Subject: Draft of ADASS paper - Comments/Suggestions/... ?

From: Bob Jackson <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 21 Oct 94 14:40:52 EDT

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\title{ Astroweb - Internet Resources for Astronomers }
\author{ Robert E. Jackson }
\affil{ Computer Sciences Corporation, Space Telescope Science Institute}
\author{ Hans-Martin Adorf }
\affil{ Space Telescope - European Coordinating Facility }
\author{ Daniel Egret }
\affil{ Strasbourg Astronomical Data Center }
\author{ Andre Heck }
\affil{Strasbourg Astronomical Observatory}
\author{ Anton Koekemoer }
\affil{ Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories }
\author{ Fionn Murtagh } 
\affil{ Space Telescope - European Coordinating Facility }
\author{ Don Wells }
\affil{ National Radio Astronomy Observatory }

\begin{abstract}
AstroWeb is a WWW interface to a collection of Internet
accessible resources aimed at the astronomical community.
The collection currently contains more than 1000  
World Wide Web, Gopher, Wide Area Information System,
Telnet, and Anonymous FTP resources and it is still growing.
AstroWeb provides the additional value-added services: 
	Categorization of each resource; 
	Descriptive paragraphs for some resources;
	Searchable index of all resource information;
	3x daily search for 'dead' or 'unreliable' resources;
\end{abstract}

\keywords{Brevity,models}

\section{What Is AstroWeb?}

The goal of AstroWeb is to be the most complete, up to date, 
and useful listing of Internet accessible astronomical resources 
available anywhere.

AstroWeb currently contains 1123 World Wide Web, Gopher, WAIS, Telnet, 
FTP, and Usenet News resource, and a total of 1235 Universal Resource 
Listings (URL's).

As a value-added service, AstroWeb also provides:
\begin{list}{}{}
\item One or more standardized Categories for each resource
\item Descriptive text for many resources
\item Searchable index of all resource information
\item Thrice daily search for ``dead'' or ``unreliable'' resources
\item The most complete Astronomical resource listing
\end{list}

These value-added services set AstroWeb apart from other, more static 
lists of Internet resources.

\section{Where Is AstroWeb?}

AstroWeb is available at:
\begin{list}{}{}
\item \htmllink{STScI}{http://www.stsci.edu/net-resources.html}
\item \htmllink{NRAO}{http://fits.cv.nrao.edu/www/astronomy.html}
\item \htmllink{CDS}{http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/astroweb.html}
\item \htmllink{ST-ECF}{http://ecf.hq.eso.org/astro-resources.html}
\item \htmllink{MSSSO}{http://meteor.anu.edu.au/astronomy.html}
\end{list}

Each version is based on the same resource database, but each site has a 
different structure or format.  For example, ST-ECF only displays the title and 
acronym for each resource, while STScI displays the descriptive text 
as well.  Each site updates and formats their version daily from the 
central listing at STScI.  Some sites, in addition, will have ``mirror'' copies 
of the other sites versions.

\section{When Was AstroWeb?}

On January 24, 1994, Jackson sent EMail to Wells and Adorf suggesting that 
they collaborate instead of maintaining separate resource listings.  A standard 
interface file format was defined and some software tools were written.  
Additional members joined the 
\htmllink{AstroWeb Consortium}{http://fits.cv.nrao.edu/www/astroweb.html}
and on
April 6, 1994, AstroWeb was announced to the public via 
\htmllink{NCSA Mosaic What's New}{http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/Mosaic/Docs/whats-new.html} and several Usenet newsgroups.

\section{Why Was AstroWeb Created?}

Jackson, Wells, and Adorf noticed that they and others had created largely 
overlapping lists of Astronomical resources.  New resources were being discovered 
every day and it seemed more productive to coordinate efforts and use a 
common master resource listing.

From the early size and growth rate of the listing, it was also clear that 
standardized categories and search tools would be needed to allow the 
user to quickly find the desired resource.

The volatile nature of URL's required that resources be frequently checked 
for ``aliveness'' in order to prevent the listing from accumulating 
``pointers to nowhere''.

Most importantly, it was a fun and useful thing to do.

\section{How To Add Or Change AstroWeb?}

To preserve the homogeneity and integrity of AstroWeb, 
the central listing at STScI can be edited only by AstroWeb Consortium
members.  However, we welcome comments, suggestions, new resources, 
corrections to existing resources, etc. from everyone.  Consortium 
members can be reached via EMail at:
\begin{list}{}{}
\item \[email-masked]}{mailto://[email-masked]}
\end{list}
\noindent There are also HTML forms available to:
\begin{list}{}{}
\item \htmllink{Add a Resource}{http://fits.cv.nrao.edu/www/astroweb/aref.html}
\item \htmllink{Add a Personal Resource}{http://fits.cv.nrao.edu/www/astroweb/paref.html}
\item \htmllink{Submit a Correction}{http://fits.cv.nrao.edu/www/astroweb/adcrf.html}
\end{list}

\begin{references}
\reference Jackson, R., Wells, D., Adorf, H.-M., Egret, D., Heck, A., Koekemoer, A.,
Murtagh, F. 1994, "The AstroWeb Database", Bull. CDS 45, 21-25.

\reference Jackson, R., Wells, D., Adorf, H.-M., Egret, D., Heck, A., Koekemoer, A.,
Murtagh, F. 1995, "AstroWeb - A database of links to astronomy resources -
Announcement of a database", Astron. Astrophys. Suppl (in press)

\reference Jackson, R.E., Adorf, H.-M., Egret, D., Heck, A., Koekemoer, A., Murtagh,
F., Wells, D. 1995, "AstroWeb - Internet resources for astronomers", in:
Proc. Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems (ADASS) '94,
Baltimore, MD, D. Shaw, H. Payne, and J. Hayes (eds.), Astronomical Society
of the Pacific

\reference Adorf, H.-M. 1994, "AstroWeb - a database of astronomical Internet
resources", ST-ECF Newsl. 22
\end{references}

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