By:Ian Gordon, Science Librarian, Brock University, St. Catherines, Ontario
It is difficult to escape the grasp of the Internet. As an electronic network of networks, the Internet allows participants to send and receive e-mail messages, access news groups, bulletin boards, send and receive data, graphics, images and sound files. The Internet is constantly expanding in the number of users, service providers, pages and applications. Since its infancy in the early 1990s, the Internet continues to provide up-to-date information to a large audience with relatively easy means and little cost.
A variety of reports predict that the number of Americans using the Internet will grow three fold to 175 million users (~63% of all Americans) by the year 2002. To meet this demand, reports also estimate that over 6.2 billion US dollars will be invested in ISP service equipment by 2003 and that the total amount of investment in ISP equipment is expected to reach 15 billion US dollars by that time. To put these figures into context, reports also estimate that there will be almost 545 million Internet user accounts (~8% of the world's population) around the world by 2003, surpassing the number of PCs installed globally. It is easy to see why the geoscience community has been quick to pick up and utilize this emerging technology and its applications.
Search engines
Earth science, geology and geoscience Internet developments are mainly driven by academics, societies, government organizations and individuals. Logical access to these web resources including the use of generic search engines is still in any number of developing stages. The precision and exhaustivity of search engines remains in question. Lawrence & Giles (1999, July 18) found that in a survey of the eleven most widely used search engines, no single search engine covered more than 16% of the Web's contents. Although the development of enhanced and meta search engines will improve over time, beware of the "Everything is on the Internet" syndrome. Searching for web resources continues to be a balancing act between the use of search engines and Internet guides dedicated to the all areas of earth sciences.
Guides
When all else fails, it is comforting to know that geoscientists and librarians continue to catalogue and classify web sites for all levels of users. Guides take many forms including listings, to commentaries on the nature and use of web resources. Guides also take the form of metasites which tend to post the most important and informative web resources. A good strategy is to use national or regional geological surveys such as the Natural Resources Canada/ Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) as guides and reference points for educational, research and new resources. Identify and bookmark a number of stable metasites of local and/or subject-specific interest to help navigate through geoscience resources on the Internet. Better ye t, build a web page incorporating these essential links including sites of personal interest.
Due to the constantly changing nature of the Internet, paper guides and books are of interest, but timely in content and currency. Books similar to Gibbs, Ritter and Stull (1997) can be identified by a variety of commercial, university and government bibliographic utilities including the GSC's and the USGS's online catalogues. Search using keywords from the appropriate two subjects, Earth sciences - Computer network resources & Internet (Computer network) for best results.
Databases
Internet geoscience databases come in all sizes and subject areas. Check out Selected Resources for Earth Sciences for a short list of frequently used databases. Remember that there is no substitute for digging around, exploring and testing any number of geography, geoscience datasets and databases.
Bibliographic databases that index scholarly research such as GeoRef, GEOBASE, Geoarchive are commercial resources usually available at university libraries. Earth science databases transcend all categories and purposes as reference tools, guides, geographical locators, databases, and datasets. Map and topographic databases are informative and great fun. There are variety of free alternate bibliographic databases and generic search engines such as UnCover accessible to all Internet users.
Ask an expert
There is no substitute for an informed expert. Experts from any number of societies, academic departments, museums, and government contacts can assist by identifying relevant strategies and resources on or off the Internet. When an Internet search comes up empty a good strategy is to contact an expert in your subject area of expertise. Another useful hint is to post a message to any number of Usenet bulletin boards or discussion groups. The Geoscience Information Society's (GIS) GEONET-L is an excellent discussion group comprising of international information professionals and geoscientists. Post a message to GEONET-L by e-mailing geonet-L@listserv.indiana.edu.
Lots of stuff to come
As far as the Internet has come in a single decade, there is great potential for future improvements. An interesting development is the creation of international, national, and provincial consortiums to organize and document earth science resources similar to the GSC's GeoConnections and Natural Resources Canada's GeoGratis. Web-based geoscience resources of the future will include the development of web-based GIS applications, integration of topographic database, text and graphics, availability of foreign language and third world resources, real-time remote sensing resources and datasets, and the increasing release of public geoscience information. All this while developing faster corridors and wider band widths to increase access and response times. The potential is endless. Grab on to your hats and keep informed of new developments by becoming involved in a geoscience society and actively participating in Internet resources.
References:
Gibbs, B. (1997). Internet resources for earth scientists. Boulder, CO: Gibbs Associates.
Lawrence, S., & Giles, C. L. (1999, July 8). Accessibility of information on the web. Nature, 400 (6740), 107-109.
Ritter, M. E. (1997). Earth online: An Internet guide for earth science. London: Wadsworth Publishing.
Stull, A. T. (1997). Geosciences on the Internet: A student's guide, 1997-1998. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.