CS5604 Summary of readings for Digital Libraries unit Martin Falck 9/1/95 ACM PRESS DATABASE AND ELECTRONIC PRODUCTS - NEW SERVICES FOR THE INFORMATION AGE - Fox This is a discussion of existing plans and future visions of the ACM?s efforts in electronic publishing. Although the article is seven years old and the plan descriptions may be out of date, some of the challenges and organizational concepts are still relevant. At the time of press, the tools, technology and standards for electronic publishing were finally approaching the point where large scale efforts were possible. Networking, high capacity disks, hypertext, to name a few, provided the storage and throughput required to make electronic documents a practical alternative. Consequently, ACM planned electronic libraries for the volume of literature that it sponsored. This requires a transition to a fully electronic method of submitting, reviewing and publishing the literature. As with any new technology, one of the greatest challengea is to win acceptance. This includes getting the participants to agree on and accept standards and adopt the habit of doing their work electronically. This requires additional tools to allow users on disparate systems to communicate seamlessly. Copyright and compensation issues also complicate the issue. ACM is attempting to push this concept by requesting proposals for new ideas and products from individuals, special interest groups and the commercial world. The organization of such an enterprise is discussed. An editorial and review system is to be set up so that proposals are reviewed by those with the proper expertise in the relevant areas. The article then specifies what a proposal should contain, such as purpose, targeted users, content, distribution method, required software, the role of the proposer and various financial and legal details, among others. = = = = = = = = == = = = = = = = = = = == = == = = = = = = = = Group 5 Shirley Carr Mike Joyce Bushra Khan Vas Madhavan Fox, Edward A., August 1988, ACM Press Database and Electronic Products -- New Services for the Information Age, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 31, Nr. 8, pp. 948-951. The article describes ACM's plans for building an electronic library both for its members and the public at large. 1988 was a watershed year for electronic publishing because of advances in four major areas: tools for editing, publishing, etc.; equipment such as networks, PCs and workstations; media such as high capacity Winchester drives, CD-ROMs and optical drives; and software such as electronic publishing and hypertext retrieval systems. ACM also has a rich collection of materials in its database that it wants to make available to its members and the public. Examples of such materials are its journals, books and algorithms. ACM's vision is to develop an electronic library that can provide easy access to this material. Its long term goal is to move all its materials to digital form. The purpose of this is to make itself more flexible and responsive to user needs. But moving to such a system poses many challenges: first is the need to harness new ideas; second is the development of new systems to help in library access; third is the need for dedication to any new system that is developed. The opportunities to develop such a system could come from individual efforts, ACM SIG efforts or from commercial non- profit organizations. The ACM Press Database and Electronic Products venture within ACM will handle the new system. It purpose will be to recommend policies and priorities and set future direction. It will have area editors who will encourage proposals, help authors, editors, etc. They will also work closely with reviewers looking at the presentation, content and usability as evaluation criteria for new works and systems. The article concludes with a checklist of criteria for evaluating new products and services. These include the target audience, the purpose of the new product, its content, the delivery media, the format of the software, the potential market for that product, the proper role and qualifications, the delivery schedule, legal details and financial details. ================================================================ CS 5604 Information Storage and Retrieval Unit 1-- Digital Libraries Group II Submission: Lauren Barton Martin Falck Nelson Kile, Jr. Carolyn O'Hare Robert Ryan In his article, "ACM Press Database and Electronic Products- New Services for the Information Age", Edward A. Fox, challenges the readership of the ACM to submit proposals for new electronic library services which will serve the needs of the ACM community. In the past years, ACM has made several electronic library products available to its members. These products allow user access to different electronic publications and materials. However, with the development of hardware and software products and the wealth of information accumulated by ACM members, tremendous potential exists for developing new products and services. Eventually this will lead to all ACM publications being recorded in digital form. With all these electronic products, standardization becomes an issue. The ACM is investigating descriptive markup and relevant standards for handling articles. In his challenge to the ACM membership to satisfy the information needs of its members, the author reveals a demand for ingenuity, development and dedication. They are looking for new ideas that incorporate current technology such as hypertext systems or new technology that exploits such exiting systems. There also needs to be a dedication to electronic publishing despite some of the current drawbacks. To ensure the development of quality products and services, an advisory board has been established to recommend policies and priorities. There will be area editors to help with particular classes of products. Eventually, these area editors will also be distinguished by media type and delivery mechanism. Reviewers will also be used to evaluate products. The proposals must clearly outline the purpose, market and financial analysis and administrative and contractual requirements. The proposals should at least include the following information: target audience, purpose, content, delivery method, software, market study, proposer role, proposer qualifications, schedule, legal details and financial details. ================================================================= Trish Heiman Unit DL Document Summaries: ACM Press Database and Electronic Products.--New Services... Recognizing that tools for authoring and publishing information electronically has become cost effective, the ACM is planning to develop a library for its large collection of materials. Standards will developed to ensure documents are publishable and sea rchable. Because the material published by this organization will bear the ACM logo, proposed material must pass rigorous content and quality standards. The ACM Press will need to develop new innovative ways to package information and incorporate new sea rch and retrieval tools. Area editors will be appointed to promote products, encourage proposals, and work with product reviewers. Volunteers interested in participating in this project are encouraged to contact the ACM. = = = = = = = = = = = == = = = = = = = = = = = == = DL Article Summaries. Group 1 James B. Fitzgerald Tom Kalafut Chris Klein John Muhlenburg ACM press databases and electronic products- New services for the information age by Edward Fox. This article summarizes the intended direction of the ACM as it begins placing its repository of computer related information on-line for its members and the computing community as a whole. The article presents the ACM's vision for the future, some of the challenges facing this on-line library, and presents some opportunities for third party publishers. The article asks for commentary from the members on the vision, and direction the ACM is taking and solicits proposals from interested parties to participate in development of this on-line library. The article presents its vision to provide an on-line library that will consist of the collection of materials presented to the ACM for publishing. This library will provide services to its members and the computing community as a whole and will adhere to international standards. The challenge is to make the ACM's vast computer information collection available to its members and to the computing community without significantly burdening either the publisher or the computing community. The challenges indicate that there is a need for new information retrieval tools. The opportunities, organization, and proposal sections provide information for interested third parties to submit documentation to the ACM indicating that they would like to participate in the development of this on-line library. = = = = = = = = = = = == = = = = = = = = = = = == = This summary is from group 4: Aleasa Chiles Feggins Kathleen Sgamma Doug Walls John Thomas Mahmood Bahraini Summary of "ACM Press Database and Electronic Products" The ACM Press Database and Electronic Products--New Services for the Information Age article written by Edward A. Fox for the Communications of the ACM focuses on ACM's commitment to providing new services to its members and the computing community as a whole. Services which will be made possible with the advancements in electronic desktop publishing, editing, and information dissemination, as well as, the affordability and availability of hardware and software resources to a wide range of computer users. Establishing on-line mathematical databases and Communications' libraries describe only two of the possibilities of delving into hypertext software and other electronic products. The ACM and its members have collected an abundance of information in a variety of media. Now there is an opportunity to provide access of this information to a larger audience. The Vision of the ACM is to "develop an electronic library from this collection [ACM's collection] of material, to help that library grow by encouraging the use of standards and by supporting methods for electronic submission, and to serve members and others by providing them with the appropriate tools and information resources." The ACM Press Database and Electronic Products venture plans to convert all ACM publications into digital form. The need for standardization becomes evident when we consider that ACM is striving for a single article submission to be both for print and electronic publications. The Challenge is to "harness existing or new methods and information resources to effectively serve ACM members and others". These challenges can only be overcome through ingenuity and generation of new ideas, development in the areas of hypertext systems and the dedication and perserverence of computing professionals and organizations. The ACM is offering unlimited opportunities to individuals, special interest groups, non-profit and commercial organizations. These groups can submit proposals for new products and services which utilize or involve ACM-related materials. There is also the opportunity to become involved in the actual formulation of the ACM Electronic Library. Since ACM Press Database and Electronic Products is committed to high quality electronic services and products, an advisory board will be formed to recommend organizational policies and priorities. Area editors will assist reviewers and authors in obtaining access to tools and evaluating product submissions. Proposals must clearly explain the products target audience, purpose/aim, content, delivery method, software, market, proposer role, proposer qualifications, schedule, legal details, and financial details. These details are necessary to ensure that the proposed services and products are worthy of the "ACM Press" logo. This article captures the ACM's vision of setting the computing community's standards in electronic database and library products and services. The author challenges readers and industry professionals to participate in making standardized on-line digital libraries a reality.