Electronic catalogs O Connor, Mary Ann
EventDV,
11/1994, Letnik:
7, Številka:
6
Journal Article
Electronic catalogs are finally coming of age as an increasing number of companies experiment with the electronic distribution of products and product information. One of the most obvious uses of ...electronic catalogs is for the distribution of software. The elimination of conflict over shelf space, satisfied customers who have tried the software before purchase, 100% customer registrations, and no packaging and paper documentation are just a few of the many benefits of software distribution on CD-ROM. There are at least 9 vendors who are currently devising unique schemes to distribute software on CD-ROM. Many of these offer services that include manufacturing, encryption, 24-hour order fulfillment, distribution, international translations and distribution, and consulting services for CD-ROM distribution. One advantage of teaming up with a distribution vendor is being able to benefit from the strategic relationships they may have already developed.
CD-R or recordable CD-ROM technology has been one of the truly great breakthroughs for the CD-ROM industry. Seen as both a method for fast, safe data backup and economical information distribution, ...major US corporations have added CD-R units to their acquisition plans for 1994. Interleaf Inc.'s Interleaf Intellecte solves 2 basic problems for corporations. The first is how to get maximum value for a corporation's current investment in documents and document software. The 2nd is how to do so in a cost-effective way. Another company, Information Management Research, develops and markets software retrieval and archival products for CD-R drives and document management software for local and wide area networks. Moving computer reports to recordable CD-ROM has become a cost-effective method for businesses to archive and distribute hundreds of megabytes of data on a medium that can be quickly and easily searched.
In the 10 years since the introduction of CD-ROM, the use of this medium for information distribution has consistently included a debate over pricing. Today, many publishers are taking advantage of ...the opportunities that CD-ROM provides for the distribution of new and existing products. Even though early developers may have reduced their costs associated with CD-ROM development, it still involves an investment in equipment and skills. For most publishers, this investment represents incremental costs, which are passed on to the customer in the form of higher pricing for CD-ROM versions of products. Increased or even equal pricing for CD-ROM versions of print products is a concept that appears to be difficult for customers to accept. The image they have is that all information is already in electronic form and that it is a simple matter to distribute it on CD-ROM or any other electronic media. Some possible solutions to the pricing dilemma are examined.
Adobe Systems Inc., a leading provider of word processing and graphics software products, has introduced the Adobe Acrobat family of products. Adobe Acrobat has the potential to solve some of the ...most nagging problems still plaguing the CD-ROM development community. The key to the cross-platform functionality of Adobe Acrobat products is a unique PostScript language-based file format called the Portable Document Format (PDF). A PDF file can describe documents containing any combination of text, graphics, and images in a device- and resolution-independent format. These documents can be one page or thousands of pages, very simple or extremely complex, with rich use of fonts, graphics, color, and images. PDF, the specification Adobe documents and publishes for use by software developers as an open standard, is designed to replicate the appearance of pages with the same high fidelity as the PostScript language. Adobe has also announced plans to document and support a full-text search application programming interface to the Acrobat viewing software.
Software developers currently spend a great deal of time and money duplicating floppy disks and documentation. At the same time, software prices are dropping, further shrinking revenues. Information ...providers are faced with selling customers large databases of information, much of which they cannot use, at relatively high prices. For both environments, the existing methods for distribution of information or software are proving to be inadequate for the growing information age and the way people need to access information. National Semiconductor, in conjunction with Wave Systems Corp., is developing the iOpener system to address the question of how to continue to be profitable while selling products at lower prices and how to streamline the distribution of information products. The iOpener technology is based on the concept that whatever the customer uses is paid for and that the customer pays only for what is needed. While the iOpener system will not be specific to any delivery system, its first products will use existing CD-ROM technology.
The Virgin of Guadalupe is a well-known religious symbol honored throughout the Americas but especially in Mexico. This article focuses on the celebration of the feast of Guadalupe in a village in ...Sonora, Mexico. The region where the village is located has been developed agriculturally by the Mexican government and is now economically quite modern. The development program has had ethnic ramifications as well: where once two distinct ethnic groups existed there is now a cultural continuum. The Guadalupe fiesta in this case is a forum for the expression of a family's location on this continuum, and a means for socially validating changes in this status. The Guadalupe ceremonies also elicit ethnic allegiances in a community where ethnic cleavages exist but are rarely brought out. Through participating in specific ways in the various ritual dramas of the feast, individuals illustrate this cleavage and then overcome it by avowing the Virgin's protection of all Mexicans without regard to ethnic categories. This case has implications for the theoretical considerations of the relationship between economic change and ethnic identity, as well as for the role of individuals and symbolic expression in the context of social change.
The present study had two aims: (1) to examine the prevalence rates of prenatal alcohol consumption in a group of women participating in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants ...and Children (WIC) in Southern California, with special emphasis on Hispanic women, and (2) to identify variables associated with postconception drinking in low-income minority women.
The study employed a cross-sectional survey that assessed alcohol use rates, demographic variables, and alcohol risk status. Participants were 826 pregnant women enrolled in the Public Health Foundation Enterprises (PHFE) WIC Program in Los Angeles and Orange counties, California. Pregnant women who enrolled self-administered a specially designed alcohol screener.
Findings were that 24% of sample women were consuming alcohol post conception. Of that percentage, approximately two thirds drank prior to pregnancy recognition, and one third continued to drink after pregnancy was confirmed. Approximately 30% of white non-Hispanic, black non-Hispanic and English-speaking Hispanic women were found to drink post conception compared with 15.8% of Spanish-speaking Hispanic women. This finding supported recent research that suggests more acculturated Hispanic women tend to incorporate the drinking patterns of the larger U.S. population to a greater extent than less acculturated Hispanic women. Although a number of demographic variables differentiated women who were abstinent from those who were postconception drinkers, the best predictor of postconception alcohol consumption was the woman's high-risk drinking score as measured by the TWEAK (sensitivity = 70.1%, specificity = 88.5%).
Results suggest the importance of screening low-income minority pregnant women in a community setting so that interventions can be initiated to prevent fetal alcohol syndrome and related conditions.
While there are a number of ways in which technology promises to provide productivity improvements in the workplace, they all rely on one basic premise - changing the way people work. For software ...and CD-ROM developers, the changing work environment creates opportunities. One impressive example of an organization that has chosen to capitalize on the need for changes is Showcase Communications Network Ltd., which has developed Models Showcase, an innovative multimedia publication that allows casting directors, advertisers, talent agencies, and photographers to instantly view the portfolios of models through CD-ROM technology. Models Showcase provides a large selection of high-resolution black-and-white and color photos and detailed information on each model. Current information is added via an online update system. Another outstanding example of an organization looking to change the way people work is Shepard's-McGraw-Hill, which has introduced its famous Citations product on CD-ROM.
One of the most significant changes in the CD-ROM field has been the availability of new, low cost CD-Recordable systems. The One-Off CD Shops Inc. is a franchise that allows entry into the CD-ROM ...development environment without the major cash outlays and vast technical expertise required in the past. The One-Off CD Shops corporation provides franchisees with centralized marketing and sales capabilities, as well as product evaluation and testing services. The One-Off CD Shops offer the potential to provide extensive service bureau and consulting services at a fraction of the cost. The organization claims to be able to offer a variety of development tools, all of which have been carefully screened and evaluated by its staff of experts. This concept appears to hold considerable promise for small, potential CD-ROM developers and for organizations seeking CD-ROM products, services and expertise.
Several recent technology advances have opened up opportunities for new and different uses for CD-ROM. The most significant of these advances may be the development of write-once CD-ROM, or one-off, ...systems. With the availability of write-once systems, organizations that are already effectively using CD-ROM for large distribution applications, like databases, can also consider their investment in CD-ROM for less widely distributed applications like data archival or internal training. One example of a suitable write-once CD-ROM application is the distribution of work group specific information. CD-ROM copies can be made in small quantities for the members of a work group, insuring current and locally accessible information. Internal databases of information such as policy manuals, parts catalogs, and technical documentation can be produced for much smaller audiences, giving companies more flexibility than has been previously available with CD-ROM. A particularly important aspect of the new generation of systems is the ability to add information to previously recorded discs.
