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Vol. 4, Issue 4

April 9th 2002

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HEADLINES

COVER STORY
Oxford Reference Online - an
e-reference revolution?

SPECIAL REPORT
The next weave of the web?

EXTRA!
DCL featured on Open eBook website
New FAQ: Converting PDF to XML
DCL Technical Library - don't forget to visit!

OTHER NEWS
Compaq provide educational e-books
Well-dressed soldiers of tomorrow
Important e-Book survey published
NTIS makes 1000 sites of sci-tech resources searchable in one place
Egypt's new Alexandria Library opens, and is even bigger than the original
Conversion ain't easy...
Gameboy kids' thumbs mutate

ASIDES ;-)
Web page eaten...
My beer glass is empty - raise the alarm!

BEST OF DCL-NEWS
Check out the best stories from previous issues
 

COVER STORY:

E-Reference Revolution?
Oxford Reference Online set to be largest reference source on the Web
Date: 4/9/2002, DCLnews Exclusive

Oxford Reference Online (ORO) have made 100 reference titles available on the Internet, including the Concise English Dictionary, Fowler's Modern English, A Dictionary of Economics, and Who's Who. Confident that the Oxford University Press brand will generate enough subscribers to make a profit in four years, ORO plan to expand the number of titles to 300, which would make it the largest reference source on the Internet. The site was developed largely due to the phenomenal success of the Oxford English Dictionary site, which actually boosted sales of the print version. So online reference ventures aren't necessarily cannibalizing print sales - not yet, at least...

Find out more at:
http://www.dclab.com/oxford_reference.asp

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SPECIAL REPORT:

The Next Weave of the Web?
Tim Berners-Lee - visionary or realist?
Date: 4/9/2002, DCLnews Special Report

Tim Berners-Lee, chief architect of the World Wide Web, has a new vision for the Internet called the Semantic Web, a smart network that, amongst other things, will revolutionize our ability to search on the Web. Berners-Lee also believes it will encourage creative and lateral thinking - the knock on effect being the Semantic Web will change the world more than his original creation. But is Berners-Lee a visionary with head in the clouds? Or are his feet planted firmly on the ground?

Judge for yourself, go to:
http://www.dclab.com/semantic_web.asp

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>>>EXTRA!!!

DCL Featured On Open eBook Website
Date: 4/9/2002, DCLnews

Data Conversion Laboratory is currently featured on the home page of the Open eBook Forum website. We very much support the Open eBook Forum. And if you're involved in the software/hardware industry, in publishing, or are an author or user of electronic books, it is well worth becoming a member.

OeBF's aim is to establish specifications and standards for electronic publishing. These are essential for the future success of all those involved in e-book creation. But even more importantly, they are essential for consumers... who, after all... will only turn to e-books in a big way when they see a solid set of standards that offer real benefits to them.

If you haven't already, check out the Open eBook Forum at:
http://www.openebook.org

Or sign up to become a member now at:
http://www.openebook.org/memberbenefits.htm

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THIS MONTH'S FEATURED FAQ:
Converting PDF to XML

We've been asked whether PDF documents can easily be transformed into XML. "The answer to this question is an unqualified MAYBE..." says Mike Gross, Chief Technical Officer at Data Conversion Laboratory.

Get the complete lowdown at:
http://www.dclab.com/dclfaq.asp#pdfxml

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DCL Technical Library

Don't forget to visit our technical library for insider information about XML and SGML, e-books, technical documentation, and scientific and educational publishing.

Go to:
http:www.dclab.com/dcllibrary.asp

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OTHER NEWS:

Compaq provides educational e-books & further expands the revolution
Date: 3/26/2002, Planet eBook

Compaq plans to provide schools with web-based learning tools and e-books along with all its computers sold to educational institutions across the United States. According to the Compaq, the e-books will include the popular Furello books series, which focus on non-violent messages and include characters from a broad base of cultures (Furello recently received an award from the Native American Arts Council). The series has been used extensively throughout Texas as an educational tool for K-12 to bolster reading comprehension and vocabulary-building skills.

Compaq's website will include a link to the Furello e-book series, along with student workbooks and teacher manuals, interactive crossword puzzles, word searches, riddles, and graphic organizers.

This is great news for children and educators alike, but it's also more evidence of a very real e-book revolution going down right under our noses...

Read the full story at:
http://www.planetebook.com/mainpage.asp?webpageid=319&nl

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The well-dressed soldiers of tomorrow
Date: 3/20/2002, Technology Review

A new Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies was recently created at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), with a US Army grant of $50 million over five years. The institute has a remit to produce fabrics that can morph to improve camouflage, stiffen to provide splints for broken limbs and store energy that can be tapped later to increase the wearer's strength.

Ned Thomas of MIT's Department of Materials Science says many existing nanotechnologies already have the potential to be scaled up into full suits of armor. "Our goal is to help greatly enhance the protection and survival of the infantry soldier using nanoscience," he says.

One example could be weaving fabrics out of nanoscale hollow fibres that Thomas hopes to fill with an existing technology called a ferrofluid. Ferrofluids contain magnetic particles that can be made to align in rows forming a stiff gel when exposed to an external magnetic field. "We know lots of injuries are made worse by people trying to move someone," says Thomas, "Doctors say this could be an on-demand splint."

Read more at:
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/wo_leo032002.asp

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Open eBook Forum publish results of
e-book survey
Date: 4/5/2002, Open eBook Forum

Open eBook Forum has published the results of a comprehensive survey on the features people want in the design of an electronic book. The survey represents feedback from a variety of people - ranging from authors and publishers to consumers - and provides a list of the top ten most "desirable" features which people selected from a list of 48 features.

You can download this survey in a variety of formats - PDF, MS Word, MS Reader, Palm. You first have to join Open eBook's mailing list. But if you are involved  or interested in e-books in any way, this is well worth doing. And the survey is a must...

Check it out at:
http://www.openebook.org/eBookSurvey/results.asp

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NTIS makes 1000 sites of sci-tech resources searchable in one place
Date: 4/4/2002, NTIS

The Commerce Department's National Technical Information Service (NTIS) is developing an online catalog of the leading Government Web resources on science and technology. The www.scitechresources.gov website has a database of over 1,000 sites selected by NTIS staff. It will prove a valuable time-saving tool for all researchers, as the material is all in one place.

Search features are also powerful: You can conduct keyword searches across all topics or restrict them to single topic searches such as biology, Earth sciences, or aeronautics. Or you can use predefined resource tags to specify the type of resource you're looking for. The site has been live for a few months, but has not been formally launched. NTIS welcomes site suggestions for the database.

Check it out and offer any suggestions at:
http://www.scitechresources.gov/

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Egypt's new Alexandria Library opens, and is even bigger than the original
Date: 4/5/2002, UNESCO

Egypt's new library at the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria is not a recreation of the Third Century BC original. For one thing, it is many times bigger at 31,000 square feet, its roof is modeled on a microprocessor, and many books are on disks and CDs. What is similar is the ambition behind both libraries.

The new one is meant to return Egypt's second-biggest city to the intellectual and international prominence it had during Hellenistic times. In 288 BC Ptolemy I added a library to the city founded by Alexander the Great in 332 BC. He hoped to acquire every book in the world. At the height of its influence, the library attracted international scholars, such as Euclid and Archimedes, and housed some 700,000 papyrus scrolls.

The new library, which opens 12 years after its foundation stone was laid, is one of the largest anywhere. Built on the Mediterranean shore, it features a circular design intended to evoke the rising and setting of the sun. It is expected to open on time and welcome many heads of state to the inauguration ceremony.

Discover more, go to:
http://www.unesco.org/webworld/alexandria_new/

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Conversion ain't easy...
Date: 4/1/2002, eBookWeb

"Entire eBook empires have foundered on conversion," declares Dorothy Salo in a recent column on eBookWeb. According to Salo, publishers and distributors everywhere are screaming for the "magic pushbutton" that will take care of all their conversion needs, and tools' developers are doing their utmost to accommodate them. But content producers should let go of the dream, she argues, and design conversion workflows that really work...

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Gameboy kids' thumbs mutate...
Date: 3/24/2002, UK Observer

A University of Warwick (England) study finds that the era of Gameboys and PDA's has produced a physical mutation in people under 25. As the London Observer reported: "The study, carried out in nine cities around the world, shows that the thumbs of the younger generation have overtaken their fingers as the hand's most muscled and dexterous digit." In Japan, people under 25 even call themselves oya yubi sedai - "the thumb generation."

Pick up the story at:
http://www.observer.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,673103,00.html

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ASIDES ;-)
This month's off-beat news>>>

Web page eaten...
"Error Message 404" Gets Unique Twist
Date: 4/6/2002, DCLnews

When you type in a Web address that points to a missing page, a generic error message (known as a "404") normally appears. It's dry and technical sounding, but evidently Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) thought they'd make theirs more interesting...

After the regulation "404 File Not Found" an off-beat haiku appears: "I ate your Web page. Forgive me. It was juicy and tart on my tongue."

Try it yourself, use this made up web address:
http://www.mit.edu/blah-x.html

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My beer glass is empty - raise the alarm!
Date: 4/4/2002, New Scientist

US researchers say they've come up with a drinking glass that raises the alarm when a refill is needed. They've basically turned a drinks' glass into a capacitor and installed a radio tag. The iGlassware system is the brainchild of a team at Mitsubishi Electric in Massachusetts, who hope it will be popular with bars and restaurants eager to improve their customer service...

I say this regularly, and I'll say it again - go get a beer at:
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992123

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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

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