Offers tips for choosing an automated library system. Topics include dealing with vendors; talking to other librarians; visiting a similar library with the same system; print sources for system information; demonstration disks; salespeople; costs; and learning about automation company competitors. (LRW)

Discussion of CD (compact disc) recorders describes recording applications, including storing large graphic files, creating audio CDs, and storing material downloaded from the Internet; backing up files; lifespan; CD recording formats; continuous recording; recording software; recorder media; vulnerability of CDs; basic computer requirements; and…

Reviews models of accounting and management-courseware development; examines the role of the book metaphor in courseware and in learning; and discusses a framework of six alternatives to the book metaphor developed for the Business Education with Information Technology (BITE) project as part of the Teaching and Learning Technology Programme…

Discusses the basic technical concepts of using graphics in World Wide Web pages, including: color depth and dithering, dots-per-inch, image size, file types, Graphics Interchange Formats (GIFs), Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), format, and software recommendations. (AEF)

Describes WebACE, the architecture of a client-side agent that explores and classifies Web documents in clusters automatically and discusses the details of the algorithms within its key components. Highlights principal direction divisive partitioning (PDDP), a scalable hierarchical clustering algorithm; compares it to other clustering methods; and…

Gives examples of the pornography and worse dangers that await young children who go online unsupervised. Describes steps libraries are taking toward Web safety. Discusses how to provide Internet safety at home; types of Internet filters; and corporate Internet control. A sidebar offers a list of rules to follow for online safety. (AEF)

Describes and critiques emerging issues about Internet access in schools and school libraries. Discusses software products for filtering and rating expressive content on the Internet, reader-response-theory implications for filtering and rating Internet content, ambiguities, and the role of school librarians and acceptable-use policies. (AEF)

Describes how online searchers can use a software tool based on back-of-the-book indexes to assist in dealing with search engine databases compiled by spiders that crawl across the entire Internet or through large Web sites. Discusses human versus machine knowledge, conversion of indexes to mind maps or mini-thesauri, middleware, eXtensible Markup…

To facilitate an integrated 10-year development plan, a Colorado Girl Scouts council collaborated with an architecture firm to create computer-generated maps of its camp properties, with links to relevant information. Maps and software provided unprecedented accuracy and access, were easily updated, and facilitated funding presentations. Sidebars…

Presents a prototype authoring tool for interactive educational software called Investigate and Decide Learning Environments (IDLE-Tool). Introduces IDLE-Tool as the task model around which the tool is based. A model of the authoring process called Guided Case Adaptation is offered as an approach to employing models and an exemplar to effectively…

This article describes a set of software programs designed to teach mathematics to all students including students with disabilities. The programs are based on the standards of the National Council of Teachers and Mathematics. The article reports on the effective use of one of these programs with four students with various disabilities. (Contains…

Describes planning, development, implementation, and features of a Web-based "virtual tour" information and marketing resource developed at Purdue University (West Lafayette, Indiana). The result is an interactive campus map that provides information about the various campus buildings using text, photographs, and movie clips. (DB)

Describes how multimedia products start as ideas and go through the stages of design, production, manufacturing, and marketing. Highlights include corporate consolidation, market distribution in 1997, encyclopedias and the growing Internet trend, direct marketers and sales, CD-ROM and DVD (digital video disk), costs, and future directions. (AEF)

Describes the use of TACT computer software to teach Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness." Employs TACT to reinforce understanding of the text achieved through a combination of analytic approaches to literary texts with linguistic methods. Argues that exposure to the software made students' interaction with the text more complex and…

Describes the development of multimedia applications designed for disseminating technical information to technicians and service engineers; these applications were developed within the Interactive Manuals project, sponsored by the Swedish National Board for Industrial and Technical Development. (AEF)