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Lead Stories:

Cessna Takes XML To The Skies
Converting Tables To XML: Top 10 Challenges & Pitfalls
New TechDoc Community Of Practice Proving Big Success - And Staging FREE Meetings At XML 2003

Plus:

Popular Articles From Recent Issues

Other News:

E-Records Could Reduce Medical Errors
U.S Army's New Laptops Resist Sand & Dust
British Library On Amazon!
Web Ticket Sales Double For Continental Airlines
Margaret Thatcher Posts Archives Online
CNIB Launches Digital Library For The Blind

Asides:

Strange, But True - Tales of Tech Support Helplines

Lead Stories:

Cessna Takes XML To The Skies

Dec 3, 2003, DCLnews Exclusive

In a bid to streamline how information gets distributed to users, Cessna Aircraft Co. has opted to use an XML-based content management solution. More.

Converting Tables To XML: Top 10 Challenges & Pitfalls

Dec 3, 2003, DCLnews Exclusive

DCL has been in the data conversion since the early 80s and has been faced with all types of tables to convert. The bottom line is, "it ain't easy." But Mike Gross, DCL's Chief Tech Officer, steers you through the pitfalls of turning those pesky tables into well-formed mark-up. More

New TechDoc Community Of Practice Proving Big Success - And Staging FREE Meetings At XML 2003

Dec 3, 2003, DCLnews Exclusive

New TechDoc Community of Practice (co-sponsored by DCL) is proving a big success. And is holding two town hall meetings during the XML 2003 Conference, on the evenings of Dec 9th and 10th. These meetings are no-cost and open to all. A must-attend if you are in the Philadelphia area on those days. Also, a complimentary exhibit pass if you present a copy of DCLnews. More.

Plus:

Popular Articles From Recent Issues

Dec 3, 2003, DCLnews Extra

Converting From PDF: Avoiding The Pitfalls, Part One
www.dclab.com/converting_from_pdf.asp

Converting From PDF: Avoiding The Pitfalls, Part Two
www.dclab.com/converting_from_pdf2.asp

Chaucer's Pilgrimage Into Cyberspace
www.dclab.com/chaucer_cyberspace.asp

Converting Quark To XML
www.dclab.com/QuarktoXML.asp

DCL FAQ Pages
www.dclab.com/dclfaq.asp

Other News:

E-Records Could Reduce Medical Errors

Nov 20, 2003, MSNBC

Computerized health records could reduce dangerous medical mistakes, according to the Institute of Medicine, a Government advisory body. Some doctors, hospitals, and pharmacies already use electronic health records, such as paperless prescriptions. But electronic medicine still isn't widely used. And most of today's computerized medical records are hospital or pharmacy-specific - not much use if a patient is lying unconscious, far from home.

Routine use of electronic health records could help reduce the tens of thousands of deaths and injuries caused by medical mistakes every year, stated the Institute of Medicine. To improve the use of electronic records, it recommended that the Government help create data standards for the secure collection, storage, and dissemination of medical information electronically. This would form the basis of a network that would allow widespread exchange of critical health information. XML figures prominently in such efforts - including the HL7 initiative, which is developing an international standard for the transfer of health records and medical information. More.

U.S Army's New Laptops Resist Sand & Dust

Nov 14, 2003, Federal Computer Week

The Army's first combat unit in this year's Iraq conflict will buy more than 2,200 Itronix GoBook II notebooks. "About 30 percent of the 3rd Infantry Division's 4,000 notebooks failed to work in Iraq's rugged terrain," said Vince Menzione, VP of Itronix. GoBook II notebooks can operate in rain, snow, wind, dust, fire, shock, vibration, and chemical exposure. Itronix uses a die-cast magnesium casing to make its laptops more durable. The company has also sold rugged notebooks to the Air Force's Air Combat Command, Air Education and Training Command, and Air Mobility Command.

Communications and the sharing of electronic technical documents, repair and operating manuals has become crucial in modern warfare. Apart from small special forces units, our military couldn't operate without them. Which is why hardware devices have to be able to withstand the world's most inhospitable conditions. War, after all, can break out anywhere - and our military needs to be prepared for it. More.

British Library On Amazon!

Nov 24, 2003, The Scotsman

The British Library has made its extensive catalog system of published books available to online retailer Amazon.co.uk. This will allow buyers to check whether rare or specialist books actually exist or not, and will open a new marketplace for Amazon. A spokesman for the British Library, however, stressed it was only the catalog records that would be available - not the books themselves.

Until now, Amazon has only sold books which have an ISBN catalog number. The system was not introduced until 1970, so books printed before then were not available on the site. The British Library has added details of more than 2.5 million books to the Amazon site - 1.7 million of which are pre-1970 volumes.

Teaming up with the British Library will hugely expand the number of titles which can be sold on Amazon. Third parties can sell specialist or antiquarian titles in the marketplace area of the site. More.

Web Ticket Sales Double For Continental Airlines

Nov 16, 2003, Houston Chronicle

Continental Airlines has surpassed $1 billion in ticket sales on its web site for 2003 and will nearly double sales logged last year. Continental's figure is only for sales on Continental.com and doesn't include sales made through Internet sites like Travelocity or Orbitz.

Online sales are transforming the ticket-buying experience for customers - allowing them to purchase tickets at an Internet-only discount and from the convenience of their office or home.

For the airlines, which have been losing billions of dollars annually due to changing travel trends set off by the 2001 terrorist attacks, the growth in online sales is a boon because of decreased costs. More.

Margaret Thatcher Posts Archives Online

Nov 17, 2003, National Review

Britain's first (and only) woman prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, has posted her vast archive on the Internet. The most important of her papers up to the point she became prime minister - on May 4, 1979 - are now open for study to anyone with a computer and Internet access.

Never before has a British prime minister released private papers for study while alive. Not only that, but the Thatcher archive is the first modern political archive to offer the key files online (at the Thatcher Foundation's web site). No presidential library or national archive has yet done this - making it an Internet first.

Included in the archive is early correspondence between Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. Reagan signs off one 1975 letter by saying: "Please know you have an enthusiastic supporter out here in the 'colonies.'" More.

CNIB Launches Digital Library For The Blind

Nov 13, 2003, GlobeTechnology

Thanks to the Internet and some original programming by Microsoft Canada, 105,000 blind or visually impaired Canadians will be able to read thousands of books, daily newspapers and magazines. Launched by the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, the CNIB Digital Library is described as the most advanced collection of alternative formats in the world and a model for 175 international libraries producing alternative-format information.

It also contains a Children's Discovery Portal, the world's first portal of its kind for children who are blind. The library's on-line services including the CNIB catalogue and a digital repository of books into one unified, bilingual, Internet gateway. There are more than 10,000 audio, text, and Braille titles available on-line, including recent bestsellers such as Life of Pi and The Stone Diaries. Users can also search and order from a collection of more than 60,000 titles.

"For sighted people, technology makes access to information easier. For people like myself who are blind, it makes access possible," CNIB president Jim Sanders said at the launch of the library. More.

Asides:

Strange, But True - Tales Of Tech Support Helplines

Dec 3, 2003, Stokely.com

This stuff is NOT made up...

A woman called a printing help desk with a problem with her printer. The tech asked her if she was "running it under Windows." The woman then responded, "No, my desk is next to the door. But that is a good point. The man sitting in the cubicle next to me is under a window, and his is working fine."

And...

TECH SUPPORT: "All right...now double-click on the File Manager icon."
CUSTOMER: "That's why I hate this Windows - because of the icons - I'm a Protestant, and I don't believe in icons."
TECH SUPPORT: "Well, that's just an industry term sir. I don't believe it was meant to..."
CUSTOMER: "I don't care about any 'Industry Terms'. I don't believe in icons."
TECH SUPPORT: "Well...why don't you click on the 'little picture' of a file cabinet...is 'little picture' OK?"
CUSTOMER: [click]

>>> More.