cni report: is there a picture in our networked information future? (166178791)

7/29/2019 CNI REPORT: Is There a Picture in Our Networked Information Future? (166178791)

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CNI REPORT: Is There a Picture in Our Networked Information Future?

Copyright 1995 CAUSE. From _CAUSE/EFFECT_ magazine, Volume 18,Number 2, Summer 1995, pp. 3-4. Permission to copy or disseminateall or part of this material is granted provided that the copiesare not made or distributed for commercial advantage, the CAUSEcopyright and its date appear, and notice is given that copying isby permission of CAUSE, the association for managing and usinginformation technology in higher education. To disseminateotherwise, or to republish, requires written permission. Forfurther information, contact Julia Rudy at CAUSE, 4840 Pearl EastCircle, Suite 302E, Boulder, CO 80301 USA; 303-939-0308; e-mail:[email protected]

CNI Report:Is There a Picture in Our Networked Information Future?by Richard P. West

CNI's purpose is to explore ways to use networked technology todeliver information. The information technology that supportsnetworked information continues to evolve at an amazing rate. Notso very long ago, basic text was the extent of the informationthat could be transferred across data networks. Symbols and images

could not be integrated into the text, due to technicallimitations of the equipment available. Now, we talk not only ofimages, but of multimedia--the integration of audio and video aswell as images and text. We have come a long way!

To me, the significance of these multimedia and image-basedtechnologies is that these capabilities are now good enough toreplace information that has been produced in printed form. Bygood enough, I mean that networked information technologies canstore, distribute, display, and print information in ways that aredirectly substitutable for their printed counterparts. In someways, because of the speed of transmission and the ease ofstorage, the electronic versions are actually better.

At CNI's Spring 1995 Task Force meeting, much of the programfocused on the six projects that make up the NASA/NSF/ARPA-sponsored digital-library program. Representatives from all sixprojects were present at the meeting and shared their ambitiousplans and strategies with CNI Task Force members. The projectswere awarded in October 1994, and are now moving into theirdevelopment phase.

Several of these projects plan to create databases of images suchas photos, maps, and videos. These are unique resources, nowhoused in relatively inaccessible collections. The general area ofdeveloping image-capable searching, storage, distribution, and

printing capabilities on a production, multi-user basis is part ofthe challenge as these projects implement their prototype system.

Although the federally funded digital-library projects areinvaluable efforts, one of the sessions most instructive to me atthe meeting was a breakout session regarding the TULIP project.TULIP was spawned at the Spring 1991 CNI Task Force meeting by apublisher's challenge to higher education members of CNI. Thechallenge was to cooperatively produce a series of networkedjournals to show that such things were possible as a real



alternative to print versions. As a result of that challenge,Elsevier Science and nine universities started work on a jointinitiative. The project focused on forty-three material sciencescholarly journals, and the project plan called for an image to bemade of each printed page of each of these journals. The partnersagreed to deploy the image database at each of their institutionswith local searching capabilities familiar to their respectivecampus environments.

TULIP was developed as a technological and economic experiment. Itis a technological experiment because it pushes, in a productionand robust networked environment, a large set of electronicinformation. How do users interact with these networkedinformation resources as compared to the print counterparts? It isan economic experiment to determine usage and suggest alternativepurchase arrangements for scholarly information rather than thetraditional subscriptions for printed journals. At least oneinstitution, the University of California, installed the TULIPdatabase in one location for use by the nine-campus UC system,using UC's inter-campus network. This implementation of TULIP isparticularly interesting because it most closely replicates anational network environment regarding network capacity, variedtechnological platforms, and a significant number of remote users.

For CAUSE members, I believe the experiences and findings of theTULIP project to date are particularly important. In college anduniversity administration, I have seen a number of applicationsusing image technology that are being sold for specific solutions.Systems that manage specific types of records--admissions,registration, official correspondence, and general documentation--frequently use just a few of the image-based technologiesavailable in the marketplace. Image-processing technology is at akey evolutionary stage, and I believe it is very easy to investtoo much, too soon in these technologies. Earlier technologiessuch as Sony Betamax videotapes and Wang word processing systemsrecall good, solid technologies that did not survive in themarketplace. In other cases, many colleges and universities still

are dealing with "islands of technology," due to incompatibletechnological architectures that restrict interoperability.

The TULIP project, as well as other digital library projects,demonstrate important lessons regarding image processing. Networkperformance is probably the most significant finding. Imagesystems require significant network capacity at this stage ofdevelopment of image technology. Each image is a much moresignificant amount of information than text, and placessignificant demands on network resources.

Equally important is a finding that is obvious in retrospect. Inkey areas of image processing there are no standards, which are

needed if broad interoperability is to be achieved. Whatcompression standards should we use to create and store images?What are the minimal display platforms needed to adequately handlesatisfactory display of images? What resolution is minimallyacceptable for display of images? And, of course, there is thealready mentioned issue of network capacity. These are all theobvious questions regarding standards. You may already bedeveloping such standards for image processing on your campus.Nevertheless, the experience from the TULIP project suggests thatthere remain many surprises when you begin full-scale

cni report: is there a picture in our networked information future? (166178791)

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