{"title":"BMDP programs","authors":"L. Engelman","doi":"10.1145/1102964.1102969","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/1102964.1102969","url":null,"abstract":"I read with interest the overviews of SOUPAC, WIT, and OSIRIS packaged programs in the Fall, 1973 SIGSOC Bulletin. The fact that one of the authors compared these programs to the BMD package is a compliment, but it should be noted that the BMD programs were developed, packaged and sealed over ten years ago.","PeriodicalId":129356,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigsoc Bulletin","volume":"122 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1974-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122784250","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Libraries and machine-readable data","authors":"J. Rowe","doi":"10.1145/1102964.1102966","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/1102964.1102966","url":null,"abstract":"Wednesday evening, July 10th, 8:30-10:30 is the time scheduled for a panel discussion: \"Government Publications in Machine-Readable Form: A New Tool for the Reference Librarian.\" A part of the American Library Association's 1974 New York Conference, the meeting is co-sponsored by the Government Documents Round Table's (GODORT) Machine-Readable Data Files Committee, the Federal Librarians Round Table (FLIRT), the RASD Information Retrieval Committee and the RASD/RTSD/ASLA Public Documents Committee.","PeriodicalId":129356,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigsoc Bulletin","volume":"24 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1974-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126413862","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"ECPRESS: a mini-IMPRESS","authors":"C. Baker, Edward Baker, Teresa Green","doi":"10.1145/1102964.1102972","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/1102964.1102972","url":null,"abstract":"Two years ago, Project DELTA, a computing facility studying computational learning activity in pre-college education, became interested in Dartmouth's IMPRESS as a means of motivating computer use in social studies classes. IMPRESS is most attractive because it is interactive, and it is written in BASIC. Being interactive is important because our users are remote and prefer the time-sharing mode of computing. The project selected a PDP-11 with RSTS, because a very high level BASIC is their only time-sharing language. However, we innocently underestimated the task of adapting the larger program to a mini-computer. We met with Ed Meyers, Director of Project IMPRESS at Dartmouth, to define the scope of the task. I will describe briefly the procedures, problems, solutions, and expectations which were identified as important to achieving the objectives of creating a mini-IMPRESS. I will assume that the reader is familiar with the IMPRESS system and has some knowledge of DEC's RSTS and RSTS/E with BASIC-PLUS.","PeriodicalId":129356,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigsoc Bulletin","volume":"34 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1974-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115262976","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Some thoughts on peer review of computing materials","authors":"R. Ash, Francis M. Sim, Ronald Anderson","doi":"10.1145/1102964.1102968","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/1102964.1102968","url":null,"abstract":"It is well known that over the past decade and a half social and behavioral scientists have become heavy users of computation facilities for a variety of purposes, chiefly in data-management and measurement analyses, in statistical analysis, both descriptive and inferential, and more recently in data and process simulations. At the same time, most social scientists have been, and many will continue to be, amateurs in computational practice. In addition, the types of computation which they need (or at least, have used) are often repetitive; relative to the total volume of use by social scientists there has been little demand for computational novelty.","PeriodicalId":129356,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigsoc Bulletin","volume":"57 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1974-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126603589","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Machine readable documentation of social science data: compatibility and standardization in codebooks","authors":"J. Shanks","doi":"10.1145/1102964.1102970","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/1102964.1102970","url":null,"abstract":"Mr. Chairman, like other people in the room, I believe our major purpose should be a lively discussion of alternative strategies for standardization, so I will try to be brief in presenting my own point of view.","PeriodicalId":129356,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigsoc Bulletin","volume":"189 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1974-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133319376","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Review of \"A Concept Dictionary of English, by Julius Laffal\", Gallery Press (Halstead-Wiley), 1973","authors":"P. Stone, D. Dunphy","doi":"10.1145/1103281.1103284","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/1103281.1103284","url":null,"abstract":"Page 5 computers, [bJ sociological problems of computing in sociology: proposed strategies, [c] networks and public data access, [d] text analysis in sociology: social indicators from mass media, and [e] time series computing in sociology. For each topic, a twenty minute overview paper will be commissioned; persons wishing to be discussants are asked to notify the symposium secretary. (4) Luncheons. While the symposium is designed for a general audience, we are also planning to arrange luncheons between persons with more specialized interests. For further details and deadline dates, contact the symposium secretary: Dr. This book classifies 23,500 words into one or more of 118 different semantic categories. Contrary to thesaurus builders like Roger (English), Boissiere (French), Dornseiff (German) and Casares (Spanish), Laffal is not interested in guiding the user to an appropriate word, but rather deriving a conceptual scheme of language, in which concept categories are selected so as to be neither rare nor overfrequent in occurrence. The dictionary was originally derived for the purpose of content analyzing psychiatric materials but its usefulness for other sccial science and literary analysis is also suggested. Where does Laffal get the 118 categories? Given the frequency constraints, plus a fairly liberal use of a category called \"no score\" for some common words, Laffal draws on three principles of \"synonymy,\" \"similarity\" and \"relatedness.\" If two categories are relevant, both may be applied (thus at least potentially creating further intersecting categories). Further multiple category assignments may also occur as one way out of the homograph problem. Following these brief guidelines, Laffal claims: \"If someone who had never seen this dictionary undertook to divide the language into 118 concepts, it is highly likely that he would come up with the group which resembled the present one.\" Unlike Roget, Laffal does not supply his reader with large charts showing the relationships between categories. Since his system has only 118 categories, compared to Roget's 1000 headings, perhaps he felt this was not necessary. Yet these reviewers found it confusing and frustrating to be presented with an alphabetical list of the categories, going from AFAR and AGGR to WRIT and YNG without some further diagrams or other aids as to their interrelationships. A lengthy appendix gives all the entries for each category, but this only supplies detail. An adequate conceptual overview is missing.","PeriodicalId":129356,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigsoc Bulletin","volume":"27 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1973-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127873136","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Review of \"Initiation a l'informatique pour les sciences de l'homme, Tome I, Introduction a la programmation, by Jean-Paul Gremy\" and \"Initiation a l'informatique pour les sciences de l'homme, Tome II, Programmes de statistique usuelle, by Francois Pottier\", Libraire Hachette, 1973","authors":"T. Dunnagan","doi":"10.1145/1103275.1103279","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/1103275.1103279","url":null,"abstract":"A business meeting for SIGSOC was announced in the ACM'73 program passed out at the Conference. The meeting was held shortly following the session on \"Social Research on the Computer Impact,\" although it was scheduled in a different and more out of the way room. Ron Anderson was the official presider at the meeting. No one else attended; thus, no important business was transacted. The meeting was an unqualified success in establishing that simply advertising the business meeting in the conference program can not insure substantial participation.","PeriodicalId":129356,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigsoc Bulletin","volume":"47 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1973-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115586010","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"SOUPAC: an overview","authors":"P. Chouinard","doi":"10.1145/1103275.1103276","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/1103275.1103276","url":null,"abstract":"SOUPAC is a general purpose statistical package designed and implemented at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.","PeriodicalId":129356,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigsoc Bulletin","volume":"10 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1973-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115314577","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Instant turnaround revisited: our wit goes BATty","authors":"Glen D. Kreider, Francis M. Sim","doi":"10.1145/1103275.1103277","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/1103275.1103277","url":null,"abstract":"In earlier reports (Kreider, <u>et. al</u>., 1970; Williams, <u>et</u>. <u>al</u>., 1970; Sim, <u>et. al</u>., 1971a, Sim, <u>et. al.</u>, 1971b) we have described and discussed the general character and some social science applications of a system of instructional computing developed at the Pennsylvania State University. The service is one of \"Speed Batch\" processing (Bernitt, 1971) which gives immediate response to \"small\" jobs. It was originally based on the WATFOR dialect and processor, so we have used the acronym WIT (for <u>W</u>atfor <u>I</u>nstant <u>T</u>urnaround) to refer to the system. In this report we note progress in the further development of the service. In a later report we will discuss applications in social science instruction.","PeriodicalId":129356,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigsoc Bulletin","volume":"34 4","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1973-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114118447","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Review of \"Wrapping up the Package: Critical Thoughts on Applications Software for Social Data Analysis, by Ronald E. Anderson, and Edwin R. Coover\", Computers and the Humanities, 1972","authors":"L. Robertson","doi":"10.1145/1103271.1103273","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/1103271.1103273","url":null,"abstract":"This article is, as its title indicates, a series of critical observations on the software available to the social scientist for statistical analysis of data. In it, the authors set out to discuss, specifically, the usefulness of currently available packages, and the probable directions the design of such systems will take in the near future, and to suggest improvements in both the composition and distribution of these programs. The first part of the article is a historical overview of the evolution of systems for statistical analysis, and a critical description of design features common to most of the current generation of statistical software packages, with general suggestions for future improvements. The article continues with a discussion of the factors that determine the popular success of packages, and some speculations on the potential usefulness of interactive mode in social data analysis. The final portion, a series of observations on the institutional environments in which such systems tend to be used, focuses on the university computing center and stresses the instructional aspect of software use in this context and the need for more extensive education and more effectively user-oriented programs. At the end of the article, a glossary of packages gives a general picture of the types of programs that have been available through the recent history of software packaging in this field. All in all, this seems to be, for its length, a comprehensive overview of the current state of software packaging for the social sciences, and one which offers quite a bit in the way of thoughtful and constructive criticisms and recommendations. The Data-Text Project recently completed the final version (Release 3) of Data-Text for the IBM 360 and IBM 370, and distribution has been under way for the past six months. For those not familiar with older versions, Data-Text is a social science computer language for data processing and statistical analysis. It represents one of the earliest attempts to implement the \"integrated system\" principle with development starting at Harvard in 1962. While the new 360/370 version preserves many of the principles and features of earlier IBM 7090/94 versions, it has also been substantially expanded and modernized in keeping with third-generation concepts.","PeriodicalId":129356,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigsoc Bulletin","volume":"76 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1973-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127526160","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}