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Vol. 4, Issue 8

August 13th 2002

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HEADLINES

INSIDE STORY

Free Content -- Or Not?

EXTRA!

Aviation Information Management -- recommended book
Don't forget to visit DCL's Tech Library

OTHER NEWS

Iowa College Goes Paperless, For Real!
XML Buzz Skyrockets
XML Backbone of U.K.'s "Digital Alexandria"
New York Times Digitizes 3-Million Pages Of Archives
U.K. Libraries Get Seriously Wired

ASIDES ;-)

Do You Believe in Aliens and Ghosts?

BEST OF DCL-NEWS

Check out the best stories from previous issues

COVER STORY:

Expert Opinion: Who In Their Right Mind
Wouldn't Want XML?
Date: 13/8/2002, DCLnews Exclusive

In the fourth of a series of interviews with leading figures from the XML world, DCLnews talks to Bob Hecht of Marcel Dekker, who says electronic publishing is not just about product any more, it's about process... See: http://www.dclab.com/bobhecht.asp

Click here to read last month's expert STM/XML interview with Jabin White, of Elsevier Science, who says he would be scared to consider the future of scientific and medical publishing without XML...

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INSIDE STORY:

Free Content -- Or Not?
Date: 13/8/2002, DCLnews Inside Story

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>>>EXTRA!!!

Book  Recommendation:
"Aviation Information Management"

DCL's Don Bridges, Account Manager for Technical Documents, just e-mailed with a "must buy" book for anyone in the Aviation Industry. It's called Aviation Information Management: From Documents to Data and is published by Ashgate. It is edited by top researchers Thomas L. Seamster and Barbara G. Kanki and covers everything from Operational Information Standardization to Safety-critical Information and Procedures. Don says: "While it does not address XML conversion explicitly, it does build a case for XML being a good thing (necessary thing?) for the aviation industry." Click here to find out more.
 

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:

Iowa College Goes Paperless, For Real!
Date: 8/6/2002, WiredNews

A Midwestern college is eschewing paper and is working toward becoming an all-digital campus. The Des Moines Area Community College's West Des Moines campus has no library or books and depends almost entirely on e-textbooks and online resources. Last year about 75 telecommunications students participated in a pilot program to go paperless. Each student used a Compaq iPaq handheld to access e-textbooks, syllabi, and class materials, and to take notes and exams.

This fall, the paperless program expands to include all technology courses and some business and liberal arts courses. Campus Dean Tony Paustian hopes that within a year the whole campus will be paperless. "We are heading toward a world where, instead of reading a bunch of Bill Gates' quotes, you want to have a clip of him actually speaking that quote. It really makes a learning experience more dynamic," he said.

[http://go.hotwired.com/news/business/0,1367,54030,00.html/wn_ascii]

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XML Buzz Skyrockets
Date: 8/5/2002, eWeek

Early in August, eWeek ran a series of articles detailing how XML is proving the big solution to everything from databases and business-to-business transactions, to Web services and data management.

Writer Eric Lundquist noted that when Sun Microsystems' Jon Bosak led the team that developed the first XML spec in 1996, it is unlikely they envisioned a day when arch competitors Oracle and Microsoft would become two of the standard's champions. Now, in Redmond, "nearly every phrase heard in the hallways includes XML used as a noun, verb, adjective, and overall magic elixir for what ails the technology industry," said Linquist.

For an overview of the eWeek articles, go to:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,436651,00.asp

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XML the Backbone of UK's "Digital
Alexandria" Project
Date: 8/2/2002, WiredNews

Britain's New Opportunities Fund is halfway through an ambitious project to digitize large swaths of the country's cultural, political, and social life and make it available online. The $75 million project -- called NOF-Digitize -- is driven by XML technology and is digitizing material in three main areas: Culture, Citizenship, and what it calls "Re-Skilling the Nation."

Under the Culture strand, NOF-Digitize is converting the Shikshapatri, a sacred Hindu text, into electronic format. The tiny book was given to the English governor of Bombay by its author, Sahajanand Swami, in 1830. It is now housed in the Bodleian Library's Institute of India at Oxford University. Some seventy thousand Hindus make regular pilgrimages to the library to view the sacred text, but can only look at one page as the book is too fragile.

With the online version they will be able to browse the whole volume or search for favorite passages -- all from the comfort of their own home.

[http://go.hotwired.com/news/politics/0,1283,54196,00.html/wn_ascii]

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New York Times Digitizes 3-Million Pages of Archives
Date: 7/29/2002, WiredNews

The New York Times is digitizing all its back issues from 1851 to 1999. Every news article, editorial, photograph, and even advertisement will be included ... making a very valuable historical resource. Using a fully searchable file, readers can see articles as they originally appeared in print -- from the attack on Fort Sumter in 1861 to Nixon's resignation in 1974.

With over 3-million pages and over 25-million articles -- making up 4 terabytes of data -- the Times conversion effort is unprecedented. The conversion to electronic format posed quite a challenge. Microfilm, for example, was the main source for digital images. Many were mastered over 50 years ago when microfilm technologies were in their infancy -- resulting in varying degrees of quality. But new digitization and image-enhancement techniques were used to revitalize images.

Click here to discover more.

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U.K. Libraries Get Seriously Wired
Date: 7/27/2002, WiredNews

An ambitious UK project called the People's Network will hook up the United Kingdom's 4,000-plus libraries to the Internet, transforming them into "access-and-learning" centers by the end of this year. The project will install over 30,000 terminals packed with features like e-mail, browsing, office applications, digital imaging, and video conferences. The vast majority will be connected to the Internet by 2-MB lines. Over 100 million pounds will be spent on the project and funding comes from U.K. lottery cash through the New Opportunities Fund.

Click here to get the lowdown on the U.K. libraries project.

Editor's Note:
I visit the Central Library where I live in Norwich, Eastern England, about three times a week. And have seen it go from a few library catalogue terminals to hi-spec PCs with flat-screen monitors set up with all the software and web applications anyone would need. What I appreciate most is being able to access the library catalog from my PC at home. I can then order the books I need and pick them up a few days later.

I've always been a great advocate of Public Libraries ... probably because I'm totally self-taught and have used libraries over the years to get the learning or research materials I needed ... and the great thing is they're now moving into the digital age in leaps and bounds. The potential for learning is enormous. And anyone can do it. You don't need money. Which means a child growing up in a bad neighborhood has the power to become the next Bill Gates. All he or she has to do is go to the library.

But what's happening in the U.S.? Are you in the library service? Or a regular user of libraries? If so, why not drop me an e-mail about what's going on. I'm particularly interested in e-publishing projects that involve XML or SGML.

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

Do You Believe in Aliens & Ghosts?
Date: 7/27/2002, New Scientist

If so, it could be down to your brain chemistry. Swiss researcher, Peter Brugger, has found that people with higher levels of dopamine are more likely to find significance in coincidences, and pick out patterns where there are none.

From the age of eight to about nineteen, I was an avid believer in UFOs and aliens, but then become a skeptic (at least regarding the literal reality of ETs). I thought I'd come to my senses, but maybe it was my brain chemistry that altered ... the questions is: does it amount to the same thing?

The truth is out there at:
http://www.newscientist.com/exc/enews.jsp?id=ns99992589

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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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