_Current_Cites_ Volume 2, no.1 January 1991 Library Technology Watch Program University of California, Berkeley Edited by David F.W. Robison ISSN: 1060-2356 Contributors: Clifford Lynch, Teri Rinne, Vivienne Roumani, Lisa Rowlison, Mark Takaro, Roy Tennant Expert Systems & Artificial Intelligence Aluri, Rao and Donald E. Riggs. Expert Systems in Libraries. Norwood, New Jersey: Ablex Publishing, 1990. A plethora of expert system knowledge ranging from essays on general background information, library applications (both public and technical service), and future implications. While most of the essays are written or co-authored by library professionals, library professors and computer scientists also have their input. In the following months you will find abstracts of specific essays from this volume in this section of Current Cites. Emdad, Ali. "A Synergetic Model for Building an Intelligent Documentation System (IDS)" Microcomputers for Information Management 7(2) (June 1990):115-125. This article presents the idea of an intelligent documentation system (IDS). Emdad recognizes the shortcomings of most printed documentation, as well as online user documentation. Hence he proposes an I.D.S. which incorporates the use of expert systems and hypertext. While his focus is on software documentation, the application of such a system to bibliographic instruction seems natural. The expert system is first used to ascertain the user's ability (skill level) and then to determine the most appropriate path of help. The help screens it locates for the user are all done with hypertext. This feature leads the user through a series of text, video and audio (as appropriate) to provide the user with the needed assistance. Leonard, W. Patrick. "On My Mind: Are Librarians Reluctant to Explore Expert Systems?" Journal of Academic Librarianship 16(5) (November 1990):302, 307. An interesting appeal by Mr. Leonard, Vice-Chancellor for Academic Services, Purdue University, calling for greater involvement on the part of Librarians in the use and development of expert systems. He describes our lagging behind many of the other professions' applications of the technology and succinctly cites the well known reasons for applying expert system technology in the library environment. Portante, Tom. "The Common Sense Machine." Patricia Seybold's Office Computing Report 13(11) (November 1990):17-19. It has long been recognized that expert systems are brittle (they function only within a narrowly defined domain under standard circumstances) because of their lack of common sense knowledge (that knowledge humans have in virtue of experiencing the world first hand). A consortium, Computer Technology Corporation, founded by Digital Equipment, Bellcore, Kodak, and others has been created to work on this problem. Currently they're at the midpoint of a 10 year schedule aiming at equipping their CYC ("psych") knowledge base with common sense knowledge (e.g. Animals live for a contiguous time period). As a result of this work other useful AI tools have emerged: Full Text Retrieval, and Natural Language Understanding (among others). It is hoped that the CYC knowledge base will, at the end of the project, be self-learning; that the manual input of common sense knowledge will cease and the machine will be able to reason by analogy and generalization and be able to make discoveries on its own. Should this become the case, expert systems may actually live up to their name and become "experts." Hyper- & Multimedia Bobay, Julie., Ed Stockey and Mary Pagliero Popp. "Library Services for Remote Users with LINKWAY." Reference Services Review (Fall 1990):53-57. A description of the Indiana State University Library Automation Network (SULAN) which uses the IBM hypermedia product LINKWAY to connect public, academic and special libraries in a union catalog that provides library information, news and instruction, in addition to remote catalog access to major collections in the state. Users can adapt viewing and printing to their needs and may soon have other services such as CD-ROM access and hypermedia capabilities. Quillan, Lon and Ken Gruberman. "Buyer's Guide: The MacUser Multimedia Encyclopedia." MacUser 7(2) (February 1991):105-172. A comprehensive look at the state of the art in Multimedia, this section goes beyond a "buyer's guide," to include truly informative and in-depth news about the tools available for multimedia users. Sections on video, audio and animation/authoring technologies describe the rapid progress being made in expanding the hypermedia capabilities of the Macintosh platform. Vaccaro, Bill. "HyperCard 2.0: A closer look." Computers in Libraries 10(8) (September 1990):10-13. The Apple platform continues to lead in the hypermedia/multimedia competition with the introduction of HyperCard 2.0, a 1990s update of the original HyperCard released in 1987. Variable card sizes, multiple windows, varying text styles and other enhancements are likely to make HyperCard 2.0 the new standard for both the casual and the advanced Macintosh user. Information Transfer Kalal, Bob. "The Ohio State University Network Fax Project." Research and Education Networking 1(2) (November/December 1990):9-11. A description of a project to transmit facsimile images over the Internet using inexpensive, off-the-shelf microcomputer and fax components. Marshak, David S. "Filters: Separating the Wheat from the Chaff." Patricia Seybold's Office Computing Report. 13(11) (November 1990):1-16. Marshak asks, "Where's your information? It's somewhere in my data." Library users are not the only ones hit by the deluge of data born of the information age. People in other professions, especially in the corporate realm, are finding that computerized information sources are giving them more than they can possibly absorb. The solution is of course a computerized one: filters. A filter is a computer application that "sits" between the incoming data source and you. You define a profile of your interests, or priorities and the information coming to you via electronic mail, news feeds, computer conferences, online databases is filtered through it. Items may be stored in files of different names (urgent, desk schedules, meetings, etc.) or as in the case of news feeds and online databases, the information may simply be ranked, the most important appearing first. For those people who dread coming back from vacation to an e-mail box with 200+ messages, filters appear to be a blessing. Networks and Networking "LITA at ALA Annual: The Network Programs" LITA Newsletter 12(1) (Winter 1991):19-31. A series of reports on the programs LITA sponsored at the 1990 ALA annual conference on networks and networking. The next-best thing to being there. Nelson, Nancy Melin. "Meet Allan H. Weis, President and CEO of Advanced Network & Services, Inc." Research and Education Networking 1(2) (November/December 1990):13-15. More information for anyone who is still trying to figure out what the creation of this not-for-profit organization by IBM, MCI and Merit means for the future of networking. Peters, Paul Evan. "CNI Activity Report" ARL Newsletter 154 (January 4, 1991):9. A brief report on the activities of the Coalition for Networked Information, including a list of the CNI Working Groups and their convenors. Optical Disc Technologies AMIGOS. "Microsoft CD-ROM Extension software explained." OCLC Micro 6(2) (April 1990):4. A brief explanation of the software that allows DOS to work with CD-ROM's comparatively massive storage capacity. Gilliam, Ellen and Karen Sluzeenski. "CD-ROM Report: CD-ROM user groups: the experience of Digital Equipment Corporation's Digital Library Network." Database 13(6) (December 1990):105-108. This article discusses the conception and formation of a CD-ROM user group for Digital Equipment Corporation's corporate library network. It is interesting to note that although DEC is the second largest computer company in the nation with vast technological resources, CD-ROM in the library is a relatively foreign element. Rosen, Linda. "CD-ROM hardware choices." Online 14(5) (September 1990):121-124. Reviews the features of currently available CD-ROM drives from Pioneer, Hitachi, Laser Magnetic Storage, and Chinon. General Hickey, Thomas and Chandra Prabha. "Online Public Catalogs and Large Retrievals: Methods for Organizing, Reducing, and Displaying." Proceedings of the 53rd ASIS Annual Meeting 27 (1990):110-116. As the size of online catalogs increase, users will more frequently retrieve more items for a given search than they can easily handle. This paper proposes some "postprocessing" techniques for organizing, reducing, and displaying large retrievals. More, Elizabeth. "Information Systems : People Issues." Journal of Information Science 16(5) (1990):311-320. An excellent research article which lays out the important issues facing the "people" side of technology. More says, "for too long decisions and general thinking about information systems have, in the main, been narrowly economically and technologically focused, without adequate regard for the people factors involved." She suggests that the areas of organizational culture, the structure of power and politics (within an organization) and the practice of organizational communication are where the "people" issues lay. It is in these areas where a deeper and more responsive change to the impact of technology needs to take place to reach a more human-sensitive environment. Pfaffenberger, Brian. Democratizing Information: Online Databases and the Rise of End-User Searching. Boston, MA: G.K. Hall, 1990. This book, which won the ASIS Information Science Book of the Year Award in 1990, is a very interesting study of the development of the online database industry, the role of the search intermediaries in this industry, and the prospects and failures in trying to make these databases available to end-users. While the book is flawed in some ways (for example, it does not seem to be aware of either the effects of the Internet or the development of online library catalogs), it presents a very interesting view of developments over the last 20 years, including an examination of the parallels between the online database industry's growth and the growth of earlier technological infrastructures, such as the electric power industry. The point of view is more sociological than technical. - Clifford Lynch ------------------------------------------------------------------- Current Cites 2(1)(January 1991) ISSN: 1060-2356 Copyright (C) 1992 by the Library, University of California, Berkeley. All rights reserved. Copying is permitted for noncommercial use by computerized bulletin board/conference systems, individual scholars, and libraries. Libraries are authorized to add the journal to their collections at no cost. This message must appear on copied material. 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