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ICSTI: news items
- To: epc@iucr.org
- Subject: ICSTI: news items
- From: Pete Strickland <ps@iucr.org>
- Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 15:44:03 +0100
- Organization: IUCr
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Subject: The reality may not be so rosy.... In the course of my researches for our meeting in January I came across this letter to the Editor of the British Medical Journal.... "Smith applauds the progress made in providing access to the internet in the developing world. Unfortunately the reality on the ground may not be as rosy. I have just completed two years in a major sub-Saharan African university that was in the first phase of HINARI access. Having been initially starved of information while there I rushed to gain access. Unfortunately I was directed to the websites of two other international projects that were also providing free access to research materials over the internet. I found poorly presented sites with complex addresses and passwords, and with limited access to full text journals. I contacted the projects repeatedly over the following months from my local internet café, trying to get better materials, but finally gave up, frustrated. It was only on my return to the United Kingdom that I discovered that I had been directed to the wrong sites. The HINARI website (www.healthinternetwork.org/) would have provided all that I needed. How can we ensure that access to HINARI is available to those who need it? If I as someone who was in the university, computer literate, and keen to access journals failed, then there is little hope for the rural majority with limited computer skills. Communication in countries must be improved through training programmes and publicity. But it is also the responsibility of international projects participating in information supply to the developing world to direct casual searchers like myself to good quality central portals like HINARI rather than to their own poorer versions. All too often good resources can be confounded by interagency competitiveness. To ensure that the HINARI address is spread as widely as possible, all need to focus on this major portal so that the users at the sharp end do not receive confused messages. Andrew D Weeks, lecturer in obstetrics and gynaecology. Liverpool Women's Hospital, Liverpool L8 7SS aweeks@Liverpool.ac.uk" ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Subject: Proceedings of National Academy seminar The proceedings of the Symposium on the Role of Scientific and Technical Data and Information in the Public Domain (Washington, D.C., September 5-6, 2002) have now been published as a book from the National Academies Press. Like all books from the NAP, there is both a priced, printed version and a full-text, open-access version. http://www7.nationalacademies.org/biso/Public%20Domain%20Symposium%20Announcement.html http://www.nap.edu/books/030908850X/html/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Subject: NFAIS Statement on Reference Linking NFAIS Releases Guiding Principles in Support of Industry-Wide Collaboration on Reference Linking: Upon unanimous vote of the Board of Directors and with strong support from individual member organizations, NFAIS has released a set of Guiding Principles to encourage widespread linking of bibliographic and full text databases. The ultimate objective is to support the flow of scholarly communication and research through an acceleration of the information discovery process - a process facilitated by the seamless navigation from indexes and pointers to the complete documents. The Reference Linking Guidelines were developed by the NFAIS Information Linking Committee - a group comprised of both NFAIS members and non-members who recognize the need for reference linking to become an information industry norm. A press release and a link to the Guidelines can be found at: http://www.nfais.org Bonnie Lawlor of NFAIS will be one of the speakers at the January 2004 ICSTI meeting on the future economics of sti publishing - Paris, January 15 & 16 2004. Make a note for your diaries, places will be limited. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ -- Best wishes Peter Strickland Managing Editor IUCr Journals ---------------------------------------------------------------------- IUCr Editorial Office, 5 Abbey Square, Chester CH1 2HU, England Phone: 44 1244 342878 Fax: 44 1244 314888 Email: ps@iucr.org Ftp: ftp.iucr.org WWW: http://journals.iucr.org/ NEWSFLASH: Complete text of all IUCr journals back to 1948 now online! Visit Crystallography Journals Online for more details _______________________________________________ Epc mailing list Epc@iucr.org http://scripts.iucr.org/mailman/listinfo/epc
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