This new
release of the Siam Edition of the Pali Buddhist canon represents an
important technological advance over the previous CD-ROM. Prof. Supachai
and his staff at Mahidol University are to be congratulated, not only
for the upgrade but also for the willingness to continue to improve the
database. It has been known for some time that the storage of data in
digital format is fragile and subject to the rapid developments of
innovations in computer storage. This type of “publication” is very
different from printing, since a book once bound and placed on a library
shelf will remain usable as long as the paper survives. Not so with the
database which requires programs that function within the structure of
certain machines. Unless the material can be made to migrate from one
generation of software and computer configuration to another, it will
soon become obsolete. The technology of five years ago appears primitive
in light of the new advances. With this problem in mind, the group at
Mahidol continues to refine and update the Siam Edition. It is a task
that has little reward and often the users are unaware of the problems
which have been faced and solved in the process. At times, users of
digital databases are upset by having to upgrade. Accustomed as they are
to buying books that will last them for a lifetime, it seems out of
place to make continual changes in archival text material.
While
changes are resisted, the user has a continually improving resource for
research. The very nature of future scholarship will rest on these
evolving programs and computers that allow us to access, retrieve, and
create with an ease that our predecessors never experienced. At this
point in time, nearly 400 copies of the electronic version of the Siam
Edition are in use around the world. It is certain that there are not
400 libraries of the world that contain a complete set of the Pali
canon. That means that within a three year period the electronic
distribution of data has surpassed the traditional library system for
this particular canon. Of great interest, to those who are looking at
the patterns of purchase, is the fact that a large percentage of the
first CD-ROM has been acquired by individuals, not libraries. This
indicates that electronic materials are quickly finding a place in the
scholar's study rather than a public collection.
Eventually, this database along with other archival ones will be
available in some form through the Internet. Standards for Internet use
of diacritics are still being decided. Sanskrit and Pali scripts have
been included in the UNICODE program. Future forms of data will have to
be moved into these international standards. We have in this release the
upgrade to the current state of the art, but we realize that in a few
years, users will be asking for new formats. The work of maintaining the
data remains a constant and important task.
We are
indebted to Prof. Supachai for his dedication to the modern task of
computerizing and preserving Buddhist data in a useable form. Since the
BUDSIR IV CD-ROM was the pioneer project in the field, it is important
that the production team has created a model of continuing to work with
the database. Users of the new version will find it to be a great step
forward in terms of software. Strategies of use and search will be
enhanced by the options now available for the data.
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