NEWSLETTER #1

28th June 1995

edited by Col Needham

Welcome to the first issue of the IMDB newsletter. Based on a suggestion by team member Murray Chapman this newsletter is intended to keep users of the system informed of the latest news from the management team. Comments and suggestions are welcome and should be directed to me at the address above.

See the further information section at the end of this newsletter for more information about The Internet Movie Database (IMDB).

We'll see how it goes before deciding how often to publish this - every other week seems right to me. We will also look into alternative delivery mechanisms via an e-mail distribution list, via the WWW and maybe an ftp archive. If you have the resources to manage an automatic mailing list and would be willing to handle the distribution of the newsletter, please let me know.

Contents

• Database Statistics
• Tracking data updates in the WWW interface
• WWW publicity manager
• Quotes section relaunched
• WWW title additions interface simplified
• New biography field
• Celebrity birthdays/obituaries mailing list
• Plot summaries list covers 6,000 movies
• Volunteers needed to help complete the directors section
• Future developments

DATABASE STATISTICS

This is a regular section giving information about the current size and growth of the IMDB. We receive between 15,000 and 30,000 additions every week from users all over the world so it grows at an incredible rate.

   Number of filmography entries:   610,674
   Number of people covered:        166,876
   Number of movies covered:         46,987
  
   Size of the database (Mb):            43

TRACKING DATA UPDATES IN THE WWW INTERFACE

A new feature in the WWW interface makes it easy to see when each section of the database was updated at that site. Some of the mirrors are already supporting this feature, the rest will follow shortly.

WWW PUBLICITY MANAGER

Murray Chapman , manager of the trivia and goofs sections has agreed to take on the additional role of WWW publicity manager within the team. This involves promoting links to the IMDB from other movie related sites around the web as well as checking existing links are set-up correctly. If you spot a movie site which doesn't have links to us, please let Murray know.

QUOTES SECTION RELAUNCHED

After an extended hand-over period, the quotes section has been relaunched with a new manager, Bob Glickstein If you've been saving any additions, now's the time to send them in.

WWW TITLE ADDITIONS INTERFACE SIMPLIFIED

The title additions interface now has a "pick and mix" menu on it's entry page. This enables users to get a simplified, custom form tuned to the sections for which they have new information. Hopefully people will find the new interface much less daunting. Again, this is already available at the UK, USA, German and Australian sites.

NEW BIOGRAPHY FIELD

After a recent suggestion by one of the users there is now a new field in the Biographies section - the "Where are they now?" field. It's purpose is to document the activities of people that have retired from the movies. Additions can be made via the usual routes. So, if you know what some ex-film star is up to, why not let us now . . . comments or questions to Mark Harding

CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS/OBITUARIES MAILING LIST

In an attempt to satisfy user demand for a mailing list, I am now willing to accept requests to add people to a weekly mailing of my two lists. Please send subscription requests directly to me at the address above.

PLOT SUMMARIES LIST COVERS 6,000 MOVIES

The plot summary list has just burst through the 6000 barrier...

It now covers over 6000 different movies, with over 6300 summaries. Pretty good, you may think. But no - remember there are over 47,000 movies in the database. To cover every movie, at the current rate of 150 summaries a week, would take over 5 years !

So we need your help ! I have worked my way through the ratings list, and extracted some of the more popular movies that don't have summaries yet, and listed them below. Why not pick a few you've seen, write a short summary, and submit them in the usual way...

    ...And Justice for All (1979)
    Accidental Tourist, The (1988)
    All of Me (1984)
    Casualties of War (1989)
    Coal Miner's Daughter (1980)
    Cousins (1989)
    Crossing Delancey (1988)
    Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982)
    Falcon and the Snowman, The (1984)
    Fright Night (1985)
    Hair (1979)
    Hairspray (1988)
    Mermaids (1990)
    NeverEnding Story, The (1984)
    Omen, The (1976)
    Paper Moon (1973)
    Return of the Pink Panther, The (1974)
    Steel Magnolias (1989)
    Westworld (1973)
    World According to Garp, The (1982)

Watch out for more plot-less movies in the next issue of IMDB-News.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED TO HELP COMPLETE THE DIRECTORS SECTION

As part of my on-going quest to complete the directors section of the database, I'm looking for volunteers to help research the directors for the remaining 3,000 or so movies which lack this information. I can break the missing information down by year or decade if you have a particular interest in an specific era. A listing of the number of titles in each year is available on request. If you like serious challenges, I have only a handful of 1940s titles left, but no one so far has been able to complete them - a great task if you're a trivia nut. Please contact me via e-mail

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

This is a regular section listing some of the enhancements we're currently looking at. Please bear in mind that some of these may take quite a while to come to fruition or even fail to materialise because the original volunteer decides not to proceed.

• a new business information section for the database to store distributors and rights holders contact details, box office grosses and other information concerned with the business side of the industry.



• an alternative versions section grown from the current holdings in the trivia section in this area. The section will cover details and differences between directors cuts, video versions, censored versions of movies in the database.



• a LaserDisc availability section. Note: this section will be strictly limited to LD's only and not grown into any kind of generic video catalog.



• a locally installable MS-Windows interface to the database is under final testing for those of you who want to reduce your phonebills!



• new "professional" looking icons under construction for the WWW interface.