Newsgroups: bit.listserv.words-l
Date:         Tue, 6 Oct 1992 11:00:46 +0100
From:         torkel@SICS.SE
Subject:      Info about the Next Webster
Comments: To: words-l@uga.cc.uga.edu

  Here is part of the documentation:

The NeXT Digital Edition of Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary
and Webster's Collegiate Thesaurus
______________________________________________________________________
______

ENORMOUS KNOWLEDGE IS AVAILABLE IN A GREAT DICTIONARY, and this is
the first time in history that such powerful access to this resource
has been placed at your fingertips.  Any word anywhere in the
dictionary can now be located in an instant.  Cross-references can be
followed by simply clicking a button.

We have tried to take best advantage of the dictionary in digital
form not just by casting a copy of the book into electronic memory,
but by using the machine to make the information far more accessible
than it could ever be on paper.  Some advantages are obvious: most
definitions are presented in less than a second; and a spelling
corrector is built in.  Others are more subtle.  For example,
limitations of paper books force publishers to squeeze the
well-structured lists of word senses into narrow, tightly packed
columns-a procrustean habit.  Because the information is so densely
packed on paper, the text is often difficult to read and the meaning
of definitions and other information is sometimes hard to absorb.  To
alleviate this difficulty, the text of the digital edition is
displayed in a comfortable font, with each sense beginning on a new
line, so that the meanings are easier to grasp at a glance.
Space-saving devices like the swung dash seen in verbal illustrations
such as

      <an ~ love of freedom>

have been expanded to

      <an inbred love of freedom>

All the pictures and tables are present, and they look better on a
spacious display than they did on paper.

Also, while a paper book is linear, a digital book need not be: one
can, for instance, find all the definitions that refer to
``Shakespeare,'' and quickly learn or be reminded that Chikamatsu
(1653-1724) was the Shakespeare of Japanese drama; that it is the
Shakespearean or English sonnet  that has an abab-cdcd-efef-gg
structure; or that a teston isn't worth what it once was.  All
sections of the dictionary-not just the main text, but biographical,
geographical, foreign words and phrases, and abbreviations
sections-are seamlessly searched, including the Thesaurus.  Most of
the front and back matter from the paper books, including explanatory
essays, a Handbook of Style, and other useful material, is also
available.  This digital dictionary invites browsing in a way that we
think people will find not just enlightening, but tremendously
exciting.

Finally, because the dictionary is packaged with the computer, every
user and every application will have this Digital Webster at their
fingertips-and that will be as valuable to a scholar as indoor
plumbing is to a homeowner.  Because of this, from now on, any
computer that lacks a great dictionary will be considered barbaric.

We thank the staff at Merriam-Webster in Springfield, Massachussetts,
especially John M. Morse and Frederick C. Mish of the Editorial
Department and William A. Llewellyn, President and Publisher.  In a
time when many publishers fear genuine digital publishing, they
embraced the project with enthusiasm.  Thanks to them, this resource
will be a priceless gift for scholars.

- Michael Hawley
     NeXT, Inc.
     September, 1988
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU