CDROM in developing countries: is it a technology for the distribution of information?
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb045249 |
| Pages | 295-297 |
| Published date | 01 April 1993 |
| Date | 01 April 1993 |
| Author | Bright W.M. Nkhata |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Article
CDROM in developing
countries: is it a technology
for the distribution of
information?
Bright
W.M.
Nkhata
Central
Library
Services,
University
of
Malawi,
Box
280,
Zomba,
Malawi
Abstract: The distribution of information using
CDROM
technology in developing countries would
be
regarded as
playing a very important role in disseminating information
in areas with underdeveloped telecommunication networks.
Indeed,
through the use of
CDROM,
numerous institutions
in countries such as Malawi have had access to
bibliographic and sometimes textual and statistical
information from large international databases in the fields
of agriculture, education, social sciences, medicine and
many others. This, however, is largely an information
distribution mechanism for information that is
predominantly generated
in
an environment that is different
from that of the developing countries. The result of such a
situation is that the information that
the
developing
countries are getting through this type of medium has very
low relevance to the needs of these countries, so may not be
ideal for solving the needs that these countries face. This
situation can change and this paper attempts to present
possible remedies.
1.
Introduction
The excellence of CDROM as an information distribution
technology has been widely acknowledged because of its
many good qualities. These have been well documented and
will not
be
repeated
in this
paper.
However,
it
may
be
essential
to mention a few as a matter of introduction.
CDROM is a well established technology which has been
in use for sometime. Among features developed recently are
the High Sierra/ISO standards, plus MS-DOS CD exten-
sions,
providing an open door to a wide range of non-vendor
specific applications; the range of disk drives and vendors is
rapidly increasing and the range of products offered is ex-
panding; mastering and replication costs are also coming
down rapidly.
CDROM storage is also enormous. A single CDROM can
store as many as 1500 floppy disks or 200 000 printed pages
of text. Discs can hold very large databases, such as Agricola
or MEDLINE, the full text of
an
encyclopedia or other refer-
ence work, or the full text and images of several scientific
journals.
Cost per unit information is
also
known to be very
low.
It is
estimated that CDROM costs about half a cent per megabyte.
Paper on the other hand is estimated at about $7.00 per mega-
byte (which is 1400 times more expensive than CDROM as a
storage medium). Floppy disk data costs $1.00 to $2.00 per
megabyte and hard disk information costs $10 to $20 per
megabyte. On the other hand, online services can cost up to
$200 per megabyte accessed because of connection and usage
charges (White 1990).
Specific to developing countries, CDROM is known to
eliminate the need for costly and difficult telecommunication
links.
It can survive and operate even under difficult condi-
tions (such as heat, humidity, dust and unstable power sup-
ply).
User stations can be portable or battery operated.
2.
Databases on CDROM
There are a large number of databases now available on
CDROM, although admittedly, most of the material in these
databases is aimed at the Western World (White
1990,
Wright
1990).
In the field of agriculture, well-known databases are
AGRIS with more than 1 million references; AGRICOLA;
CAB ABSTRACTS with more than 2 million references;
TROPAG & RURAL; and AGRITROP / SESAME. In infor-
mation science there is LISA ABSTRACTS. In health there
are POPELINE and MEDLINE. In education there is ERIC;
and many others in various disciplines. In addition to these
there are some CDROM products which are used as sources
of catalogue
records,
as Public Access Catalogues, and others
still as full text reference works in various disciplines of
knowledge.
In most cases, it is observed that most of these are used in
the Western countries mainly as a cheaper alternative to on-
line services. In developing countries the situation is differ-
ent. With an underdeveloped telecommunication infrastruc-
ture,
access to such large international databases can only be
achieved through the use of offline technologies. Even where
online searching
is
possible for
a
developing country, connec-
tion and usage charges would still be very high, because the
distances involved are extremely long.
The Electronic Library, Vol.
11,
No. 4/5, August/October 1993 295
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