DOC INC. PENETRATES MAZE OF DATA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP73-00475R000200770002-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 19, 2013
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: October 1, 1964
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/12/19: CIA-RDP73-00475R000200770002-0
OCT 11964,
r INFORMATION EXPLOSION
OC Inc. Penetrates
. By CHARLES COVELL
Star Business Writer
' Washington is just beginning
to overcome the effects of the
"information explosion."
? If the term is strange it is a
comparatively new but
worldwide complaint. It means
simply an excess of informa-?
tion, from numbers, tables,
equations, books, magazines
and newspapers to miles of
computer tape.
Some 35,000 recognized
scientific and engineering
journals published about a
million research papers last
year. The Commerce
Department estimates 200,000 of
these contained data which
must be referred to again and
again.
A scientist setting forth to
find information in the growing
maze simply doesn't know
where to begin. The average
professional is said to spend up
to 25 percent of his time trying
to keep abreast of developments
in his field and still ? falls
behind.
Inadequate data oan lead to
bad . decisions. For example,
poor information on the
prope r.t I e s of some boron
compounds led to the premature
opening and subsequent closing
of two chemical plants valued
at $38 million each.
Then there is duplication of
effort. Probably as much as 10
percent of the nation's nearly
$15 billion annual research and
development budget is said to
be wasted duplicating work
already completed but which
has been forgotten. ?
Basically, the cause- of the
information explosion has been
the great advance in science
and technology since World War
II. But other factors include the
increased sophistication and
comp TiNiTTVRAX cv.tharnlexity in research and
aze of ata
3'
A scientist gets buried b the "information
explosion."
industrialization of backward
countries and the development
of low-cost reproduction and
duplicating methods. ?
Among the leaders in sorting
out the confusion is the National
Bureau of Standards. Last year
the bureau assumed responsi-
bility for setting up a National
Standar d, Reference Data
System _ to collec t , and
disseminate data in the physical
sciences. Scientists all over, the
country review the literature in
their fields and choose the best
for inclusion in the system.
Data is ,stored on punched
cards, magnetic tape, notebooks
and any other convenient forms.
The recently established NBS
Institute for Applied Technology
also is carrying on a program
to bring the fruits of science to
the production line. Its Office of
Technical Services serves as a
clearinghouse for non-classified
technical reports developed in
government research.
The information explosion
'
Washington industry,
information storage and
retrieval. A 'pioneer is
Documentation Incorporated
which almost doubled its
revenue from 1963 to 1964.
Doc Inc., as it prefers to be
called, was founded in 1952 by
Dr. Mortimer Taube who left a
teaching job at the University
of Chicago to set up a one-room
office at 1832 Jefferson place
NW. Within a year his staff had
grown. from three to 12 and
another office had to be rented
in an adjacent building. -
In September, 1953, it moved
to larger offices on Connecticut
Avenue and in 1961, its staff by
then numbering more than 80,
to Bethesda. In the spring of
1963 it moved into its own six-
story building which it has
already outgrown. Its employes
number 570, of whom more than
200 are scientists or engineers. '
,The company's first contract
was with ;the Armed Services
Technical Information Agency,
C
,
information retrieval develope
by Dr:. Taube. Now it ' heel
extended to all fields. .
Doc Inc. manages the
Sci tif i c and Technical.
Information. Facility of the:
National Aeronautics and Space?.
Administration into which
thousands of scientific reports.'
pour each day. These are sifted,
by experts, abstracts prepared%
and a journal indexing the;
material published periddicallyS
Information is stored in ? 0
computer and disseminated by 1
microfiche, a transparency only,
4 inches high and 6 inches longs
that can carry as many' as 72,,
pages of a manuscript.
For the seventh straight year,
Doc Inc. is processing lest date'.
of drug 'effects on cancer for;
t he. National Institutes of.;
Health. Data on more than 200,-
000 chemical compounds and.'
natural, products are stored
the computers. s
? t.
In child development, Doc Inc.;
has a contract with the National',
Institute :of Mental Health to
study the reading abilities of a,
special.group of students. Other.?
contracts are in life' sciences,'
human rehabilitation, modal
logic ka br anc h of!
mathematics), library sciences :
and international documenta-'1
tion.
For Fairfax Hospital, Doc Inc!
reduced a master file of ,
patients' records to a fraction of
its former size. ,
A recent innovation was
development of a portable,
reader-printer in which. any
document appearing on its
microfiche sheets can be blown',
up and printed in one easy ,
operation.
Although most of its contracts
have been 'with government,
agencies, Doc Inc is now'
looking toward ,industry for:
further expansion., That field is'
almost untanned. .
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/12/19: CIA-RDP73-00475R000200770002-0