Available:*
Library | Item Barcode | Call Number | Material Type | Item Category 1 | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... | 30000002496697 | QA76.15 E45 1987 re | Reference Book | 1:BOOKREF | Searching... |
On Order
Reviews 2
Booklist Review
Edmunds, an insurance company consultant and computer industry entrepreneur, has written a most useful guide to a wide variety of topics related to data manipulation, transmission, and access through computer and telecommunications technology. He writes for the nonexpert, providing clear explanations of the rapidly expanding computer and telecommunications jargon and the hardware, software, procedures, and concepts that this specialized vocabulary represents. His primary audience is people in business who are not professionally involved in data processing, office automation, database management, or telecommunications operations, but who nevertheless need a good understanding of these areas to help them and their companies take maximum advantage of the new information technologies. Throughout, examples are taken from business, but persons interested in other areas education, librarianship, government, not-for-profit enterprises, and even the home should have no difficulty transferring the examples to their own spheres. The encyclopedia consists of 146 articles, arranged alphabetically by subject heading and varying in length from nearly 20 large-format pages to less than one page. The long articles are devoted to such basic topics as communications networks, memory and memory management, personal computers, printers and printing technology, programs and computer programming, and word processing. Shorter articles cover programming languages, organizations, and specific equipment and procedures. New emphases, such as artificial intelligence, expert systems, robotics, fifth-generation technology, and speech recognition and synthesis, are treated in articles of medium length, varying from two to nine pages each. Each article begins with a list of related articles, and additional cross-references are provided within articles. The relatively few illustrations are clear and relevant. No sources are cited, however, and this is the only weakness in an otherwise superior reference tool. The lack of references to related literature weakens the authority of the articles, since without them they rest only on the expertise and knowledge of the author, and in addition readers are deprived of any guidance to further reading in particular areas. Writing is almost always clear and concise, with a minimum of unnecessary repetition from article to article. An alphabetical subject index provides access to specific topics covered within the larger articles. It is not an exhaustive index, with an average of only slightly more than two entries per page of text, but as a consequence, readers are more frequently led to a discussion of substance rather than a mere mention. Edmunds' encyclopedia will be quite useful to a wide variety of people who want to explore information technology without getting bogged down in excessive technical jargon and detail. Public and academic libraries should consider adding it to their collections.
Choice Review
Prentice-Hall has published earlier dictionaries and encyclopedias on information technology. Until this volume none has attempted to integrate text and examples so well, and place in as integrated a context the relationships between communication technology, office automation, systems design and development, software, networks, storage techniques and devices. A. Stokes's The Concise Encyclopaedia of Information Technology (2nd ed., 1985; 1st ed., CH, Dec '81) and Dictionary of Information Technology, ed. by D. Langley and M. Shain (2nd ed., 1985) are good supporting pieces to this latest work for definitions and technical terminology, wherein the research and historical orientation provide a greater understanding of the concepts. Entries are more extensive than those usually found in other reference tools. Explanations are specific yet relevant to establishing relationships plus a framework for the study and practical applications of information technology. The volume reads more like a textbook than a dictionary and contains many examples. There is good use of cross-references and clarity is achieved by occasional use of graphics, illustrations, and figures. The index is comprehensive, building on a vocabulary composed of technical as well as more colloquial terms. This volume is the kind of reference tool librarians seek to bridge the gap that general readers have with research and development by focusing on current trends and issues while not forgetting the process of arriving there. Likely to be a popular and well-utilized work appropriate for all reader levels.-J. Gelfand, University of California, Irvine
