Scotch College

History CD-ROM a bonus

OSCA's Geoff 'Sammy' Speed has climbed the mountain and seen the vision. Speaking after the launch of 'A Deepening Roar', Geoff mused, 'CD-ROM is a wonderful medium for storing large quantities of data - and offers the perfect opportunity for recording and storing vast amounts of historical data collected over many years. But you do have to do the legwork to bring it all together.'

Inside the back cover of 'A Deepening Roar' is the Scotch 150 Year History Supplement on CD-ROM which Geoff and his team of volunteer Old Scotch Collegians developed as a companion to the recently published history. Content includes more than five hundred pages of historical data including a comprehensive database of school enrolments, teaching staff, sporting teams, school leaders, school activities, award winners, the junior school, OSCA and the foundation, photographs and even archival footage of important events in the school's history including the great flood of 1934.

If you have an inquiry, have a fascination with facts, like to sing along to the school songs, you should reach for this very useful package.

In the eagerness to use the CD-ROM a number of people (including a retired Vice Principal) tried to use it in a Stereo Player instead of a computer!

The 150 Year history Supplement is a virtual litany of information and multimedia content, spanning the 150 years of Scotch.

Peter Gandolfo from neropurple, the producer of the CD-ROM, sees it as an insight into the anatomy of the school, on which the texture of the school is 'mapped'. The CD-ROM features full text indexing and enhanced search capabilities. You will find reference so simple and easy to use, that anyone can immerse themselves in the abundance of material on display and settle a few bets on the side.

Even though the format lacks the visual or tactile response of a beautifully produced 'coffee table book', the sheer storage provides a much broader range of chronological data. Fully updateable, the multimedia format works wonderfully as an adjunct to the printed history, as a stand alone module.