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>I'm about to start such lists as Vendors, Concepts, Products, and
>Books. In my present view, each entry in one of these lists would
>be a screen or two with a place for comments and links to be added.
>Then I let a million people add what they think makes it better.
>One particularly valuable contribution is a revision of a text or
>a list to ignore the chaff. Wouldn't you rather have the choice
>of several reviewers picks of the best articles in the last week
>of Newsgroup X than to have to slog through it yourself, without
>benefit of others' opinions? I would.
Someone is about to do something. I wrote a proposal last year in response
to a solicitation from the National Science Foundation for a project that
will do exactly what you're talking about. The InterNIC (Network
Information Center for the Internet) will provide information,
registration, directory, and database services, and part of the information
services efforts will be discipline specific "info packets." Initially,
there will only be a few disciplines supported, but this will grow quickly.
The packets will include all the resources on the net relevent to, say,
biology.
More specifically to what you're talking about, the InterNIC will review
tools, databases, articles, and whatever else is out there. They're going
to do the "slogging" for us. Cool, huh?
The project is still in development, but I think you'll be hearing about
the start date before summer.
(BTW, I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm Justine Correa, a writer at the
San Diego Supercomputer Center. The work here is very diverse -- we have a
bi-monthly newsletter, an annual science report, quarterly reports to NSF,
an annual report to NSF (that's the one with color pictures), proposals,
online docs for the Cray and parallel supercomputers, promotional materials
(fliers, brochures), etc. It's a great job.)
___________________________________
Justine Correa
Writer, San Diego Supercomputer Center
correaj -at- sdsc -dot- edu, 619/534-5143, fax: 5117
