Proceedings of the ECHET96 ConferenceGeneral Background to Electronic Conferences

The World-Wide Web is in essence a document delivery system which is bounded not so much by the physical restraints of a collection of paper or a computer disk, but of what is known as the Internet. Its growth over the last four years is without precedent, and it is being rapidly adopted by both academic and commercial interests to deliver a wide variety of digital information. The central metaphor used is that of the "hyperlink", in which an underlined word or phrase or image acts as the link to another "document fragment". Document in this context most often means a collection of structured text, but images, animations and sounds are also often used.

Starting in 1994, chemically oriented electronic conferences using this medium started to appear. The first one in the area of organic chemistry was known as ECTOC-1, which grew out of a project called "CLIC". The aim then was to promote the use of such electronic means of communication amongst the organic chemistry community. The CD-ROM resulting from this event can be ordered for inspection here. ECHET96 is the second such conference in the series.

For further reading, consult the following material:

  1. H. S. Rzepa, B. J. Whitaker and M. J. Winter, J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun., 1994, 1907
  2. O. Casher, G. Chandramohan, M. Hargreaves, C. Leach, P. Murray-Rust, R. Sayle, H. S. Rzepa and B. J. Whitaker, "Hyperactive Molecules and the World-Wide-Web Information System", J. Chem. Soc., Perkin Trans 2, 1995, 7.
  3. J. H. Krieger and D. L. Illman, Chem. & Eng. News, 1994 (December 12), p29; J. H. Krieger, Chem. & Eng. News, 1995 (August 21) p35
  4. S. M. Bachrach, J. Chem. Inf. Comp. Science, 1995, 35, 431.
  5. H. S. Rzepa, Tr. Analyt. Chem., 1995, 14, 240.
  6. M. J. Winter, H. S. Rzepa and B. J. Whitaker, Chem. Brit., 1995, 685.
  7. The Internet: A Guide for Chemists (Ed. S. M. Bachrach), ISBN 0-8412-3224-5 (paper) LC 95-41967 Catalog No. 419-32237, ACS Books, 1996.
  8. Electronic Conference on Trends in Organic Chemistry: ECTOC-1 (Eds. H. S. Rzepa, J. M. Goodman and C. Leach (CD-ROM), ISBN 0 85404 899 5, Royal Society of Chemistry publications, 1996.
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