Studying APEC on CD-ROM

Citation

Chawner, B. (1999), "Studying APEC on CD-ROM", Asian Libraries, Vol. 8 No. 8. https://doi.org/10.1108/al.1999.17308hag.001

Studying APEC on CD-ROM

Studying APEC on CD-ROMRMIT Publishing and the APEC Study CentreMelbourne1997CD-ROM ISBN 086444687Xprice not reported

Anyone interested in learning about APEC, its history and activities will find this CD-ROM a valuable resource. It includes text about APEC's history, structure and projects, supplemented by full-text material from a wide range of sources, including APEC documents, economic indicators, speeches, academic articles and regional agreements. In addition it includes useful background material on basic business concepts, such as growth, debt, equity, taxation, cash flow and foreign exchange. There are also guides for teachers of business studies and enterprise studies, economics, geography and international relations. Each guide includes an overview of APEC followed by suggested activities using resources available on the CD-ROM.

The CD-ROM includes material published before mid-1997, plus an extensive bibliography. There is also a list of Web sites which may be used to locate more recent material. Although the material selected emphasises Australia and its relationship with other APEC countries, the range of material included means that this resource will be useful to anyone studying APEC and its activities.

I do have one question, though, and it relates to the origin of the material on the CD-ROM. I found one document headed "not for citation" and have no idea what this means, as the document is listed in the bibliography. I assume that all material on the CD-ROM has been included with the appropriate copyright permission.

The material included is mainly text, though there is a video of Prime Minister John Howard's report to Parliament on the Subic Bay APEC Leaders Summit, 3 December 1996. The information about APEC members' economic indicators includes graphs and tables, though some of these are missing from the PDF version, which generates error messages ("not a valid embedded object"). They are, however, present in the HTML version. Obviously, then, material is stored in two formats ­ HTML and PDF, which means that the CD-ROM can be used with either a standard Web browser, such as Netscape Communicator or Internet Explorer, or with Adobe Acrobat. Both versions have extensive hypertext links to related material or to relevant Web sites. The Acrobat version also includes a search facility, which searches an index to the entire collection for specified words or phrases. An online help facility is provided for people unfamiliar with the technology.

For those not already using the required software, the CD-ROM also includes installers for Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0.1 and Adobe Acrobat 3.0.1. I used the CD-ROM on a Macintosh with no problems, but the CD-ROM will also work with Windows. Minimum requirements are: a 486 processor, Windows 3.1 (or later), 8MB RAM, double speed CD-ROM drive, mouse, 256 colour monitor or Macintosh 68040 processor (or higher), 16 MB RAM, double speed CD-ROM drive, mouse, 256 colour monitor.

This is recommended for secondary and undergraduate business, economics, geography and international relations collections.

Brenda ChawnerVictoria University of Wellington