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Video-based information systems; A guide for educational, business, library, and home use
Book Reviews
359
Video-Based Information Systems; A Guide for Educational, Business, Library, and Home Use. W. American Library Association, Chicago, IL (1985). ix + 240 pp. $30.00 (pb). ISBN O-8389-0425-4. SAFFADY.
William Saffady has written a remarkable guide for anyone interested in the burgeoning technologies of video-based information systems. This book is an encyclopedia in 240 pages. The information presented is densely packed and carefully organized. Unlike some “introductory” texts which overwhelm the reader with detail, the style is terse and direct with clear transitions through related topics. The ordering and clustering of subject matter helps the reader to develop perspective on complex and overlapping technologies. Saffady has organized the book into eight chapters. They are: (1) Recent Developments in Television Displays; (2) Videocassette Recorders and Video Cameras; (3) Consumer and Industrial Videodisc Systems; (4) Television Signal Delivery Systems; (5) Videotext and Related Systems; (6) Document Oriented Video Systems; (7) Video Conferencing; (8) Video Display Terminals. There are forty-seven illustrative photos and figures, a list of abbreviations and acronyms and an excellent subject index which will be discussed later in the review. The introduction is a helpful set of thumbnail sketches of each chapter’s content plus clear statements about what the book does and does not cover. Saffady qualifies the book as a survey of the state-of-the-art through 1984. His aim is to provide conceptual frameworks in each chapter to assist the reader in further exploration of the technology. To this end, each chapter is followed by a list of references clustered under headings that relate to the preceding text. Headings are ordered alphabetically and are indexed. To a newcomer, the subject matter is challenging, requiring the reader to pause frequently for reflection and to shift mental gears over a wide range of concerns. This is particularly evident when the reader shifts focus from a given technology to its application and the implications that follow. For instance, on pages 45 and 46, there is a discussion of blank videotape, its formats, characteristics, various qualities and costs. There is enough information here to create a mini-lecture. Then, on page 47, the focus moves to videotaping and copyright with a discussion of the “Betamax” case, a complex infringement suit initiated in 1976 that was appealed all the way to the United States Supreme Court by 1984. Throughout, the author includes material relevant for each of his intended readers (the educator, the business person, the librarian and the individual) while maintaining an admirable balance for each focus. The author’s ability to deal with many dimensions of video-based technology, including applications and implications, is the primary strength of the book. Too often, developers of a given technology describe their products in terms of raw capacity, power and speed of operation without relating what their technology is good for. Saffady’s many examples of use over time provide essential benchmarks from which to assess claims and specifications that the reader will encounter in the future. Even with a background in one or more of the technologies covered, readers will find unexpected breadth in the related technologies described. One area of coverage came as a surprise to this reader: the treatment of telefacsimile equipment. The topic made good sense when it was pointed out that facsimile is a raster scanning technology (similar to a television display) that uses treated paper for output rather than a phosphor coating on the inside of a glass tube. This and other examples of comprehensive treatment of the topic make the book as valuable a guide as one could hope to find. The book has very few weaknesses. One, for which the author compensates as much as possible, is the inevitable dating of information presented. An example is the treatment of data storage on optical discs. The discussion is complete up through early models of laser-encoded twelve-inch and eight-inch formats for both video and optical digital technologies. What the author did not anticipate was the development of the optical audio disc format, the compact laser disc, as a data storage medium. This occurred within the year of the book’s publication. Given the rapid pace of development in the digital data storage area alone, Saffady may wish to consider writing a yearbook to supplement and maintain the currency of the initial work. (Just as I wrote this, I received an ad for a new publication, Optical Disks 1985: A State of the Art Review, by Saffady. So I will withdraw my suggestion). Video Based Information Systems is a handbook and reference as well as an introductory text. The index mentioned at the beginning of this review is especially well done. It is a full ten pages of small type in double columns. The index was prepared by Carol R. Kelm and exhibits the hand of a skilled indexer who carefully maintains topic to subtopic relationships and anticipates readers’ needs for adequate “see” and “see also” references. The index also aids the reader to find pertinent passages for acronyms and abbreviations listed in the appendix. One additional appendix that would have been helpful had it been provided is a list of company or institutional names and addresses for the products and services mentioned throughout the IPM22:4-p
360
Book Reviews
book. While the author makes a point of maintaining objectivity by not endorsing one competing product over another, a listing of sources of vendor information would not violate the principle of fairness. In summary, Video-Based Information Systems is must reading for any professional who has responsibility for the development, operation or administration of any technology concerned with the creation, display, storage and transmission of information. The book is also strongly recommended for the layman or enthusiast who uses television, video cassette recorders and/or home computers and wishes to know more about their many forms and functions.
Minnesota Department of Education Saint Paul, MN
ROY
TALLY
Office Workstations in the Home. National Research Council. National Academy of Sciences Press, Washington, D.C. (1985). vii + 160 pp., 3 appendices. $13.95 (pb). ISBN o-309-03483-3. INTRODUCTION
Approximately 20,000 people currently tele-work, tele-commute or use communication technology to work from home (or airplanes, ski resorts, hotels, conferences) and this number is expected to swell to an estimated 5 to 10 million in 1990. This short (160 pages) book discusses the basic issues of this phenomenon. The book is the result of a forum held in November of 1983, sponsored by the National Research Council’s Board on Telecommunications and Computer Applications, chaired by Margrethe Olson of New York University and funded by Apple, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The first section of the book consists of six case studies: American Express (10 handicapped word processing operators), Blue Cross/Blue Shield (14 claims forms entry clerks), U.S. Army (4 programmers and 1 manager). Mountain Bell (8 technical trainers). Control Data Corporation (27 employees and 20 managers) and F International (the whole organization-850 people). The second section summarizes the essential policy issues surrounding home workstations: legal issues, effect of work location on motivation and the positive and negative uses of workstations at home. These three chapters are followed by edited transcripts of two roundtable discussions: one on labor issues and one on lessons learned. Comments here are organized around evidence of productivity, establishing equitable hours and wages, protecting the remote worker, IRS rulings on tax deductions, likely candidates for tele-work, and career advancement. While such transcript-style discussion sections do add a touch of personality and immediacy to books such as these (I think of Martin Greenberger’s early edited books on mainframe computer roundtables) they seem less effective than a good summary written by one person. For instance, suggestions for more appropriate measures of information worker productivity are sorely needed, but none will be found here. The third section projects the issues and trends into the future: developments in technology; the very real threats of increased exploitation of clerical workers, fragmentation of their work, and health hazards due to home work technology; the positive potential for professionals; and putting the forecasts into a context of prior research. MOTIVATION
There are clearly positive motivations to adopt computer-based homework. For organizations, these reasons include increasing cost of physical space, decreasing availability of office space, and the ability to combine geographically dispersed workers in diverse projects. For users, reasons include increased access to jobs by handicapped, control over pace and scheduling of tasks, reduced commuting time and costs, more personal work environment, and the ability to care for children. Another aspect of motivation has to do with how tele-work could affect the motivation that workers have in performing their tasks. The very real problems of attempting to conduct generalizable research in this area are emphasized in a chapter on these effects. The basic theory of work motivation assumes that people perform in accordance with their expectations (about rewards, task norms, significance of the product, nature of work). It seems exceedingly difficult to maintain similar expectations in both at-home and on-site work, due to varying pay mechanisms, type of work, nature of relationships and the like. However, it does seem likely that home workers will be less able to experience the impact or significance of their work, thus lessening their motivation. These workers are less likely to achieve satisfactory work-related contact or to “learn” about the organization through such contacts.
359
Video-Based Information Systems; A Guide for Educational, Business, Library, and Home Use. W. American Library Association, Chicago, IL (1985). ix + 240 pp. $30.00 (pb). ISBN O-8389-0425-4. SAFFADY.
William Saffady has written a remarkable guide for anyone interested in the burgeoning technologies of video-based information systems. This book is an encyclopedia in 240 pages. The information presented is densely packed and carefully organized. Unlike some “introductory” texts which overwhelm the reader with detail, the style is terse and direct with clear transitions through related topics. The ordering and clustering of subject matter helps the reader to develop perspective on complex and overlapping technologies. Saffady has organized the book into eight chapters. They are: (1) Recent Developments in Television Displays; (2) Videocassette Recorders and Video Cameras; (3) Consumer and Industrial Videodisc Systems; (4) Television Signal Delivery Systems; (5) Videotext and Related Systems; (6) Document Oriented Video Systems; (7) Video Conferencing; (8) Video Display Terminals. There are forty-seven illustrative photos and figures, a list of abbreviations and acronyms and an excellent subject index which will be discussed later in the review. The introduction is a helpful set of thumbnail sketches of each chapter’s content plus clear statements about what the book does and does not cover. Saffady qualifies the book as a survey of the state-of-the-art through 1984. His aim is to provide conceptual frameworks in each chapter to assist the reader in further exploration of the technology. To this end, each chapter is followed by a list of references clustered under headings that relate to the preceding text. Headings are ordered alphabetically and are indexed. To a newcomer, the subject matter is challenging, requiring the reader to pause frequently for reflection and to shift mental gears over a wide range of concerns. This is particularly evident when the reader shifts focus from a given technology to its application and the implications that follow. For instance, on pages 45 and 46, there is a discussion of blank videotape, its formats, characteristics, various qualities and costs. There is enough information here to create a mini-lecture. Then, on page 47, the focus moves to videotaping and copyright with a discussion of the “Betamax” case, a complex infringement suit initiated in 1976 that was appealed all the way to the United States Supreme Court by 1984. Throughout, the author includes material relevant for each of his intended readers (the educator, the business person, the librarian and the individual) while maintaining an admirable balance for each focus. The author’s ability to deal with many dimensions of video-based technology, including applications and implications, is the primary strength of the book. Too often, developers of a given technology describe their products in terms of raw capacity, power and speed of operation without relating what their technology is good for. Saffady’s many examples of use over time provide essential benchmarks from which to assess claims and specifications that the reader will encounter in the future. Even with a background in one or more of the technologies covered, readers will find unexpected breadth in the related technologies described. One area of coverage came as a surprise to this reader: the treatment of telefacsimile equipment. The topic made good sense when it was pointed out that facsimile is a raster scanning technology (similar to a television display) that uses treated paper for output rather than a phosphor coating on the inside of a glass tube. This and other examples of comprehensive treatment of the topic make the book as valuable a guide as one could hope to find. The book has very few weaknesses. One, for which the author compensates as much as possible, is the inevitable dating of information presented. An example is the treatment of data storage on optical discs. The discussion is complete up through early models of laser-encoded twelve-inch and eight-inch formats for both video and optical digital technologies. What the author did not anticipate was the development of the optical audio disc format, the compact laser disc, as a data storage medium. This occurred within the year of the book’s publication. Given the rapid pace of development in the digital data storage area alone, Saffady may wish to consider writing a yearbook to supplement and maintain the currency of the initial work. (Just as I wrote this, I received an ad for a new publication, Optical Disks 1985: A State of the Art Review, by Saffady. So I will withdraw my suggestion). Video Based Information Systems is a handbook and reference as well as an introductory text. The index mentioned at the beginning of this review is especially well done. It is a full ten pages of small type in double columns. The index was prepared by Carol R. Kelm and exhibits the hand of a skilled indexer who carefully maintains topic to subtopic relationships and anticipates readers’ needs for adequate “see” and “see also” references. The index also aids the reader to find pertinent passages for acronyms and abbreviations listed in the appendix. One additional appendix that would have been helpful had it been provided is a list of company or institutional names and addresses for the products and services mentioned throughout the IPM22:4-p
360
Book Reviews
book. While the author makes a point of maintaining objectivity by not endorsing one competing product over another, a listing of sources of vendor information would not violate the principle of fairness. In summary, Video-Based Information Systems is must reading for any professional who has responsibility for the development, operation or administration of any technology concerned with the creation, display, storage and transmission of information. The book is also strongly recommended for the layman or enthusiast who uses television, video cassette recorders and/or home computers and wishes to know more about their many forms and functions.
Minnesota Department of Education Saint Paul, MN
ROY
TALLY
Office Workstations in the Home. National Research Council. National Academy of Sciences Press, Washington, D.C. (1985). vii + 160 pp., 3 appendices. $13.95 (pb). ISBN o-309-03483-3. INTRODUCTION
Approximately 20,000 people currently tele-work, tele-commute or use communication technology to work from home (or airplanes, ski resorts, hotels, conferences) and this number is expected to swell to an estimated 5 to 10 million in 1990. This short (160 pages) book discusses the basic issues of this phenomenon. The book is the result of a forum held in November of 1983, sponsored by the National Research Council’s Board on Telecommunications and Computer Applications, chaired by Margrethe Olson of New York University and funded by Apple, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The first section of the book consists of six case studies: American Express (10 handicapped word processing operators), Blue Cross/Blue Shield (14 claims forms entry clerks), U.S. Army (4 programmers and 1 manager). Mountain Bell (8 technical trainers). Control Data Corporation (27 employees and 20 managers) and F International (the whole organization-850 people). The second section summarizes the essential policy issues surrounding home workstations: legal issues, effect of work location on motivation and the positive and negative uses of workstations at home. These three chapters are followed by edited transcripts of two roundtable discussions: one on labor issues and one on lessons learned. Comments here are organized around evidence of productivity, establishing equitable hours and wages, protecting the remote worker, IRS rulings on tax deductions, likely candidates for tele-work, and career advancement. While such transcript-style discussion sections do add a touch of personality and immediacy to books such as these (I think of Martin Greenberger’s early edited books on mainframe computer roundtables) they seem less effective than a good summary written by one person. For instance, suggestions for more appropriate measures of information worker productivity are sorely needed, but none will be found here. The third section projects the issues and trends into the future: developments in technology; the very real threats of increased exploitation of clerical workers, fragmentation of their work, and health hazards due to home work technology; the positive potential for professionals; and putting the forecasts into a context of prior research. MOTIVATION
There are clearly positive motivations to adopt computer-based homework. For organizations, these reasons include increasing cost of physical space, decreasing availability of office space, and the ability to combine geographically dispersed workers in diverse projects. For users, reasons include increased access to jobs by handicapped, control over pace and scheduling of tasks, reduced commuting time and costs, more personal work environment, and the ability to care for children. Another aspect of motivation has to do with how tele-work could affect the motivation that workers have in performing their tasks. The very real problems of attempting to conduct generalizable research in this area are emphasized in a chapter on these effects. The basic theory of work motivation assumes that people perform in accordance with their expectations (about rewards, task norms, significance of the product, nature of work). It seems exceedingly difficult to maintain similar expectations in both at-home and on-site work, due to varying pay mechanisms, type of work, nature of relationships and the like. However, it does seem likely that home workers will be less able to experience the impact or significance of their work, thus lessening their motivation. These workers are less likely to achieve satisfactory work-related contact or to “learn” about the organization through such contacts.