Re: 2003 Annual Report / DRAFT

I'm ever so late with my 2003 CEP report for execsec. Could you all please read through the attached text and let me have your comments and modifications.

H.

DRAFT REPORT - 7th June 2004 Version 11h46


IUCr 2003 Report - Committee on Electronic Publishing, Dissemination and Storage of Information (CEP)



In 2003 members of the CEP attended the following meetings:

 - H.D. Flack attended the discussion meeting organised by ICSTI 'Open Access to Scientific and Technical Information: State of the Art and Future Trends' 23 - 24 Jan. 2003, Paris, France. H.D. Flack also acted as IUCr representative at the ICSTI winter committee meetings 25 - 26 Jan. 2003 in Paris.

 - H. D. Flack visited the IUCr editorial offices in Chester, England 28 - 30 April 2003. On this occasion Mr. David Russon, representing ICSTI, and Dr. Simon Parsons also visited Chester.

 - H. D. Flack visited the IUCr editorial offices in Chester, England 20 - 22 October 2003.

 - H. D. Flack, as special representative of ICSTI, attended the meeting 'The Role of Science in the Information Society', Geneva, Switzerland 8 - 9 December 2003; RSIS was a satellite meeting organised by CERN to 'World Summit on the Information Society' organised by the United Nations Organization, 10 - 12 December 2003, Geneva.

The meeting attendances of the CODATA and ICSTI representatives, whose work is so closely related to that of the CEP, are recorded in their individual reports. 


Information Services: 
The CEP has continued its task as editorial body for the on-line information services of the IUCr. The task of day-to-day maintenance of 'Crystallography Online' is performed under the responsibility of S. Parsons. Action has been taken on the restyling and restructuring of 'Crystallography Online'. This activity concerns the functionality, the stylistic attributes and the technical specifications of a revamped IUCr information service. Particular attention was made to the ease of use and integration of the several components of the IUCr information services. Thought was given to the place of the volontary-maintained mirror sites within the system under development.


World Directory of Crystallographers 11: 
By way of the online interface of WDC 11, entries are gradually being updated by individuals. However more publicity is necessary to encourage crystallographers to keep their own record up-to-date.


NeXus CD-ROM:
Under the continued leadership of L. M. D. Cranswick 1000 copies of a new version of the 'Xtal NeXus; Virtual Crystallographic Internet on CD-ROM' version 8.57 were produced in June 2003 in time to be distributed at the Asian and European Crystallographic Association meetings in Broome, Australia and Durban, South Africa respectively. 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 to make and distribute further batches of CD-ROMs. L. M. D. Cranswick's move of location from England to Canada should not impede the continuity of t
his project.


Crystallography Journals Online and Open Access: 
Attention continues to be given to ways of improving the sale of the IUCr journals to consortia of libraries. Moreover the CEP is particularly attentive to developments in the scientific community at large concerned with access to scientific literature and data. The CEP devoted considerable time and effort in the management of open-access initiatives related to crystallographic publications and data. This activity resulted in the production of position papers on open access for consideration by the Executive. The Executive's decisions on these matters are reported elsewhere.


International Tables:
Very close to the end of 2003, activity was commenced around the specification of new business and functional models for electronic versions of the information contained in International Tables for Crystallography. 




H. D. Flack 


Things for the 2004 report (as a reminder for HDF - its not part of this report):
   UK parliment select committee document
   Closing mirror sites
   Preprint server
   International Tables
   NeXus distribution from Canada
  

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