Re: WWW dont leave us behind
robert korfhage (korfhage@lis.pitt.edu)
Fri, 27 Oct 95 07:33:49 EDT
Kevin Snively raises an important point. Speaking as an information
scientist, there's certainly no question that much of the exciting,
cutting edge research is related to the Web. However, there's also no
question that at the same time we're moving forward in that direction,
we're leaving behind people in Kevin's situation, or worse -- people who
have no access to computer-based information. Yet all kinds of people
-- those of us in the CP group, and thousands of others -- are putting
important information out there "somewhere." Perhaps at some point
somebody needs to think about what information is out there, and how to
make this accessible to Kevin and to people who don't know about the CP
FAQ, including people without computer access. True, many of these
people don't need that information. However, perhaps making some of
this information accessible in more traditional ways -- and actively
pushing it out to the public -- might have some impact the kinds of
environmental issues that have recently taken up so much of our
discussion.
BTW, I just returned from an SPIE conference in Philadelphia. People
are doing very fascinating work with image analysis and archiving, so
that we may within] a very short number of years have much better direct
access to image databases, such as a DB of CP photographs. I also noted
that the USAir magazine this month mentions the botanical garden at
University of North Carolina At Charlotte, for having a good greenhouse
devoted to "bromeliads, orchids, desert plants, and carnivorous plants."
Bob Korfhage
korfhage@lis.pitt.edu