Published in May 15, 1996.
Wen-ling Liu
Indiana University
wliu@indiana.edu
The Indiana Local Group of the Midwest Chapter, Chinese American Librarians Association (CALA) has been in existence for more than a decade and is one of the most active groups. It may be of interest to all CALA members to learn of the history and development of the Indiana Group.
CALA was founded in 1973 and has five geographical chapters: California, Greater Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Northeast, and Southwest. The Midwest Chapter covers 12 states, and the Indiana Local was organized in the fall of 1984 as a local group of that Chapter.
In the article entitled "Midwest Goes Local", one finds the following reports on the birth of the local groups in the Midwest Chapter:
"The Board decided to set up local groups at the state or regional level. Each group will be chaired by a Chairperson who is to organize their own activities and to function as a liaison between the chapter and his or her state members."1 Among the seven local groups2 established in 1984, Indiana Local is the only group that has been active, holding two meetings every year.
Initially there was one Chairperson serving a one-year term, but later the Indiana Local Group began to elect both a Chair and a Chair-elect. In the first year the Chair-elect would assist the current Chair, and the second year would serve as Chair of the Group. The first Chair was Julie Su.
It was decided from the start that the Group would meet twice a year (once in the fall and once in the spring). According to the Membership Directory compiled by Julie for the second meeting held on May 18, 1985, there were ten members from Bloomington, Indianapolis, West Lafayette, Muncie, and Greencastle. Since then, the mailing list has grown to over thirty people at times.
The Indiana Local is composed mainly of Chinese-American librarians from academic, public, and private libraries in Indiana. It also encourages participation of Chinese American Library Science students and includes them in the mailing list. Special student orientation programs were organized or incorporated in the fall meetings to introduce to the students the organization of CALA and the field of Library Science in general.
Even though the local group is a division of the Midwest Chapter of CALA, it was financially independent until November 1992. According to meeting minutes prepared by Thomas Lee, the local membership decided to "seek to receive budget support from CALA-Midwest as a source of finance for all its activities."3 The Group then began to receive a subsidy from the Chapter. At the same time, the Indiana Group members discontinued the practice of paying the full cost of lunches for student guests. From then on, all librarians attending the fall meeting would share half of the new students' lunch cost.
The purpose of the group was expressed as follows by the second Chair Marian Chou in her announcement for the fall meeting in 1986,
"Hopefully this meeting will give us the opportunity to get acquainted, to share ideas on programs for future meetings, to discuss our problems and professional concerns, and to have fun."4In her letter to Thomas Lee, East Asian Librarian, Indiana University Libraries dated March 1, 1988, Marian Chou explained, "the goals of our meetings include encouraging better communication and promoting professional growth among members. A speech is usually scheduled as our meeting program."5
Indeed from the start, the Indiana Local Chapter members attempted to promote professional growth by sharing professional experiences with their colleagues. Joe Lin and George Hing were two of the earliest speakers. Joe Lin shared with the members his experience as a Science Librarian in an academic library, and George Hing spoke on the topic of archive materials at the spring meeting of 1985. In 1988 Ming-ming Kuo gave a report entitled, "Issues of Collection Development in University Libraries". Thomas Lee presented "From Isolation to Conformity: Bibliographic Control of East Asian Materials in North America" in the spring meeting of 1989. Philip Shih spoke on "Management and Taxation of Public Libraries" in the fall meeting of 1994.
Speakers from fields related to Library Science were also invited. Linda Finch, then the Assistant Manager of Waldenbooks, was the invited speaker at the meeting held in October 25, 1986. Her topic was good gift books available for children. Dr. Kuang-liang Hsu, an expert in computer science, presented a lecture with slides, "Introduction to Expert Systems" at the meeting of April 18, 1987.
The presentations have also reflected the increasing influence of automation in the field of Library Science. At the meeting held on April 28, 1990, Julie Su introduced the implementation of IO (Information Online), the local NOTIS system at Indiana University Libraries. At the meeting the following year, Huijie Chen reported on his research project, "Campus-wide Computing Networks and Library Positions". Most recently, Jian Liu reported on the current status and future development of the World Wide Web at the spring meeting of 1996. Xuan Ma also related her experience in designing and developing WWW services and products through commercial Internet services providers at the same meeting.
The introduction of new topics in the field of Library Science is one of the main attractions of the semi-annual meetings. Another attraction is news updates concerning members. We enjoy sharing news of employment of student members, weddings, births, awards, etc.
From the past meeting minutes, one can discover many interesting facts. For example, until November 1993 the local meetings were always held in Indianapolis because of its central location among cities where members work. With the increase of student members, Thomas Lee suggested in the fall meeting of 1993, which was the first to be held in Bloomington, that in the future one of the two local meetings be regularly held in Bloomington. Although his proposal was not accepted right away, it was instituted later when the Group decided that for the purpose of welcoming new students, Bloomington is an appropriate site for the fall meetings.
The number of participants at the local meetings has increased over the years, with over twenty persons at our last spring meeting. In contrast, Julie Su and Marian Chou were the only two attendees at the fall meeting in 1987. The meeting was nonetheless fruitful. With four proxy votes, they elected the next Chair. Julie also proposed to send out an Indiana Local Financial Resource Survey to all members to discuss the issue of possible financial support from CALA.
With continuing support from its members, the Indiana Local remains a growing and active professional group. Its members have been heavily involved in CALA's Midwest as well as national activities. Many members also hold important posts in CALA at the Midwest and national levels. For example, Julie Su was the first Indiana librarian to be the President of the Midwest Chapter (1984-1985). Following her example, other Indiana members Ming-ming Kuo (1987-1988), Pei-ling Wu (1994-1995) and Liana Zhou (1996-1997) have also served as the Midwest Chapter Presidents. Ming-ming and Pei-ling served in addition on the CALA Executive Board.
Other accomplishments of the Indiana Local include: In recent years together with other Midwest local chapters, members participated in updating the Midwest Area Chinese American Resource Guide, and this was published in June 1995. The Bibliography of Chinese Books in Indianapolis Area compiled by Julie Su, Calli Hu, Pei-ling Wu, and representatives of two Indiana Chinese community organizations, was published in 1993. For the past two years, many members have joined in compiling its sequel, A Catalog of Chinese Collections in Selected Indiana Libraries, sponsored by the Midwest Chapter. The catalog will be posted on WWW by Telamon, a telecommunication company in 1996.
There have been major developments in the field of Library Science since 1984. Along with our colleagues in Indiana Local and elsewhere we have witnessed the changing emphasis from the increasing acceptance of MARC (Machine-Readable Bibliographic Records) Format to the increasing demand for Internet and WWW sites. The next ten years will undoubtedly bring new technological developments of interest to all of us. The local groups can help to support efforts of members to adapt to the changing profession.
(Special thanks to Pei-ling Wu and Julie Su for background on the Indiana Local Group and for editorial assistance.)
Notes and References:
1. Su, Julie. "Midwest Goes Local," CALA Midwest Chapter Newsletter (Dec. 1984).
2. The seven local groups of the Midwest Chapter are: Illinois-Chicago area, Illinois-Urbana area, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, and Ohio.
3. Minutes of the fall meeting on November 14, 1992, prepared by Thomas Lee.
4. Fall meeting announcement from Marion Chou, dated Oct. 25, 1986.
5. Marion Chou's letter to Thomas Lee, dated March 1, 1988.
Liana Zhou and Susan Heusser-Ladwig
Kinsey Institute
Indiana University
Adult magazines, commonly known as girlie magazines or cheese cakes, are defined as:
More than 1500 titles of adult magazines have been collected throughout the Institute Library history and for each, the only information recorded on catalog cards consists of the title, the publisher and the holding information. Therefore, access to this collection is extremely limited. Only one set of the cards exists. So the library users have to come to the Institute to find what we have. And subject access is virtually non-existent. Few, if any, cross references are available. Needless to say, it is problematic for librarians to manage this collection, too.
Cataloging the adult magazines online became possible when the Institute Library automated its collection via Indiana University's NOTIS system in 1992. In early 1994, we started a pilot project of cataloging adult magazines into the NOTIS system, following the NOTIS MARC format for serials. The purpose of cataloging this type of materials online was to make them available to the University community, and ultimately, the international scholarly community via Internet, as primary resources for studying/researching erotica, popular cultures and sexual behaviors.
The pilot project consisted of 90 adult magazines of various types. We intended to achieve the following:
In the process, we have identified the following characteristics of adult magazines in terms of online cataloging:
Identifying/verifying the title, publisher, and publishing history is labor intensive and with varied results. Nevertheless, through the project, we have gained confidence, knowledge and expertise in bringing our serials online. Moreover, we have become aware of our future challenges such as revising the subject thesaurus to better fit serials. We believe that our experiences will offer suggestions and solutions to other librarians who are also struggling with popular press in their own collection.
Note: This project was first presented at 1995 ALA annual conference as a poster session.
Xuan MA
Indiana Youth Institute
Many commercial providers mentioned here can get you a domain name and provide other services, such as a mail server, FTP server, and WWW server. Hope this short article will help you to locate an Internet service provider that matches your needs and pocketbook.
The Internet Presence Providers list on Yahoo lists companies that sell you Web space as well as other services. (http://www.yahoo.com/business/corporations/internet_presence_providers/)
The BizWeb lists network providers and companies that provide complete Internet packages. (http://www.bizweb.com/keylists/network.provider.html)
Another comprehensive and up-to-date list compiled by James Milles is available via anonymous ftp at liberty.nc.wlu.edu. The directory and file name are:
The following commercial vendors are the ones that we have researched during last year. The information was accurate as of Fall, 1995.
Global Commerce Link
Tel: (303)443-9931
Fax: (303)443-5865
E-mail: info@commerce.com
URL: http://www.commerce.com
Example 1:
Example 2:
Additional cost:
| Custom HTML pages | $50/hr |
| Page modifications/changes | $20/each |
| Image scanning and insertion | $250 |
| domain name service | $250 |
| (includes domain registration, setup, | |
| one year primary and secondary name server | |
| operation and maintenance) | |
| Mail server (proxy) | quote |
| Custom creative graphics | quote |
CICNet, Inc
2901 Hubbard Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48105-2467
Tel: (313)998-6103
Fax: (313)998-6105
E-mail: info@cic.net
Example:
| Web Builder Service | Costs |
| Initial five-page setup | $1,695 |
| Each additional page | $150 |
| Customizations, additions, | $150/hr |
| modifications, and enhancements | |
| Monthly fee | $70 |
| (includes 10 MB of space on a T-3 node) | |
| Each additional 10 MB of space | $20/mo |
| Basic start-up cost | $1,850 |
Dedicated connectivity
| one time connect fees | monthly fees | |
| 56Kbs | $5,995 | $1,000 |
| T-1 | $9,995 | $2,000 |
IQuest
Tel:(317)259-5050
Fax:(317)259-7289
E-mail:iceman@iquest.net
| Web pages | Costs |
| storage | $5.00/megabyte/mo |
| thruput | $1.00/megabyte/mo |
| monthly fee | $25.00 (minimum) |
| SLIP/PPP dialup | $15/mo |
| Max baud | hourly fee | setup | |
| SLIP/PPP | 28.8K | $15 | n/a |
| Dedicated | 56.0K | $400 | $1,000 |
| T1-dial/SLIP/PPP |
NetAxis
Tel:(203)969-0618
Fax: (203)921-1544
E-mail:info@netaxis.com
TCP/IP dial up connection, Mosaic
IndyNet
Tel:(317)251-5208
URL: http://www.indy.net
Cost:
On-Net
Tel:(317) 871-7030
Fax:(317)871-7035
E-mail: sam@on_net.com
Cost:
Huijie Chen
Reference Librarian, Electronic Services
Heindel Library, Penn State Harrisburg
Middletown, PA 17057
hjc@psulias.psu.edu
Fulltext databases are charming as well as challenging to libraries. Today, there are many types of information available in fulltext databases, such as books, periodicals, newspapers, reference materials, as well as electronic publications. This paper focuses on the electronic versions of newspapers and periodicals, either in ASCII format or image format. I will discuss how fulltext databases are used as part of our library collection, and issues to consider.
I. Fulltext databases: Types and Usages
The library I am working for is a branch library in the Penn State University Libraries System. It is located 100 miles away from the main campus. It serves about 150 faculty members, 3,500 upper division and graduate students, and southern central Pennsylvania community. (For more information about the college, please check our home page at http://www.hbg.psu.edu/Hbg/pshoverv.html.) To serve this user body, we have included more and more fulltext databases into our digital library collection in recent years.
1. Lexis/Nexis
Lexis/Nexis is available with online subscription. We access Lexis/Nexis databases via the Internet connection. Under Lexis/Nexis's educational license agreement, library patrons (restricted to college faculty, staff, and students only) have unlimited access to a wide range of Lexis/Nexis databases in the library. An annual publication is provided by Lexis/Nexis with indication of three levels of coverage: complete fulltext, selected fulltext, and abstracts only. All covered articles are provided in ASCII format. The search functions include fulltext search, single publication search, single date search, etc. With the [PrintScreen] command, patrons can print or download a fulltext article screen by screen.
2. Dow Jones News/Retrieval
Dow Jones News/Retrieval (DJN/R) is also available via online subscription at the educational rate. It is provided for in-library use with linkage to DJN/R via the Internet. Under our license agreement, we don't have access to DJN/R's text databases. But we still have access to more than 600 publications in ASCII format through DOWQUEST section, including business and financial publications such as Wall Street Journal (WSJ). Print and download functions are both present. It is an enhancement to Lexis/Nexis because WSJ is not available in full text in Lexis/Nexis. There are drawbacks in DJN/R, however. Firstly, the list of coverage has been dropped from their recent users guide. Secondly, search interface provides no mechanism for known-item retrieval. Lastly, it only covers articles in the last six months. (Note: after submission of this article, the author found that DJN/R had removed DJREQUEST interface.)
3. Computer Select
Computer Select is a CD-ROM product from Information Access Company with a roll-over 12 month coverage of 113 computer journals, industrial newsletters, etc. Selected fulltext articles from about twenty-five publications are provided in the CD-ROM in ASCII format. The database has many search keys including single publication title and single date. Both print and download functions are available. The CD-ROM database is available for in-house library use only. We did not receive any updated coverage list since the initial subscription.
4. UMI Business Periodicals Ondisc
The Business Periodicals Ondisc (BPO), the fulltext version of ABI/Inform, is the only database in the library which provides a true cover-to-cover image coverage of more than 400 periodical titles. Some titles go back as early as 1987. The BPO is installed in the library, whose CD-ROM collection amounts to 500 by now. Two types of search engines are available: 1) conventional UMI ProQuest interface, and 2) a periodical directory. Using the periodical directory is pretty easy. User may trace an article by starting with periodical title, issue number, and then article title in a table-of-contents. With a laser printer, the quality of printouts is similar to a black-and-white photo copy. However, there is no download function for articles in image format. In our library, we have incorporated the BPO coverage into the library periodicals holding list and updated them annually with information provided by UMI.
5. Periodical Abstracts with Fulltext
This service, using UMI tape-load data, is available through Penn State university-wide Libraries Information Access System (LIAS) in ASCII format. Some fulltext coverage began in 1992, and many titles started after 1994. Only major articles are covered for each issue of publications. Through the LIAS interface, only the abstract parts of documents are searchable. It is possible to get a list of covered articles in a single issue of publication. Print, download, and email functions are provided. Library patrons can access this database from any Penn State libraries or from a remote location. A coverage list is provided.
Databases or services listed above have other coverage beyond fulltext newspaper and periodicals. They are not included in the discussion of this paper.
II. Discussions
Fulltext databases have many unique advantages. Compared with the conventional library collections, fulltext databases are easier to store and search. Moreover, it is easier to deliver documents originally published in newspaper and periodicals with fulltext databases. They take much less shelf space to store. They come with all kinds of search engines. Contents can be printed or displayed as one wishes and are remotely accessible if permitted by the license and technology. But selecting and using fulltext databases can be difficult or confusing. Here are some major issues we should deal with regarding using fulltext databases.
1. Image vs Text
It should be clear from the start that two basic types of fulltext databases -- image-based or text-based -- serve different needs. Image format preserves the original document in verbatim, including tables and diagrams. (UMI's BPO can't handle color or gray scale images well, though.) There are many valuable information embedded in the layout of the original publication. When transferred to ASCII codes, many articles lose accompanying information, such as tables, diagrams and pictures. But text format enables users to print or download a document more conveniently with less technical requirements. It is especially true when one accesses the document remotely.
Our library patrons have a strong preference towards BPO over the printed publications, for it is more convenient to use than printed stacks in many ways. For text-based databases, on the other hand, Lexis/Nexis newspaper collection is an extreme success. Although articles in Lexis/Nexis have all the disadvantages of being in text format, they are preferred to microform copy. In Lexis/Nexis, patrons can easily search a known newspaper article. In addition, it is searchable by date in a single newspaper so that a patron can "browse/scan" newspapers more easily.
Today, fulltext databases in text format are more readily available than image-based ones. But popularity does not determine which format is superior to the other. In many cases, patrons are in the best position to decide if their needs can be met by using an image format or text format. Having access to a publication in text format does not means that every patrons can take advantage of this format. However, if librarians show patrons how to access to those fulltext databases, they will certainly offer more resources than otherwise available in the library.
2. Full Coverage
Not all fulltext databases deliver the promise of fulltext coverage. The completeness of coverage is a very important factor to consider including fulltext databases into your library collection, not even mention replacing some titles in our collection. Ideally, we should look for those with truly cover-to-cover coverage. Again, a good example is UMI's BPO. With BPO, you can access any content, even by page numbers, in a single issue.
In reality, however, we may or have to settle down with some databases that have less coverage. The real problem with fulltext databases is that many times we are left untold as to what articles are selected and what articles are not. Another problem related to the incomplete coverage is that the database users, either patrons or librarians, are forced to check it very closely before they can be sure that they do not have the article buried somewhere in the fulltext collection. It is a time-consuming task. Lexis/Nexis's coverage list is a useful tool for this situation, for it has indications for different coverage levels. UMI's coverage list, accessible through the online fulltext periodicals directory, is also very handy to identify if an issue is completely missed.
3. Known-Item Retrieval
When examining these fulltext databases, one important feature that should not be neglected is the "known-item retrieval" capability. A fulltext database should allow searching and retrieval of a known-item, that is, a specific article that a patron knows its title and/or author.
Ideally, the searching should be quick and straightforward, and the result matches the intended hit as closely as possible. A search result shouldn't need scrolling more than two screens. In another word, the search engine should give patrons explicit results whether the articles exist or not in the database as quick as possible.
The DOWQUEST in DJN/R is a negative example. Actually, the DOWQUEST's search engine is relative easy for subject search. It serves its purpose of finding "relevant articles" quickly and easily. But it is very difficult to search an article based on some known citation information which are non-subject related. The search inquiry is always treated as a statement in the "nature language" and the results are usually four screen long. Chances are that the article needed is not shown up on any of those screens.
4. Duplication
It should be noted that fulltext databases tend to cover popular publications, many of which may have been in your library's subscription already. It is possible to see a heavy usages of these titles in fulltext databases. But again, fulltext databases, no matter how complete they are and how conveniently they can be accessed, are not the same as the printed counterparts. The digitized version normally comes later than the printed version, except some newspapers in Lexis/Nexis. The digitized version can't be viewed without a computer. The printout from a fulltext database may not as readable as the original printed version. It is always hard to browse a fulltext database. Thus, a library can't afford to cut subscriptions to those popular titles and simply live with fulltext databases. It should be kept in mind that fulltext databases may serve some needs but not all needs. For archival purposes, however, a library may choose not to bind, store or order the microformed copy of some newspapers or industry newsletters.
On the other hand, it should be aware that there is always some duplications among several fulltext databases. Once a publisher makes its publication available in digitized format, it may lease the contents to more than one database vendor. For example, PC Magazine, Fortune, Business Weeks, etc., can be easily found in several fulltext databases mentioned above with the same contents. When evaluating those fulltext databases, we should discount the value of these duplicated publications.
5. Services
By introducing fulltext databases into library collection, we are gradually moving away from a collection-centered to a services-centered approach. Thus, the quality of services provided by database vendors are particular important to a successful use of fulltext databases.
For instance, can the vendor provide the fulltext databases in a long run? We know that the fulltext databases may partially replace some of archival collection. The problem is that we are not sure if the vendor can last as long as we are still in need of those databases. Even databases are still available, some publication titles may be dropped along the way. Far East Economic Reviews was considered as one of important journals we could get through BPO. But the title was dropped out of BPO in 1995.
Does the vendor have a reasonable license arrangement and price? For example, can we provide remote access to the database? Can we use the databases for a college wide need? Lexis/Nexis's educational license clearly states that the products can only be used for a curriculum related purpose. Using Lexis/Nexis materials for research, reference, and college administration is prohibited under our current contract.
Does the vendor provide a coverage list that reflects the contents of the database? Do they update the coverage list regularly and accurately? We have discussed this issue above.
III. Conclusion
Fulltext databases are a promising phenomenon. They bring in a new service dimension to libraries. From the viewpoint of the collection development, they are strengthening our collection while competing for limited resources. Based on my observation, it is clear that fulltext databases can not completely replace our conventional collection. However, they can be used to replace some piles of back issues of newspapers and newsletters. Beyond that, we still need to ask for more, better, and truly complete fulltext databases.
Special Library Association's 1995 State of the Art Institute
November 1-2, 1995
Washington, DC
-- SUMMARY REPORT --
by
Julie Su
IUPUI University Libraries
jsu@indycms.iupui.edu
The Institute consists of a keynote address, a session on intellectual property rights and issues, and four sessions of individual country reports. The countries covered are: China, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Proceedings have been published in 1996.
SESSION REPORTS:
Keynote:
East Asia: A survey of political and economic issues 1945-1995
The Honorable Ronal Palmer
Professor & Diplomatic Consultant
George Washington University
Southeast Asian countries have gone through many major political changes in the past fifty years. First the Nationalism or anti-Colonialism movement in many of these Southeast Asian countries led to their independence at the end of the World War II. Between 1945 and 1965, Communism swept through the region.
Today, the region is more peaceful than it has ever been since the 19th century, and its economy has experienced tremendous economic growth since 1970. The region's economic development has three distinctive characteristics: (1) dynamism (so much is done for so many in such a short time), (2) size (the region's economy reaches 7 trillion in 1992, surpassing that of the European community), and (3) integration (ASEAN has pulled countries of great diversity into a more integrated economy). The World Bank forecasts that by the year 2020, seven out of the ten top world trade markets will be Asian countries, and China will once again lead the world economy as the "Middle Kingdom".
Andy Sun, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Asia Pacific Legal Institute
George Washington University
The concept of intellectual property is nonexistent in the East Asian countries. China has the most severe problems regarding intellectual property (IP) issues. Malaysia, like many other Asian countries, has video/audio cassette piracy problems. The Philippines has copyright problems as well as computer software, laser disc, movie piracy problems. Taiwan was considered the piracy kingdom for a long time, but it is going through significant changes toward the regulation of copyright laws.
In the U.S. law, the Trade Act of 1974 in which Sec. 301 provides the criteria through which the United States trade representative will act on behalf of the individual industry to handle foreign piracy issues. In 1988 a so-called telecommunication 301 was added to Special 301 that linked international property with the trade. According to Special 301, U.S. Trade representatives shall issue a trade report by March each year, issuing warnings against other countries concerning trade disputes. U.S. is using bilateral and multilateral approaches in dealing with IP problems .
John Urne
Director of the Telecommunications Research Project
Center of Asian Studies
University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong:
Hong Kong is a teleport and a telecom hub for China, and is also a center of business as well as a distribution hub in the Southeast region. This status has to remain true after 1997. Otherwise, both Hong Kong and China will suffer.
The Information Technology infrastructure makes Hong Kong very competitive in the region. Its excellent telecom infrastructure and financial service are the two most important reasons of locating business in Hong Kong. Eighty percent of central office switches are digital. Hong Kong has 600,000 mobile cellular users (10% of total population), 1,4 million pager users, and over 20 Internet providers. Over 27% household has personal computer and 6% has Internet access. Wireless technology is very hot. Video-on-demand service, home banking, and home shopping over the cable TV are on the way. In fact, Hong Kong has the most cable and satellite dishes at the lowest prices in Southeast Asia.
In the information services market there are service providers such as financial information providers, limited local database providers and recreational services providers. The cost of online database production is very high, and if Asia is to develop its own database, it needs to have a copyright policy. Major users of online service are banks and shipping companies.
Hong Kong's IT policy is that the government provides seed money and promotes information trade by consultation but is not directly involved in the information industries. The private sector is left to build the infrastructure of telecom. Hong Kong Telecom Company had the monopoly of domestic voice public switch telephone service until July 1995. Private foreign companies like AT&T and Hutchison are in the market. Hong Kong Telecom International Telecom retains the exclusiveness of providing circuit and basic voice service until the year 2006. However, currently all added value services for international services have been liberalized.
Issues and concerns of information technology in Hong Kong:
China:
There are three notable economic policy developments in China, they are:
The development of information technology in China is closely related to the government's desire of building a close internal information network and to institute national control over local economy. This is manifested in the eight golden projects, in which computer networks are being developed to link tax office, banks, custom units, etc.
There is a plan for massive expansion of telecommunication infrastructure in China to build up mobile system, and fiber optical cables. Telephone networks are set up in major cities, with a target of adding 50 million lines in 1995 and eventually 130 million lines by the year 2000. China is building annually 3 times of the entire Hong Kong's telephone network. Internet is exploding, estimated 100,000 Internet users, mostly in the research community. China has only 3 or 4 Internet providers, and only 10 to 12 online databases with very primitive searching capabilities.
The problem of China's IT lies on the demand side. Although no market research has been done but there is not a high demand of information technology in general household, nor in public offices. In fact there is a genuine concern that technology may create unemployment. Mobile communications do not have high demand in China, but has potential in the future.
In principle, China does not allow foreign management, but accepts value added services with Chinese partnership. Although China can manufacture materials and equipment of telecom industry, hi-tech areas such ATM switching and transmission still need foreign technology.
Taiwan:
By William Zarit
Commercial Officer at American Institute in Taiwan
Taiwan is a democratic society and has a very healthy economy with 6.5% GDP growth, very low inflation rate and zero unemployment.
Computer Industry:
Taiwan's production of computer hardware ranks number four in the world in 1994, and is predicted to move up to be number three in 1995, surpassing Germany. Taiwan is the world's leader in the production of monitors, motherboards, image scanners, mice and keyboards.
Current trend of computer hardware industry is moving from small companies to large dominant companies with a strong and increasing trend of migrating manufactures off shore and concentrating on the high tech industries. Computer software industry is far behind in both production and export, but has a projected 20% growth. The Taiwan government has recently established Nankang Software Park and has potential market of development Chinese software for Chinese speaking communities world-wide.
Telecom:
Taiwan has 2 million pager users and 790,000 cellular lines, and has launched Integrated Services Digital Networks (ISDN) services in four major cities.
Taiwan is in the process of liberalizing its telecommunications. A draft proposal of telecommunication law is currently pending in the Legislature Yuan, and has a good chance to pass. The key to this proposal is allowing foreign investment in all value added services, in wireless services, and in phasing services.
Meanwhile, Taiwan has already opened up 10 value added services to private companies for domestic competition. CE-2, pager, VSAT, and cellular technologies have been liberalized. Cable TV has been a very well developed industry in Taiwan for 20 years. According to the 1993 cable TV law, every cable network on the island will be retrofitted or completely redone, making Taiwan one of the most advanced cable networks in the region.
National Information Infrastructure (NII):Taiwan began its ten-year NII plan in the summer of 1994 with the goal to provide better education and health services, to push computer hardware industry and to pull Taiwan software industry for domestic development. Money has been earmarked for the Plan. Spectrum planning is going forward, technology tends to be cellular and radio paging, and one hundred percent of the spectrum are fiber optics. The artilleries of Taiwan NII are Internet and fiber optic backbone. There are estimated 100,000 Internet users, mostly in the academics. HiNet is a dedicated line for Internet services and is very congested.
Experimental HiNet band width networks are used in two projects. One project is running in the Hsinchu Scientific Industry Park where research institutes, administrative offices, universities and private companies will be networked. The project uses the ATM switches developed domestically. The second project will be focusing on distance education, health care sector and video on demand, and will be in Taipei. Three fourths of Taipei band width are hooked up by libraries.
Korea
Presented by Eui Koh
Asia Pacific Relations, INTELSAT
Liberalization:
There are 133 public enterprises in Korea. The government is going through deregulating and trying to sell government utility companies to private companies. Korea Telecom had the monopoly for a long time until ten years ago when the government created a second and now building a third carrier. There are two mobile companies and 40 cable television companies.
Korea telecommunications profile:
Korea has very high teledensity (42.6 per 100 people ), and switching digitization (59% of the lines are switched to digital). Cellular subscribers grow annually 57.4% in Seoul. Paging is very popular, CT2 services are introduced in 1995 and PCS will be introduced by 1996.
Korea's National Information Infrastructure:
Korea is developing her own NII very quickly, the government proposes the establishment of Asian Pacific Information Infrastructure (APII) and wants to become the leader of APII. Korea's NII has a strong support from the government, with a budget allocation about 5 times higher than the Taiwan government. At present 95% of the country is covered by fiber optic lines.
Import and export of telecommunications equipment:
Korea has a strong foreign trade, 96 billion exports and 102 billion import. Electronics industry is booming, and has become a major industry in Korea. Within the electronics, semiconductor industry is the fast growing industry. The number of electronics companies grew from 496 in 1970 to 8,000 in 1993. Semiconductor and computer are the leading exports from Korea. Korea also imports very high volume of telecommunication parts and equipment from United States and European countries.
Thailand and Vietnam
Chao Thongma
Telecommunication Association of Thailand
Thailand:
Thailand is giving priority to information and communications industry and the government is committed to privatize state enterprises, and liberate financial services by the year 2000. A master plan for communication is brought up by the Ministry of Transportation to the Cabinet for adoption. The Plan calls for further liberation of telecommunication industry, and massive expansion of telephone lines in several phases. According to the Plan, the state owns Telecommunication of Thailand (TOT) for domestic communications, and Communications Authority of Thailand (CAT) for international phone service will be privatized by the year 1998. Private sector will have opportunities to bid the contract for building more than 6 million phone lines.
Computer and mobiles are popular in Thailand. There are three commercial Internet providers. Government employees are required to learn computer skills for promotion. Computer associations work together to donate computers to schools in remote areas. Software industry is booming, representing over 60% growth in 1994-95. The government has issued a copyright law to agree with APEC requirements and is reinforcing the law with the assistance of police department against software pirating. Qualified human resources in the IT field, including university faculty, are in high demand. Salaries for electronic or communication engineers are very good.
Thailand's CAT company has fiber optical lines connected with ASEAN countries through a number of cable networks and uses satellite services such as IntelSat, Asiasat, Palapa, and Globalstar. Thailand recently developed multichannel distribution system for the first time. More than 50,000 units are up in Bangkok this year, and 100,000 units will be expected in the next year. Thaikom has built many services for tele-education, and for commercial social messages as well. Video-on-demand are delivered to homes by fiber optic cables. Current projects for IT development include: Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), Metropolitan Area Network, EDI, and ATM.
Vietnam:
It is very difficult to obtain telecommunication information about Vietnam because it has a closed government.
Australia in 1986/87 first offered to set up satellite communication lines in Vietnam. Since then, there are six stations in the country. Vietnam's current teledensity is one telephone to 6,000 people and has a project targeting for teledensity of one to 100 people in 1995. Vietnam could leapfrog to total digital without going through the analog technology.
Since Vietnam opened up in 1987, many countries rushed to invest in telecommunications in Vietnam. The first ones were Japan, Korea (offering digital switching), and France, and then United States, Australia, and Germany. It is very difficult to break the government bureaucracy and to make the right contact to establish business in Vietnam.
Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia
Presented by Dr. Meheroo Jussawalla
Senior Fellow/Economist
East-West Center, Honolulu
Malaysia:
Malaysia has a strong economy growth and its telecommunication industry has a faster growth rate than its GDP. Indeed, its telecommunication industry has become the most important industry in Malaysia.
Malaysia tries to attain the leading position of the ASEAN countries. President Dr. Mahtia is proposing the formation of AFTA, and Malaysia is collaborating with other ASEAN countries to develop a regional telecom infrastructure.
Malaysia was the pioneer in liberalization when the Post Telephone Telecommunication Authority (PTTA) was privatized in 1990, and called Telekom Malaysia. It thus became a model followed by Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, and India. Since then the cellular market exploded. Seventy percent of the country's transmission system and 78% of the switches are using digital technology. Malaysia plans to launch a state-of-the-art satellite by the end of 1995. The satellite will have 14 Ku Band and C band signals. Currently 64% of the Malaysian international circuits are supported by satellite communication, and thus enable Malaysia to reach not just the ASEAN countries but the whole APEC community. They expect to recover the satellite cost by leasing the transponders with a charge.
Like other ASEAN countries, Malaysia has opened up its telecommunication market for foreign investment following liberalization. Malaysia's telecommunication company Sapura has become a major exporter of cellular phone, pay phone, and fax machines of the Asian Pacific region. It also supplies public call offices and retail calls to Vietnam. Malaysia's semiconductor industry has grown rapidly. The industry has changed from traditionally foreign owned to domestically owned and operated. Even the board and chips are domestically produced. Today, Malaysia is the second largest supplier of semiconductor to the US market as well as the world's market.
Singapore:
Singapore, known as "the intelligent island", has been building a master plan called IT 2000 to develop the nation's information infrastructure. It is the first Asian country to build the information superhighway, and is one of the world's most intensive users of fiber optic cables. Singapore Telekom has a program called "Optical Fiber to the Curb", which plans to build fiber connection to every home by the year 2005, and digitize all 28 telephone switches. It has also laid submarine fiber optic cables to link the island to all Asian Pacific countries. Currently, Southeast Asia has a total of 42 underlining cables, making high quality communication activities in the region.
Singapore Telecoms has offered basic rate interface since 1989 and has begun to offer primary rate service for videoconferencing, and visual and voice communication. Singapore also launched a videotex system, known as Teleview.
Singapore Telecoms, being a public sector and with a complete monopoly over IT services until Dec. 1993, has bought the most sophisticated technology to make this country an intelligent island. The National Computer Board, a statutory board, launched a computerized tradenet system to document trading activities in Singapore's busy harbor. Singapore's telecommunication traffic, value-added services, and mobile services are growing. 27% of Singapore citizens have pagers.
Singapore makes international investment in telecommunication technology, and has shares in the telecom markets in Norway, the United Kingdom, India, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and the Philippines. It has a vision of its future investment in the Chinese telecommunication market.
Indonesia:
Indonesia's two statutory telecommunication agencies are liberalized and open for foreign investment. Current teledensity is less than 2%. Indonesia is planning to build 5 million new phone lines by the year 1999, a remarkable increase as compared to the current 2.2 million lines. AT&T and Nippon Electronic Corporation (NEC) have already won the contract.
Indonesia is the first Third World country to have a domestically owned and operated satellite system, called Palapa Satellite, which was launched in 1976. Indonesia initially used the system to promote national language, integrate diverse population, and provide distance learning programs for farmers and universities.
Other Asian countries followed the ideas and began to lease transponders or rent channels on the Palapa satellite for their own domestic communications. The profits have helped the continued development and operation of Palapa satellite. Major satellite operators in Indonesia include Inmasat, Asiasat, and Indosat.
Indonesia plans to use a mobile satellite called Galupa satellite for cellular communication, and is entering contract with foreign investment on a "build, operate and transfer" (BOT) basis in the construction of new phone lines. Indonesia Telekom is also about to launch a new cellular technology using GSN standard, a digital technology to provide higher volume of voice and data. Rural areas are using cellular/pagers because of the low telephone density. In the cellular telecommunication arena, the big system of low-earth orbiting (LEO) satellites is being launched. LEO will support PCS and PNC services. Malaysia and Singapore and Indonesia have all invested in Inmasat, wanting to move forward to the latest technology in information. When the big LEO system becomes operative, cellular rolling will become a reality, and rural and remote areas can participate in the information revolution.
Asia telecommunication industry has leapfrogged into the 21st century. Many countries have installed the most advanced data switches, fiber optic cables, and wireless network, and are investing in multitechnology at a rapid speed. Even the low income countries are bringing their information infrastructure into the 21st century without being left in the 20th. A country like Vietnam with very low teledensity is selling cellular phone and building Internet facility. The building of information infrastructure is perceived essential for national economic growth and attracting foreign investment. Asian countries installed 23 billion dollars worth telecommunication equipment in 1994, and most of the investment came from foreign investment. It is a big market opportunity. AT&T has already bid 5 year switching in Indonesia, Taiwan, and Korea. Asian countries are eager for the low-earth orbiting satellite to be operative so that cellular rolling will become a reality and the rural and remote areas will be able to participate in this information revolution.
Amy D. Seetoo
Michigan Initiative for Women's Health
The University of Michigan
President, Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association
This year marks the 26th year since I took the first core course in Library Science at the University of Illinois. My interest in Library Science stemmed from my one-year experience as a research assistant in managing the collection in the study room of the Division in English as a Second Language. I believe I have benefited tremendously from my training in Library Science, which has offered me not only flexibility in career choice but also appreciation of life in this democratic society.
It may be strange to think that a degree in Library Science would offer job opportunities outside a building called "library". Apart from six years as an academic reference librarian, I have not been employed as a librarian. Nevertheless, I consider myself a librarian. When I was in the publishing industry, I trained staff and outside editors on Boolean logic and information retrieval via computer. I gave lectures and presentations on information management. When I worked for the Intellectual Property Office at the University of Michigan, I conducted researches on company information and new product information by using all the resources available in the library, traditional or electronic. While promoting the publication on women's health published by my current employer, I make sure that the campus libraries related to health and women's issues receive copies, because I know that the library is one of the important centers where information is collected, organized, and disseminated.
Furthermore, through my participation in Chinese American community activities, I came to the conclusion that Chinese American librarians are probably the single group of Chinese Americans that understand American culture better than the average Chinese American professionals. How did I reach this conclusion? First of all, at work, we handle every day the essence of American life, that is, the library materials. We have to make decisions regarding acquiring, cataloging, and retrieving such materials. In other words, we have immediate exposure to the essence of modern thinking. In addition, through our education in library schools, we have been indoctrinated in the concept of "freedom of information" and the duty to disseminate "diverse information", the two corner stones of democracy. Lastly, I have observed that our professional organization, the Chinese American Librarians Association (CALA), has been organized by our forward-looking founding fathers in such a way that it meets the standards of a well-functioned professional association, which affords "checks and balances" and "full membership participation".
With this understanding of ourselves, I urge all our members to participate in the Chinese American organizations in our communities and become an agent of change in introducing American democracy to our communities. Librarians can do more than just managing information.
Shixing Wen
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
shwen@siu.edu
http://swen.fgcu.edu
I. Brief Introduction
Many of us have played on the Web for quite a while by now and may want to venture a step further from merely browsing to publishing on the Web. For those who work or study at an institution of higher learning in North America, it is not difficult to apply for an account on their institution's WWW server and set up their own home pages. But for those who are not affiliated with higher education, it might not be as easy to do so. To try one's hand with HTML on one's own computer is one thing. But to really publish on the Web is quite another.
One way out is to set up an account with a commercial Internet services provider. With payment, you are entitled to rent some disk space on that provider's WWW server. But not everyone of us are willing to pay to publish, especially so when we do not have a big publishing project to warrant the expenses. Windows httpd is thus coming handy for us to try publishing on the Web and moreover, to run a WWW server and be a real Webmaster!
II. System and Equipment Requirement
Windows httpd runs on Windows 3.1 and 3.11. It is free of charge for personal and non-commercial use. It supports up to 16 simultaneous users. And it is ready to use, without requiring your own configuration.
As far as equipment is concerned, you need at least a 386+ with 8+ megabyte memory. The later models (e.g., 486 or Pentium), the better. And the more memory (e.g., 16 mb), the better.
Besides, your computer must be on the Internet. In other words, you should not set up a WWW server with a dial-up module, for you will be assigned only a temporary IP address for each dial-up session. Without a permanent IP address, nobody can find or log onto your WWW server. So virtually, you probably have to use your computer at work that has a direct Internet connection.
In addition, you need to have Trumpet WinSock on your computer to run the server. If you have Netscape installed on your computer, then you are okay, for Netscape needs Trumpet WinSock to run, too. If not, you are not yet ready to run a WWW server on your computer.
If you have met all the above-mentioned requirements, you may proceed with following detailed instruction on installation.
A word of note. The following instruction is prepared for non-tech people or "dummies". For those advanced or well versed people, you may just follow the instruction provided by the author of the Windows httpd.
III. Installation Steps
The installation is not too difficult. Just follow the following steps:
1. Create a directory on your computer called httpd. For example:
2. Download a copy of Windows httpd (the file name is: whttpd14.zip) to the directory you have just created. The URL address of the Windows httpd downloading site is:
3. Exit from Windows to DOS. In other words, simply Exit Windows from the Program Manager.
4. Execute the pkunzip command to uncompress or decompress the zip file you have downloaded to the directory called HTTPD. Be sure to use the -d option to preserve the pre-set directory structure within the file. For example:
Just sit there until the computer has done the uncompressing or decompressing.
Then type EXIT at the C prompt, and you will return to the Windows environment.
5. Go to the File Manager and click on the directory called HTTPD. You will find a bunch of subdirectories and files.
6. Find the file called httpd.exe and drag it with your mouse to the work group on your desktop or Program Manager where you'd like it to reside. For example, the work group called TCP/IP or Main. And it will automatically create an icon for your WWW server.
7. Open your Notepad. It is usually in the work group called "Applications". Click and hold on File and move your cursor to Open. In the pop-up window, type
| \autoexec.bat | (and press [enter]) |
So if you are in New York, you need to modify the line accordingly:
After you have added the time zone line to the autoexec.bat, you need to save it.
8. Still in the Notepad. Open once again. And in the pop-up window, type
| system.ini | (and then press [enter]) |
9. Now you need to exit Windows and then reset or restart your computer to let the changes your have made take effect.
10. When you are back in Windows, go to the work group where you have kept the HTTPD icon and double click on the icon. It will first pop up and then minimize into a small icon at the bottom of your screen. Now your WWW server is up and running!
IV. Final Words
From then on, you can follow the instruction given on the screen and design your own home page. There is also a list of HTML guide and primer on the screen for your reference.
The URL address of your home page or WWW server is the IP address of your computer. To find out what your IP address is, you may either open your Trumpet WinSock where you will find the numerical address (e.g., 131.230.72.44) or you can access the CND Home Page (http://www.cnd.org) where you will be greeted with your alphanumeric address (e.g., lib44.lib.siu.edu) at the top of the screen.
When you are comfortable with running the server, you can announce your OWN home page and WWW server to the world with pride.
It is my sincere hope that we Chinese librarians will actively participate in electronic publishing on the Web. May the Web be the window of our talent and creativity. And may the Web be a significant tool to advance librarianship and information science.
When your WWW server is set up and running, please let me know. I will add your URL address to a special place on our CALA web pages. One by one, we will build a web of our own servers.