April 1998 - chemweb - imperial.ac.uk

http://www.wiley.com/college/webercises/
by Rzepa, Henry 13 Apr '98

13 Apr '98

Whilst "collections" of bookmarks for chemistry materials on the Web continue to vary in quality, and many fail to really review, structure or categorise the materials, there are signs that more resources are being devoted to this important area. Thus http://www.wiley.com/college/webercises/ provides a good structural overview of some of the chemistry out there. There are hints from this site, coming from a major publisher as it does, that we might expect the quality assessment aspect to improve in the future. Dr Henry Rzepa, Dept. Chemistry, Imperial College, LONDON SW7 2AY; mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk; Tel (44) 171 594 5774; Fax: (44) 171 594 5804. URL: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/rzepa/ chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. To post to list: mailto:chemweb@ic.ac.uk Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@ic.ac.uk the following message; (un)subscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk)

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ChemInt'98
by Stephen R. Heller 09 Apr '98

09 Apr '98

ChemInt'98 - Chemistry and the Internet - will be held in Irvine, CA on September 12-15, 1998. Technical Sponsors: ACS CINF Division ACS COMP Division The Chemical Structure Association (CSA) Special Libraries Association (SLA) Chemistry Division Current list of accepted speakers: Wendy Warr, Wendy Warr & Associates Barry Hardy, VEI Matt Hahn, MSI Mark J. Winter, University of Sheffield Henry Rzepa, Imperial College, London Joost Kircz, Elsevier Science, The Netherlands Peter Murray Rust, University of Nottingham Dave Weininger, Daylight Chemical Information Systems Nestor J. Zaluzec, Argonne National Labs This conference will look into the current and future technologies and developments for chemistry using the internet. This meeting will gather together the leaders and innovators in developing Internet resources for chemists, leading to discussions of what future innovations and direction will bring to chemists. Chemists who use the Internet on a regular basis, webmasters and web developers for chemistry sites, and web publishers will benefit greatly from this conference. In addition, working chemists who want to learn from leaders in this high growth and high visibility area what the current and future value of the Internet will also find the conference of great value. For details, please look at the url: http://www.ijc.com/ci1/ Steve Heller, NIST 820 Diamond Avenue, Room 101 Gaithersburg, MD 20899 USA Phone: 301-975-3338 FAX: 301-926-0416 E-mail: srheller(a)gig.usda.gov WWW: www.hellers.com/~steve chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. To post to list: mailto:chemweb@ic.ac.uk Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@ic.ac.uk the following message; (un)subscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk)

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Chemdex-UK database
by Mark Winter 08 Apr '98

08 Apr '98

Dear Colleague, I am writing to draw your attention to the Chemdex-UK database of UK chemists on the internet. Chemdex-UK is a FREE World-Wide Web service on which you can search for chemists (in this initial version, only academic chemists are included) in the UK. This is a government (DTI) funded project, supported by the Royal Society of Chemistry, which aims to bring together colleagues from the industrial and academic chemical community as well as private contractors and other chemistry-related disciplines. The keyword searching feature will allow prospective graduate students to identify individuals with appropriate research interests. This feature will also be useful for industrial chemists seeking chemists with expertise in particular fields If you are a professional chemist, then hopefully the advantages of being registered with Chemdex-UK are clear. Chemdex-UK is expected to help chemists identify and communicate with their colleagues from their desktop, completely free of charge. The system is fast and user-friendly and is available from anywhere in the world at the following WWW site: http://www-rsc.shef.ac.uk/chemdex-uk/ The directives of the Data Protection Act will be strictly adhered to in order to protect both individual chemists and their employers. For this reason, we ensure that each chemist registered on Chemdex-UK has complete control over their associated data, and that the database will be regulated and scrutinised as closely as possible. You can use the service to locate chemists, and you can update your personal entry on-line. If you do not have access to the WWW, we can supply an e-mail version of the requisite forms. Many thanks, Chemdex-UK [Chemdex-UK(a)sheffield.ac.uk] PS: please use the e-mail address Chemdex-UK(a)sheffield.ac.uk for correspondence, not that in my signature: Dr Mark J Winter (Director of Studies) Department of Chemistry, The University, Sheffield S3 7HF, England tel: +44 (0)114 222 9304 fax: +44 (0)114 222 9303 e-m: mark.winter(a)sheffield.ac.uk http://www.shef.ac.uk/chemistry/staff/mjw/mark-winter.html WebElements is the periodic table on the world-wide web: http://www.shef.ac.uk/chemistry/web-elements/ The Sheffield Chemdex is a listing of chemistry sites on the world-wide web: http://www.shef.ac.uk/chemistry/chemdex/ chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. To post to list: mailto:chemweb@ic.ac.uk Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@ic.ac.uk the following message; (un)subscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk)

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Services on the Web
by Dr. Wendy A. Warr 07 Apr '98

07 Apr '98

I know everyone hates questionnaires (especially when they appear on more than one list) but this is only two questions. Hit the delete key now if you prefer. I am writing a paper for the Journal of Chemical Information and Computer Sciences on new methods of communication amongst chemists. It covers electronic journals and conferences, virtual communities and other stuff. I am really seeking replies from "users", not information professionals. To keep it simple, the two questions in my straw poll are: What ACS/CAS Web pages do you visit regularly (give *precise* URL)? Why? That is, what services or facilities are you using? Further comments about useful or missing features are welcome, but not essential. I am not interested in standard "intermediary" type searching, or related issues. Also, this message has nothing to do with the messages on chminf-l re CA Student Edition. Your anonymity will be protected. Answers to wendy(a)warr.com, please, NOT to the list. Wendy -- Dr Wendy A Warr Wendy Warr & Associates, 6 Berwick Court Holmes Chapel, Cheshire CW4 7HZ, England Tel/fax +44 (0)1477 533837 wendy(a)warr.com http://www.warr.com chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. To post to list: mailto:chemweb@ic.ac.uk Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@ic.ac.uk the following message; (un)subscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk)

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Chemical Browsers: The way forward?
by Rzepa, Henry 06 Apr '98

06 Apr '98

The recent availability of source code for Netscape Navigator; http://www.mozilla.org/download.html raises some interesting issues. In theory, anyone can take this code, add say an interesting chemical functionality and do with it what they wish. Hitherto, the way chemical functionality has been added to Netscape is via plug-ins (MDL and Cambridgesoft offer these; are there others?) or Java, both of which are highly modular. Now, it seems there will be a third way, ie directly via the source code. Compiling this is non trivial (it can take several hours) so I do not expect a rush. Coordination of this effort is the mission statement of http://www.mozilla.org/mission.html Still, presumably one can ignore them, and in any case, I doubt they would be much interested in a niche subject such as chemistry. so are we headed for a diaspora of "slightly modifed" chemical browsers, any one of which might be needed to view a specific site? Is anyone out there prepared to state that they are working on chemical versions of Netscape? In any case, many feel that a simple HTML browser, or indeed a chemically modified browser, either via plugins or direct, is on its way out already. Perhaps within a yaer or so, we will all be using XML instead. Of course, XML is not a language, more of a specification for how to implement extensible subject specific syntax. So there will never be such a thing as an XML browser. There is of course a chemical implementation of XML in CML, from Peter Murray-Rust, along with a set of Java classes which map it, ie a CML browser currently exists, using e.g Netscape merely as a virtual Java engine. But CML need not be the only XML implementation of chemistry, and whilst hopefully the chemical community will gravitate towards one systematic way of viewing chemistry on the Web, it is not guarranteed. so, as Yogi Berra might have said, when you come to a fork in the road, take it! Lets all hope we can decide to take the same fork. End of Soap box! Dr Henry Rzepa, Dept. Chemistry, Imperial College, LONDON SW7 2AY; mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk; Tel (44) 171 594 5774; Fax: (44) 171 594 5804. URL: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/rzepa/ chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. To post to list: mailto:chemweb@ic.ac.uk Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@ic.ac.uk the following message; (un)subscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk)

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Haggis scratch-n-sniff
by buescherl＠watertown.k12.wi.us 01 Apr '98

01 Apr '98

David Bradley; As a Mac user I've had the same problem today with that scratch and sniff page. I use a special Esternet Plug In for the olfactory module on my Mac..it plugs in next to the microphone jack. As for haggis..sign me up and a little of the malt beverage. I think Henry may be on to something here. My other problem is that everyone in the school thinks I'm goofy today smelling my speakers..no one believes me or they don't believe there is something called Haggis.. Where is Robert Burns when you need him.. Lee Buescher Watertown High school Watertown Wisconsin USA chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. To post to list: mailto:chemweb@ic.ac.uk Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@ic.ac.uk the following message; (un)subscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk)

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Chime molecules at Oxford - April
by Karl Harrison 01 Apr '98

01 Apr '98

The molecules of the month pages ("http://www.chem.ox.ac.uk/mom/") here at Oxford are used to highlight how chemical molecules can be presented on the web using technologies such as chemscape chime and vrml. Generally, these pages are my testing for ways to introduce online molecules in chemistry education e.g. practical classes. Today, I was looking at the number of chime molecules I have online and found over 480 .pdb files and nearly 100 .mol files. This month, I have several organometallic carbonyl clusters featured as the April's "Molecules of the Month" "http://www.chem.ox.ac.uk/mom/clusters.html" Karl -- Dr. Karl Harrison IT Coordinator and Training Officer (also Chairman of OXTALENT "http://info.ox.ac.uk/oxtalent") New Chemistry Laboratory, University of Oxford South Park's Road, Oxford, OX1 3QT, UK. Telephone: +44 (0)1865 275925 Fax: (0)1865 272690 www home: "http://www.chem.ox.ac.uk/it/karlharrison.html" ____________ mailto:karl.harrison@chem.ox.ac.uk ____________ chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. To post to list: mailto:chemweb@ic.ac.uk Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@ic.ac.uk the following message; (un)subscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk)

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Re: A relevant new chemical MIME type
by David Bradley Science Writer 01 Apr '98

01 Apr '98

> MIMEtype RTSS. Real Time Scratch and Sniff allows, for the first time > as far as we can ascertain, end-user access to the olfactory aspects of Henry My OlfactCard(TM) keeps giving me a general protection fault under Win95 in User Kernel 0104-0000 and rather than a nice ester smell I am getting putrescine odours whenever I read my e-mail. Should I switch to an Apple? Do you think Macs will smell sweeter? Dave -- NEW numbers and address David Bradley Science Writer Tel/Fax +44 (0) 1954 202218 http://www.camsoft.com/elemental/ 18 Pelham Way Cottenham Cambridge UK CB4 4TQ -- NEW numbers and address David Bradley Science Writer Tel/Fax +44 (0) 1954 202218 http://www.camsoft.com/elemental/ 18 Pelham Way Cottenham Cambridge UK CB4 4TQ chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. To post to list: mailto:chemweb@ic.ac.uk Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@ic.ac.uk the following message; (un)subscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk)

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A relevant new chemical MIME type
by Rzepa, Henry 01 Apr '98

01 Apr '98

Some time ago, I was contemplating defining the one MIME type missing from the collection, and applying it chemically. My suggestion (made to a well known department store) was odour/x-chanel-5 Now I appear to have been scooped! I quote "SCRAN, the multimedia Resource base for the study and celebration of human history and material culture in Scotland (www.scran.ac.uk) already provides access to thousands of multimedia objects including images, movies, sound clips and Quicktime Virtual Reality. In a bold new move, SCRAN is launching today a revolutionary type of Multimedia object, MIMEtype RTSS. Real Time Scratch and Sniff allows, for the first time as far as we can ascertain, end-user access to the olfactory aspects of material culture. Objects already captured for the resource base include the aromas of Malt Whisky, Haggis, Cloutie Dumpling and Highland Cattle, and more will follow as and when the digitisation process allows. Access to these objects requires the installation of the RTSS plug-in. The SCRAN team have released this plugin into the public domain. It is currently available for Netscape v3 and better, and a Microsoft Explorer version is currently undergoing Beta testing. Instructions for downloading and installation are at: http://www.scran.ac.uk/RTSS/" I would be delighted to hear from developers and users anxious to make use of this exciting new development! Dr Henry Rzepa, Dept. Chemistry, Imperial College, LONDON SW7 2AY; mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk; Tel (44) 171 594 5774; Fax: (44) 171 594 5804. URL: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/rzepa/ chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. To post to list: mailto:chemweb@ic.ac.uk Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@ic.ac.uk the following message; (un)subscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk)

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