Proposes that error rates in indexing using string index languages such as NEPHIS might be reduced at relatively low cost by having the indexer enter strings via a microcomputer system which could provide simple validation and feedback in the form of graphic displays of concept links. (Author/FM)

Describes how to make hand puppets, marionettes, and rod puppets, using computer graphics programs in the initial designing stage of the process. Advocates using puppets at nearly any grade level and subject area as a way to integrate literature, writing, and computer technology. (SR)

Explains the use of a standard text-based database program (i.e., dBase III) to run external programs that display graphic files during a database session and reduces costs normally encountered when preparing a computer to run a graphical database. An example is given of a simple database with two fields. (LRW)

Investigates how the dimensionality of computer-generated graphs affects users' abilities to extract information from the graphs. Finds two-dimensional graphs more reliable in communicating information quickly and accurately than corresponding three-dimensional graphs. Notes that a commonly used, but technically incorrect, three-dimensional graph…

Outlines desirable qualities for graphic representation of sentence dependency structures in texts more than a few sentences in length. Several different display formats prototyped in the TEXNET experimental text structure management system are described, illustrated, and compared, and automatic structure manipulations are discussed. (36…

Discussed is one facet of a broad range of research activities that fall under the rubric of a study commonly called virtual reality. Projects developed by IBM and other academic and industrial laboratories are described. The limitations of virtual reality are presented. (KR)

Suggests that the way desktop computers are used in business communication will change dramatically with the emergence of DVI (Digital Video Interactive) technology and modern mass storage devices. Discusses implications of DVI for business communication educators and trainers. (RS)

Describes GeoWorks, a new graphical user interface (GUI) that works on older, less powerful IBM PCs and compatibles. The PC/GEOS (PC/Graphical Environment Operating System) is explained, user friendliness is emphasized, comparisons are made to Microsoft Windows, and GeoWorks applications software is described. (LRW)

Discusses how advancements in computer graphics technology, especially hypermedia, are changing the language of visual communication and defining multidimensional communication models that require new perspectives in information design. Suggests that an understanding of these new communication models can be enhanced by examining works of…

Discusses the use of electronic mail in classrooms and describes "Boardwalk," a messaging system that supports the creation and posting of media-rich messages and graphic displays of the messages. Topics include collaborative inquiry-learning, technology to support collaborative inquiry, visual representations for dialog, and structuring…

Examines when and why a "safe" approach to visual design for Web pages is attractive to writers and writing teachers. Considers typical reasons for choosing a "safe" approach to designing the visual dimensions of Web pages, traditional sources in print graphics and writing for safe advice about visual design, and design…

Discusses the rhetorical aspects of avatars, or virtual selves, within multiuser graphical virtual realities (GVRs). Examines the development of GVRs and questions how representations of selves relate to online communication, focusing particularly on how bodies in GVRs are gendered. (Author/LRW)

This paper describes how parametric cubic splines and cubic Bezier curves may be used in designing a two dimensional shape. A simple aerofoil shape is designed using both methods. The mathematics is described and the shape drawn using Excel. The effect of varying parameters is shown in both methods.

Our main goal in this study was to determine whether the use of computer animation and illustration activities in high school can contribute to student achievement in molecular genetics. Three comparable groups of eleventh- and twelfth-grade students participated: the control group (116 students) was taught in the traditional lecture format,…

We present an active way to use a computer animation in secondary molecular genetics class. For this purpose we developed an activity booklet that helps students to work interactively with a computer animation which deals with abstract concepts and processes in molecular biology. The achievements of the experimental group were compared with those…