SUMMARY NR 90-3



INTERAKTIV VIDEO I SPRÅKOPPLÆRING

INTERACTIVE VIDEO IN THE TEACHING OF ITALIAN

Senior Research Fellow Signe Marie Sanne sums up her work together with Senior Computing Officer Espen S. Ore of NCCH on an interactive teaching program in Italian for university students. Since this project started on January 1st, 1989, Sanne and Ore have tried out various types of video material and work stations.
This year the project procured funds for the overlay and digitizing cards ColorSpace IIc/Fx, which made it possible to work on a Macintosh system with video displayed on the computer screen. The video material they finally chose to work on consists of sections of Fellini's "Satyricon", which contain a number of dialogues in every-day Italian.
The video material has been divided into 10 sections. Sanne presents their work on a prototype for the user interface (with simulated video on the screen). This was first carried out with HyperCard, and then converted to SuperCard.
Sanne has developed a number of exercizes and tests. Each student can work according to her or his own learning strategy. In order to provide a high degree of freedom, a main menu, which is presented at the beginning of the program, offers various ways of working with the material. No matter what approach is chosen, it is always possible to link up to the video sequence the student is currently working on.
Sanne has put much effort into making it easy for the student to navigate through the material according to choice, without getting confused by too many possibilities. In addition, icons and instructions are clearly marked and easy to interpret.
On the basis of the prototype Sanne and Ore intend to complete a system for one of the 10 video components. This will be tested by students of Italian.
In addition, they plan to start work on another video disc, which contains information on the Italian town of Gallipoli. This video material can be utilized also for cultural information. It will be tested on an Amiga 3000 work station - a relatively inexpensive alternative to the Macintosh.


PROGRAMMERING AV INTERAKTIV VIDEO

PROGRAMMING INTERACTIVE VIDEO

Since the Spring of 1989 Senior Computing Officer Espen S. Ore of NCCH has collaborated with Signe Marie Sanne on the development of IV systems at university level. At NCCH work has previously been carried out on linking reference databases to videodiscs of still images. Here Ore describes his experience with some programming tools and hardware configurations for interactive video.
Ore starts with a discussion of single screen vs. double screen solutions. Other questions he addresses are what type of video disc player is required, how to acquire video discs for repurposing, and how to get started. An account is given of software for controlling the videodisc player along with the pro's and con's of employing authoring tools vs. programming from scratch.
Finally, Ore presents the choice of technology, programming tools, and data structures in "Project Satyricon" (the pedagogical aspects of which are dealt with in Sanne's own article on the project).


NYE MÅTER Å FORMIDLE OKKUPASJONSHISTORIEN PÅ

NEW WAYS OF CONVEYING THE HISTORY OF THE OCCUPATION

In order to mark the 50th anniversary of the German attack in 1940 the history of the occupation was presented in both Denmark and Norway in the form of interactive multimedia applications. The interactive video system developed at the Freedom Museum in Copenhagen is described by Tine Wanning in HD 1-90. Here Lecturer Dan Dyrli Daatland of the Stavanger College of Education gives an account of how both systems can be employed by end-users.
The interface of the Danish system to the general public consists of a touch screen and a video screen. Via the touch screen the system searches for relevant pictures, video sequences, maps, etc. The end product for sale to institutions is somewhat simpler than the computer-controlled configuration in use by the staff of the Freedom Museum. However, it forms the basis of a series of new end-user applications, such as teaching tools based on the use of bar codes. In addition, several HyperCard applications employ the videodisc, as well as an application in Guide. Daatland himself has experimented on linking video sequences from the Danish disc to a HyperCard application of the attack on Norway.
The Norwegian multimedia program is somewhat different. Due to a lack of funding, the information is not available on an optical disc - text, maps, and pictures have been stored directly on a hard disc. Thus the program is not able to display live video. The number of still images is limited, as is the connected database. Information is retrieved by use of a touch screen. The application was first developed in HyperCard, then converted to SuperCard and perfected.


GLOSEBOK FOR DØVE

GLOSSARY FOR THE DEAF

Civil Engineer Olle Eriksen gives an up-dated presentation (from HD 2-88) of a dictionary based on interactive video produced by the Trondheim Public School for the Deaf. When a Norwegian word is entered by computer, the corresponding sign is presented on the screen in live video. The dictionary and retrieval program are stored in the computer, the sign language material on a videodisc. A special program has been designed for controlling the videodisc player. Funds permitted pressing only one side of the disc, so it contains 1500 signs for single words, derived from a collection of fairy tales.
The program can be run on all IBM compatible computers and is available in both single and double screen versions. Work is currently done on adaptations of the system for several types of video cards and videodisc players. Plans have been made for adapting the program to a player/bar code reader configuration. A videotape with all of the signs will also be produced.
The project group wishes to expand the vocabulary to a general dictionary. This may be achieved by pressing more discs, but a cheaper system would be based on a central sign database that can be accessed via the telephone network. And in a few years' time it may be possible to store several hours of live video on a PC, which would permit production of a fair-sized sign dictionary. Development work is also necessary in order to make the present dictionary work the other way around - from sign language to Norwegian.

SANS PASSEPORT

Unni Hovstad presents "Sans Passeport", a project in which telecommunications are used for contact between French and Norwegian schools along with database services as a resource for teaching French. Pupils taking part in the project learn rational use of information technology at the same time as they acquire a better knowledge of both the French language and contemporary socio-cultural conditions in France. 133 pupils in 11 schools took part in the project in the previous school year. A similar number is currently involved - at least until January 1st, 1991.
Among the French participants in the project is Educational Director Jean-Pierre Guichard in the county of Alpes Maritimes, who has donated 120 Minitel terminals, 11 Minitel printers, Write under Windows, and modems to the project.
Only one half of the Norwegian schools involved have succeeded in acquiring French "friendship schools". Therefore, teaching at the remaining schools relies on the use of French databases.
In Alpes Maritimes pupils have created databases for use in teaching history, geography, and ecology. Hovstad utilizes both these and some of the 10,000 other public databases available via Minitel for language training and practice in word processing in her class. Examples are given of a number of different types of exercizes - both traditional and untraditional - that can be created on the basis of this material, and easily combined with commercial software.
After the first year of the project the schools reported that it was difficult to find time to learn to master the technology properly and to study the curriculum. However, 75% of the pupils believe that using information technology in French lessons is an advantage.
Hovstad also outlines the cost of running the project, in the terms of both money and time spent on development work by the participating teachers. In addition, she gives a description of the Minitel system and how it can be utilized in Norway.


EN KORT ORIENTERING OM WINIX

A SHORT PRESENTATION OF WINIX

Svein Arne Rasmussen, High School Teacher in English and German, presents Winix, a software product currently under development for the Computing Secretariat of the Ministry of Education and Research. Winix consists of two components: Winix 1 is a computer communication tool to be used either separately or incorporated in Winix 2. Winix 1 will also function as a training tool in computer communication, as well as for searching databases and handling/systematizing retrieved information.
Winix 2 is used in both LAN's and WAN's. It offers the following services: electronic mail, conferencing, a remote PC function, a distributed database, a chat function, software distribution and bulletin boards.
The great advantage of Winix compared to similar products is that it has a joint user interface (based on Windows 3.0) for a large number of services, and offers effortless communication between users in LAN's and WAN's. In addition, the Ministry of Education and Research is developing other types of software that will run under Winix.
The second prototype of Winix is currently being tested at several high schools. These schools are carrying out functionality tests and experimenting with Winix in teaching projects, such as distance teaching of Norwegian, English, and a form of Lappish, as well as in the study of literature.
At Rasmussen's school there are several projects taking place in which Winix and compatible programs are used in experiments with new forms of learning such subjects as English and Norwegian.


LEKSIKOGRAFISKE DATABASAR

LEXICOGRAPHICAL DATABASES

Dagfinn Worren, Senior Lecturer of Lexicography at the University of Oslo, spent 10 days last summer at the University of Waterloo Centre for the New Oxford English Dictionary (OED) and Text Research. This Canadian centre employs seven people and was established in 1984 when the university's computing department was commissioned by Oxford University Press to create a machine readable version of OED not only for production of camera-ready copy, but also for up-dating and extension purposes along with the possibility of free text retrieval in the database.
In order to mark text structures and individual elements for general use, the staff of the centre have chosen to employ tags in accordance with the Standard Generalized Markup Language within a system that allows description of all types of textual variation. Four software components have been developed for this purpose. GOEDEL is a programming language for text databases, based on structurally tagged text. LECTOR is a program for filtering the tags so that the text can be displayed in the desired format on the screen. The retrieval program that makes use of the tagged text is called PAT. Other programs that have been developed are Transduction Toolkit (TTK), for parsing machine readable text, and TRUC, for editing tagged text.
This software is based on UNIX, and a package containing PAT, LECTOR, and TTK costs $1800 for individual use at a scientific institution. A site license costs $18,000.
Worren was impressed by the fact that this database concept rests on the characteristics of the text, not on an adaptation of databases for other types of information. In his opinion, the work carried out by the Centre for the New OED satisfies the main demands that must be made of a text database for storage and dissemination of knowledge.


MEDIELABORATORIET VED NASJONALBIBLIOTEKAVDELINGEN I RANA (NBR)

THE MEDIA LAB AT THE NATIONAL LIBRARY BRANCH IN RANA

The newly established national library branch in Rana registers, stores, distributes to university libraries, and makes generally available all Norwegian printed material, photographs, sound recordings, film and video productions, teletext, and radio and television programs produced by the national broadcasting company. Karl Erik Andersen describes the tasks of the library's media lab, which include microfilming 220 newspapers and preserving broadcast material for posterity.
In the lab's photo section, which has a staff of six, major collections of photographs are converted to 70 mm film. Data on the photographs is entered into a database, using a program which is developed by NCCH (among others) and in use at several collections in Norway.
Furthermore, the photo section wishes to employ erasable optical discs for preliminary storage of collections. For the final presentation of the image base, the analog videodisc is a strong candidate.


DATABASER: NØDVENDIG FOR VIDERE UTVIKLING

DATABASES: NECESSARY FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT

The Norwegian Research Council for Science and the Humanities (NAVF) has established a database at NCCH, managed by Ivar J. Gubberud, which contains information on all research funded by NAVF as well as projects funded by the other Norwegian research councils (for technology, applied social sciences, agriculture etc. since 1984). A total of 25,000 documents are registered in the database. Each word in every document can be retrieved by use of a search language based on natural speech.
The database is accessible either directly via computer network or through staff, who will carry out searches for customers. Most of the users of the database are connected to the national university network, free of charge. Use of the database itself is also free.
A sub-council of NAVF, the Council for the Humanities (RHF), runs its own documentation service for research projects, also located at NCCH. The main task of the service is to document RHF-funded research, but it aims at covering all humanist research in Norway. The service produces annual project catalogs and special catalogs that cover certain research programmes and subject areas.
In 1991 the information service will start a trial project for distributing data via standard diskettes - the first such project in Europe.

SCHOLARSHIP AND TECHNOLOGY IN THE HUMANITIES

What happens to the human sciences under the impact of computing and new information technology? Does research improve, working conditions change, and do new problem areas arise? These are some of the questions adressed at the conference "Scholarship and Technology in the Humanities", arranged jointly by Office for Humanities Communication in England, and American Council of Learned Societies.
Jostein H. Hauge, Director of NCCH, reports that about 50 scholars, university teachers, and research administrators, mainly from the U.S.A and England, were invited to the conference. Hauge summarizes and comments on the most important papers within specific humanist disciplines.
Some concluding papers dealt with how to prepare humanities communities - including students - for the use of modern information technology. It was pointed out that in particularly information retrieval, scholarly collaboration, and publishing will be altered radically in the coming years.
The resolutions at the conference are aimed mainly at initiatives within the library sector. This is probably due to a strong need among (particularly the American) participants for international support in the development of better library functions for humanist research in their native countries.


ÅRETS ALLC/ACH KONFERANSE

THIS YEAR'S ALLC/ACH CONFERENCE

Senior Computing Officer Espen S. Ore and Information Officer Kristin Natvig of NCCH report on the 1990 ALLC/ACH Conference, held in Siegen, Germany, in June. This year's conference was dominated by languages and literature, and there were far fewer demonstrations of hardware and software than at the 1989 conference in Toronto.
The conference gave the impression that the "old" tools such as frequency vocabularies and concordances still are the most commonly used in linguistic and literary studies. However, there were some interesting papers on hypertext systems. A whole day was also devoted to an introduction to the guidelines suggested by the Text Encoding Initiative.
Parallel to the TEI introduction was a special session on media and computers. Here PICT, the British research program on the questions raised by the development of information and communications technologies, was presented. Afterwards videos of a number of works of art produced via computer animation were shown and discussed.
Ore and Natvig comment on a number of papers given at the conference. In addition, Wizdom and MacEnglish, two programs for learning English, are described.

THE 11TH ICAME CONFERENCE

The 11th ICAME conference was arranged in Berlin 11-13 June. Systems Manager Knut Hofland of NCCH reports that it was attended by 65 participants from 14 countries on 3 continents. 35 papers were presented in 11 sessions dealing with historical studies, various descriptions of the English language, corpus research and project reports. The program also included a few software demonstrations. Hofland presents the following papers:
Merja Kytö, University of Helsinki: Work on the construction of a dialect corpus. Matti Rissanen showed examples of some analyses that can be carried out on the basis of the corpus.
Ian Lancashire, University of Toronto: How the text retrieval program TACT is employed in literary studies of Chaucer, Shakespeare and Milton.
Geoffrey Barnbrook, University of Birmingham: Analysis of orthographic variants in a Middle English text.
Pieter de Haan, University of Nijmegen: How the size of corpus samples influences scholarly results.
Lou Burnard, University of Oxford: Work within the committees forming the Text Encoding Initiative. Burnard showed how the TEI guidelines can be applied to an authentic text.
Jeremy Clear, Oxford University Press: The forthcoming British National Corpus (preliminary name) of 100 million words.
Charles Bush, Brigham Young University: The forthcoming version 5 of WordCruncher.
The next ICAME conference will take place in Leeds 8-11 May 1991.


MOT EN DIGITALISERT VERDEN

TOWARDS A DIGITAL WORLD

Research Fellow Gunnar Liestøl, Dept. of Media and Communications, University of Oslo, reports on the Seybold Seminar "Digital World", held in Los Angeles in June. The three days of the seminar were devoted to separate themes, "Gating Technology", "Gating Markets", and "Applications", each addressed by 15 speakers on such issues as education, publishing, business applications, digital video, entertainment, copyright law, etc. Liestøl comments on some of the papers.
Science fiction writer Douglas Adams gave an ironic - if not wholly successful - speech on information technology in the future.
Both Ted Nelson and Steve Jobs expressed their belief in the imminent breakthrough of desktop video. In this connection Jobs showed three 100% computer-generated films, which gave impressive renditions of objects, but not of the human body.
Helen Kelly spoke on multimedia applications in schools in a Spanish-dominated section of Los Angeles, and reported an exceptional interest and good teaching results.
Music professor Robert Winter presented his CD-ROM/HyperCard version of Stravinsky's "The Spring Sacrifice". Bob Abel demonstrated his hypermedia package on Tennyson's "Ulysses".
Max Withby from BBC's multimedia department showed parts of a 50-minute documentary, "Hyperland", written by Douglas Adams - an entertaining and interesting account of the past, present and future of hypermedia.


NYTT OG NYTTIG

NEWS

News from NCCH:

- An electronic information service is currently being established.
- A manual on the database program AskSam, written by Signe Marie Sanne, has recently been published in NCCH's report series.
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The information service for research projects located at NCCH has published a catalog of all Norwegian research on culture and tradition in the period 1985-89 - a total of 342 projects.

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The proceedings of the 4th Nordic conference on historical databases, held in Tromsø, Norway in April 1989, have been published.

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New periodicals:

- "Computers in Literature", a newsletter published twice yearly by the CTI Centre for Literary and Linguistic Studies, University of Oxford. The centre also publishes a resources guide. Both are free of charge.
- "Applied Computer Translation", a new quarterly journal.
- "Postmodern Culture", an electronic journal distributed free of charge three times a year. The contents of each issue (without readers' comments) can be purchased on disk and microfiche. Readers may also subscribe to "PMC talk", an open electronic discussion group.

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The Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies at Victoria University in the University of Toronto has established "Ficino", an international electronic seminar and bulletin board devoted to all aspects of the study of the Reformation and Renaissance.

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A forthcoming special issue of "Computers in the Humanities" will be devoted to papers that describe work at the intersection of computational linguistics and humanities computing, either in methodology or use of materials. The editors invite papers to be submitted by 1 May 1991. The issue is expected to appear in late spring, 1992.

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Institut de Recherche et d'Histoire des Textes in Paris possesses a library of 42,000 microfilms of medieval works from all over the world. References to these works, descriptions of 25,000 texts, translations and comments are available via the on-line relational database MEDIUM.

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Leslie Burkholder has prepared a list of machine-readable philosophical texts for the APA Subcommittee on Philosophy and Electronic Texts. In Europe the list is available via the file server at the University of Liverpool.

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Hegel's "The Phenomenology of Mind", translated by J.B. Baillie, is available on five 5 1/4" disks from Georgetown University Press for $35.

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The bibliographic database program N.B. Ibid, for use with the text handling program Nota Bene, has been launched by Dragonfly Software. N.B. Ibid has received very favourable reviews in international computing magazines and costs $195.

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Forthcoming conferences:

- ACH/ALLC 91 - Tempe, Arizona, 17-21 March
- CAA 91 (Computers and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology) - Oxford, 25-27 March
- ICEBOL5 - Madison, South Dakota, 18-19 April
- 26th International Conference om Medieval Studies - Kalamazoo, Michigan, 9-12 May
- 29th Meeting of the Association of Computational Linguistics - Berkeley, California, 18-21 June
- Man & the Media IV - Vienna, 5-7 August
- 3rd International Conference on Bible and Computers - Tübingen, 26-30 August
- Call and Hypermedia - Exeter, 18-20 September
- ICHIM '91 (International Conference on Hypermedia and Interactivity in Museums) - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 14-16 October

STOP PRESS

NCCH has been approved as a Norwegian Apple multimedia centre, and thus will be able to purchase a "multimedia platform" at a 70% discount. With this hardware NCCH will develop further projects on interactive language teaching, interactive hypermedia in the humanities, storage and presentation of historical photographs, and processing Greek papyrus texts. The equipment will also be used for demonstrations and in post-graduate training. Results from the projects will be shown at Apple's national multimedia conference in April 1991.