Becoming an Information Provider on the Internet

Steven M. Bachrach

Department of Chemistry
Northern Illinois University
DeKalb, IL 60115

Presented at the Chemistry on the Infobahn symposium at the Fall 1995 American Chemical Society Meeting in Chicago, August 21, 1995.

Methodologies

1. Remote Access - telnet, rlogin
2. Gopher
3. World-Wide Web

Remote Access - telnet, rlogin

Commercial Application (databases)

• Advantages
  • accounting
  • control access
• Disadvantages
  • Maintenance
  • training

Gopher

Client/Server Environment

• Advantages
  • Easy to install and use
  • wide variety of file types
• Disadvantages
  • out-of-date
  • no inline graphics

World-Wide Web

Client/Server Environment

• Advantages
  • Browser Simple to Operate
  • Easy to Create Information (Pages)
  • All File Types Can Be Served
  • Format Control Including Graphics
  • Launch Applications on Server or Client
• Disadvantages
  • None

Web Server Options

Platforms

• UNIX
• Macintosh
• Windows

Web Servers

NCSA (http://hoohoo.ncsa.uiuc.edu/docs/Overview.html)

FREE, easy to set up

Netscape (http://home.netscape.com/comprod/server_central/index.html)

FREE to academics, secure transactions

CERN (http://www.w3.org/hypertext/WWW/Daemon/Status.html)

FREE, nice for proxy server - firewall

WN (http://hopf.math.nwu.edu/)

FREE, administered security, search tools

Providing Chemical Information

WWW Media Options

1. Web Pages (HTML)
2. Feedback Mechanisms
3. Beyond Document Delivery

Designing the Page

Authoring Tools

• Converters
• Editors
  • NaviPress - from NaviSoft, free 30-day trial offer
  • Web Weaver
• View Source within a Browser
• Graphics
  • size, speed of transfer

Feedback Mechanism

Forms

• Text Entry
• Radio Buttons
• Selection Menus

Beyond Document Delivery

CGI Scripts

• Server executes local program
• Programs as shell scripts, C code, etc
  • local applications like databases
• Results returned to the browser
  • HTML Pages, graphics, special formats

What Should be on the Web?

How to Get Visitors

• Current Approaches
  • Academic Sites
    • Faculty Lists, Interests, Phone Numbers
    • Course Offerings
  • Commercial Sites
    • Product Advertisements
    • Contact Phone Numbers

Beyond the Norm

Providing Value on the Internet

Northern Illinois University

Electronic Conferences, Email Database, Employment Clearinghouse

Imperial College

Chemical MIME, Hyperactive Molecules

NIH

Molecular Modeling Guide, Molecules R Us

MDL

Isis/Draw

Fischer Scientific

MSDS

Future Growth

How to Get Repeat Customers

• Innovation
• Databases (client/server)
• Software
• Cost Strategies (free client)
• Not Just Free Advertising

Approaches in the Making

Speculations on 1996?

• Client/Server Model within the WWW
  • Provide the Client for free
  • Restricted Access to the Database
  • Charge back for full access
• Electronic Journals/Electronic Conferences
• Web-based Discussion Groups

Acknowledgments

• Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation
• ECCC SOC - Don Boyd, Stephen Gray, Bill Hase, Henry Rzepa
• Michael Szela
• Stephen Heller
• Henry Rzepa