Web Archive Info for Paleonet

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        Hi ---

        As well as a graduate student in the Department of Integrative
Biology here at Berkeley, I also am the "grandfather" (at the tender age of
25 I might add) of the machine now running Paleonet.  As such, I wanted to
let everyone know some of the ways to retrieve archival information from
Paleonet.  I also want to discuss some of the issues regarding web
publishing since I also will become the next PaleoBios editor in less than
three months time.


        First of all, archives for Paleonet will be handled in a number of
different ways.  By far the easiest way to get archival information is to
use either a Web or gopher client to search the archives using keywords.
The archives are being indexed using WAIS, and will be available using
gopher searching or by using a Web wais interface called wwwwais.  I have
set up a simple Paleonet page, with just the search mechanism, at
http://ucmp1.berkeley.edu/museum/paleonet.html.  On the page is a search
interface which will return results.  The gopher searches can be made by
pointing to
gopher://ucmp1.berkeley.edu/77/MLists/paleonet/.waisindex/archive and then
giving a search phrase.
Alternatively, you can get a list of archived files and even search the
archives using the listproc software.  Some information on syntax of such
searches is online at gopher://ucmp1.berkeley.edu/00/MLists/mollusca/help.

        A good friend and computer scientist at Princeton had an
interesting point about Web publishing.  He has just put out an important
paper documenting some flaws in Sun's Java language as a tech report on the
Web.  He pointed out that the turn around time for peer reviewed journal
article publsihing is slower than advances in computer technology.
Waiting for the article to see print might mean the findings become
obselete.  He has confirmed that web publishing is becoming the mechanism
to make results available to colleauges in comp. sci.

        When I do take over as PaleoBios editor, I hope that at least one
article per volume, maybe more, will come out in electronic format (if the
authors and board agree).   We expect by the time we do this, we can
translate from Pagemaker to a web document without much hassle.   I think
that making such articles available through the Web can only enhance the
exposure of the journal and let the work reach a larger audience.   We are
already putting abstracts on-line
(http://ucmp1.berkeley.edu/museum/abstracts164.html).  I do not think that
we will be making ALL the articles from a volume available on-line, just
enough to maybe whet some appetites.  This strategy is a little like one
used by game designers.  Make a demo version available for free and hope
that the game is good enough that the users want more of the product.

        Operationalizing web publications is the issue I think we face.
Web journal publishing is already here... now how do we go about making it
work for the long haul?

Cheers,


Robert Guralnick | Museum of Paleontology | Department of Integrative Biology
University of California | Berkeley, CA 94720 | (510) 643-9746 |
robg@ucmp1.berkeley.edu

Robert Guralnick | Museum of Paleontology | Department of Integrative Biology
University of California | Berkeley, CA 94720 | (510) 643-9746 |
robg@ucmp1.berkeley.edu