"We Send Science Around the World"
"We Send Science Around the World"
A number of our customers have expressed an interest in CD-ROM products for their journals. As part of an ongoing initiative to help our clients with their electronic publishing needs, Allen Press has formed a partnership with Data Information Services, Inc. (DIS) to develop CD-ROM products containing full text of current and back issues of scholarly publications. We believe that CD-ROM will be an important part of the future of journal publishing, along with Internet access to scholarly text, document delivery and media yet to be developed.
CD-ROM capability will go hand in hand with SGML coding which we covered in a recent newsletter. SGML and electronic pages can facilitate manufacturing of CD-ROMs and make the development costs more affordable for scholarly organizations.
While CD-ROM has been characterized as an interim technology, we believe it has a place in the near term electronic publishing environment for a number of reasons:
We are pleased to welcome as guest authors Joseph Mercuri, President and CEO, and Paul Keane, Director of Sales, with DIS, both of whom are acknowledged experts in the field of CD-ROM. Their comprehensive and honest evaluation of CD-ROM publishing should give you a base from which to develop your own plans for CD-ROM projects. We appreciate their willingness to share their knowledge and expertise with us and our clients and we hope you find this issue of the Allen Press Journal Publishing Series Newsletter to be enlightening and instructive.
Guy Dresser
Vice President
gdresser@allenpress.com
Updated and Expanded Services to Meet Your Readers' Research Needs
by
Joeseph Mercuri, President and CEO, and Paul Keane, Director of Sales
Data Information Services, Inc.
Why has there been such an explosion in the growth of CD-ROM products for the personal computer market?
There are many factors involved. One of the most important factors is the reduction in the cost of personal computers. Technological developments have had a strong influence, as has the growth of computers in education, and the availability of thousands of titles, in both the commercial and consumer markets.
The low cost of CD-ROM disc players for the personal computer market combined with the need to deliver new software applications that would normally require 10 or more compressed high density floppy disks drove the personal computer market to CD-ROM.
The CD-ROM medium is used to distribute digital data: large volumes of published information for research or archival purposes (documents, database, software applications, images, voice, music, video and operating systems).
Today, CD-ROM's are being used to store hundreds of thousands of pages of printed material on a single plastic disc weighing less than 6 ounces. CD-ROM technology allows an organization to publish and distribute extensive volumes of information at a low cost. Organizations find CD-ROMs inexpensive to produce and a companion to traditional print media and on-line services. Rarely does a CD-ROM product completely replace other existing media; frequently the addition of a CD-ROM product broadens your current market base and can create an additional market segment.
There are those who state that the CD-ROM product is merely an interim step to the Internet. While we applaud the growth of the Internet and the many services it provides, it is still unrealistic to think that CD-ROMs will not continue to maintain a strong presence in providing information. As the following chart shows, there were 25 million CD-ROM drives in use worldwide in 1994. That number almost doubled in 1995 to 45 million. By the end of this year, it is estimated that this number could come close to doubling again, establishing a potential world base of close to 80 million CD-ROM drives in use.
All one needs to do is look at the advertisements for PC systems in newspapers and magazines. Every advertised computer system automatically includes a CD-ROM drive. These drives are also becoming commonplace in laptop computers. In the near future, CD-ROMs will be the largest installed delivery platform for high-bandwidth digital information, according to the SIGCAT Foundation in Reston, Virginia. Prices for CD-ROM drives have declined rapidly as the installed base increases; prices have decreased already this year by 13% to 28% (4x speed now under $100, 8x speed now about $200).
The current CD-ROM disc can store 600–660 million bytes of information. We all take this capacity for granted today, but it wasn't too many years ago that this storage capacity was only available in the large super-computers that cost millions of dollars.
The established international standard ISO 9660 guarantees hardware compatibility, ensuring that any CD-ROM manufactured to that standard can be used on any CD-ROM player. The next generation of CD-ROM will be the same physical size as the one now commonly used in personal computers and stereos. It will hold 8 times more data than the current CD-ROM, meaning the ability to store 2,000,000 pages of text information, a full length movie, or 96,000 images. The new CDs will require new CD-ROM drives, but these new drives will be able to run the current discs as well.
The market sector responsible for the largest percentage of CD-ROM revenue is the business sector; reference material, training manuals, research applications, journals, directories, and magazines are a few of the areas with the best return on investment.
The portability of large volumes of data with a fast information retrieval engine provides a winning formula for both publishers (low cost, new market potential) and users (fast retrieval of information with "cut and paste" capabilities).
Societies and associations are providing current and back issues of journals, directories, magazines, and other pertinent publications on CD-ROM for their members. Many of the articles in these publications, although published 5 to 25 years ago, are as current today as they were when first written. Some societies and associations have been publishing for 50–75 years. What they publish on CD-ROM is an index of all articles, along with abstracts and the full text of the article. This CD-ROM becomes a valuable cite reference research product.
Because a CD-ROM can hold over 600 million bytes of information, there is usually additional space available after a given application is compiled for the disc. Societies and associations should look at other data to store on the CD, data such as membership directories, catalogues of publications, brochures, newsletters, conference announcements, advertisements, etc.
Retrieving information from hundreds of journal articles that are stored on a CD-ROM is accomplished by requesting particular information by way of a search function built into the user interface. Users can find any information published; for example, articles by a particular author; or all articles on a particular subject matter, or articles in a specific year. The request can be structured as a search against the entire text of all articles, or against only abstracts of the articles. Combinations of the above queries will give the researcher the ability to create a search request to locate just the right information needed. If multiple journals exist on the CD-ROM, the user can search across all journals or restrict the search to particular journals.
The results of a performed search would provide a list of all articles that met the request. Each word or phrase that was in the query is highlighted which allows the researcher to confirm that the request was met. The user can move easily through all articles, or perform another search. Once the user has exactly the information requested, the information can be printed in part or its entirety, annotations can be attached to an article, articles or parts thereof can be copied for use in a word processor. Other features can be designed into the CD-ROM application, depending on the needs of the organization, including Order Entry and Internet Communication.
A sample search screen is shown in the following figure.
Marketing
Product Interface
Retrieval
Data
Production
Here are some examples that show the scope of CD-ROM applications.
Scholarly Publications: A database of journals for the past 60 years is indexed for researching by Title, Author, Keyword, Journal, Year, Full Text, etc. Abstracts and the full articles, with images, are included for the most current years.
Reference Works: Information traditionally provided in printed form is supplemented on CD-ROM. Users can research information quickly, and extract pertinent data for a specific use. As a result, publishers have realized increased revenue and customer satisfaction.
Directories: Publishers can provide large volumes of directory information with fielded and full text inquiries providing information that is difficult, if not impossible, to obtain from a printed directory.
Catalogs: Manufacturers now provide product specifications with audio, video, and animation for visual presentation and/or instructions on the use of products. Electronic ordering of products is also possible.
Technical Manuals: Manufacturers now provide up-to-date service manuals on CD-ROM to improve quality, reduce costs, increase customer satisfaction, and aid in compliance with international standards such as ISO 9000.
Historic Information: Repackaging historic information with search capabilities for new business opportunities.
Museum Archives: Narrated facility tours and research materials are now being published on CD-ROM. This expands the museum's market and promotes their facilities.
Analysis and Design
This is the critical phase in the development of a CD-ROM product to meet the end-user's expectation. The result of the analysis done at the outset will guarantee the ease with which the end-user will view and navigate through the collection of information. The user interface and data structure design are the building blocks affecting the entire product. During this step, end-user modeling and computer knowledge are evaluated in order to create an environment that will make the finished product intuitive.
Data Conversion and Indexing
The data is transformed from many formats—Paper, Database, Electronic Mark-Up Files, Images, Word Processing Documents, etc.—into a structured format. In the event that the data is not in an industry standard format, Custom Data Filters can be written to convert the data into an acceptable format to create a CD-ROM Authoring application. Once converted, data is indexed to optimize the process of locating information pertinent to the end user.
Premastering and Verification
Data to be included in the CD-ROM product is formatted to the international standard (ISO 9660). Following the formatting of the data on a CD-ROM, it is reviewed for accuracy and structure. The customer tests the CD-ROM prototype. Once approved by the customer, a CD-ROM is sent to the mastering facility.
Preproduction Services
Optional services are available to the publisher as part of the preproduction process. These include: graphics design, documentation, packaging, warehousing and shipment, and technical support.
While Authoring is critical in the design and use of the CD-ROM, Mastering is equally critical to the manufacturing process. All CD-ROMs are created from a glass master that is coated and exposed with a laser beam recorder. Ultimately, a metal "stamper" is created with billions of microscopic depressions that represent the data on the CD. The data is stored in the lengths of these depressions and the distances between them.
CD-ROM Manufacturing Process
General Specifications
Physical Size:
120 mm diameter, 1.2 mm thick, 15 mm center hole
Track Pitch:
1.6 um Rotation Speed, 500 rpm (I.D.), 200 rpm (O.D.)
Playing Time:
74 min, 650 Mbytes or 680,000,000 bytes
Scanning Velocity:
1.2–1.4 m/sec, CLV mode, CCW rotation
Quantization:
16 bits linear per channel
Label
Sealcoat (to protect metal & pit layers)
Metal Layer (for reflectivity)
Polycarbonate Disc
General Process
Plastic material is pressed into the stamper (mold) under tons of pressure, then electronically coated with a thin layer of aluminum applied to the side with the data which provides a reflective surface required for reading the data. A lacquer coating is then applied to protect the aluminum from scratches, and provides a surface for labeling.
Quality Control
In the process of manufacturing CD-ROMs, every step is strictly controlled to ensure compliance with industry specifications. The CD contains a spiral track which, when stretched in a straight line, can be as long as three miles. This obviously requires close tolerances. Quality control ensures that all tolerances are within the design limits of all CD-ROM drives. While all disc manufacturers are controlled by the same standards, each manufacturer has its own quality procedures, many of which exceed the design standards.
Printing and Packaging
Silk screen or offset printing processes allow images to be applied to the disc surface. Artwork with up to eight colors can be reproduced on a CD-ROM.
Discs are then packaged automatically or manually. The most common package is the plastic jewel case; one reason for its popularity is the ability to automatically assemble the disc into the case. There are many other types of packages, such as plastic or cardboard sleeves. Again, the method of packaging has to take into account the means of shipment; if the CD is to be made part of a printed book or journal, a jewel case may not be appropriate.
The jewel case contains a tray which holds the CD in place. This tray can be made of recycled CD-ROMs. Normally, a "tray card" is inserted behind the tray; this card usually has two flaps that are considered the spine of the jewel case. In the cover of the jewel case is a space for any type of documentation; this documentation can be advertising, marketing literature, but most commonly is a set of installation or operation instructions. This booklet can have as many as 32 pages of printed instruction (depending on paper thickness).
Turnaround Time
Turnaround time is the time to complete all phases of CD-ROM production. As with the printing process, the faster the turnaround time the more costly the job.
Access Time—the total time required to deliver data from the CD-ROM.
ASCII—an abbreviation for American Standard Code for Information Interchange.
AND operation—a Boolean operation that combines (ANDs) two terms. For example, to search for apple AND pie, all documents must contain both words to be returned as a match (True condition).
Authoring—the process of transforming information from its source format into a format on the CD-ROM that allows end-users to perform search and retrieval functions against the data.
Boolean search—a search request that uses Boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT in various combinations. For example, China AND Japan, tea OR coffee, California NOT Sacramento.
Command language—a language used to generate queries and control output of the data.
Driver (or device driver)—a software program that translates commands between the operating system and a peripheral device like a CD-ROM drive.
Field—the basic categories of information stored in the records in a file—for example, a file of bibliographic information might have Author, Title, and Year fields.
Fixed length—refers to records or fields that always contain a set number of bytes.
Full text—data which consists of non-structured words contained in a document.
Index—an ordered list of the contents of a file, with information indicating the location of records or words within the file.
Inverted index—a list consisting of each word (except stopwords) and the location of that word in the file.
Key—a group of characters (usually a field or set of fields) that uniquely identify a record.
Key record index—an index that contains field keys and the location of the corresponding record in the file.
Master—a compact disc that is cut and is used as a mold to produce more discs.
NOT operation—a Boolean operation that specifies that the result of the search will be the inverse of the search request, so the search NOT New York excludes anything that contains the words New York.
OR operation—a Boolean operation that merges all elements from two terms, such as, boys OR girls.
Pits—holes burned into the CD track by the laser when recording.
Premastering—the process of converting raw data into a standard, logical format required for compact disc manufacturing.
Proximity operators—operators used in the search request to retrieve records or documents where the search terms are near each other; for example, on-line /4 network may search for the words on-line and network within four words of each other.
Range—a set of values between two limits specified in a search request, e.g., 19861994 defines a range of values to search for.
Record—a collection of related items of data.
Retrieval set—records or documents that meet the search criteria and are retrieved for viewing. Also called the Hit List.
ROM—stands for read-only memory. Data on a CD-ROM cannot be altered.
Search request—the query used to retrieve documents.
Search history (Search log)—A list of previous searches.
Stop words—words such as a, the, to, with, and which are not indexed and therefore not searchable.
Wildcards—symbols (special characters) used to match any root, stem or part of a word.
If you would like additional copies of this article or would like to obtain a bid for CD-ROM serivces, please contact Guy Dresser, Allen Press, Inc., by phone at (913) 843-1234 or by e-mail at gdresser@allenpress.com.
Joseph Mercuri, President and CEO, founded Data Information Services, Inc. (DIS) in 1989. Prior to DIS Mr. Mercuri held the position of Director of Business Affairs World Wide for Wang Laboratories in Lowell, Massachusetts. His responsibilities also encompassed all CD-ROM projects. During his 27 year career in the electronic industry he has held various senior management positions in Research & Development Engineering, Purchasing, and Engineering Administration. The majority of this career was spent with Wang Laboratories, Digital Equipment Corporation and Honeywell Information Systems. Mr. Mercuri was educated at the University of Lowell in Electrical Engineering and Business Administration.
Paul Keane is Director of Sales for Data Information Services, Inc. He has been with DIS for six years in various product marketing positions. Mr. Keane has presented "CD-ROM Publishing Concepts and Strategies" to many organizations, has demonstrated CD-ROM applications at national conferences, and will be a presenter at the Allen Press Electronic Publishing Seminar in the fall. Prior to DIS, Mr. Keane was with Bull World Wide Information Systems for 21 years in sales and marketing management positions.