JCE Software, 10B1: Editorial

Into Our Tenth Year...

Jon L. Holmes
Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53715

Note:
This issue is out of print.

With this issue, JCE Software enters into its tenth year of publication. As I reflect upon the first nine years of our existence, I see several parallels in the evolution of JCE Software with that of the software and computing industries. Each has come a very long way in that time. The relatively new technologies of the Internet and emerging technologies such as Digital Video Disc (DVD) are propelling the computer industry into the next century. DVD holds a lot of promise for the future distribution of our video collection Chemistry Comes Alive! (1. We have already embraced the World Wide Web (WWW) as an efficient means of communication with our subscribers via JCE Online (http://jchemed.chem.wisc.edu/) and as a cross-platform distribution medium (in Chemistry Comes Alive!). Nevertheless, these very same technologies may be threatening the future existence of small software publishers like JCE Software. But it is our hope and endeavor that JCE Software can continue to evolve with these new and emerging technologies and serve the chemistry education community into the next century.
Nine years ago, the microcomputer was beginning its transformation to a general purpose tool for business and education. Using computers to any significant extent before this time generally required some programming knowledge. JCE Software emerged from this period with a goal of providing microcomputer-based materials that could be used by the entire chemistry education community, not just those who could program. It was our hope that submitting computer programs to peer review by the non-cognoscenti would elevate the programs into the realm of general usability. And where this goal was not achieved, technical support for our programs was made available to help overcome the obstacles.
With this goal in mind, the first issue of JCE Software, which contained five programs, was delivered on a single 5.25-inch 140 KB floppy disk for use on a 1 MHz, 48 KB RAM Apple II computer with 280 x 192 pixel monochrome graphics. (One of the programs [2] had the audacity to require 64 KB and an 80-column text display!) As has the computing industry, we have matured in the ensuing nine years, having published among our 51 regular issues and 16 Special issues nearly 100 software programs, 6 CD-ROMs, 7 videodiscs, and 2 videotapes. We published one program (3) that requires 13 1.44 MB floppy disks to distribute (and the files were compressed) and one program (4) that requires 12 MB of RAM; many programs require 640 x 480, 256-color graphics.
Documentation has also evolved from the 74-page manual printed on 6.75 x 8.5-inch paper that accompanied the first issue to the newly organized manual that we are introducing with this issue. Much of the effort in producing an issue of JCE Software involves the documentation, and we like to think that it is a useful part of the issue. In an attempt to make it more useful we have reorganized the documentation so that all the information about a given program is grouped and pages are numbered accordingly. Information about the issue as a whole, including a new QuickStart! section, is grouped as a Preface to the issue. Appendices contain detailed installation instructions, troubleshooting information, submission guidelines and forms, and ordering information for all JCE materials. We hope that you like the new organization and we welcome your comments.
As the software industry looks for ways to lower its costs, it has become common for software documentation to be distributed on disk as opposed to on paper. There is good evidence that many software users never read the printed documentation. Some of those who do may prefer to read it from the screen. As the argument goes, less paper is used to print documentation, thus saving trees. Issues of JCE Software distributed on CD-ROM include very little, if any, paper documentation; it is all available on the CD. I would like to ask you, our subscribers, your opinion on this issue. Would you object to receiving documentation on disk only, if doing so allowed us maintain our current pricing? If documentation were on disk, in what format should it be? Adobe Acrobat? HTML? Only a few short years ago, I could not have asked the above question without a lengthy explanation of what Acrobat and HTML were. But the WWW and the Internet have so changed the landscape of computing that I am now confident most of you know these terms. The WWW has had great impact on the computer industry and is also having an impact on JCE Software. It has become relatively simple for an author of a software program to distribute the program via the WWW. Many traditional software programmers are struggling to find solutions that allow them to program for the WWW and at the same time leverage their traditional programming knowledge. In many cases such solutions are slow in materializing (and some will never occur). Authoring of computer-based materials now requires not only programming skills but graphic design and presentation skills, and knowledge about the content and its pedagogy. Owing to these and other factors, the number of submissions received by JCE Software is dwindling. And we need submissions in order to publish.
The lack of submissions is most acute in Series B for MS-DOS compatibles. In fact, if not for John Martin and his Simulations and Interactive Resources (5) this situation would have occurred much sooner. JCE Software bid farewell to its Series A for Apple II programs after its fifth year of publication. It appears that we will be bidding farewell to Series B after this tenth volume is complete (one additional issue). However, Series B programs have for some time been tested for compatibility with Windows, and should a suitable MS-DOS program be submitted, it could be published as part of Series D for Windows. So if you have an MS-DOS program that you would like to submit, please do so.
We also ask that authors of Windows and Mac OS programs consider JCE Software as an outlet for their work. As a peer-reviewed journal dedicated to publishing software in all nonprint media, we offer you an avenue to publication credit for your work in creating chemistry education materials using nontraditional media. With your continued support, we can provide the chemistry education community with reasonably priced, peer-reviewed, technology-based instructional materials for many years to come.

Literature Cited

Jacobsen, J. J. Chemistry Comes Alive! JCE Software 1997, SP18 (in press).
Holmes, J. L. Periodic TableWorks; JCE Software 1989, 1A(1).
Schatz, P. F.; Moore, J. W.; Kotz, J. C.; Holmes, J. L. Illustrated Periodic Table; JCE Software 1995, 2D(2).
Kotz, J. C.; Young, S. Chemistry Navigator; JCE Software 1995, 6C(2).
Martin, J. S. Simulations and Interactive Resources; JCE Software 1997, 9B(2);1996, 8B(2); 1995, 7B(2).

First Published: April 1997
Citation: Holmes, J. L. Into Our Tenth Year... J. Chem. Educ. Software 10B1
Keywords:

News | Issues | CD-ROM / Video | Find It! | Technical Support | For Authors

JCE Online | Journal | Software | Internet | Happenings | About JCE | Contact JCE

Last Updated: April 26, 2001
Created: November 21, 1997 Created by: N. S. Gettys
Comments to: jceonline@chem.wisc.edu

© 1997 Division of Chemical Education, Inc., American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.



Into Our Tenth Year...
Jon L. Holmes Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53715

Note:	This issue is out of print.

With this issue, JCE Software enters into its tenth year of publication. As I reflect upon the first nine years of our existence, I see several parallels in the evolution of JCE Software with that of the software and computing industries. Each has come a very long way in that time. The relatively new technologies of the Internet and emerging technologies such as Digital Video Disc (DVD) are propelling the computer industry into the next century. DVD holds a lot of promise for the future distribution of our video collection Chemistry Comes Alive! (1. We have already embraced the World Wide Web (WWW) as an efficient means of communication with our subscribers via JCE Online (http://jchemed.chem.wisc.edu/) and as a cross-platform distribution medium (in Chemistry Comes Alive!). Nevertheless, these very same technologies may be threatening the future existence of small software publishers like JCE Software. But it is our hope and endeavor that JCE Software can continue to evolve with these new and emerging technologies and serve the chemistry education community into the next century. Nine years ago, the microcomputer was beginning its transformation to a general purpose tool for business and education. Using computers to any significant extent before this time generally required some programming knowledge. JCE Software emerged from this period with a goal of providing microcomputer-based materials that could be used by the entire chemistry education community, not just those who could program. It was our hope that submitting computer programs to peer review by the non-cognoscenti would elevate the programs into the realm of general usability. And where this goal was not achieved, technical support for our programs was made available to help overcome the obstacles. With this goal in mind, the first issue of JCE Software, which contained five programs, was delivered on a single 5.25-inch 140 KB floppy disk for use on a 1 MHz, 48 KB RAM Apple II computer with 280 x 192 pixel monochrome graphics. (One of the programs [2] had the audacity to require 64 KB and an 80-column text display!) As has the computing industry, we have matured in the ensuing nine years, having published among our 51 regular issues and 16 Special issues nearly 100 software programs, 6 CD-ROMs, 7 videodiscs, and 2 videotapes. We published one program (3) that requires 13 1.44 MB floppy disks to distribute (and the files were compressed) and one program (4) that requires 12 MB of RAM; many programs require 640 x 480, 256-color graphics. Documentation has also evolved from the 74-page manual printed on 6.75 x 8.5-inch paper that accompanied the first issue to the newly organized manual that we are introducing with this issue. Much of the effort in producing an issue of JCE Software involves the documentation, and we like to think that it is a useful part of the issue. In an attempt to make it more useful we have reorganized the documentation so that all the information about a given program is grouped and pages are numbered accordingly. Information about the issue as a whole, including a new QuickStart! section, is grouped as a Preface to the issue. Appendices contain detailed installation instructions, troubleshooting information, submission guidelines and forms, and ordering information for all JCE materials. We hope that you like the new organization and we welcome your comments. As the software industry looks for ways to lower its costs, it has become common for software documentation to be distributed on disk as opposed to on paper. There is good evidence that many software users never read the printed documentation. Some of those who do may prefer to read it from the screen. As the argument goes, less paper is used to print documentation, thus saving trees. Issues of JCE Software distributed on CD-ROM include very little, if any, paper documentation; it is all available on the CD. I would like to ask you, our subscribers, your opinion on this issue. Would you object to receiving documentation on disk only, if doing so allowed us maintain our current pricing? If documentation were on disk, in what format should it be? Adobe Acrobat? HTML? Only a few short years ago, I could not have asked the above question without a lengthy explanation of what Acrobat and HTML were. But the WWW and the Internet have so changed the landscape of computing that I am now confident most of you know these terms. The WWW has had great impact on the computer industry and is also having an impact on JCE Software. It has become relatively simple for an author of a software program to distribute the program via the WWW. Many traditional software programmers are struggling to find solutions that allow them to program for the WWW and at the same time leverage their traditional programming knowledge. In many cases such solutions are slow in materializing (and some will never occur). Authoring of computer-based materials now requires not only programming skills but graphic design and presentation skills, and knowledge about the content and its pedagogy. Owing to these and other factors, the number of submissions received by JCE Software is dwindling. And we need submissions in order to publish. The lack of submissions is most acute in Series B for MS-DOS compatibles. In fact, if not for John Martin and his Simulations and Interactive Resources (5) this situation would have occurred much sooner. JCE Software bid farewell to its Series A for Apple II programs after its fifth year of publication. It appears that we will be bidding farewell to Series B after this tenth volume is complete (one additional issue). However, Series B programs have for some time been tested for compatibility with Windows, and should a suitable MS-DOS program be submitted, it could be published as part of Series D for Windows. So if you have an MS-DOS program that you would like to submit, please do so. We also ask that authors of Windows and Mac OS programs consider JCE Software as an outlet for their work. As a peer-reviewed journal dedicated to publishing software in all nonprint media, we offer you an avenue to publication credit for your work in creating chemistry education materials using nontraditional media. With your continued support, we can provide the chemistry education community with reasonably priced, peer-reviewed, technology-based instructional materials for many years to come. Literature Cited Jacobsen, J. J. Chemistry Comes Alive! JCE Software 1997, SP18 (in press). Holmes, J. L. Periodic TableWorks; JCE Software 1989, 1A(1). Schatz, P. F.; Moore, J. W.; Kotz, J. C.; Holmes, J. L. Illustrated Periodic Table; JCE Software 1995, 2D(2). Kotz, J. C.; Young, S. Chemistry Navigator; JCE Software 1995, 6C(2). Martin, J. S. Simulations and Interactive Resources; JCE Software 1997, 9B(2);1996, 8B(2); 1995, 7B(2).


News \| Issues \| CD-ROM / Video \| Find It! \| Technical Support \| For Authors
JCE Online \| Journal \| Software \| Internet \| Happenings \| About JCE \| Contact JCE

Last Updated: April 26, 2001 Created: November 21, 1997	Created by: N. S. Gettys Comments to: jceonline@chem.wisc.edu

© 1997 Division of Chemical Education, Inc., American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.