Chronicle of the 20th Century CD-ROM provides a fabulous interactive view of the news, people, and trends for each day of our latest century. It invites you to step back into history to experience mankind's triumphs and tragedies from the Wright Brother's first flight to the Apollo moon landing... from the Great Depression to the Radical 60's to the present 90's.
The program begins in the 3-D Newsroom which is an interactive route into the Chronicle. As you move the browser across the screen, objects such as drawers, news clips, or the typewriter may move or make sounds. You can click on them to connect you to m ore news stories. The other areas of the Chronicle include the News Screens, the Calendar, Biographies, 20th Century in Focus, and Chronicle Online.
The 1,100 News Screens contain more that 6,000 news bits and stories written in the familiar tabloid format and a "you are there" style. The linked screens highlight the events month-by-month with News in Brief giving a day-to-day account of the century' s events.
The Calendar is organized by decades and lists each year for each decade. Clicking on a year takes you to the corresponding News Screen.
The Biographies section contains over 100 biographies of the famous and sometimes infamous personalities of the century. The biography screens review the person's life and achievements. A chronology button takes you to a pop-up chart of key dates and ev ents in the person's life.
20th Century in Focus examines, in-depth, 8 critical movements or conflicts which have shaped the world. This section contains excellent nostalgic video clips. If you are unsure where to begin, the program offers a random tour option. If you are looking for events on a specific date or topic, the powerful Search screen which allows keyword and date searches, will quickly connect you to the information. Finally, to keep you most up-to-date, the program features Chronicle Online which connects you to the Chronicle's website for the latest news.
With over 6,000 news articles, 3,000 photographs, 90 archival sound clips, 70 videos, and 80 maps and animations, the Chronicle of the 20th Century CD-ROM is an ideal source for information and entertainment. [To Top]
Educational Merit: The program contains excellent educational information, and because of its organization and ease of use, it would be an ideal starting point for a research project. [To Top]
Midwest Computer Review Online (MCR Online) stated on page 1 in a March 19, 1997 review:
"This CD can be an excellent resource in providing information that covers many of the most tragic and triumphant events of mankind."
Another online review: Enderland, Ron. A Review of Chronicle of the 20th Century. Multimedia Cafe Software Review. March 17, 1997. [To Top]
System Requirements: For Windows, a multimedia PC, with 486DX/33Mhz or higher microprocessor, 8Mb RAM (12Mb recommended for Windows 95), MPC-compatible double-speed CD-ROM drive and sound card, mouse, SVGA 256 color display (16 bit colors preferred), loudspeaker or headphones, and Microsoft Windows version 3.1x or Windows 95.
For This Review: A 486DX/66 Mhz with 8Mb, a 4x CD-ROM drive, a Soundblaster sound card, Cirrus video version 1.02, 256 Colors, and Windows 3.1 was used.
Reviewer's Note: This system created minor frustration with the slow speed to view the 3-D room and occasional un-sychronized sound and video. Additional RAM and video memory would probably alleviate these problems.
Installation: Instructions for installation are given on the package and are easy to follow. No difficulties were encountered. An un-install option is available for Windows 3.1 users. [To Top]