Anyone in museum-land have any ideas?
 
 
 
From:    IN%"[log in to unmask]"   "Andrew Loron"
To:      Bob Koechley <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Education Software
 
This is mainly about education and making $$$$ for
software companies, but there is the idea in here of multi media libraries
that will be available on line to people right in there homes.
--Andy Loron
 
 
 ORACLE ANNOUNCES $1 MILLION IN GRANTS TO CHALLENGE
   DEVELOPERS OF INTERACTIVE EDUCATION APPLICATIONS
 
REDWOOD SHORES, Calif., Nov. 11, 1994-Oracle Corp., the leading provider
of software for interactive multimedia services, today announced the Oracle
Challenge Grant, a $1 million fund issued to challenge software developers and
media producers to create a new class of interactive education titles for
use on the evolving Information Superhighway.
 "This kind of interactive educational software has the potentialto
dramatically expand a student's educational experience," said Lawrence J.
Ellison, Oracle's president and chief executive officer. "With only a
standard TV or PC, a set-top box and a simple four button remote control,
students will be able to travel the Information Superhighway and experience
from their desktop everything from other cultures and other worlds to
current events and ancient history." Intended for use by Kindergarten
through 12th grade, the winning educational titles must be developed using
Oracle's multimedia authoring tool, Oracle Media Objects.  The Oracle
Challenge Grant is a series of grants that will be awarded in two increments:
In February 1995, Oracle judges will select 20 developers to award each a
$25,000 concept development grant; of these 20, five $100,000 implementation
 grants will be awarded in April
1995.
        "While there is plenty of educational material, the real challenge is
to allow teachers and students to bring the volumes of sights, sounds and
facts from the Information Superhighway into the classroom," said James
A.Abrahamson, Oracle's Chairman of the Board.
        Oracle's role in evolving this new paradigm of multimedia
education is to provide the  enabling software to manage vast amounts of
graphics and sound, full-motion video and text. To make this information
available, Oracle software is used to store volumes of information-text,
images, audio and video-that can be instantly accessed and delivered over
standard telephone wires to standard PCs or TVs with a set-top box.
        Far exceeding a CD-ROM's capacity to hold minutes of playing
time,these digital libraries can store hours of information on Oracle's video
servers.  To date, Oracle has delivered its market leading software to
companies such as Bell Atlantic, BellSouth and BT, who will ultimately
provide these high-quality interactive services to consumers, businesses and
academia.
        The Oracle Challenge Grant is the first of its kind from the
newly formed division, Oracle Innovations for Education.  This division is
chartered to develop applications and projects to allow teachers and
students to gain access to the evolving educational resources on the
Information Superhighway.
        The Oracle Challenge Grant will be judged by Oracle based on
three criteria:  how the software will be integrated into a K-12 curriculum;
how effectively the software addresses every mode of learning from auditory,
visual and kinetic; and the aesthetic value of the user interface for the
student, including the usage of animation and video footage to heighten
and focus the student's learning experience.
        For more information on the Oracle Challenge Grant, please
contact Theresa Baker-Hancock, Oracle Corp., at 415/506-4403.
 
        Oracle Corp., a $2 billion company with headquarters in Redwood
Shores, Calif., is the world's leading supplier of information management
software.  Oracle develops and markets Oracle Media Server and the
Oracle7 family of software products for database management; Cooperative
Development Environment (CDE), a complete set of tools for enterprise-wide,
client/server application development; and Oracle Cooperative
Applications, packaged client/server solutions for accounting,
manufacturing, distribution, human resources and project control.  Oracle
software runs on personal digital assistants, PCs, workstations,
minicomputers, mainframes and massively parallel computers.  The company
offers its products, along with related consulting, education and support
services in more than 90 countries around the world.
 
 
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                                Allison Smith
                        University of Wisconsin Madison
                   School of Library and Information Studies
                            [log in to unmask]
 
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