+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ WEIBEL * OCLC's approach to preparing electronic text: retroconversion, keying of texts, more automated ways of developing data * Project ADAPT and the CORE Project * Intelligent character recognition does not exist * Advantages of SGML * Data should be free of procedural markup; descriptive markup strongly advocated * OCLC's interface illustrated * Storage requirements and costs for putting a lot of information on line * +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Stuart WEIBEL, senior research scientist, Online Computer Library Center, Inc. (OCLC), described OCLC's approach to preparing electronic text. He argued that the electronic world into which we are moving must accommodate not only the future but the past as well, and to some degree even the present. Thus, starting out at one end with retroconversion and keying of texts, one would like to move toward much more automated ways of developing data. For example, Project ADAPT had to do with automatically converting document images into a structured document database with OCR text as indexing and also a little bit of automatic formatting and tagging of that text. The CORE project hosted by Cornell University, Bellcore, OCLC, the American Chemical Society, and Chemical Abstracts, constitutes WEIBEL's principal concern at the moment. This project is an example of converting text for which one already has a machine-readable version into a format more suitable for electronic delivery and database searching. (Since Michael LESK had previously described CORE, WEIBEL would say little concerning it.) Borrowing a chemical phrase, de novo synthesis, WEIBEL cited the Online Journal of Current Clinical Trials as an example of de novo electronic publishing, that is, a form in which the primary form of the information is electronic. Project ADAPT, then, which OCLC completed a couple of years ago and in fact is about to resume, is a model in which one takes page images either in paper or microfilm and converts them automatically to a searchable electronic database, either on-line or local. The operating assumption is that accepting some blemishes in the data, especially for retroconversion of materials, will make it possible to accomplish more. Not enough money is available to support perfect conversion.