PICSLE the PICS Label Editor

PICSLE, the PICS Label Editor, is a tool under development at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center for adding PICS labels to a PICS Label Bureau service database. Any PICS Label Bureau service description file that conforms to Rating Services and Rating Systems (and Their Machine Readable Descriptions) can be understood by PICSLE, and a variety of label output schemes are supported.

The main features of PICSLE include:

• Can process any PICS Service rating file and create ratings for any PICS rating service (not tailored to any one rating system)
• Allows efficient, error-free entry of labels
• Synchronizes URL being reviewed with a Java-enabled web browser for previewing by the reviewer
• Organizes groups of URLs by lists for easier prioritization
• Font size and style (bold, plain, italic) are user configurable
• PICSLE is NLS ready (all messages in a separate file)
• Written in Java, using JDK 1.0.2 (widely in use)
• Support for statistics on reviewer productivity
• Cut and paste labels into web documents

PICSLE will be used as the basis of a sample implementation of DSig 1.0.

The source code to PICSLE is available for downloading.

Special thanks to Amy Katriel at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center for developing PICSLE.

Philip A. DesAutels, 17 July, 1997