has been a major concern
-of AM, with accuracy being one of the places where project staff have
-felt that less than 100-percent accuracy was not unacceptable.
-FLEISCHHAUER cited the example of the standard of the rekeying industry,
-namely 99.95 percent; as one service bureau informed him, to go from
-99.95 to 100 percent would double the cost.
-
-FLEISCHHAUER next demonstrated how AM furnishes users recourse to images,
-and at the same time recalled LESK's pointed question concerning the
-number of people who would look at those images and the number who would
-work only with the text. If the implication of LESK's question was
-sound, FLEISCHHAUER said, it raised the stakes for text accuracy and
-reduced the value of the strategy for images.
-
-Contending that preservation is always a bugaboo, FLEISCHHAUER
-demonstrated several images derived from a scan of a preservation
-microfilm that AM had made. He awarded a grade of C at best, perhaps a
-C minus or a C plus, for how well it worked out. Indeed, the matter of
-learning if other people had better ideas about scanning in general, and,
-in particular, scanning from microfilm, was one of the factors that drove
-AM to attempt to think through the agenda for the Workshop. Skew, for
-example, was one of the issues that AM in its ignorance had not reckoned
-would prove so difficult.
-
-Further, the handling of images of the sort shown, in a desktop computer
-environment, involved a considerable amount of zooming and scrolling.
-Ultimately, AM staff feel that perhaps the paper copy that is printed out
-might be the most useful one, but they remain uncertain as to how much
-on-screen reading users will do.
-
-Returning to the text, FLEISCHHAUER asked viewers to imagine a person who
-might be conducting a search in a full-text environment. With this
-scenario, he proceeded to illustrate other features of Personal Librarian
-that he considered helpful; for example, it provides the ability to
-notice words as one reads. Clicking the "include" button on the bottom
-of the search window pops the words that have been highlighted into the
-search. Thus, a user can refine the search as he or she reads,
-re-executing the search and continuing to find things in the quest for
-materials. This software not only contains relevance ranking, Boolean
-operators, and truncation, it also permits one to perform word algebra,
-so to say, where one puts two or three words in parentheses and links
-them with one Boolean operator and then a couple of words in another set
-of parentheses and asks for things within so many words of others.
-
-Until they became acquainted recently with some of the work being done in
-classics, the AM staff had not realized that a large number of the
-projects that involve electronic texts were being done by people with a
-profound interest in language and linguistics. Their search strategies
-and thinking are oriented to those fields, as is shown in particular by
-the Perseus example. As amateur historians, the AM staff were thinking
-more of searching for concepts and ideas than for particular words.
-Obviously, FLEISCHHAUER conceded, searching for concepts and ideas and
-searching for words may be two rather closely related things.
-
-While displaying several images, FLEISCHHAUER observed that the Macintosh
-prototype built by AM contains a greater diversity of formats. Echoing a
-previous speaker, he said that it was easier to stitch things together in
-the Macintosh, though it tended to be a little more anemic in search and
-retrieval. AM, therefore, increasingly has been investigating
-sophisticated retrieval engines in the IBM format.
-
-FLEISCHHAUER demonstrated several additional examples of the prototype
-interfaces: One was AM's metaphor for the network future, in which a
-kind of reading-room graphic suggests how one would be able to go around
-to different materials. AM contains a large number of photographs in
-analog video form worked up from a videodisc, which enable users to make
-copies to print or incorporate in digital documents. A frame-grabber is
-built into the system, making it possible to bring an image into a window
-and digitize or print it out.
-
-FLEISCHHAUER next demonstrated sound recording, which included texts.
-Recycled from a previous project, the collection included sixty 78-rpm
-phonograph records of political speeches that were made during and
-immediately after World War I. These constituted approximately three
-hours of audio, as AM has digitized it, which occupy 150 megabytes on a
-CD. Thus, they are considerably compressed. From the catalogue card,
-FLEISCHHAUER proceeded to a transcript of a speech with the audio
-available and with highlighted text following it as it played.
-A photograph has been added and a transcription made.
-
-Considerable value has been added beyond what the Library of Congress
-normally would do in cataloguing a sound recording, which raises several
-questions for AM concerning where to draw lines about how much value it can
-afford to add and at what point, perhaps, this becomes more than AM could
-reasonably do or reasonably wish to do. FLEISCHHAUER also demonstrated
-a motion picture. As FREEMAN had reported earlier, the motion picture
-materials have proved the most popular, not surprisingly. This says more
-about the medium, he thought, than about AM's presentation of it.
-
-Because AM's goal was to bring together things that could be used by
-historians or by people who were curious about history,
-turn-of-the-century footage seemed to represent the most appropriate
-collections from the Library of Congress in motion pictures. These were
-the very first films made by Thomas Edison's company and some others at
-that time. The particular example illustrated was a Biograph film,
-brought in with a frame-grabber into a window. A single videodisc
-contains about fifty titles and pieces of film from that period, all of
-New York City. Taken together, AM believes, they provide an interesting
-documentary resource.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-DISCUSSION * Using the frame-grabber in AM * Volume of material processed
-and to be processed * Purpose of AM within LC * Cataloguing and the
-nature of AM's material * SGML coding and the question of quality versus
-quantity *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-During the question-and-answer period that followed FLEISCHHAUER's
-presentation, several clarifications were made.
-
-AM is bringing in motion pictures from a videodisc. The frame-grabber
-devices create a window on a computer screen, which permits users to
-digitize a single frame of the movie or one of the photographs. It
-produces a crude, rough-and-ready image that high school students can
-incorporate into papers, and that has worked very nicely in this way.
-
-Commenting on FLEISCHHAUER's assertion that AM was looking more at
-searching ideas than words, MYLONAS argued that without words an idea
-does not exist. FLEISCHHAUER conceded that he ought to have articulated
-his point more clearly. MYLONAS stated that they were in fact both
-talking about the same thing. By searching for words and by forcing
-people to focus on the word, the Perseus Project felt that they would get
-them to the idea. The way one reviews results is tailored more to one
-kind of user than another.
-
-Concerning the total volume of material that has been processed in this
-way, AM at this point has in retrievable form seven or eight collections,
-all of them photographic. In the Macintosh environment, for example,
-there probably are 35,000-40,000 photographs. The sound recordings
-number sixty items. The broadsides number about 300 items. There are
-500 political cartoons in the form of drawings. The motion pictures, as
-individual items, number sixty to seventy.
-
-AM also has a manuscript collection, the life history portion of one of
-the federal project series, which will contain 2,900 individual
-documents, all first-person narratives. AM has in process about 350
-African-American pamphlets, or about 12,000 printed pages for the period
-1870-1910. Also in the works are some 4,000 panoramic photographs. AM
-has recycled a fair amount of the work done by LC's Prints and
-Photographs Division during the Library's optical disk pilot project in
-the 1980s. For example, a special division of LC has tooled up and
-thought through all the ramifications of electronic presentation of
-photographs. Indeed, they are wheeling them out in great barrel loads.
-The purpose of AM within the Library, it is hoped, is to catalyze several
-of the other special collection divisions which have no particular
-experience with, in some cases, mixed feelings about, an activity such as
-AM. Moreover, in many cases the divisions may be characterized as not
-only lacking experience in "electronifying" things but also in automated
-cataloguing. MARC cataloguing as practiced in the United States is
-heavily weighted toward the description of monograph and serial
-materials, but is much thinner when one enters the world of manuscripts
-and things that are held in the Library's music collection and other
-units. In response to a comment by LESK, that AM's material is very
-heavily photographic, and is so primarily because individual records have
-been made for each photograph, FLEISCHHAUER observed that an item-level
-catalog record exists, for example, for each photograph in the Detroit
-Publishing collection of 25,000 pictures. In the case of the Federal
-Writers Project, for which nearly 3,000 documents exist, representing
-information from twenty-six different states, AM with the assistance of
-Karen STUART of the Manuscript Division will attempt to find some way not
-only to have a collection-level record but perhaps a MARC record for each
-state, which will then serve as an umbrella for the 100-200 documents
-that come under it. But that drama remains to be enacted. The AM staff
-is conservative and clings to cataloguing, though of course visitors tout
-artificial intelligence and neural networks in a manner that suggests that
-perhaps one need not have cataloguing or that much of it could be put aside.
-
-The matter of SGML coding, FLEISCHHAUER conceded, returned the discussion
-to the earlier treated question of quality versus quantity in the Library
-of Congress. Of course, text conversion can be done with 100-percent
-accuracy, but it means that when one's holdings are as vast as LC's only
-a tiny amount will be exposed, whereas permitting lower levels of
-accuracy can lead to exposing or sharing larger amounts, but with the
-quality correspondingly impaired.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-TWOHIG * A contrary experience concerning electronic options * Volume of
-material in the Washington papers and a suggestion of David Packard *
-Implications of Packard's suggestion * Transcribing the documents for the
-CD-ROM * Accuracy of transcriptions * The CD-ROM edition of the Founding
-Fathers documents *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-Finding encouragement in a comment of MICHELSON's from the morning
-session--that numerous people in the humanities were choosing electronic
-options to do their work--Dorothy TWOHIG, editor, The Papers of George
-Washington, opened her illustrated talk by noting that her experience
-with literary scholars and numerous people in editing was contrary to
-MICHELSON's. TWOHIG emphasized literary scholars' complete ignorance of
-the technological options available to them or their reluctance or, in
-some cases, their downright hostility toward these options.
-
-After providing an overview of the five Founding Fathers projects
-(Jefferson at Princeton, Franklin at Yale, John Adams at the
-Massachusetts Historical Society, and Madison down the hall from her at
-the University of Virginia), TWOHIG observed that the Washington papers,
-like all of the projects, include both sides of the Washington
-correspondence and deal with some 135,000 documents to be published with
-extensive annotation in eighty to eighty-five volumes, a project that
-will not be completed until well into the next century. Thus, it was
-with considerable enthusiasm several years ago that the Washington Papers
-Project (WPP) greeted David Packard's suggestion that the papers of the
-Founding Fathers could be published easily and inexpensively, and to the
-great benefit of American scholarship, via CD-ROM.
-
-In pragmatic terms, funding from the Packard Foundation would expedite
-the transcription of thousands of documents waiting to be put on disk in
-the WPP offices. Further, since the costs of collecting, editing, and
-converting the Founding Fathers documents into letterpress editions were
-running into the millions of dollars, and the considerable staffs
-involved in all of these projects were devoting their careers to
-producing the work, the Packard Foundation's suggestion had a
-revolutionary aspect: Transcriptions of the entire corpus of the
-Founding Fathers papers would be available on CD-ROM to public and
-college libraries, even high schools, at a fraction of the cost--
-$100-$150 for the annual license fee--to produce a limited university
-press run of 1,000 of each volume of the published papers at $45-$150 per
-printed volume. Given the current budget crunch in educational systems
-and the corresponding constraints on librarians in smaller institutions
-who wish to add these volumes to their collections, producing the
-documents on CD-ROM would likely open a greatly expanded audience for the
-papers. TWOHIG stressed, however, that development of the Founding
-Fathers CD-ROM is still in its infancy. Serious software problems remain
-to be resolved before the material can be put into readable form.
-
-Funding from the Packard Foundation resulted in a major push to
-transcribe the 75,000 or so documents of the Washington papers remaining
-to be transcribed onto computer disks. Slides illustrated several of the
-problems encountered, for example, the present inability of CD-ROM to
-indicate the cross-outs (deleted material) in eighteenth century
-documents. TWOHIG next described documents from various periods in the
-eighteenth century that have been transcribed in chronological order and
-delivered to the Packard offices in California, where they are converted
-to the CD-ROM, a process that is expected to consume five years to
-complete (that is, reckoning from David Packard's suggestion made several
-years ago, until about July 1994). TWOHIG found an encouraging
-indication of the project's benefits in the ongoing use made by scholars
-of the search functions of the CD-ROM, particularly in reducing the time
-spent in manually turning the pages of the Washington papers.
-
-TWOHIG next furnished details concerning the accuracy of transcriptions.
-For instance, the insertion of thousands of documents on the CD-ROM
-currently does not permit each document to be verified against the
-original manuscript several times as in the case of documents that appear
-in the published edition. However, the transcriptions receive a cursory
-check for obvious typos, the misspellings of proper names, and other
-errors from the WPP CD-ROM editor. Eventually, all documents that appear
-in the electronic version will be checked by project editors. Although
-this process has met with opposition from some of the editors on the
-grounds that imperfect work may leave their offices, the advantages in
-making this material available as a research tool outweigh fears about the
-misspelling of proper names and other relatively minor editorial matters.
-
-Completion of all five Founding Fathers projects (i.e., retrievability
-and searchability of all of the documents by proper names, alternate
-spellings, or varieties of subjects) will provide one of the richest
-sources of this size for the history of the United States in the latter
-part of the eighteenth century. Further, publication on CD-ROM will
-allow editors to include even minutiae, such as laundry lists, not
-included in the printed volumes.
-
-It seems possible that the extensive annotation provided in the printed
-volumes eventually will be added to the CD-ROM edition, pending
-negotiations with the publishers of the papers. At the moment, the
-Founding Fathers CD-ROM is accessible only on the IBYCUS, a computer
-developed out of the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae project and designed for
-the use of classical scholars. There are perhaps 400 IBYCUS computers in
-the country, most of which are in university classics departments.
-Ultimately, it is anticipated that the CD-ROM edition of the Founding
-Fathers documents will run on any IBM-compatible or Macintosh computer
-with a CD-ROM drive. Numerous changes in the software will also occur
-before the project is completed. (Editor's note: an IBYCUS was
-unavailable to demonstrate the CD-ROM.)
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-DISCUSSION * Several additional features of WPP clarified *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-Discussion following TWOHIG's presentation served to clarify several
-additional features, including (1) that the project's primary
-intellectual product consists in the electronic transcription of the
-material; (2) that the text transmitted to the CD-ROM people is not
-marked up; (3) that cataloging and subject-indexing of the material
-remain to be worked out (though at this point material can be retrieved
-by name); and (4) that because all the searching is done in the hardware,
-the IBYCUS is designed to read a CD-ROM which contains only sequential
-text files. Technically, it then becomes very easy to read the material
-off and put it on another device.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-LEBRON * Overview of the history of the joint project between AAAS and
-OCLC * Several practices the on-line environment shares with traditional
-publishing on hard copy * Several technical and behavioral barriers to
-electronic publishing * How AAAS and OCLC arrived at the subject of
-clinical trials * Advantages of the electronic format and other features
-of OJCCT * An illustrated tour of the journal *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-Maria LEBRON, managing editor, The Online Journal of Current Clinical
-Trials (OJCCT), presented an illustrated overview of the history of the
-joint project between the American Association for the Advancement of
-Science (AAAS) and the Online Computer Library Center, Inc. (OCLC). The
-joint venture between AAAS and OCLC owes its beginning to a
-reorganization launched by the new chief executive officer at OCLC about
-three years ago and combines the strengths of these two disparate
-organizations. In short, OJCCT represents the process of scholarly
-publishing on line.
-
-LEBRON next discussed several practices the on-line environment shares
-with traditional publishing on hard copy--for example, peer review of
-manuscripts--that are highly important in the academic world. LEBRON
-noted in particular the implications of citation counts for tenure
-committees and grants committees. In the traditional hard-copy
-environment, citation counts are readily demonstrable, whereas the
-on-line environment represents an ethereal medium to most academics.
-
-LEBRON remarked several technical and behavioral barriers to electronic
-publishing, for instance, the problems in transmission created by special
-characters or by complex graphics and halftones. In addition, she noted
-economic limitations such as the storage costs of maintaining back issues
-and market or audience education.
-
-Manuscripts cannot be uploaded to OJCCT, LEBRON explained, because it is
-not a bulletin board or E-mail, forms of electronic transmission of
-information that have created an ambience clouding people's understanding
-of what the journal is attempting to do. OJCCT, which publishes
-peer-reviewed medical articles dealing with the subject of clinical
-trials, includes text, tabular material, and graphics, although at this
-time it can transmit only line illustrations.
-
-Next, LEBRON described how AAAS and OCLC arrived at the subject of
-clinical trials: It is 1) a highly statistical discipline that 2) does
-not require halftones but can satisfy the needs of its audience with line
-illustrations and graphic material, and 3) there is a need for the speedy
-dissemination of high-quality research results. Clinical trials are
-research activities that involve the administration of a test treatment
-to some experimental unit in order to test its usefulness before it is
-made available to the general population. LEBRON proceeded to give
-additional information on OJCCT concerning its editor-in-chief, editorial
-board, editorial content, and the types of articles it publishes
-(including peer-reviewed research reports and reviews), as well as
-features shared by other traditional hard-copy journals.
-
-Among the advantages of the electronic format are faster dissemination of
-information, including raw data, and the absence of space constraints
-because pages do not exist. (This latter fact creates an interesting
-situation when it comes to citations.) Nor are there any issues. AAAS's
-capacity to download materials directly from the journal to a
-subscriber's printer, hard drive, or floppy disk helps ensure highly
-accurate transcription. Other features of OJCCT include on-screen alerts
-that allow linkage of subsequently published documents to the original
-documents; on-line searching by subject, author, title, etc.; indexing of
-every single word that appears in an article; viewing access to an
-article by component (abstract, full text, or graphs); numbered
-paragraphs to replace page counts; publication in Science every thirty
-days of indexing of all articles published in the journal;
-typeset-quality screens; and Hypertext links that enable subscribers to
-bring up Medline abstracts directly without leaving the journal.
-
-After detailing the two primary ways to gain access to the journal,
-through the OCLC network and Compuserv if one desires graphics or through
-the Internet if just an ASCII file is desired, LEBRON illustrated the
-speedy editorial process and the coding of the document using SGML tags
-after it has been accepted for publication. She also gave an illustrated
-tour of the journal, its search-and-retrieval capabilities in particular,
-but also including problems associated with scanning in illustrations,
-and the importance of on-screen alerts to the medical profession re
-retractions or corrections, or more frequently, editorials, letters to
-the editors, or follow-up reports. She closed by inviting the audience
-to join AAAS on 1 July, when OJCCT was scheduled to go on-line.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-DISCUSSION * Additional features of OJCCT *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-In the lengthy discussion that followed LEBRON's presentation, these
-points emerged:
-
- * The SGML text can be tailored as users wish.
-
- * All these articles have a fairly simple document definition.
-
- * Document-type definitions (DTDs) were developed and given to OJCCT
- for coding.
-
- * No articles will be removed from the journal. (Because there are
- no back issues, there are no lost issues either. Once a subscriber
- logs onto the journal he or she has access not only to the currently
- published materials, but retrospectively to everything that has been
- published in it. Thus the table of contents grows bigger. The date
- of publication serves to distinguish between currently published
- materials and older materials.)
-
- * The pricing system for the journal resembles that for most medical
- journals: for 1992, $95 for a year, plus telecommunications charges
- (there are no connect time charges); for 1993, $110 for the
- entire year for single users, though the journal can be put on a
- local area network (LAN). However, only one person can access the
- journal at a time. Site licenses may come in the future.
-
- * AAAS is working closely with colleagues at OCLC to display
- mathematical equations on screen.
-
- * Without compromising any steps in the editorial process, the
- technology has reduced the time lag between when a manuscript is
- originally submitted and the time it is accepted; the review process
- does not differ greatly from the standard six-to-eight weeks
- employed by many of the hard-copy journals. The process still
- depends on people.
-
- * As far as a preservation copy is concerned, articles will be
- maintained on the computer permanently and subscribers, as part of
- their subscription, will receive a microfiche-quality archival copy
- of everything published during that year; in addition, reprints can
- be purchased in much the same way as in a hard-copy environment.
- Hard copies are prepared but are not the primary medium for the
- dissemination of the information.
-
- * Because OJCCT is not yet on line, it is difficult to know how many
- people would simply browse through the journal on the screen as
- opposed to downloading the whole thing and printing it out; a mix of
- both types of users likely will result.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-PERSONIUS * Developments in technology over the past decade * The CLASS
-Project * Advantages for technology and for the CLASS Project *
-Developing a network application an underlying assumption of the project
-* Details of the scanning process * Print-on-demand copies of books *
-Future plans include development of a browsing tool *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-Lynne PERSONIUS, assistant director, Cornell Information Technologies for
-Scholarly Information Services, Cornell University, first commented on
-the tremendous impact that developments in technology over the past ten
-years--networking, in particular--have had on the way information is
-handled, and how, in her own case, these developments have counterbalanced
-Cornell's relative geographical isolation. Other significant technologies
-include scanners, which are much more sophisticated than they were ten years
-ago; mass storage and the dramatic savings that result from it in terms of
-both space and money relative to twenty or thirty years ago; new and
-improved printing technologies, which have greatly affected the distribution
-of information; and, of course, digital technologies, whose applicability to
-library preservation remains at issue.
-
-Given that context, PERSONIUS described the College Library Access and
-Storage System (CLASS) Project, a library preservation project,
-primarily, and what has been accomplished. Directly funded by the
-Commission on Preservation and Access and by the Xerox Corporation, which
-has provided a significant amount of hardware, the CLASS Project has been
-working with a development team at Xerox to develop a software
-application tailored to library preservation requirements. Within
-Cornell, participants in the project have been working jointly with both
-library and information technologies. The focus of the project has been
-on reformatting and saving books that are in brittle condition.
-PERSONIUS showed Workshop participants a brittle book, and described how
-such books were the result of developments in papermaking around the
-beginning of the Industrial Revolution. The papermaking process was
-changed so that a significant amount of acid was introduced into the
-actual paper itself, which deteriorates as it sits on library shelves.
-
-One of the advantages for technology and for the CLASS Project is that
-the information in brittle books is mostly out of copyright and thus
-offers an opportunity to work with material that requires library
-preservation, and to create and work on an infrastructure to save the
-material. Acknowledging the familiarity of those working in preservation
-with this information, PERSONIUS noted that several things are being
-done: the primary preservation technology used today is photocopying of
-brittle material. Saving the intellectual content of the material is the
-main goal. With microfilm copy, the intellectual content is preserved on
-the assumption that in the future the image can be reformatted in any
-other way that then exists.
-
-An underlying assumption of the CLASS Project from the beginning was
-that it would develop a network application. Project staff scan books
-at a workstation located in the library, near the brittle material.
-An image-server filing system is located at a distance from that
-workstation, and a printer is located in another building. All of the
-materials digitized and stored on the image-filing system are cataloged
-in the on-line catalogue. In fact, a record for each of these electronic
-books is stored in the RLIN database so that a record exists of what is
-in the digital library throughout standard catalogue procedures. In the
-future, researchers working from their own workstations in their offices,
-or their networks, will have access--wherever they might be--through a
-request server being built into the new digital library. A second
-assumption is that the preferred means of finding the material will be by
-looking through a catalogue. PERSONIUS described the scanning process,
-which uses a prototype scanner being developed by Xerox and which scans a
-very high resolution image at great speed. Another significant feature,
-because this is a preservation application, is the placing of the pages
-that fall apart one for one on the platen. Ordinarily, a scanner could
-be used with some sort of a document feeder, but because of this
-application that is not feasible. Further, because CLASS is a
-preservation application, after the paper replacement is made there, a
-very careful quality control check is performed. An original book is
-compared to the printed copy and verification is made, before proceeding,
-that all of the image, all of the information, has been captured. Then,
-a new library book is produced: The printed images are rebound by a
-commercial binder and a new book is returned to the shelf.
-Significantly, the books returned to the library shelves are beautiful
-and useful replacements on acid-free paper that should last a long time,
-in effect, the equivalent of preservation photocopies. Thus, the project
-has a library of digital books. In essence, CLASS is scanning and
-storing books as 600 dot-per-inch bit-mapped images, compressed using
-Group 4 CCITT (i.e., the French acronym for International Consultative
-Committee for Telegraph and Telephone) compression. They are stored as
-TIFF files on an optical filing system that is composed of a database
-used for searching and locating the books and an optical jukebox that
-stores 64 twelve-inch platters. A very-high-resolution printed copy of
-these books at 600 dots per inch is created, using a Xerox DocuTech
-printer to make the paper replacements on acid-free paper.
-
-PERSONIUS maintained that the CLASS Project presents an opportunity to
-introduce people to books as digital images by using a paper medium.
-Books are returned to the shelves while people are also given the ability
-to print on demand--to make their own copies of books. (PERSONIUS
-distributed copies of an engineering journal published by engineering
-students at Cornell around 1900 as an example of what a print-on-demand
-copy of material might be like. This very cheap copy would be available
-to people to use for their own research purposes and would bridge the gap
-between an electronic work and the paper that readers like to have.)
-PERSONIUS then attempted to illustrate a very early prototype of
-networked access to this digital library. Xerox Corporation has
-developed a prototype of a view station that can send images across the
-network to be viewed.
-
-The particular library brought down for demonstration contained two
-mathematics books. CLASS is developing and will spend the next year
-developing an application that allows people at workstations to browse
-the books. Thus, CLASS is developing a browsing tool, on the assumption
-that users do not want to read an entire book from a workstation, but
-would prefer to be able to look through and decide if they would like to
-have a printed copy of it.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-DISCUSSION * Re retrieval software * "Digital file copyright" * Scanning
-rate during production * Autosegmentation * Criteria employed in
-selecting books for scanning * Compression and decompression of images *
-OCR not precluded *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-During the question-and-answer period that followed her presentation,
-PERSONIUS made these additional points:
-
- * Re retrieval software, Cornell is developing a Unix-based server
- as well as clients for the server that support multiple platforms
- (Macintosh, IBM and Sun workstations), in the hope that people from
- any of those platforms will retrieve books; a further operating
- assumption is that standard interfaces will be used as much as
- possible, where standards can be put in place, because CLASS
- considers this retrieval software a library application and would
- like to be able to look at material not only at Cornell but at other
- institutions.
-
- * The phrase "digital file copyright by Cornell University" was
- added at the advice of Cornell's legal staff with the caveat that it
- probably would not hold up in court. Cornell does not want people
- to copy its books and sell them but would like to keep them
- available for use in a library environment for library purposes.
-
- * In production the scanner can scan about 300 pages per hour,
- capturing 600 dots per inch.
-
- * The Xerox software has filters to scan halftone material and avoid
- the moire patterns that occur when halftone material is scanned.
- Xerox has been working on hardware and software that would enable
- the scanner itself to recognize this situation and deal with it
- appropriately--a kind of autosegmentation that would enable the
- scanner to handle halftone material as well as text on a single page.
-
- * The books subjected to the elaborate process described above were
- selected because CLASS is a preservation project, with the first 500
- books selected coming from Cornell's mathematics collection, because
- they were still being heavily used and because, although they were
- in need of preservation, the mathematics library and the mathematics
- faculty were uncomfortable having them microfilmed. (They wanted a
- printed copy.) Thus, these books became a logical choice for this
- project. Other books were chosen by the project's selection committees
- for experiments with the technology, as well as to meet a demand or need.
-
- * Images will be decompressed before they are sent over the line; at
- this time they are compressed and sent to the image filing system
- and then sent to the printer as compressed images; they are returned
- to the workstation as compressed 600-dpi images and the workstation
- decompresses and scales them for display--an inefficient way to
- access the material though it works quite well for printing and
- other purposes.
-
- * CLASS is also decompressing on Macintosh and IBM, a slow process
- right now. Eventually, compression and decompression will take
- place on an image conversion server. Trade-offs will be made, based
- on future performance testing, concerning where the file is
- compressed and what resolution image is sent.
-
- * OCR has not been precluded; images are being stored that have been
- scanned at a high resolution, which presumably would suit them well
- to an OCR process. Because the material being scanned is about 100
- years old and was printed with less-than-ideal technologies, very
- early and preliminary tests have not produced good results. But the
- project is capturing an image that is of sufficient resolution to be
- subjected to OCR in the future. Moreover, the system architecture
- and the system plan have a logical place to store an OCR image if it
- has been captured. But that is not being done now.
-
- ******
-
-SESSION III. DISTRIBUTION, NETWORKS, AND NETWORKING: OPTIONS FOR
-DISSEMINATION
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-ZICH * Issues pertaining to CD-ROMs * Options for publishing in CD-ROM *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-Robert ZICH, special assistant to the associate librarian for special
-projects, Library of Congress, and moderator of this session, first noted
-the blessed but somewhat awkward circumstance of having four very
-distinguished people representing networks and networking or at least
-leaning in that direction, while lacking anyone to speak from the
-strongest possible background in CD-ROMs. ZICH expressed the hope that
-members of the audience would join the discussion. He stressed the
-subtitle of this particular session, "Options for Dissemination," and,
-concerning CD-ROMs, the importance of determining when it would be wise
-to consider dissemination in CD-ROM versus networks. A shopping list of
-issues pertaining to CD-ROMs included: the grounds for selecting
-commercial publishers, and in-house publication where possible versus
-nonprofit or government publication. A similar list for networks
-included: determining when one should consider dissemination through a
-network, identifying the mechanisms or entities that exist to place items
-on networks, identifying the pool of existing networks, determining how a
-producer would choose between networks, and identifying the elements of
-a business arrangement in a network.
-
-Options for publishing in CD-ROM: an outside publisher versus
-self-publication. If an outside publisher is used, it can be nonprofit,
-such as the Government Printing Office (GPO) or the National Technical
-Information Service (NTIS), in the case of government. The pros and cons
-associated with employing an outside publisher are obvious. Among the
-pros, there is no trouble getting accepted. One pays the bill and, in
-effect, goes one's way. Among the cons, when one pays an outside
-publisher to perform the work, that publisher will perform the work it is
-obliged to do, but perhaps without the production expertise and skill in
-marketing and dissemination that some would seek. There is the body of
-commercial publishers that do possess that kind of expertise in
-distribution and marketing but that obviously are selective. In
-self-publication, one exercises full control, but then one must handle
-matters such as distribution and marketing. Such are some of the options
-for publishing in the case of CD-ROM.
-
-In the case of technical and design issues, which are also important,
-there are many matters which many at the Workshop already knew a good
-deal about: retrieval system requirements and costs, what to do about
-images, the various capabilities and platforms, the trade-offs between
-cost and performance, concerns about local-area networkability,
-interoperability, etc.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-LYNCH * Creating networked information is different from using networks
-as an access or dissemination vehicle * Networked multimedia on a large
-scale does not yet work * Typical CD-ROM publication model a two-edged
-sword * Publishing information on a CD-ROM in the present world of
-immature standards * Contrast between CD-ROM and network pricing *
-Examples demonstrated earlier in the day as a set of insular information
-gems * Paramount need to link databases * Layering to become increasingly
-necessary * Project NEEDS and the issues of information reuse and active
-versus passive use * X-Windows as a way of differentiating between
-network access and networked information * Barriers to the distribution
-of networked multimedia information * Need for good, real-time delivery
-protocols * The question of presentation integrity in client-server
-computing in the academic world * Recommendations for producing multimedia
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-Clifford LYNCH, director, Library Automation, University of California,
-opened his talk with the general observation that networked information
-constituted a difficult and elusive topic because it is something just
-starting to develop and not yet fully understood. LYNCH contended that
-creating genuinely networked information was different from using
-networks as an access or dissemination vehicle and was more sophisticated
-and more subtle. He invited the members of the audience to extrapolate,
-from what they heard about the preceding demonstration projects, to what
-sort of a world of electronics information--scholarly, archival,
-cultural, etc.--they wished to end up with ten or fifteen years from now.
-LYNCH suggested that to extrapolate directly from these projects would
-produce unpleasant results.
-
-Putting the issue of CD-ROM in perspective before getting into
-generalities on networked information, LYNCH observed that those engaged
-in multimedia today who wish to ship a product, so to say, probably do
-not have much choice except to use CD-ROM: networked multimedia on a
-large scale basically does not yet work because the technology does not
-exist. For example, anybody who has tried moving images around over the
-Internet knows that this is an exciting touch-and-go process, a
-fascinating and fertile area for experimentation, research, and
-development, but not something that one can become deeply enthusiastic
-about committing to production systems at this time.
-
-This situation will change, LYNCH said. He differentiated CD-ROM from
-the practices that have been followed up to now in distributing data on
-CD-ROM. For LYNCH the problem with CD-ROM is not its portability or its
-slowness but the two-edged sword of having the retrieval application and
-the user interface inextricably bound up with the data, which is the
-typical CD-ROM publication model. It is not a case of publishing data
-but of distributing a typically stand-alone, typically closed system,
-all--software, user interface, and data--on a little disk. Hence, all
-the between-disk navigational issues as well as the impossibility in most
-cases of integrating data on one disk with that on another. Most CD-ROM
-retrieval software does not network very gracefully at present. However,
-in the present world of immature standards and lack of understanding of
-what network information is or what the ground rules are for creating or
-using it, publishing information on a CD-ROM does add value in a very
-real sense.
-
-LYNCH drew a contrast between CD-ROM and network pricing and in doing so
-highlighted something bizarre in information pricing. A large
-institution such as the University of California has vendors who will
-offer to sell information on CD-ROM for a price per year in four digits,
-but for the same data (e.g., an abstracting and indexing database) on
-magnetic tape, regardless of how many people may use it concurrently,
-will quote a price in six digits.
-
-What is packaged with the CD-ROM in one sense adds value--a complete
-access system, not just raw, unrefined information--although it is not
-generally perceived that way. This is because the access software,
-although it adds value, is viewed by some people, particularly in the
-university environment where there is a very heavy commitment to
-networking, as being developed in the wrong direction.
-
-Given that context, LYNCH described the examples demonstrated as a set of
-insular information gems--Perseus, for example, offers nicely linked
-information, but would be very difficult to integrate with other
-databases, that is, to link together seamlessly with other source files
-from other sources. It resembles an island, and in this respect is
-similar to numerous stand-alone projects that are based on videodiscs,
-that is, on the single-workstation concept.
-
-As scholarship evolves in a network environment, the paramount need will
-be to link databases. We must link personal databases to public
-databases, to group databases, in fairly seamless ways--which is
-extremely difficult in the environments under discussion with copies of
-databases proliferating all over the place.
-
-The notion of layering also struck LYNCH as lurking in several of the
-projects demonstrated. Several databases in a sense constitute
-information archives without a significant amount of navigation built in.
-Educators, critics, and others will want a layered structure--one that
-defines or links paths through the layers to allow users to reach
-specific points. In LYNCH's view, layering will become increasingly
-necessary, and not just within a single resource but across resources
-(e.g., tracing mythology and cultural themes across several classics
-databases as well as a database of Renaissance culture). This ability to
-organize resources, to build things out of multiple other things on the
-network or select pieces of it, represented for LYNCH one of the key
-aspects of network information.
-
-Contending that information reuse constituted another significant issue,
-LYNCH commended to the audience's attention Project NEEDS (i.e., National
-Engineering Education Delivery System). This project's objective is to
-produce a database of engineering courseware as well as the components
-that can be used to develop new courseware. In a number of the existing
-applications, LYNCH said, the issue of reuse (how much one can take apart
-and reuse in other applications) was not being well considered. He also
-raised the issue of active versus passive use, one aspect of which is
-how much information will be manipulated locally by users. Most people,
-he argued, may do a little browsing and then will wish to print. LYNCH
-was uncertain how these resources would be used by the vast majority of
-users in the network environment.
-
-LYNCH next said a few words about X-Windows as a way of differentiating
-between network access and networked information. A number of the
-applications demonstrated at the Workshop could be rewritten to use X
-across the network, so that one could run them from any X-capable device-
--a workstation, an X terminal--and transact with a database across the
-network. Although this opens up access a little, assuming one has enough
-network to handle it, it does not provide an interface to develop a
-program that conveniently integrates information from multiple databases.
-X is a viewing technology that has limits. In a real sense, it is just a
-graphical version of remote log-in across the network. X-type applications
-represent only one step in the progression towards real access.
-
-LYNCH next discussed barriers to the distribution of networked multimedia
-information. The heart of the problem is a lack of standards to provide
-the ability for computers to talk to each other, retrieve information,
-and shuffle it around fairly casually. At the moment, little progress is
-being made on standards for networked information; for example, present
-standards do not cover images, digital voice, and digital video. A
-useful tool kit of exchange formats for basic texts is only now being
-assembled. The synchronization of content streams (i.e., synchronizing a
-voice track to a video track, establishing temporal relations between
-different components in a multimedia object) constitutes another issue
-for networked multimedia that is just beginning to receive attention.
-
-Underlying network protocols also need some work; good, real-time
-delivery protocols on the Internet do not yet exist. In LYNCH's view,
-highly important in this context is the notion of networked digital
-object IDs, the ability of one object on the network to point to another
-object (or component thereof) on the network. Serious bandwidth issues
-also exist. LYNCH was uncertain if billion-bit-per-second networks would
-prove sufficient if numerous people ran video in parallel.
-
-LYNCH concluded by offering an issue for database creators to consider,
-as well as several comments about what might constitute good trial
-multimedia experiments. In a networked information world the database
-builder or service builder (publisher) does not exercise the same
-extensive control over the integrity of the presentation; strange
-programs "munge" with one's data before the user sees it. Serious
-thought must be given to what guarantees integrity of presentation. Part
-of that is related to where one draws the boundaries around a networked
-information service. This question of presentation integrity in
-client-server computing has not been stressed enough in the academic
-world, LYNCH argued, though commercial service providers deal with it
-regularly.
-
-Concerning multimedia, LYNCH observed that good multimedia at the moment
-is hideously expensive to produce. He recommended producing multimedia
-with either very high sale value, or multimedia with a very long life
-span, or multimedia that will have a very broad usage base and whose
-costs therefore can be amortized among large numbers of users. In this
-connection, historical and humanistically oriented material may be a good
-place to start, because it tends to have a longer life span than much of
-the scientific material, as well as a wider user base. LYNCH noted, for
-example, that American Memory fits many of the criteria outlined. He
-remarked the extensive discussion about bringing the Internet or the
-National Research and Education Network (NREN) into the K-12 environment
-as a way of helping the American educational system.
-
-LYNCH closed by noting that the kinds of applications demonstrated struck
-him as excellent justifications of broad-scale networking for K-12, but
-that at this time no "killer" application exists to mobilize the K-12
-community to obtain connectivity.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-DISCUSSION * Dearth of genuinely interesting applications on the network
-a slow-changing situation * The issue of the integrity of presentation in
-a networked environment * Several reasons why CD-ROM software does not
-network *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-During the discussion period that followed LYNCH's presentation, several
-additional points were made.
-
-LYNCH reiterated even more strongly his contention that, historically,
-once one goes outside high-end science and the group of those who need
-access to supercomputers, there is a great dearth of genuinely
-interesting applications on the network. He saw this situation changing
-slowly, with some of the scientific databases and scholarly discussion
-groups and electronic journals coming on as well as with the availability
-of Wide Area Information Servers (WAIS) and some of the databases that
-are being mounted there. However, many of those things do not seem to
-have piqued great popular interest. For instance, most high school
-students of LYNCH's acquaintance would not qualify as devotees of serious
-molecular biology.
-
-Concerning the issue of the integrity of presentation, LYNCH believed
-that a couple of information providers have laid down the law at least on
-certain things. For example, his recollection was that the National
-Library of Medicine feels strongly that one needs to employ the
-identifier field if he or she is to mount a database commercially. The
-problem with a real networked environment is that one does not know who
-is reformatting and reprocessing one's data when one enters a client
-server mode. It becomes anybody's guess, for example, if the network
-uses a Z39.50 server, or what clients are doing with one's data. A data
-provider can say that his contract will only permit clients to have
-access to his data after he vets them and their presentation and makes
-certain it suits him. But LYNCH held out little expectation that the
-network marketplace would evolve in that way, because it required too
-much prior negotiation.
-
-CD-ROM software does not network for a variety of reasons, LYNCH said.
-He speculated that CD-ROM publishers are not eager to have their products
-really hook into wide area networks, because they fear it will make their
-data suppliers nervous. Moreover, until relatively recently, one had to
-be rather adroit to run a full TCP/IP stack plus applications on a
-PC-size machine, whereas nowadays it is becoming easier as PCs grow
-bigger and faster. LYNCH also speculated that software providers had not
-heard from their customers until the last year or so, or had not heard
-from enough of their customers.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-BESSER * Implications of disseminating images on the network; planning
-the distribution of multimedia documents poses two critical
-implementation problems * Layered approach represents the way to deal
-with users' capabilities * Problems in platform design; file size and its
-implications for networking * Transmission of megabyte size images
-impractical * Compression and decompression at the user's end * Promising
-trends for compression * A disadvantage of using X-Windows * A project at
-the Smithsonian that mounts images on several networks *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-Howard BESSER, School of Library and Information Science, University of
-Pittsburgh, spoke primarily about multimedia, focusing on images and the
-broad implications of disseminating them on the network. He argued that
-planning the distribution of multimedia documents posed two critical
-implementation problems, which he framed in the form of two questions:
-1) What platform will one use and what hardware and software will users
-have for viewing of the material? and 2) How can one deliver a
-sufficiently robust set of information in an accessible format in a
-reasonable amount of time? Depending on whether network or CD-ROM is the
-medium used, this question raises different issues of storage,
-compression, and transmission.
-
-Concerning the design of platforms (e.g., sound, gray scale, simple
-color, etc.) and the various capabilities users may have, BESSER
-maintained that a layered approach was the way to deal with users'
-capabilities. A result would be that users with less powerful
-workstations would simply have less functionality. He urged members of
-the audience to advocate standards and accompanying software that handle
-layered functionality across a wide variety of platforms.
-
-BESSER also addressed problems in platform design, namely, deciding how
-large a machine to design for situations when the largest number of users
-have the lowest level of the machine, and one desires higher
-functionality. BESSER then proceeded to the question of file size and
-its implications for networking. He discussed still images in the main.
-For example, a digital color image that fills the screen of a standard
-mega-pel workstation (Sun or Next) will require one megabyte of storage
-for an eight-bit image or three megabytes of storage for a true color or
-twenty-four-bit image. Lossless compression algorithms (that is,
-computational procedures in which no data is lost in the process of
-compressing [and decompressing] an image--the exact bit-representation is
-maintained) might bring storage down to a third of a megabyte per image,
-but not much further than that. The question of size makes it difficult
-to fit an appropriately sized set of these images on a single disk or to
-transmit them quickly enough on a network.
-
-With these full screen mega-pel images that constitute a third of a
-megabyte, one gets 1,000-3,000 full-screen images on a one-gigabyte disk;
-a standard CD-ROM represents approximately 60 percent of that. Storing
-images the size of a PC screen (just 8 bit color) increases storage
-capacity to 4,000-12,000 images per gigabyte; 60 percent of that gives
-one the size of a CD-ROM, which in turn creates a major problem. One
-cannot have full-screen, full-color images with lossless compression; one
-must compress them or use a lower resolution. For megabyte-size images,
-anything slower than a T-1 speed is impractical. For example, on a
-fifty-six-kilobaud line, it takes three minutes to transfer a
-one-megabyte file, if it is not compressed; and this speed assumes ideal
-circumstances (no other user contending for network bandwidth). Thus,
-questions of disk access, remote display, and current telephone
-connection speed make transmission of megabyte-size images impractical.
-
-BESSER then discussed ways to deal with these large images, for example,
-compression and decompression at the user's end. In this connection, the
-issues of how much one is willing to lose in the compression process and
-what image quality one needs in the first place are unknown. But what is
-known is that compression entails some loss of data. BESSER urged that
-more studies be conducted on image quality in different situations, for
-example, what kind of images are needed for what kind of disciplines, and
-what kind of image quality is needed for a browsing tool, an intermediate
-viewing tool, and archiving.
-
-BESSER remarked two promising trends for compression: from a technical
-perspective, algorithms that use what is called subjective redundancy
-employ principles from visual psycho-physics to identify and remove
-information from the image that the human eye cannot perceive; from an
-interchange and interoperability perspective, the JPEG (i.e., Joint
-Photographic Experts Group, an ISO standard) compression algorithms also
-offer promise. These issues of compression and decompression, BESSER
-argued, resembled those raised earlier concerning the design of different
-platforms. Gauging the capabilities of potential users constitutes a
-primary goal. BESSER advocated layering or separating the images from
-the applications that retrieve and display them, to avoid tying them to
-particular software.
-
-BESSER detailed several lessons learned from his work at Berkeley with
-Imagequery, especially the advantages and disadvantages of using
-X-Windows. In the latter category, for example, retrieval is tied
-directly to one's data, an intolerable situation in the long run on a
-networked system. Finally, BESSER described a project of Jim Wallace at
-the Smithsonian Institution, who is mounting images in a extremely
-rudimentary way on the Compuserv and Genie networks and is preparing to
-mount them on America On Line. Although the average user takes over
-thirty minutes to download these images (assuming a fairly fast modem),
-nevertheless, images have been downloaded 25,000 times.
-
-BESSER concluded his talk with several comments on the business
-arrangement between the Smithsonian and Compuserv. He contended that not
-enough is known concerning the value of images.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-DISCUSSION * Creating digitized photographic collections nearly
-impossible except with large organizations like museums * Need for study
-to determine quality of images users will tolerate *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-During the brief exchange between LESK and BESSER that followed, several
-clarifications emerged.
-
-LESK argued that the photographers were far ahead of BESSER: It is
-almost impossible to create such digitized photographic collections
-except with large organizations like museums, because all the
-photographic agencies have been going crazy about this and will not sign
-licensing agreements on any sort of reasonable terms. LESK had heard
-that National Geographic, for example, had tried to buy the right to use
-some image in some kind of educational production for $100 per image, but
-the photographers will not touch it. They want accounting and payment
-for each use, which cannot be accomplished within the system. BESSER
-responded that a consortium of photographers, headed by a former National
-Geographic photographer, had started assembling its own collection of
-electronic reproductions of images, with the money going back to the
-cooperative.
-
-LESK contended that BESSER was unnecessarily pessimistic about multimedia
-images, because people are accustomed to low-quality images, particularly
-from video. BESSER urged the launching of a study to determine what
-users would tolerate, what they would feel comfortable with, and what
-absolutely is the highest quality they would ever need. Conceding that
-he had adopted a dire tone in order to arouse people about the issue,
-BESSER closed on a sanguine note by saying that he would not be in this
-business if he did not think that things could be accomplished.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-LARSEN * Issues of scalability and modularity * Geometric growth of the
-Internet and the role played by layering * Basic functions sustaining
-this growth * A library's roles and functions in a network environment *
-Effects of implementation of the Z39.50 protocol for information
-retrieval on the library system * The trade-off between volumes of data
-and its potential usage * A snapshot of current trends *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-Ronald LARSEN, associate director for information technology, University
-of Maryland at College Park, first addressed the issues of scalability
-and modularity. He noted the difficulty of anticipating the effects of
-orders-of-magnitude growth, reflecting on the twenty years of experience
-with the Arpanet and Internet. Recalling the day's demonstrations of
-CD-ROM and optical disk material, he went on to ask if the field has yet
-learned how to scale new systems to enable delivery and dissemination
-across large-scale networks.
-
-LARSEN focused on the geometric growth of the Internet from its inception
-circa 1969 to the present, and the adjustments required to respond to
-that rapid growth. To illustrate the issue of scalability, LARSEN
-considered computer networks as including three generic components:
-computers, network communication nodes, and communication media. Each
-component scales (e.g., computers range from PCs to supercomputers;
-network nodes scale from interface cards in a PC through sophisticated
-routers and gateways; and communication media range from 2,400-baud
-dial-up facilities through 4.5-Mbps backbone links, and eventually to
-multigigabit-per-second communication lines), and architecturally, the
-components are organized to scale hierarchically from local area networks
-to international-scale networks. Such growth is made possible by
-building layers of communication protocols, as BESSER pointed out.
-By layering both physically and logically, a sense of scalability is
-maintained from local area networks in offices, across campuses, through
-bridges, routers, campus backbones, fiber-optic links, etc., up into
-regional networks and ultimately into national and international
-networks.
-
-LARSEN then illustrated the geometric growth over a two-year period--
-through September 1991--of the number of networks that comprise the
-Internet. This growth has been sustained largely by the availability of
-three basic functions: electronic mail, file transfer (ftp), and remote
-log-on (telnet). LARSEN also reviewed the growth in the kind of traffic
-that occurs on the network. Network traffic reflects the joint contributions
-of a larger population of users and increasing use per user. Today one sees
-serious applications involving moving images across the network--a rarity
-ten years ago. LARSEN recalled and concurred with BESSER's main point
-that the interesting problems occur at the application level.
-
-LARSEN then illustrated a model of a library's roles and functions in a
-network environment. He noted, in particular, the placement of on-line
-catalogues onto the network and patrons obtaining access to the library
-increasingly through local networks, campus networks, and the Internet.
-LARSEN supported LYNCH's earlier suggestion that we need to address
-fundamental questions of networked information in order to build
-environments that scale in the information sense as well as in the
-physical sense.
-
-LARSEN supported the role of the library system as the access point into
-the nation's electronic collections. Implementation of the Z39.50
-protocol for information retrieval would make such access practical and
-feasible. For example, this would enable patrons in Maryland to search
-California libraries, or other libraries around the world that are
-conformant with Z39.50 in a manner that is familiar to University of
-Maryland patrons. This client-server model also supports moving beyond
-secondary content into primary content. (The notion of how one links
-from secondary content to primary content, LARSEN said, represents a
-fundamental problem that requires rigorous thought.) After noting
-numerous network experiments in accessing full-text materials, including
-projects supporting the ordering of materials across the network, LARSEN
-revisited the issue of transmitting high-density, high-resolution color
-images across the network and the large amounts of bandwidth they
-require. He went on to address the bandwidth and synchronization
-problems inherent in sending full-motion video across the network.
-
-LARSEN illustrated the trade-off between volumes of data in bytes or
-orders of magnitude and the potential usage of that data. He discussed
-transmission rates (particularly, the time it takes to move various forms
-of information), and what one could do with a network supporting
-multigigabit-per-second transmission. At the moment, the network
-environment includes a composite of data-transmission requirements,
-volumes and forms, going from steady to bursty (high-volume) and from
-very slow to very fast. This aggregate must be considered in the design,
-construction, and operation of multigigabyte networks.
-
-LARSEN's objective is to use the networks and library systems now being
-constructed to increase access to resources wherever they exist, and
-thus, to evolve toward an on-line electronic virtual library.
-
-LARSEN concluded by offering a snapshot of current trends: continuing
-geometric growth in network capacity and number of users; slower
-development of applications; and glacial development and adoption of
-standards. The challenge is to design and develop each new application
-system with network access and scalability in mind.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-BROWNRIGG * Access to the Internet cannot be taken for granted * Packet
-radio and the development of MELVYL in 1980-81 in the Division of Library
-Automation at the University of California * Design criteria for packet
-radio * A demonstration project in San Diego and future plans * Spread
-spectrum * Frequencies at which the radios will run and plans to
-reimplement the WAIS server software in the public domain * Need for an
-infrastructure of radios that do not move around *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-Edwin BROWNRIGG, executive director, Memex Research Institute, first
-polled the audience in order to seek out regular users of the Internet as
-well as those planning to use it some time in the future. With nearly
-everybody in the room falling into one category or the other, BROWNRIGG
-made a point re access, namely that numerous individuals, especially those
-who use the Internet every day, take for granted their access to it, the
-speeds with which they are connected, and how well it all works.
-However, as BROWNRIGG discovered between 1987 and 1989 in Australia,
-if one wants access to the Internet but cannot afford it or has some
-physical boundary that prevents her or him from gaining access, it can
-be extremely frustrating. He suggested that because of economics and
-physical barriers we were beginning to create a world of haves and have-nots
-in the process of scholarly communication, even in the United States.
-
-BROWNRIGG detailed the development of MELVYL in academic year 1980-81 in
-the Division of Library Automation at the University of California, in
-order to underscore the issue of access to the system, which at the
-outset was extremely limited. In short, the project needed to build a
-network, which at that time entailed use of satellite technology, that is,
-putting earth stations on campus and also acquiring some terrestrial links
-from the State of California's microwave system. The installation of
-satellite links, however, did not solve the problem (which actually
-formed part of a larger problem involving politics and financial resources).
-For while the project team could get a signal onto a campus, it had no means
-of distributing the signal throughout the campus. The solution involved
-adopting a recent development in wireless communication called packet radio,
-which combined the basic notion of packet-switching with radio. The project
-used this technology to get the signal from a point on campus where it
-came down, an earth station for example, into the libraries, because it
-found that wiring the libraries, especially the older marble buildings,
-would cost $2,000-$5,000 per terminal.
-
-BROWNRIGG noted that, ten years ago, the project had neither the public
-policy nor the technology that would have allowed it to use packet radio
-in any meaningful way. Since then much had changed. He proceeded to
-detail research and development of the technology, how it is being
-deployed in California, and what direction he thought it would take.
-The design criteria are to produce a high-speed, one-time, low-cost,
-high-quality, secure, license-free device (packet radio) that one can
-plug in and play today, forget about it, and have access to the Internet.
-By high speed, BROWNRIGG meant 1 megabyte and 1.5 megabytes. Those units
-have been built, he continued, and are in the process of being
-type-certified by an independent underwriting laboratory so that they can
-be type-licensed by the Federal Communications Commission. As is the
-case with citizens band, one will be able to purchase a unit and not have
-to worry about applying for a license.
-
-The basic idea, BROWNRIGG elaborated, is to take high-speed radio data
-transmission and create a backbone network that at certain strategic
-points in the network will "gateway" into a medium-speed packet radio
-(i.e., one that runs at 38.4 kilobytes), so that perhaps by 1994-1995
-people, like those in the audience for the price of a VCR could purchase
-a medium-speed radio for the office or home, have full network connectivity
-to the Internet, and partake of all its services, with no need for an FCC
-license and no regular bill from the local common carrier. BROWNRIGG
-presented several details of a demonstration project currently taking
-place in San Diego and described plans, pending funding, to install a
-full-bore network in the San Francisco area. This network will have 600
-nodes running at backbone speeds, and 100 of these nodes will be libraries,
-which in turn will be the gateway ports to the 38.4 kilobyte radios that
-will give coverage for the neighborhoods surrounding the libraries.
-
-BROWNRIGG next explained Part 15.247, a new rule within Title 47 of the
-Code of Federal Regulations enacted by the FCC in 1985. This rule
-challenged the industry, which has only now risen to the occasion, to
-build a radio that would run at no more than one watt of output power and
-use a fairly exotic method of modulating the radio wave called spread
-spectrum. Spread spectrum in fact permits the building of networks so
-that numerous data communications can occur simultaneously, without
-interfering with each other, within the same wide radio channel.
-
-BROWNRIGG explained that the frequencies at which the radios would run
-are very short wave signals. They are well above standard microwave and
-radar. With a radio wave that small, one watt becomes a tremendous punch
-per bit and thus makes transmission at reasonable speed possible. In
-order to minimize the potential for congestion, the project is
-undertaking to reimplement software which has been available in the
-networking business and is taken for granted now, for example, TCP/IP,
-routing algorithms, bridges, and gateways. In addition, the project
-plans to take the WAIS server software in the public domain and
-reimplement it so that one can have a WAIS server on a Mac instead of a
-Unix machine. The Memex Research Institute believes that libraries, in
-particular, will want to use the WAIS servers with packet radio. This
-project, which has a team of about twelve people, will run through 1993
-and will include the 100 libraries already mentioned as well as other
-professionals such as those in the medical profession, engineering, and
-law. Thus, the need is to create an infrastructure of radios that do not
-move around, which, BROWNRIGG hopes, will solve a problem not only for
-libraries but for individuals who, by and large today, do not have access
-to the Internet from their homes and offices.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-DISCUSSION * Project operating frequencies *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-During a brief discussion period, which also concluded the day's
-proceedings, BROWNRIGG stated that the project was operating in four
-frequencies. The slow speed is operating at 435 megahertz, and it would
-later go up to 920 megahertz. With the high-speed frequency, the
-one-megabyte radios will run at 2.4 gigabits, and 1.5 will run at 5.7.
-At 5.7, rain can be a factor, but it would have to be tropical rain,
-unlike what falls in most parts of the United States.
-
- ******
-
-SESSION IV. IMAGE CAPTURE, TEXT CAPTURE, OVERVIEW OF TEXT AND
- IMAGE STORAGE FORMATS
-
-William HOOTON, vice president of operations, I-NET, moderated this session.
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-KENNEY * Factors influencing development of CXP * Advantages of using
-digital technology versus photocopy and microfilm * A primary goal of
-CXP; publishing challenges * Characteristics of copies printed * Quality
-of samples achieved in image capture * Several factors to be considered
-in choosing scanning * Emphasis of CXP on timely and cost-effective
-production of black-and-white printed facsimiles * Results of producing
-microfilm from digital files * Advantages of creating microfilm * Details
-concerning production * Costs * Role of digital technology in library
-preservation *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-Anne KENNEY, associate director, Department of Preservation and
-Conservation, Cornell University, opened her talk by observing that the
-Cornell Xerox Project (CXP) has been guided by the assumption that the
-ability to produce printed facsimiles or to replace paper with paper
-would be important, at least for the present generation of users and
-equipment. She described three factors that influenced development of
-the project: 1) Because the project has emphasized the preservation of
-deteriorating brittle books, the quality of what was produced had to be
-sufficiently high to return a paper replacement to the shelf. CXP was
-only interested in using: 2) a system that was cost-effective, which
-meant that it had to be cost-competitive with the processes currently
-available, principally photocopy and microfilm, and 3) new or currently
-available product hardware and software.
-
-KENNEY described the advantages that using digital technology offers over
-both photocopy and microfilm: 1) The potential exists to create a higher
-quality reproduction of a deteriorating original than conventional
-light-lens technology. 2) Because a digital image is an encoded
-representation, it can be reproduced again and again with no resulting
-loss of quality, as opposed to the situation with light-lens processes,
-in which there is discernible difference between a second and a
-subsequent generation of an image. 3) A digital image can be manipulated
-in a number of ways to improve image capture; for example, Xerox has
-developed a windowing application that enables one to capture a page
-containing both text and illustrations in a manner that optimizes the
-reproduction of both. (With light-lens technology, one must choose which
-to optimize, text or the illustration; in preservation microfilming, the
-current practice is to shoot an illustrated page twice, once to highlight
-the text and the second time to provide the best capture for the
-illustration.) 4) A digital image can also be edited, density levels
-adjusted to remove underlining and stains, and to increase legibility for
-faint documents. 5) On-screen inspection can take place at the time of
-initial setup and adjustments made prior to scanning, factors that
-substantially reduce the number of retakes required in quality control.
-
-A primary goal of CXP has been to evaluate the paper output printed on
-the Xerox DocuTech, a high-speed printer that produces 600-dpi pages from
-scanned images at a rate of 135 pages a minute. KENNEY recounted several
-publishing challenges to represent faithful and legible reproductions of
-the originals that the 600-dpi copy for the most part successfully
-captured. For example, many of the deteriorating volumes in the project
-were heavily illustrated with fine line drawings or halftones or came in
-languages such as Japanese, in which the buildup of characters comprised
-of varying strokes is difficult to reproduce at lower resolutions; a
-surprising number of them came with annotations and mathematical
-formulas, which it was critical to be able to duplicate exactly.
-
-KENNEY noted that 1) the copies are being printed on paper that meets the
-ANSI standards for performance, 2) the DocuTech printer meets the machine
-and toner requirements for proper adhesion of print to page, as described
-by the National Archives, and thus 3) paper product is considered to be
-the archival equivalent of preservation photocopy.
-
-KENNEY then discussed several samples of the quality achieved in the
-project that had been distributed in a handout, for example, a copy of a
-print-on-demand version of the 1911 Reed lecture on the steam turbine,
-which contains halftones, line drawings, and illustrations embedded in
-text; the first four loose pages in the volume compared the capture
-capabilities of scanning to photocopy for a standard test target, the
-IEEE standard 167A 1987 test chart. In all instances scanning proved
-superior to photocopy, though only slightly more so in one.
-
-Conceding the simplistic nature of her review of the quality of scanning
-to photocopy, KENNEY described it as one representation of the kinds of
-settings that could be used with scanning capabilities on the equipment
-CXP uses. KENNEY also pointed out that CXP investigated the quality
-achieved with binary scanning only, and noted the great promise in gray
-scale and color scanning, whose advantages and disadvantages need to be
-examined. She argued further that scanning resolutions and file formats
-can represent a complex trade-off between the time it takes to capture
-material, file size, fidelity to the original, and on-screen display; and
-printing and equipment availability. All these factors must be taken
-into consideration.
-
-CXP placed primary emphasis on the production in a timely and
-cost-effective manner of printed facsimiles that consisted largely of
-black-and-white text. With binary scanning, large files may be
-compressed efficiently and in a lossless manner (i.e., no data is lost in
-the process of compressing [and decompressing] an image--the exact
-bit-representation is maintained) using Group 4 CCITT (i.e., the French
-acronym for International Consultative Committee for Telegraph and
-Telephone) compression. CXP was getting compression ratios of about
-forty to one. Gray-scale compression, which primarily uses JPEG, is much
-less economical and can represent a lossy compression (i.e., not
-lossless), so that as one compresses and decompresses, the illustration
-is subtly changed. While binary files produce a high-quality printed
-version, it appears 1) that other combinations of spatial resolution with
-gray and/or color hold great promise as well, and 2) that gray scale can
-represent a tremendous advantage for on-screen viewing. The quality
-associated with binary and gray scale also depends on the equipment used.
-For instance, binary scanning produces a much better copy on a binary
-printer.
-
-Among CXP's findings concerning the production of microfilm from digital
-files, KENNEY reported that the digital files for the same Reed lecture
-were used to produce sample film using an electron beam recorder. The
-resulting film was faithful to the image capture of the digital files,
-and while CXP felt that the text and image pages represented in the Reed
-lecture were superior to that of the light-lens film, the resolution
-readings for the 600 dpi were not as high as standard microfilming.
-KENNEY argued that the standards defined for light-lens technology are
-not totally transferable to a digital environment. Moreover, they are
-based on definition of quality for a preservation copy. Although making
-this case will prove to be a long, uphill struggle, CXP plans to continue
-to investigate the issue over the course of the next year.
-
-KENNEY concluded this portion of her talk with a discussion of the
-advantages of creating film: it can serve as a primary backup and as a
-preservation master to the digital file; it could then become the print
-or production master and service copies could be paper, film, optical
-disks, magnetic media, or on-screen display.
-
-Finally, KENNEY presented details re production:
-
- * Development and testing of a moderately-high resolution production
- scanning workstation represented a third goal of CXP; to date, 1,000
- volumes have been scanned, or about 300,000 images.
-
- * The resulting digital files are stored and used to produce
- hard-copy replacements for the originals and additional prints on
- demand; although the initial costs are high, scanning technology
- offers an affordable means for reformatting brittle material.
-
- * A technician in production mode can scan 300 pages per hour when
- performing single-sheet scanning, which is a necessity when working
- with truly brittle paper; this figure is expected to increase
- significantly with subsequent iterations of the software from Xerox;
- a three-month time-and-cost study of scanning found that the average
- 300-page book would take about an hour and forty minutes to scan
- (this figure included the time for setup, which involves keying in
- primary bibliographic data, going into quality control mode to
- define page size, establishing front-to-back registration, and
- scanning sample pages to identify a default range of settings for
- the entire book--functions not dissimilar to those performed by
- filmers or those preparing a book for photocopy).
-
- * The final step in the scanning process involved rescans, which
- happily were few and far between, representing well under 1 percent
- of the total pages scanned.
-
-In addition to technician time, CXP costed out equipment, amortized over
-four years, the cost of storing and refreshing the digital files every
-four years, and the cost of printing and binding, book-cloth binding, a
-paper reproduction. The total amounted to a little under $65 per single
-300-page volume, with 30 percent overhead included--a figure competitive
-with the prices currently charged by photocopy vendors.
-
-Of course, with scanning, in addition to the paper facsimile, one is left
-with a digital file from which subsequent copies of the book can be
-produced for a fraction of the cost of photocopy, with readers afforded
-choices in the form of these copies.
-
-KENNEY concluded that digital technology offers an electronic means for a
-library preservation effort to pay for itself. If a brittle-book program
-included the means of disseminating reprints of books that are in demand
-by libraries and researchers alike, the initial investment in capture
-could be recovered and used to preserve additional but less popular
-books. She disclosed that an economic model for a self-sustaining
-program could be developed for CXP's report to the Commission on
-Preservation and Access (CPA).
-
-KENNEY stressed that the focus of CXP has been on obtaining high quality
-in a production environment. The use of digital technology is viewed as
-an affordable alternative to other reformatting options.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-ANDRE * Overview and history of NATDP * Various agricultural CD-ROM
-products created inhouse and by service bureaus * Pilot project on
-Internet transmission * Additional products in progress *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-Pamela ANDRE, associate director for automation, National Agricultural
-Text Digitizing Program (NATDP), National Agricultural Library (NAL),
-presented an overview of NATDP, which has been underway at NAL the last
-four years, before Judith ZIDAR discussed the technical details. ANDRE
-defined agricultural information as a broad range of material going from
-basic and applied research in the hard sciences to the one-page pamphlets
-that are distributed by the cooperative state extension services on such
-things as how to grow blueberries.
-
-NATDP began in late 1986 with a meeting of representatives from the
-land-grant library community to deal with the issue of electronic
-information. NAL and forty-five of these libraries banded together to
-establish this project--to evaluate the technology for converting what
-were then source documents in paper form into electronic form, to provide
-access to that digital information, and then to distribute it.
-Distributing that material to the community--the university community as
-well as the extension service community, potentially down to the county
-level--constituted the group's chief concern.
-
-Since January 1988 (when the microcomputer-based scanning system was
-installed at NAL), NATDP has done a variety of things, concerning which
-ZIDAR would provide further details. For example, the first technology
-considered in the project's discussion phase was digital videodisc, which
-indicates how long ago it was conceived.
-
-Over the four years of this project, four separate CD-ROM products on
-four different agricultural topics were created, two at a
-scanning-and-OCR station installed at NAL, and two by service bureaus.
-Thus, NATDP has gained comparative information in terms of those relative
-costs. Each of these products contained the full ASCII text as well as
-page images of the material, or between 4,000 and 6,000 pages of material
-on these disks. Topics included aquaculture, food, agriculture and
-science (i.e., international agriculture and research), acid rain, and
-Agent Orange, which was the final product distributed (approximately
-eighteen months before the Workshop).
-
-The third phase of NATDP focused on delivery mechanisms other than
-CD-ROM. At the suggestion of Clifford LYNCH, who was a technical
-consultant to the project at this point, NATDP became involved with the
-Internet and initiated a project with the help of North Carolina State
-University, in which fourteen of the land-grant university libraries are
-transmitting digital images over the Internet in response to interlibrary
-loan requests--a topic for another meeting. At this point, the pilot
-project had been completed for about a year and the final report would be
-available shortly after the Workshop. In the meantime, the project's
-success had led to its extension. (ANDRE noted that one of the first
-things done under the program title was to select a retrieval package to
-use with subsequent products; Windows Personal Librarian was the package
-of choice after a lengthy evaluation.)
-
-Three additional products had been planned and were in progress:
-
- 1) An arrangement with the American Society of Agronomy--a
- professional society that has published the Agronomy Journal since
- about 1908--to scan and create bit-mapped images of its journal.
- ASA granted permission first to put and then to distribute this
- material in electronic form, to hold it at NAL, and to use these
- electronic images as a mechanism to deliver documents or print out
- material for patrons, among other uses. Effectively, NAL has the
- right to use this material in support of its program.
- (Significantly, this arrangement offers a potential cooperative
- model for working with other professional societies in agriculture
- to try to do the same thing--put the journals of particular interest
- to agriculture research into electronic form.)
-
- 2) An extension of the earlier product on aquaculture.
-
- 3) The George Washington Carver Papers--a joint project with
- Tuskegee University to scan and convert from microfilm some 3,500
- images of Carver's papers, letters, and drawings.
-
-It was anticipated that all of these products would appear no more than
-six months after the Workshop.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-ZIDAR * (A separate arena for scanning) * Steps in creating a database *
-Image capture, with and without performing OCR * Keying in tracking data
-* Scanning, with electronic and manual tracking * Adjustments during
-scanning process * Scanning resolutions * Compression * De-skewing and
-filtering * Image capture from microform: the papers and letters of
-George Washington Carver * Equipment used for a scanning system *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-Judith ZIDAR, coordinator, National Agricultural Text Digitizing Program
-(NATDP), National Agricultural Library (NAL), illustrated the technical
-details of NATDP, including her primary responsibility, scanning and
-creating databases on a topic and putting them on CD-ROM.
-
-(ZIDAR remarked a separate arena from the CD-ROM projects, although the
-processing of the material is nearly identical, in which NATDP is also
-scanning material and loading it on a Next microcomputer, which in turn
-is linked to NAL's integrated library system. Thus, searches in NAL's
-bibliographic database will enable people to pull up actual page images
-and text for any documents that have been entered.)
-
-In accordance with the session's topic, ZIDAR focused her illustrated
-talk on image capture, offering a primer on the three main steps in the
-process: 1) assemble the printed publications; 2) design the database
-(database design occurs in the process of preparing the material for
-scanning; this step entails reviewing and organizing the material,
-defining the contents--what will constitute a record, what kinds of
-fields will be captured in terms of author, title, etc.); 3) perform a
-certain amount of markup on the paper publications. NAL performs this
-task record by record, preparing work sheets or some other sort of
-tracking material and designing descriptors and other enhancements to be
-added to the data that will not be captured from the printed publication.
-Part of this process also involves determining NATDP's file and directory
-structure: NATDP attempts to avoid putting more than approximately 100
-images in a directory, because placing more than that on a CD-ROM would
-reduce the access speed.
-
-This up-front process takes approximately two weeks for a
-6,000-7,000-page database. The next step is to capture the page images.
-How long this process takes is determined by the decision whether or not
-to perform OCR. Not performing OCR speeds the process, whereas text
-capture requires greater care because of the quality of the image: it
-has to be straighter and allowance must be made for text on a page, not
-just for the capture of photographs.
-
-NATDP keys in tracking data, that is, a standard bibliographic record
-including the title of the book and the title of the chapter, which will
-later either become the access information or will be attached to the
-front of a full-text record so that it is searchable.
-
-Images are scanned from a bound or unbound publication, chiefly from
-bound publications in the case of NATDP, however, because often they are
-the only copies and the publications are returned to the shelves. NATDP
-usually scans one record at a time, because its database tracking system
-tracks the document in that way and does not require further logical
-separating of the images. After performing optical character
-recognition, NATDP moves the images off the hard disk and maintains a
-volume sheet. Though the system tracks electronically, all the
-processing steps are also tracked manually with a log sheet.
-
-ZIDAR next illustrated the kinds of adjustments that one can make when
-scanning from paper and microfilm, for example, redoing images that need
-special handling, setting for dithering or gray scale, and adjusting for
-brightness or for the whole book at one time.
-
-NATDP is scanning at 300 dots per inch, a standard scanning resolution.
-Though adequate for capturing text that is all of a standard size, 300
-dpi is unsuitable for any kind of photographic material or for very small
-text. Many scanners allow for different image formats, TIFF, of course,
-being a de facto standard. But if one intends to exchange images with
-other people, the ability to scan other image formats, even if they are
-less common, becomes highly desirable.
-
-CCITT Group 4 is the standard compression for normal black-and-white
-images, JPEG for gray scale or color. ZIDAR recommended 1) using the
-standard compressions, particularly if one attempts to make material
-available and to allow users to download images and reuse them from
-CD-ROMs; and 2) maintaining the ability to output an uncompressed image,
-because in image exchange uncompressed images are more likely to be able
-to cross platforms.
-
-ZIDAR emphasized the importance of de-skewing and filtering as
-requirements on NATDP's upgraded system. For instance, scanning bound
-books, particularly books published by the federal government whose pages
-are skewed, and trying to scan them straight if OCR is to be performed,
-is extremely time-consuming. The same holds for filtering of
-poor-quality or older materials.
-
-ZIDAR described image capture from microform, using as an example three
-reels from a sixty-seven-reel set of the papers and letters of George
-Washington Carver that had been produced by Tuskegee University. These
-resulted in approximately 3,500 images, which NATDP had had scanned by
-its service contractor, Science Applications International Corporation
-(SAIC). NATDP also created bibliographic records for access. (NATDP did
-not have such specialized equipment as a microfilm scanner.
-
-Unfortunately, the process of scanning from microfilm was not an
-unqualified success, ZIDAR reported: because microfilm frame sizes vary,
-occasionally some frames were missed, which without spending much time
-and money could not be recaptured.
-
-OCR could not be performed from the scanned images of the frames. The
-bleeding in the text simply output text, when OCR was run, that could not
-even be edited. NATDP tested for negative versus positive images,
-landscape versus portrait orientation, and single- versus dual-page
-microfilm, none of which seemed to affect the quality of the image; but
-also on none of them could OCR be performed.
-
-In selecting the microfilm they would use, therefore, NATDP had other
-factors in mind. ZIDAR noted two factors that influenced the quality of
-the images: 1) the inherent quality of the original and 2) the amount of
-size reduction on the pages.
-
-The Carver papers were selected because they are informative and visually
-interesting, treat a single subject, and are valuable in their own right.
-The images were scanned and divided into logical records by SAIC, then
-delivered, and loaded onto NATDP's system, where bibliographic
-information taken directly from the images was added. Scanning was
-completed in summer 1991 and by the end of summer 1992 the disk was
-scheduled to be published.
-
-Problems encountered during processing included the following: Because
-the microfilm scanning had to be done in a batch, adjustment for
-individual page variations was not possible. The frame size varied on
-account of the nature of the material, and therefore some of the frames
-were missed while others were just partial frames. The only way to go
-back and capture this material was to print out the page with the
-microfilm reader from the missing frame and then scan it in from the
-page, which was extremely time-consuming. The quality of the images
-scanned from the printout of the microfilm compared unfavorably with that
-of the original images captured directly from the microfilm. The
-inability to perform OCR also was a major disappointment. At the time,
-computer output microfilm was unavailable to test.
-
-The equipment used for a scanning system was the last topic addressed by
-ZIDAR. The type of equipment that one would purchase for a scanning
-system included: a microcomputer, at least a 386, but preferably a 486;
-a large hard disk, 380 megabyte at minimum; a multi-tasking operating
-system that allows one to run some things in batch in the background
-while scanning or doing text editing, for example, Unix or OS/2 and,
-theoretically, Windows; a high-speed scanner and scanning software that
-allows one to make the various adjustments mentioned earlier; a
-high-resolution monitor (150 dpi ); OCR software and hardware to perform
-text recognition; an optical disk subsystem on which to archive all the
-images as the processing is done; file management and tracking software.
-
-ZIDAR opined that the software one purchases was more important than the
-hardware and might also cost more than the hardware, but it was likely to
-prove critical to the success or failure of one's system. In addition to
-a stand-alone scanning workstation for image capture, then, text capture
-requires one or two editing stations networked to this scanning station
-to perform editing. Editing the text takes two or three times as long as
-capturing the images.
-
-Finally, ZIDAR stressed the importance of buying an open system that allows
-for more than one vendor, complies with standards, and can be upgraded.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-WATERS *Yale University Library's master plan to convert microfilm to
-digital imagery (POB) * The place of electronic tools in the library of
-the future * The uses of images and an image library * Primary input from
-preservation microfilm * Features distinguishing POB from CXP and key
-hypotheses guiding POB * Use of vendor selection process to facilitate
-organizational work * Criteria for selecting vendor * Finalists and
-results of process for Yale * Key factor distinguishing vendors *
-Components, design principles, and some estimated costs of POB * Role of
-preservation materials in developing imaging market * Factors affecting
-quality and cost * Factors affecting the usability of complex documents
-in image form *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-Donald WATERS, head of the Systems Office, Yale University Library,
-reported on the progress of a master plan for a project at Yale to
-convert microfilm to digital imagery, Project Open Book (POB). Stating
-that POB was in an advanced stage of planning, WATERS detailed, in
-particular, the process of selecting a vendor partner and several key
-issues under discussion as Yale prepares to move into the project itself.
-He commented first on the vision that serves as the context of POB and
-then described its purpose and scope.
-
-WATERS sees the library of the future not necessarily as an electronic
-library but as a place that generates, preserves, and improves for its
-clients ready access to both intellectual and physical recorded
-knowledge. Electronic tools must find a place in the library in the
-context of this vision. Several roles for electronic tools include
-serving as: indirect sources of electronic knowledge or as "finding"
-aids (the on-line catalogues, the article-level indices, registers for
-documents and archives); direct sources of recorded knowledge; full-text
-images; and various kinds of compound sources of recorded knowledge (the
-so-called compound documents of Hypertext, mixed text and image,
-mixed-text image format, and multimedia).
-
-POB is looking particularly at images and an image library, the uses to
-which images will be put (e.g., storage, printing, browsing, and then use
-as input for other processes), OCR as a subsequent process to image
-capture, or creating an image library, and also possibly generating
-microfilm.
-
-While input will come from a variety of sources, POB is considering
-especially input from preservation microfilm. A possible outcome is that
-the film and paper which provide the input for the image library
-eventually may go off into remote storage, and that the image library may
-be the primary access tool.
-
-The purpose and scope of POB focus on imaging. Though related to CXP,
-POB has two features which distinguish it: 1) scale--conversion of
-10,000 volumes into digital image form; and 2) source--conversion from
-microfilm. Given these features, several key working hypotheses guide
-POB, including: 1) Since POB is using microfilm, it is not concerned with
-the image library as a preservation medium. 2) Digital imagery can improve
-access to recorded knowledge through printing and network distribution at
-a modest incremental cost of microfilm. 3) Capturing and storing documents
-in a digital image form is necessary to further improvements in access.
-(POB distinguishes between the imaging, digitizing process and OCR,
-which at this stage it does not plan to perform.)
-
-Currently in its first or organizational phase, POB found that it could
-use a vendor selection process to facilitate a good deal of the
-organizational work (e.g., creating a project team and advisory board,
-confirming the validity of the plan, establishing the cost of the project
-and a budget, selecting the materials to convert, and then raising the
-necessary funds).
-
-POB developed numerous selection criteria, including: a firm committed
-to image-document management, the ability to serve as systems integrator
-in a large-scale project over several years, interest in developing the
-requisite software as a standard rather than a custom product, and a
-willingness to invest substantial resources in the project itself.
-
-Two vendors, DEC and Xerox, were selected as finalists in October 1991,
-and with the support of the Commission on Preservation and Access, each
-was commissioned to generate a detailed requirements analysis for the
-project and then to submit a formal proposal for the completion of the
-project, which included a budget and costs. The terms were that POB would
-pay the loser. The results for Yale of involving a vendor included:
-broad involvement of Yale staff across the board at a relatively low
-cost, which may have long-term significance in carrying out the project
-(twenty-five to thirty university people are engaged in POB); better
-understanding of the factors that affect corporate response to markets
-for imaging products; a competitive proposal; and a more sophisticated
-view of the imaging markets.
-
-The most important factor that distinguished the vendors under
-consideration was their identification with the customer. The size and
-internal complexity of the company also was an important factor. POB was
-looking at large companies that had substantial resources. In the end,
-the process generated for Yale two competitive proposals, with Xerox's
-the clear winner. WATERS then described the components of the proposal,
-the design principles, and some of the costs estimated for the process.
-
-Components are essentially four: a conversion subsystem, a
-network-accessible storage subsystem for 10,000 books (and POB expects
-200 to 600 dpi storage), browsing stations distributed on the campus
-network, and network access to the image printers.
-
-Among the design principles, POB wanted conversion at the highest
-possible resolution. Assuming TIFF files, TIFF files with Group 4
-compression, TCP/IP, and ethernet network on campus, POB wanted a
-client-server approach with image documents distributed to the
-workstations and made accessible through native workstation interfaces
-such as Windows. POB also insisted on a phased approach to
-implementation: 1) a stand-alone, single-user, low-cost entry into the
-business with a workstation focused on conversion and allowing POB to
-explore user access; 2) movement into a higher-volume conversion with
-network-accessible storage and multiple access stations; and 3) a
-high-volume conversion, full-capacity storage, and multiple browsing
-stations distributed throughout the campus.
-
-The costs proposed for start-up assumed the existence of the Yale network
-and its two DocuTech image printers. Other start-up costs are estimated
-at $1 million over the three phases. At the end of the project, the annual
-operating costs estimated primarily for the software and hardware proposed
-come to about $60,000, but these exclude costs for labor needed in the
-conversion process, network and printer usage, and facilities management.
-
-Finally, the selection process produced for Yale a more sophisticated
-view of the imaging markets: the management of complex documents in
-image form is not a preservation problem, not a library problem, but a
-general problem in a broad, general industry. Preservation materials are
-useful for developing that market because of the qualities of the
-material. For example, much of it is out of copyright. The resolution
-of key issues such as the quality of scanning and image browsing also
-will affect development of that market.
-
-The technology is readily available but changing rapidly. In this
-context of rapid change, several factors affect quality and cost, to
-which POB intends to pay particular attention, for example, the various
-levels of resolution that can be achieved. POB believes it can bring
-resolution up to 600 dpi, but an interpolation process from 400 to 600 is
-more likely. The variation quality in microfilm will prove to be a
-highly important factor. POB may reexamine the standards used to film in
-the first place by looking at this process as a follow-on to microfilming.
-
-Other important factors include: the techniques available to the
-operator for handling material, the ways of integrating quality control
-into the digitizing work flow, and a work flow that includes indexing and
-storage. POB's requirement was to be able to deal with quality control
-at the point of scanning. Thus, thanks to Xerox, POB anticipates having
-a mechanism which will allow it not only to scan in batch form, but to
-review the material as it goes through the scanner and control quality
-from the outset.
-
-The standards for measuring quality and costs depend greatly on the uses
-of the material, including subsequent OCR, storage, printing, and
-browsing. But especially at issue for POB is the facility for browsing.
-This facility, WATERS said, is perhaps the weakest aspect of imaging
-technology and the most in need of development.
-
-A variety of factors affect the usability of complex documents in image
-form, among them: 1) the ability of the system to handle the full range
-of document types, not just monographs but serials, multi-part
-monographs, and manuscripts; 2) the location of the database of record
-for bibliographic information about the image document, which POB wants
-to enter once and in the most useful place, the on-line catalog; 3) a
-document identifier for referencing the bibliographic information in one
-place and the images in another; 4) the technique for making the basic
-internal structure of the document accessible to the reader; and finally,
-5) the physical presentation on the CRT of those documents. POB is ready
-to complete this phase now. One last decision involves deciding which
-material to scan.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-DISCUSSION * TIFF files constitute de facto standard * NARA's experience
-with image conversion software and text conversion * RFC 1314 *
-Considerable flux concerning available hardware and software solutions *
-NAL through-put rate during scanning * Window management questions *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-In the question-and-answer period that followed WATERS's presentation,
-the following points emerged:
-
- * ZIDAR's statement about using TIFF files as a standard meant de
- facto standard. This is what most people use and typically exchange
- with other groups, across platforms, or even occasionally across
- display software.
-
- * HOLMES commented on the unsuccessful experience of NARA in
- attempting to run image-conversion software or to exchange between
- applications: What are supposedly TIFF files go into other software
- that is supposed to be able to accept TIFF but cannot recognize the
- format and cannot deal with it, and thus renders the exchange
- useless. Re text conversion, he noted the different recognition
- rates obtained by substituting the make and model of scanners in
- NARA's recent test of an "intelligent" character-recognition product
- for a new company. In the selection of hardware and software,
- HOLMES argued, software no longer constitutes the overriding factor
- it did until about a year ago; rather it is perhaps important to
- look at both now.
-
- * Danny Cohen and Alan Katz of the University of Southern California
- Information Sciences Institute began circulating as an Internet RFC
- (RFC 1314) about a month ago a standard for a TIFF interchange
- format for Internet distribution of monochrome bit-mapped images,
- which LYNCH said he believed would be used as a de facto standard.
-
- * FLEISCHHAUER's impression from hearing these reports and thinking
- about AM's experience was that there is considerable flux concerning
- available hardware and software solutions. HOOTON agreed and
- commented at the same time on ZIDAR's statement that the equipment
- employed affects the results produced. One cannot draw a complete
- conclusion by saying it is difficult or impossible to perform OCR
- from scanning microfilm, for example, with that device, that set of
- parameters, and system requirements, because numerous other people
- are accomplishing just that, using other components, perhaps.
- HOOTON opined that both the hardware and the software were highly
- important. Most of the problems discussed today have been solved in
- numerous different ways by other people. Though it is good to be
- cognizant of various experiences, this is not to say that it will
- always be thus.
-
- * At NAL, the through-put rate of the scanning process for paper,
- page by page, performing OCR, ranges from 300 to 600 pages per day;
- not performing OCR is considerably faster, although how much faster
- is not known. This is for scanning from bound books, which is much
- slower.
-
- * WATERS commented on window management questions: DEC proposed an
- X-Windows solution which was problematical for two reasons. One was
- POB's requirement to be able to manipulate images on the workstation
- and bring them down to the workstation itself and the other was
- network usage.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-THOMA * Illustration of deficiencies in scanning and storage process *
-Image quality in this process * Different costs entailed by better image
-quality * Techniques for overcoming various de-ficiencies: fixed
-thresholding, dynamic thresholding, dithering, image merge * Page edge
-effects *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-George THOMA, chief, Communications Engineering Branch, National Library
-of Medicine (NLM), illustrated several of the deficiencies discussed by
-the previous speakers. He introduced the topic of special problems by
-noting the advantages of electronic imaging. For example, it is regenerable
-because it is a coded file, and real-time quality control is possible with
-electronic capture, whereas in photographic capture it is not.
-
-One of the difficulties discussed in the scanning and storage process was
-image quality which, without belaboring the obvious, means different
-things for maps, medical X-rays, or broadcast television. In the case of
-documents, THOMA said, image quality boils down to legibility of the
-textual parts, and fidelity in the case of gray or color photo print-type
-material. Legibility boils down to scan density, the standard in most
-cases being 300 dpi. Increasing the resolution with scanners that
-perform 600 or 1200 dpi, however, comes at a cost.
-
-Better image quality entails at least four different kinds of costs: 1)
-equipment costs, because the CCD (i.e., charge-couple device) with
-greater number of elements costs more; 2) time costs that translate to
-the actual capture costs, because manual labor is involved (the time is
-also dependent on the fact that more data has to be moved around in the
-machine in the scanning or network devices that perform the scanning as
-well as the storage); 3) media costs, because at high resolutions larger
-files have to be stored; and 4) transmission costs, because there is just
-more data to be transmitted.
-
-But while resolution takes care of the issue of legibility in image
-quality, other deficiencies have to do with contrast and elements on the
-page scanned or the image that needed to be removed or clarified. Thus,
-THOMA proceeded to illustrate various deficiencies, how they are
-manifested, and several techniques to overcome them.
-
-Fixed thresholding was the first technique described, suitable for
-black-and-white text, when the contrast does not vary over the page. One
-can have many different threshold levels in scanning devices. Thus,
-THOMA offered an example of extremely poor contrast, which resulted from
-the fact that the stock was a heavy red. This is the sort of image that
-when microfilmed fails to provide any legibility whatsoever. Fixed
-thresholding is the way to change the black-to-red contrast to the
-desired black-to-white contrast.
-
-Other examples included material that had been browned or yellowed by
-age. This was also a case of contrast deficiency, and correction was
-done by fixed thresholding. A final example boils down to the same
-thing, slight variability, but it is not significant. Fixed thresholding
-solves this problem as well. The microfilm equivalent is certainly legible,
-but it comes with dark areas. Though THOMA did not have a slide of the
-microfilm in this case, he did show the reproduced electronic image.
-
-When one has variable contrast over a page or the lighting over the page
-area varies, especially in the case where a bound volume has light
-shining on it, the image must be processed by a dynamic thresholding
-scheme. One scheme, dynamic averaging, allows the threshold level not to
-be fixed but to be recomputed for every pixel from the neighboring
-characteristics. The neighbors of a pixel determine where the threshold
-should be set for that pixel.
-
-THOMA showed an example of a page that had been made deficient by a
-variety of techniques, including a burn mark, coffee stains, and a yellow
-marker. Application of a fixed-thresholding scheme, THOMA argued, might
-take care of several deficiencies on the page but not all of them.
-Performing the calculation for a dynamic threshold setting, however,
-removes most of the deficiencies so that at least the text is legible.
-
-Another problem is representing a gray level with black-and-white pixels
-by a process known as dithering or electronic screening. But dithering
-does not provide good image quality for pure black-and-white textual
-material. THOMA illustrated this point with examples. Although its
-suitability for photoprint is the reason for electronic screening or
-dithering, it cannot be used for every compound image. In the document
-that was distributed by CXP, THOMA noticed that the dithered image of the
-IEEE test chart evinced some deterioration in the text. He presented an
-extreme example of deterioration in the text in which compounded
-documents had to be set right by other techniques. The technique
-illustrated by the present example was an image merge in which the page
-is scanned twice and the settings go from fixed threshold to the
-dithering matrix; the resulting images are merged to give the best
-results with each technique.
-
-THOMA illustrated how dithering is also used in nonphotographic or
-nonprint materials with an example of a grayish page from a medical text,
-which was reproduced to show all of the gray that appeared in the
-original. Dithering provided a reproduction of all the gray in the
-original of another example from the same text.
-
-THOMA finally illustrated the problem of bordering, or page-edge,
-effects. Books and bound volumes that are placed on a photocopy machine
-or a scanner produce page-edge effects that are undesirable for two
-reasons: 1) the aesthetics of the image; after all, if the image is to
-be preserved, one does not necessarily want to keep all of its
-deficiencies; 2) compression (with the bordering problem THOMA
-illustrated, the compression ratio deteriorated tremendously). One way
-to eliminate this more serious problem is to have the operator at the
-point of scanning window the part of the image that is desirable and
-automatically turn all of the pixels out of that picture to white.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-FLEISCHHAUER * AM's experience with scanning bound materials * Dithering
-*
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-Carl FLEISCHHAUER, coordinator, American Memory, Library of Congress,
-reported AM's experience with scanning bound materials, which he likened
-to the problems involved in using photocopying machines. Very few
-devices in the industry offer book-edge scanning, let alone book cradles.
-The problem may be unsolvable, FLEISCHHAUER said, because a large enough
-market does not exist for a preservation-quality scanner. AM is using a
-Kurzweil scanner, which is a book-edge scanner now sold by Xerox.
-
-Devoting the remainder of his brief presentation to dithering,
-FLEISCHHAUER related AM's experience with a contractor who was using
-unsophisticated equipment and software to reduce moire patterns from
-printed halftones. AM took the same image and used the dithering
-algorithm that forms part of the same Kurzweil Xerox scanner; it
-disguised moire patterns much more effectively.
-
-FLEISCHHAUER also observed that dithering produces a binary file which is
-useful for numerous purposes, for example, printing it on a laser printer
-without having to "re-halftone" it. But it tends to defeat efficient
-compression, because the very thing that dithers to reduce moire patterns
-also tends to work against compression schemes. AM thought the
-difference in image quality was worth it.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-DISCUSSION * Relative use as a criterion for POB's selection of books to
-be converted into digital form *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-During the discussion period, WATERS noted that one of the criteria for
-selecting books among the 10,000 to be converted into digital image form
-would be how much relative use they would receive--a subject still
-requiring evaluation. The challenge will be to understand whether
-coherent bodies of material will increase usage or whether POB should
-seek material that is being used, scan that, and make it more accessible.
-POB might decide to digitize materials that are already heavily used, in
-order to make them more accessible and decrease wear on them. Another
-approach would be to provide a large body of intellectually coherent
-material that may be used more in digital form than it is currently used
-in microfilm. POB would seek material that was out of copyright.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-BARONAS * Origin and scope of AIIM * Types of documents produced in
-AIIM's standards program * Domain of AIIM's standardization work * AIIM's
-structure * TC 171 and MS23 * Electronic image management standards *
-Categories of EIM standardization where AIIM standards are being
-developed *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-Jean BARONAS, senior manager, Department of Standards and Technology,
-Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM), described the
-not-for-profit association and the national and international programs
-for standardization in which AIIM is active.
-
-Accredited for twenty-five years as the nation's standards development
-organization for document image management, AIIM began life in a library
-community developing microfilm standards. Today the association
-maintains both its library and business-image management standardization
-activities--and has moved into electronic image-management
-standardization (EIM).
-
-BARONAS defined the program's scope. AIIM deals with: 1) the
-terminology of standards and of the technology it uses; 2) methods of
-measurement for the systems, as well as quality; 3) methodologies for
-users to evaluate and measure quality; 4) the features of apparatus used
-to manage and edit images; and 5) the procedures used to manage images.
-
-BARONAS noted that three types of documents are produced in the AIIM
-standards program: the first two, accredited by the American National
-Standards Institute (ANSI), are standards and standard recommended
-practices. Recommended practices differ from standards in that they
-contain more tutorial information. A technical report is not an ANSI
-standard. Because AIIM's policies and procedures for developing
-standards are approved by ANSI, its standards are labeled ANSI/AIIM,
-followed by the number and title of the standard.
-
-BARONAS then illustrated the domain of AIIM's standardization work. For
-example, AIIM is the administrator of the U.S. Technical Advisory Group
-(TAG) to the International Standards Organization's (ISO) technical
-committee, TC l7l Micrographics and Optical Memories for Document and
-Image Recording, Storage, and Use. AIIM officially works through ANSI in
-the international standardization process.
-
-BARONAS described AIIM's structure, including its board of directors, its
-standards board of twelve individuals active in the image-management
-industry, its strategic planning and legal admissibility task forces, and
-its National Standards Council, which is comprised of the members of a
-number of organizations who vote on every AIIM standard before it is
-published. BARONAS pointed out that AIIM's liaisons deal with numerous
-other standards developers, including the optical disk community, office
-and publishing systems, image-codes-and-character set committees, and the
-National Information Standards Organization (NISO).
-
-BARONAS illustrated the procedures of TC l7l, which covers all aspects of
-image management. When AIIM's national program has conceptualized a new
-project, it is usually submitted to the international level, so that the
-member countries of TC l7l can simultaneously work on the development of
-the standard or the technical report. BARONAS also illustrated a classic
-microfilm standard, MS23, which deals with numerous imaging concepts that
-apply to electronic imaging. Originally developed in the l970s, revised
-in the l980s, and revised again in l991, this standard is scheduled for
-another revision. MS23 is an active standard whereby users may propose
-new density ranges and new methods of evaluating film images in the
-standard's revision.
-
-BARONAS detailed several electronic image-management standards, for
-instance, ANSI/AIIM MS44, a quality-control guideline for scanning 8.5"
-by 11" black-and-white office documents. This standard is used with the
-IEEE fax image--a continuous tone photographic image with gray scales,
-text, and several continuous tone pictures--and AIIM test target number
-2, a representative document used in office document management.
-
-BARONAS next outlined the four categories of EIM standardization in which
-AIIM standards are being developed: transfer and retrieval, evaluation,
-optical disc and document scanning applications, and design and
-conversion of documents. She detailed several of the main projects of
-each: 1) in the category of image transfer and retrieval, a bi-level
-image transfer format, ANSI/AIIM MS53, which is a proposed standard that
-describes a file header for image transfer between unlike systems when
-the images are compressed using G3 and G4 compression; 2) the category of
-image evaluation, which includes the AIIM-proposed TR26 tutorial on image
-resolution (this technical report will treat the differences and
-similarities between classical or photographic and electronic imaging);
-3) design and conversion, which includes a proposed technical report
-called "Forms Design Optimization for EIM" (this report considers how
-general-purpose business forms can be best designed so that scanning is
-optimized; reprographic characteristics such as type, rules, background,
-tint, and color will likewise be treated in the technical report); 4)
-disk and document scanning applications includes a project a) on planning
-platters and disk management, b) on generating an application profile for
-EIM when images are stored and distributed on CD-ROM, and c) on
-evaluating SCSI2, and how a common command set can be generated for SCSI2
-so that document scanners are more easily integrated. (ANSI/AIIM MS53
-will also apply to compressed images.)
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-BATTIN * The implications of standards for preservation * A major
-obstacle to successful cooperation * A hindrance to access in the digital
-environment * Standards a double-edged sword for those concerned with the
-preservation of the human record * Near-term prognosis for reliable
-archival standards * Preservation concerns for electronic media * Need
-for reconceptualizing our preservation principles * Standards in the real
-world and the politics of reproduction * Need to redefine the concept of
-archival and to begin to think in terms of life cycles * Cooperation and
-the La Guardia Eight * Concerns generated by discussions on the problems
-of preserving text and image * General principles to be adopted in a
-world without standards *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-Patricia BATTIN, president, the Commission on Preservation and Access
-(CPA), addressed the implications of standards for preservation. She
-listed several areas where the library profession and the analog world of
-the printed book had made enormous contributions over the past hundred
-years--for example, in bibliographic formats, binding standards, and, most
-important, in determining what constitutes longevity or archival quality.
-
-Although standards have lightened the preservation burden through the
-development of national and international collaborative programs,
-nevertheless, a pervasive mistrust of other people's standards remains a
-major obstacle to successful cooperation, BATTIN said.
-
-The zeal to achieve perfection, regardless of the cost, has hindered
-rather than facilitated access in some instances, and in the digital
-environment, where no real standards exist, has brought an ironically
-just reward.
-
-BATTIN argued that standards are a double-edged sword for those concerned
-with the preservation of the human record, that is, the provision of
-access to recorded knowledge in a multitude of media as far into the
-future as possible. Standards are essential to facilitate
-interconnectivity and access, but, BATTIN said, as LYNCH pointed out
-yesterday, if set too soon they can hinder creativity, expansion of
-capability, and the broadening of access. The characteristics of
-standards for digital imagery differ radically from those for analog
-imagery. And the nature of digital technology implies continuing
-volatility and change. To reiterate, precipitous standard-setting can
-inhibit creativity, but delayed standard-setting results in chaos.
-
-Since in BATTIN'S opinion the near-term prognosis for reliable archival
-standards, as defined by librarians in the analog world, is poor, two
-alternatives remain: standing pat with the old technology, or
-reconceptualizing.
-
-Preservation concerns for electronic media fall into two general domains.
-One is the continuing assurance of access to knowledge originally
-generated, stored, disseminated, and used in electronic form. This
-domain contains several subdivisions, including 1) the closed,
-proprietary systems discussed the previous day, bundled information such
-as electronic journals and government agency records, and electronically
-produced or captured raw data; and 2) the application of digital
-technologies to the reformatting of materials originally published on a
-deteriorating analog medium such as acid paper or videotape.
-
-The preservation of electronic media requires a reconceptualizing of our
-preservation principles during a volatile, standardless transition which
-may last far longer than any of us envision today. BATTIN urged the
-necessity of shifting focus from assessing, measuring, and setting
-standards for the permanence of the medium to the concept of managing
-continuing access to information stored on a variety of media and
-requiring a variety of ever-changing hardware and software for access--a
-fundamental shift for the library profession.
-
-BATTIN offered a primer on how to move forward with reasonable confidence
-in a world without standards. Her comments fell roughly into two sections:
-1) standards in the real world and 2) the politics of reproduction.
-
-In regard to real-world standards, BATTIN argued the need to redefine the
-concept of archive and to begin to think in terms of life cycles. In
-the past, the naive assumption that paper would last forever produced a
-cavalier attitude toward life cycles. The transient nature of the
-electronic media has compelled people to recognize and accept upfront the
-concept of life cycles in place of permanency.
-
-Digital standards have to be developed and set in a cooperative context
-to ensure efficient exchange of information. Moreover, during this
-transition period, greater flexibility concerning how concepts such as
-backup copies and archival copies in the CXP are defined is necessary,
-or the opportunity to move forward will be lost.
-
-In terms of cooperation, particularly in the university setting, BATTIN
-also argued the need to avoid going off in a hundred different
-directions. The CPA has catalyzed a small group of universities called
-the La Guardia Eight--because La Guardia Airport is where meetings take
-place--Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Princeton, Penn State, Tennessee,
-Stanford, and USC, to develop a digital preservation consortium to look
-at all these issues and develop de facto standards as we move along,
-instead of waiting for something that is officially blessed. Continuing
-to apply analog values and definitions of standards to the digital
-environment, BATTIN said, will effectively lead to forfeiture of the
-benefits of digital technology to research and scholarship.
-
-Under the second rubric, the politics of reproduction, BATTIN reiterated
-an oft-made argument concerning the electronic library, namely, that it
-is more difficult to transform than to create, and nowhere is that belief
-expressed more dramatically than in the conversion of brittle books to
-new media. Preserving information published in electronic media involves
-making sure the information remains accessible and that digital
-information is not lost through reproduction. In the analog world of
-photocopies and microfilm, the issue of fidelity to the original becomes
-paramount, as do issues of "Whose fidelity?" and "Whose original?"
-
-BATTIN elaborated these arguments with a few examples from a recent study
-conducted by the CPA on the problems of preserving text and image.
-Discussions with scholars, librarians, and curators in a variety of
-disciplines dependent on text and image generated a variety of concerns,
-for example: 1) Copy what is, not what the technology is capable of.
-This is very important for the history of ideas. Scholars wish to know
-what the author saw and worked from. And make available at the
-workstation the opportunity to erase all the defects and enhance the
-presentation. 2) The fidelity of reproduction--what is good enough, what
-can we afford, and the difference it makes--issues of subjective versus
-objective resolution. 3) The differences between primary and secondary
-users. Restricting the definition of primary user to the one in whose
-discipline the material has been published runs one headlong into the
-reality that these printed books have had a host of other users from a
-host of other disciplines, who not only were looking for very different
-things, but who also shared values very different from those of the
-primary user. 4) The relationship of the standard of reproduction to new
-capabilities of scholarship--the browsing standard versus an archival
-standard. How good must the archival standard be? Can a distinction be
-drawn between potential users in setting standards for reproduction?
-Archival storage, use copies, browsing copies--ought an attempt to set
-standards even be made? 5) Finally, costs. How much are we prepared to
-pay to capture absolute fidelity? What are the trade-offs between vastly
-enhanced access, degrees of fidelity, and costs?
-
-These standards, BATTIN concluded, serve to complicate further the
-reproduction process, and add to the long list of technical standards
-that are necessary to ensure widespread access. Ways to articulate and
-analyze the costs that are attached to the different levels of standards
-must be found.
-
-Given the chaos concerning standards, which promises to linger for the
-foreseeable future, BATTIN urged adoption of the following general
-principles:
-
- * Strive to understand the changing information requirements of
- scholarly disciplines as more and more technology is integrated into
- the process of research and scholarly communication in order to meet
- future scholarly needs, not to build for the past. Capture
- deteriorating information at the highest affordable resolution, even
- though the dissemination and display technologies will lag.
-
- * Develop cooperative mechanisms to foster agreement on protocols
- for document structure and other interchange mechanisms necessary
- for widespread dissemination and use before official standards are
- set.
-
- * Accept that, in a transition period, de facto standards will have
- to be developed.
-
- * Capture information in a way that keeps all options open and
- provides for total convertibility: OCR, scanning of microfilm,
- producing microfilm from scanned documents, etc.
-
- * Work closely with the generators of information and the builders
- of networks and databases to ensure that continuing accessibility is
- a primary concern from the beginning.
-
- * Piggyback on standards under development for the broad market, and
- avoid library-specific standards; work with the vendors, in order to
- take advantage of that which is being standardized for the rest of
- the world.
-
- * Concentrate efforts on managing permanence in the digital world,
- rather than perfecting the longevity of a particular medium.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-DISCUSSION * Additional comments on TIFF *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-During the brief discussion period that followed BATTIN's presentation,
-BARONAS explained that TIFF was not developed in collaboration with or
-under the auspices of AIIM. TIFF is a company product, not a standard,
-is owned by two corporations, and is always changing. BARONAS also
-observed that ANSI/AIIM MS53, a bi-level image file transfer format that
-allows unlike systems to exchange images, is compatible with TIFF as well
-as with DEC's architecture and IBM's MODCA/IOCA.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-HOOTON * Several questions to be considered in discussing text conversion
-*
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-HOOTON introduced the final topic, text conversion, by noting that it is
-becoming an increasingly important part of the imaging business. Many
-people now realize that it enhances their system to be able to have more
-and more character data as part of their imaging system. Re the issue of
-OCR versus rekeying, HOOTON posed several questions: How does one get
-text into computer-readable form? Does one use automated processes?
-Does one attempt to eliminate the use of operators where possible?
-Standards for accuracy, he said, are extremely important: it makes a
-major difference in cost and time whether one sets as a standard 98.5
-percent acceptance or 99.5 percent. He mentioned outsourcing as a
-possibility for converting text. Finally, what one does with the image
-to prepare it for the recognition process is also important, he said,
-because such preparation changes how recognition is viewed, as well as
-facilitates recognition itself.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-LESK * Roles of participants in CORE * Data flow * The scanning process *
-The image interface * Results of experiments involving the use of
-electronic resources and traditional paper copies * Testing the issue of
-serendipity * Conclusions *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-Michael LESK, executive director, Computer Science Research, Bell
-Communications Research, Inc. (Bellcore), discussed the Chemical Online
-Retrieval Experiment (CORE), a cooperative project involving Cornell
-University, OCLC, Bellcore, and the American Chemical Society (ACS).
-
-LESK spoke on 1) how the scanning was performed, including the unusual
-feature of page segmentation, and 2) the use made of the text and the
-image in experiments.
-
-Working with the chemistry journals (because ACS has been saving its
-typesetting tapes since the mid-1970s and thus has a significant back-run
-of the most important chemistry journals in the United States), CORE is
-attempting to create an automated chemical library. Approximately a
-quarter of the pages by square inch are made up of images of
-quasi-pictorial material; dealing with the graphic components of the
-pages is extremely important. LESK described the roles of participants
-in CORE: 1) ACS provides copyright permission, journals on paper,
-journals on microfilm, and some of the definitions of the files; 2) at
-Bellcore, LESK chiefly performs the data preparation, while Dennis Egan
-performs experiments on the users of chemical abstracts, and supplies the
-indexing and numerous magnetic tapes; 3) Cornell provides the site of the
-experiment; 4) OCLC develops retrieval software and other user interfaces.
-Various manufacturers and publishers have furnished other help.
-
-Concerning data flow, Bellcore receives microfilm and paper from ACS; the
-microfilm is scanned by outside vendors, while the paper is scanned
-inhouse on an Improvision scanner, twenty pages per minute at 300 dpi,
-which provides sufficient quality for all practical uses. LESK would
-prefer to have more gray level, because one of the ACS journals prints on
-some colored pages, which creates a problem.
-
-Bellcore performs all this scanning, creates a page-image file, and also
-selects from the pages the graphics, to mix with the text file (which is
-discussed later in the Workshop). The user is always searching the ASCII
-file, but she or he may see a display based on the ASCII or a display
-based on the images.
-
-LESK illustrated how the program performs page analysis, and the image
-interface. (The user types several words, is presented with a list--
-usually of the titles of articles contained in an issue--that derives
-from the ASCII, clicks on an icon and receives an image that mirrors an
-ACS page.) LESK also illustrated an alternative interface, based on text
-on the ASCII, the so-called SuperBook interface from Bellcore.
-
-LESK next presented the results of an experiment conducted by Dennis Egan
-and involving thirty-six students at Cornell, one third of them
-undergraduate chemistry majors, one third senior undergraduate chemistry
-majors, and one third graduate chemistry students. A third of them
-received the paper journals, the traditional paper copies and chemical
-abstracts on paper. A third received image displays of the pictures of
-the pages, and a third received the text display with pop-up graphics.
-
-The students were given several questions made up by some chemistry
-professors. The questions fell into five classes, ranging from very easy
-to very difficult, and included questions designed to simulate browsing
-as well as a traditional information retrieval-type task.
-
-LESK furnished the following results. In the straightforward question
-search--the question being, what is the phosphorus oxygen bond distance
-and hydroxy phosphate?--the students were told that they could take
-fifteen minutes and, then, if they wished, give up. The students with
-paper took more than fifteen minutes on average, and yet most of them
-gave up. The students with either electronic format, text or image,
-received good scores in reasonable time, hardly ever had to give up, and
-usually found the right answer.
-
-In the browsing study, the students were given a list of eight topics,
-told to imagine that an issue of the Journal of the American Chemical
-Society had just appeared on their desks, and were also told to flip
-through it and to find topics mentioned in the issue. The average scores
-were about the same. (The students were told to answer yes or no about
-whether or not particular topics appeared.) The errors, however, were
-quite different. The students with paper rarely said that something
-appeared when it had not. But they often failed to find something
-actually mentioned in the issue. The computer people found numerous
-things, but they also frequently said that a topic was mentioned when it
-was not. (The reason, of course, was that they were performing word
-searches. They were finding that words were mentioned and they were
-concluding that they had accomplished their task.)
-
-This question also contained a trick to test the issue of serendipity.
-The students were given another list of eight topics and instructed,
-without taking a second look at the journal, to recall how many of this
-new list of eight topics were in this particular issue. This was an
-attempt to see if they performed better at remembering what they were not
-looking for. They all performed about the same, paper or electronics,
-about 62 percent accurate. In short, LESK said, people were not very
-good when it came to serendipity, but they were no worse at it with
-computers than they were with paper.
-
-(LESK gave a parenthetical illustration of the learning curve of students
-who used SuperBook.)
-
-The students using the electronic systems started off worse than the ones
-using print, but by the third of the three sessions in the series had
-caught up to print. As one might expect, electronics provide a much
-better means of finding what one wants to read; reading speeds, once the
-object of the search has been found, are about the same.
-
-Almost none of the students could perform the hard task--the analogous
-transformation. (It would require the expertise of organic chemists to
-complete.) But an interesting result was that the students using the text
-search performed terribly, while those using the image system did best.
-That the text search system is driven by text offers the explanation.
-Everything is focused on the text; to see the pictures, one must press
-on an icon. Many students found the right article containing the answer
-to the question, but they did not click on the icon to bring up the right
-figure and see it. They did not know that they had found the right place,
-and thus got it wrong.
-
-The short answer demonstrated by this experiment was that in the event
-one does not know what to read, one needs the electronic systems; the
-electronic systems hold no advantage at the moment if one knows what to
-read, but neither do they impose a penalty.
-
-LESK concluded by commenting that, on one hand, the image system was easy
-to use. On the other hand, the text display system, which represented
-twenty man-years of work in programming and polishing, was not winning,
-because the text was not being read, just searched. The much easier
-system is highly competitive as well as remarkably effective for the
-actual chemists.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-ERWAY * Most challenging aspect of working on AM * Assumptions guiding
-AM's approach * Testing different types of service bureaus * AM's
-requirement for 99.95 percent accuracy * Requirements for text-coding *
-Additional factors influencing AM's approach to coding * Results of AM's
-experience with rekeying * Other problems in dealing with service bureaus
-* Quality control the most time-consuming aspect of contracting out
-conversion * Long-term outlook uncertain *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-To Ricky ERWAY, associate coordinator, American Memory, Library of
-Congress, the constant variety of conversion projects taking place
-simultaneously represented perhaps the most challenging aspect of working
-on AM. Thus, the challenge was not to find a solution for text
-conversion but a tool kit of solutions to apply to LC's varied
-collections that need to be converted. ERWAY limited her remarks to the
-process of converting text to machine-readable form, and the variety of
-LC's text collections, for example, bound volumes, microfilm, and
-handwritten manuscripts.
-
-Two assumptions have guided AM's approach, ERWAY said: 1) A desire not
-to perform the conversion inhouse. Because of the variety of formats and
-types of texts, to capitalize the equipment and have the talents and
-skills to operate them at LC would be extremely expensive. Further, the
-natural inclination to upgrade to newer and better equipment each year
-made it reasonable for AM to focus on what it did best and seek external
-conversion services. Using service bureaus also allowed AM to have
-several types of operations take place at the same time. 2) AM was not a
-technology project, but an effort to improve access to library
-collections. Hence, whether text was converted using OCR or rekeying
-mattered little to AM. What mattered were cost and accuracy of results.
-
-AM considered different types of service bureaus and selected three to
-perform several small tests in order to acquire a sense of the field.
-The sample collections with which they worked included handwritten
-correspondence, typewritten manuscripts from the 1940s, and
-eighteenth-century printed broadsides on microfilm. On none of these
-samples was OCR performed; they were all rekeyed. AM had several special
-requirements for the three service bureaus it had engaged. For instance,
-any errors in the original text were to be retained. Working from bound
-volumes or anything that could not be sheet-fed also constituted a factor
-eliminating companies that would have performed OCR.
-
-AM requires 99.95 percent accuracy, which, though it sounds high, often
-means one or two errors per page. The initial batch of test samples
-contained several handwritten materials for which AM did not require
-text-coding. The results, ERWAY reported, were in all cases fairly
-comparable: for the most part, all three service bureaus achieved 99.95
-percent accuracy. AM was satisfied with the work but surprised at the cost.
-
-As AM began converting whole collections, it retained the requirement for
-99.95 percent accuracy and added requirements for text-coding. AM needed
-to begin performing work more than three years ago before LC requirements
-for SGML applications had been established. Since AM's goal was simply
-to retain any of the intellectual content represented by the formatting
-of the document (which would be lost if one performed a straight ASCII
-conversion), AM used "SGML-like" codes. These codes resembled SGML tags
-but were used without the benefit of document-type definitions. AM found
-that many service bureaus were not yet SGML-proficient.
-
-Additional factors influencing the approach AM took with respect to
-coding included: 1) the inability of any known microcomputer-based
-user-retrieval software to take advantage of SGML coding; and 2) the
-multiple inconsistencies in format of the older documents, which
-confirmed AM in its desire not to attempt to force the different formats
-to conform to a single document-type definition (DTD) and thus create the
-need for a separate DTD for each document.
-
-The five text collections that AM has converted or is in the process of
-converting include a collection of eighteenth-century broadsides, a
-collection of pamphlets, two typescript document collections, and a
-collection of 150 books.
-
-ERWAY next reviewed the results of AM's experience with rekeying, noting
-again that because the bulk of AM's materials are historical, the quality
-of the text often does not lend itself to OCR. While non-English
-speakers are less likely to guess or elaborate or correct typos in the
-original text, they are also less able to infer what we would; they also
-are nearly incapable of converting handwritten text. Another
-disadvantage of working with overseas keyers is that they are much less
-likely to telephone with questions, especially on the coding, with the
-result that they develop their own rules as they encounter new
-situations.
-
-Government contracting procedures and time frames posed a major challenge
-to performing the conversion. Many service bureaus are not accustomed to
-retaining the image, even if they perform OCR. Thus, questions of image
-format and storage media were somewhat novel to many of them. ERWAY also
-remarked other problems in dealing with service bureaus, for example,
-their inability to perform text conversion from the kind of microfilm
-that LC uses for preservation purposes.
-
-But quality control, in ERWAY's experience, was the most time-consuming
-aspect of contracting out conversion. AM has been attempting to perform
-a 10-percent quality review, looking at either every tenth document or
-every tenth page to make certain that the service bureaus are maintaining
-99.95 percent accuracy. But even if they are complying with the
-requirement for accuracy, finding errors produces a desire to correct
-them and, in turn, to clean up the whole collection, which defeats the
-purpose to some extent. Even a double entry requires a
-character-by-character comparison to the original to meet the accuracy
-requirement. LC is not accustomed to publish imperfect texts, which
-makes attempting to deal with the industry standard an emotionally
-fraught issue for AM. As was mentioned in the previous day's discussion,
-going from 99.95 to 99.99 percent accuracy usually doubles costs and
-means a third keying or another complete run-through of the text.
-
-Although AM has learned much from its experiences with various collections
-and various service bureaus, ERWAY concluded pessimistically that no
-breakthrough has been achieved. Incremental improvements have occurred
-in some of the OCR technology, some of the processes, and some of the
-standards acceptances, which, though they may lead to somewhat lower costs,
-do not offer much encouragement to many people who are anxiously awaiting
-the day that the entire contents of LC are available on-line.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-ZIDAR * Several answers to why one attempts to perform full-text
-conversion * Per page cost of performing OCR * Typical problems
-encountered during editing * Editing poor copy OCR vs. rekeying *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-Judith ZIDAR, coordinator, National Agricultural Text Digitizing Program
-(NATDP), National Agricultural Library (NAL), offered several answers to
-the question of why one attempts to perform full-text conversion: 1)
-Text in an image can be read by a human but not by a computer, so of
-course it is not searchable and there is not much one can do with it. 2)
-Some material simply requires word-level access. For instance, the legal
-profession insists on full-text access to its material; with taxonomic or
-geographic material, which entails numerous names, one virtually requires
-word-level access. 3) Full text permits rapid browsing and searching,
-something that cannot be achieved in an image with today's technology.
-4) Text stored as ASCII and delivered in ASCII is standardized and highly
-portable. 5) People just want full-text searching, even those who do not
-know how to do it. NAL, for the most part, is performing OCR at an
-actual cost per average-size page of approximately $7. NAL scans the
-page to create the electronic image and passes it through the OCR device.
-
-ZIDAR next rehearsed several typical problems encountered during editing.
-Praising the celerity of her student workers, ZIDAR observed that editing
-requires approximately five to ten minutes per page, assuming that there
-are no large tables to audit. Confusion among the three characters I, 1,
-and l, constitutes perhaps the most common problem encountered. Zeroes
-and O's also are frequently confused. Double M's create a particular
-problem, even on clean pages. They are so wide in most fonts that they
-touch, and the system simply cannot tell where one letter ends and the
-other begins. Complex page formats occasionally fail to columnate
-properly, which entails rescanning as though one were working with a
-single column, entering the ASCII, and decolumnating for better
-searching. With proportionally spaced text, OCR can have difficulty
-discerning what is a space and what are merely spaces between letters, as
-opposed to spaces between words, and therefore will merge text or break
-up words where it should not.
-
-ZIDAR said that it can often take longer to edit a poor-copy OCR than to
-key it from scratch. NAL has also experimented with partial editing of
-text, whereby project workers go into and clean up the format, removing
-stray characters but not running a spell-check. NAL corrects typos in
-the title and authors' names, which provides a foothold for searching and
-browsing. Even extremely poor-quality OCR (e.g., 60-percent accuracy)
-can still be searched, because numerous words are correct, while the
-important words are probably repeated often enough that they are likely
-to be found correct somewhere. Librarians, however, cannot tolerate this
-situation, though end users seem more willing to use this text for
-searching, provided that NAL indicates that it is unedited. ZIDAR
-concluded that rekeying of text may be the best route to take, in spite
-of numerous problems with quality control and cost.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-DISCUSSION * Modifying an image before performing OCR * NAL's costs per
-page *AM's costs per page and experience with Federal Prison Industries *
-Elements comprising NATDP's costs per page * OCR and structured markup *
-Distinction between the structure of a document and its representation
-when put on the screen or printed *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-HOOTON prefaced the lengthy discussion that followed with several
-comments about modifying an image before one reaches the point of
-performing OCR. For example, in regard to an application containing a
-significant amount of redundant data, such as form-type data, numerous
-companies today are working on various kinds of form renewal, prior to
-going through a recognition process, by using dropout colors. Thus,
-acquiring access to form design or using electronic means are worth
-considering. HOOTON also noted that conversion usually makes or breaks
-one's imaging system. It is extremely important, extremely costly in
-terms of either capital investment or service, and determines the quality
-of the remainder of one's system, because it determines the character of
-the raw material used by the system.
-
-Concerning the four projects undertaken by NAL, two inside and two
-performed by outside contractors, ZIDAR revealed that an in-house service
-bureau executed the first at a cost between $8 and $10 per page for
-everything, including building of the database. The project undertaken
-by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)
-cost approximately $10 per page for the conversion, plus some expenses
-for the software and building of the database. The Acid Rain Project--a
-two-disk set produced by the University of Vermont, consisting of
-Canadian publications on acid rain--cost $6.70 per page for everything,
-including keying of the text, which was double keyed, scanning of the
-images, and building of the database. The in-house project offered
-considerable ease of convenience and greater control of the process. On
-the other hand, the service bureaus know their job and perform it
-expeditiously, because they have more people.
-
-As a useful comparison, ERWAY revealed AM's costs as follows: $0.75
-cents to $0.85 cents per thousand characters, with an average page
-containing 2,700 characters. Requirements for coding and imaging
-increase the costs. Thus, conversion of the text, including the coding,
-costs approximately $3 per page. (This figure does not include the
-imaging and database-building included in the NAL costs.) AM also
-enjoyed a happy experience with Federal Prison Industries, which
-precluded the necessity of going through the request-for-proposal process
-to award a contract, because it is another government agency. The
-prisoners performed AM's rekeying just as well as other service bureaus
-and proved handy as well. AM shipped them the books, which they would
-photocopy on a book-edge scanner. They would perform the markup on
-photocopies, return the books as soon as they were done with them,
-perform the keying, and return the material to AM on WORM disks.
-
-ZIDAR detailed the elements that constitute the previously noted cost of
-approximately $7 per page. Most significant is the editing, correction
-of errors, and spell-checkings, which though they may sound easy to
-perform require, in fact, a great deal of time. Reformatting text also
-takes a while, but a significant amount of NAL's expenses are for equipment,
-which was extremely expensive when purchased because it was one of the few
-systems on the market. The costs of equipment are being amortized over
-five years but are still quite high, nearly $2,000 per month.
-
-HOCKEY raised a general question concerning OCR and the amount of editing
-required (substantial in her experience) to generate the kind of
-structured markup necessary for manipulating the text on the computer or
-loading it into any retrieval system. She wondered if the speakers could
-extend the previous question about the cost-benefit of adding or exerting
-structured markup. ERWAY noted that several OCR systems retain italics,
-bolding, and other spatial formatting. While the material may not be in
-the format desired, these systems possess the ability to remove the
-original materials quickly from the hands of the people performing the
-conversion, as well as to retain that information so that users can work
-with it. HOCKEY rejoined that the current thinking on markup is that one
-should not say that something is italic or bold so much as why it is that
-way. To be sure, one needs to know that something was italicized, but
-how can one get from one to the other? One can map from the structure to
-the typographic representation.
-
-FLEISCHHAUER suggested that, given the 100 million items the Library
-holds, it may not be possible for LC to do more than report that a thing
-was in italics as opposed to why it was italics, although that may be
-desirable in some contexts. Promising to talk a bit during the afternoon
-session about several experiments OCLC performed on automatic recognition
-of document elements, and which they hoped to extend, WEIBEL said that in
-fact one can recognize the major elements of a document with a fairly
-high degree of reliability, at least as good as OCR. STEVENS drew a
-useful distinction between standard, generalized markup (i.e., defining
-for a document-type definition the structure of the document), and what
-he termed a style sheet, which had to do with italics, bolding, and other
-forms of emphasis. Thus, two different components are at work, one being
-the structure of the document itself (its logic), and the other being its
-representation when it is put on the screen or printed.
-
- ******
-
-SESSION V. APPROACHES TO PREPARING ELECTRONIC TEXTS
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-HOCKEY * Text in ASCII and the representation of electronic text versus
-an image * The need to look at ways of using markup to assist retrieval *
-The need for an encoding format that will be reusable and multifunctional
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-Susan HOCKEY, director, Center for Electronic Texts in the Humanities
-(CETH), Rutgers and Princeton Universities, announced that one talk
-(WEIBEL's) was moved into this session from the morning and that David
-Packard was unable to attend. The session would attempt to focus more on
-what one can do with a text in ASCII and the representation of electronic
-text rather than just an image, what one can do with a computer that
-cannot be done with a book or an image. It would be argued that one can
-do much more than just read a text, and from that starting point one can
-use markup and methods of preparing the text to take full advantage of
-the capability of the computer. That would lead to a discussion of what
-the European Community calls REUSABILITY, what may better be termed
-DURABILITY, that is, how to prepare or make a text that will last a long
-time and that can be used for as many applications as possible, which
-would lead to issues of improving intellectual access.
-
-HOCKEY urged the need to look at ways of using markup to facilitate retrieval,
-not just for referencing or to help locate an item that is retrieved, but also to put markup tags in
-a text to help retrieve the thing sought either with linguistic tagging or
-interpretation. HOCKEY also argued that little advancement had occurred in
-the software tools currently available for retrieving and searching text.
-She pressed the desideratum of going beyond Boolean searches and performing
-more sophisticated searching, which the insertion of more markup in the text
-would facilitate. Thinking about electronic texts as opposed to images means
-considering material that will never appear in print form, or print will not
-be its primary form, that is, material which only appears in electronic form.
-HOCKEY alluded to the history and the need for markup and tagging and
-electronic text, which was developed through the use of computers in the
-humanities; as MICHELSON had observed, Father Busa had started in 1949
-to prepare the first-ever text on the computer.
-
-HOCKEY remarked several large projects, particularly in Europe, for the
-compilation of dictionaries, language studies, and language analysis, in
-which people have built up archives of text and have begun to recognize
-the need for an encoding format that will be reusable and multifunctional,
-that can be used not just to print the text, which may be assumed to be a
-byproduct of what one wants to do, but to structure it inside the computer
-so that it can be searched, built into a Hypertext system, etc.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-WEIBEL * OCLC's approach to preparing electronic text: retroconversion,
-keying of texts, more automated ways of developing data * Project ADAPT
-and the CORE Project * Intelligent character recognition does not exist *
-Advantages of SGML * Data should be free of procedural markup;
-descriptive markup strongly advocated * OCLC's interface illustrated *
-Storage requirements and costs for putting a lot of information on line *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-Stuart WEIBEL, senior research scientist, Online Computer Library Center,
-Inc. (OCLC), described OCLC's approach to preparing electronic text. He
-argued that the electronic world into which we are moving must
-accommodate not only the future but the past as well, and to some degree
-even the present. Thus, starting out at one end with retroconversion and
-keying of texts, one would like to move toward much more automated ways
-of developing data.
-
-For example, Project ADAPT had to do with automatically converting
-document images into a structured document database with OCR text as
-indexing and also a little bit of automatic formatting and tagging of
-that text. The CORE project hosted by Cornell University, Bellcore,
-OCLC, the American Chemical Society, and Chemical Abstracts, constitutes
-WEIBEL's principal concern at the moment. This project is an example of
-converting text for which one already has a machine-readable version into
-a format more suitable for electronic delivery and database searching.
-(Since Michael LESK had previously described CORE, WEIBEL would say
-little concerning it.) Borrowing a chemical phrase, de novo synthesis,
-WEIBEL cited the Online Journal of Current Clinical Trials as an example
-of de novo electronic publishing, that is, a form in which the primary
-form of the information is electronic.
-
-Project ADAPT, then, which OCLC completed a couple of years ago and in
-fact is about to resume, is a model in which one takes page images either
-in paper or microfilm and converts them automatically to a searchable
-electronic database, either on-line or local. The operating assumption
-is that accepting some blemishes in the data, especially for
-retroconversion of materials, will make it possible to accomplish more.
-Not enough money is available to support perfect conversion.
-
-WEIBEL related several steps taken to perform image preprocessing
-(processing on the image before performing optical character
-recognition), as well as image postprocessing. He denied the existence
-of intelligent character recognition and asserted that what is wanted is
-page recognition, which is a long way off. OCLC has experimented with
-merging of multiple optical character recognition systems that will
-reduce errors from an unacceptable rate of 5 characters out of every
-l,000 to an unacceptable rate of 2 characters out of every l,000, but it
-is not good enough. It will never be perfect.
-
-Concerning the CORE Project, WEIBEL observed that Bellcore is taking the
-topography files, extracting the page images, and converting those
-topography files to SGML markup. LESK hands that data off to OCLC, which
-builds that data into a Newton database, the same system that underlies
-the on-line system in virtually all of the reference products at OCLC.
-The long-term goal is to make the systems interoperable so that not just
-Bellcore's system and OCLC's system can access this data, but other
-systems can as well, and the key to that is the Z39.50 common command
-language and the full-text extension. Z39.50 is fine for MARC records,
-but is not enough to do it for full text (that is, make full texts
-interoperable).
-
-WEIBEL next outlined the critical role of SGML for a variety of purposes,
-for example, as noted by HOCKEY, in the world of extremely large
-databases, using highly structured data to perform field searches.
-WEIBEL argued that by building the structure of the data in (i.e., the
-structure of the data originally on a printed page), it becomes easy to
-look at a journal article even if one cannot read the characters and know
-where the title or author is, or what the sections of that document would be.
-OCLC wants to make that structure explicit in the database, because it will
-be important for retrieval purposes.
-
-The second big advantage of SGML is that it gives one the ability to
-build structure into the database that can be used for display purposes
-without contaminating the data with instructions about how to format
-things. The distinction lies between procedural markup, which tells one
-where to put dots on the page, and descriptive markup, which describes
-the elements of a document.
-
-WEIBEL believes that there should be no procedural markup in the data at
-all, that the data should be completely unsullied by information about
-italics or boldness. That should be left up to the display device,
-whether that display device is a page printer or a screen display device.
-By keeping one's database free of that kind of contamination, one can
-make decisions down the road, for example, reorganize the data in ways
-that are not cramped by built-in notions of what should be italic and
-what should be bold. WEIBEL strongly advocated descriptive markup. As
-an example, he illustrated the index structure in the CORE data. With
-subsequent illustrated examples of markup, WEIBEL acknowledged the common
-complaint that SGML is hard to read in its native form, although markup
-decreases considerably once one gets into the body. Without the markup,
-however, one would not have the structure in the data. One can pass
-markup through a LaTeX processor and convert it relatively easily to a
-printed version of the document.
-
-WEIBEL next illustrated an extremely cluttered screen dump of OCLC's
-system, in order to show as much as possible the inherent capability on
-the screen. (He noted parenthetically that he had become a supporter of
-X-Windows as a result of the progress of the CORE Project.) WEIBEL also
-illustrated the two major parts of the interface: l) a control box that
-allows one to generate lists of items, which resembles a small table of
-contents based on key words one wishes to search, and 2) a document
-viewer, which is a separate process in and of itself. He demonstrated
-how to follow links through the electronic database simply by selecting
-the appropriate button and bringing them up. He also noted problems that
-remain to be accommodated in the interface (e.g., as pointed out by LESK,
-what happens when users do not click on the icon for the figure).
-
-Given the constraints of time, WEIBEL omitted a large number of ancillary
-items in order to say a few words concerning storage requirements and
-what will be required to put a lot of things on line. Since it is
-extremely expensive to reconvert all of this data, especially if it is
-just in paper form (and even if it is in electronic form in typesetting
-tapes), he advocated building journals electronically from the start. In
-that case, if one only has text graphics and indexing (which is all that
-one needs with de novo electronic publishing, because there is no need to
-go back and look at bit-maps of pages), one can get 10,000 journals of
-full text, or almost 6 million pages per year. These pages can be put in
-approximately 135 gigabytes of storage, which is not all that much,
-WEIBEL said. For twenty years, something less than three terabytes would
-be required. WEIBEL calculated the costs of storing this information as
-follows: If a gigabyte costs approximately $1,000, then a terabyte costs
-approximately $1 million to buy in terms of hardware. One also needs a
-building to put it in and a staff like OCLC to handle that information.
-So, to support a terabyte, multiply by five, which gives $5 million per
-year for a supported terabyte of data.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-DISCUSSION * Tapes saved by ACS are the typography files originally
-supporting publication of the journal * Cost of building tagged text into
-the database *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-During the question-and-answer period that followed WEIBEL's
-presentation, these clarifications emerged. The tapes saved by the
-American Chemical Society are the typography files that originally
-supported the publication of the journal. Although they are not tagged
-in SGML, they are tagged in very fine detail. Every single sentence is
-marked, all the registry numbers, all the publications issues, dates, and
-volumes. No cost figures on tagging material on a per-megabyte basis
-were available. Because ACS's typesetting system runs from tagged text,
-there is no extra cost per article. It was unknown what it costs ACS to
-keyboard the tagged text rather than just keyboard the text in the
-cheapest process. In other words, since one intends to publish things
-and will need to build tagged text into a typography system in any case,
-if one does that in such a way that it can drive not only typography but
-an electronic system (which is what ACS intends to do--move to SGML
-publishing), the marginal cost is zero. The marginal cost represents the
-cost of building tagged text into the database, which is small.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-SPERBERG-McQUEEN * Distinction between texts and computers * Implications
-of recognizing that all representation is encoding * Dealing with
-complicated representations of text entails the need for a grammar of
-documents * Variety of forms of formal grammars * Text as a bit-mapped
-image does not represent a serious attempt to represent text in
-electronic form * SGML, the TEI, document-type declarations, and the
-reusability and longevity of data * TEI conformance explicitly allows
-extension or modification of the TEI tag set * Administrative background
-of the TEI * Several design goals for the TEI tag set * An absolutely
-fixed requirement of the TEI Guidelines * Challenges the TEI has
-attempted to face * Good texts not beyond economic feasibility * The
-issue of reproducibility or processability * The issue of mages as
-simulacra for the text redux * One's model of text determines what one's
-software can do with a text and has economic consequences *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-Prior to speaking about SGML and markup, Michael SPERBERG-McQUEEN, editor,
-Text Encoding Initiative (TEI), University of Illinois-Chicago, first drew
-a distinction between texts and computers: Texts are abstract cultural
-and linguistic objects while computers are complicated physical devices,
-he said. Abstract objects cannot be placed inside physical devices; with
-computers one can only represent text and act upon those representations.
-
-The recognition that all representation is encoding, SPERBERG-McQUEEN
-argued, leads to the recognition of two things: 1) The topic description
-for this session is slightly misleading, because there can be no discussion
-of pros and cons of text-coding unless what one means is pros and cons of
-working with text with computers. 2) No text can be represented in a
-computer without some sort of encoding; images are one way of encoding text,
-ASCII is another, SGML yet another. There is no encoding without some
-information loss, that is, there is no perfect reproduction of a text that
-allows one to do away with the original. Thus, the question becomes,
-What is the most useful representation of text for a serious work?
-This depends on what kind of serious work one is talking about.
-
-The projects demonstrated the previous day all involved highly complex
-information and fairly complex manipulation of the textual material.
-In order to use that complicated information, one has to calculate it
-slowly or manually and store the result. It needs to be stored, therefore,
-as part of one's representation of the text. Thus, one needs to store the
-structure in the text. To deal with complicated representations of text,
-one needs somehow to control the complexity of the representation of a text;
-that means one needs a way of finding out whether a document and an
-electronic representation of a document is legal or not; and that
-means one needs a grammar of documents.
-
-SPERBERG-McQUEEN discussed the variety of forms of formal grammars,
-implicit and explicit, as applied to text, and their capabilities. He
-argued that these grammars correspond to different models of text that
-different developers have. For example, one implicit model of the text
-is that there is no internal structure, but just one thing after another,
-a few characters and then perhaps a start-title command, and then a few
-more characters and an end-title command. SPERBERG-McQUEEN also
-distinguished several kinds of text that have a sort of hierarchical
-structure that is not very well defined, which, typically, corresponds
-to grammars that are not very well defined, as well as hierarchies that
-are very well defined (e.g., the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae) and extremely
-complicated things such as SGML, which handle strictly hierarchical data
-very nicely.
-
-SPERBERG-McQUEEN conceded that one other model not illustrated on his two
-displays was the model of text as a bit-mapped image, an image of a page,
-and confessed to having been converted to a limited extent by the
-Workshop to the view that electronic images constitute a promising,
-probably superior alternative to microfilming. But he was not convinced
-that electronic images represent a serious attempt to represent text in
-electronic form. Many of their problems stem from the fact that they are
-not direct attempts to represent the text but attempts to represent the
-page, thus making them representations of representations.
-
-In this situation of increasingly complicated textual information and the
-need to control that complexity in a useful way (which begs the question
-of the need for good textual grammars), one has the introduction of SGML.
-With SGML, one can develop specific document-type declarations
-for specific text types or, as with the TEI, attempts to generate
-general document-type declarations that can handle all sorts of text.
-The TEI is an attempt to develop formats for text representation that
-will ensure the kind of reusability and longevity of data discussed earlier.
-It offers a way to stay alive in the state of permanent technological
-revolution.
-
-It has been a continuing challenge in the TEI to create document grammars
-that do some work in controlling the complexity of the textual object but
-also allowing one to represent the real text that one will find.
-Fundamental to the notion of the TEI is that TEI conformance allows one
-the ability to extend or modify the TEI tag set so that it fits the text
-that one is attempting to represent.
-
-SPERBERG-McQUEEN next outlined the administrative background of the TEI.
-The TEI is an international project to develop and disseminate guidelines
-for the encoding and interchange of machine-readable text. It is
-sponsored by the Association for Computers in the Humanities, the
-Association for Computational Linguistics, and the Association for
-Literary and Linguistic Computing. Representatives of numerous other
-professional societies sit on its advisory board. The TEI has a number
-of affiliated projects that have provided assistance by testing drafts of
-the guidelines.
-
-Among the design goals for the TEI tag set, the scheme first of all must
-meet the needs of research, because the TEI came out of the research
-community, which did not feel adequately served by existing tag sets.
-The tag set must be extensive as well as compatible with existing and
-emerging standards. In 1990, version 1.0 of the Guidelines was released
-(SPERBERG-McQUEEN illustrated their contents).
-
-SPERBERG-McQUEEN noted that one problem besetting electronic text has
-been the lack of adequate internal or external documentation for many
-existing electronic texts. The TEI guidelines as currently formulated
-contain few fixed requirements, but one of them is this: There must
-always be a document header, an in-file SGML tag that provides
-1) a bibliographic description of the electronic object one is talking
-about (that is, who included it, when, what for, and under which title);
-and 2) the copy text from which it was derived, if any. If there was
-no copy text or if the copy text is unknown, then one states as much.
-Version 2.0 of the Guidelines was scheduled to be completed in fall 1992
-and a revised third version is to be presented to the TEI advisory board
-for its endorsement this coming winter. The TEI itself exists to provide
-a markup language, not a marked-up text.
-
-Among the challenges the TEI has attempted to face is the need for a
-markup language that will work for existing projects, that is, handle the
-level of markup that people are using now to tag only chapter, section,
-and paragraph divisions and not much else. At the same time, such a
-language also will be able to scale up gracefully to handle the highly
-detailed markup which many people foresee as the future destination of
-much electronic text, and which is not the future destination but the
-present home of numerous electronic texts in specialized areas.
-
-SPERBERG-McQUEEN dismissed the lowest-common-denominator approach as
-unable to support the kind of applications that draw people who have
-never been in the public library regularly before, and make them come
-back. He advocated more interesting text and more intelligent text.
-Asserting that it is not beyond economic feasibility to have good texts,
-SPERBERG-McQUEEN noted that the TEI Guidelines listing 200-odd tags
-contains tags that one is expected to enter every time the relevant
-textual feature occurs. It contains all the tags that people need now,
-and it is not expected that everyone will tag things in the same way.
-
-The question of how people will tag the text is in large part a function
-of their reaction to what SPERBERG-McQUEEN termed the issue of
-reproducibility. What one needs to be able to reproduce are the things
-one wants to work with. Perhaps a more useful concept than that of
-reproducibility or recoverability is that of processability, that is,
-what can one get from an electronic text without reading it again
-in the original. He illustrated this contention with a page from
-Jan Comenius's bilingual Introduction to Latin.
-
-SPERBERG-McQUEEN returned at length to the issue of images as simulacra
-for the text, in order to reiterate his belief that in the long run more
-than images of pages of particular editions of the text are needed,
-because just as second-generation photocopies and second-generation
-microfilm degenerate, so second-generation representations tend to
-degenerate, and one tends to overstress some relatively trivial aspects
-of the text such as its layout on the page, which is not always
-significant, despite what the text critics might say, and slight other
-pieces of information such as the very important lexical ties between the
-English and Latin versions of Comenius's bilingual text, for example.
-Moreover, in many crucial respects it is easy to fool oneself concerning
-what a scanned image of the text will accomplish. For example, in order
-to study the transmission of texts, information concerning the text
-carrier is necessary, which scanned images simply do not always handle.
-Further, even the high-quality materials being produced at Cornell use
-much of the information that one would need if studying those books as
-physical objects. It is a choice that has been made. It is an arguably
-justifiable choice, but one does not know what color those pen strokes in
-the margin are or whether there was a stain on the page, because it has
-been filtered out. One does not know whether there were rips in the page
-because they do not show up, and on a couple of the marginal marks one
-loses half of the mark because the pen is very light and the scanner
-failed to pick it up, and so what is clearly a checkmark in the margin of
-the original becomes a little scoop in the margin of the facsimile.
-Standard problems for facsimile editions, not new to electronics, but
-also true of light-lens photography, and are remarked here because it is
-important that we not fool ourselves that even if we produce a very nice
-image of this page with good contrast, we are not replacing the
-manuscript any more than microfilm has replaced the manuscript.
-
-The TEI comes from the research community, where its first allegiance
-lies, but it is not just an academic exercise. It has relevance far
-beyond those who spend all of their time studying text, because one's
-model of text determines what one's software can do with a text. Good
-models lead to good software. Bad models lead to bad software. That has
-economic consequences, and it is these economic consequences that have
-led the European Community to help support the TEI, and that will lead,
-SPERBERG-McQUEEN hoped, some software vendors to realize that if they
-provide software with a better model of the text they can make a killing.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-DISCUSSION * Implications of different DTDs and tag sets * ODA versus SGML *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-During the discussion that followed, several additional points were made.
-Neither AAP (i.e., Association of American Publishers) nor CALS (i.e.,
-Computer-aided Acquisition and Logistics Support) has a document-type
-definition for ancient Greek drama, although the TEI will be able to
-handle that. Given this state of affairs and assuming that the
-technical-journal producers and the commercial vendors decide to use the
-other two types, then an institution like the Library of Congress, which
-might receive all of their publications, would have to be able to handle
-three different types of document definitions and tag sets and be able to
-distinguish among them.
-
-Office Document Architecture (ODA) has some advantages that flow from its
-tight focus on office documents and clear directions for implementation.
-Much of the ODA standard is easier to read and clearer at first reading
-than the SGML standard, which is extremely general. What that means is
-that if one wants to use graphics in TIFF and ODA, one is stuck, because
-ODA defines graphics formats while TIFF does not, whereas SGML says the
-world is not waiting for this work group to create another graphics format.
-What is needed is an ability to use whatever graphics format one wants.
-
-The TEI provides a socket that allows one to connect the SGML document to
-the graphics. The notation that the graphics are in is clearly a choice
-that one needs to make based on her or his environment, and that is one
-advantage. SGML is less megalomaniacal in attempting to define formats
-for all kinds of information, though more megalomaniacal in attempting to
-cover all sorts of documents. The other advantage is that the model of
-text represented by SGML is simply an order of magnitude richer and more
-flexible than the model of text offered by ODA. Both offer hierarchical
-structures, but SGML recognizes that the hierarchical model of the text
-that one is looking at may not have been in the minds of the designers,
-whereas ODA does not.
-
-ODA is not really aiming for the kind of document that the TEI wants to
-encompass. The TEI can handle the kind of material ODA has, as well as a
-significantly broader range of material. ODA seems to be very much
-focused on office documents, which is what it started out being called--
-office document architecture.
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-CALALUCA * Text-encoding from a publisher's perspective *
-Responsibilities of a publisher * Reproduction of Migne's Latin series
-whole and complete with SGML tags based on perceived need and expected
-use * Particular decisions arising from the general decision to produce
-and publish PLD *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-The final speaker in this session, Eric CALALUCA, vice president,
-Chadwyck-Healey, Inc., spoke from the perspective of a publisher re
-text-encoding, rather than as one qualified to discuss methods of
-encoding data, and observed that the presenters sitting in the room,
-whether they had chosen to or not, were acting as publishers: making
-choices, gathering data, gathering information, and making assessments.
-CALALUCA offered the hard-won conviction that in publishing very large
-text files (such as PLD), one cannot avoid making personal judgments of
-appropriateness and structure.
-
-In CALALUCA's view, encoding decisions stem from prior judgments. Two
-notions have become axioms for him in the consideration of future sources
-for electronic publication: 1) electronic text publishing is as personal
-as any other kind of publishing, and questions of if and how to encode
-the data are simply a consequence of that prior decision; 2) all
-personal decisions are open to criticism, which is unavoidable.
-
-CALALUCA rehearsed his role as a publisher or, better, as an intermediary
-between what is viewed as a sound idea and the people who would make use
-of it. Finding the specialist to advise in this process is the core of
-that function. The publisher must monitor and hug the fine line between
-giving users what they want and suggesting what they might need. One
-responsibility of a publisher is to represent the desires of scholars and
-research librarians as opposed to bullheadedly forcing them into areas
-they would not choose to enter.
-
-CALALUCA likened the questions being raised today about data structure
-and standards to the decisions faced by the Abbe Migne himself during
-production of the Patrologia series in the mid-nineteenth century.
-Chadwyck-Healey's decision to reproduce Migne's Latin series whole and
-complete with SGML tags was also based upon a perceived need and an
-expected use. In the same way that Migne's work came to be far more than
-a simple handbook for clerics, PLD is already far more than a database
-for theologians. It is a bedrock source for the study of Western
-civilization, CALALUCA asserted.
-
-In regard to the decision to produce and publish PLD, the editorial board
-offered direct judgments on the question of appropriateness of these
-texts for conversion, their encoding and their distribution, and
-concluded that the best possible project was one that avoided overt
-intrusions or exclusions in so important a resource. Thus, the general
-decision to transmit the original collection as clearly as possible with
-the widest possible avenues for use led to other decisions: 1) To encode
-the data or not, SGML or not, TEI or not. Again, the expected user
-community asserted the need for normative tagging structures of important
-humanities texts, and the TEI seemed the most appropriate structure for
-that purpose. Research librarians, who are trained to view the larger
-impact of electronic text sources on 80 or 90 or 100 doctoral
-disciplines, loudly approved the decision to include tagging. They see
-what is coming better than the specialist who is completely focused on
-one edition of Ambrose's De Anima, and they also understand that the
-potential uses exceed present expectations. 2) What will be tagged and
-what will not. Once again, the board realized that one must tag the
-obvious. But in no way should one attempt to identify through encoding
-schemes every single discrete area of a text that might someday be
-searched. That was another decision. Searching by a column number, an
-author, a word, a volume, permitting combination searches, and tagging
-notations seemed logical choices as core elements. 3) How does one make
-the data available? Tieing it to a CD-ROM edition creates limitations,
-but a magnetic tape file that is very large, is accompanied by the
-encoding specifications, and that allows one to make local modifications
-also allows one to incorporate any changes one may desire within the
-bounds of private research, though exporting tag files from a CD-ROM
-could serve just as well. Since no one on the board could possibly
-anticipate each and every way in which a scholar might choose to mine
-this data bank, it was decided to satisfy the basics and make some
-provisions for what might come. 4) Not to encode the database would rob
-it of the interchangeability and portability these important texts should
-accommodate. For CALALUCA, the extensive options presented by full-text
-searching require care in text selection and strongly support encoding of
-data to facilitate the widest possible search strategies. Better
-software can always be created, but summoning the resources, the people,
-and the energy to reconvert the text is another matter.
-
-PLD is being encoded, captured, and distributed, because to
-Chadwyck-Healey and the board it offers the widest possible array of
-future research applications that can be seen today. CALALUCA concluded
-by urging the encoding of all important text sources in whatever way
-seems most appropriate and durable at the time, without blanching at the
-thought that one's work may require emendation in the future. (Thus,
-Chadwyck-Healey produced a very large humanities text database before the
-final release of the TEI Guidelines.)
-
- ******
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-DISCUSSION * Creating texts with markup advocated * Trends in encoding *
-The TEI and the issue of interchangeability of standards * A
-misconception concerning the TEI * Implications for an institution like
-LC in the event that a multiplicity of DTDs develops * Producing images
-as a first step towards possible conversion to full text through
-character recognition * The AAP tag sets as a common starting point and
-the need for caution *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-HOCKEY prefaced the discussion that followed with several comments in
-favor of creating texts with markup and on trends in encoding. In the
-future, when many more texts are available for on-line searching, real
-problems in finding what is wanted will develop, if one is faced with
-millions of words of data. It therefore becomes important to consider
-putting markup in texts to help searchers home in on the actual things
-they wish to retrieve. Various approaches to refining retrieval methods
-toward this end include building on a computer version of a dictionary
-and letting the computer look up words in it to obtain more information
-about the semantic structure or semantic field of a word, its grammatical
-structure, and syntactic structure.
-
-HOCKEY commented on the present keen interest in the encoding world
-in creating: 1) machine-readable versions of dictionaries that can be
-initially tagged in SGML, which gives a structure to the dictionary entry;
-these entries can then be converted into a more rigid or otherwise
-different database structure inside the computer, which can be treated as
-a dynamic tool for searching mechanisms; 2) large bodies of text to study
-the language. In order to incorporate more sophisticated mechanisms,
-more about how words behave needs to be known, which can be learned in
-part from information in dictionaries. However, the last ten years have
-seen much interest in studying the structure of printed dictionaries
-converted into computer-readable form. The information one derives about
-many words from those is only partial, one or two definitions of the
-common or the usual meaning of a word, and then numerous definitions of
-unusual usages. If the computer is using a dictionary to help retrieve
-words in a text, it needs much more information about the common usages,
-because those are the ones that occur over and over again. Hence the
-current interest in developing large bodies of text in computer-readable
-form in order to study the language. Several projects are engaged in
-compiling, for example, 100 million words. HOCKEY described one with
-which she was associated briefly at Oxford University involving
-compilation of 100 million words of British English: about 10 percent of
-that will contain detailed linguistic tagging encoded in SGML; it will
-have word class taggings, with words identified as nouns, verbs,
-adjectives, or other parts of speech. This tagging can then be used by
-programs which will begin to learn a bit more about the structure of the
-language, and then, can go to tag more text.
-
-HOCKEY said that the more that is tagged accurately, the more one can
-refine the tagging process and thus the bigger body of text one can build
-up with linguistic tagging incorporated into it. Hence, the more tagging
-or annotation there is in the text, the more one may begin to learn about
-language and the more it will help accomplish more intelligent OCR. She
-recommended the development of software tools that will help one begin to
-understand more about a text, which can then be applied to scanning
-images of that text in that format and to using more intelligence to help
-one interpret or understand the text.
-
-HOCKEY posited the need to think about common methods of text-encoding
-for a long time to come, because building these large bodies of text is
-extremely expensive and will only be done once.
-
-In the more general discussion on approaches to encoding that followed,
-these points were made:
-
-BESSER identified the underlying problem with standards that all have to
-struggle with in adopting a standard, namely, the tension between a very
-highly defined standard that is very interchangeable but does not work
-for everyone because something is lacking, and a standard that is less
-defined, more open, more adaptable, but less interchangeable. Contending
-that the way in which people use SGML is not sufficiently defined, BESSER
-wondered 1) if people resist the TEI because they think it is too defined
-in certain things they do not fit into, and 2) how progress with
-interchangeability can be made without frightening people away.
-
-SPERBERG-McQUEEN replied that the published drafts of the TEI had met
-with surprisingly little objection on the grounds that they do not allow
-one to handle X or Y or Z. Particular concerns of the affiliated
-projects have led, in practice, to discussions of how extensions are to
-be made; the primary concern of any project has to be how it can be
-represented locally, thus making interchange secondary. The TEI has
-received much criticism based on the notion that everything in it is
-required or even recommended, which, as it happens, is a misconception
-from the beginning, because none of it is required and very little is
-actually actively recommended for all cases, except that one document
-one's source.
-
-SPERBERG-McQUEEN agreed with BESSER about this trade-off: all the
-projects in a set of twenty TEI-conformant projects will not necessarily
-tag the material in the same way. One result of the TEI will be that the
-easiest problems will be solved--those dealing with the external form of
-the information; but the problem that is hardest in interchange is that
-one is not encoding what another wants, and vice versa. Thus, after
-the adoption of a common notation, the differences in the underlying
-conceptions of what is interesting about texts become more visible.
-The success of a standard like the TEI will lie in the ability of
-the recipient of interchanged texts to use some of what it contains
-and to add the information that was not encoded that one wants, in a
-layered way, so that texts can be gradually enriched and one does not
-have to put in everything all at once. Hence, having a well-behaved
-markup scheme is important.
-
-STEVENS followed up on the paradoxical analogy that BESSER alluded to in
-the example of the MARC records, namely, the formats that are the same
-except that they are different. STEVENS drew a parallel between
-document-type definitions and MARC records for books and serials and maps,
-where one has a tagging structure and there is a text-interchange.
-STEVENS opined that the producers of the information will set the terms
-for the standard (i.e., develop document-type definitions for the users
-of their products), creating a situation that will be problematical for
-an institution like the Library of Congress, which will have to deal with
-the DTDs in the event that a multiplicity of them develops. Thus,
-numerous people are seeking a standard but cannot find the tag set that
-will be acceptable to them and their clients. SPERBERG-McQUEEN agreed
-with this view, and said that the situation was in a way worse: attempting
-to unify arbitrary DTDs resembled attempting to unify a MARC record with a
-bibliographic record done according to the Prussian instructions.
-According to STEVENS, this situation occurred very early in the process.
-
-WATERS recalled from early discussions on Project Open Book the concern
-of many people that merely by producing images, POB was not really
-enhancing intellectual access to the material. Nevertheless, not wishing
-to overemphasize the opposition between imaging and full text, WATERS
-stated that POB views getting the images as a first step toward possibly
-converting to full text through character recognition, if the technology
-is appropriate. WATERS also emphasized that encoding is involved even
-with a set of images.
-
-SPERBERG-McQUEEN agreed with WATERS that one can create an SGML document
-consisting wholly of images. At first sight, organizing graphic images
-with an SGML document may not seem to offer great advantages, but the
-advantages of the scheme WATERS described would be precisely that
-ability to move into something that is more of a multimedia document:
-a combination of transcribed text and page images. WEIBEL concurred in
-this judgment, offering evidence from Project ADAPT, where a page is
-divided into text elements and graphic elements, and in fact the text
-elements are organized by columns and lines. These lines may be used as
-the basis for distributing documents in a network environment. As one
-develops software intelligent enough to recognize what those elements
-are, it makes sense to apply SGML to an image initially, that may, in
-fact, ultimately become more and more text, either through OCR or edited
-OCR or even just through keying. For WATERS, the labor of composing the
-document and saying this set of documents or this set of images belongs
-to this document constitutes a significant investment.
-
-WEIBEL also made the point that the AAP tag sets, while not excessively
-prescriptive, offer a common starting point; they do not define the
-structure of the documents, though. They have some recommendations about
-DTDs one could use as examples, but they do just suggest tag sets. For
-example, the CORE project attempts to use the AAP markup as much as
-possible, but there are clearly areas where structure must be added.
-That in no way contradicts the use of AAP tag sets.
-
-SPERBERG-McQUEEN noted that the TEI prepared a long working paper early
-on about the AAP tag set and what it lacked that the TEI thought it
-needed, and a fairly long critique of the naming conventions, which has
-led to a very different style of naming in the TEI. He stressed the
-importance of the opposition between prescriptive markup, the kind that a
-publisher or anybody can do when producing documents de novo, and
-descriptive markup, in which one has to take what the text carrier
-provides. In these particular tag sets it is easy to overemphasize this
-opposition, because the AAP tag set is extremely flexible. Even if one
-just used the DTDs, they allow almost anything to appear almost anywhere.
-
- ******
-
-SESSION VI. COPYRIGHT ISSUES
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-PETERS * Several cautions concerning copyright in an electronic
-environment * Review of copyright law in the United States * The notion
-of the public good and the desirability of incentives to promote it *
-What copyright protects * Works not protected by copyright * The rights
-of copyright holders * Publishers' concerns in today's electronic
-environment * Compulsory licenses * The price of copyright in a digital
-medium and the need for cooperation * Additional clarifications * Rough
-justice oftentimes the outcome in numerous copyright matters * Copyright
-in an electronic society * Copyright law always only sets up the
-boundaries; anything can be changed by contract *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-Marybeth PETERS, policy planning adviser to the Register of Copyrights,
-Library of Congress, made several general comments and then opened the
-floor to discussion of subjects of interest to the audience.
-
-Having attended several sessions in an effort to gain a sense of what
-people did and where copyright would affect their lives, PETERS expressed
-the following cautions:
-
- * If one takes and converts materials and puts them in new forms,
- then, from a copyright point of view, one is creating something and
- will receive some rights.
-
- * However, if what one is converting already exists, a question
- immediately arises about the status of the materials in question.
-
- * Putting something in the public domain in the United States offers
- some freedom from anxiety, but distributing it throughout the world
- on a network is another matter, even if one has put it in the public
- domain in the United States. Re foreign laws, very frequently a
- work can be in the public domain in the United States but protected
- in other countries. Thus, one must consider all of the places a
- work may reach, lest one unwittingly become liable to being faced
- with a suit for copyright infringement, or at least a letter
- demanding discussion of what one is doing.
-
-PETERS reviewed copyright law in the United States. The U.S.
-Constitution effectively states that Congress has the power to enact
-copyright laws for two purposes: 1) to encourage the creation and
-dissemination of intellectual works for the good of society as a whole;
-and, significantly, 2) to give creators and those who package and
-disseminate materials the economic rewards that are due them.
-
-Congress strives to strike a balance, which at times can become an
-emotional issue. The United States has never accepted the notion of the
-natural right of an author so much as it has accepted the notion of the
-public good and the desirability of incentives to promote it. This state
-of affairs, however, has created strains on the international level and
-is the reason for several of the differences in the laws that we have.
-Today the United States protects almost every kind of work that can be
-called an expression of an author. The standard for gaining copyright
-protection is simply originality. This is a low standard and means that
-a work is not copied from something else, as well as shows a certain
-minimal amount of authorship. One can also acquire copyright protection
-for making a new version of preexisting material, provided it manifests
-some spark of creativity.
-
-However, copyright does not protect ideas, methods, systems--only the way
-that one expresses those things. Nor does copyright protect anything
-that is mechanical, anything that does not involve choice, or criteria
-concerning whether or not one should do a thing. For example, the
-results of a process called declicking, in which one mechanically removes
-impure sounds from old recordings, are not copyrightable. On the other
-hand, the choice to record a song digitally and to increase the sound of
-violins or to bring up the tympani constitutes the results of conversion
-that are copyrightable. Moreover, if a work is protected by copyright in
-the United States, one generally needs the permission of the copyright
-owner to convert it. Normally, who will own the new--that is, converted-
--material is a matter of contract. In the absence of a contract, the
-person who creates the new material is the author and owner. But people
-do not generally think about the copyright implications until after the
-fact. PETERS stressed the need when dealing with copyrighted works to
-think about copyright in advance. One's bargaining power is much greater
-up front than it is down the road.
-
-PETERS next discussed works not protected by copyright, for example, any
-work done by a federal employee as part of his or her official duties is
-in the public domain in the United States. The issue is not wholly free
-of doubt concerning whether or not the work is in the public domain
-outside the United States. Other materials in the public domain include:
-any works published more than seventy-five years ago, and any work
-published in the United States more than twenty-eight years ago, whose
-copyright was not renewed. In talking about the new technology and
-putting material in a digital form to send all over the world, PETERS
-cautioned, one must keep in mind that while the rights may not be an
-issue in the United States, they may be in different parts of the world,
-where most countries previously employed a copyright term of the life of
-the author plus fifty years.
-
-PETERS next reviewed the economics of copyright holding. Simply,
-economic rights are the rights to control the reproduction of a work in
-any form. They belong to the author, or in the case of a work made for
-hire, the employer. The second right, which is critical to conversion,
-is the right to change a work. The right to make new versions is perhaps
-one of the most significant rights of authors, particularly in an
-electronic world. The third right is the right to publish the work and
-the right to disseminate it, something that everyone who deals in an
-electronic medium needs to know. The basic rule is if a copy is sold,
-all rights of distribution are extinguished with the sale of that copy.
-The key is that it must be sold. A number of companies overcome this
-obstacle by leasing or renting their product. These companies argue that
-if the material is rented or leased and not sold, they control the uses
-of a work. The fourth right, and one very important in a digital world,
-is a right of public performance, which means the right to show the work
-sequentially. For example, copyright owners control the showing of a
-CD-ROM product in a public place such as a public library. The reverse
-side of public performance is something called the right of public
-display. Moral rights also exist, which at the federal level apply only
-to very limited visual works of art, but in theory may apply under
-contract and other principles. Moral rights may include the right of an
-author to have his or her name on a work, the right of attribution, and
-the right to object to distortion or mutilation--the right of integrity.
-
-The way copyright law is worded gives much latitude to activities such as
-preservation; to use of material for scholarly and research purposes when
-the user does not make multiple copies; and to the generation of
-facsimile copies of unpublished works by libraries for themselves and
-other libraries. But the law does not allow anyone to become the
-distributor of the product for the entire world. In today's electronic
-environment, publishers are extremely concerned that the entire world is
-networked and can obtain the information desired from a single copy in a
-single library. Hence, if there is to be only one sale, which publishers
-may choose to live with, they will obtain their money in other ways, for
-example, from access and use. Hence, the development of site licenses
-and other kinds of agreements to cover what publishers believe they
-should be compensated for. Any solution that the United States takes
-today has to consider the international arena.
-
-Noting that the United States is a member of the Berne Convention and
-subscribes to its provisions, PETERS described the permissions process.
-She also defined compulsory licenses. A compulsory license, of which the
-United States has had a few, builds into the law the right to use a work
-subject to certain terms and conditions. In the international arena,
-however, the ability to use compulsory licenses is extremely limited.
-Thus, clearinghouses and other collectives comprise one option that has
-succeeded in providing for use of a work. Often overlooked when one
-begins to use copyrighted material and put products together is how
-expensive the permissions process and managing it is. According to
-PETERS, the price of copyright in a digital medium, whatever solution is
-worked out, will include managing and assembling the database. She
-strongly recommended that publishers and librarians or people with
-various backgrounds cooperate to work out administratively feasible
-systems, in order to produce better results.
-
-In the lengthy question-and-answer period that followed PETERS's
-presentation, the following points emerged:
-
- * The Copyright Office maintains that anything mechanical and
- totally exhaustive probably is not protected. In the event that
- what an individual did in developing potentially copyrightable
- material is not understood, the Copyright Office will ask about the
- creative choices the applicant chose to make or not to make. As a
- practical matter, if one believes she or he has made enough of those
- choices, that person has a right to assert a copyright and someone
- else must assert that the work is not copyrightable. The more
- mechanical, the more automatic, a thing is, the less likely it is to
- be copyrightable.
-
- * Nearly all photographs are deemed to be copyrightable, but no one
- worries about them much, because everyone is free to take the same
- image. Thus, a photographic copyright represents what is called a
- "thin" copyright. The photograph itself must be duplicated, in
- order for copyright to be violated.
-
- * The Copyright Office takes the position that X-rays are not
- copyrightable because they are mechanical. It can be argued
- whether or not image enhancement in scanning can be protected. One
- must exercise care with material created with public funds and
- generally in the public domain. An article written by a federal
- employee, if written as part of official duties, is not
- copyrightable. However, control over a scientific article written
- by a National Institutes of Health grantee (i.e., someone who
- receives money from the U.S. government), depends on NIH policy. If
- the government agency has no policy (and that policy can be
- contained in its regulations, the contract, or the grant), the
- author retains copyright. If a provision of the contract, grant, or
- regulation states that there will be no copyright, then it does not
- exist. When a work is created, copyright automatically comes into
- existence unless something exists that says it does not.
-
- * An enhanced electronic copy of a print copy of an older reference
- work in the public domain that does not contain copyrightable new
- material is a purely mechanical rendition of the original work, and
- is not copyrightable.
-
- * Usually, when a work enters the public domain, nothing can remove
- it. For example, Congress recently passed into law the concept of
- automatic renewal, which means that copyright on any work published
- between l964 and l978 does not have to be renewed in order to
- receive a seventy-five-year term. But any work not renewed before
- 1964 is in the public domain.
-
- * Concerning whether or not the United States keeps track of when
- authors die, nothing was ever done, nor is anything being done at
- the moment by the Copyright Office.
-
- * Software that drives a mechanical process is itself copyrightable.
- If one changes platforms, the software itself has a copyright. The
- World Intellectual Property Organization will hold a symposium 28
- March through 2 April l993, at Harvard University, on digital
- technology, and will study this entire issue. If one purchases a
- computer software package, such as MacPaint, and creates something
- new, one receives protection only for that which has been added.
-
-PETERS added that often in copyright matters, rough justice is the
-outcome, for example, in collective licensing, ASCAP (i.e., American
-Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers), and BMI (i.e., Broadcast
-Music, Inc.), where it may seem that the big guys receive more than their
-due. Of course, people ought not to copy a creative product without
-paying for it; there should be some compensation. But the truth of the
-world, and it is not a great truth, is that the big guy gets played on
-the radio more frequently than the little guy, who has to do much more
-until he becomes a big guy. That is true of every author, every
-composer, everyone, and, unfortunately, is part of life.
-
-Copyright always originates with the author, except in cases of works
-made for hire. (Most software falls into this category.) When an author
-sends his article to a journal, he has not relinquished copyright, though
-he retains the right to relinquish it. The author receives absolutely
-everything. The less prominent the author, the more leverage the
-publisher will have in contract negotiations. In order to transfer the
-rights, the author must sign an agreement giving them away.
-
-In an electronic society, it is important to be able to license a writer
-and work out deals. With regard to use of a work, it usually is much
-easier when a publisher holds the rights. In an electronic era, a real
-problem arises when one is digitizing and making information available.
-PETERS referred again to electronic licensing clearinghouses. Copyright
-ought to remain with the author, but as one moves forward globally in the
-electronic arena, a middleman who can handle the various rights becomes
-increasingly necessary.
-
-The notion of copyright law is that it resides with the individual, but
-in an on-line environment, where a work can be adapted and tinkered with
-by many individuals, there is concern. If changes are authorized and
-there is no agreement to the contrary, the person who changes a work owns
-the changes. To put it another way, the person who acquires permission
-to change a work technically will become the author and the owner, unless
-some agreement to the contrary has been made. It is typical for the
-original publisher to try to control all of the versions and all of the
-uses. Copyright law always only sets up the boundaries. Anything can be
-changed by contract.
-
- ******
-
-SESSION VII. CONCLUSION
-
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-GENERAL DISCUSSION * Two questions for discussion * Different emphases in
-the Workshop * Bringing the text and image partisans together *
-Desiderata in planning the long-term development of something * Questions
-surrounding the issue of electronic deposit * Discussion of electronic
-deposit as an allusion to the issue of standards * Need for a directory
-of preservation projects in digital form and for access to their
-digitized files * CETH's catalogue of machine-readable texts in the
-humanities * What constitutes a publication in the electronic world? *
-Need for LC to deal with the concept of on-line publishing * LC's Network
-Development Office exploring the limits of MARC as a standard in terms
-of handling electronic information * Magnitude of the problem and the
-need for distributed responsibility in order to maintain and store
-electronic information * Workshop participants to be viewed as a starting
-point * Development of a network version of AM urged * A step toward AM's
-construction of some sort of apparatus for network access * A delicate
-and agonizing policy question for LC * Re the issue of electronic
-deposit, LC urged to initiate a catalytic process in terms of distributed
-responsibility * Suggestions for cooperative ventures * Commercial
-publishers' fears * Strategic questions for getting the image and text
-people to think through long-term cooperation * Clarification of the
-driving force behind both the Perseus and the Cornell Xerox projects *
-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-In his role as moderator of the concluding session, GIFFORD raised two
-questions he believed would benefit from discussion: 1) Are there enough
-commonalities among those of us that have been here for two days so that
-we can see courses of action that should be taken in the future? And, if
-so, what are they and who might take them? 2) Partly derivative from
-that, but obviously very dangerous to LC as host, do you see a role for
-the Library of Congress in all this? Of course, the Library of Congress
-holds a rather special status in a number of these matters, because it is
-not perceived as a player with an economic stake in them, but are there
-roles that LC can play that can help advance us toward where we are heading?
-
-Describing himself as an uninformed observer of the technicalities of the
-last two days, GIFFORD detected three different emphases in the Workshop:
-1) people who are very deeply committed to text; 2) people who are almost
-passionate about images; and 3) a few people who are very committed to
-what happens to the networks. In other words, the new networking
-dimension, the accessibility of the processability, the portability of
-all this across the networks. How do we pull those three together?
-
-Adding a question that reflected HOCKEY's comment that this was the
-fourth workshop she had attended in the previous thirty days, FLEISCHHAUER
-wondered to what extent this meeting had reinvented the wheel, or if it
-had contributed anything in the way of bringing together a different group
-of people from those who normally appear on the workshop circuit.
-
-HOCKEY confessed to being struck at this meeting and the one the
-Electronic Pierce Consortium organized the previous week that this was a
-coming together of people working on texts and not images. Attempting to
-bring the two together is something we ought to be thinking about for the
-future: How one can think about working with image material to begin
-with, but structuring it and digitizing it in such a way that at a later
-stage it can be interpreted into text, and find a common way of building
-text and images together so that they can be used jointly in the future,
-with the network support to begin there because that is how people will
-want to access it.
-
-In planning the long-term development of something, which is what is
-being done in electronic text, HOCKEY stressed the importance not only
-of discussing the technical aspects of how one does it but particularly
-of thinking about what the people who use the stuff will want to do.
-But conversely, there are numerous things that people start to do with
-electronic text or material that nobody ever thought of in the beginning.
-
-LESK, in response to the question concerning the role of the Library of
-Congress, remarked the often suggested desideratum of having electronic
-deposit: Since everything is now computer-typeset, an entire decade of
-material that was machine-readable exists, but the publishers frequently
-did not save it; has LC taken any action to have its copyright deposit
-operation start collecting these machine-readable versions? In the
-absence of PETERS, GIFFORD replied that the question was being
-actively considered but that that was only one dimension of the problem.
-Another dimension is the whole question of the integrity of the original
-electronic document. It becomes highly important in science to prove
-authorship. How will that be done?
-
-ERWAY explained that, under the old policy, to make a claim for a
-copyright for works that were published in electronic form, including
-software, one had to submit a paper copy of the first and last twenty
-pages of code--something that represented the work but did not include
-the entire work itself and had little value to anyone. As a temporary
-measure, LC has claimed the right to demand electronic versions of
-electronic publications. This measure entails a proactive role for the
-Library to say that it wants a particular electronic version. Publishers
-then have perhaps a year to submit it. But the real problem for LC is
-what to do with all this material in all these different formats. Will
-the Library mount it? How will it give people access to it? How does LC
-keep track of the appropriate computers, software, and media? The situation
-is so hard to control, ERWAY said, that it makes sense for each publishing
-house to maintain its own archive. But LC cannot enforce that either.
-
-GIFFORD acknowledged LESK's suggestion that establishing a priority
-offered the solution, albeit a fairly complicated one. But who maintains
-that register?, he asked. GRABER noted that LC does attempt to collect a
-Macintosh version and the IBM-compatible version of software. It does
-not collect other versions. But while true for software, BYRUM observed,
-this reply does not speak to materials, that is, all the materials that
-were published that were on somebody's microcomputer or driver tapes
-at a publishing office across the country. LC does well to acquire
-specific machine-readable products selectively that were intended to be
-machine-readable. Materials that were in machine-readable form at one time,
-BYRUM said, would be beyond LC's capability at the moment, insofar as
-attempting to acquire, organize, and preserve them are concerned--and
-preservation would be the most important consideration. In this
-connection, GIFFORD reiterated the need to work out some sense of
-distributive responsibility for a number of these issues, which
-inevitably will require significant cooperation and discussion.
-Nobody can do it all.
-
-LESK suggested that some publishers may look with favor on LC beginning
-to serve as a depository of tapes in an electronic manuscript standard.
-Publishers may view this as a service that they did not have to perform
-and they might send in tapes. However, SPERBERG-McQUEEN countered,
-although publishers have had equivalent services available to them for a
-long time, the electronic text archive has never turned away or been
-flooded with tapes and is forever sending feedback to the depositor.
-Some publishers do send in tapes.
-
-ANDRE viewed this discussion as an allusion to the issue of standards.
-She recommended that the AAP standard and the TEI, which has already been
-somewhat harmonized internationally and which also shares several
-compatibilities with the AAP, be harmonized to ensure sufficient
-compatibility in the software. She drew the line at saying LC ought to
-be the locus or forum for such harmonization.
-
-Taking the group in a slightly different direction, but one where at
-least in the near term LC might play a helpful role, LYNCH remarked the
-plans of a number of projects to carry out preservation by creating
-digital images that will end up in on-line or near-line storage at some
-institution. Presumably, LC will link this material somehow to its
-on-line catalog in most cases. Thus, it is in a digital form. LYNCH had
-the impression that many of these institutions would be willing to make
-those files accessible to other people outside the institution, provided
-that there is no copyright problem. This desideratum will require
-propagating the knowledge that those digitized files exist, so that they
-can end up in other on-line catalogs. Although uncertain about the
-mechanism for achieving this result, LYNCH said that it warranted
-scrutiny because it seemed to be connected to some of the basic issues of
-cataloging and distribution of records. It would be foolish, given the
-amount of work that all of us have to do and our meager resources, to
-discover multiple institutions digitizing the same work. Re microforms,
-LYNCH said, we are in pretty good shape.
-
-BATTIN called this a big problem and noted that the Cornell people (who
-had already departed) were working on it. At issue from the beginning
-was to learn how to catalog that information into RLIN and then into
-OCLC, so that it would be accessible. That issue remains to be resolved.
-LYNCH rejoined that putting it into OCLC or RLIN was helpful insofar as
-somebody who is thinking of performing preservation activity on that work
-could learn about it. It is not necessarily helpful for institutions to
-make that available. BATTIN opined that the idea was that it not only be
-for preservation purposes but for the convenience of people looking for
-this material. She endorsed LYNCH's dictum that duplication of this
-effort was to be avoided by every means.
-
-HOCKEY informed the Workshop about one major current activity of CETH,
-namely a catalogue of machine-readable texts in the humanities. Held on
-RLIN at present, the catalogue has been concentrated on ASCII as opposed
-to digitized images of text. She is exploring ways to improve the
-catalogue and make it more widely available, and welcomed suggestions
-about these concerns. CETH owns the records, which are not just
-restricted to RLIN, and can distribute them however it wishes.
-
-Taking up LESK's earlier question, BATTIN inquired whether LC, since it
-is accepting electronic files and designing a mechanism for dealing with
-that rather than putting books on shelves, would become responsible for
-the National Copyright Depository of Electronic Materials. Of course
-that could not be accomplished overnight, but it would be something LC
-could plan for. GIFFORD acknowledged that much thought was being devoted
-to that set of problems and returned the discussion to the issue raised
-by LYNCH--whether or not putting the kind of records that both BATTIN and
-HOCKEY have been talking about in RLIN is not a satisfactory solution.
-It seemed to him that RLIN answered LYNCH's original point concerning
-some kind of directory for these kinds of materials. In a situation
-where somebody is attempting to decide whether or not to scan this or
-film that or to learn whether or not someone has already done so, LYNCH
-suggested, RLIN is helpful, but it is not helpful in the case of a local,
-on-line catalogue. Further, one would like to have her or his system be
-aware that that exists in digital form, so that one can present it to a
-patron, even though one did not digitize it, if it is out of copyright.
-The only way to make those linkages would be to perform a tremendous
-amount of real-time look-up, which would be awkward at best, or
-periodically to yank the whole file from RLIN and match it against one's
-own stuff, which is a nuisance.
-
-But where, ERWAY inquired, does one stop including things that are
-available with Internet, for instance, in one's local catalogue?
-It almost seems that that is LC's means to acquire access to them.
-That represents LC's new form of library loan. Perhaps LC's new on-line
-catalogue is an amalgamation of all these catalogues on line. LYNCH
-conceded that perhaps that was true in the very long term, but was not
-applicable to scanning in the short term. In his view, the totals cited
-by Yale, 10,000 books over perhaps a four-year period, and 1,000-1,500
-books from Cornell, were not big numbers, while searching all over
-creation for relatively rare occurrences will prove to be less efficient.
-As GIFFORD wondered if this would not be a separable file on RLIN and
-could be requested from them, BATTIN interjected that it was easily
-accessible to an institution. SEVERTSON pointed out that that file, cum
-enhancements, was available with reference information on CD-ROM, which
-makes it a little more available.
-
-In HOCKEY's view, the real question facing the Workshop is what to put in
-this catalogue, because that raises the question of what constitutes a
-publication in the electronic world. (WEIBEL interjected that Eric Joule
-in OCLC's Office of Research is also wrestling with this particular
-problem, while GIFFORD thought it sounded fairly generic.) HOCKEY
-contended that a majority of texts in the humanities are in the hands
-of either a small number of large research institutions or individuals
-and are not generally available for anyone else to access at all.
-She wondered if these texts ought to be catalogued.
-
-After argument proceeded back and forth for several minutes over why
-cataloguing might be a necessary service, LEBRON suggested that this
-issue involved the responsibility of a publisher. The fact that someone
-has created something electronically and keeps it under his or her
-control does not constitute publication. Publication implies
-dissemination. While it would be important for a scholar to let other
-people know that this creation exists, in many respects this is no
-different from an unpublished manuscript. That is what is being accessed
-in there, except that now one is not looking at it in the hard-copy but
-in the electronic environment.
-
-LEBRON expressed puzzlement at the variety of ways electronic publishing
-has been viewed. Much of what has been discussed throughout these two
-days has concerned CD-ROM publishing, whereas in the on-line environment
-that she confronts, the constraints and challenges are very different.
-Sooner or later LC will have to deal with the concept of on-line
-publishing. Taking up the comment ERWAY made earlier about storing
-copies, LEBRON gave her own journal as an example. How would she deposit
-OJCCT for copyright?, she asked, because the journal will exist in the
-mainframe at OCLC and people will be able to access it. Here the
-situation is different, ownership versus access, and is something that
-arises with publication in the on-line environment, faster than is
-sometimes realized. Lacking clear answers to all of these questions
-herself, LEBRON did not anticipate that LC would be able to take a role
-in helping to define some of them for quite a while.
-
-GREENFIELD observed that LC's Network Development Office is attempting,
-among other things, to explore the limits of MARC as a standard in terms
-of handling electronic information. GREENFIELD also noted that Rebecca
-GUENTHER from that office gave a paper to the American Society for
-Information Science (ASIS) summarizing several of the discussion papers
-that were coming out of the Network Development Office. GREENFIELD said
-he understood that that office had a list-server soliciting just the kind
-of feedback received today concerning the difficulties of identifying and
-cataloguing electronic information. GREENFIELD hoped that everybody
-would be aware of that and somehow contribute to that conversation.
-
-Noting two of LC's roles, first, to act as a repository of record for
-material that is copyrighted in this country, and second, to make
-materials it holds available in some limited form to a clientele that
-goes beyond Congress, BESSER suggested that it was incumbent on LC to
-extend those responsibilities to all the things being published in
-electronic form. This would mean eventually accepting electronic
-formats. LC could require that at some point they be in a certain
-limited set of formats, and then develop mechanisms for allowing people
-to access those in the same way that other things are accessed. This
-does not imply that they are on the network and available to everyone.
-LC does that with most of its bibliographic records, BESSER said, which
-end up migrating to the utility (e.g., OCLC) or somewhere else. But just
-as most of LC's books are available in some form through interlibrary
-loan or some other mechanism, so in the same way electronic formats ought
-to be available to others in some format, though with some copyright
-considerations. BESSER was not suggesting that these mechanisms be
-established tomorrow, only that they seemed to fall within LC's purview,
-and that there should be long-range plans to establish them.
-
-Acknowledging that those from LC in the room agreed with BESSER
-concerning the need to confront difficult questions, GIFFORD underscored
-the magnitude of the problem of what to keep and what to select. GIFFORD
-noted that LC currently receives some 31,000 items per day, not counting
-electronic materials, and argued for much more distributed responsibility
-in order to maintain and store electronic information.
-
-BESSER responded that the assembled group could be viewed as a starting
-point, whose initial operating premise could be helping to move in this
-direction and defining how LC could do so, for example, in areas of
-standardization or distribution of responsibility.
-
-FLEISCHHAUER added that AM was fully engaged, wrestling with some of the
-questions that pertain to the conversion of older historical materials,
-which would be one thing that the Library of Congress might do. Several
-points mentioned by BESSER and several others on this question have a
-much greater impact on those who are concerned with cataloguing and the
-networking of bibliographic information, as well as preservation itself.
-
-Speaking directly to AM, which he considered was a largely uncopyrighted
-database, LYNCH urged development of a network version of AM, or
-consideration of making the data in it available to people interested in
-doing network multimedia. On account of the current great shortage of
-digital data that is both appealing and unencumbered by complex rights
-problems, this course of action could have a significant effect on making
-network multimedia a reality.
-
-In this connection, FLEISCHHAUER reported on a fragmentary prototype in
-LC's Office of Information Technology Services that attempts to associate
-digital images of photographs with cataloguing information in ways that
-work within a local area network--a step, so to say, toward AM's
-construction of some sort of apparatus for access. Further, AM has
-attempted to use standard data forms in order to help make that
-distinction between the access tools and the underlying data, and thus
-believes that the database is networkable.
-
-A delicate and agonizing policy question for LC, however, which comes
-back to resources and unfortunately has an impact on this, is to find
-some appropriate, honorable, and legal cost-recovery possibilities. A
-certain skittishness concerning cost-recovery has made people unsure
-exactly what to do. AM would be highly receptive to discussing further
-LYNCH's offer to test or demonstrate its database in a network
-environment, FLEISCHHAUER said.
-
-Returning the discussion to what she viewed as the vital issue of
-electronic deposit, BATTIN recommended that LC initiate a catalytic
-process in terms of distributed responsibility, that is, bring together
-the distributed organizations and set up a study group to look at all
-these issues and see where we as a nation should move. The broader
-issues of how we deal with the management of electronic information will
-not disappear, but only grow worse.
-
-LESK took up this theme and suggested that LC attempt to persuade one
-major library in each state to deal with its state equivalent publisher,
-which might produce a cooperative project that would be equitably
-distributed around the country, and one in which LC would be dealing with
-a minimal number of publishers and minimal copyright problems.
-
-GRABER remarked the recent development in the scientific community of a
-willingness to use SGML and either deposit or interchange on a fairly
-standardized format. He wondered if a similar movement was taking place
-in the humanities. Although the National Library of Medicine found only
-a few publishers to cooperate in a like venture two or three years ago, a
-new effort might generate a much larger number willing to cooperate.
-
-KIMBALL recounted his unit's (Machine-Readable Collections Reading Room)
-troubles with the commercial publishers of electronic media in acquiring
-materials for LC's collections, in particular the publishers' fear that
-they would not be able to cover their costs and would lose control of
-their products, that LC would give them away or sell them and make
-profits from them. He doubted that the publishing industry was prepared
-to move into this area at the moment, given its resistance to allowing LC
-to use its machine-readable materials as the Library would like.
-
-The copyright law now addresses compact disk as a medium, and LC can
-request one copy of that, or two copies if it is the only version, and
-can request copies of software, but that fails to address magazines or
-books or anything like that which is in machine-readable form.
-
-GIFFORD acknowledged the thorny nature of this issue, which he illustrated
-with the example of the cumbersome process involved in putting a copy of a
-scientific database on a LAN in LC's science reading room. He also
-acknowledged that LC needs help and could enlist the energies and talents
-of Workshop participants in thinking through a number of these problems.
-
-GIFFORD returned the discussion to getting the image and text people to
-think through together where they want to go in the long term. MYLONAS
-conceded that her experience at the Pierce Symposium the previous week at
-Georgetown University and this week at LC had forced her to reevaluate
-her perspective on the usefulness of text as images. MYLONAS framed the
-issues in a series of questions: How do we acquire machine-readable
-text? Do we take pictures of it and perform OCR on it later? Is it
-important to obtain very high-quality images and text, etc.?
-FLEISCHHAUER agreed with MYLONAS's framing of strategic questions, adding
-that a large institution such as LC probably has to do all of those
-things at different times. Thus, the trick is to exercise judgment. The
-Workshop had added to his and AM's considerations in making those
-judgments. Concerning future meetings or discussions, MYLONAS suggested
-that screening priorities would be helpful.
-
-WEIBEL opined that the diversity reflected in this group was a sign both
-of the health and of the immaturity of the field, and more time would
-have to pass before we convince one another concerning standards.
-
-An exchange between MYLONAS and BATTIN clarified the point that the
-driving force behind both the Perseus and the Cornell Xerox projects was
-the preservation of knowledge for the future, not simply for particular
-research use. In the case of Perseus, MYLONAS said, the assumption was
-that the texts would not be entered again into electronically readable
-form. SPERBERG-McQUEEN added that a scanned image would not serve as an
-archival copy for purposes of preservation in the case of, say, the Bill
-of Rights, in the sense that the scanned images are effectively the
-archival copies for the Cornell mathematics books.
-
-
- *** *** *** ****** *** *** ***
-
-
- Appendix I: PROGRAM
-
-
-
- WORKSHOP
- ON
- ELECTRONIC
- TEXTS
-
-
-
- 9-10 June 1992
-
- Library of Congress
- Washington, D.C.
-
-
-
- Supported by a Grant from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation
-
-
-Tuesday, 9 June 1992
-
-NATIONAL DEMONSTRATION LAB, ATRIUM, LIBRARY MADISON
-
-8:30 AM Coffee and Danish, registration
-
-9:00 AM Welcome
-
- Prosser Gifford, Director for Scholarly Programs, and Carl
- Fleischhauer, Coordinator, American Memory, Library of
- Congress
-
-9:l5 AM Session I. Content in a New Form: Who Will Use It and What
- Will They Do?
-
- Broad description of the range of electronic information.
- Characterization of who uses it and how it is or may be used.
- In addition to a look at scholarly uses, this session will
- include a presentation on use by students (K-12 and college)
- and the general public.
-
- Moderator: James Daly
- Avra Michelson, Archival Research and Evaluation Staff,
- National Archives and Records Administration (Overview)
- Susan H. Veccia, Team Leader, American Memory, User Evaluation,
- and
- Joanne Freeman, Associate Coordinator, American Memory, Library
- of Congress (Beyond the scholar)
-
-10:30-
-11:00 AM Break
-
-11:00 AM Session II. Show and Tell.
-
- Each presentation to consist of a fifteen-minute
- statement/show; group discussion will follow lunch.
-
- Moderator: Jacqueline Hess, Director, National Demonstration
- Lab
-
- 1. A classics project, stressing texts and text retrieval
- more than multimedia: Perseus Project, Harvard
- University
- Elli Mylonas, Managing Editor
-
- 2. Other humanities projects employing the emerging norms of
- the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI): Chadwyck-Healey's
- The English Poetry Full Text Database and/or Patrologia
- Latina Database
- Eric M. Calaluca, Vice President, Chadwyck-Healey, Inc.
-
- 3. American Memory
- Carl Fleischhauer, Coordinator, and
- Ricky Erway, Associate Coordinator, Library of Congress
-
- 4. Founding Fathers example from Packard Humanities
- Institute: The Papers of George Washington, University
- of Virginia
- Dorothy Twohig, Managing Editor, and/or
- David Woodley Packard
-
- 5. An electronic medical journal offering graphics and
- full-text searchability: The Online Journal of Current
- Clinical Trials, American Association for the Advancement
- of Science
- Maria L. Lebron, Managing Editor
-
- 6. A project that offers facsimile images of pages but omits
- searchable text: Cornell math books
- Lynne K. Personius, Assistant Director, Cornell
- Information Technologies for Scholarly Information
- Sources, Cornell University
-
-12:30 PM Lunch (Dining Room A, Library Madison 620. Exhibits
- available.)
-
-1:30 PM Session II. Show and Tell (Cont'd.).
-
-3:00-
-3:30 PM Break
-
-3:30-
-5:30 PM Session III. Distribution, Networks, and Networking: Options
- for Dissemination.
-
- Published disks: University presses and public-sector
- publishers, private-sector publishers
- Computer networks
-
- Moderator: Robert G. Zich, Special Assistant to the Associate
- Librarian for Special Projects, Library of Congress
- Clifford A. Lynch, Director, Library Automation, University of
- California
- Howard Besser, School of Library and Information Science,
- University of Pittsburgh
- Ronald L. Larsen, Associate Director of Libraries for
- Information Technology, University of Maryland at College
- Park
- Edwin B. Brownrigg, Executive Director, Memex Research
- Institute
-
-6:30 PM Reception (Montpelier Room, Library Madison 619.)
-
- ******
-
-Wednesday, 10 June 1992
-
-DINING ROOM A, LIBRARY MADISON 620
-
-8:30 AM Coffee and Danish
-
-9:00 AM Session IV. Image Capture, Text Capture, Overview of Text and
- Image Storage Formats.
-
- Moderator: William L. Hooton, Vice President of Operations,
- I-NET
-
- A) Principal Methods for Image Capture of Text:
- Direct scanning
- Use of microform
-
- Anne R. Kenney, Assistant Director, Department of Preservation
- and Conservation, Cornell University
- Pamela Q.J. Andre, Associate Director, Automation, and
- Judith A. Zidar, Coordinator, National Agricultural Text
- Digitizing Program (NATDP), National Agricultural Library
- (NAL)
- Donald J. Waters, Head, Systems Office, Yale University Library
-
- B) Special Problems:
- Bound volumes
- Conservation
- Reproducing printed halftones
-
- Carl Fleischhauer, Coordinator, American Memory, Library of
- Congress
- George Thoma, Chief, Communications Engineering Branch,
- National Library of Medicine (NLM)
-
-10:30-
-11:00 AM Break
-
-11:00 AM Session IV. Image Capture, Text Capture, Overview of Text and
- Image Storage Formats (Cont'd.).
-
- C) Image Standards and Implications for Preservation
-
- Jean Baronas, Senior Manager, Department of Standards and
- Technology, Association for Information and Image Management
- (AIIM)
- Patricia Battin, President, The Commission on Preservation and
- Access (CPA)
-
- D) Text Conversion:
- OCR vs. rekeying
- Standards of accuracy and use of imperfect texts
- Service bureaus
-
- Stuart Weibel, Senior Research Specialist, Online Computer
- Library Center, Inc. (OCLC)
- Michael Lesk, Executive Director, Computer Science Research,
- Bellcore
- Ricky Erway, Associate Coordinator, American Memory, Library of
- Congress
- Pamela Q.J. Andre, Associate Director, Automation, and
- Judith A. Zidar, Coordinator, National Agricultural Text
- Digitizing Program (NATDP), National Agricultural Library
- (NAL)
-
-12:30-
-1:30 PM Lunch
-
-1:30 PM Session V. Approaches to Preparing Electronic Texts.
-
- Discussion of approaches to structuring text for the computer;
- pros and cons of text coding, description of methods in
- practice, and comparison of text-coding methods.
-
- Moderator: Susan Hockey, Director, Center for Electronic Texts
- in the Humanities (CETH), Rutgers and Princeton Universities
- David Woodley Packard
- C.M. Sperberg-McQueen, Editor, Text Encoding Initiative (TEI),
- University of Illinois-Chicago
- Eric M. Calaluca, Vice President, Chadwyck-Healey, Inc.
-
-3:30-
-4:00 PM Break
-
-4:00 PM Session VI. Copyright Issues.
-
- Marybeth Peters, Policy Planning Adviser to the Register of
- Copyrights, Library of Congress
-
-5:00 PM Session VII. Conclusion.
-
- General discussion.
- What topics were omitted or given short shrift that anyone
- would like to talk about now?
- Is there a "group" here? What should the group do next, if
- anything? What should the Library of Congress do next, if
- anything?
- Moderator: Prosser Gifford, Director for Scholarly Programs,
- Library of Congress
-
-6:00 PM Adjourn
-
-
- *** *** *** ****** *** *** ***
-
-
- Appendix II: ABSTRACTS
-
-
-SESSION I
-
-Avra MICHELSON Forecasting the Use of Electronic Texts by
- Social Sciences and Humanities Scholars
-
-This presentation explores the ways in which electronic texts are likely
-to be used by the non-scientific scholarly community. Many of the
-remarks are drawn from a report the speaker coauthored with Jeff
-Rothenberg, a computer scientist at The RAND Corporation.
-
-The speaker assesses 1) current scholarly use of information technology
-and 2) the key trends in information technology most relevant to the
-research process, in order to predict how social sciences and humanities
-scholars are apt to use electronic texts. In introducing the topic,
-current use of electronic texts is explored broadly within the context of
-scholarly communication. From the perspective of scholarly
-communication, the work of humanities and social sciences scholars
-involves five processes: 1) identification of sources, 2) communication
-with colleagues, 3) interpretation and analysis of data, 4) dissemination
-of research findings, and 5) curriculum development and instruction. The
-extent to which computation currently permeates aspects of scholarly
-communication represents a viable indicator of the prospects for
-electronic texts.
-
-The discussion of current practice is balanced by an analysis of key
-trends in the scholarly use of information technology. These include the
-trends toward end-user computing and connectivity, which provide a
-framework for forecasting the use of electronic texts through this
-millennium. The presentation concludes with a summary of the ways in
-which the nonscientific scholarly community can be expected to use
-electronic texts, and the implications of that use for information
-providers.
-
-Susan VECCIA and Joanne FREEMAN Electronic Archives for the Public:
- Use of American Memory in Public and
- School Libraries
-
-This joint discussion focuses on nonscholarly applications of electronic
-library materials, specifically addressing use of the Library of Congress
-American Memory (AM) program in a small number of public and school
-libraries throughout the United States. AM consists of selected Library
-of Congress primary archival materials, stored on optical media
-(CD-ROM/videodisc), and presented with little or no editing. Many
-collections are accompanied by electronic introductions and user's guides
-offering background information and historical context. Collections
-represent a variety of formats including photographs, graphic arts,
-motion pictures, recorded sound, music, broadsides and manuscripts,
-books, and pamphlets.
-
-In 1991, the Library of Congress began a nationwide evaluation of AM in
-different types of institutions. Test sites include public libraries,
-elementary and secondary school libraries, college and university
-libraries, state libraries, and special libraries. Susan VECCIA and
-Joanne FREEMAN will discuss their observations on the use of AM by the
-nonscholarly community, using evidence gleaned from this ongoing
-evaluation effort.
-
-VECCIA will comment on the overall goals of the evaluation project, and
-the types of public and school libraries included in this study. Her
-comments on nonscholarly use of AM will focus on the public library as a
-cultural and community institution, often bridging the gap between formal
-and informal education. FREEMAN will discuss the use of AM in school
-libraries. Use by students and teachers has revealed some broad
-questions about the use of electronic resources, as well as definite
-benefits gained by the "nonscholar." Topics will include the problem of
-grasping content and context in an electronic environment, the stumbling
-blocks created by "new" technologies, and the unique skills and interests
-awakened through use of electronic resources.
-
-SESSION II
-
-Elli MYLONAS The Perseus Project: Interactive Sources and
- Studies in Classical Greece
-
-The Perseus Project (5) has just released Perseus 1.0, the first publicly
-available version of its hypertextual database of multimedia materials on
-classical Greece. Perseus is designed to be used by a wide audience,
-comprised of readers at the student and scholar levels. As such, it must
-be able to locate information using different strategies, and it must
-contain enough detail to serve the different needs of its users. In
-addition, it must be delivered so that it is affordable to its target
-audience. [These problems and the solutions we chose are described in
-Mylonas, "An Interface to Classical Greek Civilization," JASIS 43:2,
-March 1992.]
-
-In order to achieve its objective, the project staff decided to make a
-conscious separation between selecting and converting textual, database,
-and image data on the one hand, and putting it into a delivery system on
-the other. That way, it is possible to create the electronic data
-without thinking about the restrictions of the delivery system. We have
-made a great effort to choose system-independent formats for our data,
-and to put as much thought and work as possible into structuring it so
-that the translation from paper to electronic form will enhance the value
-of the data. [A discussion of these solutions as of two years ago is in
-Elli Mylonas, Gregory Crane, Kenneth Morrell, and D. Neel Smith, "The
-Perseus Project: Data in the Electronic Age," in Accessing Antiquity:
-The Computerization of Classical Databases, J. Solomon and T. Worthen
-(eds.), University of Arizona Press, in press.]
-
-Much of the work on Perseus is focused on collecting and converting the
-data on which the project is based. At the same time, it is necessary to
-provide means of access to the information, in order to make it usable,
-and them to investigate how it is used. As we learn more about what
-students and scholars from different backgrounds do with Perseus, we can
-adjust our data collection, and also modify the system to accommodate
-them. In creating a delivery system for general use, we have tried to
-avoid favoring any one type of use by allowing multiple forms of access
-to and navigation through the system.
-
-The way text is handled exemplifies some of these principles. All text
-in Perseus is tagged using SGML, following the guidelines of the Text
-Encoding Initiative (TEI). This markup is used to index the text, and
-process it so that it can be imported into HyperCard. No SGML markup
-remains in the text that reaches the user, because currently it would be
-too expensive to create a system that acts on SGML in real time.
-However, the regularity provided by SGML is essential for verifying the
-content of the texts, and greatly speeds all the processing performed on
-them. The fact that the texts exist in SGML ensures that they will be
-relatively easy to port to different hardware and software, and so will
-outlast the current delivery platform. Finally, the SGML markup
-incorporates existing canonical reference systems (chapter, verse, line,
-etc.); indexing and navigation are based on these features. This ensures
-that the same canonical reference will always resolve to the same point
-within a text, and that all versions of our texts, regardless of delivery
-platform (even paper printouts) will function the same way.
-
-In order to provide tools for users, the text is processed by a
-morphological analyzer, and the results are stored in a database.
-Together with the index, the Greek-English Lexicon, and the index of all
-the English words in the definitions of the lexicon, the morphological
-analyses comprise a set of linguistic tools that allow users of all
-levels to work with the textual information, and to accomplish different
-tasks. For example, students who read no Greek may explore a concept as
-it appears in Greek texts by using the English-Greek index, and then
-looking up works in the texts and translations, or scholars may do
-detailed morphological studies of word use by using the morphological
-analyses of the texts. Because these tools were not designed for any one
-use, the same tools and the same data can be used by both students and
-scholars.
-
-NOTES:
- (5) Perseus is based at Harvard University, with collaborators at
- several other universities. The project has been funded primarily
- by the Annenberg/CPB Project, as well as by Harvard University,
- Apple Computer, and others. It is published by Yale University
- Press. Perseus runs on Macintosh computers, under the HyperCard
- program.
-
-Eric CALALUCA
-
-Chadwyck-Healey embarked last year on two distinct yet related full-text
-humanities database projects.
-
-The English Poetry Full-Text Database and the Patrologia Latina Database
-represent new approaches to linguistic research resources. The size and
-complexity of the projects present problems for electronic publishers,
-but surmountable ones if they remain abreast of the latest possibilities
-in data capture and retrieval software techniques.
-
-The issues which required address prior to the commencement of the
-projects were legion:
-
- 1. Editorial selection (or exclusion) of materials in each
- database
-
- 2. Deciding whether or not to incorporate a normative encoding
- structure into the databases?
- A. If one is selected, should it be SGML?
- B. If SGML, then the TEI?
-
- 3. Deliver as CD-ROM, magnetic tape, or both?
-
- 4. Can one produce retrieval software advanced enough for the
- postdoctoral linguist, yet accessible enough for unattended
- general use? Should one try?
-
- 5. Re fair and liberal networking policies, what are the risks to
- an electronic publisher?
-
- 6. How does the emergence of national and international education
- networks affect the use and viability of research projects
- requiring high investment? Do the new European Community
- directives concerning database protection necessitate two
- distinct publishing projects, one for North America and one for
- overseas?
-
-From new notions of "scholarly fair use" to the future of optical media,
-virtually every issue related to electronic publishing was aired. The
-result is two projects which have been constructed to provide the quality
-research resources with the fewest encumbrances to use by teachers and
-private scholars.
-
-Dorothy TWOHIG
-
-In spring 1988 the editors of the papers of George Washington, John
-Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Benjamin Franklin were
-approached by classics scholar David Packard on behalf of the Packard
-Humanities Foundation with a proposal to produce a CD-ROM edition of the
-complete papers of each of the Founding Fathers. This electronic edition
-will supplement the published volumes, making the documents widely
-available to students and researchers at reasonable cost. We estimate
-that our CD-ROM edition of Washington's Papers will be substantially
-completed within the next two years and ready for publication. Within
-the next ten years or so, similar CD-ROM editions of the Franklin, Adams,
-Jefferson, and Madison papers also will be available. At the Library of
-Congress's session on technology, I would like to discuss not only the
-experience of the Washington Papers in producing the CD-ROM edition, but
-the impact technology has had on these major editorial projects.
-Already, we are editing our volumes with an eye to the material that will
-be readily available in the CD-ROM edition. The completed electronic
-edition will provide immense possibilities for the searching of documents
-for information in a way never possible before. The kind of technical
-innovations that are currently available and on the drawing board will
-soon revolutionize historical research and the production of historical
-documents. Unfortunately, much of this new technology is not being used
-in the planning stages of historical projects, simply because many
-historians are aware only in the vaguest way of its existence. At least
-two major new historical editing projects are considering microfilm
-editions, simply because they are not aware of the possibilities of
-electronic alternatives and the advantages of the new technology in terms
-of flexibility and research potential compared to microfilm. In fact,
-too many of us in history and literature are still at the stage of
-struggling with our PCs. There are many historical editorial projects in
-progress presently, and an equal number of literary projects. While the
-two fields have somewhat different approaches to textual editing, there
-are ways in which electronic technology can be of service to both.
-
-Since few of the editors involved in the Founding Fathers CD-ROM editions
-are technical experts in any sense, I hope to point out in my discussion
-of our experience how many of these electronic innovations can be used
-successfully by scholars who are novices in the world of new technology.
-One of the major concerns of the sponsors of the multitude of new
-scholarly editions is the limited audience reached by the published
-volumes. Most of these editions are being published in small quantities
-and the publishers' price for them puts them out of the reach not only of
-individual scholars but of most public libraries and all but the largest
-educational institutions. However, little attention is being given to
-ways in which technology can bypass conventional publication to make
-historical and literary documents more widely available.
-
-What attracted us most to the CD-ROM edition of The Papers of George
-Washington was the fact that David Packard's aim was to make a complete
-edition of all of the 135,000 documents we have collected available in an
-inexpensive format that would be placed in public libraries, small
-colleges, and even high schools. This would provide an audience far
-beyond our present 1,000-copy, $45 published edition. Since the CD-ROM
-edition will carry none of the explanatory annotation that appears in the
-published volumes, we also feel that the use of the CD-ROM will lead many
-researchers to seek out the published volumes.
-
-In addition to ignorance of new technical advances, I have found that too
-many editors--and historians and literary scholars--are resistant and
-even hostile to suggestions that electronic technology may enhance their
-work. I intend to discuss some of the arguments traditionalists are
-advancing to resist technology, ranging from distrust of the speed with
-which it changes (we are already wondering what is out there that is
-better than CD-ROM) to suspicion of the technical language used to
-describe electronic developments.
-
-Maria LEBRON
-
-The Online Journal of Current Clinical Trials, a joint venture of the
-American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the Online
-Computer Library Center, Inc. (OCLC), is the first peer-reviewed journal
-to provide full text, tabular material, and line illustrations on line.
-This presentation will discuss the genesis and start-up period of the
-journal. Topics of discussion will include historical overview,
-day-to-day management of the editorial peer review, and manuscript
-tagging and publication. A demonstration of the journal and its features
-will accompany the presentation.
-
-Lynne PERSONIUS
-
-Cornell University Library, Cornell Information Technologies, and Xerox
-Corporation, with the support of the Commission on Preservation and
-Access, and Sun Microsystems, Inc., have been collaborating in a project
-to test a prototype system for recording brittle books as digital images
-and producing, on demand, high-quality archival paper replacements. The
-project goes beyond that, however, to investigate some of the issues
-surrounding scanning, storing, retrieving, and providing access to
-digital images in a network environment.
-
-The Joint Study in Digital Preservation began in January 1990. Xerox
-provided the College Library Access and Storage System (CLASS) software,
-a prototype 600-dots-per-inch (dpi) scanner, and the hardware necessary
-to support network printing on the DocuTech printer housed in Cornell's
-Computing and Communications Center (CCC).
-
-The Cornell staff using the hardware and software became an integral part
-of the development and testing process for enhancements to the CLASS
-software system. The collaborative nature of this relationship is
-resulting in a system that is specifically tailored to the preservation
-application.
-
-A digital library of 1,000 volumes (or approximately 300,000 images) has
-been created and is stored on an optical jukebox that resides in CCC.
-The library includes a collection of select mathematics monographs that
-provides mathematics faculty with an opportunity to use the electronic
-library. The remaining volumes were chosen for the library to test the
-various capabilities of the scanning system.
-
-One project objective is to provide users of the Cornell library and the
-library staff with the ability to request facsimiles of digitized images
-or to retrieve the actual electronic image for browsing. A prototype
-viewing workstation has been created by Xerox, with input into the design
-by a committee of Cornell librarians and computer professionals. This
-will allow us to experiment with patron access to the images that make up
-the digital library. The viewing station provides search, retrieval, and
-(ultimately) printing functions with enhancements to facilitate
-navigation through multiple documents.
-
-Cornell currently is working to extend access to the digital library to
-readers using workstations from their offices. This year is devoted to
-the development of a network resident image conversion and delivery
-server, and client software that will support readers who use Apple
-Macintosh computers, IBM windows platforms, and Sun workstations.
-Equipment for this development was provided by Sun Microsystems with
-support from the Commission on Preservation and Access.
-
-During the show-and-tell session of the Workshop on Electronic Texts, a
-prototype view station will be demonstrated. In addition, a display of
-original library books that have been digitized will be available for
-review with associated printed copies for comparison. The fifteen-minute
-overview of the project will include a slide presentation that
-constitutes a "tour" of the preservation digitizing process.
-
-The final network-connected version of the viewing station will provide
-library users with another mechanism for accessing the digital library,
-and will also provide the capability of viewing images directly. This
-will not require special software, although a powerful computer with good
-graphics will be needed.
-
-The Joint Study in Digital Preservation has generated a great deal of
-interest in the library community. Unfortunately, or perhaps
-fortunately, this project serves to raise a vast number of other issues
-surrounding the use of digital technology for the preservation and use of
-deteriorating library materials, which subsequent projects will need to
-examine. Much work remains.
-
-SESSION III
-
-Howard BESSER Networking Multimedia Databases
-
-What do we have to consider in building and distributing databases of
-visual materials in a multi-user environment? This presentation examines
-a variety of concerns that need to be addressed before a multimedia
-database can be set up in a networked environment.
-
-In the past it has not been feasible to implement databases of visual
-materials in shared-user environments because of technological barriers.
-Each of the two basic models for multi-user multimedia databases has
-posed its own problem. The analog multimedia storage model (represented
-by Project Athena's parallel analog and digital networks) has required an
-incredibly complex (and expensive) infrastructure. The economies of
-scale that make multi-user setups cheaper per user served do not operate
-in an environment that requires a computer workstation, videodisc player,
-and two display devices for each user.
-
-The digital multimedia storage model has required vast amounts of storage
-space (as much as one gigabyte per thirty still images). In the past the
-cost of such a large amount of storage space made this model a
-prohibitive choice as well. But plunging storage costs are finally
-making this second alternative viable.
-
-If storage no longer poses such an impediment, what do we need to
-consider in building digitally stored multi-user databases of visual
-materials? This presentation will examine the networking and
-telecommunication constraints that must be overcome before such databases
-can become commonplace and useful to a large number of people.
-
-The key problem is the vast size of multimedia documents, and how this
-affects not only storage but telecommunications transmission time.
-Anything slower than T-1 speed is impractical for files of 1 megabyte or
-larger (which is likely to be small for a multimedia document). For
-instance, even on a 56 Kb line it would take three minutes to transfer a
-1-megabyte file. And these figures assume ideal circumstances, and do
-not take into consideration other users contending for network bandwidth,
-disk access time, or the time needed for remote display. Current common
-telephone transmission rates would be completely impractical; few users
-would be willing to wait the hour necessary to transmit a single image at
-2400 baud.
-
-This necessitates compression, which itself raises a number of other
-issues. In order to decrease file sizes significantly, we must employ
-lossy compression algorithms. But how much quality can we afford to
-lose? To date there has been only one significant study done of
-image-quality needs for a particular user group, and this study did not
-look at loss resulting from compression. Only after identifying
-image-quality needs can we begin to address storage and network bandwidth
-needs.
-
-Experience with X-Windows-based applications (such as Imagequery, the
-University of California at Berkeley image database) demonstrates the
-utility of a client-server topology, but also points to the limitation of
-current software for a distributed environment. For example,
-applications like Imagequery can incorporate compression, but current X
-implementations do not permit decompression at the end user's
-workstation. Such decompression at the host computer alleviates storage
-capacity problems while doing nothing to address problems of
-telecommunications bandwidth.
-
-We need to examine the effects on network through-put of moving
-multimedia documents around on a network. We need to examine various
-topologies that will help us avoid bottlenecks around servers and
-gateways. Experience with applications such as these raise still broader
-questions. How closely is the multimedia document tied to the software
-for viewing it? Can it be accessed and viewed from other applications?
-Experience with the MARC format (and more recently with the Z39.50
-protocols) shows how useful it can be to store documents in a form in
-which they can be accessed by a variety of application software.
-
-Finally, from an intellectual-access standpoint, we need to address the
-issue of providing access to these multimedia documents in
-interdisciplinary environments. We need to examine terminology and
-indexing strategies that will allow us to provide access to this material
-in a cross-disciplinary way.
-
-Ronald LARSEN Directions in High-Performance Networking for
- Libraries
-
-The pace at which computing technology has advanced over the past forty
-years shows no sign of abating. Roughly speaking, each five-year period
-has yielded an order-of-magnitude improvement in price and performance of
-computing equipment. No fundamental hurdles are likely to prevent this
-pace from continuing for at least the next decade. It is only in the
-past five years, though, that computing has become ubiquitous in
-libraries, affecting all staff and patrons, directly or indirectly.
-
-During these same five years, communications rates on the Internet, the
-principal academic computing network, have grown from 56 kbps to 1.5
-Mbps, and the NSFNet backbone is now running 45 Mbps. Over the next five
-years, communication rates on the backbone are expected to exceed 1 Gbps.
-Growth in both the population of network users and the volume of network
-traffic has continued to grow geometrically, at rates approaching 15
-percent per month. This flood of capacity and use, likened by some to
-"drinking from a firehose," creates immense opportunities and challenges
-for libraries. Libraries must anticipate the future implications of this
-technology, participate in its development, and deploy it to ensure
-access to the world's information resources.
-
-The infrastructure for the information age is being put in place.
-Libraries face strategic decisions about their role in the development,
-deployment, and use of this infrastructure. The emerging infrastructure
-is much more than computers and communication lines. It is more than the
-ability to compute at a remote site, send electronic mail to a peer
-across the country, or move a file from one library to another. The next
-five years will witness substantial development of the information
-infrastructure of the network.
-
-In order to provide appropriate leadership, library professionals must
-have a fundamental understanding of and appreciation for computer
-networking, from local area networks to the National Research and
-Education Network (NREN). This presentation addresses these
-fundamentals, and how they relate to libraries today and in the near
-future.
-
-Edwin BROWNRIGG Electronic Library Visions and Realities
-
-The electronic library has been a vision desired by many--and rejected by
-some--since Vannevar Bush coined the term memex to describe an automated,
-intelligent, personal information system. Variations on this vision have
-included Ted Nelson's Xanadau, Alan Kay's Dynabook, and Lancaster's
-"paperless library," with the most recent incarnation being the
-"Knowledge Navigator" described by John Scully of Apple. But the reality
-of library service has been less visionary and the leap to the electronic
-library has eluded universities, publishers, and information technology
-files.
-
-The Memex Research Institute (MemRI), an independent, nonprofit research
-and development organization, has created an Electronic Library Program
-of shared research and development in order to make the collective vision
-more concrete. The program is working toward the creation of large,
-indexed publicly available electronic image collections of published
-documents in academic, special, and public libraries. This strategic
-plan is the result of the first stage of the program, which has been an
-investigation of the information technologies available to support such
-an effort, the economic parameters of electronic service compared to
-traditional library operations, and the business and political factors
-affecting the shift from print distribution to electronic networked
-access.
-
-The strategic plan envisions a combination of publicly searchable access
-databases, image (and text) document collections stored on network "file
-servers," local and remote network access, and an intellectual property
-management-control system. This combination of technology and
-information content is defined in this plan as an E-library or E-library
-collection. Some participating sponsors are already developing projects
-based on MemRI's recommended directions.
-
-The E-library strategy projected in this plan is a visionary one that can
-enable major changes and improvements in academic, public, and special
-library service. This vision is, though, one that can be realized with
-today's technology. At the same time, it will challenge the political
-and social structure within which libraries operate: in academic
-libraries, the traditional emphasis on local collections, extending to
-accreditation issues; in public libraries, the potential of electronic
-branch and central libraries fully available to the public; and for
-special libraries, new opportunities for shared collections and networks.
-
-The environment in which this strategic plan has been developed is, at
-the moment, dominated by a sense of library limits. The continued
-expansion and rapid growth of local academic library collections is now
-clearly at an end. Corporate libraries, and even law libraries, are
-faced with operating within a difficult economic climate, as well as with
-very active competition from commercial information sources. For
-example, public libraries may be seen as a desirable but not critical
-municipal service in a time when the budgets of safety and health
-agencies are being cut back.
-
-Further, libraries in general have a very high labor-to-cost ratio in
-their budgets, and labor costs are still increasing, notwithstanding
-automation investments. It is difficult for libraries to obtain capital,
-startup, or seed funding for innovative activities, and those
-technology-intensive initiatives that offer the potential of decreased
-labor costs can provoke the opposition of library staff.
-
-However, libraries have achieved some considerable successes in the past
-two decades by improving both their service and their credibility within
-their organizations--and these positive changes have been accomplished
-mostly with judicious use of information technologies. The advances in
-computing and information technology have been well-chronicled: the
-continuing precipitous drop in computing costs, the growth of the
-Internet and private networks, and the explosive increase in publicly
-available information databases.
-
-For example, OCLC has become one of the largest computer network
-organizations in the world by creating a cooperative cataloging network
-of more than 6,000 libraries worldwide. On-line public access catalogs
-now serve millions of users on more than 50,000 dedicated terminals in
-the United States alone. The University of California MELVYL on-line
-catalog system has now expanded into an index database reference service
-and supports more than six million searches a year. And, libraries have
-become the largest group of customers of CD-ROM publishing technology;
-more than 30,000 optical media publications such as those offered by
-InfoTrac and Silver Platter are subscribed to by U.S. libraries.
-
-This march of technology continues and in the next decade will result in
-further innovations that are extremely difficult to predict. What is
-clear is that libraries can now go beyond automation of their order files
-and catalogs to automation of their collections themselves--and it is
-possible to circumvent the fiscal limitations that appear to obtain
-today.
-
-This Electronic Library Strategic Plan recommends a paradigm shift in
-library service, and demonstrates the steps necessary to provide improved
-library services with limited capacities and operating investments.
-
-SESSION IV-A
-
-Anne KENNEY
-
-The Cornell/Xerox Joint Study in Digital Preservation resulted in the
-recording of 1,000 brittle books as 600-dpi digital images and the
-production, on demand, of high-quality and archivally sound paper
-replacements. The project, which was supported by the Commission on
-Preservation and Access, also investigated some of the issues surrounding
-scanning, storing, retrieving, and providing access to digital images in
-a network environment.
-
-Anne Kenney will focus on some of the issues surrounding direct scanning
-as identified in the Cornell Xerox Project. Among those to be discussed
-are: image versus text capture; indexing and access; image-capture
-capabilities; a comparison to photocopy and microfilm; production and
-cost analysis; storage formats, protocols, and standards; and the use of
-this scanning technology for preservation purposes.
-
-The 600-dpi digital images produced in the Cornell Xerox Project proved
-highly acceptable for creating paper replacements of deteriorating
-originals. The 1,000 scanned volumes provided an array of image-capture
-challenges that are common to nineteenth-century printing techniques and
-embrittled material, and that defy the use of text-conversion processes.
-These challenges include diminished contrast between text and background,
-fragile and deteriorated pages, uneven printing, elaborate type faces,
-faint and bold text adjacency, handwritten text and annotations, nonRoman
-languages, and a proliferation of illustrated material embedded in text.
-The latter category included high-frequency and low-frequency halftones,
-continuous tone photographs, intricate mathematical drawings, maps,
-etchings, reverse-polarity drawings, and engravings.
-
-The Xerox prototype scanning system provided a number of important
-features for capturing this diverse material. Technicians used multiple
-threshold settings, filters, line art and halftone definitions,
-autosegmentation, windowing, and software-editing programs to optimize
-image capture. At the same time, this project focused on production.
-The goal was to make scanning as affordable and acceptable as
-photocopying and microfilming for preservation reformatting. A
-time-and-cost study conducted during the last three months of this
-project confirmed the economic viability of digital scanning, and these
-findings will be discussed here.
-
-From the outset, the Cornell Xerox Project was predicated on the use of
-nonproprietary standards and the use of common protocols when standards
-did not exist. Digital files were created as TIFF images which were
-compressed prior to storage using Group 4 CCITT compression. The Xerox
-software is MS DOS based and utilizes off-the shelf programs such as
-Microsoft Windows and Wang Image Wizard. The digital library is designed
-to be hardware-independent and to provide interchangeability with other
-institutions through network connections. Access to the digital files
-themselves is two-tiered: Bibliographic records for the computer files
-are created in RLIN and Cornell's local system and access into the actual
-digital images comprising a book is provided through a document control
-structure and a networked image file-server, both of which will be
-described.
-
-The presentation will conclude with a discussion of some of the issues
-surrounding the use of this technology as a preservation tool (storage,
-refreshing, backup).
-
-Pamela ANDRE and Judith ZIDAR
-
-The National Agricultural Library (NAL) has had extensive experience with
-raster scanning of printed materials. Since 1987, the Library has
-participated in the National Agricultural Text Digitizing Project (NATDP)
-a cooperative effort between NAL and forty-five land grant university
-libraries. An overview of the project will be presented, giving its
-history and NAL's strategy for the future.
-
-An in-depth discussion of NATDP will follow, including a description of
-the scanning process, from the gathering of the printed materials to the
-archiving of the electronic pages. The type of equipment required for a
-stand-alone scanning workstation and the importance of file management
-software will be discussed. Issues concerning the images themselves will
-be addressed briefly, such as image format; black and white versus color;
-gray scale versus dithering; and resolution.
-
-Also described will be a study currently in progress by NAL to evaluate
-the usefulness of converting microfilm to electronic images in order to
-improve access. With the cooperation of Tuskegee University, NAL has
-selected three reels of microfilm from a collection of sixty-seven reels
-containing the papers, letters, and drawings of George Washington Carver.
-The three reels were converted into 3,500 electronic images using a
-specialized microfilm scanner. The selection, filming, and indexing of
-this material will be discussed.
-
-Donald WATERS
-
-Project Open Book, the Yale University Library's effort to convert 10,
-000 books from microfilm to digital imagery, is currently in an advanced
-state of planning and organization. The Yale Library has selected a
-major vendor to serve as a partner in the project and as systems
-integrator. In its proposal, the successful vendor helped isolate areas
-of risk and uncertainty as well as key issues to be addressed during the
-life of the project. The Yale Library is now poised to decide what
-material it will convert to digital image form and to seek funding,
-initially for the first phase and then for the entire project.
-
-The proposal that Yale accepted for the implementation of Project Open
-Book will provide at the end of three phases a conversion subsystem,
-browsing stations distributed on the campus network within the Yale
-Library, a subsystem for storing 10,000 books at 200 and 600 dots per
-inch, and network access to the image printers. Pricing for the system
-implementation assumes the existence of Yale's campus ethernet network
-and its high-speed image printers, and includes other requisite hardware
-and software, as well as system integration services. Proposed operating
-costs include hardware and software maintenance, but do not include
-estimates for the facilities management of the storage devices and image
-servers.
-
-Yale selected its vendor partner in a formal process, partly funded by
-the Commission for Preservation and Access. Following a request for
-proposal, the Yale Library selected two vendors as finalists to work with
-Yale staff to generate a detailed analysis of requirements for Project
-Open Book. Each vendor used the results of the requirements analysis to
-generate and submit a formal proposal for the entire project. This
-competitive process not only enabled the Yale Library to select its
-primary vendor partner but also revealed much about the state of the
-imaging industry, about the varying, corporate commitments to the markets
-for imaging technology, and about the varying organizational dynamics
-through which major companies are responding to and seeking to develop
-these markets.
-
-Project Open Book is focused specifically on the conversion of images
-from microfilm to digital form. The technology for scanning microfilm is
-readily available but is changing rapidly. In its project requirements,
-the Yale Library emphasized features of the technology that affect the
-technical quality of digital image production and the costs of creating
-and storing the image library: What levels of digital resolution can be
-achieved by scanning microfilm? How does variation in the quality of
-microfilm, particularly in film produced to preservation standards,
-affect the quality of the digital images? What technologies can an
-operator effectively and economically apply when scanning film to
-separate two-up images and to control for and correct image
-imperfections? How can quality control best be integrated into
-digitizing work flow that includes document indexing and storage?
-
-The actual and expected uses of digital images--storage, browsing,
-printing, and OCR--help determine the standards for measuring their
-quality. Browsing is especially important, but the facilities available
-for readers to browse image documents is perhaps the weakest aspect of
-imaging technology and most in need of development. As it defined its
-requirements, the Yale Library concentrated on some fundamental aspects
-of usability for image documents: Does the system have sufficient
-flexibility to handle the full range of document types, including
-monographs, multi-part and multivolume sets, and serials, as well as
-manuscript collections? What conventions are necessary to identify a
-document uniquely for storage and retrieval? Where is the database of
-record for storing bibliographic information about the image document?
-How are basic internal structures of documents, such as pagination, made
-accessible to the reader? How are the image documents physically
-presented on the screen to the reader?
-
-The Yale Library designed Project Open Book on the assumption that
-microfilm is more than adequate as a medium for preserving the content of
-deteriorated library materials. As planning in the project has advanced,
-it is increasingly clear that the challenge of digital image technology
-and the key to the success of efforts like Project Open Book is to
-provide a means of both preserving and improving access to those
-deteriorated materials.
-
-SESSION IV-B
-
-George THOMA
-
-In the use of electronic imaging for document preservation, there are
-several issues to consider, such as: ensuring adequate image quality,
-maintaining substantial conversion rates (through-put), providing unique
-identification for automated access and retrieval, and accommodating
-bound volumes and fragile material.
-
-To maintain high image quality, image processing functions are required
-to correct the deficiencies in the scanned image. Some commercially
-available systems include these functions, while some do not. The
-scanned raw image must be processed to correct contrast deficiencies--
-both poor overall contrast resulting from light print and/or dark
-background, and variable contrast resulting from stains and
-bleed-through. Furthermore, the scan density must be adequate to allow
-legibility of print and sufficient fidelity in the pseudo-halftoned gray
-material. Borders or page-edge effects must be removed for both
-compactibility and aesthetics. Page skew must be corrected for aesthetic
-reasons and to enable accurate character recognition if desired.
-Compound images consisting of both two-toned text and gray-scale
-illustrations must be processed appropriately to retain the quality of
-each.
-
-SESSION IV-C
-
-Jean BARONAS
-
-Standards publications being developed by scientists, engineers, and
-business managers in Association for Information and Image Management
-(AIIM) standards committees can be applied to electronic image management
-(EIM) processes including: document (image) transfer, retrieval and
-evaluation; optical disk and document scanning; and document design and
-conversion. When combined with EIM system planning and operations,
-standards can assist in generating image databases that are
-interchangeable among a variety of systems. The applications of
-different approaches for image-tagging, indexing, compression, and
-transfer often cause uncertainty concerning EIM system compatibility,
-calibration, performance, and upward compatibility, until standard
-implementation parameters are established. The AIIM standards that are
-being developed for these applications can be used to decrease the
-uncertainty, successfully integrate imaging processes, and promote "open
-systems." AIIM is an accredited American National Standards Institute
-(ANSI) standards developer with more than twenty committees comprised of
-300 volunteers representing users, vendors, and manufacturers. The
-standards publications that are developed in these committees have
-national acceptance and provide the basis for international harmonization
-in the development of new International Organization for Standardization
-(ISO) standards.
-
-This presentation describes the development of AIIM's EIM standards and a
-new effort at AIIM, a database on standards projects in a wide framework
-of imaging industries including capture, recording, processing,
-duplication, distribution, display, evaluation, and preservation. The
-AIIM Imagery Database will cover imaging standards being developed by
-many organizations in many different countries. It will contain
-standards publications' dates, origins, related national and
-international projects, status, key words, and abstracts. The ANSI Image
-Technology Standards Board requested that such a database be established,
-as did the ISO/International Electrotechnical Commission Joint Task Force
-on Imagery. AIIM will take on the leadership role for the database and
-coordinate its development with several standards developers.
-
-Patricia BATTIN
-
- Characteristics of standards for digital imagery:
-
- * Nature of digital technology implies continuing volatility.
-
- * Precipitous standard-setting not possible and probably not
- desirable.
-
- * Standards are a complex issue involving the medium, the
- hardware, the software, and the technical capacity for
- reproductive fidelity and clarity.
-
- * The prognosis for reliable archival standards (as defined by
- librarians) in the foreseeable future is poor.
-
- Significant potential and attractiveness of digital technology as a
- preservation medium and access mechanism.
-
- Productive use of digital imagery for preservation requires a
- reconceptualizing of preservation principles in a volatile,
- standardless world.
-
- Concept of managing continuing access in the digital environment
- rather than focusing on the permanence of the medium and long-term
- archival standards developed for the analog world.
-
- Transition period: How long and what to do?
-
- * Redefine "archival."
-
- * Remove the burden of "archival copy" from paper artifacts.
-
- * Use digital technology for storage, develop management
- strategies for refreshing medium, hardware and software.
-
- * Create acid-free paper copies for transition period backup
- until we develop reliable procedures for ensuring continuing
- access to digital files.
-
-SESSION IV-D
-
-Stuart WEIBEL The Role of SGML Markup in the CORE Project (6)
-
-The emergence of high-speed telecommunications networks as a basic
-feature of the scholarly workplace is driving the demand for electronic
-document delivery. Three distinct categories of electronic
-publishing/republishing are necessary to support access demands in this
-emerging environment:
-
- 1.) Conversion of paper or microfilm archives to electronic format
- 2.) Conversion of electronic files to formats tailored to
- electronic retrieval and display
- 3.) Primary electronic publishing (materials for which the
- electronic version is the primary format)
-
-OCLC has experimental or product development activities in each of these
-areas. Among the challenges that lie ahead is the integration of these
-three types of information stores in coherent distributed systems.
-
-The CORE (Chemistry Online Retrieval Experiment) Project is a model for
-the conversion of large text and graphics collections for which
-electronic typesetting files are available (category 2). The American
-Chemical Society has made available computer typography files dating from
-1980 for its twenty journals. This collection of some 250 journal-years
-is being converted to an electronic format that will be accessible
-through several end-user applications.
-
-The use of Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) offers the means
-to capture the structural richness of the original articles in a way that
-will support a variety of retrieval, navigation, and display options
-necessary to navigate effectively in very large text databases.
-
-An SGML document consists of text that is marked up with descriptive tags
-that specify the function of a given element within the document. As a
-formal language construct, an SGML document can be parsed against a
-document-type definition (DTD) that unambiguously defines what elements
-are allowed and where in the document they can (or must) occur. This
-formalized map of article structure allows the user interface design to
-be uncoupled from the underlying database system, an important step
-toward interoperability. Demonstration of this separability is a part of
-the CORE project, wherein user interface designs born of very different
-philosophies will access the same database.
-
-NOTES:
- (6) The CORE project is a collaboration among Cornell University's
- Mann Library, Bell Communications Research (Bellcore), the American
- Chemical Society (ACS), the Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS), and
- OCLC.
-
-Michael LESK The CORE Electronic Chemistry Library
-
-A major on-line file of chemical journal literature complete with
-graphics is being developed to test the usability of fully electronic
-access to documents, as a joint project of Cornell University, the
-American Chemical Society, the Chemical Abstracts Service, OCLC, and
-Bellcore (with additional support from Sun Microsystems, Springer-Verlag,
-DigitaI Equipment Corporation, Sony Corporation of America, and Apple
-Computers). Our file contains the American Chemical Society's on-line
-journals, supplemented with the graphics from the paper publication. The
-indexing of the articles from Chemical Abstracts Documents is available
-in both image and text format, and several different interfaces can be
-used. Our goals are (1) to assess the effectiveness and acceptability of
-electronic access to primary journals as compared with paper, and (2) to
-identify the most desirable functions of the user interface to an
-electronic system of journals, including in particular a comparison of
-page-image display with ASCII display interfaces. Early experiments with
-chemistry students on a variety of tasks suggest that searching tasks are
-completed much faster with any electronic system than with paper, but
-that for reading all versions of the articles are roughly equivalent.
-
-Pamela ANDRE and Judith ZIDAR
-
-Text conversion is far more expensive and time-consuming than image
-capture alone. NAL's experience with optical character recognition (OCR)
-will be related and compared with the experience of having text rekeyed.
-What factors affect OCR accuracy? How accurate does full text have to be
-in order to be useful? How do different users react to imperfect text?
-These are questions that will be explored. For many, a service bureau
-may be a better solution than performing the work inhouse; this will also
-be discussed.
-
-SESSION VI
-
-Marybeth PETERS
-
-Copyright law protects creative works. Protection granted by the law to
-authors and disseminators of works includes the right to do or authorize
-the following: reproduce the work, prepare derivative works, distribute
-the work to the public, and publicly perform or display the work. In
-addition, copyright owners of sound recordings and computer programs have
-the right to control rental of their works. These rights are not
-unlimited; there are a number of exceptions and limitations.
-
-An electronic environment places strains on the copyright system.
-Copyright owners want to control uses of their work and be paid for any
-use; the public wants quick and easy access at little or no cost. The
-marketplace is working in this area. Contracts, guidelines on electronic
-use, and collective licensing are in use and being refined.
-
-Issues concerning the ability to change works without detection are more
-difficult to deal with. Questions concerning the integrity of the work
-and the status of the changed version under the copyright law are to be
-addressed. These are public policy issues which require informed
-dialogue.
-
-
- *** *** *** ****** *** *** ***
-
-
- Appendix III: DIRECTORY OF PARTICIPANTS
-
-
-PRESENTERS:
-
- Pamela Q.J. Andre
- Associate Director, Automation
- National Agricultural Library
- 10301 Baltimore Boulevard
- Beltsville, MD 20705-2351
- Phone: (301) 504-6813
- Fax: (301) 504-7473
- E-mail: INTERNET: PANDRE@ASRR.ARSUSDA.GOV
-
- Jean Baronas, Senior Manager
- Department of Standards and Technology
- Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM)
- 1100 Wayne Avenue, Suite 1100
- Silver Spring, MD 20910
- Phone: (301) 587-8202
- Fax: (301) 587-2711
-
- Patricia Battin, President
- The Commission on Preservation and Access
- 1400 16th Street, N.W.
- Suite 740
- Washington, DC 20036-2217
- Phone: (202) 939-3400
- Fax: (202) 939-3407
- E-mail: CPA@GWUVM.BITNET
-
- Howard Besser
- Centre Canadien d'Architecture
- (Canadian Center for Architecture)
- 1920, rue Baile
- Montreal, Quebec H3H 2S6
- CANADA
- Phone: (514) 939-7001
- Fax: (514) 939-7020
- E-mail: howard@lis.pitt.edu
-
- Edwin B. Brownrigg, Executive Director
- Memex Research Institute
- 422 Bonita Avenue
- Roseville, CA 95678
- Phone: (916) 784-2298
- Fax: (916) 786-7559
- E-mail: BITNET: MEMEX@CALSTATE.2
-
- Eric M. Calaluca, Vice President
- Chadwyck-Healey, Inc.
- 1101 King Street
- Alexandria, VA 223l4
- Phone: (800) 752-05l5
- Fax: (703) 683-7589
-
- James Daly
- 4015 Deepwood Road
- Baltimore, MD 21218-1404
- Phone: (410) 235-0763
-
- Ricky Erway, Associate Coordinator
- American Memory
- Library of Congress
- Phone: (202) 707-6233
- Fax: (202) 707-3764
-
- Carl Fleischhauer, Coordinator
- American Memory
- Library of Congress
- Phone: (202) 707-6233
- Fax: (202) 707-3764
-
- Joanne Freeman
- 2000 Jefferson Park Avenue, No. 7
- Charlottesville, VA 22903
-
- Prosser Gifford
- Director for Scholarly Programs
- Library of Congress
- Phone: (202) 707-1517
- Fax: (202) 707-9898
- E-mail: pgif@seq1.loc.gov
-
- Jacqueline Hess, Director
- National Demonstration Laboratory
- for Interactive Information Technologies
- Library of Congress
- Phone: (202) 707-4157
- Fax: (202) 707-2829
-
- Susan Hockey, Director
- Center for Electronic Texts in the Humanities (CETH)
- Alexander Library
- Rutgers University
- 169 College Avenue
- New Brunswick, NJ 08903
- Phone: (908) 932-1384
- Fax: (908) 932-1386
- E-mail: hockey@zodiac.rutgers.edu
-
- William L. Hooton, Vice President
- Business & Technical Development
- Imaging & Information Systems Group
- I-NET
- 6430 Rockledge Drive, Suite 400
- Bethesda, MD 208l7
- Phone: (301) 564-6750
- Fax: (513) 564-6867
-
- Anne R. Kenney, Associate Director
- Department of Preservation and Conservation
- 701 Olin Library
- Cornell University
- Ithaca, NY 14853
- Phone: (607) 255-6875
- Fax: (607) 255-9346
- E-mail: LYDY@CORNELLA.BITNET
-
- Ronald L. Larsen
- Associate Director for Information Technology
- University of Maryland at College Park
- Room B0224, McKeldin Library
- College Park, MD 20742-7011
- Phone: (301) 405-9194
- Fax: (301) 314-9865
- E-mail: rlarsen@libr.umd.edu
-
- Maria L. Lebron, Managing Editor
- The Online Journal of Current Clinical Trials
- l333 H Street, N.W.
- Washington, DC 20005
- Phone: (202) 326-6735
- Fax: (202) 842-2868
- E-mail: PUBSAAAS@GWUVM.BITNET
-
- Michael Lesk, Executive Director
- Computer Science Research
- Bell Communications Research, Inc.
- Rm 2A-385
- 445 South Street
- Morristown, NJ 07960-l9l0
- Phone: (201) 829-4070
- Fax: (201) 829-5981
- E-mail: lesk@bellcore.com (Internet) or bellcore!lesk (uucp)
-
- Clifford A. Lynch
- Director, Library Automation
- University of California,
- Office of the President
- 300 Lakeside Drive, 8th Floor
- Oakland, CA 94612-3350
- Phone: (510) 987-0522
- Fax: (510) 839-3573
- E-mail: calur@uccmvsa
-
- Avra Michelson
- National Archives and Records Administration
- NSZ Rm. 14N
- 7th & Pennsylvania, N.W.
- Washington, D.C. 20408
- Phone: (202) 501-5544
- Fax: (202) 501-5533
- E-mail: tmi@cu.nih.gov
-
- Elli Mylonas, Managing Editor
- Perseus Project
- Department of the Classics
- Harvard University
- 319 Boylston Hall
- Cambridge, MA 02138
- Phone: (617) 495-9025, (617) 495-0456 (direct)
- Fax: (617) 496-8886
- E-mail: Elli@IKAROS.Harvard.EDU or elli@wjh12.harvard.edu
-
- David Woodley Packard
- Packard Humanities Institute
- 300 Second Street, Suite 201
- Los Altos, CA 94002
- Phone: (415) 948-0150 (PHI)
- Fax: (415) 948-5793
-
- Lynne K. Personius, Assistant Director
- Cornell Information Technologies for
- Scholarly Information Sources
- 502 Olin Library
- Cornell University
- Ithaca, NY 14853
- Phone: (607) 255-3393
- Fax: (607) 255-9346
- E-mail: JRN@CORNELLC.BITNET
-
- Marybeth Peters
- Policy Planning Adviser to the
- Register of Copyrights
- Library of Congress
- Office LM 403
- Phone: (202) 707-8350
- Fax: (202) 707-8366
-
- C. Michael Sperberg-McQueen
- Editor, Text Encoding Initiative
- Computer Center (M/C 135)
- University of Illinois at Chicago
- Box 6998
- Chicago, IL 60680
- Phone: (312) 413-0317
- Fax: (312) 996-6834
- E-mail: u35395@uicvm..cc.uic.edu or u35395@uicvm.bitnet
-
- George R. Thoma, Chief
- Communications Engineering Branch
- National Library of Medicine
- 8600 Rockville Pike
- Bethesda, MD 20894
- Phone: (301) 496-4496
- Fax: (301) 402-0341
- E-mail: thoma@lhc.nlm.nih.gov
-
- Dorothy Twohig, Editor
- The Papers of George Washington
- 504 Alderman Library
- University of Virginia
- Charlottesville, VA 22903-2498
- Phone: (804) 924-0523
- Fax: (804) 924-4337
-
- Susan H. Veccia, Team leader
- American Memory, User Evaluation
- Library of Congress
- American Memory Evaluation Project
- Phone: (202) 707-9104
- Fax: (202) 707-3764
- E-mail: svec@seq1.loc.gov
-
- Donald J. Waters, Head
- Systems Office
- Yale University Library
- New Haven, CT 06520
- Phone: (203) 432-4889
- Fax: (203) 432-7231
- E-mail: DWATERS@YALEVM.BITNET or DWATERS@YALEVM.YCC.YALE.EDU
-
- Stuart Weibel, Senior Research Scientist
- OCLC
- 6565 Frantz Road
- Dublin, OH 43017
- Phone: (614) 764-608l
- Fax: (614) 764-2344
- E-mail: INTERNET: Stu@rsch.oclc.org
-
- Robert G. Zich
- Special Assistant to the Associate Librarian
- for Special Projects
- Library of Congress
- Phone: (202) 707-6233
- Fax: (202) 707-3764
- E-mail: rzic@seq1.loc.gov
-
- Judith A. Zidar, Coordinator
- National Agricultural Text Digitizing Program
- Information Systems Division
- National Agricultural Library
- 10301 Baltimore Boulevard
- Beltsville, MD 20705-2351
- Phone: (301) 504-6813 or 504-5853
- Fax: (301) 504-7473
- E-mail: INTERNET: JZIDAR@ASRR.ARSUSDA.GOV
-
-
-OBSERVERS:
-
- Helen Aguera, Program Officer
- Division of Research
- Room 318
- National Endowment for the Humanities
- 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
- Washington, D.C. 20506
- Phone: (202) 786-0358
- Fax: (202) 786-0243
-
- M. Ellyn Blanton, Deputy Director
- National Demonstration Laboratory
- for Interactive Information Technologies
- Library of Congress
- Phone: (202) 707-4157
- Fax: (202) 707-2829
-
- Charles M. Dollar
- National Archives and Records Administration
- NSZ Rm. 14N
- 7th & Pennsylvania, N.W.
- Washington, DC 20408
- Phone: (202) 501-5532
- Fax: (202) 501-5512
-
- Jeffrey Field, Deputy to the Director
- Division of Preservation and Access
- Room 802
- National Endowment for the Humanities
- 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
- Washington, DC 20506
- Phone: (202) 786-0570
- Fax: (202) 786-0243
-
- Lorrin Garson
- American Chemical Society
- Research and Development Department
- 1155 16th Street, N.W.
- Washington, D.C. 20036
- Phone: (202) 872-4541
- Fax: E-mail: INTERNET: LRG96@ACS.ORG
-
- William M. Holmes, Jr.
- National Archives and Records Administration
- NSZ Rm. 14N
- 7th & Pennsylvania, N.W.
- Washington, DC 20408
- Phone: (202) 501-5540
- Fax: (202) 501-5512
- E-mail: WHOLMES@AMERICAN.EDU
-
- Sperling Martin
- Information Resource Management
- 20030 Doolittle Street
- Gaithersburg, MD 20879
- Phone: (301) 924-1803
-
- Michael Neuman, Director
- The Center for Text and Technology
- Academic Computing Center
- 238 Reiss Science Building
- Georgetown University
- Washington, DC 20057
- Phone: (202) 687-6096
- Fax: (202) 687-6003
- E-mail: neuman@guvax.bitnet, neuman@guvax.georgetown.edu
-
- Barbara Paulson, Program Officer
- Division of Preservation and Access
- Room 802
- National Endowment for the Humanities
- 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
- Washington, DC 20506
- Phone: (202) 786-0577
- Fax: (202) 786-0243
-
- Allen H. Renear
- Senior Academic Planning Analyst
- Brown University Computing and Information Services
- 115 Waterman Street
- Campus Box 1885
- Providence, R.I. 02912
- Phone: (401) 863-7312
- Fax: (401) 863-7329
- E-mail: BITNET: Allen@BROWNVM or
- INTERNET: Allen@brownvm.brown.edu
-
- Susan M. Severtson, President
- Chadwyck-Healey, Inc.
- 1101 King Street
- Alexandria, VA 223l4
- Phone: (800) 752-05l5
- Fax: (703) 683-7589
-
- Frank Withrow
- U.S. Department of Education
- 555 New Jersey Avenue, N.W.
- Washington, DC 20208-5644
- Phone: (202) 219-2200
- Fax: (202) 219-2106
-
-
-(LC STAFF)
-
- Linda L. Arret
- Machine-Readable Collections Reading Room LJ 132
- (202) 707-1490
-
- John D. Byrum, Jr.
- Descriptive Cataloging Division LM 540
- (202) 707-5194
-
- Mary Jane Cavallo
- Science and Technology Division LA 5210
- (202) 707-1219
-
- Susan Thea David
- Congressional Research Service LM 226
- (202) 707-7169
-
- Robert Dierker
- Senior Adviser for Multimedia Activities LM 608
- (202) 707-6151
-
- William W. Ellis
- Associate Librarian for Science and Technology LM 611
- (202) 707-6928
-
- Ronald Gephart
- Manuscript Division LM 102
- (202) 707-5097
-
- James Graber
- Information Technology Services LM G51
- (202) 707-9628
-
- Rich Greenfield
- American Memory LM 603
- (202) 707-6233
-
- Rebecca Guenther
- Network Development LM 639
- (202) 707-5092
-
- Kenneth E. Harris
- Preservation LM G21
- (202) 707-5213
-
- Staley Hitchcock
- Manuscript Division LM 102
- (202) 707-5383
-
- Bohdan Kantor
- Office of Special Projects LM 612
- (202) 707-0180
-
- John W. Kimball, Jr
- Machine-Readable Collections Reading Room LJ 132
- (202) 707-6560
-
- Basil Manns
- Information Technology Services LM G51
- (202) 707-8345
-
- Sally Hart McCallum
- Network Development LM 639
- (202) 707-6237
-
- Dana J. Pratt
- Publishing Office LM 602
- (202) 707-6027
-
- Jane Riefenhauser
- American Memory LM 603
- (202) 707-6233
-
- William Z. Schenck
- Collections Development LM 650
- (202) 707-7706
-
- Chandru J. Shahani
- Preservation Research and Testing Office (R&T) LM G38
- (202) 707-5607
-
- William J. Sittig
- Collections Development LM 650
- (202) 707-7050
-
- Paul Smith
- Manuscript Division LM 102
- (202) 707-5097
-
- James L. Stevens
- Information Technology Services LM G51
- (202) 707-9688
-
- Karen Stuart
- Manuscript Division LM 130
- (202) 707-5389
-
- Tamara Swora
- Preservation Microfilming Office LM G05
- (202) 707-6293
-
- Sarah Thomas
- Collections Cataloging LM 642
- (202) 707-5333
-
-
- END
- *************************************************************
-
-Note: This file has been edited for use on computer networks. This
-editing required the removal of diacritics, underlining, and fonts such
-as italics and bold.
-
-kde 11/92
-
-[A few of the italics (when used for emphasis) were replaced by CAPS mh]
-
-*End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of LOC WORKSHOP ON ELECTRONIC ETEXTS
-
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