OceanLife Volume 1 : Western Pacific (2nd Edition) [CD-ROM]

Jerry Borrell (Editor, Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1997

With this new edition, this multimedia reference work now includes over an hour of narrated underwater video, original music, and extensive underwater photography. Observe more than 30 families and over 100 species of fish, complemented with comprehensive text and videos. This second edition features detailed sections on marine life taxonomy (including invertebrates), an expanded internal anatomy section, and a section on the formation of coral reefs. The maps of Fiji, Vanuatu and Tonga have now been expanded to cover scuba diving areas within the region.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This new version introduces new information sections on Invertebrates and geology of the region. Coverage of taxonomy, reef habitats, and regional maps has expanded." -- Curriculum Administrator, 9/97

5 Disks (highest) Rating. -- CD ROM Today, 6/94

Silver Apple Award. -- National Educational Media Network, 4/98

This amazing OceanLife CD-ROM...is a complete video-based reference work that is as entertaining as it is informative. -- Wisconsin Bookwatch, 4/97

This new release is PERFECT. It runs flawlessly. -- Cariboo Computer Review, 3/97

From the Publisher

In the original edition of this product series Sumeria, was the first, and most widely emulated publisher to attempt to publish information on the marine world in a CD ROM format. The series was begun as an effort to document the state of the worlds oceans, especially its coral-reef regions, on a geographic regional basis, beginning with this volume on the region extending from New Caledonia to Tonga/Somoa in the Western Pacific. The Western Pacific, one of the greatest regions of marine biodiversity was selected as the first volume due to rapid deterioration of this regions coral reefs due to industrialization, tourism development, and the rapid exploitation of the region for diving tourism.

The first edition of this product covered barely 40 species in 14 families of fish. We were using the first small HI-8mm cameras (Sonys TR-71) and QuickTime .8 (a beta version) for creation of the digital video in the project. For the new edition all of the video was re-shot on DV CAM format with a four chip digital camera. We added film and text on invertebrates; demonstrating the richness of our products in the near future as we migrate to DVD ROM format which will provide us with up to 7 gigabytes of storage space (DVD-9, dual layer DVD ROM disks). Despite a fear that we would be reviewed as superficial travel products by similarly superficial product reviewers, we began to add land and travel photography. We also broadened our editorial coverage and scope from extensive text on individual species, to coverage on entire families. The redirection of our writing and filming was based on feedback from out tens of thousands of readers worldwide to the effect that the movies and product would be more interesting and useful if it did not duplicate existing printed materials from scientific literature that document aspects of individual species lives and behavior, viz. depth of reef occupation, specific feeding materials, etc. For those reasons the new editions discussed a wider number of families, and emphasize information on the characteristics of the entire family rather than individual species. Readers should keep in mind that we will return to additional, narrow coverage at some future point as we migrate to DVD ROM formats and space is available for more specific information.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• CD-ROM
• Publisher: Sumeria; Mac/Win edition (January 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570470030
• ISBN-13: 978-1570470035
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,369,996 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)