THE research and knowledge of Siddique Mahmudur Rahman, chief executive officer, Bangladesh Institute of Philatelic Studies, have helped him publish the first ever database and interactive

multimedia software bases CD-ROM on Bangladesh postage stamps titled 'Postage Stamps of Bangladesh'.

The programme needs to be installed into a system before it can be browsed through and for installation the software requires around 24 megabyte hard drive space.

The software begins with a superb video showing off the natural and heart-warming sights and sounds of Bangladesh. As the user clicks and is taken to the main menu of the software, another apt song for the software, tuned to the poetry 'Runner' by Shukanto Bhattacharjee, is heard.

The Main Menu contain

options like Introduction, The

Stamps, The History, Credits

and finally Exit.

Introduction, when clicked on, takes the user to the Preface of the publication, written by the author. A help write-up in this section was necessary so as to accustom a user to the software.

The Stamps option would take the user to a section, which

is actually the database itself. Here the user is given choices to explore the stamps of Bangladesh, according to Subjects, Theme and Year. In case the user does not have any preferences, they can click on the last choice of exploring All Stamps.

The All Stamps option would take users to a screen filled with information on more than 800 stamps from the beginning of Bangladesh's history till 2002. The information are based on categories like Stamp ID, Subject, Date of Issuance, Process, Perforation, Denomination, Theme of Stamp, Size, Designer, Printer, Mint and used Value.

Along with each stamp there

are additional audio/video clips, souvenir stamps, service stamps and other items available, which act as valuable ornaments for the software.

The video clips contain historical speeches of Bangabandhu Sheikh Majibur Rahman, Ziaur Rahman and other national leaders. The

audio clips contain patriotic songs like the national anthem and the popular Ekushey song.

One of the drawbacks of the software is that there are very few clips available. A greater number of such clips would have made it a lot more attractive.

Another glitch is the difference in the closure of each section. For example, the user would need to click on the close option to go back to the Main Menu from the Stamps option. On the other hand, the Introduction and The History sections do not even have any close options through which the user can go back to the Main Menu. The Credits section has particulars about the publisher and programmer of the software. The section fortunately has an ok option that leads to the Main Menu.

Apart from such minor problems, the software is a great addition to numerous publications already in existence, showcasing the glorious history of the nation. Hopefully, updates and improvements on the different sections of the software would make it a good source of learning for the upcoming generation.