Describes a public use microcomputer cluster at the University of Maine, Orono. Various network topologies, hardware and software options, installation problems, system management, and performance are discussed. (MES)

Survey of currently available CD-ROM products discusses: (1) subject orientation; (2) database type; (3) update frequency; (4) price structure; (5) hardware configuration; (6) retrieval software; and (7) publisher/marketer. Several graphs depict data in these areas. (five references) (MES)

Illustrates how a computer program, "Your Ideal Silhouette," has been used by various educational institutions to enhance the image of home economics and generate community awareness. (JOW)

Proposes an instructional design model for the production of courseware and combines this model with software engineering principles to specify project management responsibilities and procedures. Describes the roles of team members involved in the project and offers a project template to manage production activities to ensure that end products…

Addresses the concept of adding sound to existing personal computers. Describes hardware and software options and explores uses of computers equipped with sound. Sidebars summarize the development of stereo sound in multimedia products and describe the two major forms of computer sound: Musical Instrument Digital Interface and digital sound waves.…

Provides an overview of the transition from traditional, programmed instruction to computer-assisted instruction, including concepts and history affecting instructional environments. Describes the focus of articles that follow, including methods for navigating and learning from hypermedia systems; point and query interface; story-based learning…

Considers issues involving intellectual property rights on information networks. The need for the Internet and the National Information Infrastructure to support both commercial and noncommercial providers of information is discussed; and intellectual property management as services available to information providers rather than as features of the…

Describes the construction of a model of computer-assisted instruction using a qualitative block diagram based on general systems theory (GST) as a framework. Subject matter representation is discussed, and appendices include system variables and system equations of the GST model, as well as an example of developing flexible courseware. (Contains…

Presents an empirical case study of the use of ITS, a software development environment designed by IBM, by Continental Insurance for underwriting applications. Use of a rule-based user interface style that made electronic forms look like standard insurance industry paper forms and worked according to Continental's guidelines is described.…

Describes the World Wide Web (WWW), a navigational tool to organize information on the Internet into a set of hypertext documents. Hypertext is explained; relationships between WWW, Gopher, and Wide Area Information Servers (WAIS) are discussed; and future possibilities are considered. (Contains three references.) (LRW)

Presents four considerations in the development of a gopher server: organization, promotion, training, and maintenance. Economic issues such as development and maintenance costs relating to staff and equipment are also discussed. Benefits from the development of a gopher include access to external information resources and enhanced access to local…

Shows how and why errors get introduced into examples in computer software documentation and what actions technical communicators can take to minimize this occurrence. Proposes a method to test examples. Suggests that technical writers can avoid these sources of error by creating and implementing a good test plan, maintaining and updating the…

Discusses research with neural networks in the area of finance. Highlights include bond pricing, theoretical exposition of primary bond pricing, bond pricing regression model, and an example that created networks with corporate bonds and NeuralWare Neuralworks Professional H software using the back-propagation technique. (LRW)

Discusses extended ICA (Integrated Chameleon Architecture), a public domain toolset for generating text-to-hypertext translators. A system called SGML-MUCH has been developed using E-ICA (Extended Integrated Chameleon Architecture) and is presented as a case study with converters for the hypertext systems MUCH, Guide, Hyperties, and Toolbook.…

Reviews three functions of the "Scientist" software package useful for the social sciences: nonlinear curve fitting, parameter estimation, and data/regression plotting. Social scientists are likely to find limitations and unfamiliar procedures in "Scientist". Its value lies in its visual presentation of data and regression curves and the…