This article presents a reading of the user interface in one public library system. Its aim is to find out the frames and competences required and used in the communication between the computer and the patron. The authors see the computer as a text that is to be read by the user who wants to search for information from the library. The transition…

Information security threats to educational institutions and their data assets have worsened significantly over the past few years. The rich data stores of institutional research are especially vulnerable, and threats from security breaches represent no small risk. New genres of threat require new kinds of controls if the institution is to prevent…

Computers may not be able to master poetics like Aristotle, but they have become smart enough to know a metaphor when they see one. An online database called The Mind Is a Metaphor, created by Brad Pasanek, an assistant professor of English at the University of Virginia, is a searchable bank of phrases, verses, and lines from literature that…

InterBrowse, a uniform interface information retrieval application for several different databases, is designed to be used in Intermedia, a hypermedia environment currently under development at Brown University's Institute for Research Information and Scholarship. This application arose out of the recognized need for an interface that can be used…

Discusses natural language retrieval systems, focusing on West Publishing Company's WIN (Westlaw Is Natural) system used with its case law database. Information retrieval models, the advantages and disadvantages of natural language retrieval, and the use of the approach by Congressional Quarterly's Washington Alert, Personal Librarian, and other…

Describes the formation of the supercomputer system which reaches from Seattle to South Florida. Explains the major obstacles of international protocols, billing, priority routing, and security. (RT)

Describes features and enhancements of the EasyNet end-user gateway software including the addition of more databanks, improved help for searchers, field searching, online help from humans, and scanning for database selection. Capabilities of the Common Command Language are discussed. Figures show a database scan, EasyNet commands, and a sample…

This paper uses a hypothetical application entitled "VAPORTRAILS" to examine how an integrated application can be used to solve the problems of search and retrieval from a range of qualitatively different databases, and the organization of the resulting information into a personal database resource. In addition, four general classes of databases…

Highlights the changes that have occurred from 1987-93 in database access systems. Topics addressed include types of databases, including CD-ROMs; enduser interface; database selection; database access management, including library instruction and use of primary literature; economic issues; database users; the search process; and improving…

In 1988 Mann Library at Cornell University proposed to develop a computer system that would support interactive access to significant electronic files in agriculture and the life sciences. This system was titled the Interactive Numeric Files Retrieval System (INFeRS). This report describes how project goals were met and it presents the project's…

Describes the architecture of the prototype of an image management system that has been used to develop an application concerning images of frescoes in the Sistina Chapel in the Vatican. Hardware and software design are described, the use of local area networks (LANs) is discussed, and data organization is explained. (15 references) (LRW)

A common command language has been proposed for use by systems designers and those developing new user interfaces. There is controversy over the appropriateness of a standard command language, and those who are working in artificial intelligence believe that natural language interfaces will make it unnecessary for users to learn such a language,…

The first of two articles discusses virtual reality (VR) and online databases; the second one reports on an interview with Thomas A. Furness III, who defines VR and explains work at the Human Interface Technology Laboratory (HIT). Sidebars contain a glossary of VR terms and a conversation with Toni Emerson, the HIT lab's librarian. (LRW)

Describes the uses of Lotus 1-2-3 (a spreadsheet-graphics-database program created by Lotus Development Corporation) and Symphony 1.1 (a refinement and expansion of Symphony 1.01 providing memory efficiency, speed, ease of use, greater file compatibility). Spreadsheet and graphics capabilities, the use of windows, database environment, and…

Describes the structure and modes of operation of the Bundessprachenamt's (BSprA: Federal Office of Languages of the Federal Republic of Germany) terminology data bank as an aid to translation. Analyzes advantages and disadvantages of each user mode, and discusses probable developments in the immediate future of machine-aided translation. (MES)