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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/



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