An Interactive videodisc project: a case study from the Technical Research Centre of Finland
| Date | 01 March 1988 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb044802 |
| Published date | 01 March 1988 |
| Pages | 174-182 |
| Author | Riitta Nurminen Anneli Heimbürger,Mervi Lehto |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
An Interactive videodisc
project: a case study from
the Technical Research
Centre of Finland.
Riitta Nurminen
* Anneli
Heimbürger
Technical Research
Centre of Finland
Information Service
Vuorimiehentie 5
SF-02150 Espoo
Finland
Mervi Lehto
Technical Research
Centre of Finland
Laboratory of Urban
Planning and Building
Design
Itätuulentie 2
SF-02100 Espoo
Finland
*
to whom correspondence
should be addressed.
Abstract: At the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT), an
interactive videodisc project was carried out in order to gain experience in
videodisc technology and its usefulness for information delivery purposes.
The disc 'Optical data storage and the construction industry' was
produced by the urban planning and building design laboratory.
Off-the-shelf videodisc products available in Finland were investigated by
the Information Service of VTT in order to find the most efficient and
versatile hardware and software combination. The Information Service
also took care of the disc programming. This article looks at the
characteristics of optical discs in general and videodiscs
in
particular. The
interactive videodisc system hardware and software and the disc
production process are
described.
Guidelines are provided for videodisc
designing and production with the needs of libraries and information
services in
mind.
1.
Introduction
The Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT)
is a research institute, employing about 2500
people. The main activities at VTT are directed
towards the application of research and develop-
ment in technology and engineering. As fields of
research at VTT also cover the improvement of
technical methods used for information retrieval,
processing, and storage, several research projects
dealing with the applications of optical disc tech-
nology have been launched. One of the projects
was directed at producing an interactive videodisc
system in order to gain experience in videodisc
technology and its usefulness for information
delivery purposes, especially from the point of
view of the construction industry.
The VTT interactive videodisc system was the
result of co-operation with several research units;
the prototype disc 'Optical data storage and con-
struction industry' was produced at the urban
planning and building design laboratory (Figure
1).
It is primarily a trial example, which provides
test material to investigate the various means of
presenting and storing images on disc, compara-
tive image quality, and various forms of source
material for stills and video sequences used by the
construction industry. The off-the-shelf videodisc
products in Finland were evaluated at the VTT
Information Service in order to find the most effi-
cient and versatile combination of hardware and
software. Consequently, most of the work was
carried out by using standard hardware and
software. The disc programming was performed
by the Information Service. The information pro-
cessing and graphic arts laboratories participated
in the project
[1,2,3].
In this paper we list the advantages and dis-
advantages of videodisc technology based on our
personal experience. First we look at optical discs
in general and then videodiscs in particular by
reviewing some videodisc applications. Guide-
lines about interactive videodisc system produc-
tion and programming are given, with the point of
view of libraries and information services in
mind.
2.
Optical discs
Many of us are aware that optical information
storage is a rapidly developing field of research,
and optical information systems including hard-
ware, software and applications have opened up
new horizons for information processing, storage
and retrieval. Most of us are familiar with the
'alphabet soup' of different optical disc types and
systems. Every disc type has its own particular
features, technical properties and main appli-
cation areas. A common feature to all of them,
though, is laser technology which is used in opti-
cal recording and reading. The laser beam draws
pits or bubbles on the disc surface, recording in-
formation on the disc as a continuous band of
microscopic pits or bubbles. In optical reading,
the read head of the disc drive does not touch the
174 The Electronic Library, June
1988.
Vol.6,
No.3
To continue reading
Request your trial