![[The Resource Directory]](/file/36067/SIGCAT 97 - Conference on Convergence.ISO/Docs/00027/02711.gif)
Kirk L. Kroeker
Kirk L. Kroeker
Click on any disc icon to return to this list.
The World Wide Web has become an increasingly important place for investigating
technology and media, and for disseminating information to new media professionals.
Not only is the Web a remarkable clearinghouse for CD-ROM- and multimedia-related
information archives, it is also one of the most exciting places to watch
for new business models, avant garde technologies, and marketing tactics.
As such, it is a resource no digital information professional can afford
to leave unexplored.
But with immediate access to all of it, it is easy for the searcher to lose
sight of his or her immediate information goals. For example, it might be
easy for those pursuing information on CD-ROM to come up with what looks
like a promising list by entering a few words into, say, WebCrawler or Lycos,
but the more likely result is to be overwhelmed with the thousands of responses
to such queries. Examining each response in turn would not only be time
consuming, but in most cases wouldn't yield the results hoped for anyway.
Similarly, hypertext links from one Web site to another can be great-and
revealing-but might not take the searcher to the anticipated place.
Also, in the craze to get on the Web and consume the information available
there, many people precipitously ignore some of the most interesting and
germane offerings of the Internet. These are not Web pages; they are gophers,
user groups, and mailing lists. But each can work advantageously toward
keeping the multimedia professional abreast of the changes in the industry.
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What follows, then, is a broad, introductory guide to the resources available
on the World Wide Web and other parts of the Internet. It is a good place
to begin looking for information about multimedia software and operating
systems, new media magazines, industry associations, special interest groups,
prominent CD-ROM vendors, and other sources of information that will be
useful not only for the hard knowledge they themselves provide, but also
for the particularly interesting perspectives they bring to bear on the
links they offer to other resources.
NEWSGROUPS, MAILING LISTS, AND GOPHERS
Long before the World Wide Web there was gopher and its cousins, WAIS, archie,
and veronica. There were also newsgroups and mailing lists. Not surprisingly,
plenty of new media information was tucked into these formats long before
the word of the World Wide Web ever became flesh. For the most part, much
valuable information can still be found using these older protocols, such
as the database for Online Inc. (CD-ROM Professional's publisher) maintained
at the University of Illinois, Chicago-gopher to "online.lib.uic.edu."
Generally, gopher is a way of browsing through loads of information on the
Internet. It is like a huge menu system where organizations or individuals
from all over the world have set up gopher servers with menus of items.
Sometimes the item you select will be text; sometimes it will be another
set of menus; and sometimes you will be lead to an FTP site.
Mailing lists are operated by Internet hosts which resend email that anyone
sends in to the subscribers. Newsgroups, while similar to mailing lists,
offer a more interactive forum, more akin to the subject-related forums
of the commercial online services. Newsgroups and mailing lists are relatively
easy ways to begin to develop a comprehensive understanding of the field
because all one has to do is become a member of some of the central industry-related
lists and read through some good newsgroups. Beware, however, that liberal
subscription to these lists and groups easily results in one receiving more
text to read than possible in any two lifetimes. Searchers will find expert
and amateur advice mixed with questions and comments, but as with anything,
you must keep your head about you, for much of the "advice" you
will be reading is thinly veiled advertisement.
Newsgroups
Today, there are somewhere around 18,000 newsgroups and, not surprisingly,
they come in all subjects, sizes, and types. One very popular type is the
"alt" newsgroups, which are general and overview groups where
everything from advertisements for X-rated CD-ROMs to questions like "How
do I get this drive to work under OS/2?" can be found. Two places to
check for competitors' new CD-ROM title releases are "alt.cd-rom"
and "alt.cd-rom. reviews." While the noise level can get high
in these groups, they offer a way to keep up on the advertisements that
often won't make it to the other CD-ROM areas in spite of the rampant practice
of cross-posting messages among related newsgroups.
The "comp"-type newsgroups will be much more useful to the professional
author or developer. Here you can solicit opinions concerning specific CD-Recordable
drives or authoring platforms. In fact, the variety and differences among
these groups can be confusing. The "comp. multimedia" group, for
instance, is similar to "comp.publish.cdrom.multimedia" but has
a broader context that covers authoring for WWW, digital video, and the
whole gamut of audio and video formats. Another group, "Comp.sys.ibm.
pc.hardware.cd-rom," is the only group specifically devoted to drives
and drivers, and it can include discussions of SCSI, IDE, 32-bit versus
real-mode, and more. The "comp.publish.electronic" groups tend
to address broader issues than the "comp.publish.cdrom" groups,
and deal with everything from ASCII to postscript and from Acrobat to HTML.
There are plenty of other good newsgroups:
Mailing Lists
Mailing lists are a great way to maintain touch with people interested in
new media issues. You subscribe to a mailing list simply by sending your
email address. For the following lists, you should subscribe by writing
"subscribe [the list name] [your real name]" in the message text.
The subject space is irrelevant, but in most cases you have to enter something.
Any subscriber can send in a message, a question, or whatever is on his
or her mind (as long as it pertains to the list's subject, because most
of the following lists are moderated), and it will be immediately echoed
to the base of subscribers.
There are only a few key mailing lists for CD-ROM professionals. One is
CDROMLAN (listserv@idbsu.idbsu.edu), which is devoted to the use of CD-ROM
products in a LAN environment and problems encountered there. Discussion
of all CD-ROM products from any LAN vendor is appropriate. Another, CDR-L
(listserv@tulsajc.tulsa.cc.ok.us), focuses on the mastering of CDs. The
discussion will primarily cover the hardware and software required for mastering,
rather than issues surrounding third-party replicators. Questions relevant
to using CD-R media are also acceptable.
CD-ROM ONLINE (cdrmag@ nsimultimedia.com), though not a mailing list in
the conventional sense, still mails regular information to its subscribers.
NSI Multimedia, the company responsible for maintaining this list, offers
those interested the chance to read news and reviews of the software on
the market without cost. They send out a top 20 list of the best-selling
software for the month as well as information on where to get the software
at the lowest possible prices. Because of its electronic nature, CD-ROM
ONLINE is able to respond to reader's ideas, suggestions, and requests in
a more timely manner than that of its rivals in print. NSI Multimedia is
an independent publishing company on a mission to help CD-ROM users make
informative purchasing decisions and, as such, will not be entirely relevant
to the professional except in terms of helping that professional understand
how consumers evaluate and appreciate CD-ROM titles.
HYPEREDU-The Hypertext in Education Discussion List (listserv@itocsivm.
csi.it) promotes a discussion about the use of hypertext and hypermedia
in education and the advantages and disadvantages of the introduction of
these tools at any educational level (from elementary school to college).
Other topics of interest are problems connected with interfaces and networks.
Following are the other main mailing lists dealing with multimedia technologies.
Send email to the Internet addresses listed:
Gopher and FTP
Gopher and the other Internet search engines are a great way to browse through
huge amounts of information because they render online-accessible data into
hierarchies like the table of contents of one giant book. WAIS, essentially
an extensive catalog connected to the search function of gopher, is like
a book's index. Even if an author didn't think some item was important enough
to put in the table of contents, you can usually find it in the index. In
this way, gopher and WAIS complement one another as you search the Internet
for topics that interest you.
Another way to search through gopher menus is called veronica. When you
are looking for general topics, veronica is often helpful and will produce
extensive replies likely taking you anywhere from the mainframes of Oxford
to those of Bologna or Berkeley. If you know the title of a gopher menu,
veronica can help you find where it's located. Gopher, WAIS, and veronica
will also help you find archived files you can download.
By using File Transfer Protocol (FTP) you can download files from remote
computers and upload files to computers to which you have appropriate access.
Finding an FTP site with useful information is the first step in using FTP.
The commercial services offer some of the easiest ways to access FTP sites
because they have databases maintained with these sites listed, but you
can also get information using gopher and the related search engines through
any dedicated Internet account. Look for the prefix FTP and direct your
software to that site, just as if you were browsing the Web.
The following is a small sampling of sites that will be of interest to the
multimedia professional because of the archived FAQs, the software demos,
the freeware authoring utilities, and much more:
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General Multimedia Interest Web Sites
The following general sites are where you will be able to find information
on almost any aspect of multimedia. Most of them are maintained by vendors
with products or services to sell, but they all offer valuable information.
Afterhours Media
http://www.afterhours.com/
Atlanta's Afterhours does disc and diskette replication, video and audio
duplication, printing, packaging, warehouse distribution, film to video
translation, and more. Though they are a vendor with a mission, they have
information of use to anyone considering using a service such as Afterhours
offers.
CD Archive
http://www.cdarchive.com/
At CD Archive you'll find hardware, software, CD-ROM, blank media, and supplier
information. You'll also find loads of information on mass replication and
one-off shops. You'll be able to read excellent FAQs on CD-Erasable, encryption,
Easy-CD Pro, CD-Plus, real world CD-R specs, Video CD, CD-i, CD-ROM/XA,
and other standards. CD Archive also offers its general information in Acrobat
PDF format. The Cdterms.pdf- produced by Disc Manufacturing Inc.-will tell
you all you need to know (with diagrams) about the way data is placed onto
the disc's tracks in every type of CD format.
CD-Info
Company
http://www.cd-info.com/cd-info/CDInfoCenter.html
This page, produced by industry veteran Kathy Cochrane, offers the most
frequently updated source of information on the Web. It also offers links
to all the essential CD-ROM mastering, pre-mastering, replication, and CD-R
sources. If anything new happens in CD-ROM, you'll read it here first. Cochrane
says that "self-contradiction and a melding of opposites are as much
a part of CD manufacturing and publishing as polycarbonate, metal, and silkscreened
labels," but her site aims at eliminating the confusion surrounding
CD-ROM technology. The most important headings available include CD Technology,
Industry, Applications, History & Future, Bibliography, and a new Navigation
page which supports Netscape tables.
Config Sys International (CSI)
http://www.apk.net/1/cdrom/
CSI is a distributor of CD-ROMs and offers a site with links to other distributors.
Reviews of CD-ROMs-from Joe Rinehart, the man who proposed alt.cd-rom.reviews-are
here along with some free CD-ROM offers and special closeouts. You can download
the dealer hardware and software catalog of 29,000 items.
Creative
Digital Research
http://www.sgi.com/Products/HotMix/Present/cdrp.html
Creative Digital Research produces "CDR Publisher" mastering software,
which allows you to make your own hybrid CD-ROM. "CDR Publisher"
is one of the most cost-effective and simple solutions for desktop CD-ROM
publishing. With HyCD capability, CDR Publisher is the only software in
the market today that enables the user to develop Hybrid CD-ROMs integrating
PC (ISO 9660), Macintosh (HFS), and UNIX (Rock Ridge Extension) formats
on a single CD-ROM. Read the help files or download a demo.
Fenwick & West
http://www.batnet.com/oikoumene/FWHome.html
This site offers innovative legal advice on new media technologies. Not
only does it focus on rights issues for content providers, but it also focuses
on startup funding and issues for different players that make up the multimedia
industry. Especially interesting and helpful are the "Multimedia Status"
and "Multimedia -the Top Ten Legal Issues" articles.
Infomagic
http://www.infomagic.com/ index.html
Infomagic offers information on Linux, Free BSD, CD-ROMs, drivers, FAQs,
and more, including information on the Linux Developers Kit, and the Linux
Bible. It also offers information on Free BSD, Slackware, and Mother of
PERL CD-ROMs. As with Walnut Creek, you can download the entire Linux archive
or save some trouble and order the CD-ROMs.
Insolutions
http://www.psms.com/
Insolutions, formerly Personalized Manufacturing Services, Inc., offers
complete CD-ROM manufacturing and packaging services. They offer a full
spectrum of CD-ROM services with their On Demand CD programs, from While-U-Wait
CD-R duplication to CD Authoring. On Demand CD programs enable you to get
your products to market quickly and easily. They are a good example of a
full-service vendor and offer information on the process you need to go
through in order to publish a title.
Jamie Siglar
Page
http://www.tiac.net/users/jasiglar/
index.html
Jamie Siglar is a freelance multimedia consultant serving clients in the
greater Boston area. Her speciality is cross-platform multimedia CBT development,
covering the Macintosh, Windows, and OS/2 platforms. Siglar keeps the most
comprehensive introduction to authoring systems in the Multimedia Authoring
Systems FAQ, which is a clear and concise document produced in HTML.
Logicraft
http://www.logicraft.com/
Logicraft offers extensive information and products aimed at CD-ROM in a
networked environment. There you can also find out about CD works, LANCD,
CD Executive, CD-ROM Networking, as well as servers, towers, and jukeboxes.
Macromedia
http://www.macromedia.com/
Macromedia maintains a cutting edge site where you'll find information not
only on Shockware, Ucon95, and the other products and services Macromedia
offers, but you'll be able to explore a link to the Portable Multimedia
Companion market analysis report. The home of Authorware and Director is
an essential stop for any multimedia developer. The site also hosts Digital
Video Magazine, I.D. Magazine, Multimedia Producer Magazine, New Media Magazine,
The Red Herring, Hayden Books, Macromedia User Journal, The Haggin Group,
and Peach Pit Press.
Metatec
http://www.metatec.com/
Metatec Corporation is a leading information industry company serving two
key markets: organizations seeking to publish information on CD-ROM, and
home consumers who own CD-ROM- equipped multimedia computer systems. The
company's mission is to foster innovative, technology-based service businesses
which create, design, produce, and sell leading-edge, high-quality applications
of electronic information technology. Whether you want a superior multimedia
product, a robust full-text research product, or a hybrid CD-ROM/ online
product, Metatec can help you design and develop the product application
and can lead you through the process. Here you can also sample Nautilus,
the monthly multimedia magazine on CD-ROM.
Multimedia Wire
http://www.mmwire.com/
Multimedia Wire is a news service geared to the multimedia professional.
Visit the "Liquid Web" which hosts the Developers' Lounge, Creative
Zone, Legal Zone, Interview Zone, and more. The talent pool directory is
also here, along with a collection of archived past discussions which happened
on site. Multimedia Wire is a good place to keep up with computer and telecommunications
news.
One Off CD Shops International
http://www.oneoffcd.com/
The world's first international CD-ROM services bureau, One Off CD Shops
International is a vendor offering mastering, replication, and CD-R systems
services. This site also offers links to shops across the USA and Canada.
QuickTime FAQ:
http://www.QuickTimeFAQ.org
This site offers an excellently presented FAQ in PDF format, and is searchable
by topic headings. Read about codecs and QuickTime compression as well as
QuickTime for Windows, QuickTime VR, QuickTime under Premiere and Director,
and QuickTime's MPEG support.
Starvector
http://www.wolfe.net/~svector/
Starvector Software has been in the computer software business since 1987,
and they've built a reputation for fast, honest service and good prices.
Look into their online CD shopping mall and FTP their latest catalog to
browse through their specials and find out what your major competition's
doing.
Walnut Creek
http://www.cdrom.com
Walnut Creek offers an impressive source of information on CD-ROM. All the
Linux and Free BSD archives are here, as well as a large catalog of CD-ROMs,
drives, FAQ lists, and other information. Bob Bruce founded Walnut Creek
CD-ROM in August of 1991 with the goal of providing the general public with
high-quality, cost-effective CD-ROMs as well as an information resource.
As the CD-ROM market expanded, so did Walnut Creek. There is now over 52GB
of data at this site, which includes technical support for Linux, FreeBSD,
and general information on CD-ROM technology.
Vendor Sites
Many CD-ROM-oriented Web surfers will want to look at some of the more important
vendor sites, either to find out what the competition is doing or simply
to know what sorts of new services these vendors are offering. Generally
these pages are fine examples of concise HTML authoring: plenty of money
goes into maintaining these sites, and it shows. For the most part, the
page designs are exemplary and the information presented usually covers
a broad range of news and services.
· 3M: http://www.mmm.com/
· Adaptec: http://www.adaptec.com/mainmenu.html
· Advansys: http://www.advansys.com
· American Disc Corporation: http://www.computerregister.com/adc/
· Betacorp: http://www.betacorp.com/htdocs/profile.htm
· CD Studios: http://www.wwwmedia.com/cds
· CD-ROM-Works: http://www.cdworks.com
· CD\Works: http://www.tiac.net/users/cdworks/
· dataDisc: http://www.techexpo.com/firms/datadisc.html
· Digital Dynamics: http://branch.com/dd/dd.html
· Eastman Kodak: http://www.kodak.com/
· Elektroson: http://www.macfaq.com/faq/vendor/software/368.html
· IBM Interactive: http://www.solutions.ibm.com/multimedia/media-home.html
· M3 Dimensions: http://www.codd.com/emall/m3dim/
· Mitsubishi: http://www.melco.co.jp/
· NEC: http://www.nec.co.jp/index_e.html
· Optimage: http://www.techexpo.com/firms/optimage.html
· Philips Media: http://www.media.philips.com
· Ricoh Homepage: http://www.ricoh.co.jp/index_e.html
· Sanyo: http://www.sanyo.co.jp/
· SCSI Peripherals: http://sweb.srmc.com/andys/index.html
· Sony Interactive Entertainment: http://www.sepc.sony.com/SEPC/
· Voyager: http://www.voyagerco.com/
· Yamaha: http://www.yamaha.com/
· Young Minds Inc.: http://www.ymi.com/
Specific Software Sites
Frequently, one wants extensive information on software and the issues surrounding
a particular software's use, whether it be information that will answer
a question about compatibility or merely general information about what
kind of software is already extant that will benefit the platform's users.
There are sites maintained by vendors which deal specifically with a particular
authoring software suite. Like newsgroups, these sites offer information
that is quite focused and narrow. But the depth of information at most of
these sites is impressive. Any buyer should look to Jamie Siglar's page
(listed earlier) to find appropriate evaluations of authoring software.
Other overviews of authoring systems and links to more software than what
follows can be found at the Authorbase (http://wwwetb.nlm.nih.gov/authorb/irx/index.html) and the Multimedia Authoring Web (http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/authoring/).
· Asymetrix Toolbook: http://weber.u.washington.edu/~brianp/
· Authorware: http://www.macromedia.com/Tools/Authorware/index.html
· CBT Express: http://www.aimtech.com/Cfaq.htm
· CD Creator: http://www.corelnet.com/
· HM Card:
http://hyperg.iicm.tu-graz.ac.at/A0x811b9908_0x00145856;sk=44D7B3AD
· Hyper Card 2.3: http://product.info.apple.com/productinfo/datasheets/as/hypercard2.3.html
· Hyper Plus: http://www.ocm.com/objectplus/hyperpls.htm
· IconAuthor: http://www.aimtech.com/Iia.htm
· Interleaf FAQ: http://www.nectec.or.th/pub/mirrors/faq/interleaf-faq
· Macromedia/Director: http://www.macromedia.com/Tools/Director/index.html
· Meta Card (UNIX): http://www.metacard.com/
· mTropolis Homepage: http://www.mfactory.com/index.html
· Multimedia Grasp: http://www.pmace.com/mmgdesc.htm
· Quest 5: http://www.allencomm.com/mmsoft/quest/
· Super Card: http://www.allegiant.com/
· Visual Basic: http://www.omnisoft.com/~omnisoft/mmrs.html
· WinPlus and WinPlus Multimedia: http://www.ocm.com/objectplus/winplus.htm
Online Magazines
There are plenty of electronic magazines, some specifically geared to new
media technology and others related only tangentially or in form. Most of
them are interesting to browse, if for no other reason than to see what
innovative Web designers are putting together. But most listed here offer
not only aesthetic treats, but departments covering industry news and new
products as well:
Interactive Media Weekly Recap
http://www.organic.com/recap/
From the desk of Catherine Kirkman at the law firm Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich,
& Rosati comes this weekly journal of news covering the new media worlds.
Though one of the less impressive in terms of design, this site offers enough
valuable information to merit regular visits.
Morph's Outpost
IMedia News
http://www.iworld.com/netday/morph/daily.html
The Daily Spectrum is an independent daily news service published Monday
through Friday by Morph's Outpost on the Digital Frontier, a national monthly
magazine for the interactive media professional community. This site maintains
much of the important industry news.
Multimedia Producer
http://www.kipinet.com/mmp/
Multimedia Producer focuses on the high-level skills and tools needed to
produce and deliver interactive programs. This site markets itself as being
able to help you make the tough business and creative decisions required
to be successful in the multimedia field. Note the Technology Watch, New
Products Database, and the Producers Perspective.
SYNAPSE: The Multimedia Journal
of the Eclectic
http://www.tricon.net/cgi-bin/synon.pl
SYNAPSE is a multimedia journal released on CD-ROM and the WWW. The site
maintains a humorous tone, saying things like "Yes, you too can be
a Multimedia Producer. Just consult with our ultra-sophisticated, cutting-edge
electronic guidance counselor, the Career-o-Matic!" Articles by the
likes of David Lynch and D.B. Spalding fill Synapse Online.
Other interesting and useful magazines to explore:
THE LAST WORD: INTEREST GROUPS AND SEARCH ENGINES
Though what is presented here is an extremely limited version of the total
amount available to anyone with an Internet account, it is a place to begin
searching through the literally hundreds of thousands of sites catering
to everything from the very specific to the extremely general. One way of
managing all this information is to stay in touch with the special interest
groups (SIGs) or organizations devoted to CD-ROM technology, such as SIGCAT
(http://www.sigcat.org/), the Interactive Multimedia Association (http://www.ima.org), Multimedia International (http://www.kaizen.net/ami/ami.html),
or SIGGRAPH (http://siggraph.org/).
Also, in the interest of helping the reader help him or herself, one very
essential talent to develop is learning how to search with the better engines,
such as WebCrawler (http://www.webcrawler.com), Lycos (http://lycos.cs.cmu.edu/), or InfoSeek (http://www.infoseek.com/Home). There are others,
but these are three of the most comprehensive and powerful at present. They
all offer the ability to search using multiple terms, and feature constantly
updated databases from which they draw their information.
One last important venue to keep in mind are the sites harboring links to
the rest of the multimedia world. Among these, Rob's Multimedia Lab (http://www.acm.uiuc.edu:80/rml/) and the Multimedia Hotline (http://www.multihot.com/)
are two of the most useful. Though it is indeed impossible to understand
all the changes that happen daily on the Web and the Internet in general,
it is still possible with a little artful research to keep pace with the
competition, to find information heretofore hidden, and to prepare for the
inevitable changes that will make business and multimedia standards increasingly
complex.
Kirk L. Kroeker, Assistant Editor at CD-ROM Professional, coordinates the Resource Directory and its Resources in Brief reviews column.
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