An Introduction to the Botanical Type Specimen Register

22
adopted at any time with minimal impact on the
overall Type Register operation.
The following data conversion systems have been
used in the chronological order given:
PAPER TAPE SYsTEM.-Data were mechanically
encoded on paper tape with a tape-punching typewriter.
The tapes then were read by the computer
which converted the holes in the paper tape (i.e.,
mechanical codes) to electronic codes on magnetic
tape and thus transferred the machine-readable
data from the medium of capture to the medium of
computer processing. This system was used for the
duration of the pilot project, and several thousand
records, a third of the present file, were captured
with it. During the pilot phase, while paper tape
lvas being used, corrections to the machine file
were made by means of the standard 80-column
punch card.
ON-LIKE SYsTE&t.-with a typewriter terminal,
data were entered via telephone directly on disk
storage of a remote time-sharing computer under
the on-line control of a sophisticated text-editing
program package. This text-editing software permitted
the terminal operator to direct the computer
in making any of a whole series of deletions,
changes, and additions during the input process so
that maximum editorial accuracy could be achieved
in the machine-readable data base immediately, before
it was output onto magnetic tape for subsequent
processing by the information retrieval system.
OPTICAL SCANNING SYsTEM.-Data were typed on
standard forms with an ordinary 10-pitch IBM Selectric
Typewriter equipped with a head having
a special optical scanning font. Completed forms
were scanned by an optical character reader (OCR)
which encoded the data directly on magnetic tape
for further computer processing.
~IAGNETIC TAPE SYsTE;M.-In the system currently
being used, a typewriter encodes data electronically
on a magnetic cartridge which is compatible with
computer tape. The typewriter unit also serves as a
communication terminal to transmit the data captured
via telephone directly to the computer, where
the data are transferred to disk or tape for further
processing. Processing programs can be controlled
from this same remote terminal. Of the several
data conversion systems used, this one seems to offer
the best compromise of advantages and disadvantages
in the context of the operation as a whole.
ShiITHSOSIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTANY
COMPUTER PROCESSING SYSTEM.-During the pilot
phase of the Type Register project, this system consisted
of a set of specially written COBOL programs,
designed to run on the Smithsonian’s
Honeywell 1250 machine, to create and maintain a
machine file, and to account for collaborating institutions
to which data-collection cards were sent or
from which data were received. It was not designed
as an information retrieval system in the strict
sense, and in terms of output the system was capable
chiefly of producing catalogs, either in book or
card form. The pilot system proved with use to be
highly specialized with too few capabilities and
serious weaknesses in file structure such as inability
to handle syntypes. It served the purpose of a pilot
system, however, to get a file started and thereby
define through experience the problems to be
solved in the operational system.
After the pilot phase, the specialized COBOL
programs were abandoned, and the processing system
was completely redesigned around the commercially
available, IBM-supported program package
known as the “Generalized Information System”
(GIs), which runs on the larger models of
IBRl’s System/360 and System/370. This generalized
software performs all the normal functions of
creating, maintaining, and querying files and of
generating reports. It is an information retrieval
system, in the proper sense, with the full capability
to search, select, and print answers to specific
queries on demand in addition to the capability for
producing various types of tabulations, tallies, and
catalogs. A COBOL preprocessing program (“preprocessor”)
and a COBOL concatenating program,
by which, respectively, the data are prepared for
processing by GIS and the data are joined field by
field into publishable paragraph output after processing
by GIS, form a part of the total operational
system. GIS runs only on IBM equipment and is
offered by several computer service bureaus in the
Washington, D.C., area with IBM machines. Type
Register processing with this system so far has been
carried out successfully at several different service
bureaus, and the project basically is independent of
the computing center.
One of the most important initial tasks in developing
the Type Register is to build a file of
sufficient size to make reliable studies concerning
such matters as record comprehensiveness, record
format, field format, need for authority files, and