Discussion List Archives

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Draft - IUCr 2001 report on the CEP

  • To: Multiple recipients of list <epc-l@iucr.org>
  • Subject: Re: Draft - IUCr 2001 report on the CEP
  • From: Lachlan Cranswick <l.m.d.cranswick@dl.ac.uk>
  • Date: Sat, 1 Jun 2002 21:41:31 +0100 (BST)

Sorry for slow reply - now have reliable internet access in Columbia
University after the ACA and AGU conferences.

Quite happy with the following.

Lachlan.

At 01:19 PM 5/24/02 +0100, you wrote:
>
>DRAFT - all commments are welcome. H.
>
>
><H1>IUCr 2001 Report - Committee on Electronic Publishing, Dissemination
>and Storage of Information (CEP)</H1>
>
>Following the unanimous proposition of the CEP, the IUCr's executive
>committee appointed Dr. Simon Parsons of the University of Edinburgh, UK
>to the CEP on the 9th May 2001. S. Parsons has accepted the
>responsibility of the day-to-day running of Crystallography Online, the
>IUCr's information service.
>
><P>
>Members of the CEP attended the following meetings:
><UL>
>
><LI> Y. Epelboin, H. D. Flack, B. McMahon and P. Strickland attended the
>UNESCO/ICSU Press Conference on Electronic Publishing in Science held at
>UNESCO, Paris, 20th - 23rd February 2001. J. Helliwell also attended.
>
><LI> S. Parsons visited the IUCr editorial offices, Chester, UK in May
>2001.
>
><LI> P. Strickland, attended the presentation of the <I>ingenta</I>
>study <I>Research into the Relationship between Journal Subscriptions
>and Document Delivery and the Impact of Online Delivery on Article
>Distribution</I> in London, UK, 25th September 2001. 
>
><LI> H. D. Flack visited the IUCr editorial offices, Chester, UK, in
>early November 2001.
>
><LI> B. McMahon attended a meeting <I>XML use in Chemistry</I> in
>Cambridge, UK, January 2002
>
><LI> Y. Epelboin attended the seminar on <I>Digital Preservation of the
>record of Science - state of the art</I>, UNESCO, Paris, France, 14th -
>15th February 2002. H. D. Flack also attended as ICSTI representative.
>
><LI> P. Strickland gave a short presentation on the IUCr's experience in
>selling journals to library consortia at a meeting of the Association of
>Learned and Professional Society Publishers in London, UK on the 19th
>February 2002.
>
>
></UL>
>
>The meeting attendances of B. McMahon as CODATA representative and H. D.
>Flack as ICSTI representative are recorded in their individual reports. 
>
>
><P>
><I>Information Services</I>: 
>The CEP has continued its task as editorial body for the on-line
>information services of the IUCr. In May 2001 the task of day-to-day
>maintenance of <I>Crystallography Online</I> passed from H. D. Flack to
>S. Parsons. The former wishes to thank the IUCr for its active and
>continuing support for this project which saw the light of day during
>1992 as part of the European Union's CONCISE project (see
>http://www.iucr.org/cww-top/crystal.mar95.html for details). As part of
>the changeover, a set of detailed maintenance instructions was prepared
>for the incoming editor. Discussions on the restyling of
><I>Crystallography Online</I> took place during the CEP chair's annual
>visit to Chester. A questionnaire was subsequently sent to those
>responsible for maintaining the mirror sites of <I>Crystallography
>Online</I> to obtain information and sound out opinion on matters such
>as advertising, perceived necessity of continuing with mirrors, and
>infrastructure at mirror sites.
>
>
>
><P>
><I>World Directory of Crystallographers 11</I>: 
>The new online interface of WDC 11 was launched in mid-December 2001.
>This enables individual crystallographers to update their own entry as
>and when necessary. New entries are checked by the regional editors
>before being accepted. The immediate result was a heavy overload on the
>equipment serving the database resulting in very slow response as many
>crystallographers simultaneously attempted to update their entries. The
>system had to be extensively reconfigured on the eve of a holiday period
>but was soon functioning correctly. At present there is still a steady
>stream of new entries and over 5000 people have logged in or created new
>entries. A printed version of the directory of those who have logged in
>at least once is planned to be produced in late 2002. 
>
>
>
><P>
><I>NeXus CD-ROM</I>:
>Under the continued leadership of L. M. D. Cranswick 1000 copies of a
>new version of the <I>Xtal NeXus; Virtual Crystallographic Internet on
>CD-ROM</I> version 8.32 were produced in October 2001. 400 of these were
>distributed free of charge at the AsCA meeting in Bangalore, India and
>the rest through our usual channels of distribution. All of these
>CD-ROMs have now been distributed and at present individual CD-ROMs are
>being made on request. The CD-ROM is made available to laboratories and
>scientists with an interest in crystallography lacking adequate
>connection to the internet. The CD-ROMs contain public domain software
>and copies of web sites of interest to crystallographers. The CD-ROMs
>were publicized through many channels in such a way that scientists have
>to apply to receive a copy. We propose to continue this project and make
>further batches of CD-ROMs. The European Crystallographic Meeting in
>South Africa in August 2003 will be an ideal opportunity to find further
>markets for this popular product.
>
>
><P>
><I>Crystallography Journals Online</I>: 
>It was possible in November 2001 to complete the project to make
>available online all back copies of IUCr journals six weeks ahead of
>schedule. By this action the IUCr confirms itself as a prime publisher
>in the field of crystallography committed to providing online services.
>On the 18th July 2001 the Executive Committee approved the document
><I>Archive Policy of the IUCr</I> submitted by the CEP on which it had
>been working. Attention has been given to ways of improving the sale of
>the IUCr journals to consortia of libraries. 
>
><P>
>At the UNESCO meeting on electonic publishing there were recurring calls
>for more openness in the refereeing process of journal articles. As a
>result a discussion document <I>IUCr Publishing Policy</I> was prepared
>detailing developments in the definition of scientifc publications
>(pre-print vs final publication), comparing the characteristics of
>pre-prints and final publications, the acceptability of pre-print
>manuscripts for journal publication, peer review (its operation and
>confidentiality), and the usefulness of a pre-print service for
>crystallography. A part of this document, reformulated, was circulated
>to the Commission on Journals for consideration. It appears that there
>is only very modest interest for the establishment of a preprint server
>in crystallography.
>
>
>
><P>
><I>Miscellanea</I>:
>
>The IUCr's participation in an <I>ingenta</I> study and developments in
>the field of crystalline phase descriptors are treated in the report of
>the representative to ICSTI.
>
>The CEP has participated in testing both the CD-ROM to accompany
>International Tables Volume D and the new templates for authoring
>journal articles.
>
>The CEP maintains a watch on electronic publishing activities and
>initiatives of interest to crystallography. In particular there are the
>IUPAC projects concerning chemical identifiers and the use of XML / CML
>and the Open Archive Initiative (OAI) with its metadata harvesting
>protocol which of interest in linking together information found in
>heterogeneous databases.
>
>
><P>
>L. M. D. Cranswick, Y. Epelboin, H. D. Flack (Chair), B. McMahon, S.
>Parsons, P. Strickland. 24th May 2002
>
>-- 
>VISITING GENEVA? See http://www.unige.ch/crystal/ahdf/geneva02.html
>
>Howard Flack        http://www.unige.ch/crystal/ahdf/Howard.Flack.html
>
>

-----------------------
Lachlan M. D. Cranswick

Collaborative Computational Project No 14 (CCP14)
    for Single Crystal and Powder Diffraction
  Birkbeck University of London and Daresbury Laboratory 
Postal Address: CCP14 - School of Crystallography,
                Birkbeck College,
                Malet Street, Bloomsbury,
                WC1E 7HX, London,  UK
Tel: (+44) 020 7631 6850   Fax: (+44) 020 7631 6803
E-mail: l.m.d.cranswick@dl.ac.uk   Room: B091
WWW: http://www.ccp14.ac.uk/

Reply to: [list | sender only]
International Union of Crystallography

Scientific Union Member of the International Science Council (admitted 1947). Member of CODATA, the ISC Committee on Data. Partner with UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in the International Year of Crystallography 2014.

International Science Council Scientific Freedom Policy

The IUCr observes the basic policy of non-discrimination and affirms the right and freedom of scientists to associate in international scientific activity without regard to such factors as ethnic origin, religion, citizenship, language, political stance, gender, sex or age, in accordance with the Statutes of the International Council for Science.

Useful links