 |
|
|
HISTORY AND KNOWLEDGE
on a disc. There in my hand was a shiny piece of plastic-coated aluminum that held
the important moments in the world, available for anyone to learn. Needless to say,
the idea was quite new, but it was one of the turning points in the history of today's
definition of Multimedia. I'm talking about the Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia.
Seeing and hearing JFK giving his inaugural speech -- you know, the one where he
says, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your
country," -- was an eye-opening experience, especially given the fact it was
not a TV that I saw it on, but a computer screen. Video on the computer had arrived,
and for once, it even had a purpose.
Encyclopedias have always been an important part of Grolier. In fact, Grolier has
been selling encyclopedias since the late 19th century! In 1980, Grolier got the
rights to distribute "The Academic American Encyclopedia" and then purchased
it later on. The Encyclopedia proved to be an excellent base for the Grolier Multimedia
Encyclopedia because it was produced from the ground up in computers for print in
1980.
In 1986 Grolier published the first general reference encyclopedia in text-only format
onto CD-ROM. This was a truly revolutionary idea at the time. At the time, CD-ROM
drives were extremely expensive and generally unavailable; however companies could
buy them and share them. And that's what Compuserve did. Anyone wanting access to
the encyclopedia went into Compuserve and did a search. It was a boon to anyone wanting
to find information in seconds by simply entering a few search terms. No longer did
they have to go to a bookcase, pick up a book weighing over 10 pounds and leafing
through hundreds of pages to possibly find what they're looking for. Nor was it necessary
to shell out two thousand dollars (more if you include shipping) for a set of books
and a sturdy bookshelf just to hold the 200+ pounds of paper and bindings.
It's important to put the technology in place at the time into perspective. The first
CD Audio players were getting into consumers' hands around 1985, with the first consumer
CD-ROM player for the Macintosh being introduced in 1988. Also, for more perspective
as to the advantage of the storage capacity of the CD-ROM drive at the time (approx.
650MB), the average hard drive in personal computers was between 20 and 40MB.
In 1989, Grolier released the first consumer CD-ROM version of the Encyclopedia for
Macintosh computers. No graphics here... this text-only encyclopedia was released
to show consumers the advantage of the capacity of the CD-ROM drive. The Multimedia
version would have to wait until 1990.
1993 was the first time that I saw the Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia in the school
library. In fact, I didn't see it first... I heard it. Another student was watching
the launch of Apollo 11 and hearing it encouraged me to wander down the staircase
from the loft to investigate further. Seeing a little window with video and hearing
the sound along with it was astounding. Pestering the kid on it to play more proved
fruitless. So, I kicked him off and explored myself. Here was the speech given to
thousands of black people in Washington, DC given by Martin Luther King Jr.! And
another by JFK about going to the moon... And of course, I had to watch the Apollo
11 launch again and again, testing out what Quicktime could do. Scaling the window
to full screen on the slower computer proved taxing... I found the limitations of
Quicktime, but I didn't even consider it as a problem. Seeing this stuff was well
worth it. Doing video on a personal computer without requiring extra hardware was
a considerable feat back in those days, and when Apple released Quicktime in 1991,
many companies jumped on the bandwagon. Grolier says it allowed them to do cross-platform
development more efficiently. I'll agree with that because the Quicktime software
allows the same movies to be played on both PCs running Windows and Macs; an important
consideration given the number of schools and educational institutions running Macintosh
hardware, while still allowing access to the large installed base of Windows PC's.
Today, Grolier Interactive continues to update and publish the best-selling Grolier
Multimedia Encyclopedia, their flagship product. In 1996, they successfully tied
the GME to the Internet by providing a Web-based encyclopedia. The future has a lot
in store with the DVD-ROM drive becoming more prevalent in tomorrow's computers.
In recent years, the GME has expanded to a two CD set, so the move to DVD will allow
better and more movies. It also allows the return to just one disc of knowledge to
hold in your hand and admire like you did back in the late eighties with the first
edition of the Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia.
Jon Calon is
a Multimedia student at SAIT in Calgary, Alberta. The proprietor of Calon Enterprises,
Jon provides computer consulting services and web site development to clients in
Whitehorse, Yukon and Calgary.
Source list
http://www.grolier.com/about/docs/story.html
- Accessed September 28, 1999 http://www.apple-history.com
- Glen Sanford, Accessed September 28, 1999 http://www.lowendmac.com/time
- Dan Knight, Accessed September 28, 1999 http://www.sel.sony.com/sel/corpcomm/profile/firsts
-
Accessed September 28, 1999
Special thanks to Maryanne Piazza at Grolier
Interactive for additional information.
back >>
|
