Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!zephyr.ens.tek.com!tekgen!robertj From: robertj@tekgen.BV.TEK.COM (Robert Jaquiss) Newsgroups: comp.ivideodisc,tek.misc Subject: SIGCAT RECAP FOR OCTOBER 1989 Message-ID: <5131@tekgen.BV.TEK.COM> Date: 28 Nov 89 19:04:14 GMT Reply-To: robertj@tekgen.BV.TEK.COM (Robert Jaquiss) Followup-To: comp.ivideodisc Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton, OR. Lines: 513 SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP ON CD-ROM APPLICATIONS & TECHNOLOGY October 24, 1989 Meeting 1. Introduction This month's meeting was held at the Washington Convention Center in conjunction with the Federal Computer Conference. Jerry McFaul brought the meeting to order, and declared the theme of the meeting to be "Exploring CD-ROM Options." It is important for users to be aware of the broad spectrum of options available for developing and distributing information on CD-ROM. It is also important that the vendor community understand the needs and desires of the users. Those present were invited to sign up as member of SIGCAT, if they had not already done so. SIGCAT meets every other month; the next meeting is scheduled for December 7 and will be held at the U.S. Geological Survey, in Reston, VA. 2. A Perspective on CD-ROM The first guest speaker was Chris Andrews, President of UniDisc, Incorporated. Mr. Andrews has been in the electronic information industry for ten years. Based on his own experience, Mr. Andrews summarized the history of CD-ROM and presented his forecasts of future trends. CD-ROM was an outgrowth of the publication of recorded music on Compact Disc. Library applications were the first to be put on CD-ROM. Because of this association with bibliographic indexes and catalogues, CD-ROM became type-cast for static databases. The essence of CD-ROM is that it is another information distribution standard, just as the book is. While a book is designed to be used linearly, from front to back, CD-ROM can be used like an online retrieval system, where information can be accessed by content. The major area of success for CD-ROM has been in cutting the cost of printing. If a 300 page document, such as a reference manual, must be distributed to some 200 users, not all of the users will need all of the document. Some users will only need a few pages, some will need more. Typically, from 30% to 40% of the document is excess, which only gets in the user's way. If the same document is published on CD-ROM, then the user only needs to print the pages he uses regularly. This is known as on- demand printing. Other areas of success have been (a) distributing information quickly, (b) promoting control and standardization, and (c) selling things. Mr. Andrews gave the following perspective on the costs of CD-ROM compared to other distribution media: Cost/ Medium Mbyte CD-ROM <$0.01 paper $4.00 fiche $0.10 35mm. slide $1.25 floppy disk $2.00 WORM $0.10 The above comparison is only for the cost of replication, with the cost of replicating a CD-ROM disc given as $2.00. The other part of the cost perspective is that the start-up costs for CD- ROM publishing are high. Pre-mastering software and work- station will cost about $100,000, and can run much higher. The keys to cost-effective CD-ROM publishing are: (a) high frequency of access, (b) high volume of data, and (c) a large number of users. It is also important to look critically at each step of the preparation process and to cost it out independently. Base in-house preparation versus contracting out decisions should on cost. Future trends in will see CD-ROM publication as a hybrid of book and music publication. CD-ROM drives will get less expensive (around $500) as local area networks compete with stand-alone drives. Newer technology will allow publishers to master CD-ROMs in house. Multi-media ROM will become increasingly important, but will add to the cost of the user work-station. Mr. Andrews concluded by describing UniDisc and its current projects. UniDisc Incorporated is a consulting firm which serves as an intermediary between the CD-ROM publisher, and the CD-ROM hardware and services vendors. One of UniDisc's current projects is the "Guiness Disc of Records." It is a fun, educational tool containing 300 color slides, 30 minutes of sound, 20 animations, and 5000 records. Anyone interested in obtaining a copy should call (800) 326-0092, Extension 42. Another UniDisc product is a CD-ROM disc sharing service called Alpha ROM. Publishers can have their files mastered on an Alpha ROM disc at the rate of $90 for 100 pages, or 25 pages for $25. Please, no confidential data. For further information call: Mr. Chris Andrews, President UniDisc Incorporated (415) 969-0606 or (415) 962-0577 3. Five Lessons in Five Years Mr. William Paisley, Executive Vice President of Knowledge Access International, related the lessons of five years experience in developing and distributing CD-ROMs. The book will be the model for CD-ROM publishing in the future. Designing a CD-ROM, which is analogous to preparing a draft of a book, is extremely challenging. Production, on the other hand, is very uniform. Standard solutions are the secret to developing inexpensive CD-ROMs. Publication of a CD-ROM starts with the conversion of information to machine-readable form. If the information is not already in machine-readable form, conversion will be the most expensive part of the publishing process. The next step is to edit and massage the data to create the indexes, do the hypertext mark-up, or the editorial mark-up. The Standardized Generalized Mark-up Language (SGML) is recommended for editorial mark-up. It is not the least expensive choice, but it is a safe one. Pre-mastering is two processes in one. First a master image of the CD-ROM is created, and then it is simulated on magnetic disk to evaluate performance. Pre-mastering may either be done in-house or out-of-house. The publisher has better editorial control over the final product if he chooses the former. CD-ROM mastering is usually done out-of-house. It includes not only making the master disc, but also replication and packaging. Allocate resources for user support. This is part of the product too. A publisher's work-station must consist of at least an Intel 80386 class PC, a large hard disk, and a tape unit. The tape unit is usually a one-half inch industry standard tape, but one- quarter inch cartridge tape can also be used. The publisher should produce at least one CD-ROM per month to justify the cost of the work-station. The CD-ROM user's minimal configuration, plain vanilla work-station should consist of an IBM PC (or compatible) with a 10 megabyte hard disk. Mr. Paisley closed with the following lessons: 1. CD-ROMs are easy to produce, so don't get dazzled by CD-ROM mystique. 2. A CD-ROM is produced to be used; if it takes six months to produce it, it is already a failure. 3. CD-ROM design is an art of trade-offs; make it good, not perfect. 4. Don't overdesign the CD-ROM; cost out the options at each stage, use standard solutions, and avoid reaching for the last ten percent of the design. 5. Don't overinvest in publishing capacity. Mr. Paisley described the KAware Disk Publisher. This is a software system for the development of information products for distribution on CD-ROM. It accepts text in all the popular PC and mainframe file formats; supports field-specific and free-text search and retrieval; has hypertext capability; and can combine both text and graphics in the final product. Mr. Paisley made a special introductory offer of the KAware Disk Publisher/Text- Image package to SIGCAT members at a price of $399 less an additional discount of $50 to conference attenders. For further information call: Knowledge Access International, Inc. 2685 Marine Way, Suite 1305 Mountain View, CA 94043 Telephone: (415) 969-0606 FAX: (415) 946-2027 4. Optical Publishing vs. Other Database Techniques Mr. Tom Brown, Project Engineer of American Helix Technology Corporation, described optical publishing versus other database techniques, and introduced LASERTEX, a multimedia authoring and retrieval package. A centralized database, such as a corporate accounting database, is built by the specialists who use it. Optical publishing is analogous to a company's annual report. It contains text, numeric tables, and illustration all in one package, and is intended to be used by outsiders. In building an application using LASERTEX, the first step is to design a storyboard prototype. This is where the user interface is created. Next, the information is collected, prepared, and catalogued. Indexes, scripts, and hypertext links are also created. Mr. Brown used, as an example, a real estate multiple listing database. The data consist of textual description of each property, a photograph, and numeric data (e.g. number of room, square footage, price). The data fields and record formats are designed first. Then, the user interface is created with various scripts, i.e. sequences of user actions. Scripts can be linear such as browse and search scripts, or branching, as in hypertext scripts. Next, come the design of interfaces for the various devices that will be used in the real estate application. These may include videodisc, modem, fax machine, or printers. Information collection starts with the text data. It is converted to machine readable form, and SGML tags are added. Polaroid pictures of the houses are scanned, and Multiple Listing Service (MLS) numbers are attached to each of the digitized images. Next, the information is organized. The MLS numbers must be added to the text to link images, data, and text together. Also, indexes must be created. This step is extremely important, but time consuming. It can be speeded up with the LASERTEX Index Editor. American Helix made the following offer, which is only good until November 10, 1989: for an evaluation fee of $4995, SIGCAT members may buy the LASERTEX Evaluation Program. This includes the use of the full LASERTEX software to develop one CD-ROM application, five days of intensive training on the use of the software, design support and consultation services, specialized information preparation services, and free replication of the master disc. Mastering costs are not included. If you should decide to buy the LASERTEX program, American Helix will give you full credit for the evaluation fee toward the purchase price, and a discount as well. For further information on this offer, or for a copy the LASERTEX demonstration CD-ROM, call or write: American Helix Technology Corporation 1857 Colonial Village Lane Lancaster, PA 17601 Telephone: (800) 525-6575 5. A Macintosh View Allen Adkins, President of Optical Media International, spoke on CD-ROM technology from the point of view of the Apple Macintosh user. First of all, support of the ISO-9660 standard is crucial to the Macintosh user because it permits CD-ROMs developed for the PC to be used on the Macintosh, and vice- versa. Whether you are a Mac or a PC user, it is important to realize that CD-ROMs are asymmetrical. There is a long preparation time involved in designing and publishing a CD-ROM that the user never sees. For the user, CD-ROM is read-only; the publisher is the one who writes it. This means the CD-ROM is a fast, low cost, standardized publication and distribution medium. In contrast WORM (Write Once Read Mostly) technology is expensive, unstandardized, and unsuited for mass distribution of information. Prices of CD-ROM hardware and software will continue to drop as more applications are developed. UNIX applications software and documentation files will soon be published on CD-ROM. Mr. Adkins demonstrated MacTOPiX, a software package for pre-mastering a CD-ROM on the Apple Macintosh. A PC version is also available. For further information, call: Mr. Allen Adkins, President Optical Media International Telephone: (408) 395-4332 6. In-House Preparation vs. Service Bureau Mr. Don Rodgers, Marketing Programs Manager for Reference Technology Incorporated (RTI), discussed the trade-offs involved in deciding whether to prepare CD-ROM products in-house, or to let a contractor do the "dirty work." Mr. Rodgers began by saying that RTI has had eight years of experience in selling software and hardware for CD-ROM applications, in project management for service bureau applications, in developing systems products for bringing CD-ROM production in house, and has done over 400 CD-ROM titles for government and private industry. Also, RTI staff members headed up the High Sierra Group which created the industry standards for CD-ROM. The first decision-making rule is to be objective, and cost out the alternatives at each step of the way. What steps are you willing to perform, and which ones should be contracted out? The following table shows the relative magnitude of the tasks involved in producing a CD-ROM: Task Time Required Data Capture 1000 hours Data Conversion 100 hours Data Indexing 10 hours Logical Formatting 1 hour Data capture, i.e. conversion of data to a machine-readable form, is generally the most difficult and expensive step of the process. Even if you elect to do this in-house, turn over a sample of the data to a service bureau just as a "sanity check." Data conversion is the conversion of data already in machine- readable form from one format to another. It is usually necessary because all of the data that needs to be in the product is never in one file. Expect lots of mistakes and problems here. Record formats tend to change over time so that all the records in a file never have exactly the same format. This can lead to some real "horror stories." The principal advantage in allowing a service bureau to do a task is that it is their staff and their equipment rather than yours that is being utilized. Their staff usually has some experience in CD-ROM preparation and so there is a shorter learning curve to climb before the product can be released. However, check with previous customers to be sure that the contractor in question sticks by his schedules. Service bureaus maintain a battery of data preparation tools, and have peak load capabilities that make them a cost-effective way to start out in CD-ROM publishing. For a single product, it is cheaper to contract it out than to buy the equipment and to hire and train the staff. A service bureau may be cheaper for on-going jobs as well. Migrate to an in-house facility whenever it makes good business sense. In house, you control the process and the schedule. On-going costs are lower, and all steps are carried out in one location, which is crucial if security is a concern. In-house operations demand lots of disk space, flexibility, and expandability. For this reason, only buy equipment that has standard interfaces, and only use software that conforms to the High Sierra Group (HSG) and ISO-9669 standards as well. In-house systems should support CD-ROM emulation of the disk images produced on it. An emulation debugger and optimization tools are also essential. Mr. Rodgers closed with the following advice: 1. A variety of systems are available now with different capabilities. 2. Make decisions based on immediate needs, but plan for the future too. 3. An open architecture is important for configurability and growth; don't design it out. 4. Complex applications can benefit from a more complete development tool kit. 5. In-house development and service bureaus are complementary; base your decision on what your organization can and wants to do. For further information on RTI, their products and services, call or write: Reference Technology Reference Technology 5700 Flatiron Parkway 8150 Leesburg Pike Boulder, CO 80301 Suite 700 Phone: (303) 449-4157 Vienna, VA 22182 Phone: (703) 883-8215 7. SIGCAT Working Groups After lunch, there were reports from the SIGCAT working groups. a. CD-ROM Data Origination Working Group Lee Brotzman, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, spoke for the CD-ROM Data Origination Working Group. The focus of this group is the CD-ROM pre-mastering work-station that is commonly used to develop and test CD-ROM products and software. Membership is open to all federal managers and technician who work with or are planning to purchase a pre-mastering work- station. Some topics of current interest are: a) extended attribute records for describing MS-DOS files, b) text editors for large files, and c) addition of 8mm. tapes to work- stations. For more information about the Data Origination Working Group, call: Lee Brotzman NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Code 630.3 Greenbelt, MD 20771 Phone: (301) 286-6953 b. ISO 9660 Working Group Barbara Rose reported on the ISO 9660 Working Group which is concerned with the promotion and use of the ISO 9660 standard for CD-ROM. At a recent meeting, there was a discussion of problems related to the VAX/VMS system. Data originated on a VAX and then transferred to a CD-Publisher for premastering, could not be read back on the VAX. The question is why? For more information on this working group, call: Barbara Rose Phone: (202) 355-3029 c. Common Indexing Standards Working Group Laurie Amichetti reported on the Common Indexing Standards Working Group which is trying to develop a standard indexing format for CD-ROM text applications. A common indexing standard would separate the retrieval software from the pre-mastering software. At present, the two are linked together. If there were a common indexing standard, CD-ROM publishers would only have to distribute a minimal retrieval program with their product or, no software at all. The CD-ROM user could develop or buy retrieval software to suit their own needs. They would no longer need a separate retrieval program for each product. The Air Force is working on the requirements analysis for such a standard. If you are interested, or would like to take part, call or write: Lt. Shenkin or Ms Laurie Amichetti ESD/AVSI Bldg. 1704, Room 206 Hanscom AFB, MA 01731-5000 Telephone: (617) 377-2105 d. SIGLIT Carol Bursick reported for the Special Interest Group on Library and Information Technology (SIGLIT). This is a three- year old, ad hoc group of Federal librarians who are interested in CD-ROM and related technology for libraries. They meet each month, usually at the Library of Congress in downtown D.C., to exchange information on CD-ROM. Field trips are a regular part of the agenda for this working group. If you enjoy travel, and would like to come along, call: Ms. Susan David Library of Congress Telephone: (202) 707-6447 8. CD-ROM Drives and Their Components Mr. Carl Beckman, Washington Metropolitan Area representative for the Hitachi Sales Corporation of America, described CD-ROM drive components, and several of the drive that are currently manufactured by Hitachi. Components are a) an interface card, b) a cable, c) a CD-ROM caddie, and d) Microsoft Extensions. The interface card is a printed circuit board that goes in a slot in the back of the PC. The 5A interface card is used in the PC/XT/AT class of machines and is relatively inexpensive. The interface card for the PS/2 with its Microchannel Architecture (MCA) costs about three times as much. The cable connects the external CD-ROM drive to the interface card, and should be about five feet long. The CD-ROM caddie developed by Sony is already a de facto standard and will eventually become an industry standard. There are strong reasons for this. CD-ROMs need protection, the caddies make a handy storage device, and they can also be used as mailers. Microsoft Extensions are driver routines that allow MS-DOS to access a CD-ROM drive. The Extensions are make and model specific, and will only work with the CD-ROM drive for which they were designed. When ordering the Extensions, state the make and model of the CD-ROM drive, whether you want them on 5.25 or 3.5 inch diskettes, and lastly, whether your PC has Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) or MSA. Hitachi manufactures a variety of CD-ROM drive, both internal and external, single and multiple units. All Hitachi drives are HSG and ISO 9660 compatible, are front loading, and can be daisy-chained. The newer drives have additional features such as double doors to keep out dust, a power-off ejection button, and automatic lens cleaning. Double and quadruple disc drives are popular with libraries. Mr. Beckman explained why a CD-ROM drive costs two or three times as much as a CD audio drive. About 30 million PCs have been sold in the United States alone, while only 250,000 CD-ROM drives have been sold world-wide. Manufacturers have not yet recovered their capital investment in CD-ROM manufacturing plant and equipment. Furthermore, CD-ROM drives require much more hand-holding that do CD audio drives. As more and more drives are sold, the price will come down. Mr. Beckman made two offers to the audience. The first was a limited time offer to sell the Hitachi Model 1503 CD-ROM drive to any SIGCAT member for $449. To qualify, it must say SIGCAT on the purchase order. The second offer was to provide a new version of Microsoft Extensions to anyone sending in the floppy disk with the old version. It must be the original diskette sold by Microsoft, or they cannot make the swap. Send the diskette to: Hitachi Sales Corporation of America 31 Water Mill Lane Great Neck, NY 11021 ATTN: Carl Beckman Telephone: (202) 249-8266 9. Quality Assurance in CD-ROM Mr. John Sands, of Nimbus Information Systems, told what measures can be taken to assure the manufacture and delivery of a highly reliable CD-ROMs. CD-ROM technology is based on the "Yellow Book" CD audio standard which is accepted by all CD manufactures (e.g. Phillips, Sony, Hitachi) world wide. Because of this, manufacture of CD-ROM is similar to CD audio with its advantages of low cost, durability, and high capacity. Most of the cost of a CD-ROM product is in its design; pre-mastering, mastering, and replication are less than five percent of the total cost. A master copy of a CD-ROM disc can last through 30,000 to 75,000 pressings. At Nimbus Information Systems, three "stampers" are made from each master, and all replication is done with the "stampers." Quality control is maintained by checking the block error rate of each copy. Block error rate is the number of blocks per disc that contain errors. If the block error rate rises above 15, the "stamper" is changed. This results in an effective error rate of one bit in 1015 because 12 percent of the storage capacity of each disc is used for a cyclic redundancy check code. A copy can be made every six seconds, and each copy can hold up to 700 megabytes of data. Accelerated ageing tests indicate that CD-ROMs have a life expectancy of about 100 years in the first world, or about 25 years in the third world. The life of a CD-ROM can be prolonged by housing and shipping them in caddies instead of jewel boxes. Mr. Sands concluded his talk with a photographic tour of Nimbus CD-ROM mastering facility in Charlottesville, VA. For further information, call: Mr. John Sands Nimbus Information Systems Telephone: (800) 782-0778 (804) 985-1100 Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com