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Vol. 4, Issue 3

March 12th 2002

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HEADLINES

COVER STORY
Oil-well giant Schlumberger
harnesses XML power

SPECIAL REPORT
The knowledge economy and how XML
is set to play a major role in shaping it

WORKING WITH DCL - TECH DOCS
Tech doc account manager gives inside story

EXTRA!
DCL Library gets thumbs-up from ContentBlog ezine
New FAQ: which should I start with - XML or SGML?
Free newsletter for aviation pros and flyers

OTHER NEWS
UK students turning to electronic sources for information
E-books go down a storm with senior surfers
DoD tool key driver in government e-learning
Vision of an e-book revolution
Info at hand for medics

ASIDES ;-)
Flight insanity?
Irish drinkers cry "blasphemy!"

BEST OF DCL-NEWS
Check Out The Best Stories From Previous Issues

COVER STORY:

TECH DOCS DOWN THE WELL...
Oil giant Schlumberger harnesses XML power
Date: 3/12/2002, DCLnews Exclusive

When oil services giant Schlumberger decided to set up an XML publishing system and covert their business-critical documents to XML, they had a problem on their hands. Each of the firm's bases around the world was using its own custom-built publishing system; plus a lot of the material that needed converting was legacy data and a good deal of that was on paper - all of which demanded a mammoth inventory of materials and a huge job of standardization...

Find out how the documentation team at Schlumberger overcame the problem at:
http://www.dclab.com/schlumberger.asp

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 SPECIAL REPORT:

THE NEW KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY AND HOW XML IS SET TO PLAY A KEY ROLE IN SHAPING IT
Date: 3/12/2002, DCLnews Special Report

Read more at:
www.dclab.com/wealth_knowledge.asp

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WORKING WITH DATA CONVERSION LABORATORY:

THE TECH DOC PERSPECTIVE...
DCL tech doc account manager rejects 'canned' presentations in favor of getting to the roots of a client's conversion needs...
Date: 3/12/2002, DCLnews

For Don Bridges, account manager for technical documents at Data Conversion Laboratory, life can be hectic. He likes to meet prospective clients face-to-face and so his job demands a fair degree of travel. But he doesn't rely on the usual laptop presentation routine, still in vogue with the majority of companies today...

Find out why at:
http://www.dclab.com/profile_donbridges.asp

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>>>EXTRA!!!

DCL LIBRARY GETS THUMBS-UP FROM CONTENT-BLOG
Date: 3/12/2002, DCLnews

Anne Holland, editor of the ContentBlog ezine, gave the thumbs up to the DCL Library recently, recommending readers visit the popular resource with their document conversion questions.

New material is added all the time, so stop by regularly...
http://www.dclab.com/dcllibrary.asp

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THIS MONTH'S FEATURED FAQ:

"Forget the mumbo jumbo: just tell me - which should I start with, XML or SGML?"

Mike Gross, DCL's Chief Technical Officer, was challenged by a reader this month to "cut the technical mumbo jumbo" and answer the following question: which should I start with - XML vs. SGML?

Find out how Mike rose to the challenge at:
http://www.dclab.com/dclfaq.asp#xmlvsgml

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FREE NEWSLETTER FOR AVIATION PROS AND FLYERS
Date: 3/12/2002, DCLnews

If you work in the commercial aviation business (or are a frequent flier), we've found a FREE newsletter you may find useful. It's called the ATA SmartBrief, and is published by the Air Transport Association. It's a no-cost daily newsletter that focuses on up-to-the-minute commercial aviation issues under the topics of Company Watch, Regulatory Update, and Industry Trends.

Put on your flying goggles and check it out at:
http://www.smartbrief.com/ata/

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OTHER NEWS:

STUDENTS TURNING TO ELECTRONIC SOURCES FOR INFORMATION, BRITISH SURVEY REVEALS...
Date: 2/25/2002, UK Guardian Unlimited

A survey of three hundred British college students found that 63 percent would turn to the internet for information rather than buying books, and 22 percent would use e-books. Linda Bennett, the market researcher who carried out the survey, said: "Students want electronic delivery, particularly law students, who resent buying new editions of course books every year that only have very tiny, but important changes. Electronic books would be more useful in that they could be updated online."

Not only that, but electronic books are lightweight and don't take up bag room. Whether on CD or downloaded to a handheld device, students can carry them in a pocket or small bag - which has got to be better than lugging a knapsack around, full of weighty print text books. Another bonus is, e-textbooks have search facilities, so there's no more tearing your hair out trying to locate a reference you forgot to make a note of.

Read more about the UK survey at Guardian Unlimited

Do you publish e-textbooks? If so, DCLnews would like to hear from you for future stories. E-mail DCLnews editorial at: jshreeve@dclab.com

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E-BOOKS GO DOWN A STORM WITH SENIOR SURFERS
Head of American Publishers Association may be mistaken - seniors are getting to grips with computers and e-books...
Date: 3/4/2002, DCLnews/Yahoo! News

At this year's annual meeting of the Association of American Publishers (AAP), the discussion turned to e-books. And the association's head, Patricia Schroeder, revealed that she couldn't bring herself to try the new format. "Can I label myself a creature of habit?" she asked. "I'm 61 years old and think this is going to be harder for people like me to change..."

She may well be mistaken. Many of her peers are taking to both the internet and to e-books. Take the Newbie Club website, which helps new computer users get to grips with PCs and the web under the slogan:

Hey, I'm a Newbie not a Dummy. Just show me HOW!

"The vast majority of our audience is over 55," says Joe Robson, co-founder of the Newbie Club. "Not only do they buy a lot of our e-books [written by Robson and others], but some have gone on to write their own and sell them over the web - yet they had never even used a computer before retiring at 60!"

Read more about the Association of American Publishers recent annual meeting at Yahoo! News

Visit the Newbie Club website at: www.newbieclub.com

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DOD TOOL KEY DRIVER IN GROWTH OF GOVERNMENT E-LEARNING
Date: 2/25/2002, Potomac Tech Journal

An interoperability tool developed by Department of Defense researchers at laboratories in Alexandria, Va., has become a key driver in the growth of government e-learning. The tool, called Sharable Content Object Reference Model, or SCORM, allows companies to develop and share e-learning products on any computer platform.

The government stipulates that would-be e-learning contractors adapt their products to the system. The number of companies doing so is growing fast. Considering that the federal government is one of the largest employers in the nation and is continuously training and re-training its workers, this is not surprising (it's a lucrative market). But the level of take up reveals something more: It's another sign that we have entered a new world, where knowledge is the leading currency.

Click here to catch the story.
Discover more about "intellectual capital" at:
www.dclab.com/wealth_knowledge.asp

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VISION OF AN E-BOOK REVOLUTION - SCI FI OR REALITY?
Glenn Sanders of eBookWeb sees a very bright future for e-books...
Date: 1/23/2002, Electronic Book Web

Glenn Sanders, Director of the Electronic Publishing Resource Center (EPRC), has posted a powerful vision of the near future, in which e-books and e-publications are ubiquitous, and integrated with networks and the web, and viewable in many mediums, including "wearable" computers.

"I firmly believe and know," states Sanders, "that e-books and e-publishing, or more generally information devices, will play a primary role in the way that people write, create, design, read, learn, access news and information, communicate, interact, travel, enjoy art and entertainment, and experience their world..."

Is Sanders vision rooted in reality? Or is the e-book revolution he envisages in the realms of Science Fiction? Judge for yourself, go to:
[Link no longer available]

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INFO AT HAND FOR MEDICS
New product from Ovid lets medical professionals download vital information to PDAs
Date: 3/4/2002, Ovid.com

A new product from Ovid Technologies, called Ovid@Hand, allows medical professionals to download vital information to their hand held computers, or PDAs. Ovid touts the product as an "ideal point-of-care resource for drug information." Doctors on hospital wards can record clinical questions on a PDA. Then when they later sync with their main computer, a search is ordered, and full-text articles are retrieved.

More than anything else, what this product does is add greater value to online libraries - in that key information can be accessed on the move or "on the job."

Click here to find out more

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ASIDES ;-)
A Lighter Look at the News>>>

FLIGHT INSANITY?
New book says 2 percent of the traveling public are insane
Date: 2/13/2002, New York Times

Flight attendant and syndicated columnist, Elliott Hester, has come to the conclusion that 2 percent of the traveling public are certifiably insane. In his hilarious new book, Plane Insanity: A Flight Attendant's Tales of Sex, Rage, and Queasiness at 30,00 feet (2002, St Martins Press), he relates tales of full-blown passenger brawls, passenger stampedes, a stressed-flyer's attempt to open the emergency exit six miles above the Atlantic, and a high-altitude robbery in which $500,000 was stolen on a 727 - along with tales of those attempting to join the infamous "mile-high club."

Click here to get a ticket for the crazy plane...

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FAST BEER BLASPHEMY
Irish drinkers give thumbs down to speeding up pouring time of Guinness stout...
Date: 2/25/2002, Yahoo! News

In a bid to revive declining sales the makers of Guinness stout, Ireland's national tipple, are testing a new pouring system, which they say will slash the waiting time on a pint to 15-25 seconds, from the traditional 2 minutes.

Irish drinkers responded with cries of "Blasphemy!" The reason was explained by Richard Donovan, manager of a bar in downtown Dublin: "You pull a pint (of Guinness) for an Irishman and he expects to wait. If you pull one in less than a minute, he'll say 'where the hell did you drag that one from.'"

Click here for a pint of the black stuff...

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Best of DCLnews:

Read through a selection of the best articles from previous issues of DCLnews. You'll find articles on e-books, technology, Internet, data conversion, and digital publishing, as well as humorous looks at the news.

Go to: www.dclab.com/bestof.asp

Table of Contents

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