An Interview with David G. Mead

Professor of English and Assistant Dean, Texas A&M University

Corpus Christi College of Arts and Humanities

Reprinted with Permission

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askSam:   How would you describe your university and your role within it?

DAVID MEAD: Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi (formerly Corpus Christi State University) is an independent component of the Texas A&M University system, with an enrollment of about 6500 students. We are located in Corpus Christi, Texas. I am a member of the English faculty (who are part of the Humanities Department) of the College of Arts and Humanities.

askSam:  Which of our product(s) do you use and what kind of information do you have in  your askSam database(s)?

DAVID MEAD:  I have used askSam since it was first developed, moving recently to the askSam for Windows Professional version.  I have used it primarily to develop an encyclopedia of invented terms, place and character names, etc. invented by the science fiction author Jack Vance. The data in each document is mainly text, but I also embed a categorizing code in each document (record). A book version of this encyclopedia is forthcoming from The Borgo Press.  I've also used it to create mailing lists for the Science Fiction Research Association and for smaller organizations to which I belong.

askSam: Why did you select askSam over other products?

DAVID MEAD:  Ease of document creation and search speed. I began using a fixed-field database, but I soon discovered that I needed to change and add material. The fixed fields didn't allow for easy editing.  AskSam let me add, search and sort documents as I needed. The program didn't shape the product I was creating, it worked with what I produced.

askSam:   How has askSam saved you time or money?

DAVID MEAD: I've never found a database that was easier to work with, more user-friendly, than askSam. I am convinced that I could never have created my book, which has about 15,500 entries, had I had to use other, much more difficult-to-master programs such as dBase. And it has been fairly inexpensively priced.

askSam: What applications do you plan for askSam in the future?

DAVID MEAD: I expect to continue to use it to build my Vance file, and perhaps develop encyclopedias of other authors' work.

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David G. Mead

University: Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi

Arts and Humanities

6300 Ocean Drive

Corpus Christi TX 78412

Email: dmead@falcon.tamucc.edu