OPTICAL STORAGE AND EDUCATION--AN IMPORTANT NATIONAL CONFERENCE
by Norman Kurland

"Connecting with the Future: Interactive Technologies in
Education" is the title of an important conference that will be
held April 21-23, 1988, in Albany, New York. Every teacher,
scholar, librarian and publisher interested in the new
interactive optical storage technologies and how they can help
educators in schools and universities should plan to attend.

A key CONFERENCE GOAL is to provide practical demonstrations
of how interactive optical technologies are actually being used
in the various branches of education (teaching, research,
school administration, libraries, and publishing.) Case
studies of a wide variety of significant ongoing projects will
be presented. Manufacturers of technically advanced products
will also be present to provide demonstrations and suggestions.

WHY EDUCATORS SHOULD ATTEND
===========================

Educators are information professionals. At a time when all
of us are in danger of being overwhelmed by the proliferation
of data, optical discs will be a primary agent of change in all
branches of education: teaching, research, school
adminstration, libraries, and publishing.

Optical discs offer educators new capabilities to store and
process data economically and in an incredibly small space.
They promise to play an important role in helping educators
accomplish some of their tasks, such as providing direct access
to vast information resources, user-friendly selection and
manipulation of needed information and, last but not least,
sophisticated interactive instructional delivery.

TECHNOLOGIES TO BE FEATURED
===========================

- VIDEODISC: presently the best-known and most used optical
storage technology in education.
- CD-ROM (Compact Disc-Read Only Memory): this will be the
main focus of the conference. Projects at various stages
of completion will be presented and discussed.
- CD-I (Compact Disc-Interactive), CD-V (Compact
Disc-Video), DV-I (Digital Video-Interactive)
- Hypertext and hypermedia.
- Computer conferencing.

There will be three keynote sessions with presentations by
leaders in the use of the new technologies and 26 CONCURRENT
SESSIONS with each session presented twice. Exhibitor booths
are reserved for products and services related to education.
The Conference schedule and physical arrangements will
facilitate interaction among participants, presenters, and
exhibitors.

PRECONFERENCE WORKSHOP: "INTRODUCTION TO INTERACTIVE
OPTICAL STORAGE TECHNOLOGIES"
====================================================

Since some participants may not be familiar with the new
interactive technologies featured at the Conference, an
Optional Preconference Workshop has been scheduled, and the
Conference room rate has been set to facilitate participation.

The Workshop on Thursday, April 21 (1:00-5:00 p.m.) will be
conducted by Professor William Saffady, School of Information
Science and Policy, SUNY Albany. Saffady is Editor of
"Optical Information Systems Update and Micrographics" and
"Optical Storage Equipment Review".

CONFERENCE FEES
===============

$80.00 for the conference; $60.00 for a preconference workshop
for participants who need an introduction to
interactive optical storage technologies. Motel
accommodations and meals at special conference rate.

Sponsors: New York State Association for Computers and
Technologies in Education (NYSCATE) New York State
Teacher Resource and Computer Training Centers
ASCENT (Albany Symposium on Cognition, Education
and New Technologies)

For more information, see "EDUCATION CONFERENCE" on several
conferencing systems, or call 518-442-4100 or write:

ASCENT
P.O. Box 22108
1400 Washington Ave.
Albany, NY 12222

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Norman D. Kurland is a regular participant on many conferencing
systems. He is a member of ASCENT, one of the conference
sponsoring organizations.