When Eighty--Six into Five Will Go...

A 90-year old journal comprising 45,000 pages has been distilled onto five CD ROMs using Adobe Acrobat

The Mariners Mirror has some very impressive statistics. This quarterly journal of the Society for Nautical Research has published 500 pages every year since 1911 to the present day. A set of back copies comprises 45,000 pages and includes 11,000 articles, 2,000 illustrations and 2,500 pages of indexes.
However, since it was originally produced in very limited numbers, a complete set of volumes is now almost impossible to acquire - and priced at $5,000 or more when it is offered for sale.

This rarity value has hindered its accessibility as a reference tool. The Society wanted to find an affordable way to disseminate the goldmine of information held within its complete set of 86 volumes.
They turned to Electronic Age Corp., a Philadelphia start-up company, specialising in interactive and multimedia CD ROM development.

Electronic Age generated a solution that would allow all of this material to fit onto one 5-disc CD ROM set. Using high-resolution scanning software to avoid any chance of OCR error, they produced a set of 360 PDFs using Adobe Acrobat 5.0 software, making the CDs usable on Apple Mac, PC, and UNIX platforms. Electronic Age further developed special search features, using an information scientist, to make it easy to both find specific references, and to trace themes and topics throughout the entire series. And now what would previously have cost $5,000 will be available for the remarkable price of $149 on publication, 14th February 2002.

The key device is the electronically searchable extended table of contents, which provides brief descriptions of the actual content of each item, including significant key words. By this method, themes are as easily hunted down as individual words, yet found within an associated context. A sophisticated system of associated internal citations is presented alongside most items in the journal, encouraging the reader to explore related information published on previous or later pages, often many years apart.
All of its illustrations also have electronically searchable descriptions, and are linked to their appropriate positions in the text. They are easily enlarged and often reveal more detail than the printed originals.

The Mariners Mirror
Founded in 1911, The Mariners Mirror is the oldest, most prestigious and most valuable periodical in the field of maritime history. It has been in the forefront of antiquarian and academic historical study for nearly a century, with a contributors list that reads like a 'whos who of the great writers in the development of maritime studies. Because it contains so much groundbreaking material, it is the essential starting point for any reader of maritime subjects as diverse as ship design, naval administration and nautical ethnology. Its value is yet further enhanced by lengthy reviews of almost every significant maritime book published during the period, along with erudite discussion of historical problem areas, and knowledgeable obituaries of important figures.

Electronic Age Corp.
Has served the Apple community since 1985, and over that 17-year time span, built up an impressive client base in the UK. They now operate a Studio in the Philadelphia area, conveniently located close by King of Prussia. Their range of services includes Interactive Multimedia CD ROMs and Creative Graphic Design. They develop on Apple Macs for DVD and DV and Web, and also offer Archiving, Database development, and Training courses. Electronic Age also consults on all Apple Hardware and Software solutions. The company specialises in serving clients in the Medical Sciences, Performing Arts, and Book Publishing industries.