As always, those who create games have led the way by showing us what multimedia can do. Even Microsoft tried to show what "information at your fingertips" could mean by persisting with MS Bookshelf, despite losing money on the project. Encyclopedia publishers also recognized the potential, but were frightened about how to make a living selling tiny CD-ROM discs after a century of printing collections of books that people loved to hold in their hands, books that parents could hand to their children. Even more seriously, teachers were intimidated by the challenge to add PCs to the classroom. After all, the PC could totally change how a class was run. Additionally, teachers faced a room full of students, many of whom were more computer- savvy than the teacher.
It might have been students, parents and then school administrators who pushed computers into schools. However, there was a lot of support and encouragement from the businesses who demanded PC education: first to teach word processing, then to teach about computers and finally to use computers to teach. The role of the encyclopedia was central to the growing role of the multimedia PC.
This column deals with three of today's encyclopedias and a music training program. With encyclopedias taking the stage first, you will see that the current encyclopedias would be unrecognizable, unimaginable 20 years ago. Do you remember when we had to put up with hardbound encyclopedias that gradually became obsolete as you were forced to add supplemental volumes that were impossible to integrate into the whole? At first, integration from year- to- year made the CD-ROM encyclopedia such an obvious improvement. Then we saw multimedia and soon the Web was everywhere. Encyclopedia publishers pushed to exploit new technologies as fast as possible. An obvious example was how Microsoft took a little- known encyclopedia and turned it into Encarta 2000 by using extensive manpower and imagination.
Animations, filmstrips, music, sounds and lectures where a shocking advance for the early 1990s' PC encyclopedias, but who could imagine what the Web would be adding. Encyclopedias still need bibliographies and self- contained databases, but now they reach all around the world to pull in data, film strips, pictures, animations and current events. Is it still the encyclopedia we all knew? Is it now a new way to access the Web? The answer is yes and no. The current encyclopedias can use data from the Web, but for this to work for students, there must be user- friendly links to appropriate sites. Moreover, the encyclopedia on the PC (or CD-ROM) still must help retrieve information and crosslinked data as best it can. It must also be updated as often as possible. We would even like to see today's news linked to the encyclopedia as it happens.
Can we compare the size of different encyclopedias? No, not unless we have a way to add up articles, updating, crosslinking, bibliographies and the quality of Web links. We might criticize publishers for the data actually in the box, but it doesn't tell us much. The interface, especially navigation tools are more crucial. We are more impressed by timelines, subject outlines, aids to research, cross-references, bibliographies, study guides, knowledge games and even the new mini-courses that are starting to appear. Where is this heading? Sometimes it looks like a new student- friendly Web browser; sometimes it looks look a new type of classroom.
To help you understand encyclopedia dating, you need to know that an encyclopedia that is dated 2000, but is released in the summer of 1999, does not mean it is full of data about the how 1999 ends, until you download the updates. By contrast, THE 1999 Britannica and THE 1999 World Book are current versions since they don't compete for holiday business by calling themselves year-2000 versions. They wait until they have looked at the end of 1999 and absorbed the changes. Both The World Book and The Britannica have special strengths that have made them solid choices for decades, but they cannot rest on their past glory in this multimedia, information age.
We finish up this month with one of the many music instruction programs available from Alfred Publishing. It doesn't have any multimedia nor any Web links, but we liked it anyway.
YEAR 2000 GROLIER MULTIMEDIA ENCYCLOPEDIA
The Deluxe 2-CD Year 2000 Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia has been growing right alongside its competition. We are looking at the WIN 9X/NT version, but in its Mac version, it is the number one seller in 1998-99 among reference CDs, as reported by Education Market Research. In Figure 1, you can see the start of a multimedia mini-course on Music. This shows that the 2000 encyclopedia is starting to define itself as going beyond information towards using the encyclopedia as "teacher."
Figure 1. The Year 2000 Grolier Encyclopedia Includes a Music Study Guide. |
| Click on the thumbnail for full image. (124K) |
The success of the Grolier Deluxe may in part be due to the immediately available data and to the integration with the CD-ROMs and Grolier's own Web site. Purchasers of the Year 2000 Grolier have access to The New Book of Knowledge (for elementary-aged students), The Year 2000 Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia (two CDs in the box with a moderate depth of information and tons of stimulating multimedia), plus the very respected Encyclopedia Americana (for high school, college and adult users).
To give you an idea of the scope on a 2-CD encyclopedia, here are the Grolier statistics:
* Two CDs with 16+ hours of sound
* 37,000 articles on the discs, 25 percent more than the printed edition
* 22,000 articles added online
* 26,000 articles linked to the Web, with links updated monthly
* 132,000 cross-references
* More than 15,000 images, 1,200 maps, 400 photos, 151 panoramic scenes (you can pan around 360 degrees), 177 videos and hundreds of embedded graphics
* Study Guide to teach research techniques and suggest interesting topics
* Timeline of history and a topic outline with links to articles
* Articles with relevant bibliographies attached
We examined the Grolier extensively and found that its navigation system worked, but seemed nonstandard to us using the PC. Perhaps this reflects an emphasis on the Mac version. The multimedia and other features were great, especially the bibliographies, but it feels strange when bordered sections on a page cannot be moved aside (i.e., they are not windows). It is also takes more steps than normal to move forward and backward. The timeline was stunning, but not detailed. Perhaps this is better than a crowded page. More importantly, articles contained easily understood descriptions and added facts that helped suggest further places for research. More obvious related topics were listed alongside the main article.
We have always liked the Grolier, and it gets better every year. The box in 1999 now contains a very nice study guide for some specific topics. It should give students a guide to encyclopedia research in the year 2000, especially since it shows how to expand the scope of an otherwise narrowly defined topic.
Year 2000 Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia
[$59.95 with $20 rebate]
Grolier Interactive
90 Sherman Turnpike
Danbury, CT 06816
203-797-3530
ENCARTA ENCYCLOPEDIAS 2000
The greatly expanded Encarta Encyclopedias 2000 feels as if the database is really large, no doubt because of the number of Web links and articles that are updated free every month. Multimedia is everywhere, and graphics are stunning.
We examined several Encarta products, but none seem to be dual Mac/Win versions, and forget running them under WIN 3.1. However, the Windows compatibility extends nicely to Microsoft's own Win NT. The good news includes the huge rebates that are good until Aug 2000. Take a look below. If we understand the press release numbers correctly, these products are almost free!
The latest Encarta has been out since August 1999, so you know that to be current, you have at least five large updates to download. Encarta will remind you of this frequently and offer to do the job for you. In addition, you will be helped to download the latest Shockwave and Flash Multimedia viewers (from Macromedia) that you will definitely need.
The Encarta Encyclopedias 2000 family includes the Deluxe version that we have and it is larger than the Standard version in every category, plus you can install text to speech, natural language queries and an artificial intelligence engine. In the Deluxe, you will have three CDs instead of one-or you can buy the DVD!
We looked up the article on the cello and Encarta correctly pictures YoYo Ma as a huge favorite in the 1999 world of cello playing. Many other cellists could be included, but I would add Anner Bylsma who plays in a very sweet, less aggressive style appropriate to Early Music. I play the cello in a Consort, so I can't resist digressing on occasion. We are inviting you to test Y2K bugs by listening to our concert at the Crocker Art Museum at 3:00 p.m. on Jan. 2, 2000. We will try to cover a thousand years of music in fifty minutes. Of course, this assumes that the Y2K monster permits the show to go on. If a Y2K bug only cuts our concert short by 10 minutes, there goes 200 years of music down the booper.
Meanwhile, back to the Encarta 2000 article on the cello. It presents a nice introduction to what a cello is but, more importantly, there are 18 references to related articles and then to important Web sites. Several examples of music featuring the cello alone, or with other instruments, are included. Unfortunately, there is no cross-reference to our Crocker Millennium Concert, but we forgive the omission. More importantly, Encarta includes a study and curriculum guide for students that makes research specific for the exact subject as well as the appropriate grade level. It is a nice extra and even the included knowledge game can be customized so that the maze plus the quiz is appropriate to the user.
Figure 2. The Cello Article in Encarta Deluxe 2000. |
| Click on the thumbnail for full image. (109K) |
The timeline in Encarta 2000 is so nicely expanded and cross-linked to articles and multimedia sections, we could not resist capturing an image (Figure 2) of a prehistory section that is understandably less crowded than dates at the end of our millennium. Of course, it would be interesting to see what will happen during the next century, but the timeline stops too soon, and it doesn't look as if many of us well see that much of the future. Unfortunately, the treatment to reverse aging (the Fountain of Youth?) isn't ready for Prime Time, but you can look in Encarta's Exploring Utility to see how close scientists are to unraveling the question of why we are aging. This excellent Explorer Tool can be used to search major areas by subject and is so well laid out with categories and pictures, you could get lost for days as you see intriguing subjects everywhere.
Figure 3. Encarta 2000 Deluxe has a Detailed Timeline, Even for Prehistory. |
| Click on the thumbnail for full image. (90K) |
Go with the flow in Encarta. The multimedia, the interface, the links within Encarta and the links to the Web seem so vast. No wonder Encarta wins so many kudos and awards.
If you are in a store, look at the multipage box covers that explain the numerous flavors of Encarta 2000. You can economize with the Standard Edition or move into more data and links as you go to the Deluxe 2000 Edition and then the 2000 Reference Collection. The latter even contains the new World English Dictionary created by hundreds of Microsoft employees and contractors. Who can remember when a new dictionary was created from scratch, especially one that tries to cover English words from all the English- speaking countries? Such a project is worthy of a company led by a scholar willing to commit resources to educational projects that probably won't make money.
Moreover, the new World English Dictionary is not the only example of such scholarship. Take a look at the Encarta 2000 Encyclopedia Africana. Here we have a huge project that documents Black History and Culture. This Encarta Africana is just as loaded with the features and multimedia that characterize the best that the word Encarta has come to stand for. If a project says "scholarship" or "integration," it gets our attention. Don't criticize Microsoft. Behind the pizzazz in the Encarta series there is a lot of "meat."
Encarta Encyclopedia 2000
[$39 - $25 Rebate]
Encarta Deluxe Encyclopedia 2000
[$69.95 - $30 Rebate]
Encarta Reference Suite 2000 on CD or DVD
[$99 - $35 Rebate]
Encarta World English Dictionary
[$39.95 - $20 Rebate]
Encarta Africana 2000
[$69.95 - $30 Rebate]
Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052-6399
Compton's Encyclopedia 2000 Deluxe
The Compton's Encyclopedia 2000 Deluxe did not arrive in its entirety in time for our review, but we know quite a bit about it. The first volume appeared in the ninteenth century and has expanded ever since. It is available in a 26-volume, hardbound version, but the CD-ROM contains much more.
The ownership of Compton's Encyclopedia on CD-ROM has changed hands so many times, we decided to avoid researching the subject. We believe that the staff is largely intact and as committed as ever despite changes that include associations with The Learning Company, Softkey, Broderbund, Mindscape,and maybe others, until we reach the 1999 home of all these companies under the Mattel umbrella.
Compton's on CD-ROM started a little before Encarta and Grolier and is not behind in multimedia or any of the other improvements we see today. Amusingly, we were present at COMDEX about 1989 when they announced a U.S. Patent on multimedia. There was an uproar that was better than the encyclopedia unveiling and definitely better than the breakfast. Everyone was yelling that multimedia was already defined during research at the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) during the 1970s. The PARC work helped to bring us the mouse, the trackball, spreadsheets, the graphical user interface and much more. File this under historical trivia!
More importantly, Compton's has to be close to the top for interface and effective crosslinks. Maybe their crosslinks are at the topic for any reference software. In Figure 4, you can see a page on the cello where related topics are suggested everywhere. Navigation to these related topics is a breeze and collecting the data is a pleasure. An artificial intelligence module is clearly at work here. However, be careful because here is another product that can lead you far astray as it suggests ever more interesting trails to follow.
Figure 4. Compton's Encyclopedia 2000 Deluxe Has a Noteworthy Article on the Cello. |
| Click on the thumbnail for full image. (220K) |
Compton's Encyclopedia 2000 Deluxe is on 2 CD-ROMs that hold 40,000 articles and 16,000 photos, in addition to other multimedia. The Web links have been very carefully researched and there is even a planetarium to please the astronomers out there.
Compton's Encyclopedia 2000 Deluxe is still an excellent choice, and under Mattel, who knows how far it can go? This 2000 version includes a full compliment of imaginative touches that are sure to please. There is even a new link to the San Francisco Exploratorium where students can try scientific devices online. These devices will even amaze adults, yet they can look like toys. How about two years of National Geographic, or Answer Me online, the e-mail service to help students who are having trouble getting started on a complex subject? Can you imagine the commitment this service involves for the Compton scholars? We're impressed!
Compton's Encyclopedia 2000 Deluxe
[$39.95 street]
Broderbund
A Division of Mattel, Inc.
88 Rowland Way
Novato, CA 94945
800-282-3072
Alfred's Essentials of Music Theory, Volume I
Alfred Publishing, just like encyclopedia publishers, has depended on the printed output to make a profit. For example, they have hardcopy versions of Alfred's Essentials of Music Theory by Andrew Surmani, Karen Farnum Surmani and Morton Manus. These are aimed at youngsters, but adults will find much to learn. Music is difficult, but not impossible, to learn without someone to help you. The book versions of music tutorials are even harder to use by themselves, maybe even impossible for youngsters. Now this respected music course is on dual Mac/Win CD-ROM's to bring alive the set of books. Useful at home or in a classroom, Volume I of the software is available now with Volumes II and III on schedule for January 2000.
Alfred Publishing has been printing music and music tutorials since 1922 so should have a pretty good idea of what it takes to make music instruction effective. The company already has a full catalog of software available so call to order the catalog. Software and books are available for most instruments. Moreover it is nice to see software for special topics, such as learning to play by ear.
The new Essentials CD-ROMs contain a traditional approach to teaching music, but they will succeed because of an excellent syllabus and terrific feedback for the students. These CD-ROMs may not replace a teacher, but in some ways they are better because software is infinitely patient.
The discs include numerous interactive lessons that let you know immediately when you are right or wrong. Then a review test at the end of a section lets you know how you are doing overall. Your scores are stored and you always know what lessons you have completed.
In Figure 5, you can see an exercise that illustrates the value of music software. Here we see a lesson where you name notes on a pair of typical piano staves. Errors evoke a gruff noise and the right answer evokes a cheerful sound, along with the sounding of the note. Meanwhile, your score is accumulated at the bottom of the screen. Other typical lessons, such as those in ear training, are just as good. It is essential to learn when a single note is higher or lower than the previous one. We hope that even smaller ear training intervals appear in later volumes.
Figure 5. The Note Recognition 'Game' in Music Theory's Volume I. |
| Click on the thumbnail for full image. (55K) |
This software is not full of lively cartoon characters, elaborate animations or adventure games, but it still kept our attention with ear training, note recognition, rhythms, structure lessons and friendly tests. A Glossary is included that defines the terms and points at the Volume Number of the relevant lesson. Additionally, there is an Educator Version (for an msrp of $99) that allows the instructor on a network to work with up to 200 students. Highly recommended, despite the lack of pizzazz!
Alfred's Essentials of Music Theory, Volume I
Student Edition [$29.95 msrp]
Teacher Edition [$99.95 msrp]
Alfred Publishing Company, Inc.
P.O. Box 10003
16320 Roscoe Blvd.
Van Nuys, CA 91410-0003
818-891-5999
If you have any suggestions or questions, please write.
