🚀 go-pugleaf

emv@msen.com (Edward Vielmetti) writes:

>Peter, the "Resource Discovery Problem" is a non-problem.  We have
>no problem finding resources out there on the net, by god there are
>zillions of them of all shapes, sizes, colors, access speeds what have
>you.  Some are good and some are nonsense.  Power tools like archie are
>useful to help find things in the mess, but they shouldn't be confused
>with a user interface.  The net is just too damn big to say "one search
>on one resource pointers database does it all".  You *want* to know where
>the information is coming from, since that's a good clue to whether
>it's any good at all.

I'm going to have to totally disagree.  The "Resource Discovery Problem" is
really, really bad.  People come to me and ask for a particular type of 
information (e.g. Molecular Chemistry Databases).  The most common answer I
gave is "well, I don't know of anything, but there might be something out
there that I don't know about."  An employee of the Dallas Public Library
recently wanted to propose getting an Internet connection for the Library
to provide Internet access (access to databases like GenBank mostly) for their 
patrons.  She wanted a list of what services the Internet could provide.
I really couldn't even point her in one or two directions for information.
Without HYTELNET, I would have really been in trouble.

For more of these lines, look for an opinion article I wrote (John Quarterman
gave me some good suggestions also) on the "Resource Discovery Problem" in
an upcoming issue of "Matrix News".

Billy Barron
billy@unt.edu