Subject: How to update AstroWeb

From: Bob Jackson <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 23 Jun 94 16:39:37 EDT

Before I make any fatal or offensive mistakes...

I, perhaps incorrectly, perceived that Don 
did not always have time to update the master
database at NRAO.  Thus I build the tool at
lor.stsci.edu to allow any of us to edit
a New database at STSCI.  This was intended
to lift any onus off of Don and to speed
changes to the database.

Should be abandon the NRAO database for
the STSCI database?

Are any more tools or output products needed
before other site are willing to abandon the
NRAO database?

How should people other than us enter their
additions, deletions, and changes to the 
AstroWeb database?

1. Use Don's HTML forms at NRAO
OR
2. Send email to [email-masked] 

				Bob

---

From: [email-masked] (Don Wells)
Date: Fri, 24 Jun 94 12:59:33 EDT

Bob Jackson writes:
 > I.. perceived that Don 
 > database at NRAO.  

That was a correct perception of me (Don).
The condition is (probably) not permanent (see below).

 > Thus I build the tool at

That is fine with me. I have made it clear from the beginning that I
did not want to act as a central clearing-house. I prepared technology
that allowed us to organize the database, and to transform it for
presentation purposes, and I personally worked rather hard for many
weeks to make the merged database be a reality, but I did not really
want to make long-term promises about my ability to continually
dedicate a fraction of my time to the effort. It is more likely that I
will concentrate on it for occasional brief periods and will catch up,
and may even advance the database to new levels, but then will begin
to fall behind again. I know that that is the way I am, and so I was
reluctant to commit to operate a unique central database that requires
continuous manual effort. I am not the right person for that role.

 > Should be abandon the NRAO database for

You will hear no objection from me; I will cheerfully switch to your
database if others agree.  I urge that you (Bob) also avoid committing
yourself to a long-term continual maintenance role. It appears to me
that that will not happen with your new technology -- you only need to
keep the daemons running. I expect that they are likely to operate
automatically for extended periods of time. With a team of people
available to work on the database, we will be able to "cover" for each
other for various periods of time.

 > 1. Use Don's HTML forms at NRAO

Any of you are welcome to install copies of that technology elsewhere,
perhaps with improvements.

 > 2. Send email to [email-masked] 

While Email will always work, it is an inefficient mechanism for this
purpose. It will be better to use mechanisms which organize and code
the information in a format which is as compatible as possible with
the format of the database. The form interface imposes _order_ and
_consistency_ on the input data.

-Don