October 1996 - chemweb - imperial.ac.uk

Correction: make that Chemistry & Engineering news
by Paul May 28 Oct '96

28 Oct '96

Hi, Sorry, I meant the Sept 16th issue of Chemistry & Engineering News. Regards, ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr Paul May, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, UK tel: +44 (0)117 9287667, fax: +44 (0)117 9251295 email: paul.may(a)bris.ac.uk WWW: http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Chemistry/staff/pwm.htm "Put your message in a modem and throw it in the cybersea" - Rush, 1996 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. Archived as: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To unsubscribe, send to listserver(a)ic.ac.uk the following message; unsubscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (rzepa(a)ic.ac.uk)

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data needs of academic researchers on the Internet
by Gary Wiggins 27 Oct '96

27 Oct '96

I'd like to know what types of data problems academic researchers have encountered in using the Internet. For example, 1. Have you found inaccurate data in Internet databases? 2. If so, to what extent is that true? 3. Do the Internet resources routinely give the original source of the data in a compiled database? 4. What area do you find the most data available for? 5. Are there data analysis programs associated with the data sources you find on the Internet? 6. How helpful are the data analysis programs? 7. Do you see a need for standardization of data formats on the Internet? 8. Are you aware of any cooperative data efforts to share data through a kind of reciprocal network? 9. Are the major data standards-setting bodies (e.g., IUPAC, IUCr, IUB, etc.) active in defining a role for data handling on the Internet? 10. What kinds of formatting problems do you run into that make data hard to interpret on the Internet? 11. What are the best guides (lists of lists, etc.) to Internet-accessible numeric data that you have encountered? I'm sure that there are lots more aspects of this question than I have listed above. If you will reply to me, I will summarize for the CHEMWEB subscribers. Gary Wiggins, Indiana University Chemistry Library wiggins(a)indiana.edu ----- chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. Archived as: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To unsubscribe, send to listserver(a)ic.ac.uk the following message; unsubscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (rzepa(a)ic.ac.uk)

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Plug-ins for Internet Explorer 3.0
by Julian Wallis 27 Oct '96

27 Oct '96

Am I correct in asserting that Microsoft's Internet Explorer 3.0 is now compatible with plug-ins meant for Netscape Navigator? If so, could someone provide some pointers to how to incorporate MDL's Chime into IE 3.0? BTW I'm using Windows 3.11, and can run pages under Chime-enabled Netscape 3.0 without any problems. Thanks in advance. ---- Julian Wallis julian(a)rhenium.demon.co.uk http://www.rhenium.demon.co.uk/ ----- chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. Archived as: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To unsubscribe, send to listserver(a)ic.ac.uk the following message; unsubscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (rzepa(a)ic.ac.uk)

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A Letter to UK MacUser
by Rzepa, Henry 27 Oct '96

27 Oct '96

Just occasionally, an article in the "popular" press arouses my passion to the extent that I write a letter to the editor. One such in the UK MacUser magazine by Jack Webber entitled "Publishing: Future Internet Standards" argues that as a purveyor of "fidelity", HTML and text based markup in general is well and truly dead, at least as far as the publishing industry is concerned. Instead, formats such as Acrobat PDF, and an intriguing new one which produces Java applets from page descriptions (Operation Uniqorn) are the way forward. Of how to structure and index "fidelity" or of metadata, no mention is made. A cynical view might be that currently, Lycos/Alta Vista etc have it too easy, and are depriving the publishing industry of valuable income because of the pre-eminence of HTML. Much better to make indexing "difficult" so that publishers once again have a powerful role to play. I feel that articles like Webber's, written with shall we say a vested interest in mind, do nothing to enhance the scientific objectives the web once had. Are scientists, who are committed to "content" (I have heard this obsession with content roundly condemned in some quarters) and publishers interested in "style" headed irrevocably in opposite directions? Comments welcome. Anyway, here is the letter I wrote "Dear Editor, Jack Webber (25 October) writes that as far as online publishing is concerned, HTML is dead. This brings to the fore a major issue rarely discussed regarding the Internet revolution, whether "content" or "style" should prevail. Tim Berners-Lee and other early pioneers of the Web recognised the pre-eminence of content in selecting a "markup" language derived from SGML. The increasing domination of the Web by professional publishers, and the current popularity of formats such as animated GIFs, PDF or Shockwave and Jack Webber's promotion of Operation Uniqorn suggests that this section of the community sees "style" or "page fidelity" as the way forward. Yet consider this. If the early Web had not had HTML, but had consisted almost entirely of style driven formats, would index engines such as Lycos, Yahoo, Alta Vista and the rest have arisen so quickly? Arguably, the ability to search the Internet is in large measure responsible for its increasing popularity. The true way to achieve the fidelity that Jack Webber seeks is through publishing "models", where style, heaven forbid, is actually under the control of the reader if they wish it, rather than the publishers who for some reason give the impression of being threatened by such a scenario. In my case, as a scientist interested in chemical models, we have been doing this since 1994 (see our display of this year's Nobel prize in chemistry; http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/motm/c60.html) And perhaps this does presage the future, in which the authors of content will increasingly part ways with the publishers of style!" Henry Rzepa. +44 171 594 5774 (Office) +44 594 5804 (Fax) ----- chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. Archived as: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To unsubscribe, send to listserver(a)ic.ac.uk the following message; unsubscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (rzepa(a)ic.ac.uk)

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RSC Electronic Journals and MacOS Support - News
by Karl Harrison 24 Oct '96

24 Oct '96

Following on from my message to the ChemWeb. I have been contacted by Catchword to say that they are working on a Java version of the RealPage software and thus Macintosh users and UNIX users may well be okay in the future. Karl >From: "Dermot O'Hare" <dermot.ohare(a)inorganic-chemistry.oxford.ac.uk> >Subject: RSC Electronic Journals and MacOS Support > >Dear Mac Fans, >The system is not going to use HTML technology but a propriety system >called RealPage being developed by catchword. A t the moment there is >only a window 3.1 or higher client software. -- Dr. Karl Harrison IT Coordinator and Training Officer Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory, University of Oxford South Park's Road, Oxford, OX1 3QR, UK. Telephone: +44 (0)1865 275925 Fax: 01865 272690 www home: http://www.ncl.ox.ac.uk/it/karlharrison.html ____________ mailto: karl.harrison(a)icl.ox.ac.uk ____________ ----- chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. Archived as: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To unsubscribe, send to listserver(a)ic.ac.uk the following message; unsubscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (rzepa(a)ic.ac.uk)

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Report on the Nimes Chemical Information Meeting
by Rzepa, Henry 24 Oct '96

24 Oct '96

This took place Monday - Wednesday this week (20-22 October). My report must be incomplete, because I only really attended on Wednesday. However, I did have several good "bar" sessions which I do NOT reproduce here! a) Virtually every talk (there were 18) talked about Internet strategies. I must confess that I find this most unhealthy! b) Some talks were less about what they had done, but about what other people were doing! It good so long as not everyone does it!! Reminds me of early web pages, where all you did is point to everyone else. c) One common theme is the recognition that "active" chemistry is where its heading, although the momentum is now clearly in the commercial developers camp, and few individuals now make a great impact (apart from anything else, few individuals could afford to go to Nimes!!). Individuals out there, prove me wrong!! d) The three main threads are Java, Browser plug-ins and Active-X controls. Everyone agrees none is perfect, but for different reasons. At least Java and plug-ins have some format for inter-operability. e) Chime is now up to V0.99 for Windows only and supports Javascript. The SGI version has finally made beta. Apparently, a full manual on this is in preparation in the States. Did not get the URL: can anyone provide it? No sign of WebLab as a plug-in yet f) Little progress on Standards. Apparently people who talk about standards are described by some as "obsessed". I mentioned the lack of progress on Chemical Metadata standards, and the lack of any public declaration at least on inter-operability in chemical plug-ins. For example, would it not be nice if Chime and WebLab (and the Molecular Inventor SGI plug) could inter-operate, ie at its simplest that they could each be invoked by the SAME HTML, thus leaving the reader to decide which plug to use, and the author to concentrate on the chemistry. So can I use this forum for a plea for anyone thinking of developing chemical MIME plug-ins to make a public statement on whether there might be any de facto or agreed standards emerging? g) NetFire (aka Crossfire) was announced as being announced at the London On-line meeting in December. Does this constitute an annoucement? Those of us in the UK (by the way, welcome to all the recent subscribers, of which there have been many) are of course familiar with the National Crossfire service, and the Web version sounds interesting. Finally, if any member of this list does go to a relevant conference, do please consider posting a report! Its a hell of a lot cheaper than attending. Of course, the advantages of the bar are not available here! PS My talk at Nimes is on http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/talks/nimes/ Dr Henry Rzepa, Dept. Chemistry, Imperial College, LONDON SW7 2AY; rzepa(a)ic.ac.uk; Tel (44) 171 594 5774; Fax: (44) 171 594 5804. URL: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/rzepa/ (Eudora Pro 3.0) ----- chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. Archived as: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To unsubscribe, send to listserver(a)ic.ac.uk the following message; unsubscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (rzepa(a)ic.ac.uk)

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Cooltalk
by Dr. St. Thomas 23 Oct '96

23 Oct '96

i have installed cooltalk on a iris indigoand is was possible to hear a answer- maschine in finland by a data- transfer rate about 2-k kb /sec. With a smaller rate is it not possible to use cooltalk satisfactorily. -- *********************************************************************** St. Thomas http://www.chem.uni-potsdam.de/~thomas Uni. Potsdam mailto:thomas@iris.chem.uni-potsdam.de Inst. fuer Org. Chem. Am Neuen Palais 10 14469 Potsdam ----- chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. Archived as: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To unsubscribe, send to listserver(a)ic.ac.uk the following message; unsubscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (rzepa(a)ic.ac.uk)

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Cooltalk
by ryanmd＠mms.sbphrd.com 23 Oct '96

23 Oct '96

I tried using Cooltalk between two SGI Extreme Indigo2s on a local ethernet with no other appreciable loading. Under those conditions it was not too bad for audio as long as you didn't try and talk at the same time. If you did i/o went down the tubes. However, anything less than that local ethernet and it was nearly unusable. With a little loading on the net I was able to speak into the mike and walk down the hall to the other machine, start a conversation with my colleague and be interrupted by my voice... I would think that video would result in network meltdown. I suspect the problem must be in the compression algorithm (or lack of it). SGI has their own product and it appears to be better although I have not yet been able to test it. __ M. Dominic Ryan (610)-270-6529 SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals Internet: ryanmd(a)mms.sbphrd.com King of Prussia, PA ----- chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. Archived as: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To unsubscribe, send to listserver(a)ic.ac.uk the following message; unsubscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (rzepa(a)ic.ac.uk)

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Cooltalk
by Dr Robert Lancashire 23 Oct '96

23 Oct '96

Henry I have tried Cooltalk a couple of times but found that with our poor bandwidth it is pretty dreadful from here. The idea is that using a sound card and microphone you can have a chat session which includes "real-time" audio, a graphics frame for interactive paint sessions and a split frame that allows typing. The first try was with a colleague who always has a CD running in the background on his machine. That meant that I never got a chance to talk at all since his machine was permanently sending! The next was to a colleague in Leeds and the line was continually being chopped so we missed the last syllable of each word. I don't think BT has anything to worry about. Not sure how chemical MIME would fit in. -- Dr. Robert Lancashire http://wwwchem.uwimona.edu.jm:1104/uwichem.html Department of Chemistry mailto:rjlanc@uwimona.edu.jm University of the West Indies Tel: (809) 927-1910 Mona Campus, Kingston 7, JAMAICA Fax: (809) 977-1835 ----- chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. Archived as: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To unsubscribe, send to listserver(a)ic.ac.uk the following message; unsubscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (rzepa(a)ic.ac.uk)

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RSC Electronic Journals and MacOS Support
by Karl Harrison 22 Oct '96

22 Oct '96

Hello all, I am passing on a message from some of the staff here at Oxford, who are very disappointed by the new directions that the Royal Society of Chemistry have moved towards. With the RSC part of the web based CLIC group it was felt that propriety systems would be a thing of the past. So how did the RSC decide to lock out Macintosh and UNIX users (and thus the majority of users here at Oxford and most over depts in the UK -not even thinking about the US) from their online journals. Karl >From: "Dermot O'Hare" <dermot.ohare(a)inorganic-chemistry.oxford.ac.uk> >Subject: RSC Electronic Journals and MacOS Support > >Dear Mac Fans, > >Have you read in the latest Chem Commun (No 20) that the RSC journals will >go online in Jan 1997. That's the good news !!! > >The bad news is that it appears there is not going be be any support for >the MacOS just Windows. >The system is not going to use HTML technology but a propriety system >called RealPage being developed by catchword. A t the moment there is >only a window 3.1 or higher client software. > >If you are aggrieved by these plans please let the RSC know about it and >tell other interested parties. Email Dr Mike Hannant, c/o RSC1(a)rsc.org > > >yours >Dermo O'Hare > ......................................................................... > : Dr Dermot O'Hare Phone - (44) 1865 272658 : > : Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory FAX - (44) 1865 272690 : > : South Parks Road Email - dermot.ohare(a)icl.ox.ac.uk : > : Oxford OX1 3QR, England. >http://www.ncl.ox.ac.uk/icl/ohare.html : > :.......................................................................: > -- Dr. Karl Harrison IT Coordinator and Training Officer Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory, University of Oxford South Park's Road, Oxford, OX1 3QR, UK. Telephone: +44 (0)1865 275925 Fax: 01865 272690 www home: http://www.ncl.ox.ac.uk/it/karlharrison.html ____________ mailto: karl.harrison(a)icl.ox.ac.uk ____________ ----- chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. Archived as: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To unsubscribe, send to listserver(a)ic.ac.uk the following message; unsubscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (rzepa(a)ic.ac.uk)

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