===================================================================== AMERICAN VETERINARY COMPUTER SOCIETY NEWSLETTER March - April, 1994 ===================================================================== Richard B. Talbot (Virginia Tech) - President; James T. Case (UC-Davis) - Secretary Treasurer; Robert Featherston (Tulsa, OK) - President elect; Ronald D. Smith (Illinois) - Newsletter Editor. ===================================================================== IN THIS ISSUE SOCIETY NEWS From the Editor How to Contact AVCS LETTERS TO THE EDITOR AVCS Session at AVMA Convention Survey Results - Computer Use in Private Veterinary Practice WHAT'S ON THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY FOR VETERINARIANS? PRODUCT AVAILABILITY/REVIEWS/COMPARISONS Windows Word Processors Windows Spreadsheets Alternatives to Animals Database Update NORINA Database of Audiovisuals NEWS AND COMMENTARY CLIVE - Computer-aided Learning in Veterinary Education Internet Access from CompuServe Internet Access from America OnLine Health Professions Web Server The Virtual Hospital - A Medical WWW Server MEETINGS AND EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES 1st World Congress on Computational Med & Pub Helth, Austin, TX Computers In Healthcare Education Symposium, Philadelphia, PA Workshop on Information Retrieval and Genomics, Bethesda, MD CAMIS Infofair & Informatics Symposium, Stanford, CA Am Medical Informatics Assn (AMIA) Spring Congress, San Fancisco, CA 1994 National Extension Technology Conference, Lexington, KY 6th Annual Interactive Videodisc Workshop, Athens, GA 7th IEEE Symp on Computer-Based Medical Systems, Winston-Salem, NC 12th Conf for Computer Applications in Radiology, Winston-Salem, NC ED-MEDIA 94 - World Conf. Educ. Multimed/Hypermed, Vancouver, Canada World Congress on Med Physics and Biomed Eng, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Int'l Conf on Neural Networks & Expert Systems in Med. & Healthcare, Plymouth, England 18th Annual Symp On Comp Applications In Medical Care, Washington, DC International Congress on Medical Informatics, Havana, Cuba Asia Pacific Assn For Medical Informatics, (APAMI '94), Singapore MEDINFO'95 - 8th World Congress on Medical Informatics, Sao Paulo, Brazil ANNIE'94, Emerging Technologies in Med and Biol, St. Louis, MO SUGGESTED READING CLOSING BITS ===================================================================== SOCIETY NEWS ===================================================================== FROM THE EDITOR This issue's feature article, "What's on the information superhighway for veterinarians?", is based on excerpts from a discussion that went on over several days on several of the veterinary listservs (electronic discussion groups). So much useful information emerged that I decided to include it in the Newsletter in the form of an "electronic panel discussion". The benefits of this kind of discussion, using the internet as the common link, are many. First, it's very democratic. Anyone with internet access can participate. Since it's asynchronous, participants don't have to be present at the same time. Indeed, some of the participants were ten time zones apart. It's also cheap since participants connect to the internet through their local gateways. Finally, on most listservs all contributions are automatically archived. So if you want to go back and find something it's easy. America Online, Compuserve, and the AVMA's NOAH (Network Of Animal Health) all offer internet access, as do a number of other providers. The best way to take a test drive on the "Information Superhighway" is to subscribe to one of the veterinary-related listservs. Consult this issue's Feature Article for further information. Ronald D. Smith, Editor ===================================================================== HOW TO CONTACT AVCS Applications for membership, accompanied by a check for $20 payable to the AVCS, should be sent to Dr. James T. Case;AVCS Secretary Treasurer; School of Veterinary Medicine; University of California; P.O. Box 1770; Davis, CA 95617 (Phone: 916/752-4408; FAX: 916/752-5680; e-mail: jcase@ucdcvdls.bitnet). Dr. Case is responsible for distribution of the hardcopy version of the AVCS Newsletter. Newsletter items can be sent to Dr. Ronald D. Smith, AVCS Newsletter Editor; UI College of Veterinary Medicine; 2001 South Lincoln; Urbana, IL 61801. Telephone: 217/333-2449; FAX: 217/333-4628; AOL: RDSmith; Internet: rd-smith@uiuc.edu If you would like to be on the AVCS Newsletter electronic distribution list, send an e-mail message to the Newsletter Editor. Although the electronic version is only an ASCII (text) file, it's faster, searchable, easier to store and retrieve, and environmentally friendly. Current and past issues of the Newsletter can also be downloaded from the Associations and Foundations Library of America Online's Veterinary Information Network. Issues remain there for one year. ===================================================================== LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ===================================================================== AVCS SESSION AT AVMA CONVENTION From: "Waldhalm Steve" I am session chairperson for the AVCS session at the AVMA in July. The agenda is as follows: Saturday July 9, 1994 8:30 Introduction to computer hardware (Steve Waldhalm) 9:10 Introduction to computer software (Steve Waldhalm) 10:30 Beyond the basics: Developing computer solutions to common veterinary problems (Harmon Rogers) 11:10 The New Professor: Computer based education for clients, staff and veterinarian (Harmon Rogers) 1:30 Access to information - worldwide (Steve Waldhalm) 3:30 NOAH: the AVMA's information gateway (Jim Brewer) Survey Results - Computer Use in Private Veterinary Practice From: KEN@wudcm.wustl.edu For those who have not seen the JAVMA (3-15-94) issue 204(6): 888-890, there are results of the survey put together by Lee Dye, Charles Ray, & AAVI member, Steve Waldhalm on computer use in private veterinary practice. ===================================================================== WHAT'S ON THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY FOR VETERINARIANS? An Electronic Panel Discussion Hosted by Ronald D. Smith (Newsletter Editor) Panel Members (in alphabetical order): Evan Blonder, Lynne Boggs, Ken Boschert, Warren Brunton, Jim Case, Jim Ehrlich, Kathrine MacNeil, Jeff Parke, Paul Pion, Fred Smith, Duane Steward, Mark Varner, Mitzi Williams ===================================================================== On Tue, 15 Feb 1994 08:33:47 I posted the following request for input on "Veterinarians and the Information Superhighway" to several veterinary medicine electronic discussion groups (VETMED-L@uga.cc.uga.edu, VETINFO@ucdcvdls.bitnet, VETLIB-L@vtvm1.cc.vt.edu): "There has been a lot of 'hoopla' lately about the information superhighway and how it's going to change everyone's lives. Those who have used and are comfortable with e-mail, MOSAIC, AOL-VIN, listservs, usenet groups, local freenets, etc would probably agree. However, it has been my experience that most Americans, including most veterinary practitioners, are still at a very basic level (or no level at all) when it comes to computer-mediated communications." "So my question to the list is: WHAT'S ON THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY FOR VETERINARIANS?" ===================================================================== NEED FOR MORE VETERINARIANS TO GET INVOLVED ============= Jeff Parke ...the big hoopla may serve its best purpose in just getting more vets interested in this medium. ...we have barely scraped the surface of potential vets that could be involved. Why? My guesses are: 1. No typing skills 2. Low experience expressing thoughts in written words 3. Put off by computers. 4. Shyness. 5. Don't have necessary equipment/ too expensive. ============= Jim Case I don't think that the expense is the major put off to using the technology. In practice, it is generally the time factor. Time is the most precious commodity that many in private practice have. It will take a lot to convince someone to use up some of it unless there is a definite benefit. What the electronic community has not done well is giving good, concrete, "this will save me time AND money" type examples of how on a day to day basis, participating in the ESH (Electronic Super Highway) will benefit ME. When we put in our Information System, it was a real challenge to get people to use it correctly (if at all).. Over the years we have provided some good concrete services which have benefitted them and now the vast majority of our users say they couldn't live without it. This was a long haul, and is easier to do in the confines of a single organization. Not so easy to do in the geographically and professionally diverse areas of veterinary medicine. We have the mousetrap, now we need to convince people that they need it, so they will pound down our doors. ===================================================================== VETERINARIANS SHOULD DISCOVER WHAT'S AVAILABLE. ============= Evan Blonder <73267.1500@COMPUSERVE.COM> I am the only one in this practice that uses the PC to its fullest capacity and I have been finding new ways of using it to increase the productivity of the practice. The best help, or the trigger that started the latest information cascade, was an article in December 1993 or January 1994 of the Compendium. It was an obscure article in the Large animal (I think it was the Dairy) section that had information on all the Internet and SuperInternet services that were offered to veterinarians. I encourage all of you to get a look at it and discover what is available. (See the reference to this article by Varner et al in the "Suggested Readings" section of the Newsletter - Editor) ============= Kathrine MacNeil In the Oct./Nov. 1993 issue of Trends (a publication of the American Animal Hospital Association), there is a description/testimonial concerning the Veterinary Information Network or VIN. It's on pp.42-43, and explains how belonging to VIN has increased the writer's productivity. It is an advertizement, but it's well-written and entertaining. As a librarian, I have contributed to the productivity of Tx A&M faculty by answering reference questions, completing or correcting garbled citations, accepting requests for literature searches, etc. via e-mail. Granted, these were transmitted by the CVM LAN (which is connected to the Medical Sciences Library LAN), not by the Internet, but the principle is the same. When our Texas practitioners are on the Internet, I will work with them, too. (Let all the veterinary librarians say, "Amen.") ============= Mark Varner We recently published a review article (Comp. Cont. Educ. for Vet. 15:1655, 1993) that described most of the resources of likely interest to bovine practitioners. Ken Boschert (ken@wudcm.wustl.edu) keeps a pretty good list of electronic information resources for veterinarians in a compilation called the "Electronic Zoo". An opinion on the future is that it will be increasingly important to share test results with consulting experts (digitized X-rays, blood profiles, whatever) in an easy manner. The more easy it becomes to deal with large multimedia files over the net, the sooner this will develop. I co-moderate Dairy-L, and this sharing of expertise is a very popular component of our little electronic community. The potential for the net to expand in this area is great, and we're already seeing examples of mechanisms to commercialize this access to expertise. ============= Jim Ehrlich, D.V.M. Dairy Veterinarians Group <0005974267@mcimail.com> I chair the Electronic Communication Subcommittee of the AABP Information Management Committee. Our plans for the coming six months (already nearing completion) include setting up all AABP officers with E-mail accounts (MCI or University), Offering discount e-mail accounts to all AABP members (a group account plan with MCI), and setting up a restricted Internet List for AABP members to complement the existing Dairy-L, Beef-L, and other Lists. We are just now finalizing a deal with MCI Mail that will offer members toll-free e-mail accounts INCLUDING front-end software for $35/Yr (or $10/Month with 40 free outgoing messages per month). The strategy is to provide easy access in combination with a compelling reason to enter (Gack!) Cyperspace and let people go from there as their interests (and time, and money) lead. ===================================================================== WHAT'S ON THE HORIZON? ============= Ken Boschert I've been involved with most of the veterinary systems as they've become available. I have run a BBS for the AALAS group since 1987, and am owner of the COMPMED mailing list. Together these two systems comprise some 750 veterinary professionals at almost as many different university, corporate, government, and military institutions from 16 countries. Relating my experiences from just this one portion of the profession, I think it is indicative of what's to come for veterinary medicine in general. With the increasing popularity and ease of use of the Internet, I've seen the system grow some 200% in the last year and a half, and the pace has yet to drop off. In that same time period, some 3000 messages flowed through the list.... a majority of which represented legitimately difficult questions and usually professional, courteous answers. Other messages were informative and timely or observations you could store away somewhere for future reference. I believe there is a trade-off between speed & efficency and accuracy without the benefit of peer-review, but in general, these computer networks fill a void that no other communications medium can match. ...the Veterinary Information Network on America Online has seen measurable success in bringing vets together online, and in a couple of months, AVMA is about to join the picture with its NOAH network on Compuserve. One particularly attractive feature of NOAH will be its accessbility to and from the Internet. Another factor AVMA will be providing is very high visibility via its ability to market the networking concept through its traditional publications. I believe this will motivate many vets who may be sitting on the fence waiting to see "what this thing's going to do for me". ...the more recent veterinary graduates are going to be much more receptive to computer networking, since they will have had exposure in school and many will want to use this medium to keep in touch both professionally and personally....online alumni reunions....I can see it now. ===================================================================== GAS STATIONS ON THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY ============= Mitzi Williams I think the hype is about a new era--being reborn to some people, but the process may be painful to some. NOAH will definitely pave the road to the highway from their "isolated" locations, but something like a cheap gas station or huge shopping center have to be there for the isolated veterinarians to want to get on the highway. So, my question to you, Ken and Ron, is: what are you willing to put along the road? Because without the efforts of those of you who are already light-speeding on the highway, the rest of the people in your profession may still take the country road and feel content. Without a major investment on your part, what we, librarians, do can only go so far. ============= Ken Boschert I should thank Mitzi for the perfect setup....as we speak, I am putting together what will soon be one of those gas stations along the highway. Many of you have probably at least heard of the Internet "Gopher" protocol which originated at the U. of Minnesota and the "World Wide Web" popularized by the U. of Illinois "Mosaic" client software. I suspect many of you are already using some of these resources. Client software is basically free and readily available on the Internet. Of course, the point of running a gopher server is to provide some unique information resource. Additionally, it is possible to point to other resources. So, following along the general theme I had put together with the Electronic Zoo file, this gopher we are building will serve as a pointer to as many of the animal-related resources as I can locate on the Internet. Also, it will be the gopher home for AALAS and the National Agricultural Library's Animal Welfare Information Center. I am in the process of recruiting a couple of other groups and this will also serve as one of the major Internet sites for NOAH (AVMA's network). ===================================================================== NEED FOR VETERINARY INFORMATICS SPECIALISTS ============= Duane Steward We need to develop equal proficiency at communicating our expertise in the new cyberspace media and its access. Without that, the practitioner will likely feel left out and professionally threatened by the cyberspace information "loop" growing between consumer and this "information superhighway". ...this is another good justification for the informatics specialist, i.e., to train veterinarians in professional school, private practicioners, and even academicians in the application of information technologies to veterinary medicine and (distinctly different) the application of veterinary medicine to information technology. The rapid rate of hardware and software development prohibit most veterinarians from keeping up without the assistance of those who can devote themselves wholely to that interface. ===================================================================== A QUIET REVOLUTION IS UNDERWAY ============= Fred Smith As a teacher in the first and third years of a veterinary school I see a whole different revolution already quietly under way. We just got a local area network (LAN) started about 3 years ago even though we have used computers as a teaching tool for over 10 years. We now have 200-300 users on the LAN during most days. Just last September (1993) we gave each student an individual ID on the network. We did not have any specific use for the IDs in mind, but figured uses would arise. Just this week I got some very unscientific and incomplete data that provide a glimpse of what is happening on "our information superhighway". It was a list of all the student IDs which had never been used. Here is the result. Class of 1994 - 78% unused - Clinical year Class of 1995 - 13% unused - Didactic Class of 1996 - 3% unused - Didactic Class of 1997 - 20% unused - Didactic I think you can see a change has taken place in all of the classes that were still in the academic setting (1995-1997) while many in the class in the clinical training year (1994) missed their chance to get on the "information superhighway" while still in school. [Please be advised that if you are looking for a good veterinarian with network experience there are already some excellent candidates in this year's graduating class! You just have to ask around for them.] So what do the students do on the network? My very informal walk- through observations of students in the computer-assisted learning center (CALC) indicate that at least 90% are using email. The rest are usually accessing remote library resources. And what does this all have to do with Ron's question? I think that over the next few years these students will stay in touch with each other and with practitioner-experts and with the schools by email. I think many practitioners will hire these new graduates and inherit their network experience. I suppose some day there will be broad information highways that will carry video and sound, but for now we just need to keep the channels open for the humble email text messages. The rest will take care of itself. ===================================================================== ADOPT-A-VET MENTORING PROGRAM ============= Warren Brunton Concerning students using Internet......are you familiar with the VIN Mentor program Paul Pion (PDP1@aol.com) started at UCDavis? Veterinary students are in contact via e-mail and Internet with real live veterinarians (VIN members). ============= Paul Pion I started the program by posting (an announcement), getting vets online to respond and posting the responses outside of class -- then students began to sign up on a sheet....so far I think we have 2/3 of the first yr class participating -- and the vets are loving it. ============= Lynne Boggs The vet/student program at Davis has been working out awfully well - lots of enthusiastic comments from both vets and students. So far, we have 86 active pairs. Discussion has ranged from, "how important are these grades?" to clinical cases. I've tried to match vet/student pairs that have similar practice interests. ===================================================================== PRODUCT AVAILABILITY/REVIEWS/COMPARISONS ===================================================================== WINDOWS WORD PROCESSORS The February 7, 1994 issue of InfoWorld evaluated three Windows-compatible word processors. Scores were (from 1 to 10 with 10 being highest): Microsoft Word for Windows 6.0 (8.2); Ami Pro for Windows 3.01 (7.0); WordPerfect for Windows 6.0 (6.0). ===================================================================== WINDOWS SPREADSHEETS The February 28, 1994 issue of InfoWorld evaluated three Windows-compatible spreadsheets. Scores were (from 1 to 10 with 10 being highest): Excel 5.0 (8.0); 1-2-3 for Windows 4.01 (6.8); Quattro Pro 5.0 for Windows Workgroup Extension (6.7). ===================================================================== ALTERNATIVES TO ANIMALS DATABASE UPDATE From: dcanderson@UCDAVIS.EDU The Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights has recently updated (16 March 1994) its alternatives database and is making it available free in a DOS or a Windows version. If desired on 3.5" diskettes, please supply one blank 1.44 MB or two blank 720 KB diskettes. AVAR is willing to supply 5.25" diskettes themselves. For further information contact Dr. David Anderson by e-mail or at: AVAR, PO Box 6269, Vacaville CA 95696-6269. ===================================================================== NORINA DATABASE OF AUDIOVISUALS From: Adrian.Smith@veths.no NORINA: A NORWEGIAN INVENTORY OF AUDIOVISUALS: The Laboratory Animal Unit, Norwegian College of Veterinary Medicine, Oslo, has compiled an English-language database of audiovisuals for use in the biological sciences. The compilers are Karina and Adrian Smith, in collaboration with Richard Fosse, Laboratory Animal Services, University of Bergen. The primary purpose of the database is to offer an overview of possible alternatives or supplements to the use of animals in student teaching, at all levels from schools to university. The database consists at present of around 1300 entries, including computer programs, interactive video, films and more traditional teaching aids such as slide series, 3-D models and classroom charts. There is also a section for Contact Persons who are developing and/or using audiovisuals at their institution, and for suppliers of audiovisuals. We invite users, developers and suppliers of audiovisuals to send in details for future upgrades of the database. NORINA has been written in Filemaker Pro, originally for Macintosh, but now also available for IBM Windows. NORINA is also available as a "stand-alone" IBM version that will run on any PC with harddisc, with no additional software. Price: US$ 150 (for networks with up to 30 workstations: US$ 750). NORINA is a non-profit venture (none of the developers receive any commission on sales) and income from sales is used purely to offset wage expenses. A free demonstration floppy disc is available: it will run on a Windows or Macintosh computer where the program Filemaker Prois installed. Alternatively, a representative sample of 10 entries printed from NORINA may be ordered free of charge. Three sample files are available by FTP from wuarchive.wustl.edu in the directory \doc\techreports\wustl.edu\compmed\mac; these are the demo version for machines with Filemaker Pro (norina.bin), a text file with information on NORINA (norina.txt) and a tab-delimited version of the demo version (norina.tab). Further details from: Professor Adrian Smith, Laboratory Animal Unit, Norwegian College of Veterinary Medicine, P.O. Box 8146 Dep., 0033 Oslo 1, Norway. Fax: +47 22 96 45 35. Phone: +47 22 96 45 74. email (Internet): adrian.smith@veths.no ===================================================================== NEWS AND COMMENTARY ===================================================================== CLIVE - COMPUTER-AIDED LEARNING IN VETERINARY EDUCATION From "A.D.Short" CLIVE is the UK consortium for Computer-aided Learning in Veterinary Education, which is funded by the UK Higher Education Funding Councils under their Teaching and Learning Technology Programme (TLTP) Phase 2. For a brief description of us, see the article below that has been sent to the CTI Centre for Medicine in Bristol for inclusion in the next issue of their newsletter "CTICM Update". If you would like to join our email discussion list about veterinary CAL, you can do so by sending a message to mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk with the Text: join tltp-clive Firstname Surname (with your own names substituted of course). On joining you will receive a file of information about us plus instructions for using mailbase. To send a message to the list you address it to tltp-clive@mailbase.ac.uk We should like this to develop into an international discussion of veterinary CAL, not restricted to CLIVE business. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- CLIVE Computer-based Learning In Veterinary Education TLTP Phase 2: Update February 1994. The project includes all six UK universities with veterinary schools: Bristol, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool and London (Royal Veterinary College). It was formally launched on 1 December 1993 when the first staff appointment was made in Edinburgh (the lead institution). It aims to cover all parts of the curriculum, concentrating especially on areas where exchange with other courses (such as Medicine and Biology) is less possible. The TLTP programme coincides with revisions of the veterinary curricula and moves to more self-directed study by students. Two designers in Edinburgh, Gill McConnell and Emma Candy, are working on a variety of projects based on academic input from several CLIVE institutions. They are designing shells that read the academic content from external text and graphic files; this approach is intended to make it straightforward for academic specialists to add their own subject matter and make CAL tutorials without needing to acquire authoring skills or software licences. The subject-matter of present projects includes basic science, systems pathology and clinical case simulations. A strong CLIVE emphasis is good screen design as well as good educational design: visual appeal has a very significant effect on the acceptability of courseware, and we are fortunate in having designers with artistic abilities. They differ from many others in preferring graphic icons (with text and pictures), which are more readily assimilated than standard Windows buttons (see illustration). Our products will be available for delivery on two platforms, Windows PC and Apple Macintosh. For this reason the designers use AuthorwareProfessional for Windows and for Macintosh as the standard CLIVE authoring language. Other tools are available, mainly for modifying materials brought in from elsewhere: ToolBook, HyperCard, QuestionMark. External evaluation and training are contracted to Heriot-Watt University. Professor Ray McAleese is to give the first series of workshops in CLIVE institutions on"The Evaluation of Motivation in Courseware", during which a CLIVE product in development will be a model for evaluation. The first product, QA, a shell for self-testing based on scanned images in a version for Windows PC), is now available to all from our anonymous ftp site clive.ed.ac.uk . All interested in veterinary CAL are invited to join our open mailbase discussion list tltp-clive to hear of new releases and to contribute to a discussion that now includes a number of overseasparticipants. As well as our contacts with other TLTP consortia and CTI Centres, we are now making links with the North American veterinary CAL consortium CONVINCE. Andrew Short Project Co-ordinator adshort@ed.ac.uk ===================================================================== INTERNET ACCESS FROM COMPUSERVE From David Kishler or Debra Young; CompuServe Incorporated; Voice: 614/538-4571 or 614/538-4553; CompuServe Mail: 70003,2154 COMPUSERVE EXTENDS INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY WITH ENHANCED INTERNET ACCESS COLUMBUS, Ohio, March 8, 1994 -- CompuServe Incorporated, the leading worldwide provider of online information services to personal computer users, today announced plans for a series of Internet-related enhancements to benefit members of the CompuServe Information Service. Beginning in late March, CompuServe members will be able to access the CompuServe Information Service directly from the Internet using the telnet protocol. Members may access using the CompuServe Information Manager (CIM) user interface or any general communications software. Telnet access will eliminate the need for a separate modem connection and, for some members, the need to dial long distance to reach the CompuServe network. CompuServe will provide free online membership sign-up for non-members who access via telnet. Rates for accessing CompuServe through telnet will be the same as dial-up rates via the CompuServe network. CompuServe members pay $8.95 per month for unlimited connect-time access to more than 60 basic services. Rates to access extended (hourly-priced) services are $4.80/hour at 1200 or 2400 bits per second, and $9.60/hour at 9.6 or 14.4 kilobits per second. Through the rest of 1994, CompuServe will introduce access to a variety of Internet resources, including the popular Internet USENET Newsgroups, remote log-in to Internet hosts and file transfer from Internet archive sites. Rates have yet to be determined, and CompuServe is developing an easy-to-use interface for CompuServe members who are not Internet experts. "CompuServe was a pioneer in providing an email link with the Internet, and now we're pleased to announce expanded Internet access capabilities for our members worldwide," said Rob Mainor, CompuServe vice president of business information and electronic communications. "There are many support and ease-of-use challenges associated with implementing an effective Internet access strategy. We have made significant advances in these areas, and feel that our plans reflect the needs and interests of our wide variety of members." CompuServe has also established an Internet Forum for members to share ideas about how to access and make use of the many resources offered on the Internet. The forum has an area for members to provide input to CompuServe as the company prepares additional Internet-related services. For additional information or to join CompuServe, call 800/621-1253 (outside the U.S., call 614/529-1349). Established in 1979, CompuServe provides its worldwide membership of more than 1.7 million with databases and services to meet both business and personal interests. In addition to the CompuServe Information Service, CompuServe Incorporated provides frame relay, wide and local area networking services, electronic mail, business information services and software to major corporations and government agencies worldwide. CompuServe is an H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) company. ===================================================================== INTERNET ACCESS FROM AMERICA ONLINE AMERICA ONLINE EXPANDS SYSTEM CAPACITY AND INTERNET SUPPORT Vienna, VA, March 28,1994 - America Online, Inc., announced today that it has expanded Internet support through the launch of USENET Newsgroups and a preview of WAIS & Gopher Databases, making it the first national online service to offer consumers access to Internet content through an easy-to-use graphical interface. In addition, the company announced that the number of subscribers to America Online has nearly tripled over the past year and now tops the 700,000 mark, that access problems have diminished recently as a result of the installation of an additional 50% of computer capacity, and that Macintosh subscribers can now access America Online at 9600 bps speed. "Momentum continues to build for America Online," said Steve Case, President and CEO of America Online. "We have made good progress on the system capacity front, having increased computer capacity by approximately 50% over the past two months, so subscribers are finding it easier to get connected and are thus able to take advantage of the new features we're introducing." "We believe there is a tremendous opportunity to introduce consumers to the Internet by combining the breadth and depth of content on the Internet, with the ease of use and affordability of America Online," Case added. "With the combination of our own AOL discussion groups as well as the addition of the Newsgroups, AOL now has more discussions involving more people about a wider range of topics than any other online service." America Online first introduced The Internet Center last Fall as an information center designed to educate consumers about the Internet and provide expanded access into the Internet. At launch, the area featured an E-mail gateway and mailing list capabilities. The E-mail gateway now handles 5 million messages per month, making it one of AOL's most popular features. The USENET Newxxxsgroups have now been added to the Center, allowing subscribers to participate in thousands of discussions now taking place on Internet servers all over the world. Information databases - using popular search tools such as WAIS and Gopher - are available to all subscribers in preview mode. The Internet Center is available to subscribers at no extra charge. Consumer interest in AOL continues to grow at an unprecedented pace. The Company announced that the number of subscribers to its popular online service has nearly tripled in the last year, and has now surpassed the 700,000 mark. With more than 12 million sessions per month, subscriber accesses have increased by approximately 500% in the past year - which means that AOL has been growing much faster than any of the other major online services. America Online, Inc., based in Vienna, VA, (NASDAQ symbol: AMER) is the nation's fastest-growing provider of online services. The Company offers its more than 700,000 subscribers a wide variety of services, including electronic mail, conferencing, software, computing support, interactive magazines and newspapers, and online classes. Founded in 1985, the Company has established strategic alliances with dozens of companies including Time Warner, Knight-Ridder, Tribune, Hachette, IBM, and Apple. Personal computer owners can obtain America Online software at major retailers and bookstores, or by calling 800-827-6364. ===================================================================== HEALTH PROFESSIONS WEB SERVER From: "Alexa T. McCray" A new Web server on information relevant to educational technology in the health professions is now available. The server is maintained by the Educational Technology Branch (ETB) at the National Library of Medicine. The server features information about Branch research and personnel and provides links to other closely related Web and Gopher servers. ETB runs a Learning Center for Interactive Technology at the NLM in Bethesda, Maryland. Details about the Center and on how to arrange for an appointment to visit us are also provided. The URL for this server is http://wwwetb.nlm.nih.gov Please contact us if you would like to see something else on this server, including links to other related Web or Gopher servers. Alexa McCray National Library of Medicine ===================================================================== THE VIRTUAL HOSPITAL - A MEDICAL WWW SERVER Forwarded to the Veterinary Informatics Discussion Group by: Ken Boschert The Virtual Hospital: A New Paradigm for Electronic Publishing in the Health Sciences The Virtual Hospital (VH) is a continuously updated medical multimedia database stored on computers and accessed through high-speed computer networks 24 hours a day. The VH will provide invaluable patient care support and distance learning to health science practitioners. The VH's information may be used to answer patient care questions, thus putting the latest medical information at practitioners' fingertips. This same information may be used for continuing medical education (CME); delivering CME to practitioners' offices and homes at a convenient time and location. The VH's medical media is stored in a multimedia database on a file server (storage computer) linked to the Internet, the data superhighway of today. The media is organized into medical multimedia textbooks (MMTBs). A MMTB is a multimedia software program that patterns its user interface after a printed textbook but incorporates functions beyond those of a printed textbook. The MMTB provides free text searching and the ability to play video and audio clips. The multimedia database is organized using the World Wide Web (WWW) software technology. The WWW facilitates the acquisition, storage, and organization of information on the Internet. WWW file servers organize and store information in a coherent knowledge structure or "web," while WWW clients, available for all major personal computers, are the tools that the user employs to access the information that it contains. The VH will contain MMTBs, diagnostic algorithms, patient simulations, teaching files, historical information, and patient instructional and CME materials. Information for the VH is being gathered from lectures, teaching conferences and grand rounds in all of our Health Science Colleges. The VH is currently undergoing initial loading and proofing of content, and will be fully operational in the next 6 months. In the interim, there is already a large amount of useful medical information within it, so please stop by and browse. The Virtual Hospital is a service of the Electric Differential Multimedia Lab in the Department of Radiology in the University of Iowa College of Medicine. The URL for the Virtual Hospital is: http://vh.radiology.uiowa.edu/ Michael D'Alessandro, M.D.; Deptartment of Radiology; The Children's Hospital, Boston Email: sandro@lhc.nlm.nih.gov ===================================================================== MEETINGS AND EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES ===================================================================== April 24-28, 1994 First World Congress on Computational Medicine & Public Health, Austin, TX (See the May-June 1993 issue of the AVCS Newsletter for details) ===================================================================== April 27-29, 1994 Computers In Healthcare Education Symposium, Philadelphia, PA (See the Sep-Oct 1993 issue of the AVCS Newsletter for details) The full online brochure for the Computers In Healthcare Education Symposium is now available. The Symposium will be held April 27-29, 1994 at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. The full online brochure can be FTP'd from HSLC.ORG (login as anonymous). It is located in the SYM94 directory and the document is titled SYM94.BROCHURE. If you do not have FTP capability, you may request a copy sent to you in e-mail by sending an e-mail message to fileserv@hslc.org. In the body of the message type SENDME SYM94.BROCHURE The printed version of the brochure will be mailed in early March. Please send your mailing address if you would like to receive a copy to: Jerilyn Garofalo; User Support Specialist; HealthSciences Libraries Consortium; 3600 Market St., Suite 550; H S L C Philadelphia, PA 19104-2646 Voice: (215) 222-1532; Fax: (215) 222-0416; Garofalo@hslc.org ===================================================================== May 2-4, 1994 Workshop on Information Retrieval and Genomics, Bethesda, MD (See the Jan-Feb 1994 issue of the AVCS Newsletter for details) ===================================================================== May 3-4, 1994 CAMIS Infofair & Informatics Symposium, Stanford, CA Stanford University School of Medicine. Tuesday, May 3 and Wednesday, May 4, 1994 Take a tour along the Information Superhighway! Learn how computers will help the daily life of a busy researcher, physician, resident or student! Registration: $5 buys you admission to the InfoFair & Symposium and includes access instructions to obtain network software for your Macintosh or PC as well as refreshments. For more information or a copy of the full InfoFair Brochure call (415) 723-6979 or send email to infofair@camis.stanford.edu. The full brochure, a map, and registration materials are available via WorldWide Web: http://med-www.stanford.edu/MedCenter/InfoFair/brochure.html A text-only version is available via finger: finger infofair@medisg.stanford.edu ===================================================================== May 4-7, 1994 American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) Spring Congress, San Fancisco, CA (See the Nov-Dec 1993 issue of the AVCS Newsletter for details) ===================================================================== May 15-18, 1994 1994 National Extension Technology Conference, Lexington, KY (See the Nov-Dec 1993 issue of the AVCS Newsletter for details) ===================================================================== May 19-22, 1994 6th Annual Interactive Videodisc Workshop, Athens, GA Fred G. Smith; Smith.F@CALC.VET.UGA.EDU; Voice: 706/542-5550; FAX : 706/542-0051 DESCRIPTION This is a relaxing and informative workshop. Participants work with experienced Computer-Assisted Learning (CAL) leaders and are encouraged to share their ideas and ask questions about CAL in teaching. For those new to CAL, the workshop is a place to rub elbows with those who have already worked through the CAL writing process. Experienced teachers will guide participants in each of the four hands-on sessions. Participants can work with one or more of the authoring tools throughout the workshop. This enables a broad experience with several tools or a more in-depth experience with one or two of the tools. Come prepared to ask questions and share ideas. Bring along some of your teaching material (slides, videotapes, handouts etc.) to see how it can be moved to CAL. Experience with CAL is *not* a prerequisite. DETAILS OF WORKSHOP This workshop is sponsored by the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine. The software to be featured in the workshop will be the four CAL authoring tools described below, but others will be discussed. (1) ILINK is a DOS text-based authoring system, written at UGA and used in about half of the videodisc-based CAL curriculum at the College. Each participant will receive a complete copy of ILINK and the supporting tools. The session leader for ILINK will be Dr. Wayne Crowell, Department of Pathology. (2) NeoBook is a commercial shareware program written by NeoSoft Corp., Bend, OR. This DOS program has a very easy-to-learn graphical front end and produces impressive lessons with lots of point-and-shoot features without requiring Windows. Complete copies of NeoBook and other programs from NeoSoft will be provided to each participant. Registration of NeoBook costs $89 if you decide you like it and want to keep using it. The hands-on session for NeoBook will be led by Fred Smith. (3) AuthorWare Professional for Windows from MacroMedia is a commercial programming tool for high-end CAL. It is used at many schools and colleges as their "official" CAL software tool. It is icon-oriented, so you simply select an icon that does what you want and fill in the textand pictures as needed. Information about ordering AuthorWare for Windows or the Macintosh will be provided. The session leaders will be Ken Kling and Rann Rudisill, two of the professional trainers who provide AuthorWare support to the University System of Georgia. (4) Multimedia ToolBook for Windows and MediaBlitz! are commercial CAL tools sold by Asymetrix. ToolBook is widely used here in the U.S. and abroad for CAL. MediaBlitz! streamlines the lesson- writing process for ToolBook and adds many easy-to-use multimedia features. Information about how to order your own copies of this software will be provided. This session will be led by Bly Maxwell, a teacher and commercial programmer in the Athens area. HOUSING and REGISTRATION Housing is available at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education. Rooms cost about $45-$65 US. Call 706/542-6364 for details and to make reservations. The Registration fee is $125 US. Registration includes The ILINK software on disk, NeoBook shareware on disk, handouts, breaks, Friday and Saturday lunches and one ticket to the Friday night banquet. To register please call 706/542-2134. The Workshop Georgia Center ID number is "21014". Registration is limited to 2 participants per machine. For this reason, Pre-registration is Required. Please call 706/542-2134. If you need information about the workshop, please call R. Bruce Hollett, DVM, Director of Veterinary Continuing Education at 706/542-3063 or Joseph Allen, Conference Coordinator, Georgia Center for Continuing Education at 706/542-6638. ===================================================================== June 10-11, 1994 The Seventh IEEE Symposium on Computer-Based Medical Systems, Winston-Salem, NC ===================================================================== June 13-15, 1994 12th Conference for Computer Applications in Radiology, Winston-Salem, NC ===================================================================== June 25-29, 1994 ED-MEDIA 94 - World Conf. Educ. Multimedia and Hypermedia, Vancouver, Canada (See the Jul-Aug 1993 issue of the AVCS Newsletter for details) ===================================================================== August 21-26, 1994 World Congress on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (See the Jan-Feb 1993 issue of the AVCS Newsletter for details) ===================================================================== August 24-26, 1994 Int'l Conf on Neural Networks & Expert Systems in Med. & Healthcare, Plymouth, England (See the Nov-Dec 1993 issue of the AVCS Newsletter for details) ===================================================================== November 5-9, 1994 18th Annual Symposium On Computer Applications In Medical Care, Washington, DC SCAMC '94 - "Transforming Information - Changing Health Care"; Sheraton Washington Hotel, Washington, DC The American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) solicits participation at its annual meeting, the Symposium on Computer Applications in Medical Care (SCAMC). SCAMC is the premier conference in medical informatics in the United States. It provides a forum where those interested in medical informatics can present research findings, discuss development efforts, demonstrate software, attend tutorials, and hear leading experts from a wide range of professional groups discuss the current development and future impact of biomedical information systems. The theme of the Eighteenth SCAMC will be "Transforming Information, Changing Health Care". The Program Chair is Judy G. Ozbolt, Ph.D., R.N., School of Nursing, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. The Program Committee and Area Tracks are as follows: Evening Workshops - Reed Gardner, Ph.D. Poster Session/Demonstrations - Roy L. Simpson, B.D.N., R.N. Student Paper Competition - James J. Cimino, M.D. Tutorials and Panels - Mark Tuttle Tracks: Database Methods and Delivery - Christopher Chute, M.D., Ph.D. Image and Signal Processing - Alan Rowberg, M.D. Instructional Technology - Susan Sparks, Ph.D., R.N. Library Information Science - Mary Ellen Sievert, Ph.D. Networks and Standards - W. Ed Hammond, Ph.D. Nomenclature and Coding - James J. Cimino, M.D. Simulation, Modeling and Research Support - Joyce Mitchell, Ph.D. Support for Clinical Practice and Decision Making - Suzanne Henry, D.N.Sc., R.N. Support for Health Care Administration - Samuel Schultz, Ph.D. Advances in technology are producing dramatic growth in our ability to transform information from raw data to knowledge, decisions, and actions. In this environment, informatics has become a tool for changing health science and health care. It is not merely a means of doing more efficiently what would have been done in any case. Clinicians and biomedical researchers, armed with better information and greater access to knowledge than ever before, can confront difficult challenges in new ways. In basic science as in clinical studies, new approaches to acquiring, analyzing, interpreting, and presenting information enable researchers to discover knowledge for significant improvements in health and health care. Increasingly, health care practitioners have the ability to study their own behaviors and to compare them with the practice of others to identify more effective, less costly treatments. Standards and guidelines can be retrieved for consideration virtually wherever and whenever they are needed. But if current trends in medical informatics are rich with potential, they are also fraught with dilemmas. Transforming the information of health science and health care raises issues related to ethical, economic, and professional conduct. We must respect and protect privacy, information use, and responsibility for research, clinical judgment, and personalized care. With the increasing technological power to transform information comes the vital imperative for the medical informatics community to develop the innovations, implement the systems, and contribute to the policies that will change health care for the better. The Eighteenth SCAMC program will include a wide range of offerings: an opening plenary session addressing the role of informatics in health care, scientific paper presentations, poster presentations, informal evening workshops, software and information exchange services, and tutorials designed to meet specific needs of office-based clinicians, health-care professionals, educators, information systems developers, and medical informatics researchers. The program will be supplemented with sessions in which leaders from a variety of disciplines will provide overviews of the current status and future trends in health care information systems. These sessions will emphasize the effects of medical informatics on patient care, patient education, medical education, and clinical research. An extensive commercial exhibition area will provide attendees with the opportunity to meet commercial vendors and to examine a wide range of medical information management products of interest to AMIA members. Again this year, we will be able to offer to several of those companies who are in the SCAMC exhibit program an opportunity to participate in panel discussion reflecting the state-of-the-art. Panel discussions designed to compare and contrast different corporate approaches will be comprised of individuals from several companies and a "discussant" from the medical informatics community. The SCAMC Program Committee will plan these panel discussion and invite individuals to participate from those companies in our exhibit program. Under the aegis of its Awards Committee, AMIA provides two Best Paper awards at SCAMC for papers submitted to the regular scientific track of the Symposium. Papers of the finalists in the Student Paper Competition are not eligible for these awards. The judging is done by a special panel of referees assembled by the Awards Committee. The Award for Best Theoretical Paper is presented to the author or authors of the paper the judges believed best represents an advance in the theoretical foundation of medical informatics research. The second award, for Best Paper on an Applica tion, is presented to the author or authors of a paper describing an application (usually a computer program or a hardware and software system) the judges consider to be a clear example of the utility of applied medical informatics in healthcare or biomedical research. You are invited to submit scientific papers; abstracts of proposed posters and software demonstrations; and proposals for panel discussions, evening workshops, and tutorials. Submissions will be judged by the Program Committee. The deadline for all submissions is May 10, 1994. For a complete "Call for Participation", which includes detailed instructions on layout and design, contact the AMIA office at 301-657-1291 (fax: 301-657-1296). Papers will be published in the SCAMC Proceedings and indexed in MEDLINE. ===================================================================== November 8-11, 1994 International Congress on Medical Informatics, Havana, Cuba (See the Nov-Dec 1993 issue of the AVCS Newsletter for details) ===================================================================== November 10-12, 1994 Asia Pacific Association For Medical Informatics, (APAMI '94), Singapore On behalf of the Organizing Committee, I am pleased to announce the Inaugural Conference of the Asia Pacific Association for Medical Informatics (APAMI '94) which will be convened in Singapore from 10-12 November 1994 at the Mandarin Hotel. Recognising the importance of the Asia Pacific as a region in the forefront of global scientific, economic and cultural growth and development, the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) launched its Asia Pacific Initiative at its General Assembly in Japan last October. I am privileged to have been appointed by IMIA to spearhead this Initiative. I am also very grateful for the overwhelming support from the health informatics associations of Australia, the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand towards the formation of this new regional Association. The Inaugural Conference to officially launch the new IMIA regional group will bring together healthcare and I.T. professionals from the region to share their experience with the use of information technology in healthcare and to have opportunities for active discussions and information-sharing during the 3-day meeting. The Conference Theme "Health Informatics Comes of Age in the Asia Pacific" aptly heralds the arrival of a new force in health informatics - the Asia Pacific. It is therefore my honour and privilege to invite you to participate in the Inaugural Conference of the Asia Pacific Association for Health Informatics (APAMI '94) so as to forge new links or strengthen existing contacts with colleagues in the Asia-Pacific region. CONFERENCE SECRETARIAT: CTMA Pte Ltd; 425A Race Course Road; Singapore 0821 Telephone: (65) 299 8992; Fax: (65) 299 8983; E-mail: coflunkc@leonis.nus.sg ===================================================================== September 9-14, 1995 MEDINFO'95 - 8th World Congress on Medical Informatics, Sao Paulo, Brazil (See the Jan-Feb 1993 issue of the AVCS Newsletter for details) NOTE: THE CONFERENCE LOCATION IS CHANGED TO VANCOUVER, BC, CANADA ===================================================================== November 13-16, 1994 ANNIE'94, Emerging Technologies in Medicine and Biology, St. Louis, MO I am organizing a new track on EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY for the upcoming Artificial Neural Networks in Engineering (ANNIE'94) Conference to be held in St Louis, Missouri, November 13-16, 1994. This new track will include five special sessions: 1. Time-Frequency and Wavelet Transforms in ENGINEERING, MEDICINE and BIOLOGY. 2. Fuzzy Logic in MEDICINE and BIOLOGY. 3. Neural Networks and Artificial Intelligence in MEDICINE and BIOLOGY. 4. Virtual Really in ENGINEERING, MEDICINE and BIOLOGY. 5. Chaos and Fractals in ENGINEERING, MEDICINE and BIOLOGY. If you are interested in submitting a paper or papers to this track, please send a letter of intent, an information sheet that includes the full name of the author(s), title, address, phone number and FAX or e-mail address (if applicable) by March 4, 1994 to: Dr. Cihan Dagli, Conference Chair; 223 Engineering Management Building; University of Missouri-Rolla; Rolla, MO 65401-0249 USA; Phone:(314) 341-4374; Fax: (314) 341-6567; e-mail:dagli@shuttle.cc.umr.edu and one copy to me Dr. Metin Akay, Organizing Committee Member; Biomedical Engineering Debt.; Rutgers University; P.O. Box. 909; Piscawatay, NJ 08854; Phone:(908) 932-4906; Fax: (908) 235-7048; e-mail:akay@gandalf.rutgers.edu Full papers are due by May 20, 1994. Authors will be notified of the status of their submittal by July 8, 1994 and camera-ready papers will be due by August 12, 1994. Approximately six to eight pages will be allocated for each accepted paper in the proceedings. I hope you will be able to join us in what promises to be an exciting meeting discussing the recent advances in Biomedical Engineering Research. Looking forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, Metin Akay, Ph.D. ===================================================================== SUGGESTED READING ===================================================================== ARTICLES Informational Resources for Bovine Practice: New Electronic and Telecommunication Services <