MULTIMEDIA AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS, 1997-2002: PERSPECTIVES AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Prepared by Students in the Spring Semester 1997 Class in Systems Analysis and Evaluation Lance A. Hayden Ismael Rangel John G. Jamieson Pivi H. Rentz Heath M. Rezabek under the direction of Professor Ronald E. Wyllys Graduate School of Library and Information Science The University of Texas at Austin 1997 May 10
Those copyright items (if any) reproduced herein have been copied as fair use for the educational purpose for which the study treated herein was undertaken and is here reported. Except for such otherwise copyright items, the entire contents of this report are copyright 1997 by Ronald Eugene Wyllys for the benefit of the GSLIS Foundation, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712-1276. Permission to copy, quote, and/or reproduce, and/or use all or any part of the contents of this report (except those parts that are otherwise copyright) is granted to all persons and organizations, provided that due acknowledgment is made of the source of the material thus utilized.

Telephone: 512-471-3969/2742; 800-551-0294 Fax: 512-471-3971 Email: wyllys@gslis.utexas.edu GraduateSchoolofLibraryandInformationScience SnchezBuilding564 TheUniversityofTexasatAustin Austin,Texas787121276

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Introduction The Extraordinary Promise of Digitized Imagery Implications of Digitized Imagery for the Library- and Information-Science Profession Specific Recommendations for the LIS Profession The Future Reference 2 OVERVIEW OF THE SYSTEMS-ANALYSIS STUDY Introduction Background of the GSLIS Study 3 OVERVIEW OF MULTIMEDIA Introduction Definitions Multimedia Hardware Software Networks Other Definitions History Multimedia Hardware Software Networks Current Trends Multimedia Hardware Software Visual-Image Formats Audio-Image Formats Internet-Related Formats and Terms Networks Intranet Technologies Future Trends References on Multimedia and Related Topics Online Resources and Tutorials Other References 4 MULTIMEDIA USE IN LIBRARIES AND OTHER INFORMATION AGENCIES Introduction

Consequences of Rapid Change in Multimedia Technologies Current Multimedia Collections and Multimedia Research The Columbia Digital Library Project University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - Digital Libraries Initiative University of California, Santa Barbara - Project Alexandria Carnegie Mellon University - Informedia Digital Video Library University of Michigan - Digital Library Project Stanford University Digital Libraries Project Elsevier's Electronic Subscriptions ProQuest Digital Dissertations (UMI) Corbis SuperJournal Project Multimedia Technologies and Selection Criteria for Selecting Multimedia Technologies Creating Digitized Materials Copyright and Usage Fees References 5 CURRENT AND FUTURE MULTIMEDIA STANDARDS FOR IMAGE FORMATS Purpose History Background The Need for Standards for Digital Images Definitions Scanners and Related Hardware Introduction Scanners vs. Digital Cameras and Video-Capture Cards How Scanners Work Current and Future Trends Implications for the Future References 6 DIGITAL IMAGES AND OPEN STANDARDS> Definition What Are Open Standards? Two Types of Open Standard History Current State and Trends Longevity of Multimedia Formats The Library and Preservation of the Cultural Record Enterprises and the Longevity of Mission-Critical Data Hardware and Types of Multimedia Standards Sound Images Video Hardware and Physical Media Possible Future Standards and Implications for the Library- and Information-Science Professions A Time of Rapid Change and Opportunity Extensions of HTML Java--A Cross-Platform Programming Language New User Interfaces References 7 NEW TOOLS RELATED TO MULTIMEDIA AND THE WORLD-WIDE WEB Search Engines

Web-Crawling Spiders and Robots Resource Discovery on the Internet Continuous-Speech Recognition 8 IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR EDUCATION IN LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE Planning for a Course or Courses on Multimedia Topics for Multimedia Courses

1EXECUTIVESUMMARY
1.1Introduction Thisreportexaminestherapidlychangingfieldofmultimediatechnologies.Itattemptstoassess howthisfieldiscurrentlyaffectingthelibraryandinformationscience(LIS)profession,and whatmaybetheeffectsoffuturemultimediarelatedtechnologiesonLIS. Multimediatechnologiesdealwiththerecording,storage,anddisseminationofinformationin theformofvisualandaudioimages.Thoughthisviewofthefieldincludesoldertechnologies suchasphotographyandanalogrecordingofsound,ourconcerninthisreportiswiththe enormousimpactofthenewdigitalrepresentationsofvisualandaudioimages.Thedigitization oftheseimageshasenabledcomputerstohandletheminwayscloselyrelatedtothewaysin whichcomputershave,fordecades,handleddigitizedtext,withtheresultthattextual,visual, andaudioimagescannowbefreelyjoinedwithincomputerbasedprocesses. 1.2TheExtraordinaryPromiseofDigitizedImagery TheWorldWideWebisthebestknownexampleofthisjoiningofdigitized,computerprocessed textual,visual,andaudioimages.Butthedigitizationofallkindsofimageshasimplicationsthat extendfarbeyondtheWeb.Technologiesforthedigitizationofimageshaveundergone enormous,rapidadvancementsduringthelast15years,ashavetechnologiesforthestorageand displayoftheimages.Inthesameperiodcomputertechnologiesforprocessingdigitizedimages haveundergoneenormous,rapidadvancements,ashavethetechniquesoftelecommunications. Muchofthedevelopmentduringthepast5yearshasbeendueinlargeparttotheexplosively rapidincreaseinthepopularityoftheInternet,whichhasprovidedcommercialincentivesfor rapiddevelopmentofInternetrelatedcomputerandtelecommunicationstechnologies.Inhis fascinatingbook,TheRoadAhead,BillGateswrites: WhentheInternetreallytookoff,weweresurprised,fascinated,andpleased....People complainedabouttheInternet'sirritatingdeficiencies,butthatdidn'tstopthemfromusingthis excitingnewwaytocommunicate.Itwastoomuchfuntoignore!Allithadtakenwasfor modemstogetfastenough,communicationsswitchestogetcheapenough,PC'stogetpopular andpowerfulenough,andtherewasnoturningback.Ican'ttellyouexactlywhenthispointof noreturnwasreached,butbylate1995wehadcrossedthethreshold.Moreusersmeantmore contentandmorecontentmeanmoreusers.TheInternethadspiraledupinpopularity,achieving criticalmass.[1,pp.xxi]

Today(1997)wecanacquire,process,store,anddisseminatedigitizedimagestextual,visual,and audioonascalethatwasnotevendreamedof20yearsago.Wecanfitintoashirtpocketan encyclopediaoranatlasthatcandisplayeverystreetaddressintheUnitedStates;viathe Internet,evenwithtypicalhometelephoneconnections(viz.,28.8Kbpsmodems),wecanlistento radiobroadcastsfromanypartoftheworldorholdtelephoneconversationswithpeopleallover theglobe;wecanstoregigabytesofinformationinourhomecomputers;andterabytes(indeed, probablyalreadypetabytes)ofinformationareavailabletousviatheInternet. Probablywithin5years,certainlywithin10years(2007),wewillbeabletocreateandstoreand totransmitandreceiveinrealtimedigital,highdefinitiontelevisionqualityvisual,aural,and textualimagesusingwhatwillthenbetypicalsmallofficeorhomeoffice(SOHO)computersand typicalSOHOInternetconnections.Individualauthorsandmoviemakerswillbeabletosend copiesoftheirworksfromtheirownInternetsitestoanyoneanywhere,andtheywillbeableto receiveafeefordoingso.Digitallibrarieswillhavebeendevelopedbyindividualsandby academic,public,andcommercialorganizationstosuchanextentthatviaInternet telecommunicationsalmostanyrecentbook,picture,article,movie,soundrecording,or televisionbroadcastwillbeavailablefortransmissionondemandtoanyindividualwhois interestedinviewingtheitem(and,inmanycases,willingtopayafeetodoso). 1.3ImplicationsofDigitizedImageryfortheLibraryandInformationScienceProfession ThedevelopmentsjustsketchedmeanthattheLISprofessionmustbepreparedtodealwith quantitiesofinformationonanalmostoverwhelminglylargerscale.Weclaimtobethe professionthatisbestsuitedtomanaginginformationasawhole.Weclaimthatother professionstendtoseeonlythenarrowerconcernsofthetechnologiesaloneorareconcerned onlywithspecifictypesofinformation,e.g.,financialinformation. Tomanageinformationasawholeinthenewinformationworldthatiscurrentlydeveloping,LIS professionalsand,especially,LISstudentsmustbeknowledgeableaboutthetechnologiesof multimedia(viz.,thetechnologiesofdigitizedtextual,visual,andauralimages)andaboutthe relatedtechnologiesoftelecommunications. 1.3.1SpecificRecommendationsfortheLISProfession LISprofessionalsandstudentsshouldfollowthedevelopmentofstandardsclosely.Where possible,theyshouldmakesurethattheinfrastructure,applications,anddatastandardstheyuse conformtowidelyacceptedstandardsandreducetheneedforfrequentmigration.Theyshould alsobecomeinvolvedincreatinginformationsystemsandstandardsthatsupportbackwards compatibilityandotherarchivingfeatures. LISprofessionalsshouldcontinuetoimproveaccesstomultimediaandelectronicmaterialsin general.Settingpointerstousefulinformationcollections,includingmetadatainformation, helpingtodesignbettersearchtools,andincreasingtheinteroperabilityofsystemsbyselecting standardswillbemoreandmoreimportantastheamountofelectronicinformationincreases. Moreover,asalotofusefulinformationwillbeavailableonlytransitorily,effortstoarchivesuch informationforfutureresearchshouldbeencouraged. Becausedigitizationdoesnotguaranteethepreservationofinformation,LISprofessionalsand studentsshouldmakesurethatdigitalformatsthatarebecomingobsoletearemigratedbeforeit

istoolateortoocostly.Inordertoguaranteecosteffectivemigration,itmaybebesttoestablish processingcentersthatspecializeinreformattingobsoletematerials. Withrespecttocopyright,LISprofessionalsshouldfollowthedevelopmentscarefullyand shouldparticipateinshapingfuturecopyrightpractices.Defendingfairuserightsandhelpingto simplifythesystemofclearingrightswillcontinuetorequirealotofworkandcontinual alertness. 1.4TheFuture Inclosing,wequoteagainfromBillGates'sTheRoadAhead: Somepeoplethinkthattheinformationhighway...issimplythecurrentversionoftheInternet orthedeliveryofhundredsofsimultaneouschannelsoftelevision.Buttoday'sinnovationsare justthebeginning.Therevolutionincommunicationswilltakeplaceoverseveraldecadesand willbedrivenbynew"applications"newtoolsoftenmeetingneedswedon'tevenforeseenow. Today'sInternetonlyhintsattomorrow's.[1,p.xiv] Trulywecannotevenimaginetodayalloftheeffectsofthedevelopmentofdigitizedimagery, andofaccompanyingcomputerandtelecommunicationstechnologies,20or25yearsfromnow. Butstudentsstudyinglibraryandinformationscienceinthenext5yearswillprobablystillbe workingasLISprofessionalsin2035,orevenin2040.Allwesayforsuretodayisthatthoughthe informationworldwillbeenormouslyvasterthenthanitistoday,itwillcontinuetoneedpeople whocanhelptoorganize2040'sinformationstoresandtohelpothersaccessthem. 1.6Reference

[1]Gates,Bill;Myhrvold,Nathan;Rinearson,Peter.TheRoadAhead.2dedition.NewYork,NY: Penguin;1996.332p.ISBN:0670772895.

MULTIMEDIAANDTELECOMMUNICATIONS,19972002: PERSPECTIVESANDRECOMMENDATIONS. Section3 ContentsofSection3:OVERVIEWOFMULTIMEDIA

Introduction Definitions Multimedia Hardware Software Networks OtherDefinitions History Multimedia Hardware Software Networks CurrentTrends Multimedia Hardware Software VisualImageFormats AudioImageFormats InternetRelatedFormatsandTerms Networks IntranetTechnologies FutureTrends ReferencesonMultimediaandRelatedTopics OnlineResourcesandTutorials OtherReferences

3OVERVIEWOFMULTIMEDIA
3.1Introduction Therapidascentofmultimediatechnologyoverthelastdecadehasbroughtaboutfundamental changestocomputing,entertainment,andeducation.Theexponentialgrowthofmultimedia technologiesandapplicationshaspresentedourcomputerizedsocietywithopportunitiesand challengesthatinmanycasesareunprecedented.Nowhereisthisimpactfeltmoreacutelythan withinformationprofessionals.Multimediaapplicationshaveprogressedtothepointofsparking afundamentalparadigmshiftintheveryconceptofinformationtransferandpresentation. Multimediatechnologiesfacechallengesaswell.Anytechnologythatenjoyssuchmeteoricrise andrapiddiffusionintothesocietyfromwhichitemergescannothelpbutexperiencegrowing pains.Asaresult,theimplementationofmultimediaishamperedbyquestionsof interoperabilityasmanydiversevendorsandproducersattempttolayclaimtothemarket.Itis stymiedbyitsownrapidgrowth,withadvancesinmultimedialeapfrogging,andbeing

leapfroggedby,advancesinhardware,storage,andbandwidthofthedistributednetworksthat allowmultimediaapplicationstobesharedandutilizedovertelecommunicationsnetworks.And thefieldofmultimediafacessocialchallengesaswell,asthetechnologyprogressesatapacethat thesurroundingsocietyhasdifficultymatching.Asaresult,manypeople,includingsomeinthe informationfield,havegivenuponunderstandingmultimediaconceptsandhaveturnedtheir backonparticipatinginthegrowthofthetechnology.Inthecaseofinformationprofessionals, mostparticularlythoseprofessionalsinthelibraryandinformationsciencefield,thisisacritical error. Whateverthe"libraryofthefuture"willlooklike,itisbeyondquestionthatitwillutilize multimediaasasignificanttoolinitsoperations.Traditionally,librarianshavemaintained jurisdictionoverthisprocess,keepingthelibraryaswehaveknownitapublicentity,offering accesstoall,regardlessofclassorabilitytopay.Wemaybewitnessingachangetothistradition. Moreandmore,privateindustryisenteringthelibrarybusiness,notinthecollectionofbooks, butratherinthecollectionofdigitalinformation.Whiletheseentitiesoftenutilizelibrariansin theirfunctions,thelibrarian'ssocialroleisbeingrenderedsubservienttothecorporatepoliciesof profit.Thisisadangerousprecedent. Thepurposeofthisreportand,toagreaterextent,ofcoursesthatmaybedevelopedinthefield ofmultimediaistoprovideLISprofessionalswithsomeskillinmultimediatechnologiesand techniques.Thehopeisthatbygainingsuchknowledgeandskills,theseprofessionalsmaybetter andmoreactivelyparticipateinthedevelopmentofmultimediaapplicationsandmaytakean activeroleinthecreationofthelibraryofthefuture,ensuringthatitmaintainsitstraditional socialvaluesandprinciplesofegalitarianaccess. 3.2Definitions 3.2.1Multimedia Thetechnologiesthatcomprisethephenomenonofdigitalmultimediaandtheapplicationsthat employthosetechnologiesarediverse,andenduserunderstandingandacceptanceofthese technologiesandapplicationsareequallyvaried.Asthetechnologyprogresses,multimedia systemshavebecomemoreandmoreubiquitousandtransparent.Indeed,manyuserstodaywho wouldnotidentifythemselvesassomeonehavingauseformultimediatechnologyorequipment arefarmorefamiliarwithitthantheybelieve;buttheydonotconsidertheapplicationsfor whichtheyusemultimediatobe"truemultimedia."Theverytermhasgeneratedanauraof mystiquetothenondigitalprofessional. Multimediatechnologyislooselyandgenerallydefinedasthecombineduseofseveralmethods ofsensorytransmission,employedforthetransmittalofinformationtoareceiver.Underthis definition,multimediatechnologyisoldandwidelyused,comprisingtelevision,manyprinted materials,performanceart,andmanyeducationalmaterials.Allofthesesystemsinvolvetheuse ofmultiplesensoryformatstofacilitatethetransmittalofinformation. Itisinthedigitalagethatthetermmultimediahastakenonthedefinitionandlevelofprestige thatitcurrentlyenjoys.Theadventofdigitaltechnologieshasincreasedmultimediacapabilities andpotentialtounprecedentedlevels.Digitalmultimediaaredefinedastheprocessesof employingavarietyofdigitalimages,synchronizedandperhapsembeddedwithinoneanother, orwithinanapplication,topresentandtransmitinformation.Thisdefinitionrequiresafurther subdefinition,inthat"images"maybetakentoimplyvisualimages.Onthecontrary,an"image"

isdefinedasanytypeofdigitizedinformation.Animagemaybeasound,apicture,a representation,orasectionoftext. Intherecentpast,multimediatechnologyhasdevelopedfurtherwiththeriseofrelatively inexpensiveandhighbandwidthnetworkingtechnologies.Thesemeansofmasscommunication overlongdistancesgavemultimediasystemstheabilitytoescapetheCDROMandbecome "distributed"amongmanyendusers,inmanylocations,oftenoperatingondifferentplatforms. Distributedmultimedia,asatechnology,dealwithcombiningdigitalmultimediaimagesand applicationswithcomputernetworkingtechniques.Theresultisaformofmultimediathatisnot confinedtoonecomputeroronestoragemedium,butrathermaybetransmitted,shared,and appliedamonglargenumbersofendusersoverlongdistancesinrealtime.TodatetheWorld WideWebisthemostprominentexampleofsuchdistributedmultimedia.Theriseofdistributed multimediasystemspresentsgreatopportunityforfieldssuchasentertainment,education, healthcare,business,andthemilitary.Italsopresentschallengesintheareasofstandardization andinteroperability.Distributedmultimediasystemsarealreadybeingexploited,asevidenced bytherisingpopularityoftheWWW,intranets,andmultimediagroupware. 3.2.2Hardware Briefly,hardwaremaybedefinedasthosephysicalcomponentsandperipheralsthatcomprisea computersystem.Hardwareincludesprocessorchips,memorychips,computerboards, informationstoragedevices,networkingdevices,displays,inputdevices,andoutputdevices. Today'sdigitalmultimediaapplicationsrequirehardwareplatformsofincreasingpowerand capabilities.Perhapsthemostimportanthardwareperipheralintheriseofconsumerdigital multimediawastheCDROMdriveandtheCDROMthatisitsstoragemedium. 3.2.3Software Softwareisdefinedasthoseprogramsandapplicationsthatrunoncomputersystems. Multimediasoftwareincludesoperatingsystemsthatrunthemultimediaplatforms;driversthat controlperipheralsandI/Odevices;applications;anddata,whichtermincludesthedigital imagesthatarecombinedtoproducemultimediaapplicationsandpresentations.Application programscanbeusedinavarietyofwaystodisplay,create,andeditdigitalimages.These applicationsmaysupportmanydigitalimageformats,asinthecaseofAdobePhotoshop,ormay belimitedtooneorafewproprietaryformats,aswithAppleQuickTime.Multipleformatsexist foraudioimages,forstaticvisualimages,andforanimatedvisualimages. 3.2.4Networks Networksaredefinedascomputersconnectedforthepurposesofsharinginformationand/or applications.Networkscanrangeinsizefromsmallpeertopeernetworksconnectingonlyafew computers,tolargerLocalAreaNetworks(LANs)thatoperateonclientserverarchitectures,to WideAreaNetworks(WANs),largeandgeographicallydispersednetworksconnecting thousandsorevenmillionsofcomputers,suchastheInternet.Thesenetworksmayconsistofone network,orofnetworksofnetworks. 3.2.5OtherDefinitions

Theprimarydefinitionsnecessarytounderstandnetworkingasitpertainstomultimediaare bandwidth(datarate)andmedium(thewiringusedfordatatransmission.) Bandwidthmeasurestherateatwhichdataistransmittedthroughthenetwork.Itisoftenused asagaugeofspeedinthenetwork.Astechnologyhasadvancedoverrecentdecades,bandwidth ofnetworkshasincreased.Highbandwidthisneededtofacilitatedistributedmultimedia systemsduetothelargeamountsofdatathatmustbetransmittedinimagefiles. Asahardwareterm,mediumreferstothephysicalmeansusedfordatatransmission.Hardware mediaincludecopperwires,fiberopticcables,andradiofrequency(RF)transmissions.The mediumoftendirectlyaffectsbandwidthandis,therefore,importantinthefunctioningof distributedmultimediasystems. Anotherpairofnetworkingdefinitionsconcernsthedifferencebetweenanaloganddigitalsignals. Analogsignalsarecontinuous.Digitalsignalsarebasedonbinarycodeandcanhaveonlytwo states,0and1.Digitaltransmissionisachievedoveranalogtransmissionlinesbymanipulating theanalogsignal,butsometransmissionmediaarestrictlydigital,suchasfiberopticcableand someRFtransmissions(Kagan16870). Manymethodologiesexistforincreasingbandwidthinatransmissionsystem,including multiplexingandpacketswitching.Thesetechniquesarenotessentialforanunderstandingof distributedmultimedia,butitisessentialtounderstandthattheyareusedtoincreasebandwidth, whichinturnisessentialtothefunctionalityofdistributedmultimedia. Networkingalsoincludesspecifichardwareandsoftwareapplications.Networkhardware devicesincludethewiringpreviouslydiscussed,aswellasrouters,bridges,modems,security firewalls,adaptercards,andconnectors.Hardwaremayalsoincludehighcapacitycomputersto actasserversfornetworks,largemainframesdesignedtoserviceclientcomputers,relatively dumbnetworkcomputers,oractualdumbterminals. Softwareapplicationsusedinnetworkingincludethoseprogramsdesignedtoallowthe networkedcomputerstooperateinconjunctionwithoneanother.Thistypeofsoftwareis referredtoasgroupware(e.g.,LotusNotes).Inaddition,theInternetandspecificallytheWorld WideWebutilizesitsownsoftwareapplicationstofacilitatecommunicationsbetweendifferent computers.Protocols,suchasHyperTextTransferProtocol(http),andFileTransferProtocol (FTP),whilenotsoftwareapplications,arestandardsthatallowcommunicationanddigitaldata tobetransferredbetweencomputers.Programminglanguages,includingVisualBasic,C++,Java, Perl,andHyperTextMarkupLanguage(HTML)allowthecreationofapplicationsthatcanbe distributedovernetworkedcomputersystems.Finally,applicationssuchasWebbrowserslike Netscape,Apache,andMosaicallowmultimediadatatobeaccessedacrosstheWorldWide Web.Thesetypesofdistributedmultimediaarecomputerbased. Otherformsofdigitalmultimediaincludesatellitetelevision,cableTV,andadvancedfeatures offeredbytelephonecompanies,suchasvideoconferencingandtelecommutingsystems,which mayormaynotbecomputerbased.Andthereisalwaysthetransferbetweenendusersofbinary imagefilesthatarethenutilizedthroughapplicationsresidingontheuser'scomputer.Whilethis formofdistributedmultimediaisneitherrealtimenorinteractive,itisnonethelessdistributed multimedia.

3.3History 3.3.1Multimedia Thetermmultimediabecameabuzzwordincomputerrelatedfieldsin1993,buttheCDROM,the disconwhichmostmultimediaproductsarecurrentlydelivered,hadbeenaroundforanumber ofyearsbeforethat;andinfieldssuchaseducation,multimediahad,fordecades,meanttheuseof movies,slides,audiorecordings,andthelike.Bytheendof1993itwasestimatedtherewasan installedbaseinAmericaof3.6millionmultimediaPCs.Themultimediabuyer'saverageincome wasestimatedtobe$39,000,withwomenbeginningtoenterwhathadbeenanalmosttotally maledominatedmarket. Therewasnoshortageof"shovelware,"lowqualityproducts,oftendirectlycopiedoverfrom printmedia.However,productionvalueswereimproving,andbudgetsformanyofthewell knowntitleswereinthe$250,000range.ByChristmas1993,retailpriceswereintheregionof $5969. In1994,itisestimatedthattheinstalledbasegrewfrom3.6millionto11.4millionmultimedia PCs.AnothersurveybyIntecoestimatedthatin1994therewere13.4millionmultimediacapable computersintheU.S.,with2.7millioninEurope.Intecopredictedthatin1995therewouldbe22 millionsuchcomputersintheU.S.,and9millioninEurope.ByChristmas1994,U.S.retailprices haddroppedto$3949.Marketingandadvertisingcostswereincreasingandwereapproaching thecostsofdevelopment,withthetotalcostsfordevelopmentandpromotionofmajortitles reachingthe$1millionmarkandover. InAugust1995,thedownwardtrendinretailpricescontinued,asMicrosoftintroducednew pricepointsforitsproducts,rangingfrom$19.99to$49.99.Thismeant,forexample,that Microsoft'sWineGuide,releasedinsummer1995wouldcost$29.99ratherthanitsprevious $45.00. AU.S.ElectronicsIndustryAssociationstudyofconsumerattitudestowardsmultimedia,carried outinautumn1994,foundthatnearlyhalftherespondentswereawareoftheword "multimedia."Thereportalsofoundthat8%ofrespondentsownedmultimediacapable computers.Extrapolatingthisfigurenationallywouldmeanthattherewereapproximately7.5 millionmultimediacapablecomputersinAmericanhomes.Afurther9.5%ofrespondents intendedtobuysuchcomputersoverthefollowing12months,with53%oftheseplanningtouse themforentertainmentand55%forschoolwork(WWWBriefHistoryofMultimedia).One markedtraitofmultimediahistoryhasbeentheriseandfallofnewandproprietarytechnologies; thesemayormaynotclaimtobethenextindustrystandardbutoftenfallbythewaysideasthe technologyandthemarketmoveinnewdirections.Primeexamplesoftheseshortlived technologiesinclude: PhilipsCompactDiscInteractive(CDI),whichcontainedaCDROManda68000 microprocessorthatconnecteddirectlytoatelevisionset TandyVideoInformationSystem(VIS)whichcontainedaCDROManda286 microprocessorandalsoconnecteddirectlytoaTV KodakPhotoCDwhichwasmuchliketheprevioussystemsandwasdesignedtoallow userstoviewphotographsstoredtoCD(Dodds,15960).

Volatilityhasmarkedthehistoryofcommercialmultimediatechnology,anditisbynomeansin thepast.Wecontinuetoseesuchvolatilityintheindustrytoday.Itiscrucial,therefore,that studentsofmultimediaputthemselvesandtheirprofessionalexperiencesinthecontextofthe infancyoftheindustry.Itmaytakedecadesfortheindustryandthetechnologytostabilize.For example,whilefromourpresentperspectivecolortelevisionappearstohaverapidlysupplanted blackandwhitetelevision,infactittookeighteenyearsforcolorsetstooutsellblackandwhite sets."Consumerswerestillbuying5millionBWsetsperyearthirtyyearsaftertheintroduction ofcolortelevisions"(Agnew,241.)Inthecaseoftelevision,thetransferoftechnologywas relativelysimple.Giventhecomplexityofthemultimediamarketandthevarianceofthe technologyanditsapplications,itisnotunthinkablethatthreeorfourdecadesmaybenecessary beforeastandardtechnologyisinplaceuniversallyacrosstheuserbase. 3.3.2Hardware Theancestorsofmodernmicrocomputerbasedmultimediaexistedinwhatamountedtothree branches,backintheancientdaysoftheearlytomid1980s.TheIBMPC,theAppleMacintosh, andtheCommodoreAmigawereeachoptimizedforspecifictasks. DesignersoftheoriginalPCoptimizedtheirhardwareandsoftwareforscrollingtext.Standard displayswererestrictedtoplacing256differentletters,numbers,andspecialsymbolsinagrid thatconsistedof80charactersperrowand25rows.Someofthespecialsymbolsallowedacoarse formofgraphics.Inthemid80's,IBMbasedthedesignofagraphicaluserinterfacesoftware productonsuchcharactergraphics,believingthatfewuserswouldpayforlowresolutioncolor displays. ThedesignersofApple'sMacintoshtookadifferenttack.In1984,theoriginalMacnotonly providedanallpointsaddressablescreenthatcouldaddresseachscreenpixelindividually,but alsoincludedhardwareandsoftwarethatgaveapplicationsrapidandstandardwaystodraw highresolutiongraphicsaswellasmanydifferenttextfonts.Whiletheimagingwasgood,color waslimitedtoblackandwhite.Commodore'soriginal1985AmigaA1000anditsfollowerswere designedtopresentvideooninterlacedtelevisionscreens.Thesecomputersincludedhardware tosupportfillingregionswithcolor,andmovingspritesoverafixedbackground(Agnew239.) AstheIBMPCandcompatibleclonesgrewtodominatethemicrocomputermarket,Macintosh becamerecognizedastheleaderinmultimediacomputing,retainingasolidmarketshare. Commodorefounditsnicheinthefilmandvideoindustriesandforthemostpartdroppedfrom theconsumerscene.PCmanufacturersandsoftwareproducersgraduallyrealizedthenecessity ofcompetingwiththeAppleinterfaceandmultimediacapabilities,andtheMultimediaPC MarketingCouncilwasformed. In1990,theMultimediaPCMarketingCouncilpublishedastandardforPCmultimedia platformsasanextensionofthebasicdesktopcomputersystem.Thisstandard,MPCLevelOne, dictatedthatasystemmustmeetthefollowingrequirementstobeconsideredaLevel1system: 16MHZ386SXorcompatiblemicroprocessor 2MBofRAM 30MBharddisk one3.5inchhighdensitydiskettedrive asinglespeedCDROMdrivewitha150KBperseconddatatransferrate

8bitsoundboard VGAcompatibledisplayadapter colorVGAcompatiblemonitor a101keykeyboard atwobuttonmouse standardserialandparallelports aMIDIport ajoystickport(foranaddedinputdevice) supportforeitherMicrosoftWindowsversion3.0,withMultimediaExtensions,orfor Windowsversion3.1

Thesestandardswereupdatedin1993,whentheMPCpublishedtheLevel2specifications. Accordingtothe1993standards,aLevel2computermusthave: 25MHz486SXMicroprocessor atleast4MBRAM(8MBrecommended) 160MBharddisk 3.5inchdiskettedrive doublespeedCDROMdrivewitha300KB/sectransferrate 16bitsoundboard SVGAcolormonitor LevelOnespecificationsforinputdevices,I/Oports,andsystemsoftware(Larson,37).

3.3.3Software In1994,theworldwidemultimediaCDROMtitlemarketgrewby227%,accordingtothe researchfirmDataquest.Theyestimatedthattherewere53.9millionCDROMtitlesshipped, comparedto16.5millionshippedin1993.However,thepracticeof"bundling"hadtobe considered.BundlingmeansthatanumberofCDROMSareshippedfreewithamultimediaPC; whilethispracticeboostsunitsalesfigures,itcarriesaverylowprofitmargin. "Games,referencebooks,andeducationtitleswerethebighitsof1994,"accordingtoDataquest. "Alongwiththebattleforretailshelfspace,theprofitmarginsqueezeischokingdevelopersas theaveragefactorysellingpriceofCDROMtitleshassunktoanalltimelowof$11acopy." Retailspacewasverymuchaproblemformultimediain1994.Manyshopswereonlybeginning toallowspaceformultimediatitles,andthesespaceswereusuallytakenupbytheverylarge companiessuchasMicrosoft,ElectronicArts,andDorlingKindersley(seesection3.6).Thefact thatCDROMshadnostandardpackagingalsohinderedthegrowthinretailspace. In1994,MicrosoftledtheworldwideCDROMtitlemarketwitha15.4%share.Applesoldthe mostmultimediacomputers,themarketbeingupsome312%over1993,at10.3million shipments(WWWBriefHistoryofMultimedia). 3.3.4Networks Thehistoryoftelecommunicationsnetworkingisbeyondthescopeofthisreport.Sufficeittosay thatcontinuousprogresshasbeenmadeuptothepointoffacilitatingdistributeddigital multimedia.Thehistoryofnetworkedmediaandmultimedia,bothinanaloganddigitalforms,

consistsofhighlyepisodicadvancesinseveraldirections,including:theabilitytomakecopiesof distributeditemsanddistributethoseitemsacrosslargeareas;thesimplificationofthecreation process,sothatamateurscancreateitemsfordistributiontootherusers;andthedevelopmentof fastaccesstothecontentofitems.Theendresultwastoincreasethedegreeofinteractivityacross thesenetworkedsystemsandapplications(Agnew81). ThebreakupoftheAT&Tmonopolyandtheintroductionofcompetitiontothe telecommunicationsindustryintheU.S.isanimportantaspectofmultimediahistory.New advancesinlandbasedtelecommunicationsandwirelesstechnology,theadventofcable televisionandlaterdirectbroadcasttelevision,andthecreationofonlinecomputerservicesand privatenetworkingservicesallcontributedtoincreasedbandwidthandthegradualintroduction ofthebenefitsofsuchbandwidthtothepublic. 3.4CurrentTrends 3.4.1Multimedia Currenttrendsinmultimediarunalongthreetracks:standalone,distributed,andhybrid.Stand alonemultimediaintheformofstoragedrivenmultimediasystems(i.e.,theCDROMbased application)arepopularandcontinuetoholdmarketshare.Distributedmultimediaarebestseen intheWorldWideWebandtheonlineinformationservicessuchasAmericaOnline,inthesense thatthemultimediaisaccesseddirectlyandisinteractiveacrossgreatdistances.Hybridsystems arethoseapplicationsthatmergeorattempttomergebothprevioustracks.Wearecurrently seeingmanysoftwareapplications,particularlythelatestofficesuiteproductivitysoftware,that offersObjectLinkingandEmbedding(OLE)functionsthatincludenotonlytraditionalstand aloneobjectssuchaspictures,orevenaudio,buteventheabilitytolinktoWWWandInternet sites.Alsotheseapplications,andotherssuchasMicrosoftFrontPage,allowenduserstocollect commercialmultimediaapplicationsvianetworkswithlittleornoformalexpertise;indeed,end userscansimilarlydistributethemultimediaapplicationsthattheythemselveshavecreated. ThemergingofdistributednetworkssuchastheWorldWideWebhasmadepossible informationaccessthatwaspreviouslyunheardof.Oneprimaryfocusforthelibraryand informationscienceprofessionalisthecurrentcreationofdigitallibraries.Theseelectronic depositoriescanbeaccessedthroughavarietyofinterfaces,buttheWorldWideWebhas providedanoptimumplatformindependentinterface. ProjectssuchastheCorbisdigitalimagelibraryandGeorgeLucas'sannouncedintentionto beginproducingcompletelydigitalfilmsareindicativeofthistrend.EventheGutenbergProject, whichhasmaintainedadecidedlymonomediaformat,hasbeenthefocusofprivatization attemptsthatwouldundoubtedlyhaveledtoanenhancementoftheProject'scollectionviaa multimediainterface(andmostlikelyafee).Thistrendillustratesnotonlythepotentialforwide accesstomaterials,butalsothepossibilityoftheprivatizationoflibraries,thesocialandcultural ramificationsofwhichmustbeexaminedindepth. 3.4.2Hardware Currenthardwarehasgreatlyimprovedevenuponthe1993MPC2standardformultimedia PCs.Inaddition,PCshavegainedgroundonApplebrandcomputers,andarearguablyonapar withthesetraditionalmultimediaplatformsincapabilitiesandstrengths.Howtheemergenceof

AppleclonecomputerswillaffectthissituationandthePCmultimediamarketshareremainsto beseen. In1995,theMPC3standardwaspublished.ItdelineatesthefollowingspecificationsforMPC3: 75MHzPentiumprocessor 8MBRAM 540MBharddisk one3.5inchhighdensitydiskettedrive quadspeedCDROMdrivewitha600KBperseconddatatransferrate 16bit,wavetable,MIDIsoundcard MPEG1hardwareorsoftware,capableof30framespersecond,352by240pixels,15 bitsperpixel otherwisecompliantwithMPC2specifications(Agnew,226).

Currentmachineshavesurpassedeventhislevel,withstoragespacenowmeasuredin14 gigabytesstandardonmostPCs,1632MBRAM,anduptoa200MHzclockspeedonthe Pentiumchip. Arecenthardwareimprovementintendedtohaveadirectimpactonthemultimediacomputer wastheintroductionbyInteloftheMMXtechnology.Thetechnologyisimplementedatthe microprocessorlevel,andisdesignedtoenhancemultimediaperformanceonthePentiumPC chip. TheMMXPentiumprocessorwasreengineeredtoincludethreeprimaryarchitecturaldesign enhancements.Theenhancementsincluded57newinstructionsspecificallydesignedto manipulateandprocessvideo,audio,andgraphicaldatamoreefficiently.Theseinstructionsare orientedtothehighlyparallel,repetitivesequencesoftenfoundinmultimediaoperations. Today'smultimediaandcommunicationapplicationsoftenuserepetitiveloopsthat,while occupying10percentorlessoftheoverallapplicationcode,canaccountforupto90percentof theexecutiontime.AsecondenhancementistheadditionofaprocesscalledSingleInstruction MultipleData(SIMD),whichenablesoneinstructiontoperformthesamefunctiononmultiple piecesofdata.Thisallowsthechiptoreducecomputeintensiveloopscommonwithvideo, audio,graphics,andanimation.Thethirdenhancementistheadditionofdoubledonchipcache size,from16KBto32KB.Thisenhancementallowsmoreinstructionsanddatatobestoredonthe chip,reducingthenumberoftimestheprocessorhastoaccessslower,offchipmemoryareasfor information. ThePentiumMMXadvertisesabetter,smootherandmorerealisticmultimediaexperience,while retainingcompletecompatibilitywithIntelprocessorbasedPCs,existingoperatingsystemsand applicationsoftware(WWWIntelHomepage).Infact,theMMXtechnologymayfunctiononly withsoftwareapplicationsspecificallydesignedtoutilizetheenhancedfeaturesofthechip. Anothercurrenttechnologythatholdsimportantpossibilitiesforthefutureistheemergenceof inexpensiveandrelativelyhighqualitydigitalcameras.Thesedigitalimageinputsystemsallow ausertotakeeitherstaticpicturesordynamicmovies(insomecasesboth)inimmediatedigital storage,eliminatingtheneedforfilmanditsprocessing.Inmanycasestheseimagescanthenbe transferreddirectlytomultimediaplatformsortheInternet,orusedforevenrealtimedisplayon

asystem.Manyofthetraditionalcameracompaniesareofferingdigitalcamerasthatfunction muchliketraditionalcameras.Kodak,Polaroid,andCanonalloffersuchdigitalcameras.Storage iseithertoadiskortoastoragemediumonboardthecamera,fromwhichtheimagesmaybe transferredtodisk. Oneofthemostpopulardigitalcamerasgoesbeyondjustphotographs.TheConnectix QuickCamandtheColorQuickCamofferausertheabilitytoinputeitherstaticphotographsor tousetheQuickCamasadigitalvideocamera.Theoutputcanbestoredordisplayedinreal time.ThemarketingdirectionConnectixistakingfortheQuickCamistowardsinexpensive videoconferencingandbundlingtheQuickCamintoMicrosoft'sandothersoftwaredevelopers' conferencingpackages.TheQuickCamoffersdecentresolutionsandinvideomodeallowsa sufficientframepersecondspeedtogivetheillusionofmotion,althoughitisstillchoppy. UsablewitheitherMacintoshorWindowscomputers,theQuickCamsupportstheWindowsAVI movieformatandtheBMPandTIFFimageformats. 3.4.3Software Thefollowingisasummaryofcurrentfileformatsusedfordigitalimages: 3.4.3.1VisualImageFormats PCXThisformathasbeenaroundforalongtime,butisbecominglesscommon.Manychanges havebeenmadetotheformattokeepituptodate,includingtheadditionofmorecolorsand higherresolutions,butitisstillbeingreplacedbymoremodernformats.Itisnotsupportedby defaultinWindows,andsomeWindowssoftwareprovidesnosupportfortheformat. TIFF(TaggedImageFileFormat)Thisformathasalsoexistedforsometime,butthelatest versionsoftheformatspecificationsmakeitacapableformat.Theformatiscommoninthe desktoppublishingworld,andalmostallsoftwarepackagessupportit.RecentversionsofTIFF allowforimagecompression,andtheformatishandyformovinglargefilesbetweencomputers. BMP(Bitmap)ThisformatcameintousewithWindows3.1.Theformatisuncompressedand canbequitelarge.Forthisreason,BMPisseldomusedforlargeorhighresolutionimages.Ithas anadvantage,however,inthatitiswidelysupportedintheWindowsenvironment. DIB(DeviceIndependentBitmap)AnotherformatpopularizedbyWindows.Thisformat, whichissimilartoBMP,allowsfilestobedisplayedonavarietyofdevices.DIBisusedmostly byprogrammerswhomustdisplayimagesonavarietyofdevices. GIF(GraphicsInterchangeFormat)AcompressedimageformatdevelopedbyCompuServe,an onlineinformationservice.Thisformatiswidelysupported,andseveralsharewareviewersand convertersforitexistaswell. EPS(EncapsulatedPostScriptFile)Originatingindesktoppublishing,theEPSformatis commonforacertaintypeofimage,storedusingPostScriptcode.WhileconvertingtoEPSis difficultandoftenimpractical,EPSmaybeconvertedtootherformats.Mostprogramsare incapableofdisplayinganimagefromanEPSfile,assuchfilesareintendedtobesenttoa printerthatsupportsPostScript.

WMF(WindowsMetafileFormat)Thisformat,associatedwithWindows,isnotcommonly used. TGA(Targa)Thiswasthefirstpopularformatforhighresolution(24bit)images.Thename comesfromtheoriginalTargaboard,thefirsttruecolorvideoboard.Mostvideocaptureboards supportTGA,asdomosthighendpaintprograms. CGM(ComputerGraphicsMetafile)Thisformatwasdesignedasa"standard"andthen splinteredintosubstandards. HPGL(HewlettPackardGraphicsLanguage)Thisfileformatisusedforoutputtoplotters, althoughsomeotherhardwaredevicessupportitasanemulation.Theformatisfarlesscommon thanitoncewas,althoughcertainfields,suchasCAD,useitfrequently. JPEG(JointPhotographicExpertsGroup)Thisformatwasdesignedformaximumimage compression.JPEGuseslossycompression,whichreferstoacompressionschemethatactually losessomeofthedataneededtoreconstructtheimage.Therationalebehindlossycompressionis thatthehumaneyedoesnotmissthelostinformation(Wodaski,16971). PNG(PortableNetworkGraphics)Anextensiblefileformatforthelossless,portable,well compressedstorageofrasterimages.PNGprovidesapatentfreereplacementforGIFandcan alsoreplacemanycommonusesofTIFF.Indexedcolor,grayscale,andtruecolorimagesare supported,plusanoptionalalphachannel.Sampledepthsrangefrom1to16bits.PNGis designedtoworkwellinonlineviewingapplications,suchastheWorldWideWeb,soitisfully streamablewithaprogressivedisplayoption(WWWPNGhomepage). 3.4.3.2AudioImageFormats WaveformSoundFilesAwaveformfilestoresthedataneededtoreconstructthewaveformthat producesasound.Thesoundisstoredanddigitizedthroughsampling,bywhichthesoundis brokenintosmallpiecesanddigitized.The.WAVformatisthemostcommonformat;itisthe onlywaveformformatsupportedbyWindows.Otherwaveformextensionsinclude.VOC,.SND, and.MOD. NonWaveformFilesThesefiles,alsoknownasMIDIfiles,storeinstructionsinsteadof waveformdata.Forexample,thefilemightstorenotesandtheirdurations.MIDIfilesuse synthesizedinstrumentsstoredontheMIDIcapablesoundcardtoproducenotes.MIDIfilesare normallyusedtostoremusicalinformationonly,andcarrytheextension.MID(Wodaski,2021). 3.4.3.3InternetRelatedFormatsandTerms AlsoaffectingthecurrenttrendsinmultimediaareWorldWideWebviewingtechnologyandthe followingtools.ThesetoolsareusedtoenhancedistributeddigitalmultimediathroughtheWeb, whichiscurrentlythemostwidelyusedformatfordistributedmultimedia: HTTP(HyperTextTransferProtocol)AnInternetprotocolfortheWorldWideWebthat providesameansforWebclientsandserverstocommunicatewithoneanother.Closelyrelated totheinternetprotocolTCP/IP.ExchangesWebinformationinfourparts:connection,request, response,andclose.

HyperTextMarkupLanguage(HTML)HTMLisadialectandsubsetofSGML,theStandard GeneralizedMarkupLanguage.HTMLisusedtodescribethestructureofaWebdocument's contentaswellasbehavioralcharacteristics.HTMLisunderstoodbyallWebbrowsers(Tittel,21 25). JavaAninterpreted,objectorientedprogramminglanguagefromSunMicrosystems.Usedfor creatingsmallpiecesofapplications(applets),whichareembeddedinHTMLfilesandrunon enduserdevicesequippedwithJavaenabledbrowsers. ActiveXMicrosoft'sanswertoJava.ActiveXallowstherunningofembeddedapplications withinWebpages."ActiveXtechnologyresemblesplugins.Pluginsareseparateprogramsthat extendthecapabilitiesofyourbrowser.ActiveXaugmentstheuseofpluginsbysimplifyingthe installationprocess.Whenanewobjectisencountered,ActiveXdeterminesifyoursystemhas thesystemprogramsneededtorunitandifitdoesnot,downloadstheprogram(withyour consent),andautomaticallyinstallsandconfigurestheparticularprogram"(WWW,Microsoft). QTVR(QuickTimeVirtualReality)AmultimediatoolfromAppleComputersdesignedtoallow theuseofcursorkeysfordirectionalmovementandtopickupobjects.QTVRallowsacreatorto takepicturesinseveraldirectionsfromafixedcenter,tocaptureandrefinetheimages,andto stitchtheimagestogetherbymorphingedges,toget360degreethreedimensional(3D)effects. TheseeffectsarethenconvertedintoacompressedQTVRmovieformat. VRML(VirtualRealityModelingLanguage)AdevelopmentlanguagefromSiliconGraphics whichcanbeusedasanextensiontoHTMLandisamarkupformatfornonproprietaryplatform 3Dprogramming. RealAudioCreatedbyProgressiveNetworks,thistoolallowslivetransmissionofaudiowith realtimeencoding.Thesoftwarethenuses9.6Kbpstotransmithighqualityaudio,compressed from1.2Mbps. StreamWorksSoftwaretoolfromXingwhichpermitslivetransmissionwithrealtimeaudio encoding,andvaryingtransmissionratesfrom9.6KbpstoT1speed.StreamWorksalsoprovides videotransmissionat28.8Kbpsfortwotothreeframespersecond,CDqualityatISDNline speed,andNTSCqualityatT1linespeed.StreamWorkssupportsMPEGwithproprietary extensions(Agnew,23233). 3.4.4Networks Currenttrendsinnetworkingincludethebroadbasedattemptstobothstandardizeand commercializetheInternetandtheWorldWideWeb.Togetafeelforthistrend,weshould examinethenatureofonlineinformationservices.AmericaOnline,Prodigy,andCompuServe offersuchstandardizedservices.Thepricefortheconvenienceandrelativestabilityofthe servicesprovidedisasubscriptionfeefortheiruse.TheInternethastraditionallybeenamodelof freeexchangeofinformation,butwearealsoseeingaconcertedeffortbeingmadebyprivate industrytoexploitthemarkettheyseeintheWorldWideWeb.Allthemajorlongdistance companieshavesetupInternetServiceProvider(ISP)servicesforcustomers,andweareseeinga trendtowardsmoreandmorefeebasedWebsitesandservices.

Whileapersuasiveargumentmaybemadethatthereisnothingwrongwithchargingafeefor thevalueaddedservicesthesecorporatesitesprovide,fromtheperspectiveoflibraryand informationsciencethistrendmeritsexamination.AstheWorldWideWebbecomesmoreand moreintertwinedwithmultimediaplatforms,tools,andservices,wemaysoonwitnessa necessityforanydigitallibrariestochargefeesinordertoremaincompetitive,ifsuchsupportis notforthcomingfromgovernmentorotherpublicsources.Inaddition,someLISprofessionals mayfeelthattheveryconceptofthelibraryisthreatenedasprivateindustryembraceslibraries inforprofitventures(or,attheveryleast,innonprofitventureswithadecidedlycorporate agenda). 3.4.4.1IntranetTechnologies Onecurrenttechnologicaltrendofnetworkingisthedevelopmentofintranettechnologies.An extensionoftraditionalLocalAreaNetwork(LAN)technology,theintranetisdesignedtoutilize TCP/IPinternetprotocolstoprovideorganizationswithaninternalmicroInternetandmicro WWW.Theadvantageofintranetsisthattheycollectanddistributeinformationwithinan organizationmuchmorecheaplyandefficientlythantraditionalLANs,aswellasbeingeasierto setup,customize,andmaintain. Usingintranettechnologyallowsanorganizationtochoosebetweenawidevarietyofsoftware, computers,andoperatingsystems.UsersgetmostoftheinformationtheyaccessthroughaWeb browsersuchasNetscape.Thisenablesorganizationmemberstodistributeinformation,collect reportsanddatainternally,participateinconferences,andaccessimportantdocumentation easilyanduniformly.Ofcourse,groupwareanddatabaseapplicationsarestillnecessarytoserve thesefunctions,buttheintranetprovidesthesamereliable,multimediaoriented,useraccess interfacethatexistsontheWorldWideWeb. Somecurrentintranetmanagementsoftwareincludes: CorelOfficeforJava NetscapeIntranetServerpackage MicrosoftInternetInformationServer Infodata'sVirtualFileCabinet FrontierTechnology'sIntranetGenie NovellIntranetWareforSmallBusiness(Rizzo,2529).

3.5FutureTrends Futuretrendsinmultimediatechnologywillincreasinglyrevolvearounddistributedmultimedia systems,crossplatformuserinterfaces,andnetworkingarchitecturesandbandwidth.While storagecosts,processingcosts,andevermorepowerfulapplicationcostswilldecrease,thetrue strengthofmultimediatechnologywillbeseeninhowitadaptstonetworkedenvironments. Wewillbegintoseeaconvergenceoftraditionallyseparatemediasuchaspersonalcomputers, video,television,cellulartelecommunications,LANs,andmail.Overthenextfivetosevenyears manyofthecontrollingentitiesofthesemediawillbegintoseethepossibilitythattechnology offersforbranchingoutintoothermedia.Partnershipswillfollow,andeventuallyserviceswill begintobebundledinto(onehopes)standardizedpackages,whichmaybecomeaccessible throughmultipleplatforms.Itmay,forinstance,becomeeasytowatchCNNoramovieina

smallwindowofyourdesktopcomputerwhileyouwork,andequallysimpletoworkona spreadsheetorwriteemailinasmallwindowofyourtelevisionwhileyouwatchapayperview movie. Multimediatechnologywillbegreatlyaffectedbyemergingparadigmsinthehardscienceside ofcomputingandnetworking.Objectorientedprogramminglanguagesandoperatingsystems, anddistributedclientservertechnologieswillbegintoprovidemorepowerfulandflexible optionstoendusersofmultimediasystems.Groupcollaborationwillbemadepossibleona widerscaleacrosswiderdistances.Multimediaobjectswillgrow"smarter,"abletointeractwith andactonotherobjects.Weseetheinfancyofthisphenomenoninthedynamicandinteractive WebsitesusingJavaandActiveX.Storagewilltakeonanewpersonalityasobjectoriented databasesemergethatcanhandlemultimediainformation,organizeit,andmakeitsearchable. Thenearfutureofmultimediawillincludenotjustanupwardspikingofthetechnology,butan outwarddiffusionofthetechnologyintomultiuserenvironments.GiventhewaytheWWWhas becometheInternetformanyusers,itisnotpushingmatterstosaythatthefutureofmultimedia isnetworking,andthefutureofnetworkingismultimedia. 3.6ReferencesonMultimediaandRelatedTopics 3.6.1OnlineResourcesandTutorials http://www.isoc.org/internethistory ThisisanonlinetutorialofthehistoryoftheInternet,dividedintothefollowingcategories: Introduction OriginsoftheInternet TheInitialInternettingConcepts ProvingtheIdeas TransitiontoWidespreadInfrastructure TheRoleofDocumentation FormationoftheBroadCommunity CommercializationoftheTechnology HistoryoftheFuture Footnotes Timeline References Authors ThissiteisveryusefulforthosestudentswhoneedaquicktutorialontheInternet. http://fas.sfu.ca/cs/undergrad/CourseMaterials/CMPT479/material/notes/contents.html ThissiteisanoutlineofanundergraduatecourseinmultimediaatSimonFrasierUniversity, BritishColumbia,Canada.Thecoursecoversthehistoryofmultimedia,multimediaissues, applicationsanddata,aswellasnetworkinganddistributedmultimediasystems.Thissite providesacomprehensiveoverviewofacomprehensivecourseandisoneofthebestallaround multimediaeducationsitesIfound.

http://www.zakros.com/packer.html ThisisthehomepageofRandallPacker,formerdirectorofmultimediastudiesatSanFrancisco StateUniversity,nowlecturingattheUniversityofCalifornia,Berkeley.Thesitegivesthe syllabusofhisHistoryofMultimediacourse,whichfocusesonartandsocioculturalhistory ratherthansimplythetechnologyandpracticalapplicationsofmultimediatechnology. http://www.jacksonesd.k12.or.us/soscmm/multimedia.course ThisWebpagegivesasyllabusandinformationontheMultimediainEducationcourseat SouthernOregonStateCollege.Thesitealsoprovidesagoodsetoflinkstootherresources. http://www.jacksonesd.k12.or.us/soscmm/multimedia.course Thissiteisacollectionofobjectorientedmultimediamodels,including: Damsel MET++ LMDM MME PREMO MHEG OMF DynamicMultimediaSpecificationLanguage MultimediaApplicationFramework LayeredMultimediaDataModel theobjectorientedMultimediaToolkit PresentationEnvironmentforMultimediaObjects MultimediaandHypermediaExpertGroup(MHEG5,MHEG6) OpenMediaFramework

Thesiteprovidesverytechnical,developmentorientedlinksandisprobablybeyondthescopeof thosenotfamiliarwithmultimediatechnology. http://nctWeb.com/studio TheTapelessStudioTheMagazineofAudioRecordingonthePC.Thissiteisacommercial onlinemagazineonallthingsrelatingtodigitalaudioinmultimedia. http://www.fokus.gmd.de/ovma/glue SiteoftheBerkomGLUE(GlobalUserEnvironment)Project,whichenvisagesthedevelopment ofamultimediapresentationenvironment,combiningclientandservercomponents.Multimedia informationisinterchangedutilizingtheMHEG5standard. http://www.eeb.ele.tue.nl/midi/index.html WebsiteoftheMIDIhomepage.Thissiteprovidescompletereferencematerialsfornewand experiencedMIDIusers. http://www.eeb.ele.tue.nl/midi/index.html ThissiteishomeofOpenSoundSystem(OSS),thefirstattemptatunifyingthedigitalaudio architectureforUNIX.OSSisasetofdevicedriversthatprovideauniformAPIacrossallthe majorUNIXarchitectures.ItsupportsSoundBlastercompatiblesoundcards,whichcanbe

pluggedintoanyUNIXworkstationsupportingtheISAorEISAbusarchitecture.OSSalso supportsworkstationswithonboarddigitalaudiohardware. http://www.ima.org/cp/dvd/index.html SiteoftheInteractiveMultimediaAssociation'sDVDinitiative,designedtoinformandpromote DVDtechnologytothepublic."AnticipatingtheimpendinglaunchofDVDandDVDROM,the IMAisdevelopingamultipointprogramtosupporttheorderlyandprofitablemarket introductionofthisnewmedium.Thisprogramhasthreemainobjectives: "1.FacilitatethesuccessfulintroductionofDVDandDVDROMintothemarketplace. "2.Promotewidespreadconsumeranddeveloperconfidenceinthenewmedium. "3.Providealegal'safehaven'formembercompaniestocooperateandcollaborate." http://www.cs.cornell.edu/Info/Faculty/bsmith/mmsyl.htm Thissiteisanonlineguidetomultimediaeducationalapplications,includingbooksandjournals, onlineresources,andseminars. http://cuiwww.unige.ch/OSG/MultimediaInfo/Info/cd.html ThissiteprovidesuserswithanexcellentoverviewofCDtechnologies,fromCDDAtoVideo CD,anddescribestheplaceofeachformatinthedevelopmentofthetechnology. http://www.multimediator.com AcomprehensiveCanadianmultimediaguide,providinguserswithonlinetutorials, developmenttools,andlinkstootherresources. http://cuiwww.unige.ch/OSG/MultimediaInfo/mmsurvey/standards.html Thisexcellentsitegivestheuseralistingofmultimediastandardsandlinkstofurtherpages givingdetailedspecificationsofeachstandard.Itisanexcellentresourcefordoingcross standardcomparisons. http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/authoring/mm.html AsitedevotedtomultimediaauthoringtoolsandresourcesdirectedprimarilyatApple computerusers. http://www.imtc.org SiteoftheInternationalMultimediaTeleconferencingConsortium,Inc.(IMTC).Themissionof IMTCistobringtogetherallorganizationsinvolvedinthedevelopmentofinteractive, multimediateleconferencingproductsandservicestohelpcreateandpromotetheadoptionof industrywideinteroperabilitystandards.

http://www.quickcam.com ThissiteprovidesinformationontheQuickCam. 3.6.2OtherReferences Agnew,PalmerW.;Kellerman,Anne.DistributedMultimedia.AddisonWesley:Reading,MA, 1996. "BriefHistoryofMultimedia."Online.WorldWideWeb.15February1997.Availablefrom: http://www.nua.ie/internet/Ireland/MultimediaHistory.html Desmarais,Norman.MultimediaonthePC.McGrawHill:NewYork,1994. Dodds,PhilipV.W.DigitalMultimediaCrossIndustryGuide.FocalPress:Boston,1995. Kagan,RichardS."IntegratedVoice/DataNetworks."In:Bartee,Thomas,ed.Data Communications,Networks,andSystems.Carmel,Indiana:SAMS,1992.153. Larson,Jennifer."WhatisMultimedia?"PCNovice,June1994:3437. Rizzo,John."Intranet101."ComputerCurrents,March1997:2529. Tittel,Ed;James,Steve.HTMLForDummies.IDGBooks:FosterCity,CA,1996. Wodaski,Ron.MultimediaMadness!SAMS:Indianapolis,1994.

MULTIMEDIA AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS, 1997-2002: PERSPECTIVES AND RECOMMENDATIONS. Section 4 Contents of Section 4: MULTIMEDIA USE IN LIBRARIES AND OTHER INFORMATION AGENCIES
Introduction Consequences of Rapid Change in Multimedia Technologies Current Multimedia Collections and Multimedia Research The Columbia Digital Library Project University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - Digital Libraries Initiative University of California, Santa Barbara - Project Alexandria Carnegie Mellon University - Informedia Digital Video Library University of Michigan - Digital Library Project Stanford University Digital Libraries Project Elsevier's Electronic Subscriptions ProQuest Digital Dissertations (UMI) Corbis SuperJournal Project Multimedia Technologies and Selection

Criteria for Selecting Multimedia Technologies Creating Digitized Materials Copyright and Usage Fees References

4MULTIMEDIAUSEINLIBRARIESANDOTHERINFORMATION AGENCIES
4.1Introduction Inrecentyears,therehasbeenrapiddevelopmentofmultimediasystemsandapplications.A largepartofthecollectionsoflibrariesandinformationagenciesarestillinsinglemedium format(books,periodicals,audiocassettes,audioCDs,videocassettes,microforms,maps,etc.); butcollectiondevelopershaverecognizedtheusefulnessofmultimediaandhavestarted collectingmultimediaCDs,linkinguptomultimediaWebsites,anddigitizingsomeoftheirown collections.Theintroductionofmultimediahasbroughtanumberofproblemissues,thesolving ofwhichwilldeterminetheleveloffutureuseofthisnewformat.Theseissuesinclude:the selectionofmultimediaproducts;thesearchforandretrievalofnontextualinformation;the catalogingofmultimediaresources;metadata;copyright;licensing;costs;themigrationofdigital information;andthepermanentpreservationofdigitalresources.Theaimofthissectionofour reportistoexplorewhatisbeingdonetoovercometheseproblemsandhowtheuseof multimediaislikelytodevelopinthenearfuture. 4.2ConsequencesofRapidChangeinMultimediaTechnologies Librariesandinformationagenciesareusingvarioustechnologiestoofferaccesstoelectronic materials.CDROMs,dialuponlinesystems,theInternet,andtapesloadedonthelibrary's computerarethemostusedcurrentoptions.Newtechnologiesmaymakesomeoftheseoptions obsolete;butnewtechnologiesmayalsofail,nevercatchingonbecauseofinsufficientconsumer demand.CDROMs,whichhavebeenalmostsynonymouswithinteractivemultimedia,are facingthefiercestcompetition.WhilevideodiscsandlaserdiscshavenotbeenabletoreplaceCD ROMs,thenewDVD(DigitalVideoDisc,orDigitalVersatileDisk,depending[inpart]onthe user'smarketinggoals)technologyiscurrentlybeingadvertisedasthestrongestcontender amongthenextgenerationofopticalmedia.TheDVDtechnologymaywellreplaceCDROMs. ThedisadvantagesofCDROMsarethelackofstoragespacetoaccommodatelargedigitalvideo orinteractivemultimediaapplicationsandtheabsenceofplatformindependentpublishing formats.Atpresent,publishershavetoupgradetheirsoftwareeveryfewmonthsinorderto reviseandrepublishtheirproducts.WhileDVDtechnologydoesnotautomaticallyofferamore stablepublishingformatthanCDROMs,itwillprovidehigherdeliveryandstoragecapacities forapplicationsdemandinghighcapacityaswellasthepossibilityofcreatinghybridDVD Internetapplications.DVDtechnologywillalsobeabletodeliverlargeamountsofinformation fasterthantheInternetatleastaslongasthebandwidthproblemsoftheInternetnetworks remain(cf.Dodds1996).Tomakethetransitioneasierfortheusers,DVDproducersaremaking theirDVDplayerscapableofreadingCDROMs.WhetherDVDwillactuallybecomealong lastingformatdependsontheabilitytoagreeonstandards,developmentofanticopy mechanisms,andthespeedoffurtherdevelopmentsinimagingtechnology.

Newtechnologieswillkeepemergingbecausethereseemalwaystobeneedsformorespeed, greatereaseofuse,andmorefunctions.Becauseofrapidchangeitisincreasinglydifficultforany collectiondevelopertoselectproductsthatwillcontinuetobeusedforalongperiodoftime. Importantmaterialswillhavetobeconvertedfromolderdigitalformatstoneweroneswhenthe oldertechniquesbecomeobsolete.Suchconversionscanaddsignificantlytothecostofthe materialsandforcelibrariesandinformationagenciestofollowtechnologicaldevelopments closely.Itwillbemoreandmoreimportantfortheproducerstoincorporatebackwards compatibilityofolderproductsinthenewtechnologies;orelsetheymayfindithardtomarket theirnewproductstohesitantusers, which will make it hard to establish the new products. TheInternetisquicklychangingfromimagesandtexttoamoremediaintensiveWebofsound, video,animation,andvirtualreality.Asmoreandmoresitesaddsuchfeatures,andmoreand moreendusersdemandthem,theWebwillslowdownconsiderably.Forexample,Slothouber's researchdemonstratesthatasaveragefilesizeincreases,themaximumservingcapacity (regardlessoftheserver)decreasesexponentially.Accordingtohim,whenthefilesizeincreases from5KBtojust80KB,themaximumservercapacitywoulddropfromabout35hitspersecond toabout2hitspersecond(Slothouber1996).RealtimeaudioandvideocaneasilyfillanISDN line.LarsonstatesthatanISDNlinecanhandle510concurrentRealAudiostreams.ThoughaT1 line(capacityapproximately1.5megabits/second)canmanageupto100RealAudiostreams simultaneously,itcanhandleonly12simultaneousXingMPEGvideostreamsat30framesper second(Larson1996).And,asweallknow,thenumberofpeopleusingtheInternetisconstantly growingandthusaddingtotheload. Improvedcompressiontechniques,fastermodems,andnetworkbackboneswithhigher bandwidth(e.g.,ATM,FastEthernet,fiberopticgigabitnetworks)canhelpremovecongestion. However,majornetworkimprovementsarecostlyandtaketime.Untilfasternetworksarein place,largescaledevelopmentanduseoflargemultimediafilesontheInternetwillbelimited. 4.3CurrentMultimediaCollectionsandMultimediaResearch Theassumptionbehindalotoftheongoingresearchonmultimediaapplicationsinlibrariesand informationagenciesisthattheInternetwillcontinuetobethemostimportantmediumto provideaccesstomultimediarepositories.TheadvantagesoftheInternetarethelowbarrierto entryandtheeaseofpublishing,withwhichotherformatshavenotyetbeenabletocompete.For anyinformationagencyplanningtoproducemultimediacollections,theInternetcanprovidethe mostusefulchannelbecausethecollectioncanbemadeaccessibleformanyusers. Belowarelistedsomeexamplesofexistingcommercialandnoncommercialmultimedia collectionsandsomeoftheresearchareastheirdevelopersareworkingon.Alotofworkisbeing donetorefinesearchandretrievaltechniques,speechandimagerecognition,naturallanguage understanding,thepresentationandsummarizationofsearchresults,queryingacross heterogeneoussystems,andwaystoperforminformationexchangetransactionsinasecure fashion. 4.3.1TheColumbiaDigitalLibraryProject http://www.cs.columbia.edu/ ColumbiaUniversityisfocusingonsearchandretrievaltechniquesfordigitallibraries.Theiraim istocreateaninterfacethatallowstheusertoreceivetextual,image,video,ormultimedia documentsinresponsetoasinglequeryandthatpresentstheresultsinawaythatalleviatesthe

problemofinformationoverload.Examplesoftheuniversity'sprojectsaretheDomain IndependentSummarizationProjectandtheCOMPRESSProject. TheDomainIndependentSummarizationProjectaimstodevelopconcisebutinformative summariesforthepresentationofsearchresultssothatrelevantdocumentscanbefoundmore quickly.Summarieswillbegeneratedusingcomplexstatistical,semantic,andparsing techniques.Focusisonthecombiningofinformationintoameaningfulutterance,identifying otherdatasources,andnotingdifferencesbetweensources.(Klavans1996). Theotherproject,COMPRESS(ColumbiaMultimediaPresentationSystem),aimsatgenerating efficienttechniquesfortheextraction,delivery,andpresentationofinformationfrom heterogeneousknowledgerepositories.Theretrievedinformationwillbepresentedinan automaticallygeneratedmultimediapresentationthatcoordinatestheavailabletext,graphics, andspeechonthesubject. 4.3.2UniversityofIllinoisatUrbanaChampaignDigitalLibrariesInitiative http://www.grainger.uiuc.edu/dli/ TheaimoftheDigitalLibrariesInitiative(DLI)projectistocreatealargeindexedmultiple sourcecollectionofengineeringandscientificinformationandtocreateenhancedsearch technologyinordertoaccessdocumentseffectively.TheDLIdigitallibraryconsistsof18,000 searchablejournalarticlesinSGMLformatfrommajorscientificpublishers.Userscansearch theseusingasearchinterfacewhichtheusercancomplementwithhisorherowntermswith additionaltermsassuggestedbysubjectthesaurusorcooccurrencelistsonthescreen.The subjectthesaurusisbasedonInspec;thecooccurrencelistisbasedonstatisticsaboutwhich termsoccurtogetherandhowfrequently.Thesearchercansortthroughbothlistsandselect potentiallyusefulwordsfromthem.Researchincludesstudiesoftheswitchingofvocabularies acrosssubjectdomainsbycomputingconceptspacesonlargedocumentcollections.This informationwillbeusedtodevelopautomaticindexingtechnologyforthedocumentcontent, andtheprotocolsforconceptspaceswillbeembeddedastheinfrastructureofanewnetwork informationsystem.Multimediasemanticretrievalwillberesearched. 4.3.3UniversityofCalifornia,SantaBarbaraProjectAlexandriahttp://alexandria.sdc.ucsb.edu/ ThegoaloftheAlexandriaprojectistocreateadigitallibraryofgeographicandspatially indexedinformation,frommapsandimagestomultimedia.Theaimisthatusersbeableto accessthesedifferentformatsthroughthelibrary'sinterfacewithouthavingtoknowwherethe materialsareactuallylocated.Accessisimprovedbyaddingmetadatatoallformsofdata, whetherremotesensingimages,digitalrasterandvectordatasets,orvideos.Theuserinterface letstheusercomposespatialsearchqueriesandretrieveholdingsinvariousformats.Current researchinvolveswaystomakeiterativelyrefinedsearchesandsaveconfigurationsforfuture use,waystodefinethegeographicsearchregiononscreenbyinputtingvectordata,andwaysto searchbytexture.Textureinformationhasbeenextractedfromimagesandputintoatexture templatedatabasethatcanbematchedwithtexturesextractedfromthelibraryholdings. 4.3.4CarnegieMellonUniversityInformediaDigitalVideoLibrary http://fuzine.mt.cs.cmu.edu/im/informedia.html

TheaimofCMU'sInformediaProjectistoestablishalargeonlinevideolibraryforusein educationandtraining.Asmerestorageofthematerialsdoesnotmakethecollectionuseful,alot oftheresearchconcentratesonnewtechnologiesforthefullcontentsearchandretrievalofvideo materials.Theresearchhasbeendoneinthefieldsofspeechrecognition,imageunderstanding, andnaturallanguageunderstandinginordertoimprovetheorganizationofthematerialsandto createretrievalsystemsthatcanretrievespeechandvideosegments.CMUstartedwithasystem inwhichaspeechrecognizerwouldtranscribethesoundtrackofeachvideotapeandimage understandingtechniqueswouldbeusedforsegmentingvideosequences.Transcriptsand segmentinformationwerethenstoredintheretrievalsystem.Informediapermitstheuserto searchthevideocollectionsintelligently.Theremainingproblemsincludefindingwaystoaid usersintheidentificationofdesiredvideowhenasearchreturnsmultipleobjects,andwaystolet usersskimthevideostoquicklylocatesectionsofinterest.Workisalsobeingdoneon developingtoolsfortheusertomanipulateandreusethevideo.(Informedia1996). AnotherresearchareainwhichCMUisinterestedisthenetworkaccountingofcopyrightusage toenableownersofcopyrightedmaterialstobecompensatedappropriately.Theresulthasbeen anautomaticgeneralizedbillingsystem,NetBill(http://www.netbill.com).NetBillrelievesthe InformediaDigitalLibraryfromhavingtobedirectlyinvolvedinhandlingpaymentsand protectstheprivacyofthetransactionthroughuserIDsandencryption.TheNetBillserver maintainsaccountsforbothconsumersandmerchants.(HowNetBillWorks1996). 4.3.5UniversityofMichiganDigitalLibraryProject http://www.sils.umich.edu/UMDL/HomePage.html TheUniversityofMichiganisusingagenttechnologytomakeearthandspacesciencematerials available.Thelibraryisadistributedcollection,witheachdocumentrepresentedbydifferent storageandretrievalmechanismsanddifferentquerylanguages.Tomanagequeriesacross heterogeneouscollections,thedigitallibraryarchitectureisbasedonagents,softwareprogram modulesforperforminghighlyspecializedtasks.Forexample,userinterfaceagentsmanagethe interfacethatconnectsuserstothedigitallibraryresources,suggestsynonymsforgivensearch terms,transformuserqueriesinaformthatsearchagentscaninterpret,maintainuserprofiles, customizepresentationofqueryresults,andmanagetheuser'sresourcesforpayments.Tasksare distributedtonumerousagentstopromotemodularityandflexibility.Mediatoragentstransmit results,translateformats,monitorqueries,andteamupwithotheragentstoaccomplishtasks. Registryagentstranslateincomingrequestsintoqueriesontheregistry.Theadvantageofusing agentsistheirmodularity,whichincreasesflexibilityandincrementality.Servicescanbeadded, changed,ordeletedwithoutdisturbingtheoverallsystem,whichisimportantwhendealingwith avarietyofdifferentsystems.Researchincludesintegratinganagreementnegotiationprocess withelectronicpaymentandexchangeprotocols,bookkeeping,andsecuritymechanisms.(Atkins etal,1996) 4.3.6StanfordUniversityDigitalLibrariesProject (http://walrus.stanford.edu/diglib/) StanfordUniversityfocusesheavilyoninteroperabilityresearch.ThegoaloftheStanfordDigital Libraryprojectistodevelopasingleintegratedlibraryincludingavarietyofheterogeneous repositoriesrangingfrompersonalinformationcollectionstoconventionallibrarycollectionsand scientists'datacollections.Theprojectaimsforhighlevelprotocolsthatcouldenableusersto navigatetheinformationspaceinaconsistentway.

ToolscreatedatStanfordincludetheInfoBusprotocol,whichallowstheusertosearchremote databasesusingtheprotocolofthelocalsystem.ProxiesactasinterpretersbetweentheInfoBus protocolandthenativeprotocol.TheInfoBusshieldsusersfromthedetailsofaccessingdiverse sources(Jeapes1996,64).Anothertool,SenseMaker,helpsusersfindinformationfrommultiple searchservicesbyallowingthemto"makesense"outoftheirsearchresultsbylookingatthem throughmultipleviews(author,subject,title,location,etc.)andbyofferingarangeofwaysto limitorexpandasearch.Forexample,usersmaybundletogetherresultsfromthesamesiteor resultswithsimilartitles.SenseMakeralsoemploysseveralhighlevelduplicatedetection strategiestheusercanchoosefrom(Baldonado1996). 4.3.7Elsevier'sElectronicSubscriptionshttp://www.oclc.org/ In1993ElsevierstartedtheTulipProject,anexperimentinprovidingpageimagesof45science journalsto8Americanuniversities.Aftertwoyearsofexperimentation,Elsevierstarted deliveringpageimagescovertocoverfromallitsmorethan1100journals.OCLCprovidesthe retrievalsoftware(databasebuilderandsearchengineNewton)andthegraphicalinterface.Full textisprovidedasanASCIIfile;bibliographicinformation,asstructuredSGMLtaggedtext. Customerscangetalicenseforunlimiteduseorpayforindividualarticles.(Elsevier1995and VanDaele1996) 4.3.8ProQuestDigitalDissertations(UMI)http://wwwlib.umi.com/ UMIisdevelopingadigitallibraryofdoctoraldissertationsandmasters'thesesthatwillconsist ofdissertationsandthesessubmittedelectronically,aswellasofdissertationsconvertedfrom paperbasedformat.TheconversionfromanalogformattoAdobePDF(PortableDocument Format)willstartwith1997titles,andbytheendofthisyear,UMIisplanningtohave45,000 titlesindigitalformat.ThelibrarywillbeaccessibleontheInternetandlaterthroughProQuest Direct,UMI'sonlineinformationsystem.Institutionssubmittingdissertationsandtheseswill havefreeaccesstothematerialstheyhavesubmittedandtothemostcurrentthreemonthsof citationsandabstracts.Individualsandinstitutionscanorderthefulltextonlineusing DissertationExpress.(UMI1997). 4.3.9Corbishttp://www.corbis.com/ Corbisisaprivatelyheldcompany,foundedbyBillGatesin1989.Itsmissionistobecomethe world'spremierproviderofhighqualitydigitalcontent,beginningwithstillimageryand expandinginthefutureintoothermedia(Corbis1996).IncludingtheBettmannCollection,the archivecontainsmillionsofdigitalimagesonarangeofsubjectsfromscienceandtechnologyto history.Corbisacquiresrightstoimagesthroughnonexclusivelicensing,commissioning assignmentphotography,andoutrightpurchase.Theimagesareavailableforlicensingthrough thecompany'sWebsite(http://www.corbis.com)andthecompany'sCDROM.Toprevent unauthorizeduse,theimagesonCorbisWebsiteareencodedwithawatermarkthatshowswhen theimageisreproducedwithoutauthorization.Clientservicerepresentativesprovidetechnology consultingtothecompany'sclients.Futureexpansionplansincludeadditionalformats(e.g.,full motionvideo,audio,graphics,andfilm)andnewdeliverysystems,suchasinteractivetelevision. 4.3.10SuperJournalProjecthttp://www.superjournal.ac.uk/sj/

SuperJournalisaBritishcollaborativeprojectamongsome20publishers,leadingBritish universities,andtheirlibraries.Theprojectaimstodevelopsome50peerreviewedmultimedia journalsinkeyareasofthesciencesandsocialsciences:e.g.,moleculargeneticsandproteins, polymerphysics,communicationandculturalstudies,politicalscience,andcomputergraphics. ThejournalswillthenbedeliveredtoparticipatingusercommunitiesusingtheJANETand SuperJANETnetworks.(JANETisanacademicandresearchnetworkthatlinksuniversities, collegesandresearchorganizationsthroughoutGreatBritainandNorthernIreland.SuperJANET addstoJANETabroadbandenvironmentwithadvancednetworkingtechnologiessuchasATM, SDH,andSMDS.)ThebroadbandenvironmentofSuperJANETallowsthedisplayof3D graphics,simulationstoillustratenewtechniques,videos,animation,andsoundrecordings,as wellasstatisticaldatabases.Standardformats(SGML,PDF,HTML,andGIF)willbeused.The interfaceallowsusersnotonlytoviewbutalsotomanipulatemultimediadocuments.(Apps 1996). 4.4MultimediaTechnologiesandSelection 4.4.1CriteriaforSelectingMultimediaTechnologies Librariesandinformationagencieswantingtoobtainmultimediaresourcesfaceafarmore challengingtaskthantheydidobtainingmaterialsinnonelectronictimes.Traditionally,libraries ownedthematerialstowhichtheyprovidedaccess.Today,theyarealsoprovidingaccessto remotematerials.Assessingelectronicmaterialsentailsusingnewcriteriathatcollection developersdidnotusewhenselectingmainlyamongprintmaterials:e.g.,costofsearchingor downloading,training,preservationcosts,specialequipmentneededtousethematerial,search capabilities,andfutureaccessibility.Moreover,thecostwillbemoredifficulttoassessthanthat ofprintedmaterials,forthecostsforelectronicmaterialsareusuallylesspredictable,depending onequipmentcosts,searchtime,amountofdownloadingorprinting,preservationcosts,etc. AsEvans(1995,283)pointsout,the"goalistoselectthemostcosteffectiveformatthatwillmeet theneedsofalargenumberofusers".Therefore,multimediamaynotbethebestchoiceforevery kindofmaterial.Theinformationprofessionalwillchoosefromamongavarietyofformats (print,CDROM,DVD,Internet,microform,etc.)theonemostappropriateforeachpurpose.To dothistheselectormusttakeintoaccountalotofdifferentfactors:e.g., Contentsandorganizationofinformation Qualityofproduction Cost(includingthecostofsearching,downloading,printing,andpreservation) IfanInternetresourceisselected,canitbeexpectedtoremainfree? Doalltheformatshavethesameinformation?Howfarbackintimedotheygo?Isthe coveragereallywhatvendorsaysitis? Ifimagesareimportant,whichformathandlesthembest? Willthevisualsdatequickly? Doesviewing,reading,orlisteningtothematerialsrequirespecialequipment,software, orplugins? Whichformathasthemostcurrentinformation?Howoftenisitupdated? Easeofuse Searchcapability(canbothtextualandnontextualelementsbesearched?) Extentofindexing(full?orkeytermsonly?)

Where,when,andhowistheinformationavailablefortheusers?Whichformatdothe usersprefer? Howlongwilltheinformationbeavailable?Isthereadangerofitsdisappearingor moving? Doesthelibraryneedtosecureaccesstoinformationinthefuture?Ifyes,isthe informationinaformatthatcanbestoredandpreservedforfutureuse? Willthematerialbeshared? Isthematerialauthentic? Isthematerialcopyrightedorinthepublicdomain?Isthecopyrightinformation properlyincluded? Shouldincompleteresourcesbeselected?

CrawfordandGormansuggestthatelectronicform(includingmultimedia)isthebestformatin thefollowingcases: thematerialisusedprimarilyforobtainingrelativelysmallpiecesofinformation,the currencyofwhichisvitaltoitseffectiveness:referenceworks,indexes,almanacs,and statisticalcompilations theprobableuseofacollectiveitem(e.g.,serial)islessthanonetenthofthewholeover thelifeoftheedition:littleusedserials,runsofgovernmentdocuments,conference proceedings whenprintproductionanddistributioncausesuchdelaysthattheinformationis outdatedbythetimethepublicationisavailableinprint:consumerandpriceguides, financialinformation.(CrawfordandGorman1995,p.5455)

SomefurtheradvantagesofelectronicformatsarelistedbyBuckland(1992,45): theyfacilitateusermanipulationofthedocument(e.g.,statisticaldata) theyfacilitatescanningforparticularstringsinlargevolumesofdata,possiblyamulti volumeworkinprintformat theyenablethematerialtobeaccessedataremotelocation

Multimediaformatsaddtothealreadywiderangeofinformationformats.Asthesame informationmaybefoundindifferentpackages,itwillbeharderforcollectiondevelopersto avoidduplication.Someduplicationmaybenecessarytoprovideuserstheirmaterialsina formatwithwhichtheyarecomfortable.Therefore,itseemsunlikelythatmultimediawould replacebooks,forexample.Onthecontrary,librariesthathavedigitalcollectionshavenoticed thattheuseoftheirprintcollectionshasincreasedratherthan decreased since they have become digital. Yet it is likely that the preference for electronic media will grow as libraries and information agencies start getting users who have been surrounded by computers all their lives and who may actually prefer to obtain their information online. Thetwomainselectionissuesformultimediaarecostandlongevity.Whilethebarrierfor providingaccesstofreeorlowcostmultimediaislow,thecostliertheproductis,themore difficultitistoselectmultimediaoveraconsiderablycheaperproductintraditionalformat.As longasmultimediatechnologychangesrapidly,thepricelevelisbynomeansfixed,which makestheselectionevenharder.Theotherissue,longevity,isaconcernbecauserapidly developingtechnologyshortensproductlifeandatthesametimeincreasestheneedfor reformattingormigrations,addingtofuturecosts.

MostresourcesontheInternetarefree,andlibrariesandinformationagenciesprovidelinksto them.ThedownsideofInternetlinksisthattheirmaintenancerequiresmoreeffort.Librariesthat haveincorporatedtheInternetintheirselectionpolicyhavehadtofindanswerstoquestions suchasthefollowingregardingselectionfromtheInternet: WhichtypesofInternetresourceswillthelibraryselect? Willaccessbeprovidedtowholeserversandeverythinginthem,oronlytotitlelevel resources? Willoutofdatesitesberemoved?Willtopicalsitesbemountedonlyforshortdurations? When(ifever)shouldtheresourcebedownloadedandstoredlocally? Shouldanincompleteresourcebeselected?(Demas1995,283).

4.4.2ProvidingAccesstoMultimedia Aslibrariesandinformationagenciesstartincorporatingmultimediaresourcesintotheir collections,thequestionariseshowtomaketheusefulresourcesavailabletotheusers.Thereare threebasicwaysinwhichaccesstodocumentscanbeimproved:First,toimprovesearchingwith searchengines,producersoftheresourcescanaddmetadata,i.e.,informationaboutthe informationintheresource,tothedocuments.Second,librariesandinformationagenciescan catalogandsetpointerstoselectedinformationresources.Third,searchenginescanbeimproved sothatsearcherscanfindthedesiredinformationfaster. Metadataconsistofelementsthatcanhelptheuserchoosetheresourcemorequicklyduringan Internetsearch:e.g.,topic,title,author,publisher,date,genre,format(e.g.,PostScript,PDF, Windowsfile),version(e.g.,highresolutionimage,mediumqualityimage,thumbnail),source, language,coverage,rightsandpermissions,andlastupdate.Eachpieceofinformationwithina documentthatmightbeusedonitsownshouldhaveitsownmetadatasothattheitemcanbe accessedindependently(Arms1997). Efficientuseofmultimediawilldependonhowsoonandinhowgreatdetailmetadatawill incorporatevideo,sound,andanimation.Developmentsinmetadataenablethedesignofmore capablesearchengines,allowingtheusersmoreopportunitiestolimittheirsearch.Several differentmetadataprojectsareunderway(TEI,DublinCore,URC,IAFA,MARC,etc.),andasyet thereislittleconsensusonthecomplexitylevelofsemanticstructureneededinmetadata.Heere pointsoutitisunlikelythattherewillbeonlyonestandard,asdifferentdisciplinesfavor differentapproachestoresourcedescription,anddifferentsearchtoolsfavordifferentformats. However,interoperabilitybetweendifferentsystemsandbettersearchaidscanbeachievedonly if sufficient agreement can be reached on the semantic structures (Heere, 1996). The University of California, Berkeley is one of the universities working on the construction of such content standards. Whilethesemanticstructurehasnotbeenagreedupon,thereisawidelyacceptedgeneral standardforconstructingsyntaxandconventionsfornamingtheelementsofdocuments: StandardGeneralizedMarkupLanguage(SGML).Fortheencodersofmetadataitisimportant thatthestandardnotbecomeobsolete.TheusersofSGMLarefairlyconfidentthatthemetadata createdinSGMLbaseddocumentswillnotbecomeobsoletesoon,forseveralreasons:(1)SGML iswidelyacceptedbysoftwareproducers,variousindustries,thegovernment,publishers,and libraryandinformationscientists;(2)SGMLisindependentofproprietaryhardwareorsoftware; and(3)itispossibletocreatesoftwarethatwillworkwithanycompliantDocumentType Definition(DTD),i.e.,withanymarkuplanguagefollowingSGMLrules(Pitti,1995)

Accessibilitytodocumentscanalsobecreatedbycreatingpointerstothemorbycataloging them.Manylibraries,computingcenters,corporations,andindividualshaveemployedvarious systemstoorganizelinkcollections.Someofthebestknownare: Yahoo(http://www.yahoo.com/) CyberStacks(http://www1.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/homepage.html) theWWWVirtualLibrary(http://www.w3.org/pub/DataSources/bySubject/Overview )

SuchlinkcollectionscanbeconvenientbecausetheyusuallycontaincarefullyTEXTselected links,whichinsomeinstancescanprovideinformationfasterthanscanningthroughamyriadof searchengineresults.Asindexingandsearchenginesdevelop,suchlinkcollectionsmayalso becomemorecomprehensive. RelativelyfewlibrariesandinformationagencieshaveincorporatedInternetlinksintheirpublic accesscatalogs.WhilecatalogingofelectronicmaterialsonCDROMordiskettehasbeen regardedasworthwhile,catalogingInternetresourceshasbeenacontroversialissue.The supportersofcataloginghavepointedoutthatatpresenttheInternetsearchtoolsarenotalways efficientinRESETlocatingfastwhattheuserwantstofind.Theopponents,inturn,contendthat toomanyresourcesontheInterneteitherdisappearorchangelocationfrequently,makingithard forthemaintainertokeepthelinksupdated.Nevertheless,some231participantstookpartinthe OCLCInternetCataloguingprojectfromOctober1994throughJune1996,creatingnearly9,000 MARCrecordsforselectedInternetresources(availableathttp://purl.org/net/intercat/). Althoughtheprojecthasformallyconcluded,OCLCisplanningtomaintainInterCatasa learningresourceforimproveddescriptionpractices. AnotherOCLCinitiative,NetFirst,wasintroducedin1995andcurrentlycontainsover60,000 recordsauthoritativeforalltypesofInternetresources.UnlikeInterCat,NetFirstdoesnothave fullMARCrecords.Eachrecordcontainsclassificationnumbers,LCsubjectheadings,andashort abstract.ThesitesareselectedfollowingtheNetFirstCollectionDevelopmentPolicy (http://www.oclc.org/oclc/netfirst/nf960821.htm ).AmanualforcatalogingofInternetresources isavailableathttp://www.oclc.org/oclc/man/9256cat/toc.htm (OCLC1997). Asonesolutiontotheproblemofchanginglocation,theInternetEngineeringTaskforce(IETF) hasbeenworkingondevelopingaUniformResourceName(URN).AURNwouldbeaunique 'persistent'identificationforaresource;itwouldbeindependentofthelocationandwould utilizetheresource'smetadata.ExamplesofURNsarePersistentURLs(PURLs)andhandles (OCLC1996,CNRI,1996).Therearealsolinkcheckingprogramsthathelptoidentifybroken linksandmovedormodifieddocuments,e.g.,MOMspider(http://www.ics.edu/WebSoft/ MOMSpider/),DoctorHTML(http://www2.imagiware.com/RxHTML/),andWebWatch (http://www.specter.com/).(Formorelinkcheckerssee http://www.napier.ac.uk/depts/library/train/cdmaint.html.) TofighttheproblemoftherapiddisappearanceofmuchWebbasedinformation,theInternet Archive(http://www.archive.org)startedarchivingWWWdocumentsin1996tomakethem availableforfutureresearchwhentheyarenolongeravailablefromtheiroriginalsource.At present,thearchiveisnotacompletearchiveofthewholeWebbecausethecrawlersoftware usedtocollectsitesdoesnothaveaccesstoallfileformats.Moreover,itmaytakesometime beforeitwillcapturemonthlyletaloneweeklyordailychangesinWebsites.Thefirstround tookalmostayeartocomplete,andupdatesareplannedtotakeplaceeveryfewmonths.This

schedulemeansthatalotofpagesstilldisappearfasterthantheycanbestored.Moreeffortslike thiswillprobablyfollowastheintellectualpropertyissuesinvolvingarchivesareclarified(Kahle 1997) Accesstomultimediawillimproveinthefuture,whichwillincreasetheusefulnessof multimediaanditsdemand. 4.5CreatingDigitizedMaterials Producingmultimediarequiresalotofstillimages.BaharGidwaniestimatesthatatypical electronicbookcanuseasmanyas1,000stillsalongwithvideoandsoundclips(Gidwani1996). Threetypicalsourcesforimagesarepublicdomainsources,commercialsources,andproducing themoneself.Publicdomainimagesarecheaperbutmaybehardtofind.Commercialsources canprovidefastservicebutmaynotprovideuniquematerials.Producingimagesoneselfcan givethedesiredimages(providedtheycanbecreated)andallrightstothembutcanbecome expensiveandrequirestalent.Aslongaslicensingproceduresremainascomplexastheyare now,librarieswantingtoproducemultimediaaremostlikelytorelyontheirownsourcesand thepublicdomainandtousecopyrightedsourcesonlyiftheyqualifyforfairuse. Digitizationhasbeenseenasawaytosecuretheinformationstoredindeterioratingformatsand toreducetheneedforbuildingstoragespace.Sofar,convertinglargepartsofacollectioninto digitizedformathasnotbeeneconomicalandprojectshavebeenlimitedtooldermaterialsthat areoutofcopyright.Thus,alargeamountofthedigitizedmaterialconsistsofolderworksthat arenotheavilyused. Digitizationofnewercopyrightedmaterialcanbecostly.AfrequentlycitedexampleisIBM's spendingover$1milliononclearingrightsforitscommemorativeColumbusCDROM,only $10,000ofwhichwenttorightsholders.Therestwasspentonadministrativeandlegalcosts. Cooperationbetweencommercialandnoncommercialorganizationsmaybesomethingto considertoensuregoodqualityproducts.Examplesofsuchcooperationincludethe Multimedia DictionaryofModern&ContemporaryArt,TheGothicCathedralsofEurope,andMountOlympos: MythHistoryandPoetry.Allthesearecoproducedbyseveralcommercialandnoncommercial organizationsfromdifferentEuropeancountries. Pressureforeconomicaluseoffundsmayleadtofurthernationwidecoordinationondigitization efforts,sothatduplicationcanbereducedandselectionofmaterialstobepreservedcanbemade easier.Forexample,theResearchLibrariesGroup(RLG)isinvestigatingmethodstoinclude informationaboutcurrentorfuturedigitizationprojectsinbibliographicrecords(Erway1996). Clearly,asimplernegotiationsystemhastobedevelopedbeforeanylargescaledigitizationcan takeplace.Withsmalleradministrativecosts,digitizationofcopyrightedmaterialmaybecome economicalonalargerscale,especiallyif(cf.,Lesk1996"Substituting..."): institutionswillsharedigitalcollections sharingdigitalcollectionsdecreasesneedforfulltraditionallibrariesatthelocallevel usewillincreasewithelectronicaccess thelongtermvalueofdigitalcollectionswillexceedthemaintenanceanddeliverycosts thecaptureisrichenoughtobeusefulovertime.

Althoughthestorageandcopyingcostsaredecreasing,therapiddevelopmentoftechnologyand lackofclearstandardsmayincreasepreservationcostsifthepreservationrequiresmigratingthe digitizedmaterialsfromonegenerationofcomputertechnologytothenextorfromone configurationtoanother.ItisrelativelyeasytomigrateASCIItextfiles;butunlessstandardscan beestablished,multipleformatsmayinvolvemorecomplex,expensive,andfrequent transformations.Thesuccessofmultimediaarchivingwilldependontheidentificationof systemsandstandardsthatwillreduceormakeiteasiertomigratemultimediamaterialsorthat willbeabletoreaddatafromcreatedwitholdersystemswithminimalreformatting.Thereforeit isimportantforlibrariansandinformationscientiststobeinvolvedindigitizingeffortsandin standardizationissues. 4.6CopyrightandUsageFees Intheelectronicera,copyrightissuesconstituteabigconcernforproducers,publishers,and thosewhoseworkisincludedinmultimediaproducts.Itisrelativelyeasyforanyonetocopy digitizedworksordigitizeprintmaterialsandpostthemontheInternet,wheretheyarefreely accessibletothewholeworld.Therefore,aslongasthereisnoefficientwaytocontrolthe distributionofcopyrightedmaterials,producerswillhesitatetoputtheirhighqualityworkon theInternet. Effortsareunderwaytocreatetoolsthatpreventillegalcopyingoratleastmakeitdifficultand thathavethecapabilityofperformingtransactionsneededtogiveproducersthecompensation thataccordingtothecopyrightlegislationbelongstothem.Forexample,companieshave developedsocalledtrustedsystemsthatcanselldigitalworksandcanallowornotallow copying,transport,oreditingaccordingtothetermsandconditionsspecifiedbythepublisher (e.g.,Stefik1997). Techniquesdevelopedtopreventthepiratingofintellectualpropertyincludewatermarking, steganography,"dongle",andflickering.Thefirsttwo,watermarkingandsteganography,involve aconcealedspecialcodewithinthedigitalobject,whichdoesnotpreventcopyingbutcanbe usedtotrackillegalcopies.Thedongleisadevicethatmustbeinstalledonthemachineinorder forthesoftwaretowork.Flickeringisatechniqueinwhichrandombitsareaddedtothe backgroundsofadigitalobject;thesethenappearasgarbageifscreendumpsarecapturedbut canbereadandviewedonthescreen.Therearestillproblemswiththesetechniques.For instance,watermarksmaybeeasilyremoved,andthecurrenttechnologydoesnotprovidefast enoughflickeringandsmallenoughdotsfortheflickeringtechnique(Lesk1996"Digital..."). Theemergenceofsuchsystemswillmakeitpossibletochargetheusersdirectly,whichmay meanthatinthefuturetherewillbefewermaterialsavailableforfree.Itremainstobeseento whatextentthesesystemswillovercomethechallengesofguaranteeingconfidentiality, authenticity,andintegrityofdatainallcircumstances.Usersneedtofeelconfidentthattheir transactionsandusagepatternswillremainsecureandconfidential,evenwhensomeonetriesto tamperwiththesystemorsomethingunexpectedoccurs.Theyalsoneedtobeabletotracethe ultimatecreatoroftheproductandthehistoryofchangesmadetotheproduct. Forlibrariesandinformationagenciestheconsequencesofintroducingsystemsthatcanenforce copyrightandpossiblychargefortheuseofthematerialarethat(1)decisionswillhavetobe madeastowhatextentcostswillbepassedontocustomers,and(2)wayswillhavetobefoundto enablefairuse(i.e.,theuseofcopyrightedmaterialwithoutthecopyrightowner'spermissionfor certainspecificusessuchasteaching,research,newsreporting,orcriticism).Ifthecopyright

ownersaregivenarbitrarycontrolovertheuseoftheirwork,thereisadangerthattheworld wouldbemovingfromanagefavoringfairusewithlittlecontroloverillegalcopyingtoanera favoringtheowners'rightswithlittleconcernforusers'rights. OnereasonforthelackoffairusethinkingintheplanningofNationalInformationInfrastructure (NII)isthelackofhardandfastrulesforfairuse.Theroleoflibrariansandinformationagents shouldbetohelpdefinefairuseintheelectronicarea,inordertoensurethatfairusewillapply toallinformationformats.LibrariansarealreadyparticipatinginTheConferenceonFairUse (CONFU),whichwasconvenedbyTheWorkingGrouponIntellectualPropertyRightstobring togethercopyrightowners,publishers,educators,andlibrarianstodevelopguidelinesforfair uses.InDecember1996,aninterimreportcameout,withproposalsforfairuseguidelinesfor digitalimages,educationalmultimedia,anddistancelearning.Theseproposalsarenowunder review,andtheyareexpectedtobeeitherendorsedorrejectedinMay1997.Inotherareas,such aselectronicreservesystems,interlibraryloan,anddocumentdelivery,participantsarestillfar fromagreementonevenadraftforguidelinestobedisseminatedforreviewanddiscussion. BelowareafewoftheprinciplesfromtheinterimCONFUreportconcerningtheuseof copyrightedimagesandeducationalmultimediaunderthefairusedefense(AppendicesHandJ ofLehman1996): Aneducationalinstitution(e.g.,school,college,university,library,museum,hospital) maynotdigitizeanalogvisualimagestosupporteducationalusesif"suchimagesare readilyavailableinusabledigitalformforpurchaseorlicenseatafairprice." Access,display,anddistributionisnotpermittedbeyondtheinstitution'ssecure electronicnetwork. Coursecompilationsmaybeaccessedonlybystudentsenrolledinthatcourse. Timelimitationsapplytousewithoutpermission.Continueduserequirestheinstitution tocleartherightsintheimage.Iftheownerisnotknown,areasonableinquiryshouldbe conducted. Digitizedimagesontheinstitutionnetworkmaybedownloaded,copied,printed, shared,etc.,onlyforthepermittededucationaluses. Whendevelopingmultimedia,thefollowingportionlimitationsapply: upto10%butnomorethan1000wordsoftext upto10%butnomorethan30wordsofmusic,lyrics,ormusicvideo upto10%butnomorethan15imagesorphotographsfromthesamework;nomore than5fromthesameartist Amaximumofthreecopiesofamultimediaprojectmaybeproduced:onetobeplaced onreserve,aneducator'scopy,andoneforpreservationpurposes.

Thesesuggestedguidelinesdonotallowforsharinginformationwithotherinstitutions.Thus,a groupofinstitutionsmightbeabletoshareonlythosemultimediaitemstowhichallmembersof thegrouphaveobtainedalltherights.Suchalimitationwouldseriouslyaffecttheveryideaof digitallibraries.Librariansandinformationscientistsneedtofollowcloselyanycopyright proposalsbecausetheycanseriouslyaffectthewayinformationcanbeused.In1995,aNational InformationInfrastructureCopyrightProtectionActwasproposed,intheformofanewbillthat

wouldhavegiventocopyrightownersthetransmissionrightsforcopyrightedmaterialand imposedpenaltiesforinfringement.Ifthatbillhadbeenaccepted,evendisplayingcopyrighted informationonthescreenwithoutauthorizationcouldhavebeenviewedasaninfringement. Multimediatechnologiesarefacedwithcomplexandcumbersomelicensingpractices,as differentproducts(e.g.,books,music,movies)aresubjecttodifferentcopyrightapplications. Licensingfeesaddtotheproductioncostsandoftenlimitthechoicesofaproducerwhowantsto keepcostsatareasonablelevelinordertobeabletoselltheproduct.Ifasimplercopyright negotiatingsolutioncanbefound,producerscanproduceandmakeavailableawiderrangeof multimediaproductsatlowerprices. Compulsorylicensingi.e.,asysteminwhichthecopyrightownerwouldberequiredtolicense hisorherworkevenifheorshedoesnotwanttodosowouldbethemostpracticalsolution,in thatitwouldsimplifythecopyrightnegotiationprocessandthusmakemultimediaproduction moreattractive.Ontheotherhand,anysuchsystemwouldbehardtoimplementbecauseof valuationdifficulties.Thesearecausedbysuchdifferencesasvaryingquality,length,orthe amountofvaluethecopyrighteditembringstothetotalproduction. 4.7References Apps,Ann."SuperJournal:ProjectDescription."March1996. http://www.superjournal.ac.uk/aj/supjnl.html Arms,WilliamY.,CristopheBlanchiandEdwardA.Overly."AnArchitectureforInformationin DigitalLibraries."DLibMagazine,February1997. http://www.dlib.org/dlib/february97/cnri/02arms1.html Atkins,DanielE.etal."TowardInquiryBasedEducationThroughInteractingSoftwareAgents." Computer,May1996.http://www.computer.org/pubs/computer/dli/r50069/r50069.htm Baldonado,Michelle."SenseMaker".StanfordUniversity,1996.http://sensemaker.stanford.edu/ Buckland,Michael.RedesigningLibraryServices:AManifesto.Chicago:AmericanLibrary Association,1992. CNRICorporationforNationalResearchInitiatives."TheHandleSystem"Reston,VA:CNRI, September,1996.http://www.handle.net/ Corbis."TheCorbisStory."1996.http://www.corbis.com/inside/story_body.html Crawford,WaltandMichaelGorman.FutureLibraries:Dreams,Madness,&Reality.Chicago: AmericanLibraryAssociation,1995. Demas,Samuel,PeterMcDonaldandGregoryLawrence."TheInternetandCollection Development:MainstreamingSelectionofInternetResources".LibraryResources&Technical Services,v.39,no.3,July1995.p.275290. Dodds,PhilipV.W."DefininganInteractiveMediaPublishingFormat:WillWeGetItRightThis Time?"November1996.http://www.ima.org/hottop/newslet/dvdformat.html

"ElsevierAnnounces:ElectronicSubscriptions,TheNextStepAfterTulip."NetworkNews, May/June,1995.http://www.nnlm.nlm.nih.gov/scr/scnn/9505/elsevier.html Erway,RickyL."DigitalInitiativesoftheResearchLibrariesGroup".DLibMagazine,December 1996.http://www.dlib.org/dlib/december96/rlg/12erway.html Evans,G.Edward.DevelopingLibraryandInformationCenterCollections.3rded.Englewood, Colorado:LibrariesUnlimited,1995. Gidwani,Bahar."LicensingStillImages:InformationforMultimediaProducers."1996. http://www.indexstock.com/pages/whiteppr.htm Heere,Rachel."ReviewofMetadataFormats."1996.http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/review "HowNetBillWorks".CarnegieMellonUniversity,December1996. http://www.netbill.com/netbill/works.html "TheInformedia(tm)DigitalVideoLibrary:NSFProposal:ProjectDescription".CarnegieMellon University,1996.http://www.informedia.cs.cmu/info/imsummary.html Jeapes,Ben."DigitalLibraryProjects:WhereTheyAreNowPartTwo".1996.TheElectronic Library,v.14,no.1,February1996.P.6264. Kahle,Brewster."PreservingtheInternet."ScientificAmerican.March1997. http://www.sciam.com/0397issue/0397kahle.html Klavans,Judith."ProjectDescription:DomainIndependentSummarization."September 1996.http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~klavans/Cria/Currentprojects/Sem_nets.html Larson,Don."DoesMultimediaHaveaDarkSide?"WebDeveloper,v.2no.4, September/October1996.http://www.Webdeveloper.com/sepoct96/multimedia.html Lehman,BruceA.TheConferenceonFairUse.AnInterimReporttotheCommissioner.With Appendices.December1996.http://www.uspto.gov/Web/offices/dcom/olia/confu Lesk,Michael."DigitalLibrariesMeetElectronicCommerce:OnScreenIntellectualProperty."In: ProceedingsoftheThirdForumonResearchandTechnologyAdvancesinDigitalLibrariesADL 96WashingtonDC:IEEE,May1996. Lesk,Michael."SubstitutingImagesforBooks:TheEconomicsforLibraries".Bellcore,1996. http://community.bellcore.com/lesk/unlv/unlv.html OCLC,Inc.OCLCNewsletter225.Jan./Feb.1997.http://www.oclc.org/oclc/new/n225/mn.htm OCLCOnlineComputerLibraryCenter,Inc.ThePURLTeam."PURLFAQ".March,1996. http://purl.oclc.org/docs/purl_faq.html Pitti,DanielV."AccesstoDigitalRepresentationsofArchivalMaterials:theBerkeleyFindingAid Project".In:RLGDigitalImageAccessProject:ProceedingsfromanRLGSymposium.PaloAlto:

TheResearchLibrariesGroup,1995,pp.7381. http://sunsite.Berkeley.edu/FindingAids/EAD/diap.html Slothouber,LouisP."AModelofWebServerPerformance".1996.http://louvx.biap.com/white papers/performance/overview.html Stefik,Mark."Trustedsystems".ScientificAmerican.March1997. http://www.sciam.com/0397issue/0397stefik.html UMI,TheAnswerCompany."DissertationsGoingElectronicatUMI."February1997. http://www.umi.com/hp/PressRel/970205.html VanDaele,Eddy."TulipElsevier'sElectronicsubscriptionsEaseTheUniversityLicensing ProgramElsevier'sArticleSuppliedElectronically."Brussels,Belgium:RoyalLibraryAlbertI, 1996.http://www.ua.ac.be/MAN/T01/t15.html

MULTIMEDIAANDTELECOMMUNICATIONS,19972002: PERSPECTIVESANDRECOMMENDATIONS. Section5

Contents of Section 5: CURRENT AND FUTURE MULTIMEDIA STANDARDS FOR IMAGE FORMATS Purpose History Background The Need for Standards for Digital Images Definitions Scanners and Related Hardware Introduction Scanners vs. Digital Cameras and Video-Capture Cards How Scanners Work Current and Future Trends Implications for the Future References

CURRENTANDFUTUREMULTIMEDIASTANDARDSFOR IMAGEFORMATS
5.1Purpose Thissectionpresentsageneraloverviewofmultimediastandardsforimageformats.Attentionis giventodefiningimageformats,providingabriefhistoryofthedevelopmentofimage standards,andprovidingageneraldiscussionofcurrentandfuturetrends.Hardwareusedin graphicsdevelopmentwillbediscussed,asthereisadirectconnectionbetweentheevolutionary tracksofgraphicshardware and software. We follow current and future trends with the intent to furnish an outline of the future in digital imaging.

5.2History 5.2.1Background Twoorganizationsneedtobenotedattheoutset:ISOandANSI.Theyareorganizationsinvolved inthecreationofnationalandinternationalagreementsonstandardsinformats.The InternationalOrganizationforStandardization(ISO)isaworldwidefederationofnational standardsbodiesfromsome100countries,onefromeachcountry.ANSIistheAmerican NationalStandardsInstitute,amemberofISO. ISOisanongovernmentalorganizationestablishedin1947.ThemissionofISOistopromotethe developmentofstandardizationandrelatedactivitiesintheworld,inthecontextoffacilitating theinternationalexchangeofgoodsandservices,andtodevelopcooperationinthespheresof intellectual,scientific,technologicalandeconomicactivity. TheAmericanNationalStandardsInstitutehasservedfor78yearsinitscapacityas administratorandcoordinatorofthevoluntarystandardizationsystemintheprivatesectorinthe UnitedStates.Foundedin1918byfiveengineeringsocietiesandthreegovernmentagencies,the Instituteremainsaprivate,nonprofitmembershiporganizationsupportedbyadiverse constituencyofprivateandpublicsectororganizations. 5.2.2TheNeedforStandardsforDigitalFormats Thedigitalimagehasitsoriginsinthedesktoppublishingworld,whereimagesandpicturesare animportantpartofthemarket.Theuseofimageshasevolvedthroughtheiruseintelevision, movies,photography,andtheInternet. Recentdevelopmentsincomputergeneratedgraphicsareincreasinglyseeninspecialeffectsfor thesmallscreen.Theirrelativelyinexpensivenaturehasmadethempopularforeffectsin everythingfromsciencefictiontocommercialadvertising.Theuseofthesetechnologiesiswell illustratedinthemovieForrestGump,inwhicharchivalvideoandphotographywasblended withpresentdayactors.Theeasewithwhichimagescanbemanipulatedhasraisedethicaland legalconcerns.Theeasymanipulationofphotographshasbeenusedasalegaldefenseinthe recentO.J.Simpsontrial,inwhichthedefensearguedthatanincriminatingphotographcould havebeenalteredeasily.Thequickunderstandingofthejuryregardingthispossibility underscoreshowthoroughlyimagemanipulationhasenteredthepublicconsciousness. Thepushforstandardsinimageformatsgreatlyincreasedasthinkingwasdirectedatcreating andcatalogingcollectionsandarchivesofphotographsandpaintings.Theneedforstandards alsoincreasesastheuseofgraphicssoftwarebecomesmorecommonplaceinvariousmedia (bothelectronicandprint).Thebestformatinwhichtopreserveanimageisstilladebatable topic,butrecentdevelopmentsinstoragecapacitymayeliminatetheworryoffilesizeincreating agraphicfile. Theuseofimagedatabaseshasbeenaworkingideasince19791980,andreallybeganwiththe launchingofseveralprojects,includingtheDetroitArtSystem,theArt&ArchitectureThesaurus, thePublicArchivesofCanada,andtheYaleIndextoBritishphotography.In1980,the SmithsonianandtheMuseumofNaturalHistoryjointlydevelopedathreelevelsystemfor indexingartcollections.(Cawkell,1994).

Itwasnotuntil1985thatadvancesintechnologyallowedtheconceptsofcataloguingand collectinggraphicimagestobecomeareality.Furtherrapidadvancesoccurredduring1990to 1993.Theseadvanceshavemadeiteconomicaltodigitizephotographsandpaintings.Several projectsundertakinglargearchivaltaskshavebeenmentionedearlierinthisreport. Theoriginsofscannerscanbetracedtotheirdevelopmentin19851986forthedesktop publishingmarket.Initially,thesoftwaredevelopedforthehardwarewasabletocontrolfor brightnessandcontrastandcouldselectbetweenonlytwomodes,"lineart"and"halftone".The imagefilescouldthenbesavedinseveralfileformatscommontothedesktoppublishingmarket. Thereweremanylimitationscomparedtothescannersandsoftwareavailabletoday.The numberofscannersavailableatpresenthasincreased,andtheirpriceshavedropped.Thereare handheldscanners,flatbedscanners,andseveralassortedpagefeedscanners.Ahybridisthe combinationprinter,copier,andscannerdevelopedbyHewlettPackard. Wehavediscussedthescannerinthissectionbecauseitwasthefirsthardwaredevicetoenable theconversionofapictureorgraphicintoadigital,i.e.,computerreadable,file.Newdevices includecameras,videocapturecards,andspecializedimagingdevicessuchasareusedin hospitalsforhighresolutionscansofthehumanbody. Theremainderofthissectionfocusesoncurrenttrendsandfutureimplicationsofdigitalimages. ImageuseontheInternethasbeenanotherreasonforseekingastandardinimageformats.The fieldhasbeendrivenpartiallybythelargesizeofgraphicsfilesandtheimpactthattransferring suchlargefilesovertheInternetcanhaveondownloadtimesaswellasongeneralInternet traffic.Recentdevelopmentsinincreasingbandwidthandincreasingmodemspeedsmayrender suchconcernsmoot.Thesearchforanacceptableimageformatmayreverttoseekingformats thatprovidethebestqualityratherthanformatsthatcompressfilessubstantiallywithout sacrificing"toomuch"detail. 5.3Definitions Intraversingthelandofdigitalimages,wehaveprovidedsomedefinitionsandexplanationsof termsusedinthefield.Thetypesofimagefilesseemagoodplacetostart.Thestandards providedbyorganizationssuchasISOandANSIwillbemorecoherentaftersomeclarityis broughttotheplethoraofacronymsandabbreviationsinmultimedia.Althoughimagefilescan beprintorpicturesthatcanbeproducedthroughprintersorfaxmachines,computergraphics arespecifictothoseimagesthatwillbeproducedanddisplayedonacomputermonitorthatcan displaygraphicaswellasalphanumericdata. Acomputergraphicssystembasicallyconsistsofacomputertostoreandmanipulateimages,a displayscreen,variousinputandoutputdevices,andagraphicssoftwarepackage,i.e.,a programthatenablesacomputertoprocessgraphicimagesbymeansofmathematicallanguage. Theseprogramsenablethecomputertodraw,color,shade,andmanipulatetheimagesheldinits memory. Atpresent,thefourmostcommonlyusedgraphicsformatsareGIF,JPEG,TIFFandBMP;anew graphicformatiscurrentlyenteringthefield,PNG.Therearesomethathavebecomedefacto standards;forexample,JPEGisconsideredthemosteconomicaluseofimagecompressionfor useinWebpageconstruction.TIFFistheformatusedinmanipulatingimages.BMPfilesare knowntoMicrosoftWindowsusersasthisistheformatusedfordesktopbackgrounds,aswellas thedefaultfileformatintheWindowsPaintprogram.GIFisaformatoriginallydevelopedby

CompuServetoenablecompressionoflargeimagefiles.Ithasalsoknownwidespreaduse despiteitsproprietarynature,eventhoughCompuServehasattimesseemedtoindicatethatit mighttrytorestricttheuseofGIFoutsideofCompuServeitself. Followingaredefinitionsofvariousdigitalimageformats,takenfromtheInternetandother sources: JPEG JointPhotographersExpertsGroup.Thetitlereferstothecommitteethatwaschargedwith developingthisstandard.Asthistitlemightsuggest,JPEGcompressionisdesignedforuse onphotographsandotherhighlydetailedmulticoloredimages.JPEGalsopermitsyou storageof24bitimages,whichmeansthatitwillaccommodateover16.7milliondifferent colors GIF GraphicInterchangeFormat.Thisisperhapsthemostcommontypeofgraphicformat foundontheWebandrepresentsthebackgroundimageortextureonmostWebpages.GIF isacompressedfileformatthatreliesonLZW(LempelZevWelch)compressiontocreate verysmallfiles.Forthisreason,GIFformattingworksbestwithimagesthatcontainlarge areasofsimilarlycoloredpixels.Itisan8bitfileformat,whichmeansthatithasavery limitedcolorpalette.EachpixelinaGIFimagecanrepresentoneofupto256distinct colors.Becauseofthislimitationtoonly256colors,theGIFformatmaynotbethemost appropriatechoiceforhighlydetailedcolorfiles. TIFF TaggedImage/InterchangeFileFormat.Thisfilestorageformatisimplementedonawide arrayofcomputersystemsandisthepreferredfileformatofsomeofthemostpopular graphicssoftwareprograms. BMP BitmapFormat.Animagecreatedfromaseriesofbitsandbytesthatformpixels.Eachpixel canvaryincolororgrayscalevalue.Alsoknownasarasterimage. PNG PortableNetworkGraphics.PNGprovidesapatentfreereplacementforGIFandcanalso replacemanycommonusesofTIFF.Indexedcolor,grayscale,andtruecolorimagesare supported,inadditiontoanoptionalalphachannel.Sampledepthsrangefrom1to16bits. 5.4ScannersandRelatedHardware 5.4.1Introduction Thissectionexplainssomeofthehardwarebeingusedintheimageandgraphicsarena.The scanner,asmentionedabove,wasthefirstdevicetoallowconvertingpicturesintodigitalformat. Intenyearsthisarenahasgonefromscannersableonlytoworkwithbrightnessandcontrastto thecurrentscanners,whichcanhandlemillionsofcolorsandmanipulategraphicstodepict almostanyvariationofthesubject.Recenttrendsinthemarketplacehavebroughtthepriceof scannersdowntoanaffordablelevel.Amodestlyperformingscannercanbeboughtnowfora littleunder$200,whilehighendscannersprovidepowerfultoolsandaccessories.Withgrowing demandforscannedimagesindocumentsandonWorldWideWebpages,thetimetobuya personalscannerhasneverbeenbetter.Untilrecently,afullpage,flatbedcolorscannerwas pricedbeyondthereachofmostpersonalcomputerusers.Unlessyouwereunusuallyaffluent,or hadaprofessionalgraphicsusetojustifyspendingthe$1,500to$4,000thatadecentscannercost, itwashardtojustifybuyingyourownscanner. Small,handheld,blackandwhitescannersandpagefedscannersarecheaper,butless satisfactoryintermsofeaseofuseandimagequality.Inthelastyear,scannerswithextremely impressivefeaturesetshavecometosellfor$450to$750.Personalscanners,itwouldseem,are settobecomewidelypopularamongevenordinarycomputerfolk.

5.4.2Scannersvs.DigitalCamerasandVideoCaptureCards Ironically,justwhenscannersarebecomingcheapenoughtobeaviablechoiceformanyPCand Macusers,otherimagecapturealternativesarealsovyingfortheattentionofbuyers.Digital cameras,whicharealsonowappearinginthe$450750range,andvideocapturecards,which beginatevenlowerprices,havecertainadvantagesoverflatbedscanners,althoughtheyalso comewithsomeseverelimitations. Incomparingthetwotechnologies,digitalcamerasandscanners,weconsidertwoissues: flexibilityandresolution.Mostcurrentlowcost,flatbedscannerscandigitizeanimagelaidonto theirscanningsurfaceatupto600pixels(pictureelements)perinch(ppi),withascanningarea ofabout21.5by28centimeters(8.5by11inches).Thismeansimagescanbescannedintoyour computerwithasmany5100x6600(or33,660,000)pixels,withafilesizeofupto100MB, assumingtheuserhasacomputerwithenoughRAMandharddrivespacetohandlesuchajob. Bycomparison,mostdigitalcamerasandvideocapturecardsarelimitedtoimageresolutionsof 640x480pixelsorless;andthesecamerasandcardsmakeimagefilesthat,whencompressed,are measuredintensofkilobytes,nottensofmegabytes.Theycanalsocaptureimagesinstantly, whileaflatbedscannercantakefromseveralsecondstomanyminutestocompleteascan.And unlikeflatbedscanners,camerascancaptureimagesofthreedimensional(3D)objectsaswellas artwork.Manycomputerusersaresatisfiedwithpicturesthatlookgoodwhendisplayedonthe computerscreen,eveniftheydonothaveenoughdetailforcommercialprintingprocesses. AHewlettPackardcompanydocumentclaimsthat"oneofthekeyparticipantsinbringing scannertechnologytotheconsumermarket"hasbeenHewlettPackard,whoseScanJetproducts (particularlytheScanJet4p)havehelpedtochangethewayconsumerslookattheseproducts. TheScanJet4pwasintroducedinMarch1997asalowcostcolorscanner"offeringbusiness customersprofessionalimagequalitywithpointandshootsimplicity."Youcanfindthe4pfor under$700thesedays. HPputmoreintotheproductthanjustalowprice.Thecompanyspentalotoftimeonthe softwarethatgoeswithitanareawheremanylowcostscannershadfallendowninthepast. AnditdidnotskimponthebasehardwaretheScanJet4pisa24bitcolorand8bitgrayscale scannerthatoffers1,200dotsperinch(dpi)inhighresolutionmodeand300dpiopticalresolution foropticalcharacterrecognition(OCR)work. AccordingtoHP,scannershavebeenhugebeneficiariesofthefactthat,whilethe"paperless office"ideahasneverreallytakenoffinabigway,paperisnotalwaysthemosteffectivewayto shareinformationwithinalargecompany.Inabriefdocument,thecompanysaysscannersare quicklyemergingasakeyenablerofelectronicdistributionofpaperbaseddocumentsinthe officeandbeyond. "Scannerenableddocumentdistributionendowspaperbaseddocumentswiththespeedand convenienceofelectroniccommunications.Adesktopscannerornetworkscannerallows businessprofessionalstoscanpaperbaseddocuments,managethemeffectively,anddistribute theminatimelyfashion.Userscanshareanddistributeinformationeasilybyscanningdirectly totheiremailorPCfaxapplications,"thecompanydocumentexplains. HPalsosaysthatthegrowingpopularityoffaxmodemsandemailisdrivingtheacceptanceof "scannerenabled"documentdistributioninofficesofallsizes.Faxmodemcapabilities,whichare availablewithvirtuallyallnewPCs,letuserssendandreceivefaxesdirectlyfromacomputer,

butstillrequireawaytoget"nonPCcreated"paperdocumentsreadyforfaxing.Scannersare idealforthistask,aswellasforenablinguserstoscandocumentsthatcanbedistributedvia email. HPsaystheworkgroup(andbyextension,theintranet)concepthasbeeninstrumentalin bringingelectronicdocumentdistributiontobusinessoffices,andshouldproduceahugemarket potentialforscanners."Althoughtheelectroniccommunicationsmarketisexploding,millionsof PCusersstillreceivealotofpaperbasedinformationthattheyneedtosharewithcolleagues.In fact,morethan90billiondocumentswerecreatedin1992,andmorethanonetrillioncopiesof thosedocumentsweremadeanaverageof11copiesperdocumentaccordingtothe1993BIS CopierReport,"saysHPinoneofitsdocuments."Asthesestatisticsshow,thecompletely paperlessofficeisnothereyet;usersneedawayfortechnologyandpapertoworktogetherso thatcontinuitythroughoutabusinessprocesscanbemaintained." Thecompanyalsosuggeststhatitsownrecentmarketresearchindicatesthatscannersare viewedprimarilyasameansofplacingimagesand/ortextintodocuments,andthatmanyusers areunawarethattheycanuseascannerasafrontendtoPCfaxingoremail.Infact,HPclaims companiesusingelectronicmethodsofcommunicationnotonlyimprovetheircommunications processesbutalsoreducethecostofphotocopying.HPcitesstatisticsfromBISStrategic Decisions(anAmericantechnologyanalysisfirm),whichsaysthatprintingandcopyingexpenses typicallyaccountforbetween6percentand13percentofanaveragecompany'soperatingcosts, andthatmostbusinessesdonotrealizehowmuchmoneytheyarewastingbyusingpaper insteadofelectronicmethodsofcommunication. "Whilesharingdocumentswithothersisnecessary,photocopyinganddistributingpapercopies aretediousandtimeconsumingtasksespeciallywhenthedocumentislongorthedistribution listextensive.Distributingdocumentstocolleagueswhoworkatanotherphysicallocationposes yetanotherissue,andthatistimeliness,"explainsHP."Scannerscanbeusedtohelpusers optimizepaperbasedinformation,regardlessofitsoriginalform.Tomeettheinformationneeds oftoday'sbusinessprofessionals,HPisexpandingandenhancingitsfamilyofscannerstoenable rapidsharing,filingandcommunicationofpaperbaseddocumentsthroughoutandbeyondan enterprise." 5.4.3HowScannersWork Documentimagingutilizesdigitalscannerstogenerateadigitalrepresentationofadocument page.Animagescannerdividesthepageintominutepictureareascalledpixelsandproducesan arrayofbinarydigits,eachrepresentingthebrightnessofapixel.Theresultingstreamofbitsis enhancedandcompressed(toaslittleas10percentoftheoriginalvolume)byadevicecalledan imagecontrollerandisstoredonamagneticoropticalmedium.Alargestoragecapacityis required,becauseittakesabout45,000bytestostoreatypicalcompressedtextpageof2,500 charactersandasmuchas1,000,000bytestostoreapagecontaininganimage.Asidefrom documentimagingapplications,digitalscanningisusedfortransmissionofdocumentsvia facsimile,insatellitephotography,andinotherapplications. Animagescannerdigitizesanentiredocumentpageforstorageanddisplaysitasanimage.In itself,itdoesnotrecognizecharactersandwordsoftext.Textprocessingandothersoftware techniques,therefore,cannotlinguisticallymanipulatethestoredmaterial.Whensuch manipulationisdesired,asoftwareprogramperformstheopticalcharacterrecognition(OCR) functionbyconvertingeachopticallyscannedcharacterintoanelectricsignalandcomparingit

withtheinternallystoredrepresentationofanalphabetofcharacters,soastoselectfromitthe onethatmatchesthescannedcharactermostcloselyortorejectitasanunidentifiabletoken.The moresophisticatedofpresentdayOCRprogramsdistinguishshapes,sizes,andpitchof symbolsincludinghandwritingandlearnfromexperience."Auniversalopticalcharacter recognitionmachineisnotavailable,however,forevenasinglealphabet."(Wheelwrightand Evans,1996) 5.5CurrentandFutureTrends MHEGisanabbreviationfortheMultimediaandHypermediaExpertsGroup.Thisisanother groupofspecialistscreatedbyISO,theInternationalStandardsOrganization.Thisgroupwas chargedwiththetaskofcreatingastandardmethodofstorage,exchange,anddisplayof multimediapresentations.(BritannicaOnline,1997) MHEGversion5,thecurrentworkitemforthegroup,wascreatedinNovember1994.Ithasbeen aDIS(DraftInternationalStandard)sinceDecember1995,andwasduetobepromotedtothe statusoffullinternationalstandardinJuly1996.Itsbasicgoalsare: Toprovideasimplebutuseful,easytoimplementframeworkformultimedia applicationsusingminimalsystemresources Todefineadigitalfinalformforpresentations,whichmaybeusedforexchanging presentationsbetweendifferentmachinesregardlessofmakeorplatform Toprovideextensibility;i.e.,thesystemshouldbeexpandableandcustomizablewith additionalapplicationspecificcode,thoughthismaymakethepresentationplatform dependent.

Asmentionedabove,anewstandardforimagefilesisthePNGfile.Recently,anarticleinPC Worldgavethenewsonthisfileformat'scurrentstatus.TheWorldWideWebConsortiumhas endorsedPNGasareplacementfortheGIFfilescurrentlyinuseatmostWebsites.These socalled"Ping"filesareasmuchas30percentsmallerthanGIFfiles,sotheyloadfasterina browser.Thearticlecontinues,"NativesupportforPNGfilesisincludedinInternetExplorer4.0, butNetscapehassofarchosentohandlePNGfilesviaafreeplugincalledPNGLive.Version2.0 ofthatpluginhasjustbeenreleased,althoughitsupportsonlytheCommunicatorplatform." (McWilliams,1997) GregReolofs,aWebConsortiummemberwhomaintainsaWebsitededicatedtoPNG,saidhe expectstoseeabigchangeovertothenewformat."Ithinkthatthebrowsersareessentiallythe solegatingfactorhere,"hesaid,"andonceInternetExplorerandNetscapeCommunicatorare bothoutinreleaseformandreplacingthe3.0versions,Ithinkyou'llseealargemigration." ChrisLilly,theWebConsortium'stechnicalleaderforgraphics,saidthereisnogoodreasonto staywiththeGIFfileformat.Lillysaidthatbesidesthefastertransfersthatcomefromthe smallerfilesizeunderPNG,userswillalsoperceiveanadditionalspeedincreasefromtheway PNGhandlesinterlacingatechniqueformakinggraphicsfilesgraduallycomeintofocusinyour browserastheyload."IfyouhaveaninterlacedPNG,youwillstartseeingarecognizableimage whenonlyonesixtyfourthofdatahascomein,whereaswithGIF,youhavetowaituntilan eighthofthedatahascomein,"hesaid."Also,GIFgivesyoufullresolutionhorizontallyandonly oneeighthofyourresolutionvertically,sotextisnotreadableuntilatleasthalfofthedatahas comein.WithPNGthetextisreadablewith10to12percentofthedata."

5.6ImplicationsfortheFuture NewstandardsincludingMPEGIIandhardwaresuchastheDVDwillguidethefuture developmentofdigitalimaging.JPGandGIFarestillthemostusedformatsontheInternetfor Webgraphics,withPNGarisingstarontheimageformatshorizon.Graphicssoftware manufacturerformats,usingTIFFandproprietaryfileformats,pushtheuseofolderandfamiliar formats.Thebattleoverformats,likethebattleoveroperatingsystemsforcomputers,may ultimatelybewonbythedemandofcrossplatformflexibility.Thiswouldrenderthediffering fileformatsinterchangeable,eliminatingtheneedforgraphicssoftwaretoconvertonefileformat toanother.Thegrowinguseofgraphicandimagetechnologyisbeingdrivenbytheincreasing varietyofusestowhichthesetechnologiescanbeapplied. AgoodexampleofthisgrowinguseistobefoundinNewZealand.Recentlyinstalledcomputer imagingtechnologyisenhancingtheconservationof,andaccessto,thewealthofpictorial materialheldbytheAlexanderTurnbullLibraryoftheNationalLibraryofNewZealand (NLNZ).TheTurnbullLibrary,whichhousestheNLNZ'sheritagecollections,containssome 800,000accessiblephotographs,50,000drawingsandprints,and50,000maps,aswellas newspapers,serials,cartoons,posters,andmusic.Inwhatwouldseemunbelievabletothe originalphotographerswiththeirglassplates,imagingtechnologyistakingthefacesandscenes oftimesgoneby,scanningthem,transformingthemintodigitaldata,andprintingthemoutina varietyofhighqualityformats.Publicationorreferencequalityreproductionsareavailableas digitalphotographicprints,laserphotocopies,oroverheadtransparencies,orindigitalformon SyQuestcartridgeordisk. Oneofthegreatthingsaboutthisnewtechnologyisthatithasasignificantroletoplayin conservingtheTurnbullLibrary'svaluablematerials,manyofwhichareuniqueand irreplaceable.BeforetheTurnbullLibraryestablisheditsImageServicesdepartment,producing copiesofimagesofteninvolvedsendingoriginalsoutsidetheLibrary.Nowtheycanbe reproducedwithintheirowncontrolledenvironment,makingfragileorlargeitemsmore accessibleandreducingtheriskofdamageorloss.ImageServicesiscurrentlyreproducing200to 250imagesaweekandisabouttostartacollectionofstoreddigitalimages,includingthe materialsmostvulnerabletodecay.Becausetheimagesarestoreddigitally,quickandrepeated accesscanbemadetothedocumentswithoutrepeatedhandlingoftheoriginals.. WithinayearImageServicesplanstoofferoptionsfordigitaloutputmadeavailableonCD ROM.Bylate1997accesswillbepossibleviaPCsinschools,locallibraries,andhomes.Atthat time,onlineusersshouldbeabletoscrollthroughaselectionofthumbnailsizedimagesofthe AlexanderTurnbullLibrary'scollectionsandplaceanelectronicorderforaprintedcopyif desired. Thefutureseemstobeheadedinthedirectionofthedigitalpicture.Therecentrulingtohave U.S.televisionbecomedigitalHighDefinitionTelevisionbytheyear2006isthelatesttrendinthe evolutionofdigitalimagingtechnology.Increasingly,themovetowardcheaperstoragedevices andfastertelecommunicationlineswillresolvetheissuesoffilesizeanddownloadtime,andthe focuswillbeonthesubstanceofthepictureinsteadofitsdeliverymode.Theimplicationsforthe futureindigitalimageformatsseemtobetowardanultimatedivorce,fortheconsumer,from havingtomakethechoicebetweenresolutionandspeed.Digitalimages,audio,andvideowill eventuallyblendintoaseamlessmultimediaexperience. 5.7References

http://www.lib.ox.ac.uk/internet/news/faq/by_category.graphics.fileformatsfaq.html [ThisFAQ(FrequentlyAskedQuestions)listcontainsinformationongraphicsfileformats, including,raster,vector,metafile,PageDescriptionLanguage,3Dobject,animation,and multimediaformats.] Cawkell,A.E.AGuidetoImageProcessingandPictureManagement.Gower,1994. Crocker,LeeDaniel.PNG:ThePortableNetworkGraphicFormat.Dr.Dobb'sJournal#232,July 1995(Vol.20,Issue7),pp.3644. McWilliams,Brian."NewGraphicsFormatCouldMakeWebPagesLoadFaster."PCWorld Online,April14,1997.http://www.pcworld.com/news/daily/data/0497/970414185038.html MeyerBoudnik,Thomas;Effelsberg,Wolfgang.MHEGExplained.IEEEMultimedia,Spring 1995,pp.2638. Murray,James.TIFFFileFormat.CGazette,Vol.5,Num.2,Winter199091,Pp.2742. Murray,JamesD.;vanRyper,William.EncyclopediaofGraphicsFileFormats.2nded.O'Reilly& AssociatesInc.1996.ISBN:1565921615,$79.95softcover,1154pages. Wheelwright,Geof;Evans,Jeff."AnOverviewofWhat'sNewinScanners."PulpFriction, November1996Issue,copyright1996,CanadaComputerPaperInc. http://www.tcp.ca/1996/9611/9611Pulp/Scanning/Scanning.html Zhang,Allison.MultimediaFileFormatsontheInternet:ABeginner'sGuideforPCUsers. SpecialLibrariesAssociation,1995.

MULTIMEDIAANDTELECOMMUNICATIONS,19972002: PERSPECTIVESANDRECOMMENDATIONS. Section6

Contents of Section 6: DIGITAL IMAGES AND OPEN STANDARDS Definition What Are Open Standards? Two Types of Open Standard History Current State and Trends Longevity of Multimedia Formats The Library and Preservation of the Cultural Record Enterprises and the Longevity of Mission-Critical Data Hardware and Types of Multimedia Standards Sound Images Video Hardware and Physical Media Possible Future Standards and Implications for the Library- and Information-Science

Professions A Time of Rapid Change and Opportunity Extensions of HTML Java--A Cross-Platform Programming Language New User Interfaces References

DIGITALIMAGESANDOPENSTANDARDS
6.1Definition 6.1.1WhatAreOpenStandards? Aswehaveseen,theuseofmultimediaopensupnewpossibilitiesforuserexperienceswith media.However,ahaphazardapproachtodealingwithmultimediawillultimatelybe destructivetothatnewform.Beforewecandeterminemethodsofclassifying,cataloging,or accessingmultimedia,wemustfirstagreeupontheformatsinwhichmultimediamaterialsareto becreated.Ifwedonot,thenmultipleformatswillcontinuetoexist,withdisastroussideeffects: e.g.,highercostofmaintenance,multipleandcontradictoryversionsofmaterials,andthe needlesscostoftheacquisitionofthesamecontentindifferentformats. Theideaof"OpenStandards"withindigitalmediaformatscomesfromtheeffortsofstandards creationbodiestoplandigitalsystemsthatareflexibleandabletooperatetogether.These systemsareknownas"opensystems."Inthissection,weexploreopensystemsandstandards, andhowtheyapplytomultimedia. Therearethreetypesofopensystem,orthreecriteriabywhichtheopennessofasystemor standardisjudged: "Ifasystemsupportstheexchangeofinformationamongvariouscomponentsofsimilarlevels, thenitsupports'interoperability'.Ifasubsystem...canbemovedfromoneenvironmentto another,thenitissaidtobe'portable'.An'integrated'setofapplications...providesaconsistent userinterface."[1] Thus,anopenstandardsupportsthesetraitstoonedegreeoranother:interoperabilitybetween systems,portabilitybetweenplatforms,andintegrationofuserinterfaces.Theextenttowhicha standardcouldbeconsidered"open"canbedeterminedbythelevelofcomplianceithaswith eachofthesetraits. Asasimpleexample,wecouldconsideranimagebrowsercreatedbyacorporationforviewing orconvertingimageformats.Aninteroperableimagebrowserwouldallowauseraccesstomany commonimageformatsfoundontheInternetandonthebrowser'snativeplatform.Ifthatimage browserwereportable,itmightrunonaWindowsmachineaswellasaMacintoshorUnix machine.Finally,anintegratedimagebrowserwouldusethetypesofinterfaceelementsused throughouttherestoftheuser'ssysteminaconsistentmanner. Veryfewformatsorsystemsmeetallthreeofthesecriteriaequallyorfully.Wewillfindthatone ofthemostimportantnewmultimediastandards,HTML,comesclosetomeetingeachofthese.

TheHTMLstandardhashadtoadapttothedesiresofmultimediacreators,andyetithas retaineditscrossplatforminteroperability,aswellasitsbasicrulesofinterfaceorinteraction. BeforeweexploreHTMLandtheWorldWideWeb,weneedtoexaminestandardsthemselvesin theirabstractsense. 6.1.2TwoTypesofOpenStandard Therearetwotypesofstandardwhicharewidelyrecognizedasinfluentialwithinorganizations andusercommunities.Theseare"dejurestandards"and"defactostandards." Dejurestandardsarethosewhichhavebeendeterminedandspecifiedbystandardscreation organizations,andwhicharethensetforthasaproposedstandardforadoptionbytheuser community.HTMLisanexampleofthistypeofstandard. Defactostandardsarethosewhicharecreatedbyacorporationorotherentityandendup becomingthestandardsimplythroughtheirwiderangeadoptionthroughoutusercommunities bytrialanderrororcommandingmarketshare.Adobe'sPDFformatforprintabledigital documentsisanexampleofadefactostandard;theWindowsoperatingsystemisanother. Itispossiblefordejurestandardstobewidelyagreeduponandusedbyvarioususer communities.Thisisconsideredtheidealsituation,asitusuallyallowsforthegreatestopenness; asyoumayhaveguessed,HTMLisagoodexampleofthishappening;itis,however,quite uncommonforanystandardtotrulygainacceptanceasbroadlyandopenlyasHTMLandthe Web. 6.2History Asourabilitytobringdifferentdigitalmediatogetherintounitedpresentationsincreases,we findthatmostdigitalmediastandardscanbeconsideredmultimediastandardsatsomelevel.We cantracethehistoryofprogressindigitalmediastandardsthroughthesephasesofcomputing: batchcomputingwithmainframes;timesharing;proprietarynetworks;personalcomputing; networkedcomputing;anddistributedcomputing.[2] Itisimportanttorememberthatthefirstdejurestandardscameoutoftheneedfordiverse systemstointeroperatewitheachotherastheybegansharinginformationacrosstheInternet. Proprietarystandards,someofwhicharenowdefactostandards,aroseoutofthemovementto offerproprietaryalternativestotheInternetintheformofproprietarynetworks,andalsooutof theneedforpersonalcomputermakerstocompetewithoneanotherastheysoughtmarketshare andusership. AstheseworldshavecollidedaspersonalcomputershavemettheInternetandasbusinesses havebeguntousetheInternetasanormalarmofcommerce,theboundariesbetweenthese typesofstandardshaveblurred.We,asinformationandmediaspecialists,mustunderstandthe differencesbetweenthesetypesofstandards,andmustbeabletojudgewhichtypesaremost likelytoservethelongtermneedsoftraditionallibrariesandforwardthinkingorganizations.

Foranexampleofasuccessstorybothintermsofwidespreaduseaswellasintermsofthe opennessofitsstandards,weshalltakeacloselookattheWorldWideWeb,ascontrastedwith thetraditionalcarrierofmultimediacontent:theCDROM. Foryears,thestandardformatformultimediaworksandpresentationswastheCDROM. Capableofholdingmorethan600MBofdata,itmadeaconvenientformatforlarge presentations.However,itdidhavesomedisadvantages.Forone,usersneededtobeequipped withCDROMdrivesintheircomputersinordertousemultimediaCDROMs.Anotherproblem wasthelackofinteroperability:whilethesamepresentationcouldbemadeindifferentformats (usuallythetwomostcommonhomecomputerformats,PCandMacintosh),itwasnotpossible fordifferentcomputerstoviewexactlythesamepresentationandversion;theyhadtoview versionsgearedtowardstheirparticularplatform. In1989,TimBernersLeegavebirthtotheWorldWideWebonaNeXTmachineinhislabat CERN,theEuropeanCenterforNuclearResearch.MultimediaandtheInternetitself,forthat matterwouldneverbethesame.TheWorldWideWebwasandremainssimpleinprinciple. Thebasicconceptis:Ifthereisaresourcesomewhere,andwecanuniquelyaddressit,thenwe candisplayandinterlinkitbypointingtoit.Tounderstandwhythisworks,weneedto understandthatanetworkis,atheart,aninterlinkingofsystemsandinformationsuchthatthe dataareavailabletousersallover. "Initssimplestform,anetworkisaclusterofcomputers,withonecomputeractingasaserverto providenetworkservicessuchasfiletransfer,email,anddocumentprintingtotheclient computersofthatnetwork."[5,p.473] Byallowinganyoftheseresourcestobeaccessedthroughreferencetoauniquelocation,theWeb createdoftheInternetseemsasconnectedandseamlessappearingasystem(rememberthegoal of"integration")astheworldofcommunicationhaseverseen.ThustheHyperTextTransfer Protocol(HTTP)andtheUniformResourceLocator(URL)wereborn.And,subtly,online multimediausesbegan. Atfirst,theseuseshardlyresembledmultimedia.Whereasmultimediaincludefullmotionvideo, highresolutiongraphics,andsound,theearlyWebhadnoneofthese.However,thestagehad beensetforthesechanges.Solongasaresourcecouldbelabeledandpointedto,allonehadto waitforwastherequisitespeedsandcapacitiesofthetransfermedia. Andthesespeedsandcapacitieshavecaughtup.Inthenextsection,wefocusontheWorldWide Webasamodernfulfillmentofthepromisesofwidespreadmultimediause.Whilenotperfect, theWebistheclosestwehaveevercometointerlinkedandinteractivepresentationsinmultiple media,availabletoanextraordinarilylargenumberofpeople. 6.3CurrentStateandTrends AsBudColligan,CEOofthemultimediasoftwarecreatorMacromedia,pointsout: "TheexplosivegrowthoftheInternetisthemostexcitingdevelopmentformultimediasincethe introductionoftheCDROM.In1993,thepotentialaudienceformultimediawasthemillion peoplewhohadpersonalcomputersequippedwithCDROMdrives.WhenMacromedia

introducedShockwaveforDirectortwoyearslater,multimediadeveloperscouldinstantlyreach over20millioncustomerswhowerecruisingtheInternet."[BudColligan;quotedin5,p.xxi] Thiswidespreaduseis,tobesure,extremelyimportant,asthemessagesofmultimediabecome increasinglyglobal.Additionally,therelativeeasewithwhichanindividualcanplace informationontheWebrenewsthepossibilitiesoflowcostandhighaudienceselfpublishing. AndmoreandmorelargecompaniesandmultimediateamsarestretchingthetoolsoftheWebto createclassyandsophisticatedmultimediapresentationsaswell.ItseemsasthoughtheWeb couldturnoutasawinwinsituation:empowermentfortheindividualaswellasforthecreative teamwithvisionandresources. AnimportantfactorintheWeb'ssuccesshasbeenthatituniteseachofthethreeidealsofopen systems: InteroperabilityTheURLallowsdiverse(or,technically,"heterogeneous")systemsto accesseachotherseamlesslyandwithoutfailure;Unixmachinescansharemediawith PCswhoaresharingmediawithMacintoshes,etcetera. PortabilityAclusterofHTMLfilescanbe(andoftenis)uprootedandmovedasawhole fromoneservertoanother.WhiletheoldURLsinexistencewillnolongeraccessthe pages,thepageswillwork,inthemselves.Allthatisneededtosuggestcomplete seamlessnessisacommandplacedattheoldURLthatautomaticallyforwardsthe browsertothenewlocation. IntegrationThisisoneofthemostdifficulttasksofopensystems.However,theWeb's metaphoroffollowinglinksforwardsandbackwards,deeperandshallower,holds throughoutthesystem.Inaddition,newconventionssuchastheHomePage,with whichausercreatesapersonalizedresourcehavedevelopedandholdacrossall platformsandaccesscommunitiesontheWeb.

Giventhesesuccesses,theonlyingredientneededforatrulyrevolutionaryformofmultimedia wouldbeverywidespreaduse.Whiletheneedforexpensiveequipmenttoviewthemore detailedormultimedialikeaspectsoftheWebremainsachallenge,thebasicstructureofthe Webisaccessibletosomeonewithatextalonebrowser.Inaddition,theWebanditsconduit,the Internet,shownosignsofslowingintheirrapidgrowth.ThisisdemonstratedinTable1. Table1InternetDomainSurvey,January1997 NumberofHostsandDomainsadvertisedintheDNS Replied Date Hosts Domains ToPing* Jan97 16,146,000 828,000 3,392,000 Jul96 12,881,000 488,000 2,569,000 Jan96 9,472,000 240,000 1,682,000 Jul95 6,642,000 120,000 1,149,000 Jan95 4,852,000 71,000 970,000 Jul94 3,212,000 46,000 707,000 Jan94 2,217,000 30,000 576,000 Jul93 1,776,000 26,000 464,000 Jan93 1,313,000 21,000

[*estimatedbypinging1%ofallhosts] Source:http://www.nw.com/zone/WWW/report.html Technically,a"host"isamachinewhichishookeduptotheInternetfulltime,constantlyserving (or,allowingaccessto)Webpagesandroutingemailmessages. Giventhiswidespreadaccess,wewoulddowelltolearntoworkwiththeWebasanative environment,whetherweareconsideringcatalogingneedsortheorganizationofresources.Itis feltbythemultimediacommunitythatsoontechnologicalhurdleswillbenonexistentandthat thequalityofthemachineswhichweusetoaccesstheWebwillincreasedramatically. "Inafewyears,multimediacomputerswillbeananachronism.Allcomputerswillreadily integrateimages,sounds,andmotionvideoandthiscapabilitywillbebuiltontothe motherboardasanessentialpartofwhatacomputeris.Already,thesecomputersareconnected totheInternetforworldwiderealtimesharingofhighqualityimages,sounds,andvideo."[5,p. xxix] Wearecurrentlyinaperiodofupheaval.AstheInternetbecomesusedforcommerceandas moreindividualsfindtheirwaythere,weneedtofamiliarizeourselveswithalltypesof multimediaformats,andtobeabletoformvaluejudgementsontheeffectivenessandexpected longevityofeachofthesepossibleformats. 6.4LongevityofMultimediaFormats Thoseofusmovingtowardbecominginformationspecialistswithincorporationsorlarge organizationsoweittoouremployerstoremindthemoftheissuesoflongevityandaccessto information.Thereareseveralreasonswhyourjudgmentsonthelongevityofmultimedia formatsmattertodaymorethaneverbefore. 6.4.1TheLibraryandPreservationoftheCulturalRecord Aslibraryandinformationprofessionals,weinheritthetaskandlegacyofpreservingthecultural record.Freeandopenaccesstothethoughtsandexpressionsofhumanityisapartofourethos andmission,andhasbeensincetheadventofourfield.Toencodeinformationinaformatthat undulytrapsorlimitsitsaccessibilityisacontroversialmove,andinoureyesitmustalwaysbe viewedwithawarinessofthewaysinwhichthatmovewillaffectourfutureeffortstowards informationaccessandcontrol. AnopinionvoicedinotherplacesisthesomewhatnervouslyoptimistichopethatLIS,asafield, willbetheonetomakesenseofthechaosthatisgrowingfromthesheeramountofinformation availableontheWeb.ClementMok,himselfanorganizerofinformation(or,ashelikestosay, informationarchitect),holdsforthonthishopeinDesigningBusiness,whenhestates: "Theeconomyisnowbasedonavastsystemofknowledgecreatedbythemergingof technologies,information,andmedia.Inthepast,knowledgesystemswereinthedomainof informationservicesmanagersandinformationscientists(otherwiseknownaslibrarians)whose professionsweren'thighlyesteemedbecauseoftheirfocusonorganizingdata,ratherthan creatingit....Informationarchitecture,themeaningfulorganizationofinformation,isbecoming animportantdisciplinebecauseitconcentratesondecipheringdataandgivingitshapewithin

thecomplexstructuresbehindthecomputerscreen.TheEdwardTuftesandRichardWurmansof tenorfifteenyearsagowerecorrectintheirpredictionthatpeoplewouldbeginpayingclose attentiontoinformationscience."[1,p.97] 6.4.2EnterprisesandtheLongevityofMissionCriticalData Longevityisaffectedbytheformatinwhichtheinformationisencodedandentrustedtofuture generations.Certainly,giventhepaceatwhichmeansofinformationdeliveryandaccessare changing,wecannotplanwhichformatswillbereadableorevenusefulagenerationhence; however,wecancontinuallyerronthesideofopenness,asdefinedbythethreecriteriaof interoperability,portability,andintegration. Thetermcorporationsuseforinformationthatisofvitalimportancetodayandoflongterm valuetothearchivesoftheorganizationis"MissionCriticalData."Whilemanyorganizationsare forcedtoviewonlythebottomlinewhendecidingonstandardsandformatsforsupport,we needcontinuallytojudgethepossibleoptionsandtoexplaintheadvantagesofopennessin relationtotheimportanceofthesemissioncriticaldata.Wouldaninsurancecompany,for instance,dowelltoencodeitsclients'dataintoadatabaseformatthatcouldonlybereadbya particularformatoroveraparticularkindofnetwork?Adiscussionofthiskindcannotcover everypossiblemultimediaformat,currentorprospective,butitcanchartsomeofthecurrent formatsinrelationtotheiropennessandthusgetanoverheadperspectiveofthecurrentstateof multimediaformats. Todothis,wedevoteseveralparagraphstoprovidinganoverviewofthestateoffourdifferent formatareasinmultimedia:Hardware,Sound,Images(coveredinmoredetailelsewhereinthis report),andVideo. 6.5HardwareandTypesofMultimediaStandards 6.5.1Sound Thereareseveraldifferentformatsforelectronicsoundandmusicbeingusedinmultimedia today."Asoundfile'sformat,"writesTayVaughn,"issimplyarecognizedmethodologyfor organizingthedigitizedsound'sdatabitsandbytesintoadatafile."[5,p.251]Oneoftheoldest, yetalsooneofthemostflexible,istheMIDIformat.Vaughncontinues "MIDI(MusicalInstrumentDigitalInterface)isacommunicationsstandarddevelopedinthe early1980sforelectronicmusicalinstrumentsandcomputers....MIDIprovidesaprotocolfor passingdetaileddescriptionsofamusicalscore,suchasthenotes,sequencesofnotes,andwhat instrumentwillplaythesenotes.ButMIDIdataisnotdigitizedsound;itisashorthand representationofmusicstoredinnumericform." Thus,whenasmallMIDIfileisdownloadedandplayedthroughasequencerorprogramsetup torenderMIDIsoundsandmusic,itwillcomeoutmuchasthecreatorintended,inaverysmall filesize.ThisonlyworksifthedownloadinguserisequippedtoplaybackMIDIfilesaccurately. Otherwise,themusicmightsoundcompletelydifferentfromwhatthecreatorintended.Indeed,a usercanevenmakeMIDImusicdifferentbyintention.

Anotherpossibilityfordigitalmusic,onebeingusedmoreandmore,issimplydigitizingthe analogsignalofsoundintoaformatwhichisfaithfultotheoriginalrecording,butwhichisfar largerinsize. "IncontrasttoMIDIdata,digitalaudiodataistheactualrepresentationofasound,storedinthe formofthousandsofindividualnumbers(calledsamples).Thedigitaldatarepresentthe instantaneousamplitude(orloudness)ofasoundatdiscreteslicesoftime.Becauseitisnot devicedependent,digitalaudiosoundsthesameeverytimeitisplayed.Butthatconsistency comesataprice:largedatastoragefiles."[5,p.238] Inthepast,MIDIformatswereusedtosavepreciousmemoryspaceinmultimediaworks. However,asthecapacitiesofhomecomputersimproveandspaceissuesarenolongerofsuch greatconcern,digitalrecordingsarecomingintowidespreaduse. Asafinallearningaid,weprovideatableofcommonsoundformats,astheymightbe encounteredontheWeb.TheMIMEtypeisaconventionfordenotingdifferentmediatypes. CommonFileTypesusedforDigitizedSounds(InternetMIMETypes) Extension MIMEType Platform Format aif audio/xaiff Mac,SGI Audio audio/xaiff Mac,SGI Audio(compressed) aifc au audio/basic Sun,NeXT Law audio data* mov video/QuickTime Mac,Win QuickTimeVideo mpg video/mpeg all MPEGvideo qt video/QuickTime Mac,Win QuickTimeVideo ra,ram audio/xpnrealaudio all RealAudioSound snd audio/basic Sun,NeXT Law Audio Data vox audio/ all VoxWareVoice wav audio/xwav Win WAVAudio [Note:Law is often written as "ULaw".] 6.5.2Images Imagesarecoveredindetailinthesectionon"MultimediaStandardsinImageFormats"andwill notbetreatedextensivelyhere.Theoneaspectofimageswetouchuponhereisthedifference betweenbitmappedimagesandvectordrawnimages.AsTayVaughnnotes:"Abitmapisa simpleinformationmatrixdescribingtheindividualdotsthatarethesmallestelementsof resolutiononacomputerscreenorotherdisplayorprintingdevice."[5,p.277] Thus,whenanimageistakenandbrokenintoacomponentdescriptionthatcanberendered pixelbypixel,wefindabitmappedimage.Thiswouldbeanalogoustothedigitalformatfor sound,insofarasananalogsignalistranslatedintoaseriesofonesandzeroes.What,then, wouldbeanalogoustotheMIDIformat? Asmightbeexpected,thereislikewiseaformatfordigitalimagesthatworksbydefininga mathematicalrangeorscopetoberendered;andalthoughthefinalrendering,ifdisplayedona screen,mustbepixellated,itsdefinitionordescriptionisnot.

Originally,thismethodproducedwhatwereknownas"vectordrawn"images.Thesewere mathematicallydescribedimages,whichwerethenrenderedfordisplay.Vaughnexplainsthata "vectorisalinethatisdescribedbythelocationofitstwoendpoints."[5,p.287] Today,similartechniquesareusedforthreedimensional(3D)rendering;theseareoftencalled "wireframes,"buttheprincipleisthesame.3Dimagingisstillinitsinfancy,intermsofwhatis possibleontheWebthoughnotyetaccessibletomany.Forthisreason,wewillnotdiscussit here.However,thedejureformatslowlyevolvingforonline3DisknownasVRML,orVirtual RealityMarkupLanguage;moreinformationonthestatusofVRMLcanbefoundattheWeb pageoftheVRMLConsortium]. 6.5.3Video Video,like3Dimagery,isfairlynewtotheWeb,althoughithasbeeninmultimediaforsome time."Standardsandformatsfordigitaltext,imagery,andsoundarewellestablishedand familiar,"notesVaughn."Butvideoisthemostrecentadditiontotheelementsofmultimedia. Anditisstillbeingrefinedastransport,storage,compression,anddisplaytechnologiestake shapeinlaboratoriesandinthemarketplace."[5,p.324] OneofthemostcommonformsofdigitalvideofoundintraditionalmultimediaisQuickTime,a formatdevelopedbyAppleComputers.QuickTimeissimilartoAdobe'sPDFformatinthatitis acopyrightedandproprietaryformat,whoseevolutionwillcontinuetobedeterminedbyApple. However,ApplehasbeenmorelenientwithlicensingQuickTimeandwithencodingsystems fromthirdpartiesthanhasAdobe,partlybecauseApplehasbeenaroundlongerandsocan affordtobemoreopenwithoutsacrificingitswidespreadusewithinmultimedia. OneopenvideoformatthatisalsoinwidespreaduseistheMPEGvideoformat.MPEGstands for"MovingPictureExpertsGroup"(comparewithJPEG);theMPEGformatwasdesignedto allowforinexpensiveandaccessibledigitalvideooffairlyhighquality. "TheMPEGstandardhasbeendevelopedbytheMovingPictureExpertsGroup....MPEG1and MPEG2arethecurrentstandards.UsingMPEG1,youcandeliver1.2Mbps(megabitspersecond) ofvideoand250Kbps(kilobitspersecond)oftwochannelstereoaudiousingCDROM technology.MPEG2,acompletelydifferentsystemfromMPEG1,requireshigherdatarates(3to 15Mbps)butdelivershigherimageresolution,picturequality,interlacedvideoformats,multi resolutionscalability,andmultichannelaudiofeatures."[5,p.348] WhileMPEGvideotakesupmorememorythanQuickTimevideo,MPEGformatshavethe advantageofbeingestablishedandopenstandards.RecentmodificationstotheQuickTime formatanditsplayerspointtoaverynearfutureinwhichQuickTimereadyplaybackand recordingsystemscanreadandtranslatebetweenQuickTimeandtheMPEGformatwithlittle trouble. 6.5.4HardwareandPhysicalMedia ThetraditionalhardwareformultimediaimageshasbeentheCDROM.TheCDformatwas launchedin1979,throughcollaborationbetweenPhilipsandSony.By1986,thefirstconsumer gradecomputerscapableofaccessingCDROMs,astheywerecomingtobecalled,appeared.

Today,anewbutsimilarformatispoisedtotakeovermuchofthetasksonceperformed exclusivelybyCDROM:theDigitalVideo(orVersatile)Disk(DVD). "Withthisnewmediumcapablenotonlyofgigabytestoragecapacitybutalsofullmotionvideo (MPEG2)andhighqualityaudioinsurroundsound,thebarhasagainrisenformultimedia developers.Commercialmultimediawillbecomemoreexpensivetoproduceasconsumers' expectationsrise."[5,p.73] Aswehaveseen,physicalformatssuchasDVDandCDROMarenowbeingaugmented,ifnot directlychallenged,bythecapacitiesofonlinemediaandherewerefernottocontentformats, butrathertothemediawithwhichdataarecarriedfromservertodesktop.Whilethemodem, operatingovertraditionaltelephonelines,doesanadmirablejobofcarryinginformationgiven itslimitations,currentinfrastructureisatpeakusage.InSanFrancisco,itisnowcommonto receivea"fastbusy"signal10%ofthetimeavoicetelephoneispickedup(a"fastbusy"means thatalllocallinesarebusy).Fortelephonecompanies,thisisanuncommonlevelofusageandan unusuallevelofserviceinstability.ClearlytheInternetishere,andtelephonecompaniesare scramblingtoprovidethecapacitiesdesired. Asofthiswriting,awidelyfavoredpossibilityisthecablemodem,whichwouldallowT1speeds "downstream"tothehomeandISDNspeeds"upstream."Thisismorethansufficientforcurrent multimedianeedsnotthatnewlevelsofbandwidthusagewillnotariseoncewehavecomeinto ourowninusingwhatiscuttingedgetechnologytoday! Togiveyousomeideaoftheamountsofinformationwearetalkingabout,hereisabreakdown bynameofthebandwidthsofvariouscarriermedia. BandwidthofSomeTypicalComputerConnections Bandwidth(inbitspersec) Name withoutcompression 14.4KModem 14,400bps 28.8KModem 28,800bps 56KModem 56,000bps ISDN 56,000bpsto128,000bps ADSL c.1.5Mbpsdownload,256Kbpsupload Ethernet 10,000,000bps T1 1,544,000bps E1 2,000,000bps T3 45,000,000bps FrameRelay 56,000to45,000,000bps FastEthernet 100,000,000bps ATM 45,000,000to145,000,000to2,400,000,000bps OC48 2,400,000,000bps(2.4gigabits/sec)[SONET] [5,p.481] Evenastheavailablebandwidthincreases,newformsofmediaandfastercomputersbecome available,continuallypushingtheenvelope.Inthemeantime,textitself,whichtakesupvery littlespace,continuestoproliferateandfillthenooksandcranniesoftheInternet.Thus,whilethe

taskaheadofusmayseemdaunting,itisalsogoodtobearinmindthatthisprocesshasonlyjust begun. 6.6PossibleFutureStandardsandImplicationsfortheLibraryandInformationScience Professions 6.6.1ATimeofRapidChangeandOpportunity Weliveinatimeofrapidchangeandopportunity.Aswelibrariansandinformationscientists learntospeaktotheissuesanimatingthegrowthoftheInternetandthemultimediafusionit foreshadows,wewillbecomemoreandmorerespectedbytheorganizationsandaccess communitiesthatseekguidancethroughtangleofinformation.Ifwelearntospeakintelligently abouttheimportanceofopenstandardsformultimediauseinthefuture,wewillfindourselves influencingthelongevityoftheculturalrecordweleavebehind. Oneimportantfacttorememberisthatitwasneverimagined,whentheWebwasdevelopedin theory,thatsomuchwouldbeaskedofitinpractice.Thisisparticularlytruewhenwespeakof multimediatechnologyandthestrainsthatitsuseputsonbandwidth. "TheremarkablegrowthoftheWorldWideWebisstressingthe'old'designsfordisplayingtext oncomputers.Indeed,whilemarkeduptextfiles(HTMLdocuments)remainatthefoundation ofWebactivity,whenyouvisitawelldesignedsiteyouoftendiscovergraphicimages, animations,andinteractiveworkaroundscontrivedtoavoiddisplayingtext.Theneat paragraphs,indentedlists,andformatsforwhichHTMLwasoriginallyintendedareevolving intomultimediadocuments,nottextdocuments,andtheHTMLmethodandstandardis consequentlysufferinggreatstress.Asfeatures,tags,plugins,andspecialscriptsaretackedonto orembeddedintoHTMLtosatisfythedemandsformultimediainterfaces,atsomepointHTML willneedtoberedesignedfromthegroundupasamultimediadeliverytool,notjustatext displaytoolwithassortedattachments."[5,p.193] Indeed,moveshavealreadybeenmadetodosimilarthings.Theextensionsmadetobrowser capabilitiesandmarkuplanguagebyNetscapeandMicrosoftarewellknown.WhenNetscape realizedthatcommercialentitieswouldpaymoneyfortheabilitytoplaceelegantordetailed imageryontheWeb,NetscaperespondedwithHTMLtagsthatcoulddosomebasiclayout.The processcontinuedwhenMicrosoftduplicatedallofthoseextensionsinitsownbrowser,andthen addedmore. WhiletheWebwasnotdesignedwithallofthisinmind,itwasneverthelessdesignedtobe extensible.Vaughn'sprognosisthatHTMLwouldhavetoberedesignedfromthegroundup ignoresthefactthatmediaandformats,oncecreated,seldomdisappearentirely,butrather shrinkintheirutilizationuntiltheyoccupyasuitableniche.WhileinfiveyearsHTMLmaynot beexpectedtocarrythemanyformsofmedianowbeingcreated,itwillneverthelessforma respectedandutilitariancomponentofwhateverinfrastructuresomedayemergestoreplaceit. 6.6.2ExtensionsofHTML TheWorldWideWebConsortium(W3C),thebodythatdeterminesformatsfortheWeb,has alreadyreleasedaworkingspecificationforwhatitiscalling"XML"orExtensibleMarkup Language,version1.0.Thisshouldallowvariousprotocolstobeextendedandsharedopenly

andfreely,inmuchthewaythattheinitialHTMLspecificationsallowed.MoreonXML,andthe workoftheW3C,canbefoundattheWebpageoftheConsortium. (Itshouldbenotedinpassingthatthecurrentdejure,i.e.,official,standardforHTMLiswhatis knownasHTML2.0.ThenextproposeddejurestandardisHTML3.2,whichisalreadythede factostandard,havingbeenimplementedin,forexample,NetscapeCommunicator4.0and MicrosoftInternetExplorer3.0.) TheWeb'smovetowardsincreasedinteroperabilitycomesnonetoosoon,fromtheperspectiveof thefieldoflibraryandinformationscience.Wewillneedtolearntosupportandorganizethe digitalmediathatarechosenbythegrowingmarketplaceasdefactostandards,evenwhile viewingthoseformatsandmediawithattentiontotheiropenness,andthustheirlongevity. Asvariouscorporateinterestsbattleforcornersofdigitalturf,theLISprofessions,asaculture, runtheriskoflosingaccesstomediaandtheirmessages,evenbeforeourfieldcanadapttonew waysoforganizingthem.However,oneofthemostexcitingdevelopmentsininteroperable multimediaformats,andthetopiconwhichwewillend,holdsthepotentialtostoptheprogress ofisolationamongformats,standards,andplatforms. 6.6.3JavaACrossPlatformProgrammingLanguage Javaisaprogramminglanguagethathasgreatimplicationsforthefutureandlongevityof information.Javaoperatesmuchlikeanyotherprogramminglanguage,withtheverysignificant differencethatprogramswritteninJavacanbeusedonanyplatformforwhichthereisa"Java VirtualMachine,"orJVM.Inessence,theJVMrestsonanativecomputerandinterpretstheJava programs;theJavaprogramsonlyinteractwiththeJVM,andthinkofitasthemachine.Theface oftheJVMthatrunsJavaisidenticalfromplatformtoplatform;thefaceoftheJVMthatconnects witheachplatformdiffers,buttheendresultisthesame:programswrittenforJavaontheMac willrunonJavaforthePC,andviceversa.Thisisatremendousleap,anditsimportancehasnot beenlostonthetelecommunicationscommunity;norshoulditbelostonours. Java,andstandardslikeit,willsoonallowustoworkinnumerousmediaacrossverydiverse(or "heterogeneous")environmentsandplatforms.Forthefirsttime,suchstandardspavethewayfor realisticallysupportingbothinteroperabilityandportabilitybetweenenvironments.As NiemeyerandPeckputit: "Javahasbeencarefullydesignedsothat...supportingarchitecturecanbeimplementedeither insoftware,forexistingcomputerplatforms,orincustomizedhardware,fornewkindsof devices.SunandotherindustrygiantshaveannouncedtheirintentionstoproducefastJava chips....HardwareimplementationsofJavacouldpowerinexpensivenetworkterminals,PDAs, andotherinformationappliances,totakeadvantageoftransportableJavaapplications....Only timewilltellwhatpeopledowithJava,butitisprobablyworthatleastapassingthoughtthat theappletyouwritetodaymightwellberunningonsomeone'swristwatchtomorrow."[2,p.4] 6.6.4NewUserInterfaces Inaway,suchtraditionalfindingaids(i.e.,aidstolocatinginformation)astheIndexortheTable ofContentsformthe"userinterface"fortraditionalprintedtexts.Ifwebegintoputeffort towardsdesigningclear,functionalandelegantuserinterfacesperhapsthroughWebpages

whichbringthe"Pathfinder"intothemultimediarealmwewillfindthatclarityaidinginthe finalgoalofopensystemsandstandards:integration. Consistentinterfaceswillbecomemoreandmoreimportant.Thatsomethingwillbecome consistentisnotinquestion.Whetherthatinterfacewillbeuseable,clear,comprehensive,and friendlyisverymuchinquestion.TheLISprofessionswillhaveatremendouspartin determiningthatoutcome,ifweapplyourselvestocreatingfindingaidsthattakeunique advantageofmultimediatoengageandclarifythecuriosityoftheuser. 6.7References Books [1]Mok,Clement.DesigningBusiness:MultipleMedia,MultipleDisciplines.AdobePress,San Jose.1996. [2]Niemeyer,Patrick.;Peck,Joshua.ExploringJava.O'ReillyandAssociates.Cambridge.1996. [3]Nutt,GaryJ.OpenSystems.PrenticeHall,EngelwoodCliffs,NJ.1992. [4]Quarterman,JohnS.;Wilhelm,Susanne.UNIX,POSIX,andOpenSystems:theOpen StandardsPuzzle.AddisonWesley,NewYork.1993. [5]Vaughan,Tay.Multimedia:MakingitWork.OsborneMcGrawHill,Berkeley.1996.17 OnlineCitations(ResourcestoExplore) IndextoMultimediaInformationSources InteractiveMultimediaAssociation:DVDInitiative MIDIHomePage QuickTimeHomePage VRMLHomePage W3CHomePage JavaHomePage

MULTIMEDIAANDTELECOMMUNICATIONS,19972002: PERSPECTIVESANDRECOMMENDATIONS. Section7

Contents of Section 7: NEW TOOLS RELATED TO MULTIMEDIA AND THE WORLD-WIDE WEB

Search Engines Web-Crawling Spiders and Robots Resource Discovery on the Internet Continuous-Speech Recognition

NEWTOOLSRELATEDTOMULTIMEDIAANDTHEWORLD WIDEWEB
7.1SearchEngines Asearchengineisaprogramthatsearchesthroughgivendatasetsandattemptstomatch keywordsofthequerytorelateddocuments.Ideally,ituncoversrelevantmaterialquicklyand accurately.InthecontextoftheWorldWideWeb,theterm"searchengine"ismostoftenusedto describesearchformsproducedandmaintainedbyaparticularorganization.Onceprovided withuserinformation,theprogramsexplorevariousdatabasesofHTMLdocuments,whichhave beenindexedeithermanuallyorautomatically.Eachengineusesslightlydifferentstrategiesand searchespotentiallydifferentcollectionsofinformationwithindocuments.Thetraditional methodsenablesearchenginestoexaminelistsofalreadyexistingURLs,suchasserverlists, "What'sNew"pages,andotherheavilytraffickedsitesontheWeb. Buteffectivesearchingisdependentonthesearchengine'sintimateknowledgeoftheWeb's resources.Inotherwords,whathasnotbeenfoundandrecordedalreadywillnotberetrievedby eventhemostsophisticatedsearchengines.So,thequestionsofwhetherdatahavealreadybeen acknowledgedthroughsomeformofindexing,andofwhichparticulardataaresearched, becomeassignificantashowthesearchisperformed.Mostindexingservicesalsopermitauthors tomakemanualsubmissionsofdocuments,whichwillthenmostlikelybequeuedandvisitedby arobot.However,theresultinginformationretrievedbytoday'ssearchenginestypicallyseems tobesignificantlylessthanwhatasearcheroftenbelievesisactuallyoutthere:lessthanhoped forinbothrelevanceandquantity.Thatis,resultsfailtogenerateacomprehensivelistofall existingHTMLdocumentsrelatedtoone'ssearch,andtoday'suserconfidencetowardthe effectivenessofsearchenginestendstoreflectthis. Thereareover100knownsearchenginesactiveontheInternettoday.Asmentioned,they evaluatedata,andcomparethemwiththequerystring,usingsomekindoflogicbasedsystem (e.g.,Boolean).Mostaredesignedtoacceptsomeleveloftailoringor"customization",incasethe userwantstoaimasearchatamorespecificallydefinedsetofdocuments.Yahoo,forexample, hasaseldomused"options"buttonthatallowsausertobefarmorespecificinhisorhersearch parametersthanwouldotherwisebepossibleduringastandardYahooquery.The understandinganduseofappropriatemodifiers(+,_,"")canalsogreatlyincreasethepowerof anordinarysearchengine,thoughthisfeatureisunsupportedbymanyoftoday'ssearch programs. Inresponsetothetypicallypoornumberandtypesofhitsattainedthroughtraditionalsearch engines,anumberofWebindexingprojectshavebegun,typicallyfallingintooneoftwogroups: metaindexesorspidergeneratedindexpages.Metaindexesarealsoknownasmetasearch tools.TworepresentativesofthemetaindextypeareDogpileandSavvy.Metaindexesare unusualinthattheysubmitthekeywordsofthesearchtoamultitudeofother,traditionalsearch engines.Thesemetasearchtoolsoperateasfacilitators,distributingthesearchandattemptingto matchthequerytothemostrelevanthitsofmultiplesearchenginesatthesametime.Redundant

hitsaregenerallyfilteredout,andresultsareprovidedalongwiththenameoftheparticular companythatactuallyretrievedthem.Thusboththescopeandaccuracyofthefindingstypically farexceedthoseofanysingleenginesearch.Thesemaywellbethesupersearchenginesofthe future. 7.2WebCrawlingSpidersandRobots TheinventoryoftheWebisgettinglargerandmoreheavilychartedasautomationplaysan increasinglymoresignificantroleinresourcediscovery.Webspiders(sometimesreferredtoas robots,walkers,wanderers,orworms)areprogramsthatinspectWebdocumentsandtakesome actioninresponsetothem,usuallyaddingthemtoapoolofothersearchabledocumentsor constructingapathfromhyperlinksthatthespideridentifieswithinagivendocument. AspiderorrobotisaprogramthatautomaticallytraversestheWeb'shypertextstructurebyfirst retrievingasingledocument,andthenrecursivelyretrievingalldocumentsthattheretrieved documentrefersorlinksto.TypicalWebbrowsers(e.g.,Netscape)arenotconsideredrobots becausetheyarelimitedtobeingoperatedbyahuman,anddonotautomaticallyretrieve referenceddocuments(otherthaninlineimages).Thenames,"spider,""robot,"etc.,while perhapsappealing,maybemisleading,asthesetermsgivethefalseimpressionthattherobot itselfmoves,whiletheterm"worm"tendstoimplythattherobotmultipliesitselflikeavirus.As aresultofthesemisconceptions,theseautomatedresourcediscoverershavereceivedundue, uninformedcriticism.Inrealityhowever,theserobotsareimplementedasasinglesoftware systemthatretrievesinformationfromremotesitesusingstandardWebprotocols,andtheonly tangibleproblemtheypotentiallyposeisinaddingtonetworkcongestion.WebCrawlerisa commercialexampleofarobotorspiderbasedsearchengine. Thetruevalueofspiderswillbeintheeventualautomatedconstructionofuptodatevirtual neighborhoodsofdocuments,whichaspiderconstructsthroughmethodicalexplorationofthe Web'stextualresources,andwhosemomentumisfueledbytheWeb'sinherentconnectivity.The growthoftheWebissuchthatitdefiestheabilityofanybutasinglepurposeserver,whichdoes notyetexist,toconstructacompletefulltextindex. DevelopmentplansforspidersinvolveeventualdomainspecificWebindexconstruction,using domainprofilestoidentifydocumentsandthenorganizetheseintolocalneighborhoods. AdvancedspiderscurrentlynotonlyreviewthetextualcontentofWebsitesbutalsonotethefile namesofanyimagesorsoundstheyencounter.Thisuseofremoteindexingprogramsrepresents theapproachingstandardforresourcediscoveryontheWeb.Subsequently,theresultinggrowth ofsearchtoolcapabilitiesdependentonagreaterlevelofindexingthannowexistspromisesto bringanewconfidenceintheaccuracyofsearchengines'resultsandtohelpreduceboththetime andfrustrationlevelassociatedwithsearchingtheWeb(cf.TheWebLibrarian). 7.3ResourceDiscoveryontheInternet ThegrowthoftheWebisbeginningtoeludeeventhemostearnestattemptstocatalogiteven onapurelytextuallevel.Asmentionedabove,resourcediscoveryhasbeengreatlyenhanced throughthewidespreaduseofWebcrawlingrobots,programsthatautomaticallytraversethe Web,inventoryingvaryingaspectsofdocumentcontentastheygo.Asaresultofthissudden increaseinrecordeddata,searchenginesmustcovermoregroundinordertoconducta thoroughsearch.Newsearchtechnology,ofthetypementionedearlier,calledmetasearchtools, routesqueriesthroughmanysearchenginessimultaneously.

ImagesontheWebarealsocatalogedbyrobots,butclassificationisstilldependentonlyonfile name,andnotnecessarilyonthepicture'scontentortheme.However,actualimageprocessing techniques,alongwithobjectorpatternrecognitiontechniques,areimprovingquickly.The constructionofacomplete,fulltextindexoftheWeboncedependedonauthorsorvisitorsofa givenURLtomanuallyreportandrecordagivenpage'scontent.Thiscannowbeaugmentedby robotsandspiders,whichattempttodothechartingforus.Soundsandimages,however, continuetoeludecomprehensivecatalogingattemptsinallwaysbutbyfilename.Specific attributes(e.g.,.AIFFor.GIF)canbeusedinassociationwithotherkeywordsforsearch purposes,butsuchsearchesarehardlycomprehensive(cf.ImageSurfer). Informationresultingfrommetasearchesisalreadybeingcategorizedanddividedintospecific subjectneighborhoods,makingfutureaccessmoresystematicandlogical.TheNavalSurface WarfareCenterandAutoscopeTechnology,forexample,areonlytwoofthemanyorganizations currentlyexploringthetechnologyneededtoallowcomputerstoprocessrawimages,recognize objectsorpatterns,andcatalogthemforefficientuseraccess(cf.theISTImageDatabase). Thecentralproblemswith"imagedatabasequerying"aretheenormousscopeoftheInternet,the factthatWebpagesareconstantlybeingadded,shifted,and/orremoved,andthecomplexityof formulatinganappropriatequeryforcontentbasedretrieval.Unlikekeywordbasedsearching,a searchbyimagecontentallowsuserstoguideasearchthroughtheselection(orcreation)of exampleimages.Thetechnicalchallengesassociatedwiththisprojectareinpartduetothe problemofdevelopingeffectiveimagerepresentationstobeusedforveryfastsearchesbasedon imagecontentalone. Puttingone'sconfidenceinthedevelopmentoftechnologyforimagecontentrecognitionmay seempremature,giventhatweencounterplentyofdifficultiesindoingsomethingasrelatively simpleasfindingaparticulartextsomewhereontheWeb.Nevertheless,thereissomeexciting researchinthisareathatpromisestomakeimagequeryingareality.Oncethesenewtoolsare perfected,querieswillbebasedonimagecontent,texture,colorcontrast,andshape,tonamebut afewofthecriteriathatthisemergingtechnologyisalreadyemploying(cf.ImageRover). 7.4ContinuousSpeechRecognition Intheongoingefforttoimprovethecomputeruserinterface,anewtechnology,continuous speechrecognition,promisestoreduceuserdependenceonthetraditionalkeyboard.For decades,companieshavebeenresearchingthepossibilityofcreatingahandsfreeinterface betweenhumansandmachines.Throughvoicerecognitionsoftware,acomputeruserwill theoreticallyneedonlyspeakcommandstohisorherPC,leavingbothhandsandmental capacityundistracted.Inthepastwhenpeoplemutteredattheirmachinesorevencursedthem aloud,therewaslittledoubtthatsuchverbalinducementswerefallingondeafears;now, however,thecomputersaretrulytalkingback.Continuingbreakthroughsinthisnewtechnology areemergingfromsuchcompaniesasApple,AT&T,Compaq,DragonSystems,IBM,Lernout& Hauspie,Novell,PhilipsSpeechProcessing,TexasInstruments,andVoiceControlSystems,to namejustafew. Voicecomputinghardwareandsoftwarearebecomingincreasinglyfaster,andmorewithinthe financialreachoftheaverageconsumer.Industryleadersarepredictingthatsurgicalrobotsmay soonbecapableofmanipulatingmedicalinstrumentsinresponsetoasurgeon'sverbal commands.NASAistestingvoicecommandedmachineryforuseinspace.Lawyersandother professionalsarealreadyusingdictationsoftwareforvoicecomputing.

Oneofthemostsuccessfulcurrentapplicationsofvoicerecognitiontechnologyisinthefieldof radiology,wheremanyofthesametechnicalphrasesareoftenrepeated.Manyradiologists spendmostoftheirdaysinterpretingimagesandsendingreportsoftheirfindingstoother physicians.Theirfindingsneedtobedictatedintoarecordingmachine,transcribedbya secretary,andthencorrectedbythephysicianaprocessthatoftentakesdays.Whenone'sgoalis toorganizedataanddistributethemtoothermedicalpersonnelasquicklyaspossible,voice recognitiontechnologymayevensavelives.Ifnothingelse,itwillcertainlyreducewriter's cramp. Thelatestsystememployedbysomeradiologists,andbeingexperimentedwithinother disciplines,recognizesabout25,000Englishwords,andisabout95percentaccurate;currently, however,costsforsuchasystemarestillintherangeof$12,000$15,000.Thetexttospeech elementofthisnewtechnologyalsooffersenormousopportunitiesfortheblind.Now,visually impairedWebusers,forexample,canfinallysurftheWeb,ratherthanwadethroughit.Inthe contextofspeakingbrowsers,thespeedatwhichthecomputer'svoiceisabletoreadtextcan reach1,000wordsperminuteandstillbeunderstoodbytheblind.Accordingtoonesource,that rateismorethantwicethereadingspeedoftheaveragesightedperson. Continuousspeechrecognitiontechnologypromisestoplayasignificantpartinthe communicationsrevolutionofthe21stcentury.Thoughreliablespeechtotextapplicationofthis technologystillhingesonfurtherbreakthroughsinresearch(donotforgetyourtypingskillsyet), thechancesarethatwewillallbetalkingtoourcomputers,andbeunderstoodbythem,within thenexttenyears(cf.theCommercialSpeechRecognitionWebpage).