InfoStation: A multimedia access system for library automation
| Pages | 415-421 |
| Date | 01 June 1990 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb045015 |
| Published date | 01 June 1990 |
| Author | Newton S. Lee |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Article
InfoStation:
A
multimedia
access system for library
automation
Newton S. Lee
VTLS
Inc.,
Virginia Tech Corporate Research
Center,
1800 Kraft
Drive,
Suite
200,
Blacksburg,
VA
24060,
USA
Abstract: This paper
describes
the cutting-edge hardware
and software for multimedia information storage and
access.
We
will focus
on the
NeXT computer
as
the
innovative hardware platform and introduce the
VTLS
InfoStation as the new generation software that offers
user-friendly multimedia information
access
using expert
systems,
natural language processing, direct manipulation
graphical techniques and retrieval of full
text,
images
and
audio data.
1.
Introduction
Imagine sitting in your office, at home, or in a school dormi-
tory. Suddenly, your computer console beeps. An electronic
mail message has arrived. You say to the computer, 'Read my
mail'. Instantly, a picture comes up on the screen and speaks
to
you:
'Hi, this is Mary.
I
want to remind you that we have to
write a paper on American birds'.
Silently thanking Mary, you talk to the computer, 'Acti-
vate the VTLS InfoStation'. You then bring up the expert sys-
tem query screen on the InfoStation and type 'Show me a list
of books on the subject of American birds'. The InfoStation
consults a remote VTLS database located in a library miles
away. In a split second, VTLS responds with a list of books,
one of which is titled The Complete Encyclopedia of Ameri-
can Birds.
Perfect! After you select the encyclopedia item number
you want, the cover page of the book pops up on the screen.
When you say to the computer, 'Next page please', it displays
an introductory chapter filled with descriptions and photo-
graphs of several well-known American birds. On the screen,
adjacent to the entry of 'Songbird', is a tiny CD-player sym-
bol.
You use the keyboard-mouse
to
click on it. All of
a
sudden
your computer plays a beautiful tone recorded from a song-
bird. You copy some of the texts, images, and sound record-
ings on to your optical discette. Now you are ready to write
your paper!
It is not merely
a
dream.
At VTLS Inc., we are researching
and developing
a
new generation of software
on a
NeXTcom-
puter that has a high-resolution 17-inch console, CD-quality
music synthesizer/digitizer, 8-16 Mb of real memory, 330-
660
Mb
of hard disk storage, and 256
Mb
of read/write optical
disc storage. The new generation of software is called the
VTLS InfoStation, a multimedia information access system
for library automation.
1.1
Multimedia hardware technology
The physical delivery of multimedia information on a com-
puter requires the support of high-quality graphics, sound,
text and user interface. Ideally, a multimedia computer should
have a bitmapped screen of at least one megapixel with
256 grayscale and 16.7 million colors, 10-20 MIPS (million
instructions per second) digital signal processors for audio
and video display, a 10-20 MIPS CPU, 16-32 Mb of main
memory, a pointing device such as a mouse, and several giga-
bytes of read/write optical storage.
Even though most of the technology for the 'ideal' com-
puter is now available, a machine equipped with all of the
above options would cost at least $80
000.
Some com-
promises and innovations have resulted in less-than-ideal but
quite powerful workstations: Sun SPARCstation 1, DECsta-
tion 3100, HP 9000/834, IBM POWERstations, and NeXT
Personal Workstation. Moreover, these computers employ
Unix as their operating system platforms. Being flexible, ele-
gant, and powerful, Unix has become the first choice for many
high-end computers. Unix also enhances software portability
across machines by different vendors.
In addition to powerful machines, the usual huge amount
of multimedia data requires a high-speed transmission link
between a database and a designated computer. While Ether-
net provides a standard high-speed communication protocol
among computers, ultra high-bandwidth fiber optics offer
the best choice of physical connections among machines. Un-
fortunately, the telephone companies have been slow in in-
stalling fiber optics in libraries, offices and homes across the
nation.
1.2
Multimedia software technology
Intermedia (Yankelovich et al 1988) is one of the better-
known multimedia software programs designed for teaching
and research in a university environment. The system allows
hypermedia links across documents containing text and
graphics. Professors can use Intermedia to teach obscure con-
cepts more effectively on a computer, and students have the
flexibility to add personal annotations and creative notes to
the learning materials. Other multimedia systems have been
built for office automation (see Christodoulakis et al 1984,
Tsichritzis et al 1985, Karmouch & Naffah 1989), medical
databases (see Goldberg et al 1989), and military command
and control (see Poggio et al 1985).
The Electronic Library, Vol. 8, No. 6, December 1990 415
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