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Hard to imagine in times of Internet, DSL and WLAN. As recently as 1988, a now strange-looking utensil was indispensable for the mobile procurement of information from scientific databases: the acoustic coupler.
"In 1988/89, we used this acoustic coupler dataphon s 21 d to demonstrate live literature searches in the PSYNDEX database at international congresses and lectures in institutes," says Bernd Preuss, then a member of the public relations team at the Center for Psychological Information and Documentation - now the Leibniz Institute for Psychology (ZPID). "Before conducting a search, we first connected the PC with the acoustic coupler to the mainframe of the then German Institute of Medical Documentation and Information (DIMDI) in Cologne and the PSYNDEX online database accessible on it via telephone and data line. To do this, we had to press the telephone receiver firmly into the two black rubber shells of the acoustic coupler, a highly fragile affair. Together with the laborious dialing procedure, it took a stressful quarter of an hour, sometimes in front of an audience, until the line was up and running and we could finally start the research presentation," Preuss recalls.
Akustikkoppler - and the DIMDI - no longer exist today, Bernd Preuss has retired. PSYNDEX is still the database for German-language psychological research, and all of its services are now accessible online free of charge.
PSYNDEX Lit offers references to psychological literature from German-speaking countries, while psychologists can find intervention studies and materials in PSYNDEX Interventions. PSYNDEX Tests is another segment with comprehensive information on more than 8500 psychological and educational test procedures from German-speaking countries.
Tip
The acoustic coupler is on display until October 27, 2024 in the exhibition "Cast-off. Forgotten everyday objects and their stories" at Trier's Stadtmuseum Simeonstift. An audio file in which Bernd Preuss vividly explains the acoustic coupler can also be heard on site.