FBIS FUTURE NEEDS AT CAVERSHAM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85-00024R000300730002-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 56
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 26, 2007
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: August 13, 1982
• Content Type: MEMO

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13 August 1982
Memorandum for: R.E.H. Challis, Editor,
News and Publications,
Monitoring Service, B.B.C.
Chief, London Bureau, FBIS
Subject: FBIS Future Needs at Caversham
Ref: Your Memorandum of 13 July 1982
1. We've addressed ourselves to the questions you raise in your
memorandum and append in tabular form an intemization of our present
occupancy of floorspace at Caversham together with an estimate of our
future requirements. An estimate of power requirements is also
included in the table.
2. Most of the additional space we estimate we need is purely to take
care of the staff already on board in a slightly more comfortable
fashion. As you may be aware, our teletype and editorial
establishment has grown over the course of the years but the working
space has not.
3. We have left out of the tabulation any consideration of space required
in the new cubicles building. We don't really have any idea at this
time what will be required for our press facsimile or other satellite
monitoring. We think the present space may have to be increased by
about one-third but presume this could easily be accommodated by the
area left for expansion in the design for the cubicles building.
4. We have not addressed two other areas where we occupy space, as they
are outside the main building. One is the emergency operation site
in the lodge. At the optimum, we believe we would need approximately
double the present sapce, i.e. 10 square meters for editorial
operations and 10 square meters for communications. Power required
would be approximately 5 kw. The other is the warehouse area, where
we have at present 111 square meters, devoted largely to communications
paper stores. Assuming no change in communications patterns, this
space should be increased by about 25 percent to 140 square meters.
5. Within the main building at Caversham we have at our disposal a
25-pair telephone cable which is adequate for our present needs. To
allow for future expansion, particularly if VDU's come into general
use, we believe we will need two 20-pair cables.
STAT
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6. I believe that the estimates we have given here are generous enough
to be safe. We do not see any considerable increase in staff in the
planning period you have mentioned.
STAT
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Attachment - FB13 Floorspace, Power, any, Air Conditioning requirements
resent Room Working Occupancy
!resent Area (m2) Required Area
2\
(m J
Power Air Conditioning
Editorial 6 27.8 4 1.,7 5 T_cw Yes
(Rm. 200
Punching Room
(Rm. 201)
7 141
it 1 r"w re s
Communications
Paper ::tore (Rm. 202 )
Autodin Room
'
~ .,S
3.i
,Rm. 293 )
Technical Office and
2
7~'.9
l 0/~
'J.
Tr
Yes
:orkshop (Rm. 2014)
Report 'rite s
2
L24.6
21 c
2 kw
:?o
(R:-. 21'x)
Common Room
2
15.3
16.3
1
.:o
(Rn. 215)
Tabulators
1
7 .0
IQ 05
3 TfJ
='l o
(Rm. 217)
?ureau - Chiie
i
r
o6
38.4
3 kw
yes
(Fm.220A)
Deputy Chief
22. i
22.i
1mw
No
(Rm. 2208)
Chief Editor
10.9
3 I:w
No
(3m. 221)
Administrative
1
9.3
19.6
1 k,.r
,,-,o
Ass't
Mail Ro
(Rm. 222)
om
1
; .3
19.6
1 I:
;3o
(F m? 2
25)
2
13.8
27.6
2 k v
1,0
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M:" Editorial
(R;r. ':123) 4 30.9 46.
?3 S In-.7 yes
77U, Corn non Room
lRm. 3124)
'r,U Monitors
Rm. 0126)
Fi:U Monitors
Mores ;Rm.
"127)
??IT' lest ._ Interview
12"')
PMU Monitors
;'m. 129)
3.2 6.l.! 3 kw No
9 61.6
5.4
I 5.9
6106
8.1 1 kw A;o
I1.8 1 kur 12TO
9 61.6 81.9 5 k-,.- Ye s
~.ional Rooms Desired
0omnunicati.ono perv. 2
Moni torir_g 1
10 Reference Rom
iota.l present iloorspace sciare meters
ut re re u red i loorspece 56L .5 square meters
Tutu e required newer 63 T w
G 8
13.1
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CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
What the System would do
Some primary facts about the proposed System
THE SOURCES OF MATERIAL
1
1
2
3-11
The Listening Room
4-6
Routine monitoring
Flashes
The Alert Facility
Multi-page items
Monitors under training.
The - RT Section
English-language material
Foreign-language material
The proposed method
4-5
5
5
5
6
7-10
7
7
7-10
Copytasting
THE OUTPUT SECTIONS
11
12-18
The News Bureau
Option 1 - all electronic
Option 2 - all paper
Option '3 - half and half
Conclusion
13-15
13-14
15
15
15
The Editorial Sections
16-17
The Printing Operation
18
LINKS WITH FBIS
19-20
BBC material to FBIS
19
FBIS material to BBC
20
Equipment
20
RETENTION, LONG-TERM STORE, INDEXES AND LISTS
21-24
Retention periods
21
Lists
21-22
Microfiche
22
Indexing
22-23
Permanent store
24
COMMUNICATIONS FACILITIES
25-27
Internal messages
25
Links with the rest of the BBC
25-26
The EDS
25
The MSS
26
Links outside the BBC
26
External lines
26
Effect on the IDS
27
Communications with data banks
27
SERVICE OPERATOR/SUPERVISOR
28
STAFFING IMPLICATIONS
29-30
!finally****
31
APPENDIX A: Statistics of information flow
32-35
APPENDIX B: Terminal equipment
36
APPENDIX C: Computer system specification
37
APPENDIX D: Storage in the System
38-40
Data storage requirements
40
APPENDIX E: Automatic and semi-automatic printing
41-42
APPENDIX F: FBIS technical facts
43
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A COMPUTER SYSTEM FOR THE MONITORING SERVICE
INTRODUCTION
This is a general description of the computer system.which we'propose
for the Monitoring Service,
it does contain as much detail as we can legitimately include at present.
been produced.five weeks earlier than was originally planned. However.
It is not as closely defined as we would have liked, because it has
.discussions with the manufacturer or supplier of the System who is
during the months ahead, and more particularly during the design
The real detail of how each operation is.performed-can,be.filled:in
eventually chosen.
What the System would do
The System here proposed would almost entirely eliminate the manual
distribution of paper in the Monitoring Service. It would also do
'the.routine functions of sorting and numbering, and make all material
almost instantly available to everyone with access t9 ,a VDU. It would
shorten the printing process, automatically time, and identify, recorded
tapes, tune the receivers for radio and RT transmissions and provide
fast, two-way communication with points outside Caversham.
customers and to printers.. The System would take over virtually all
material, accelerate the processing and store and list the .edited
material too. This material would be delivered more quickly to
away with much of the paper itself. It would store and list all source
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Some primary facts about the proposed System
1. It will need to be a big system -- not so much in respect of
the number of terminals, but in terms of the very large storage
capacity and processing power required to handle the volumes
of material and the functions we are proposing for it.
2. The current normal speed for a distribution system is 1200 baud,
which in simple terms means that it accepts, displays and
distributes material at 150 characters per second. This is the
speed of the EDS at Bush House. We do not feel that this is fast
enough for Monitoring Service. In some of the applications
described in this report, the waiting time-for an item to write
itself on the screen would be unacceptably long at 1200 baud. We
believe that the Monitoring Service System should be capable of
operating at 9600 baud or more. That is at least eight times as
fast as the EDS. At this speed, an item fills a screen almost
instantaneously to the eye. Printers, however, should work at
1200 baud. Anything faster would involve using line printers..
These are not only very noisy and very expensive, but they produce
copies which are not easy to read.
There are two basic philosophies on systems of this kind. One is
to use the central processor mainly as a switching system and to
build the sophisticated word processing into intelligent VDUs. This
is how the original planning for the EDS began, but it soon
developed beyond that. The other way is to use dumb VDUs and take
the sophistication back to the processor. This is how Reuter's
system is designed. For Monitoring Service, we are proposing a
combination which is an extension of the way the EDS works. The
VDUs would be intelligent, with editing facilities at least as
advanced as those on the new VDUs currently on order for the EDS,
and they would have split screens to allow two simultaneous
transactions. But because of the length of some of the items which
have to be processed, or even simply looked at, in Caversham, it
would be necessary for the computer itself to carry out some of
the functions normally performed off-line by VDUs. This necessarily
means that a VDU would often need exclusive use of one of the
processor's ports; therefore the number of ports would need to be
large in relation to the size of the System.
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THE SOURCES OF MATERIAL
Of the three main sources of raw material which come into Monitoring
Service, we are in control of two: the Listening Room and the RT
Section. The third - FBIS - is beyond our control, but, given
co-operation, can work efficiently with our System.
Before discussing detailed working in the Listening Room and the RT
Section, we feel we should draw attention to the possibility of a
fundamental change which would have wide staffing, and therefore union,
implications.
We have read the reports of the Listening Room Modernisation Committee,
and we agree that monitors should be able to select frequencies by
simple push-button controls. However, we would go a step further.
To take the Listening Room first: it would be a simple matter to store
the various transmission schedules in a computer, putting the frequencies
in the presumed order of preference. These lists could be changed or
updated at any time.
The computer would recognise from these schedules when each transmission
was due. Just before the time of a transmission, the computer would
take remote control of a receiver at Crowsley Park, instruct it to tune
to the most favoured frequency, select the most appropriate aerials and
filters and feed that frequency to the first button on the monitor's
desk. If the signal were not good enough, or if it faded during the
transmission, the monitor would push another button. The computer would
then select the second frequency and go through the same process. This
could be repeated throughout the range of available frequencies, and each
change would take a fraction of a second. The monitor could change
frequencies as often as he wished. Each monitoring position would need
at least six buttons, and would have facilities for pre-listening.
The procedure for RT transmissions would be the same, except that the
buttons would be pushed by the operations assistant, or possibly even
by the clerks.
Although this may seem a radical idea, it is well within present
technology, and it seems an obvious way of gaining advantage from
that technology in the mid-'eighties.
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THE LISTENING ROO V
Since the computer had supplied the signal to the monitor, it would,
of course, know what he was listening to. So as soon as he pushed
his first button, an LCD display in front of him would show the source
and the date, the continuous time, the frequency and the button that
he had pressed.
Station ?--
Date --~
Frequency --'
TRIPOLI HOME
ARABIC
20-01-82
13:34:09
15270
2
4- Language
~4---- Time
~--- Channel
Each time the monitor pushed a button to change channels, the LCD
display would show the new frequency and channel number.
The computer would also record the same information (except for the
channel number) in digital form, and this would be recorded oonntinuously on one
track of the cassette tape. When the cassette was played back,
either in the Listening Room or a cubicle, the same information
would be shown on the LCD display.
This system would enable monitors, singly or in teams, to locate
starting points quickly, since it would show the precise time at
which each word was recorded. It would also enable foolproof identification
of stored cassettes.
Routine monitoring
A monitor would, of course, be able to use his VDU for any purpose
allowed by the System. When he wanted to transcribe, either in the
Listening Room or a cubicle, he would press a "Transcribe" key and a
pro forma would immediately appear on his screen. This would provide
spaces, with automatic tabbing, for him to fill in his name, the source
of the transmission and-the time. The System would assume that every
transcript would have automatic delivery at certain points, such as
News Bureau, PBIS and the appropriate SWB sections and monitoring teams.
The pro forma would provide space for him to add any additional people
whom he thought might need a copy.
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It might well happen that a monitor did not decide that an additional
person should receive a copy until he was part-way through a transcript.
In such a case, he could go back to the heading information and fill
it in. But in any event, the System would not let him enter an item
until he had supplied the necessary information -- even if negative.
When the transcript was finished, the monitor would press a transmit
key; the System would accept the item, carry out the automatic deliveries
and add the item to the appropriate list.
Plashes
The procedure here would be the same, except that, at the end of
the transcript, the monitor would press a "flash" key instead of
the regular transmit key. The System would automatically print
"FLASH......FLASH......FLASH" at the top of the page, give it
priority treatment in automatic delivery, and list it.
The Alert Facility
One of the problems we considered was the urgent item, when the News
Bureau is waiting desperately and the monitor is going as fast as he
can. Some tensions arise when the News Bureau feels'that the monitor
needs prodding and the monitor feels he could get on with it faster if
only people would leave him alone.
The monitor's VDU would have an "Alert" key. He could activate this on
his own initiative or by request from the News Bureau or tfie Listening
Room Supervisor. The effect would be that both the Duty Editor and
the Listening Room Supervisor would see, on whichever part of their
screen was available, the item as the monitor was typing it out.
There would be audible warnings on the two VDUs. At any time, either
of the two recipients could cancel, if they thought the item was not
worth the alert, or the monitor himself could cancel if it turned out
not to be as good as he originally thought -- in which case the two
recipients would get an "Alert Cancelled" message.
Multi-page items
Individual monitors or teams of monitors would be able to enter
multi-page items in segments; the Syrstem would store them and collate
them in the correct order. Pages flashed out of turn could be transmitted
to users immediately, but would also retain their correct position in
the final collation. This would necessitate an exclusive area of store
for the Listening Room.
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Monitors under training
The same exclusive area of store would be available to the Listening
Room so that, if desired, the work of monitors under training could
be checked and/or amended by senior monitors before being released
into the System.
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THE RT SECTION
If the format and length of RT material were under our own control,
it could probably go direct to users. But this is not so; some human
processing is still necessary. Therefore, we recommend that the
RT Section should remain responsible for the dissemination of this
material throughout the building, but by different methods.
English-language material would be processed by the RT Section. Each item
coming in the building would be lodged in a temporary store, and the
System would present them on VDU screens to the clerks. This would be
mostly in chronological order, but variable priorities would be available.
The clerk would approve the material as fit to be circulated or would
make necessary changes -- mostly degarbling -- helped by semi-automatic
facilities in the System.
Foreign-language material would no longer be printed in the RT Section,
but only on teleprinters closely associated with the appropriate monitors
in an enlarged Listening Room. No foreign-language material would be
entered into the System, since it is of no use to anyone until it has
been processed by monitors.
The proposed method
Following on from the proposed automatic method in the Listening Room,
a similar method could be available to the RT Section. The System
would be programmed with the times and favoured frequencies of all
transmissions and would automatically set up the receivers at Crowsley
Park. The operator would be provided with push-buttons or a VDU to
change frequencies when necessary and if possible. The System would
select both the teleprinter and its own input channel for each agency.
Alternatively, the operator could prepare for a transmission in the
same way as he does at present. He would set up a printer for an
agency, but in addition would tell the System which agency was to be
on which of its input channels.
With either method, the System would recognise the varying start and
finish codes of the agencies and would know where to send automatic
prints. Either method would allow for a system of priorities, which
could be varied from day to day, or from transmission to transmission,
according to the news of the day. This would be done by the operator,
on the instructions of the News Bureau.
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The System would then present the items on VDUs for the clerks to
process. The name of the agency, the serial number, the date and the
time would be automatically displayed, thus removing the need for this
information to be typed manually on each page.
It should.. be understood here that the process of making an item available
on a screen cannot begin until the moment at which the slow-speed
teleprinter line has finished sending the item. To display the item
on a screen at 1200 baud would impose, we believe, an actual and
psychologically unacceptable delay, particularly when in the majority
of cases there is little for the clerk to do. She would have to watch
it write itself on the screen, perhaps push one key and then watch it
write itself into the System. And although the overall time of processing
and delivery to users would be shorter, this particular stage would
be seen to be slower. This is one of our reasons for recommending
that the System should operate at 9600 baud. At that speed the visual
effect is of an entire item appearing on the screen almost instananeously.
As items were completed, they would be shared among however many VDUs
were in operation. At times when several agencies were transmitting
simultaneously, they would form a queue, and the next item would be
sent to the first available VDU. They would queue according to the
priority assigned to each agency (on a scale of, say, 1 to 5) but the
System would be programmed to ensure that an item of low priority did
not get unduly delayed. A clerk faced with a "difficult" item could
put it back in the queue so as not to delay other material, but the
queuing system would ensure that it was re-presented at regular intervals.
As for the actual processing by the clerks, in the great majority of
cases this would be simply a matter of the clerk's checking that the
item appeared to be a valid piece of text and pressing a key to release
it into the System. If the text were garbled by some passages having
slipped into figure shift, the clerk would be able to ask the System to
correct these passages, using a simple command and markers. It is also
possible that, under certain circumstances, the System would be able
to correct more serious garbling, but this needs further investigation.
The System would also be programmed to alert the clerks and/or the operator
if a transmission were affected by bad reception or if items appeared to
be excessively long or were wrongly separated, which could be caused by
corrupted start and finish codes.
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The clerks would also be able to reject teleprinter idling, service
messages, foreign-language text mixed in with the English, and items
so hopelessly garbled as to be useless. With split-screen VDUs,
they would be able to compare items from different transmissions and
reject repeats.
When the material was entered into the System, it would be automatically
cleared from the temporary store. It would automatically print out the
items for various users and would compile lists, agency by agency, of
the items entered into it, this would enable users to'check back and
retrieve items of interest on their VDUs, with dropped hard copies
when required.
We also recommend a "tuning in" facility, somewhat similar to the
"alert" system described for the Listening Room. Users who were
anxiously awaiting news from a particular agency would be able to
request the output of an RT transmission and see it on their screens
as it was being sent over the wire. They could also make such a request
in advance, and the System would send it to them, when available, on
the unused portion of their split screens. This function of the System
would, of course, have to be at slow teleprinter speed.
There remains the question of flashing from the RT Section. At
present, although it is no part of their jobs, the clerks sometimes
alert the News Bureau when they see a story of obvious importance.
The "flash" key, as described earlier, would be on all VDUs, but it
is our view that this key should be operative only on the monitors'
VDUs. This would be by an inhibition at the processor, which would not
accept flash commands from other VDUs. However, it may be felt that
the RT Section clerks should also have use of the flash facility, so
as not to discourage their initiative. On the other hand, the provision
of the flash facility might make them believe they were expected to use
it. This, we feel, is a Monitoring Service policy decision.
As well as going into the System, we believe that RT material should
continue to be received on teleprinters. This is for three reasons:
1. As a hard-copy back-up in the event of a breakdown in
the System;
2. As a back-up against human error, so that a hard copy is
available in case the System fails to recognise garbled
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or erroneous identifications, or a clerk accidentally
discards a wanted item.
Skilled operators can often detect a corrupted transmission
or wandering from frequency simply by a change in the sound
of a teleprinter. This is a useful safeguard, although it
is possible that the System software could make this skill
unecessary.
However, it should be possible to make some reduction in the number
of teleprinters required, particularly if the System itself is
controlling the receivers and-channels.
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COPYTASTING
The preliminary report of the Modernisation Committee mentioned this
problem, which is one of too much material flooding into the building
and putting pressure on, particularly, the News Bureau. There was a
desire for someone to do rough copytasting of incoming material.
We have thought very carefully about this and we are forced to confess
that we cannot find a solution -- only objections to the suggestions
which have been made.
Monitors: During our inquiries, it was put to us that monitors in the
Listening Room should have first sight of all RT material and copytaste
it as, in effect, they do their own material. We did not feel that this
work should be loaded on to monitors. They have enough to do already,
and it would create a bottleneck. Our view was upheld at a recent meeting
of the Modernisation Committee.
Journalists: A journalist would, of course, be qualified to copytaste.
To be of any use, he would have to be placed between the raw material on
the one hand and the News Bureau and SWBs on the other. On the basis of
two day shifts, it would mean four additional posts. If it were likely
that he would be able to weed out a large proportion of the material,
it might be worth considering, but we do not feel that this is so. In
any case, this, too, would create a bottleneck.
Service Operator: The Service Operator would have other functions in
the System, and we do not believe that he or she could also take on the
copytasting function. Even if it were rough copytasting, it would still
mean that every item had at least to be glanced at. Again there would be
a bottleneck, and this time controlled by someone who was not journalistically
qualified.
RT: It might be possible to instruct RT clerks to discard obvious
dross (Czechoslovak water polo results spring to mind). But again we
would be asking unqualified people to make a journalistic judgment, and
there would always be the danger of a significant piece of information
lurking somewhere within an apparently useless item.
So we regret that we cannot offer any suggestions at present, although
of course it can be looked at again when there is more time.
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OUTPUT SECTIONS
THE
Before going into any detail about the work of the News Bureau
and the Editorial Sections, we feel there is one general point
which needs to be mentioned.
Throughout the preliminary discussions on an electronic system for
the Monitoring Service, there has been the thought of a totally
electronic system in which monitors and journalists would work
entirely on VDU screens and have little to do with paper.
We have examined the working methods of various sections; and while
we think that all-electronic methods would be very useful to monitors,
we believe that the journalists in the. News Bureau might sometimes
need to edit on hard copy, and certainly those in the SWB sections
can, in many instances, work very much faster on paper than they
would be able to do on VDUs.
There is also the question of union attitudes; and although this
is not strictly part of our terms of reference, it would be remiss
of us not to consider it, particularly in the light of experiences
at Bush House. The attitude of unions, particularly in the News
Bureau, may well have a strong bearing on the type of system which
is eventually installed.
Therefore, we have described various plans for the News Bureau, which
would depend on how far the unions were prepared to co-operate, and
one plan for the SWB sections, because we think it is by far the most
sensible method.
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THE NEWS BUREAII
We are offering three main options for the work.of the News Bureau,
plus a modified version of the first option.
This would involve the members of the News Bureau 'working'entirely on.
screens. Each one would prepare his story by editing down the raw
material'(monitors.l transcripts, RT or FBIS)." A split screen would
enable him to work on a story and simultaneously to call up ancilliary
information needed for. its preparation.
When his story was finished, he would transmit it to the Duty Editor's
VDU at the "instantaneous" speed of 9600 baud.If the Duty Editor
approved the""story, he would simply mark it for A or B distribution
and transmit it,,and the System would automaticallynumber.it and send
it on the wire.
If the Duty Editor was working on a story of his own wheri'a sub-editor's
story wasready to be looked at, an indicator' would appear on the other
half of.1the Duty}"Editor's screen. He would then have a choice: carry
on with his own story and get to the sub-editor's later, or break off
from; his own story and clear the sub-editor's first.
If'the Duty Editor did not like the story,"he could. amend it himself 'or'
'send'~it'back to the sub-editor's screen for amendment-or rewrite. But"
whatever choices were made, when the story was approved it would go
straight out on the wires without benefit of operator.
But how does the material get to the journalists in the-first place?
Here we face problems both technical and human.
Under the present system, material is simply delivered to two trays,
one for flashes, the other for routine material. On some shifts the
Duty Editor sees everything that comes in and distributes the work to
the others. On other shifts, whoever is available takes the next item.
There is no copytaster as such.
With a totally-electronic system, each item would'appear first on the
Duty Editor's screen (flash material would have-automatic priority).
The Duty Editor would scan it -- often not reading more than the first
few lines -- then decide whether to do it himself, give it to someone
else or discard it.
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,The .Duty Editor Md switch this first screeningWnction to
another VDU when he was. going to be absent from his desk.
The advantages of this method would be that the Duty Editor would
see all incoming raw material, that it would almost entirely eliminate,
the use of paper, and that the material would get to the.desk more
quickly as a 9600 baud display than as a 1200 baud printout.
The disadvantages are that the Duty Editor would tend to be tied. to
his VDU, having to see all incoming and outgoing material and, in
effect, becoming the copytaster; and that he might not have time to
write stories himself or, at the very,le4st, would'?be constantly
interrupted while doingso. ,It may be said that'this is no more than.
some duty editors do at present, but the psychological effect of being.
a slave to the never-ending demands of the VDU might be somewhat
overwhelming. In this context, it is worth noting that, according to
our researches, only about three per cent of all available material,
in terms of volume, is used by the News Bureau.
There is also what we have termed the modified all-electronic system --
a contradiction in terms perhaps, but a reasonable. description
nonetheless.. uUnder this system, all raw material would be p inted
out on 1200/ printers close to the news desk. This would include
Reuter, Tass, NCNA, etc. Another printer would be reserved for flash
material and requested printouts. This preserves the flexibility of
working as currently practised by different shifts.
Those writing: the stories would call up the raw material from the
System, edit it on screen and, as already described, send it to the
Duty Editor's VDU for his approval. At the same time they would hand
back the raw material so that the Duty Editor had something with which
.to check.
Sometimes the journalists rewrite entirely because the raw material
is not suitable for editing down. This method would be preserved,
except that they would type their'stories on VDUs instead of typewriters.
The rest of the operation would be as described above.
There would, of course, need to be a separate store for stories
awaiting approval.
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Option 2 -- All Paper
This assumes that no agreement can be reached with the unions to
allow direct input or editing by journalists. It leaves their
present working methods basically unchanged.
The material would reach them in hard copy, delivered from the
1200 baud printers. They would continue to edit on hard copy
(and presumably do rewrites on typewriters) and their copy would
go by hand, as now, to the operators.
This would shift the electronics to a later stage. The operators
would have the choice of calling up raw material on their VDUs and
editing it in accordance with the draft from the News Bureau, or
retyping it if the editing looked too complicated. Then they would
send it out on the wire.
So the only differences from present methods would be that the raw
material reached the News Bureau rather earlier than at present,
and that there would be a saving of time at the output end because, in
most cases, the material would not have to be retyped.
Option 3 -- Half and Half
The assumption here is that NUJ members are prepared to edit on VDUs,
but that neither the NUJ nor the ABS is willing to let them transmit
items on to the wires.
In such an eventuality, the first part of the operation would be as
described in Option 1. However, at the point at which the Duty Editor
was satisfied with the story, he would not transmit it direct to the
wires, but would instead send it to the operators' VDUs. There would
be a system of queuing and priorities so that the operators received
the material in the right order. It would be the operators who would
transmit the material on the wires.
Conclusions
No one knows at present how the unions will react or what kind'of
agreement can eventually be reached. However, from the practical
point of view, we favour the modified version of Option 1 -- the almost
all-electronic method.
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TH9 'EDITORIAL SECTIONS
Our preferred method for the editorial sections is that they should
have all the facilities of the System, but that they should stay with
hard copy for most of'their editing.
It would, of course,' be technically possible for the raw material
to appear on screens in the SWB areas and for the journalists.to edit
on. screens and,mark up the edited versions for typesetting, thus
eliminating the input typists. In theory, this would save time.
However, there are, factors which militate against such a method. In
watching the editorial sections at work, we have noticed that much of'the
'editing consists of, in effect, reissuing pages of raw material with
minor amendments. These include marking for capital letters, changing
or.clarifying punctuation, changing the order of words when a monitor
has used unidiomatic English and, in the case of FBIS material, changing
American to English spellings. We are convinced that an editor can do
this kind of work very much faster with a pencil than with a VDU.
overall
There might be a very marginal/saving of time by having the material
handled from receipt through to printing by one person, but the actual
editing process would take longer; and an electronic system-which
actually slowed down the editorial staff would be counter-productive.
Also, although the System would be designed to change type faces,
sizes and styles and to justify the lines, human intervention would
still be necessary to clean it up; for instance by changing the point
at which words are broken by hyphens at the end of lines. We doubt
whether the editors in the SWB sections have time to do this fiddling
work; and in any case, it would mean shifting this. function from
clerically- or operationally-graded staff to MP staff.
However, we do feel that members of the editorial sections should be
given choice and flexibility. Some may prefer to edit on screens for
shorter items, and it should be an advantage to those producing the
Weekly Economic Reviews, where most material is written rather than
edited down,
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So we see the working of the SWB sections as similar to the present
methods. From their point of view, the main advantage would be that
the System would automatically deliver the material they need; there
would be no more waiting for collection or hand delivery. This might
mean that it was possible to get later material into current editions.
The real time saving for SWBs should be in the composing of the
offset plates, or their equivalent. This might well enable editorial
deadlines to be later than at present.
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TO PRItTING' OP ION
The principal saving in the composing area would be that most
material would no longer have to be retyped, as it is at present,
on a composing typewriter, they would call up the ' raw; material from
the System and edit it in accordance with editorial instructions.
editorial seotions, as now. But instead of retyping the whole item
The input typists,. or operators, would. receive edited copy from the
case only. From what we have~'learned from FB.IS, it'.appears that' their
Monitors' transcripts will be in upper and lower case, BT in upper,
System, it should be possible to strip off their conversion and'get
their material in upper and lower case,
into all caps for'their teleprinters here;. with a direct feed into our
mazeriai is already available in upper andlower.c
except that it would automatically put a capital after every full stop.
So for the capitalisation part of the editing, she would type over any
remaining letters that needed to be in caps. This would be much faster
than knocking down everything else to lower case, which would be
tantamount to retyping.
In any event, the System could allow for this. With an all-caps'item,'
the operator would press a single key to reset it all in lower case
a daisy-wheel printer of the kind normally associated with word processors.
It would allow a greater range of type faces and sizes than is available
on the present IBM composing typewriters, and there would be no need to
keep changing the golf-ball printing heads.
The System would be programmed to recognise typesetting instructions
and it would automatically produce the offset master, probably using
We.have reluctantly rejected having automatic delivery of finished
material to the proofreaders, because they would have to compare it
with the edited copy, and that would have to go by-hand. However,
since the operation of VDUs would be much quieter 'than that of the IBM
typewriters, it should be possible to have the proofreaders in the same
room, perhaps behind glazed partition walls.
the preferred method of printing. We do not feel there is any other
reprographic method better suited to the number of pages and lengths
We feel that, for the foreseeable future, offset litho is likely to be
of print runs.
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LINKS WITH FBIS
Ideally, the System would treat FBIS as though it were simply another
section of the Monitoring Service. After all, the work of the
FBIS bureau is similar insofar as it takes in raw material and
puts out edited material. However, it is not yet certain how
active. a part FBIS would wish to play in the System. Although the
.present Bureau Chief seems to view it favourably, final decisions will
obviously have to be made in Washington.'. Ed.N.P.M.S. mayget some
firmer indications' during his visit there. Meanwhile, these are
the possibilities:
BBC material to FBIS
There are three possible ways of supplying material to FBIS.
1. We have an extra printer receiving monitors'. transcripts and
RT, and simply send copies up the Lamson tubes, as. now. This
primitive method assumes total lack of interest by FBIS.
2. FBIS takes the service on a wire to the second floor and
hooks whatever equipment it prefers on to it. This assumes
that FBIS's interest is only in getting paper copies faster
than now. Basically, it makes no difference to the System.
If IBIS is interested, it could have a full service. It. would
have VDUs and printers from our System. It could choose whether
to work on hard copy or to edit on screens. It could have any
kind of automatic delivery it wanted. It could interrogate the
System, using all its files and lists, and - although it is'
hardly likely to want to do so -- it could interrogate the EDS.
Whatever FBIS chooses to do, the-:System would be able to handle it.
If FBIS wanted full use, it would mean additional . ports, channels,
software and storage capacity in the System, but nothing more difficult
than providing the facilities for any section of Monitoring Service.
There might.be'some problems of. interface if FBIS wanted to join in
but insisted on using different hardware for compatibility with any
new system that it might be planning. However, we do not think these
problems would be insoluble.
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FBIS material to BBC
Here we have a different story. It is vital to the success of an
electrons c 4-
C --- - - - s
ys em n
i
aversham t
its material. in electronic form,
At present, the FBIS system prints out its material on teleprinters
of only moderate speed. Those which are marked for the BBC are put into
a Lamson tube; those that are not are witheld. Monitoring Service
would need the equivalent function to be performed automatically,
which could be done by FBIS themselves or by a bolt-on box on the
Caversham System. This would enable them to preserve their security.
If FBIS is willing to co-operate, all well and good. The material
would feed into the Caversham System just like monitors' transcripts
and RT material. The System would strip off unnecessary header codes.
But if FBIS will not co-operate -- if it wants to continue tearing
paper off teleprinters and putting it into a Lamson. tube -- then this
would cause serious problems. Something like 45% of all raw material
comes from FBIS; and the result of keeping to hard copy delivery would
be to render impossible many of the facilities which we are describing.
The raw material could not be stored, listed or retrieved. There'
could be no editing on screens of FBIS material. The savings which
we envisage by not having to retype edited material would be reduced
by about half. A very large part of the general conception of the
Caversham System would collapse.
Therefore, it is of vital importance to convince FBIS that it should
play a full part in the System -- not so much in their reception of
Monitoring Service material, which doesn't really matter, but in
their method of delivery to Monitoring Service, which matters a great
deal.
Eaui ent
The FBIS Bureau Chief believes the bureau will still want Reuter and
Taos English on teleprinters. No problem.
He also believes. that, if they work fully with the System, they will
need 16 VDUs and 2 1200 baud printers. The estimate on VDUs agrees
precisely with ours, but we think he has under-estimated on printers;
we are recommending four.
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RETENTION, LONG-TERM STORAGE, INDEXES AND LISTS
One of the advantages of a computer system is that it allows material
to be stored for a period, thus providing fast retrieval of recent
information. The system we are proposing would catalogue every item
of input and.putput by a series of automatically-compiled lists.
However, the storing and retrieval of material demands capacity and
hardware, which can be extremely expensive; therefore, limits must
be set.
At a meeting on February 9th, 1982, the Caversham Modernisation Committee
agreed the following:
Raw material (monitors' transcripts, RT and FBIS) would be kept
on line in the System for 14 days. They would then be kept
on microfiche. The fiches could be kept indefinitely, but the
feeling was that they should be discarded after six months.
News Bureau material would be on line in the System for one week,
then overwritten.
Reuter output would stay in the System for two days, then be overwritten.
SWBs would stay on line for 14 days (12 days' editions). They would
. then go on to microfiche and be kept indefinitely.
LISTS
In.;all cases, the lists of items would stay on line for the same
period as the categories of material to which they referred. The lists
of raw material would also go on to microfiche, but there would be
no need to put the SWB lists on fiche because they would be basically
the same as the contents pages.
generally, monitors' transcripts would be listed under language
teams, RT by agency, FBIS by outstation and SWB by parts. But it
would also be possible to have variations: transcripts by name of
station or name of monitor, FBIS by name of radio station, etc.
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The lists would contain the following information for each item:
A and B Wires: Serial number, date, time, headline.
Monitors' transcripts: Serial number,. date, time,' source, name(s)'
of monitor(s), language and headline supplied.by monitor.
RTEnglish: Serial number, date, time, agency, headline (extracted
from RT message).
FBIS: Serial number, date, time, source, headline.
SWB: Serial number, date, headline(and key words?)
MICROFICHE
For microfiche, we recommend a'system similar to that;` used by the
EDS,at Bush House. Each midnight the System would look back over the
material of the previous 24 hours and copy that which needed to be
kept on to a magnetic tape. This would be sent next morning to a
COM (computer-originated microform) bureau, and the microfiches should;
be returned in three or four days -- well before the material in the
System was overwritten. This is a comparatively cheap operation; and
if there is no suitable bureau in the Reading area. the ;COM tape
could probably be sent daily to Bush House and prooessed`with'theirs.:
There would have to be separate fiches for raw material and.SWBs
because of the different periods of storage. Also, it would be
advisable to have the SWB fiches in duplicate: one set for taking,
copies, which might get scratched, and one set for permanent store.
in fireproof cabinets.
INDEXING
We have. considered the possibility of a complete indexing system
by random word search and have reached the conclusion, without much`
difficulty, that this would be prohibitively expensive.
However, it would be possible to provide a simpler keyword index
for SWBs. Each item would be indexed by the editorial staff during
editing. They would use_a.maximum of four words,from a list of key
words which they could create for themselves. For simplicity of
indexing, the number of key words should be restricted to, say, 4,000
words shared among the four sections.
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The.process can be illustrated by considering a recent item
headlined "Confusion over Taiwan Softball Invitation to,China."
Possible key words could be.'China', 'Taiwan' and 'Sport'. These
V key words would not necessarily have to be in the headline, or even
in the item; they would be generic words chosen by the editorial staff,
used only to classify the item.
A 'subsequent search specifying the three key words would retrieve
a listing of this item and all other items which had been classified
under all three of the key words. A search involving only two of.
the three key words, such as 'Taiwan' and 'Sport', would result in
a. listing of this item, . but the list would also include items about
sport involving Taiwan and countries other than China.
Such a simple form of indexing is unlikely to produce a unique
identification of an item every time because the same key words may
have been used for several items. The user would have to examine the.
display of items to find the particular item he wanted.
On balance, we recommend that such a system should be adopted. However$
it must be said that it might well be expensive in terms of data
storage and programming effort. A decision would have to based on
the balance between the cost and the value of such a system to the
Monitoring Service. This, we feel, is something which needs further
investigation.
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Permanent store
V
-24- w
There is a fundamental difference in the philosophy of corrections.
between a news-based computer system, such as the EDS, and the average
bank/insurance company/gas board computer.' In the latter type of
system, any stored material which is wrong can be called up, corrected-
and put back into the system, and the erroneous material simply vanishes.
The EDS, for instance; is designed to prevent this. An inaccurate story-.
can, of course, be called up and changed on a screen, but the EDS will
not accept the -.new version .,.asp` a_ straight replacement for the old; it
will insist on keeping both versions and giving them separate numbers,,
on the theory that mistakes must not be destroyed. 'We recommend that
the same theory should apply in the Monitoring Service.
However, in all. systems such as this, there are a number of documents
various lists and schedules -- which remain in the same basic format for
years and need only some of the internal information changed from time
to time. So there should. be an area of permanent store which would
hold these items. This would be the one area of the System where users
would be able to change material by simply replacing the old with'the
new.
The obvious candidates for this store would be the various bulletin
.and transmission schedules used in the Listening Room and RT Section.
However, given sufficient store, it would be possible to include other
material which needs occasional updating -- right down to the staff list
and local telephone list.
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COMMUNICATIONS FACILITIES
One of the important parts of the System would be the facilities it
would offer users to send messages, both inte.rnally'and.externally :
to,interrogate the EDS at Bush House and to communicate with other
parts of the BBC and with the outside world through the_.NSS or by
commercial telex.
INTEBNAL MESSAGES
Any. VDU user in Caversham would be able to send messages to other users
in Caversham. Messages would be sent to the recipient's printer, so that,,
,a permanent copy would exist. There would also.begroup codes'so that'
any user would be able to send a message to a number of other people
simultaneously. There would be a degree of privacy, since the System
would send only what was on the originator's screen and would not store-,
the message -- no one else could retrieve it.
,There would also need to be a separate command for sending material.
already in the System (known in EDS parlance as a Transfer Command).
For example, if one user wished to send a multi-page item to another
user (or even to get a copy on his own printer) it would be patently.
ridiculous to call it up, page by page, and send it. The "transfer"
command would enable him to send the whole item with one simple command.
LINKS WITH THE REST OF THE BBC
The methods of sending messages described above would apply
also to any Caversham user who wanted to send a message to any
user of the EDS, and vice versa.
Users of the Caversham System would also be able to call up
material from any of the 30-odd categories in the EDS. Users
.of the IDS would be able to interrogate the Caversham System,
but only processed material.
The System would also be used to transmit, via the EDS, material ,
for programme services at Bush House '(replacing the early morning
bag).
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2. The MSS
All communications with parts of the BBC not on the EDS
would be via the MSS. 'The System would be designed so that.
users.could send messages to other BBC premises by.using the
standard BBC codes; the MSS would simply switch them through...
The System would provide pro formas so that users would be able
easily to put their messages in correct format for acceptance
by the MSS.
LINKS OUTSIDE THE BBC
The majority of messages to destinations outside the BBC --
special items for customers, the transmission of SWBs to those
who want it in electronic form and the transmission of information
to commercial data banks -r would be made through the MSS. But
there should also be a direct public telex facility in case of
a breakdown in the MSS.
EXTERNAL LINES
We recommend the following:
Pour two way.lines at 1200 baud between the Caversham System and the
EDS. To be used for interrogation of each other's systems, the
sending of messages and the transmission of.SWBs and regular
information to Bush House programme services.
These last two categories are likely to occupy a significant
proportion of the traffic at peak times. Although all signals
would normally go via any vacant line, we recommend that not more...
than two of these lines should be occupied by these categories
at any one time.
One one-way line for sending News Bureau output to Bush House and.any
other regular user who is able to receive it at-this speed, (1200 baud).,
One slow-speed line for B Wire customers who are.unable to
receive at 1200 baud.
Two two-way lines at 4800 baud for all traffic between Caversham
and the MSS.
One public telex line to the Reading Exchange.
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We,are assuming that the new MSS will have sufficient capacity to'
handle the, amount of material which we have described., As far as.'the'
EDS is concerned',:at present it does not have the capacity to take on'
any additional functions.
Developments now being planned for the.EDS may. well provide; sufficient':
should, go to it, but we' do not'know this. for certain, 'and we are'
capacity to handle, the amount, of material which'we,%have:suggested
,not even sure that all.the expansion will be complete before the
31zoring aervi'ce ayszem is in operauion*
links which we'are proposing would necessitatesome software
Res in the EDS. More serious is the amount of`.storage capacity
that'would be needed if the "bag" material for Bush. House were sent
,wanting SWBs electronically,
via the IDS and if there were a significant number of customers
.11
It,'is important that Bush House and Caversham''should,talk about
problems at an'early date and exchange information'about future
. COMMUNICATION WITH DATA BANKS,
We,have already said that we believe information ,should be'sent to
however, is open to further investigation when there is more time.
for Reporter -- should remain under the control'of the Library. This
that the Nexis terminal -- and presumably there will be one later
uncontrolled use might well incur heavy costs.''At present, we believe'':,
with other computers as well as Caversham',s own'and the EDS. Also,
numerous data banks. Users would have to learn how to communicate
difficult to ensure that the System and its VDUs were-'compatible with.,;
computers by VDUs on the Caversham System.. It-would be , technically.:-
,our present view .is that there should be no interrogation of data bank
commercial data banks'via the MSS. As for receiving information,
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SERVICE OPERATOR/SUPERVISOR
Position should be placed as close as possible to the main operational
areas, such as the News Bureau or Listening Room and within easy reach,
of the processor.room and engineers. These duties would be as follows:.,,
duties connected with the smooth running of the System.., The Service
w
A system such as we are proposing would need a Service Position
with a Service'Operator or Supervisor who would have'a'range of
show someone that it is operating correctly. The. Service Operator
would watch over the reports, check the levels of stores and taking
A computer system needs to report on its status and condition. and to
System monitoring.
corrective operational action to avoid potential trouble.
Faults
faults in terminals and would give operational advice to solve apparent
faults.
The Service Operator would be the central point to which users report.
Messages
This position would be the central point for all kinds of messages.
It would handle messages between, for instance, the EDS at Bush
House and people at Caversham who did not have VDUs. It would deal
with requests from customers, new and old, insideand outside the.
BBC. It would feed material out through the MSS and by public telex
and be responsible for one-off or occasional communication with outside,
data banks and communications systems.
Training
A full training programme would be necessary for existing staff in the
months before the System came on line. This would need to be a
separate exercise. But continuing training would be necessary for
new staff joining after the System was in use, and we think this could
probably be undertaken by the Service Operators
In the early stages, it would probably be enough to cover morning and,,:
evening shifts at the Service Position. But expansion might necessitate.
24-hour coverage at a later date.
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1 0 29
STAFFING IMPLICATIONS
the following thoughts are offered:
the agreements that can eventually be made with the unions. However
,policy decisions made as a result of our recommendations, and on
Ve can give. only general impressions and broad estimates'of the.
.staff implications of an electronic system. Much will depend on..
present work would no longer be necessary, Tape filing would remain.
Under our proposals, the paper-producing side of the, Piling.-Room's
Filing Room
A. rough estimate would be that Filing Room posts'could be cut by 60%.'
longer be necessary for a typist to compile, for instance, Tass English.
We have not had time to study all the work of the dictation typists.
'This is open for further investigation later. However, it would no
Listening Room clerical pool
headlines; the System could do it automatically.
RT Seotion
clerks would be needed to work the VDUs as currently look after the
teleprinter output.
We do not see any staff reductions here. We believe the same number of.
the wires.
delivery and little filing. The number of posts in this,area might be
reduced by 50% -- more if the journalists put material directly on to
o41-L1 ue a neea for an aLtenaant to clear the System printers, but no.,'
by Lamson tubes and keeping up numerous files. In our view, there would
which includes clearing the teleprinters, delivering material by hand or,
cuvi.ae tineir time between teleprinting and a range of general
The senior clerk/teleprinter operators and clerk/teleprinter Operators.,
News Bureau
and quicker than now, there would be fewer VDUs than"'there-are-IBM
typewriters at present, therefore fewer input typists. Our rough
estimate is for a reduction of about 25%, perhaps more.
Since the preparation of material for offset printing would be easier
Printing
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Th jneering
,If our proposals for letting the System control receivers were adopted,
it would presumably lead to a reduction in operations assistants'
posts at Crowsley Park -- perhaps one on a shift instead of two.
It must be remembered that any system would need a number of skilled
engineers to look after it. This is something for Monitoring Service
to decide. As an illustration, the EDS at Bush House, which is of
roughly comparable size to the, system we are proposing for Caversham,
has.a manager and about 12 engineers. The system started with six
engineers, but the number had to be increased because of pressure of
work and continuing programme developments. The EDS.also has nine
supervisors, who combine the duties of Service Position and general
supervisory duties, such as system monitoring and acting.as 4 fault-
reporting centre.
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-31- w
FINALLY....
The Caversham System has so far been referred to as the KIDS.
But is is fashionable (and to use the current terminology, more
"user-friendly") to have a popular name for a system.
HMS has said that he would like the System to be called MONDIAL.
Unfortunately, this name has already been adopted by British
Telecom for its headquarters and main switching centre, Mondial House.
This name is becoming internationally recognised as a British
Telecom identification, and they can be expected to use it more and more.
So we suggest that the Caversham System might be known simply as:
MONITOR
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w
.:APPENDIX A
STATISTICS OF INFORMATION FLAW
A "census" of information flows was taken on Wednesday, January 20th,
1982, which was regarded as an "average" day in terms of news,
amount of information that any system would have. to handle and store.
The.: various types of material were examined to obtain an idea of the
An,allowance would need to made during the.detailed design of a
system to cope with periods of higher activity and to allow for
future expansion.
The following table summarises the statistics:
Type of material
Number Number Number
of items of pages of characters
Unprocessed material
(a) Monitors' transcripts
350
551
(b) RT English language
From HT Section
541
485
From Tass English
1
150
686,
635
(o) FBIS (input to BBC)
411
756
TOTAL
1.447
1,942
Processed material
(a) News A Wire
(b) News B Wire
(c) SWB printed pages
TOTAL
728K'
22 K
953K
1.3068
2.920K
It will be noted that, in terms of volume, the News Bureau's output
represents about 3% of the unprocessed material. The corresponding
figure for SWBs is about 20%.
the number of bulletins increases steadily throughout the day and
reaches its maximum between 1500 and 2200 GMT. It is clear from Fig. 1(a)
that the evening is the peak period in the Listening Room.
monitored during each hour. Apart from the peak between 1200 and 1300 GMT,
The design of the System will also be dependent on the rate at which.
the material arrives. Fig. 1(a) shows the total number of AF bulletins
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 -9 Page-40 ouF ~-r-~}E--- 3 p?9~s~ Sur
36 . Pales~i~ew
'! v p`{yts ~l ow
MONITORg TRRNSCRIPTS - 20rj~$-
_.
J
1
y r
-7 7
1.
r
t
~
t
R - - I
s-
-77
L: L-
~ -
} a FIG !i + _
_
Uil
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-34-
It is important, however, to examine the actual rates at which pages
of monitors' transcripts are issued. Fig. 1(b) shows the cumulative
totals of pages issued throughout the day. The dotted line shows
a sensible approximation to the data. The peak period is between
1000 and 2100 GMT, when pages are issued at the remarkably steady
rate of 36 per hour.
The apparent conflict between Figs. 1(a) and 1(b) can be resolved by
taking into account the number of transcripts of material which was
recorded earlier. The monitors transcribe recorded material in the,
clear periods when they are not required to monitor live transmissions..
A similar analysis of the data flow has been made for the English-
language output of the RT Section. Fig. 2(a) shows the number of
RT transmissions being received during each 15-minute period of the
day. Fig. 2(b) shows the number of RT items issued per hour. About
85% of the RT messages are received between 0800 and 1800 GMT.
So far there has not been time to make a similar study of FBIS
material.
The figures for the number of characters per hour which a computer
?system would be required to handle are summarised below:
Pages Characters
Characters
per hour per page
per hour
Monitors' transcripts 36
1200
43K
ET: English from RT Section
60
1500
90K
Tass English
14
1500
21K
FBIS
(estimated)
135K
TOTAL
28 K
This total flow is relatively slow. Perhaps the simplest way to
illustrate this is to say that, even if the entire volume of the
unprocessed material were routed to any particular section on just
one 1200 baud printer, that printer would be idle for about 50% of
the time. This, of course, would not be satisfactory because there
would be unacceptable delays when several items arrived in the System
simultaneously at peak periods. Therefore, in most areas which would
receive automatic prints of unprocessed material, we have specified
more than one printer.
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06 0$ 10 12
GMT
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-36-
slower-speed printers necessary for the System to produce
its own reports and journals and for'controlof,the System.
is. no? more than a rough guide, given.,' mainly so that some kind
e list,. which. follows. is ino way intended to be:definitive
overall system-oost can, be estimated.
Final recommendations,on.'the number and.type,of terminals , in each
;section wily;come.:at a later stage
working methods.".
Listening Room And cubicles
;Section
I. i.
News, Bureau
Library
Management/training
Engineering
after much more detailed 'di'scussion '--
NOTE: These figures do not include maintenance spares . or the
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_37_
APPMIR 'C
COMPUTER SYSTEM SPECIFICATION
EDS.
AA Wire
Teleg
r~s
:`News agencies
(ET,.Pass, Reuter)
1200
50-300,.
1 50 1 50
2 4800 2', 4800
15 50-200
9600 baud. - 64 input, 64 output
Response time
Less than 2 seconds
recommend consideration of having a third processor'so that future
reprogramming for expansion and new facilities can be carried out
off-line.
We would naturally expect the System to be a dual one. We also
Reliability
Data rate
(baud)
9600 ..
1200
600 1. 600 `
1200 4 ,1200
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APPENDIX D
? V .
STORAGE IN THE SYSTEM
The computer's memory will need to contain several classes of store,
depending on the requirements of individual sections and on which
terminals are allowed access to the material.
STORE A
Edited material which has been processed by'SWB or the News
Bureau. Accessible from all VDUs in Caversham, including FBIS9
and from VDUs on the EDS at Bush House.
STORE B
Raw material (monitors' transcripts, RT and FBIS). Accessible
only within Caversham, including FBIS. It would be possible to
transmit this material to EDS users or outside customers, but
only by Monitoring Service initiative.,
STORE C1
A holding store for monitors' multi-page items and. material
from monitors under training. Accessible only by the
Listening Room. Finished material transfers to Store B.
A holding store for RT material before it is processed by the
RT Section for general distribution. After processing, it
goes into Store B and is wiped out of Store C2. Accessible
incom g material
only by the RT.Section while being processed, but/available o
VDUs in Caversham by use of the "tuning in" facility.
STORE C3
A holding store for processed News Bureau material awaiting
the Duty Editor's approval or transmission by operators. When
transmitted, it goes into Store A and clears from the holding,
store. Holding store accessible only by News Bureau and operators.
STORE C4
A holding store for typed SWB material awaiting editorial approval
and/or proofreading. Accessible only by editorial sections and
input typists. Finished material transfers to Store A.
STORE C
This becomes necessary if FBIS comes fully into the System.
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w
would be a holding store for material processed by FBIS
awaiting transmission, on their wire. Accessible only. to FBIS.
schedules and other items which are constantly needed in
would also need to be-ail area of permanent store for those
All the material) in Stores A-C5 has a',finite life. There
standard formats but with details changed.
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DATA STORAGE REQUIREMENTS V
Dail volume Storage, time Storage required
characte~ [days)
.Processed material
Telex A
5K
Telex B
10OK
SWB.t.
600K
FBIS (output to Washington)
Unprocessed material
Monitors' transcripts
P t,English
FBIS
400K (est.)
1,105
660K
953K
1.306K
2.91 OK
Lists/Indexes
Telexes A & B'
10K
SWB`(key word index)
75K (p.wk)
FBIS (output. to Washington)
20K
Monitors' transcripts
35K
PIT English
103K
FBIS
41K
Temporary storage
Monitors' transcripts (C1)
.RT ?(C2)
News Bureau 03)
SWB (C4)
FBIS (c5)
'14
14'
.14
7
3 yrs
14
14
14
TOTAL
11.7M
0.28M
0.5M
1.4M'
0.6M
14.6M
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into the System). and semi-automatic printouts (specified, by the originators
0
AUTOMATIC AND SEMI-AUTOMATIC PRINTING
The following is.,a list of recommended automatic printouts (programmed
Monitors' transcripts
SWB editorial sections (as specified by the m?nitor~
Other monitoring teams (as specified by.the monitor)
*Bush House language sections (as requested)
0
News Bureau
FBIS
Listening Room Supervisor
Monitor
HT English language
News Bureau
FBIS
Listening Room Supervisor
SWB editorial sections (determined by, agency)
Monitoring teams (determined by agency)
SWB editorial sections (determined by place of'origination)
*Bush House language sections (determined by agency
FBIS News Bureau
Listening Room Supervisor
Reuter
News Bureau
FBIS
Lilongwe and Nairobi
News Bureau
FBIS
SWB Part 4
*African Service, Bush House
News Bureau output
FBIS
SWB - all sections
Listening Room Supervisor
BBC Newsrooms
All existing customers
SWB completed pages
SWB originating section
Printing area
Some people in the Listening Room have already said that they would not
want printouts of Reuter, for instance, if they could call it up on VDU-
screens. The same may well apply to News Bureau output, which some
sections may prefer to have on demand rather than by automatic printout.
* There may have to be built-in delays for the sending of this material.
This will need further discussion.
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BULK OR COLLATED DELIVERY IN AUTOMATIC PRINTING
The current methods of distribution recognise that certain areas
have different operational requirements. For example, the RT
Section sends individual pages, as soon as possible, to the News
Bureau and FBIS, but sends entire bulletins or transmissions to
other areas. The latter is often more. convenient for some. users,
despite. the inherent delays.
The System would provide similar options. For example, the SWB
editorial sections might prefer to receive items in chronological
order during the day but have them in batches of related material
at night, when the delay in delivery would be irrelevant. Also,
language sections at Bush House might prefer to have all material
from one source together.
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FBIS TECHNICAL FACTS'
This is basically an ADX system with a number of store-and-forward
Communication' between the FBIS bureau at Cavershain,and,'other FBIS
stations is'through the U.S. Department of Defense.,AUTODIN system.
exchanges throughout the world.
three bits are presumably used for error detection. and,correctioii.
teleprinter code and reproduced by 600 baud printers..'The remaining
.Caversham and other stations they are converted into. standard5-bit
.The signals use an 8-bit code.on transmission,. but when they reach
FBIS require the. system to handle upper- and lower-case characters
be upper case; two consecutive blanks indicate that th6mLaxt,.word
capital letters. A single blank indicates that,, the next: character will
to. send capitals,?,theblank character (00000) is use'd'to indicate
'
for internal use in Washington. To allow.a restricted five-unit code,
will be in upper case. The end of the word is defined by'the next .
An electronic system within Caversham must accept inputs from FBIS
AUTODIN must be provided,
facilities on the Caversham System, an output port compatible with
in the above format. If the FBIS bureau is equipped with editing
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?
APPENDIX B: COMPUTER SYSTEM DETAILS
RATE AT WHICH MATERIAL ARRIVES
Fig 1(a) shows the total number of AF bulletins monitored during each
hour. Apart from the peak between 1200 and 1300 GMT, the number of
bulletins increases steadily throughout the day and reaches its maximum
between 1500 and 2200 GMT. It is clear from Fig 1(a) that the evening
is the peak period in the Listening Room.
Rates at Which Pages of Monitors' Transcripts are Issued
Fig 1(b) shows the cumulative totals of pages issued throughout the day.
The dotted line shows a sensible approximation to the data. The peak
period is between 1000 and 2100 GMT, when pages are issued at the
remarkably steady rate of 36 per hour.
The apparent conflict between Figs 1(a) and 1(b) can be resolved by
taking into account the number of transcripts of material which was
recorded earlier. The monitors transcribe recorded material in the
clear periods when they are not required to monitor live transmissions.
A similar analysis of the data flow has been made for the
English-language output of the RT Section. Fig 2(a) shows the number of
RT transmissions being received during each 15-minute period fo the day.
Fig 2(b) shows the number of RT items issued per hour. About 85% of the
RT messages are received between 0800 and 1800 GMT.
The figures for the number of characters per hour which the computer
system would be required to handle are summarised below. Once again the
figures are double those shown for an average day.
Pages
Characters
Characters
Per hour
per page
per hour
Monitors' transcripts
70
1200
84K
RT: English from RT Section
120
1500
180K
Tass English
30
1500
45K
FBIS (estimated)
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 N
w
u_
0
w
a)
7
D
z
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00 02 04 06 08 10
~+--- 9 pages/hour +1.- 3 pages/hour
12 14 16
-36 pages/hour -
MONITOR's TRANSCRIPT - 20/1/82
1C:
8
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FIG 1 (A)
2b 22 2 4
-+30 pages/hour-o.
FIG 1 (B )
i
?
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w 1
m
z
z 0
04 06
08 10
D
2 60 27 - 1- 82 R T (ENGLISH LANGUAGE )
U-
0 20-
a:
w
10
I
z 0
00 02 04 06 08
T
10
FIG.2 (a)
12 14 16 18
GMT
12 14 16
GMT
20 22
18 20
FIG 2 (b)
1
24
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TERMINAL EQUIPMENT
The list which follows is in no way intended to be definitive. It is no
"
more than a
rough guide, given"mainly'"so that some 'kind of overall
system cost-could be estimated.
VDUs
1200 baud
Printers
Listening Room
70
20
R T Section
5
1
News Bureau
10
5
Editorial sections
FB IS
25
8
2
Printing area
6
3 high quality printers
Library
5
1
Management/training
10
4
Engineering
5
2
Spares
14
150
48 +
3 special
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DISC
STORE
150 VDU S
9600 6/5
?
PROCESSER
A
1200 b/
48 PRINTERS 1200 b/S
+3 SPECIAL
IVIHV
TAPE
50-300 b
?
1200 b/s
40 RECEIVER
REMOTE
'')NTROL I/FS
It 15B C. SUPPLIED)
RT CHANNEL
INPUTS
INTERFACE
(13 OFF)
50-1200 6/5
F815 (BAUDOT) GOO 6/s
(AUTODIN)
(10FF)
SPAR E
DISC
STORE
PROCESSOR
C
SHELF SPARE)
& DEVELOPMENT
DISC
STORE
506/S
-Vc- TELEX
4800 b/s BBC
#>- MESSAGE
ALARMS
PROCESSOR
B
SWITCHING
SYSTEM (Z OFF)
NEWS
AGENCIES
12 001,/s (2 OFF)
T BUSH EDS
(4 OFF)
MAG
TAPE
0-0, FIG 3
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?
COMPUTER SYSTEM SPECIFICATION
Channels
INPUT CHANNELS
OUTPUT CHANNELS
Number
Date rate
Number
Data rate
(bits sec)
(bits sec)
VDUs
150
9600
150
9600
Printers (RO)
48
1200
(special)
3
As required
FBIS (AUTODIN)
1
600
2
1200
EDS, Bush House
4
1200
4
1200
A/B Wire
1
1200
1
50-300
Telex
1
50
1
50
MSS (BBC System)
2
4800
2
4800
News agencies
2
50-200
(Tass, Reuter)
Inputs from RT receivers
13
50-200
Remote control receiver tuning (AF) 40
40
(RT) 13
13
CONCURENCY
Assume that 64 input and 64 output channels at 9600 b/s could be in use
simultaneously.
Response Time
Less than 2 seconds.
Basic Hardware Configuration
See sketch (fig 3).
Reliability
Dual systems are envisaged with a 3rd processor and disc as shelf spares and
for development. Processor C would be able to take over from A at any instant
in the event of malfunction or a maintenance requirement. The memories would
be non-volatile.
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DATA STORAGE REQUIREMENTS
Daily volume
Storage time
Storage required
(characters
days)
(characters)
Processed material
Telex A
10K
7
0.0614
Telex B
200K
7
1.414
SWB
1200K
12
14.4H
FBIS (output to Washington)
800K (est)
14
11.214
2210K
Unprocessed material
Monitors' transcripts
1300K
18.214
RT English
1900K
26.614
FBIS
2600K
36.414
5800K
Lists/Indexes
Telexes A & B
20K
7
1414
SWB (key work index)
150K (P/w)
3 years
23.414
FBIS (output to Washington)
40K
14
0.614
Monitors' transcripts
70K
14
1.014
RT English
206K
14
2.814
FBIS
82K
14
1.2m
Temporary storage
Monitors' transcripts
1.014
RT
0.214
News Bureau
0.214
SWB
FBIS
2. OM
1.614
514
14414
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5-
46 YEAR
PROGRAM.
I i CALENDAR YEARS.
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1986 1987
COMMISSIONING OF COMPUTER TERMINALS
AS I QJRED.