Description of the NPR documentation

Ever search for the `right' information? Text you've squirreled away in file folders, three-ring binders and drawers, all in anticipation that one day you'd need that spec sheet, glossary, price list, or other 'priceless' artifact?

Did you ever have the need to create and maintain a compendium of knowledge across multiple computer platforms, so that many users could access it in meaningful ways?

"Did you ever have the need to create and maintain a compendium of knowledge across multiple computer platforms?"

We have, and we found a solution in an unlikely place: The World Wide Web. Let me backtrack to the late 1970's at NPR. Each of the three NPR studios and the Master Control was furnished with a thick three ring binder that described nearly everything that a broadcast technician would want to know about Telco circuits, length of leader tape for reel duplicator masters, how the land-line-based "Round-Robin" NPR broadcast circuits were routed, telephone numbers and on, and on, and on.

Needless to say, some part of the binder's contents was always out of date and there was no one individual designated to maintain the books. They gathered dust from dis-use and became a historical artifact about how things "used to be done" at NPR.

The "Books" grows in value, but become more of a chore to maintain.

In the mid 1980's, the Master Control Technical Director assumed responsibility for maintaining phone directories and information sheets about existing audio circuits that funneled into NPR.

The book slowly grew, as useful information was inserted regarding everything from set up and diagnostic procedures for overseas broadcast circuits to operating the Sony Beta [F-1] decks for recording and playing back network programs as re-feed backup.

This three-ringed resource increased in value, because any technician, regardless of experience, could properly manage technical facilities on overnight shifts by referring to it. Those technicians who felt "rusty" on troubleshooting techniques, those who needed to find Telco numbers to report trouble, and those who just liked to know how things worked referred to the book to their benefit.

Managers, too, saw that providing good documentation reduced on-air errors, and made their people more valuable -- truly proving that information gives power.

Unfortunately, maintaining multiple copies was a chore, and it was apparent that the most efficient way to keep technical material up to date was to update a single source. But how could effortless distribution be possible with paper?

Electronic version #1: The VAX mainframe

At the same time as we were struggling to keep paper-based information current, NPR began expanding its VAX mainframe service, such that all NPR employees were given a computer account on a VAX mainframe. Digital Equipment Corporation terminals populated the company's headquarters and appeared at NPR's bureaus. We had seen the VAX HELP libraries, and began experimenting with creating our own library to hold a text-only version of the now-thick three ring binder.

Master Control Technical Director Norb Gallery authored the first version of the MASTER CONTROL HELP library. It was created from plain text files, and processed by invoking the VAX Librarian Application. Users could 'open' the library for browsing by entering the arcane command

HELP/LIB=SYS$PGM_TP:[MASTER]MCHELP.HLB

This information system worked reasonably well for several years. It was easy to update: just rewrite the plain text source and re-compile the library. It was accessible: any NPR staffer who could log on (from anywhere) could use it to search for member station switch-56 numbers, contact numbers, descriptions of NPR facilities in and outside Washington and other very useful information.

It was keystroke-easy to use after a VAX "menu front-end" was implemented (insulating the user from the archaic command line interface). A typical search was prompted by a production staffer who would ask: "Do we have a member station in such-and-such town who could record a tape sync?"

Yet, we had come up against the limitations of the VAX HELP file format: NPR was slowly evolving from mainframe computing to desktop computing, specifically PCs and Macs, and the VAX help format was not translatable.

Electronic Version #2: HTML Files

We desired cross-platform accessibility, the ability to update the text easily, without having to re-compile, and we wanted to take advantage of the desktop look-and-feel to make the library "friendly".

The Microsoft Windows HELP file system looked promising, but did not offer compatibility with the VAX and Mac file structure. We felt that maintaining a custom HELP file system for each of the three platforms would fling us back to the days of multiple three-ring binders. Almost simultaneously, a rapid rise of all-things-Internet brought World Wide Web viewers into the workplace. Master Control Technical Director Norb Gallery conceived an ingeniously simple solution: if one authors HELP files using the HyperText Markup Language (HTML) that the Web viewers use, the files will be virtually universal to any platform that has a Web viewer written for it.

A big plus: graphics, logos, and diagrams can be easily rendered where appropriate (mindful of the text-only terminals VAX users have). The HTML files are simple text files that can be authored on any word processor, or more elaborate HTML editors can be downloaded from Internet sites, as desired.

In the NPR implementation, the content of the "new" HELP files has been deepened and the files renamed AUDIO ENGINEERING HELP (AEDHELP) to reflect their wider scope. The files are not actually on “the Web”, but reside on a protected server, and are accessed by PC and Mac users running NETSCAPE, and by VAX users running LYNX. The LYNX interface is superior to the old VAX HELP file system, and encourages users to browse, and learn.

"Your station could use these techniques for authoring your own electronic 'info sheet.' "

As of June 1995, the AEDHELP page contained a list of linkable topics that included Public Radio Conference information, a white-paper on M-S stereo authored by a colleague, searchable lists of member stations' ISDN numbers, complete descriptions of NPR facilities and how they're connected to the headquarters, and, the ubiquitous glossary; basically any information we technical people feel we will need to grab quickly, we'll put into AEDHELP.

Your station could use these techniques for authoring your own electronic “info sheet”. Your station's volunteers and staff could refer to a searchable, easily maintainable document with such station attributes as its mission statement, format, pledging guidelines, pledge goals...just about anything that you would find useful. How? If your station already has a networked computer system, one way would be to obtain a “Web browsing” application such as NETSCAPE (http://home.netscape.com/comprod/mirror/index.html or (415) 528-2555) for each PC or Mac on your network. You need not have a connection to the Internet to use the Web Browser. You could write your HTML files using any word processor, and place the files on your network server. Set up the Web Browser to load your “main” HTML file from your server, and you're running.

The HTML files are just text files with commands written in them that tell the Web Browser to display a particular font size, insert a .GIF picture, and so on. Books describing how to write HTML files are beginning to appear in bookstores, and the Internet is also a good place to find HTML documentation.

With Over seventy public radio stations already supporting their own World Wide Web Homepage, it's clear that “the Web” is a great medium for public Internet consumption. It's my feeling that this same technology is as valuable for within the station as it is “without”.

The Right Information, When You Need It

Or: How we started using the 'Intranet' at NPR, before we knew what 'Intranet' meant

by Rich Rarey

Reprinted with permission of the Author from July 1995 PUBLIC DOMAIN column in Radio World Magazine