U.S. spies help scientists pierce data jungle

Article Abstract:

The US Defense Department Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) sponsors an alternative research methods program. The agency provides $15 million to eight teams of scientists to develop more efficient information searching techniques, and US intelligence analysts devise searches to test the viability of the new methods. The traditional Boolean method proves cumbersome with the immense quantities of electronic data in existence now. Scientist Stephen Gallant is one of those selected, and his methodology consists of transcending the searching limitations imposed by keyword searches. Gallant's MatchPlus is based on a 300-dimensional mapping of the English lexicon. The scientist's program can establish 300 coordinates for a given word, allowing context and implication to be incorporated in a search.

Research, Industrial research, United States. Department of Defense, Research and development contracts, Government, Government research and development contracts, Research and Development, Boolean Algebra, Search Strategy, Gallant, Stephen

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Ruling spares CompuServe from libel suits

Article Abstract:

A federal court rules in Oct 1991 that H&R Block's CompuServe information service, is not legally liable for material that appears on its system. US District Court Judge Peter K. Leisure rules that CompuServe, like a library or a bookstore or a newsstand, is not responsible for what it it carries. Leisure says CompuServe should not be considered responsible unless it can be shown that CompuServe had knowledge that statements appearing on its system are defamatory. This ruling is particularly controversial because of a recent furor generated by anti-Semitic messages that were published on the Prodigy network. Leisure's decision could be important for establishing guidelines in the relatively new legal area of electronic publishing.

Communication services, not elsewhere classified, Publishing industry, Cases, Electronic publishing, Information services, Videotex systems, Legal Issues, Electronic Publishing Industry, Videotex, Liability, CompuServe Corp.

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The Nintendo nation

Article Abstract:

Nintendo Company Ltd plans to turn its lucrative video game product into a node for a vast nationwide network that will potentially connect 20 million homes. The video game manufacturer has a secret two-inch slot on the bottom of its machine and some industry observers believe the company will announce a box that plugs into it in 1991. The box will plug into the secret slot on one end and a telephone jack on the other end. The ambition to create such a network has met with failure in the past: Knight-Ridder Inc spent $50 million and five years on a home-information system before killing it in 1985, and Times Mirror Co spent millions of dollars on a similar project that it killed in 1986.

Games, toys, and children's vehicles, Planning, Technological forecasting, Video game industry, Video games industry, Information systems, Nintendo Company Ltd., Networks, Trends, Strategic Planning, Future of Computing

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