Introduction to ECHET96 CD-ROM

    

Foreword by Dr Robert Welham
(Director, Information Services, The Royal Society of Chemistry)


I am pleased to introduce this CD-ROM to you. On it you will find information on new ways of communicating chemical research in the electronic medium. I hope you will view and interact with the data and send your comments on the usefulness of this method of disseminating chemical information to the RSC.

The RSC is involved in a number of projects to investigate the presentation and benefit of publishing information from our journals in an electronic form. We are a partner in the CLIC Consortium, together with Cambridge University, Leeds University and Imperial College, to investigate how conventional printed journal articles can be enhanced in the electronic form. Much of the material on this CD-ROM has come from this collaboration.

Information in four areas is included on this CD-ROM:

  1. The proceedings of the 'Electronic Conference on Heterocyclic Chemistry (ECHET96)'

    The Electronic Conference on Heterocyclic Chemistry (ECHET96) was a conference held exclusively on the Internet. It was the second Conference organised by the CLIC consortium. The first conference ECTOC-1 has already been archived on to CD-ROM by the RSC. ECHET96 'Attendees' were able to view the conference contributions (many of which included data not easily represented on the printed page) on the World Wide Web and discuss them by email. The proceedings of this conference (including email discussions) have been indexed and are archived on this CD-ROM both to preserve the data for future generations and to allow wider distribution to chemists who do not have access to the Web. The contents include several experimental navigation aids which we encourage feedback on.

  2. Enhanced articles from ChemComm

    A number of articles appearing in the RSC primary journal, ChemComm, have been enhanced to add the benefits of the electronic medium. These enhancements have been added in a number of different ways so that users can evaluate the benefits of the added data. We welcome feed back on these articles.

  3. 3D Molecular Structures

    Databases of 3D structures from Dr. Jonathan Goodman (Cambridge University) and Prof. Arie Aizman (Imperial College, on sabbatical leave from Universidad Técnica Federico Santa MarÍia, Chile)

  4. Documentation and Demonstrations of Chemical Mark-up Language (CML)

    From Prof. Peter Murray-Rust (Virtual School of Molecular Science at Nottingham University).

The purpose of this CD-ROM is to show some of the possibilities of publishing in the electronic medium. Your comments on it will be used to shape the future of electronic publishing. We look forward to hearing from you at:

The Royal Society of Chemistry, 
Attn: Electronic Journals and Internet Services, 
Thomas Graham House, 
Science Park, 
Milton Road, 
Cambridge CB4 4WF, UK

Fax: +44 (0) 1223 423429
Email: RSC1@RSC.ORG
All reasonable care has been taken in the preparation of this CD-ROM but neither the copyright holders nor the RSC accept liability for any errors or omissions. Software on this CD-ROM is used entirely at the users own risk.

Foreword by Henry Rzepa
(CLIC Project Director)

This CD-ROM represents an experiment by the CLIC Consortium in how the delivery of chemical information and content can be enhanced using modern "digital" technologies. We have taken a number of new approaches in trying to enhance the presentation, navigability and searchability of the chemistry. For example, within ECHET96 proceedings we have included a section on chemical similarity analysis, and another on the use of the "Hyperwave" server to allow content to be searched and retrieved. Many of the molecules described in the articles and posters have been encoded in "Molfile" or "PDB" format and are available for editing or rotatable display via the Chemscape Chime™ software made available by MDL Information Systems. We hope that this approach enhances your scientific enjoyment of this product and promotes the debate on the directions that electronic journals and similar products should take in the future.

Some of the software which is used present the chemistry has not yet been comprehensively tested on all types of computers and browsers. Please note that you have the option in Netscape or Internet Explorer to switch off features such as browser Java support, use of which is made in the CML and Hyperwave sections. If you do have queries about this CD-ROM, we encourage you to look at the on-line release notes for late-breaking information which could not be included here. Because of the very limited resources available to us, we cannot guarantee to provide any other form of support for this product.


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© The Royal Society of Chemistry and ECHET96, February, 1997. ISBN 0-85404-894-4.