Association for
Veterinary Informatics
NEWSLETTER

March-April, 1996

Noell Moseley (Memphis, TN) - President; Harmon Rogers (Lake Stevens, WA) - President-Elect; James T. Case (UC-Davis) - Secretary Treasurer; Ronald D. Smith (Illinois) - Newsletter Editor.

IN THIS ISSUE

SOCIETY NEWS
CORRESPONDENCE
WHAT'S ON THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY FOR VETERINARIANS?
PRODUCT AVAILABILITY/REVIEWS/COMPARISONS
INTERNET RESOURCES
NEWS AND COMMENTARY
MEETINGS AND EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
CLOSING BITS

SOCIETY NEWS

From the AVI Newsletter Editor

This is an anniversary of sorts. This issue's feature article, "What's on the Information Superhighway for Veterinarians?", was preceded two years ago by an article of the same name. In that article I summarized the results of a virtual "panel discusion" spanning three listservs (VETMED-L@uga.cc.uga.edu, VETINFO@ucdcvdls.bitnet, VETLIB-L@vtvm1.cc.vt.edu) on which contributors discussed veterinary resources on the Internet. I have since used the title for a series of presentations to different veterinary groups in North and South America. The most recent version of the presentation also appears on the Web at....

<http://www.cvm.uiuc.edu/announcements/infohwy.htm>.

Although the article does not pretend to cover all the Internet resources for veterinarians, it does provide an orientation to Internet resources and pointers that professional and lay individuals should find interesting. In the interest of conserving space, I've left out the specific URLs (Internet addresses) of most of the sites mentioned in the body of the article. However, the links are "hot" in the Web version of the AVI Newsletter. If you're an AVI member who is reading the Newsletter on the Web <http://netvet.wustl.edu/avi.htm>, you'll appreciate the convenience of being able to explore the many resources listed in the article with the click of your mouse.

RD Smith, AVI Newsletter Editor

AVI Events and the July AVMA Meeting, Louisville, KY
From: Noell Moseley, AVI President <74232.25@compuserve.com>

Monday, July 22, 1996

Richard B. Talbot Informatics Symposium

9:00 am - 10:00 am "Veterinary Informatics--The Best Kept Secret"

Dr. Ronald D. Smith, University of Illinois

10:00 am - 10:45 am Break

10:45 am - 11:45 am "Multimedia for the Masses"

Dr. Harmon Rogers, Snohomish, WA

11:45 am - 1:00 pm Lunch Break

1:00 pm - 2:00 pm "Grateful Med, Easy Access to the Veterinary Literature in MEDLINE"

Ms. Dena K. Plaisted, National Network of Libraries of Medicine

2:00 pm - 3:00 pm "Life-long Learning"

Dr. Robin Starr, Hershey Medical Center

3:45 pm - 4:45 pm "The Internet Revisited"

Dr. Kenneth R. Boschert, Washington University

AVI Committee Meetings

5:30 pm - 7:00 pm

Tuesday, July 23, 1996

AVI Working Group Meetings

10:00 am - 12:00 noon

AVI General Business Meeting and Lunch

12:00 noon - 2:00 pm

AVI CAI and Graphics List
From: "Cheryl R. Dhein" <crd@vetmed.wsu.edu>

Individuals interested in CAI and graphics

In order to facilitate discussions about CAI and graphics, Jim Case has created a list serv for us. Please subscribe to the list according to the directions at the end of this message.

Once we have a group together, here are some topics we might discuss:

1. development of a WEB page that summarizes CAI programs that are in use at each college and if those programs are available to other schools.

2. a summary of development tools; eg who is using toolbook, authorware, icon author etc. This could serve as a source of advise for individuals getting started developing lessons. Users of specific programs could summarize strengths and weaknesses of the programs they use.

3. issues associated with images including photo editting tools, file compression methods, palette manipulation strategies, resolution, etc.

4. the WEB page could include an image library if people were willing to contribute.

After you receive confirmation of subscription to the AVICAI-L list, then please send a message to the list telling about yourself as applied to cai and graphics. Please forward this message to anyone who may be interested in participating.

Mail to : LISTSERV@CVDLS-L.UCDAVIS.EDU

In the message type

Subscribe AVICAI-L

To send messages to the list address them to

AVICAI-L@CVDLS-L.UCDAVIS.EDU

How to Contact AVI

Applications for membership, accompanied by a check for $35 payable to the AVI, should be sent to:

Dr. James T. Case; Secretary Treasurer, AVI; 2742 Concord Ave.; Davis, CA 95616
Phone: 916/752-4408; FAX: 916/752-5680; e-mail: JimCase@aol.com

Dr. Case is responsible for distribution of the hardcopy version of the AVI Newsletter.

Newsletter items can be sent to:

Dr. Ronald D. Smith, Newsletter Editor, AVI; UI College of Veterinary Medicine; 2001 South Lincoln; Urbana, IL 61801.
Phone: 217/333-2449; FAX: 217/333-4628; e-mail: rd-smith@uiuc.edu

If you are an AVI member and would like to be on the AVI Newsletter electronic distribution list, send an e-mail message to the Newsletter Editor. Although the electronic version is only an ASCII (text) file, it's faster, searchable, easier to store and retrieve, and environmentally friendly.

Current and past issues of the Newsletter can be searched, read and downloaded from the WWW at http://netvet.wustl.edu/avi.htm.

CORRESPONDENCE

A Veterinary Student Inquiry

I received and responded to the following inquiry a couple of months ago. I pointed Mr. Andersen to the NetVet site and to the online version of my article, "What's on the Information Superhighway for Veterinarians?" (see below). I've included his letter here because the same questions are probably on the minds of many of our veterinary students. Although Mr. Andersen has already handed in his senior paper, I'm sure he'd like to hear from others.

RD Smith, Editor

--------------------

Date: Sun, 25 Feb 1996

From: "Eric M. Andersen" <erica@vetmed.wsu.edu>

To: rd-smith@uiuc.edu

Subject: My senior paper on veterinary internet applications

Dear Dr. Smith,

My name is Eric Andersen. I am a senior veterinary student at Washington St. Univ. where I am currently working on my senior paper titled, "Internet Applications for the Practicing Veterinarian." With your affiliation to the ACVS I am hoping you could share with me your best web sites etc. that I may share with my colleagues.

I am a novice computer user so you can easily imagine my frustration and confusion with the magnitude of information on the web. In my paper I hope to help people, myself included, to filter out some of the so-called veterinary related material that's really a Q and A forum for pet owners and use the web to access scientific information.

I would most appreciate any information on :

1. Finding e-mail addresses for other veterinarians and scientists.

2. Your best thoughts on time-efficient information gathering on the web.

3. Your favorite web sites.

And any other information you think I might find useful.

Thanks in advance,

Eric M. Andersen <erica@vetmed.wsu.edu>

WHAT'S ON THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY
FOR VETERINARIANS?

Feature Article by

Dr. Ronald D. Smith
<rd-smith@uiuc.edu>
College of Veterinary Medicine
University of Illinois
Urbana, IL 61801

Smith's Rule for computing: If you have to read the manual, it's not worth doing.

What is the Information Superhighway?
- The Internet
- Client/Server architecture
What's on the Information Superhighway?
- Internet services based on electronic mail
  - Electronic mail
  - Discussion groups (listservs)
  - Electronic serials
  - USENET newsgroups
- Internet services not based on electronic mail
  - File transfer protocol (FTP)
  - Telnet
  - Gopher
  - World-wide web (WWW)
How do I get on the Information Superhighway?
- Hardware
- Connectivity - Internet access providers
Are there any roadmaps for the Information Superhighway?
- Online directories
- Online search services
- Bookmarks
- Association for Veterinary Informatics
Let's go for a drive!
- General reference sources
- Veterinary sites
- Online directories and search services

WHAT IS THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY?

A. The Internet

The "Internet" is a "supernetwork" of thousands of computer networks linked together in cooperative, non-centralized collaboration. It is used for computer-mediated communications (CMC) among universities, research organizations, companies, government organizations, and the general public worldwide. The system has millions of "host" computers and tens of millions of individual users throughout the world. The number of users is growing at the rate of 10% per month.

The Internet grew out of the ARPANET, a research network created by the U.S. Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) in 1969. Its purpose was to link various government installations with university, industrial, and research organizations. In the mid-1980s, the Department of Defense moved its military operations computers to a separate network called MILNET, leaving ARPANET to be used by researchers. In 1990 ARPANET itself was dissolved and its workload picked up by the federal government's National Science Foundation (NSF) through NSFNET. Today, NSFNET connects networks and Internet service providers with other parts of the Internet worldwide. As of February, 1994, 146 countries had direct or indirect (gated) internet connectivity and 91 countries did not. The level of connectivity within each country varies considerably. Thus, although the Internet is growing rapidly, there is still room for expansion.

B. Client/Server Architecture

One of the reasons for the tremendous expansion of Internet usage is the client/server architecture of the Internet and the ready availability of client/server software. Client/server software involves two computers connected on a network -- a "server", on which some information physically resides, and a "client" which provides a user interface and requests information from the server. The advantage of this scheme is that the server needs no information about the user's interface. The client and server communicate via a specially designed protocol. Thus a single server can communicate with users of many very different kinds of computers without knowing anything about the screen or terminal characteristics of those computers. It is the responsibility of the client (running on the user's computer) to know about the display characteristics of the user's interface, and to supply the information in a way that is compatible with them. Gopher clients and World Wide Web browsers (see below) are classic examples of client-server software.

Return to Table of Contents

WHAT'S ON THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY?

A. Internet Services Based on Electronic Mail

Electronic mail (e-mail)

One of the most popular uses of the Internet is electronic mail, or "e-mail", the exchange of electronic mail messages between Internet users on the Internet or through "gateways" with many networks outside the Internet. Internet e-mail addresses are known for the "@" sign buried within a string of other characters and dots. The characters to the left of the "@" indicate who the message will go to once it arrives at the designated internet host. The characters to the right of the "@" include the host name, with the characters after the last dot indicating the type of user. In the United States these are normally: .edu (educational), .org (non-profit organization), .com (commercial), .mil (U.S. military), .gov (other U.S. government, .net (network administrative hosts or service centers), or .int (international). For example, my internet e-mail address is: rd-smith@uiuc.edu. The "uiuc" refers to University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. International e-mail addresses frequently end with a two letter code designating the country where the recipient's mail will be delivered.

Discussion groups (mailing lists)

Hundreds of electronic discussion groups (mailing lists) are available on the Internet, providing a forum for users with common interests. Discussion groups are like "reflectors", where each message "posted" to the list is reflected to all subscribers. Discussion groups may be unmoderated, where users participate in free-form discussions, or moderated, where one or more "moderators" screens messages, usually to eliminate offensive content. Most discussion groups include a "digest" option where messages sent to the list are gathered and sent out daily.

A number of veterinary Internet discussion groups are available. The VETMED-L discussion group deals with general veterinary medical topics and includes both professional and lay subscribers. Among the more popular species-specific veterinary discussion groups are BEEF-L, DAIRY-L, and SWINE-L. The ProMED-AHEAD mailing list serves as a global communications system for monitoring new and emerging infectious diseases, including vector-borne diseases and zoonoses. More interactive discussions of these same diseases and potential epidemics occur on the Epivet-L discussion group.

Routine management of the discussion group is handled by a computer program ("listproc" or "listserv") which automatically processes specific commands. For example, to join the Epivet-L list, send e-mail to:

listproc@upei.ca

Leave the subject line blank and place the following in the body of the message:

subscribe epivet-l yourfirstname yourlastname

substituting your real name. You will automatically be added to the list and sent further instructions.

Electronic serials (e-serials)

Electronic serials are a special kind of Internet mailing list that includes electronic journals and newsletters published and disseminated over the Internet. These valuable sources of information are rapidly expanding. I am the Editor of the Association of Veterinary Informatics Newsletter, which is "published" bimonthly and distributed worldwide as over an e-mail distribution list and as a World-Wide Web hypertext document. It is also available as hardcopy.

Usenet newsgroups

Usenet is a large bulletin board system with a distributed data base which exists on thousands of servers worldwide. It contains "articles" in various "groups" organized by subject. There are currently in excess of 1,200 newsgroups. Articles are kept only for a short time (typically 2 weeks) and then discarded, though some groups are archived. The collection of articles present on a server at any one time can easily exceed a gigabyte (= 1,000 megabytes) of disk space.

As with electronic discussion groups, usenet newsgroups can be "moderated", in which case articles are screened by an editor who accepts or rejects them, or "unmoderated" in which case anyone can "post" an article to the group. University faculty frequently create a newsgroup for each of the classes or sections that they teach, thereby providing a way to provide lecture notes, assignments, and interact asynchronously with the class as a whole. This would also be an efficient mechanism for distributing a newsletter. There are a number of client software programs available for most major platforms.

Return to Table of Contents

B. Internet Services Not Based on Electronic Mail

File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

File Transfer Protocol is a standard protocol for transferring files between computers on the Internet. Normally, it requires the user to have an account on both computers. However, it provides a mechanism called "anonymous ftp" which allows the owner of a file on one computer to make it freely available for copying by anyone on the network. This is now a common way for organizations and individuals to provide software, software updates, and other files to consumers, without having to send diskettes through the mail.

Telnet

Telnet is a remote logon procedure for accessing programs on remote computers as though they were local. I frequently use telnet to log on to the University of Illinois' library computer where I can do literature searches. I then e-mail anything that I find to myself. The CONSULTANT computer-assisted veterinary diagnostic program, provided through Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine, is an excellent veterinary resource that is accessible from anywhere in the world by telnet.

Gopher

Gopher is an electronic information distribution system for text-only (ASCII) information. Initial development on Gopher was done at the University of Minnesota (whence its name), but important parts have been developed at Illinois, Indiana, Rice, Stanford, Utah, and elsewhere. Gopher is a client/server-based distributed information delivery system. There are gopher clients for all major computer platforms. All the client and server software is freely available without cost. A unique feature of this software is the ability to make links from one server to another so it appears to the user that the contents of the second server is a subset of the hierarchy of the first.

Hundreds of colleges and universities use this software as the basis of campus wide information services. A selected list of veterinary-related Gopher sites is available on the NetVet server.

World-Wide Web (WWW)

The World-Wide Web is a hypermedia system originated by CERN, a high energy physics laboratory in Switzerland. Initially envisioned as a means of easily sharing papers and data between physicists, the "Web" has evolved far beyond its original intent and now includes such diverse information as Gaelic texts, art exhibits, movie clips, and electronic magazines.

"NCSA Mosaic" and "NetScape" are WWW browsers (technically, World-Wide Web "clients") that allow users to navigate and retrieve documents from the World Wide Web. Mosaic was developed at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and was introduced during the latter part of 1993. The temendous popularity of Mosaic, NetScape and other WWW browsers is partly responsible for the exponential growth in Internet "traffic" over the past 2 years. WWW documents can contain not only text, but also images, sounds and animations. Users move from one document or site to another by simply "clicking" on highlighted text (referred to as "hypertext") within the document, or "page". Some WWW browsers are freely available and can be downloaded from FTP sites on the Internet. Each of the major commercial information providers (America Online, Compuserve, Prodigy) provide WWW access (see below).

The Web is becoming an increasingly popular medium for "publishing" newsletters, magazines, journals and conference proceedings. It is frequently used to supplement traditional hardcopy distribution because it is a cost-effective way to reach a larger audience over a longer period of time. For example, the printed proceedings of a November, 1995 Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) Symposium were exhausted at the meeting. However, the Web version is still available and regularly downloaded by readers throughout the world.

Return to Table of Contents

HOW DO I GET ON THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY?

Hardware

Unless you're directly connected to the Internet, you'll need to use a modem to connect your computer to an Internet access provider. The minimum configuration is a Macintosh or Windows-capable computer with at least a 33 mhz cpu (central processing unit) and modem running at least 9600 baud. In order to properly display graphics your monitor should be capable of displaying at least 256 colors.

Connectivity - Internet access providers

Various online vendors provide internet access through "gateways". Examples are America OnLine, CompuServe, and Prodigy. In addition, "Freenets" such as Prairienet (East-Central Illinois Free-Net), are popping up all around the country. These are community based organizations that provide local information services and internet access at minimal or no charge to the community. Anyone in the Champaign-Urbana area with a computer and modem can use Prairienet, a free community-oriented information provider, for access to Internet services.

A directory of worldwide community computer networks and freenet web sites is available. The List provides an extensive list of commercial and non-commercial internet service providers. Files are organized by state or province, area code, country, or country code.

Return to Table of Contents

ARE THERE ANY ROADMAPS FOR THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY?

There is plenty of useful information out on the web. The trick is to not waste your time trying to find it. Two basic kinds of navigation aids, online directories and online search services, can greatly facilitate finidng the information that you're looking for.

Online directories

Online directories organize web sites based on a hierarchy of subject categories. Some, such as NetScape's Net Directory, organize information from the entire Internet into categories such as sports, education, health/medicine, etc. This particular online directory includes veterinary medicine as a specific sub-category. Other online directories focus on particular interest areas.

For veterinary-related information the best online directory around is Ken Boschert's award-winning NetVet web site. NetVet actually consists of two related services: NetVet Veterinary Resources, which focuses on Internet sites of veterinary interest, and the Electronic Zoo, with links to all kinds of animal-related sites on the Internet. Ken continuously monitors the Internet for veterinary-related resources, and has organized them under a number of functional, interest group categories. For example, NetVet's "Pigs" page includes links of particular interest to swine practitioners.

The entire content of NetVet is fully searchable by text string, as are individual archives, such as "SWINE-L", the Journal of Swine Health and Production electronic discussion group. Note that this archive actually resides on Gopher, but that the WWW browser makes the transition to a different client-server system transparent to the user.

Most U.S. and many foreign veterinary colleges maintain web sites, where they provide both local information (admission requirements, curriculum, faculty, unique information resources), and links to other veterinary-related sites. For example, the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine site includes information about our curriculum, the Microscopic Imaging Laboratory, the National Animal Poison Control Center, the International Registry of Reproductive Pathology, the Wildlife Medical Clinic, and a series of "Pet Columns" written by our Continuing Education/Public Service (CEPS) staff. The CEPS home page also includes information about the Executive Veterinary Program for swine practitioners. Finally, the entire Proceedings of a Hazards Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) Symposium, held November, 1995 in Chicago, are available at this site.

Online search services

If you're interested in searching the entire Internet for information there are a number of online search services at your disposal. FTP sites can be searched with a client/server application called "Archie". Users search for name strings, learning where on the Internet the desired file is available for FTP and downloading. Gopher "space" can be searched with a client/server application called "Veronica". Veronica is a service that maintains an index of titles of gopher items, and provides keyword searches of those titles anywhere on the Internet.

The WWW can be search with any of a number of search engines. One of my favorites is "Webcrawler", which searches both the names of and text strings within web pages, and returns a ranked list of most relevant sites. Simply clicking on a site's address will take you to it, and you can then use your browser's "FIND" tool to locate the specific information within the page.

Bookmarks

Finally, don't forget to use your web browser's "bookmark" feature to create your personal list of favorite web sites. If your bookmarks reside on a "public" or shared computer, then this feature may be less useful. The next person to use the computer may alter or delete your bookmarks.

Association of Veterinary Informatics

The Association of Veterinary Informatics (formerly American Veterinary Computer Society), through its newsletter and symposia, tries to keep the veterinary community appraised of the most recent developments in the general area of veterinary informatics. An examination copy of the AVI Newsletter is available. Dr. Jim Case, AVI Secretary/Treasurer, can provide you with membership information.

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LET'S GO FOR A DRIVE!

Below I have listed a number of sites which you can explore with a WWW browser. Their Internet addresses ("URLs" or "Uniform Resource Locator") are also listed.

General reference sources:

A Reference Shelf - Dictionary, Thesaurus, Zip Codes, etc. (http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/referenc.html)
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (http://www.instantweb.com/~foldoc/Welcome.html)

Veterinary sites:

University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine (http://www.cvm.uiuc.edu)
Colleges of Veterinary Medicine with WWW sites (http://netvet.wustl.edu/vschool.htm)
NetVet/Electronic Zoo Veterinary Resources, a comprehensive collection of animal health resources (http://netvet.wustl.edu/)
Veterinary Journals - Tables of Contents (gopher://brise.ere.umontreal.ca:7070/11/vetjr)
National Veterinary Hospital Search and Retrieval (http://metro.net/~jolasa/vetquest/vetquest.html) where veterinarians can list their practices on the world wide web.
VET-USA Listing Service - For Veterinarians Only (http://www.netport.com/vetsonly/) lists practices and equipment for sale, positions wanted or available, and vendors.
The VetQuest National Veterinary Hospital Search and Referral website lists over 21,000 veterinary hospitals in all 50 states of the USA.
The American Animal Hospital Association (http://www.acmepet.com/aaha/) is an international association of more than 12,000 veterinarians who treat companion animals.
FDA Approved Animal Drug Database (http://borg.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/vetfda.html)

Online directories and search services:

NetScape Net Directory (http://home.netscape.com/home/internet-directory.html)
NetScape Veterinary Medicine Net Directory (http://www.excite.com/Subject/Health_and_Medicine/Veterinary_Medicine/s-index.h.html)
Search Gopherspace (using Veronica and Jughead Servers) (gopher://marvel.loc.gov/11/internet/veronica)
Search the Web (using WebCrawler ) (http://www.webcrawler.com/)
The Search Everywhere Page (http://www.fwi.uva.nl/~mes/search.html)
Searchable Index of Internet Discussion Groups (listservs) (http://www.tile.net/tile/listserv/index.html)
Use Switchboard (http://www.switchboard.com/) to find addresses and phone numbers of people and businesses in the United States

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PRODUCT AVAILABILITY/REVIEWS/COMPARISONS

Using Information Technology to Enhance Academic Productivity
From: Edupage, 21 Nov 95

"Using Information Technology to Enhance Academic Productivity" is the subject of a paper commissioned by Educom's National Learning Infrastructure Initiative. The paper, authored by William F. Massy and Robert Zemsky, explores ways that increased use of information technology can help to offset some of the costs of labor, which represent 96 percent of the cost of educating students via a lecture format. Since labor costs tend to rise more rapidly than technology costs, reducing the percentage of costs attributable to labor to 84 percent ultimately results in more manageable budgets for higher education institutions. Copies of the paper are available for $2; contact Pat Bartscherer at 518-885-1044 or patb@educom.edu. An abbreviated version of the article will appear in the January/February issue of Educom Review. (Chronicle of Higher Education 24 Nov 95 A17)

Anaesthesia Monitoring Software
From: jderrick@cuhk.edu.hk (James Derrick)

For those of you who are interested in anaesthesia monitoring software:

I am uploading a prerelease beta version of my Macintosh based monitoring software to the Sydney University Anaesthesia site. The older version of the program had a time limit protection, which is now removed. Feel free to download a copy, and let me know what you think. If there are no major problems it will become version 1.0, and will be made freely available from the same site.

URL is ftp://ftp.su.oz.au/anaes/Monitor

or http://www.usyd.edu.au/su/anaes/Monitor.html

(In the absence of further financial deterioration from Apple, there will NOT be a Windows version in the foreseeable future).

James Derrick <jderrick@cuhk.edu.hk>; Prince of Wales Hospital; Hong Kong

STUDVET - New Software for the Equine Veterinarian
From: Michael J. Shaw, B.V.Sc <mshaw@gil.com.au>

This posting is to inform you of some new software developed by a veterinary surgeon for use in the Equine Stud industry. It replaces card based record keeping systems for the veterinarian and combines this with extensive reporting options and statistical analyses.

Full details of STUDVET and a free demonstration version (for download) are available on the Web at the following address:

http://iccu6.ipswich.gil.com.au/comm/karavet

This system is aimed primarily at the veterinary surgeon but use on the studs by the vet invariably leads to the stud management installing a copy.

Have a look and let me know your thoughts.

FrontPage Web Authoring Package
From: "Anil K Dhiri, DVM,MBA" <piscescd@DIRCON.CO.UK>

Colleagues

I though I would share my expereince with you of the "FrontPage" authoring package from Microsoft. I recently downloaded the beta version from the Microsoft site @ http://www.microsoft.com, and had a go at it. I was impressed. This truly is a powerful Web Authoring tool which not only allows you to create fantastic pages but also manages them for you. If you are seriously contemplating setting up a site or looking for a WYSIWYG Windows based software for Web Page design my reccomendation would be to download the beta and play with it. I believe the full version will be released sometimes in mAy at the cost of around $160.00

Dr Anil K Dhiri, DVM.MBA
mailto:webmaster@pathit.com

Grateful Med on the Internet

The National Library of Medicine's Grateful Med electronic retrieval service is moving to the Internet, making the vast storehouse of electronic databases available via the Web. The service, dubbed Internet Grateful Med, does not require users to have any special software, and will be priced per character shipped, with a typical physician's search costing about $1.25. Would-be users need to sign up for the service and receive a user-ID code and a password.
< http://igm.nlm.nih.gov/ > or 800-638-8480. (Chronicle of Higher Education 26 Apr 96 A25)

INTERNET RESOURCES

NEW - Internet Working Group Web Pages
From: gmalet@surfer.win.net (Gary Malet)

The Internet Working Group of the American Medical Informatics Association is pleased to announce its web pages at:

http://www-informatics.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/Amia/homepage.htm

Full text of the group's newsletters, a mission statement, meeting announcements, and links to member projects are posted.

The AMIA Internet Working Group is the premier organization in the United States dedicated to the development of medical Internet resources in the support of patient care, teaching, research, and health care administration. The Internet Working Group examines interfaces and search tools that present InternetAEs database of digital information to a global medical community. The Group conducts scholarly sessions and lectures in conjunction with AMIAAEs meetings twice a year. The sessions showcase membersAE pioneering efforts to offer multimedia and interactive access to medical resources.

Case Definitions for Public Health Surveillance on Internet
Posted to: AVI-L Association of Veterinary Informatics Discussion List
<AVI-L@WUVMD.WUSTL.EDU>

In response to high demand from state and local health departments, the 1990 MMWR Recommendations and Reports entitled Case Definitions for Public Health Surveillance is now available electronically on the Internet. This document provides case definitions for use by health-care providers, laboratories, and other public health personnel who report the occurrences of notifiable diseases to state and local health departments. The reported numbers of cases of selected notifiable diseases are printed each week in Tables I-III of MMWR.

Case definitions for specific conditions can be accessed individually as World-Wide Web (WWW) pages. To access these pages, use WWW browser software to connect to the CDC home page at http://www.cdc.gov/, then select MMWR --- Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports; go to the "new" item titled Case Definitions for Public Health Surveillance. To access the Case Definitions directly, connect to

http://www.cdc.gov/epo/mmwr/other/case_def/about.html

Online Newsletter Directory
From: Edupage, 21 Dec 95

The URL < http://www.merak.com/~tkuipers/elists/elists.htm > has recently been updated to point to most of the principal online newsletters (including Edupage).

1995-96 Consortium of Aquariums Universities and Zoos Directory
From: Rob Huntley <rob@pinetree.org>

The 1995-96 Consortium of Aquariums Universities and Zoos Directory was published on 31 October, 1995. The 159-page document contains valuable information for all zoo and aquarium professionals and includes listings of SSP Coordinators and other important AZA (American Zoo and Aquarium Association) information. Network members from 25 countries have submitted information about their current activities, including field projects occuring in 75 countries. The directory is available at $20 from CAUZ Network Coordinator Donna Hardy, Department of Psychology, California State University, Northridge, CA 91330, U.S.A. The URL on the World Wide Web is http://www.fhcrc.org/~ialwww/CAUZ/CAUZ.html.

BraveNet - Brazilian Veterinary Network Created
From: "Mauricio Garcia, DVM, MS, PhD" <mauric.garcia@xpnet.com.br>

BraveNet - Brazilian Veterinary Network - was created! It's a site that has links for brazilian and international veterinary sites. Brazilian veterinary colleges, associations, commerce and other sites. General informations, softwares and other technological products for veterinarians can be linked in this site. BraveNet can be accessed throughout TechnoVet homepage:

http://www.xpnet.com.br/technovet

MEDREC-L - Medical Records Automation
From: NEW-LIST - New List Announcements <NEW-LIST@VM1.NODAK.EDU>

The purpose of the MEDREC listserv is to provide a forum for a friendly and open discussion among medical records directors, HIM managers, IS execs, consultants and vendors responsible for hospital and health system records automation. Participation from the public, private and academic sectors is welcome.

When you sign on with MEDREC-L you'll be able to exchange ideas, get advice to improve medical records automation, and participate in a forum on HIM topics including:

* Tips to find the best digital dictation, optical imaging, CPR systems and more

* Market updates on vendor mergers, bankruptsies, product launches and system rip-outs

* Evaluations of transcription, coding and chart tracking software vendors

* And much, much more.

Plus, you'll have the opportunity to participate in ground-breaking national surveys and get the results of the annual national director salary survey.

To subscribe to MEDREC-L, send the following command to LISTSERV@USA.NET in the BODY of your e-mail:

SUBSCRIBE MEDREC-L yourfirstname yourlastname

For example: SUBSCRIBE MEDREC-L Herman Melville

Do not attach a signature and do not place anything in the SUBJECT line.

You may cancel your subscription to MEDREC-L at any time by sending a message to LISTSERV@USA.NET with the words SIGNOFF MEDREC-L in the body. Again, do not attach a signature and do not place anything in the SUBJECT line. For more information about MEDREC-L and Med/Rec Automation & Management Report, contact Robert Long, at 301/816 8950 x346 or send email to rlong@ucg.com

The Global Health Network

We would like to announce the Global Health Network for Scientists. There has been an explosion of interest in the Internet. What was a resource for researchers and scientists is becoming common ground for people in many different fields and disciplines. Public health should not fall behind because, as it is known, health decisions from the individual to the global level depend mainly on information transfer. The Information Superhighway offers a unique opportunity to improve this process. A major difficulty with the Internet and the World Wide Web has been the rather chaotic development. Searches often demand a lot of time and they not always provide the information needed. This discourages the active health scientist who does not want to spend his/her time "surfing" but rather wants to find information on the Web.

With this purpose on mind, we have started a "one-stop global public health mall"...a place one can go to find information on the Web. In this "mall" there are links to public health information, funding opportunities, and jobs, as well as specific focus areas such as minority health, molecular epidemiology, population and reproductive health, etc. This "mall" has a strong foundation as it has evolved as a part of the GHNetwork with technical support from leading people from NASA, the World Bank, PAHO, IBM, and AT&T. The development of this home page has been supported with funding from NASA. It has already won several major awards on the Internet, including that of being in the leading 100 web sites as identified by PC Magazine. In addition, over 400 people per day have been coming to visit the GHNet "mall", the second leading medical home page on the World Wide Web.

We would like to invite you to visit our "mall". Our address is

http://www.pitt.edu/HOME/GHNet/GHNet.html

We believe that this effort will help to bring the Information Superhighway into the office of all public health professionals.

Ronald E. LaPorte, Anthony Villasenor, Eugene Boostrom, Carlos Gamboa, Shunichi Akazawa, , Eric Marler, Francois Sauer, Thomas Songer, Ingrid M. Libman, Amy Brenen.

Vet On-Line - The International Journal of Veterinary Medicine
From: owner-newjour

Vet On-line : The International Journal of Veterinary Medicine

http://www.priory.co.uk/journals/vet.htm

ISSN 1360-1962

Vet On-Line is a Trade Mark of Priory Lodge Education Ltd

Edited by Geoff Potts BVSc MRCVS

There are over 500,000 accesses to our sites every month! We are configured to conform to Netscape and Mosaic viewers, others viewers may not display our pages exactly as designed.

We need to know who you are and what you want so we can persuade sponsors to help this free international journal to continue to flourish, so please do give a moment of your time to tell us who reads us - all information is considered strictly confidential and will not be disclosed to any third party.

We are pleased to accept contributions of news, and review articles from all over the world. Please read our Instructions for Authors If you are an academic or scientific author hoping to submit a paper . All scientific papers are peer reviewed and archived. We are very interested in any ideas, news, general articles, personal opinion pieces, brief reports or scientific papers that you might care to submit for consideration to Vet On Line. Please e-mail Geoff Potts, The Editor, Vet On-Line with any suggestions, comments or contributions. We welcome contributing referees to our editorial board. If you are interested, we would be delighted to hear from you.

NEWS AND COMMENTARY

Professors Turn to the Web for Material Distribution
From: Edupage, 2 November 1995

Professors increasingly are bypassing the copy machine and posting course syllabi and other materials directly onto the Web for downloading by their students. This new strategy allows teachers to offer more current information and facilitates mid-course changes if necessary. Some report that their students spend more time surfing through the information, and point out that high-tech materials presentation ties right in with the expectations of the video generation. Still, many have voiced concern over potential copyright violations and worry that their online activities might get their schools in trouble. "Professors are probably one by one violating copyright laws," says Educom VP Carol Twigg, who predicts that these issues will be resolved before too long. "The next generation of faculty are going to do this naturally." (Chronicle of Higher Education 3 Nov 95 A27)

Online Services to Peak in Two Years?
From: Edupage, 20 February 1996

A new study by Forrester Research predicts that the popularity of commercial online services such as America Online and CompuServe will peak by 1998, with a total of 16 million subscribers. That number will drop to about 15 million the following year, and will continue to fall as more businesses migrate to the Internet. Companies that pursue the strategy of offering Internet services directly, such as AT&T, MCI and Microsoft, will likely reap the benefits. (Investor's Business Daily 20 Feb 96 A13)

Web-Based Science
From: Edupage, 29 Oct 95

The Web is changing the way that science is done, leveling traditional research hierarchies by offering anyone with the technical expertise access to the most advanced scientific tools and databases. "The scope and magnitude of problems being tackled is at a level never reached before," says a researcher at the San Diego Supercomputer Center. The Human Genome Project is one example; GenBank, a public gene repository allows Web-based researchers around the world to compare new sequence data against its huge database. "Intellectual queries" are now running about 12,500 a day, up from zero in 1992. (Business Week 30 Oct 95 p66)

Alert for Laptop Thefts
Posted to: epivet-l@upei.ca

Laptop computers have become a premium target for theft throughout Europe. Every international traveler who is anticipating on carrying a laptop computer with them must remain on constant alert as they traverse through all airports. Two methods of theft have already occurred at separate airports and the techniques that were used to steal the laptop computers can occur at any airport. Both methods involved two thieves to carry out the theft.

Recently, Brussels Airport security advised that one method involved the use of security x-ray machines. The first thief would precede the traveler through the security check point and then loiter around the area where the carry-on luggage had already been examined. When the traveler places his laptop computer onto the conveyer belt of the x-ray machine, the second thief would step in front of the traveler and set off the metal detector. While the traveler was being delayed, the first thief would remove the traveler's laptop computer from the conveyer belt just after it had gone through the x-ray machine and quickly disappear.

The most recent method of theft just occurred at the Frankfurt International Airport, Germany, while the traveler was walking around a crowd of people in the airport terminal. The traveler, who was carrying his laptop computer on his rollbag, was preceded by the first thief. Just as the traveler got around the crowd of people, the first thief stopped abruptly, causing the traveler to stop abruptly. When they stopped momentarily, a second thief, who had been following just behind them, quickly removed the traveler's laptop computer from his rollbag and disappeared in the crowd."

All travelers, both international and domestic, are urged to be alert to the above methods used in stealing computers and always be mindful of any abrupt diversions during your travels. Report any losses immediately to authorities. Keep serial numbers, make, and model information of your laptop computers, or of any items of value, separate from the item so you can give precise information to authorities if the items are stolen.

New WWW Search Engine
From POPMED NEWS (1/22/96)

popmed@sn1.cvm.ncsu.edu

Digital Equipment Corporation has launched a giant new search engine on the Web, designed as a showcase for its 64-bit superchip, the Alpha. The service is called Alpha Vista (http://www.altavista.digital.com), and has apparently indexed 16.5 million Web pages after eight days - which means it has built up a larger catalog than its competitors, InfoSeek or Lycos. A simple test on this newspaper's name revealed far more extensive links than other Web-crawlers. An added feature is an index of postings to Usenet forums. Digital's engineers have also worked out an initial estimate of the much-disputed size of the Web - 130,000 servers, with 40-50 million pages of text. Digital plans to index the entire Web, and believes it has the computing power to do so. (Weekly Mail and Guardian, South Africa; December 19, 1995)

Information for Development Program - World Bank
From: hatak@who.ch

The Information for Development Program (InfoDev) is a new program managed by the World Bank to help developing countries benefit from modern information systems, and telecommunications!

For further information about the infoDev donor program, please contact the World Bank's Industry and Energy Department by telephone at (202) 473-3633 or e-mail at infodev@worldbank.org

MEETINGS AND EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES

May 16-18, 1996
Interactive Videodisc Workshop; Athens, GA

The University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine and Georgia Center for Continuing Education are presenting an Interactive Videodisc Workshop entitled "From Videodisc to CD-ROM and the World Wide Web". Participants will learn to use lesson writing tools. Experienced teachers will guide participants through computer-based learning design and production. Students will compare the videodisc to CD-ROM and be able to convert videodisc resources to CD-ROM. Use of these resources on the Web will also be demonstrated.

For futher information contact:

Dr. Bruce Hollett or Sandi Kilgo at 706/542-1451 or the

IVD Workshop/31870; Georgia Center for Continuing Education; The University of Georgia; Athens, GA 30602-3603; phone: 706/542-2134 or 800/884-1381; fax: 706/542-6596 or 800/884-1419.

May 29-31, 1996
Risk Assessment `Hands-On' Modeling Workshop; Johnstown, PA

Concurrent Technologies Corporation (CTC) is hosting a "Risk Assessment `Hands-On' Modeling Workshop" in Johnstown, PA, from May 29-31, 1996. This Information Exchange is sponsored by the National Defense Center for Environmental Excellence (NDCEE), operated by CTC for the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). The NDCEE leads and supports DOD facilities and the associated industrial base in adopting a comprehensive approach to pollution prevention and addresses other high priority environmental issues.

The workshop will begin with an optional Risk Assessment short course on Wednesday, May 29th. This short course is designed for managers, engineers, health and safety specialists, media specialists, and environmental professionals who wish to gain a better understanding of the health risk sciences.

Risk assessment presentations will begin on May 30th discussing topics on molecular modeling, fate & transport, and risk characterization. Modeling software demonstrations will run concurrently with the presentations. Two computer classrooms will be available so that attendees may gain 'hands-on' experience with the modeling software.

Abstracts summarizing activities regarding risk assessment are being accepted for presentations. Also, a limited number of tabletops and computer demonstration time frames are available for organizations wishing to display and/or demonstrate their products, services, and/or software relating to risk assessment.

To receive further information, contact Ms. Teresa Reed Kishlock, Concurrent Technologies Corporation, 1450 Scalp Avenue, Johnstown, PA 15904, (814) 269-2800, e-mail at kishlock@ndcee.ctc.com or fax at (814) 269-2798.

June 5-8, 1996
AMIA 1996 Spring Congress; Kansas City, Missouri

"Conquering Distance: Teleinformatics-Telemedicine-Telehealth"

For more information write: AMIA; 4915 St. Elmo Avenue; Suite 401; Bethesda, MD 20814

July 15-19, 1996
Short Course - Design of Vaccination Programmes; Great Britain

A short course (one week) is offered in July 1996 on the Design of Vaccination Programmes - from Serology to Cost-Effectiveness. The course will cover the basics of serology, analysis of results, transmission dynamics of viral and bacterial infections, the construction of mathematical models of transmission and their role in designing vaccination programmes and assessing the cost-effectiveness of such programmes. The course will be general (i.e. will cover both human and veterinary perspectives) and assume no previous knowledge (especially of mathematical models).

Community-wide vaccination plays a major role in the prevention of infectious disease of human and veterinary importance. With the development of new and novel-types of vaccines this role is set to increase. Thus, a growing number of communicable disease, public health and economic specialists find themselves in some way involved in the design, implementation or evaluation of immunisation programmes. For these individuals, the insight gained from a fuller understanding of how community vaccination acts to control the spread of infectious agents and the impact it has on patterns of infection and associated disease would be invaluable.

This course is aimed at providing such an insight, covering the whole breadth of theoretical subjects involved in designing vaccination programmes: seroepidemiology, transmission dynamics and economics. The course relates the theory to the collection and interpretation of appropriate data, and to specific infectious agents.

For more information please either access our WWW pages, or e-mail the address below.

http://www.oikos.warwick.ac.uk/~maw/wupert.html

wupert@dna.bio.warwick.ac.uk

Graham Medley; Department of Biological Sciences; University of Warwick; Coventry CV4 7AL; UK

August, 1996
Risk Analysis and Animal Health; Switzerland

The Swiss Federal Veterinary Office and The New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture are organizing a training course on risk analysis and animal health taking place in Switzerland in August 1996. The invitation and electronic registration can be found under

http://www.massey.ac.nz/~wwvet/ra96/Invitation.html

Beni Ruef; Swiss Federal Veterinary Office; CH-3097 Liebefeld/Switzerland

E-mail: ruef@ivi.ch FAX: +41 31 323 85 90 Phone: +41 31 323 84 96

August 7-9, 1996
12th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching & Learning; Madison, WI

(See the Jan-Feb, 1996 AVI Newsletter for details)

October 13-16, 1996
Society for Medical Decision Making (SMDM); Toronto, Ontario, Canada

The Westin Harbour Castle Hotel; Toronto, Ontario, Canada

The SMDM is dedicated to promoting rational and systematic approaches to decision making that will improve the health and clinical care of individuals and assist in health policy formulation for populations. The annual scientific meeting is an opportunity for a diverse and international audience of scholars to present and critique original research investigating the many facets of medical decision making.

Areas of research interest include artificial intelligence, computer-aided diagnosis, and expert systems; technology assessment and health policy; cost-effective and cost-benefit analysis; methodology for decision analysis, including databases; cognition and attitudes; utility theory, etc. We would particularly like to call attention to the Lee B. Lusted Student Prize Competition for the best original research in medical decision making, and to the opportunity to attend pre-meeting Short Courses in key areas in decision making..

Registration material and the preliminary programme for the entire scientific meeting will be available in early summer. If you wish to be placed on our mailing list, please contact ...

Elizabeth Paine, Society for Medical Decision Making
The George Washington University; Office of CME; 2300 K Street, NW; Washington, DC 20037 USA; Phone (202) 994-8929
e-mail: smdm-office@camis.stanford.edu

October 14-17, 1996
European Congress of the Internet in Medicine; Brighton, UK

(See the Jan-Feb, 1996 AVI Newsletter for details)

October 15-20, 1996
1st Virtual-International On-line Pathology Symposium

(See the Jan-Feb, 1996 AVI Newsletter for details)

October 26-30, 1996
AMIA Fall Symposium; Washington, DC

The American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) Annual Fall Symposium (formerly SCAMC) will be held October 26-30 in Washington, DC. The theme this year is "Beyond the Superhighway: Exploiting the Internet witjh Medical Informatics". Presentations relevant to the Internet will be highlighted but, as always, all areas of medical informatics are of interest to the Program Committee. International participation is encouraged.

For further information contact the AMIA office:

phone: 301-657-1291; e-mail: mail@amia2.amia.org; WWW: http://www.amia.org

November 3-5, 1996ITCH'96 - Information Technology in Community Health; Victoria, BC, Canada,

http://sol.uvic.ca/heis/ITCH/ITCH.html

July 1-4, 1997
2nd International Conference of Animal Health Information Specialists; Frederiksberg, Denmark

(See the Jan-Feb, 1996 AVI Newsletter for details)

MS in Medical Informatics - Orgon Health Sciences University
From: William Hersh <hersh@ohsu.edu>

The Oregon State Board of Higher Education has voted to approve the Master of Science program in Medical Informatics to be offered by the Biomedical Information Communication Center (BICC) and School of Medicine (SOM) of Oregon Health Sciences University. This program will commence in the fall of 1996. Applications for admission are being accepted now.

More detailed information about the program is available on the OHSU WWW site at URL:

http://www.ohsu.edu/~hersh/ms.html

William Hersh, M.D.; Associate Professor of Medicine and Medical Informatics Oregon Health Sciences University; BICC; 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Rd.; Portland, OR 97201-3098

Voice: 503-494-4563; Fax: 503-494-4551; Email: hersh@ohsu.edu

Veterinary Technology Distance Education Program

I am pleased announce the Web site for the Veterinary Technology Program and Veterinary Technology Distance Education Program of St. Petersburg Junior College.

The Health Education Center web site is at:

http://hecweb.spjc.cc.fl.us/default.html

The Veterinary Technology Program pages are at:

http://hecweb.spjc.cc.fl.us/CHIP/VT1.html

And the Distance Education Program page is at:

http://hecweb.spjc.cc.fl.us/chip/VTDE/VTDE1.html

We offer the Associate in Science Degree in Veterinary Technology by distance education to students who work for veterinarians. The major method of communication is America Online and the Veterinary Information Network. The Distance Program received provisional accreditation from the AVMA Committee on Veterinary Technician Education and Activities in November of 1995. Graduates of the distance program will be eligible for licensure or certification by their state. There are 52 students enrolled at present, from Florida and four other states. Thank you for your interest and support of the Program.

Guy Hancock, DVM; Veterinary Technology Program Director; St. Petersburg Junior College; P. O. Box 13489; St. Petersburg, FL 33733
Phone: 813-341-3653; E-mail: hancockg@email.spjc.cc.fl.us

CLOSING BITS

AOL Turns to Microsoft for Browser Software

America Online has contradicted earlier reports that it would offer its customers the Netscape Navigator software for browsing the World Wide Web, and will instead offer them Microsoft's Explorer program to accomplish that purpose. In exchange, Microsoft will include access to AOL as a standard option in future versions of the Windows 95 operating system. By summer, Microsoft Internet software will be extended into areas such as 3D graphics and multimedia, and by the end of year Explorer will be extended by add-on software (code-named Nashville) intended to allow a person to use a single program to handle all files, whether they are on the PC or somewhere on the Internet. (New York Times 13 Mar 96 C1, C3)

Visible Woman on the Web

Last year was the Visible Man -- soon there will be a Visible Woman on the Web, courtesy of the National Library of Medicine. The body was scanned by magnetic-resonance imaging and computed-tomography systems and then shaved into 5,200 cross-sections that were photographed and compiled into a huge database. The 39-billion-byte database will be online at <http://www.nlm.nih.gov >. (Business Week 18 Dec 95 p94)

The Evolution of the Web

Peter Adams, director of interactive and creative services at Poppe Tyson Advertising proposes the following evolutionary description of the World Wide Web: "In the beginning, there was Genesis. Then came Renaissance, followed by the Age of Enlightenment and the State of Nirvana." Genesis was back a couple of years ago, when most Web sites consisted of little more than scanned in annual reports and some navigational buttons. The Renaissance occurred when marketers wrested control from the systems staff and started putting up fancy graphics. "The wallpaper was beautiful, but the sites were still static," says Adams. Now we're in the Age of Enlightenment, where meaningful activity is beginning to take place and return on investment starts. Adams predicts Nirvana will be achieved when the Web sites becomes a routine extension of business. (Investor's Business Daily 27 Mar 96 A6)

Association forVeterinary InformaticsNEWSLETTER