Speleogenesis Info - Bulletin #18

[Sharon Faulkner]

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WWW.SPELEOGENESIS.INFO - BULLETIN no 18, August 6, 2007
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The "Www.Speleogenesis.info - Bulletin" is produced occasionally in-between and simultaneously with releases of regular issues of the online Journal "Speleogenesis and Evolution of Karst Aquifers" in order to alert subscribers about current updates and new features on the site and about content of regular issues. Sorry for possible cross-posting.
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Dear Colleagues,

This Bulletin announces new important information resources.

1. Speleogenesis Network website: www.network.speleogenesis.info/
The site is a result of an evolution of the Speleogenesis site, which combined an online scientific journal (Speleogenesis and Evolution of Karst Aquifers, http://www.speleogenesis.info) and a number of features serving information needs of the cave and karst science community.

With the growth of services and functions supporting information exchange and international collaboration it became obvious that we need to separate them from the journal. The Speleogenesis Network site is a new open-access platform designed to aid integrated efforts of the international cave and
karst community in promoting information exchange, supporting new online-based research projects and establishing collaborative initiatives. All major information services from www.speleogenesis.info have been transferred to the www.network.speleogenesis.info and considerably improved. The Speleogenesis Network website has many new features and capacities. It is a contribution of the UIS KHS Commission to international efforts on promoting communication and cooperation in cave and karst science. We are happy to launch the Speleogenesis Network site a week before the coming Karst-2007 Conference in Bowling Green, Kentucky, where major international groups will discuss how to promote an international cooperation in our field. We hope that the capacities of the new site will serve this need.

We urge all colleagues who previously registered to www.speleogenesis.info (over 600 cave and karst people worldwide) to register to the Speleogenesis Network. As you'll see, by registering to the Network, you also get included into the global Directory of Cave and Karst Science, an important
information resource at its own right. Please, keep in mind that your registration to www.speleogenesis.info can not be transferred to the Speleogenesis Network, and that the former site will abandon information and networking functions soon (limiting itself solely on the journal).

Please, register as soon as possible (there are many good reasons for this!):
www.network.speleogenesis.info/member/register.php
We would be very grateful if you help to further distribute this information in your national and local cave&karst science scene.

Probably the most valuable new resource incorporated into the site is the KarstBase - a new initiative and a fully functional system to create and maintain a comprehensive online bibliography database in our field: www.network.speleogenesis.info/directory/bibliography/karstbase/index.php

There are currently almost 9.000 searchable references in KarstBase. It offers a number of ways for the community members to contribute to the database via online submission, so we hope it will grow quickly into a major resource for Cave/Karst bibliography.

2. Karst Information Portal (KIP): www.karstportal.org/
There is a big ongoing effort of the American core group to promote this new resource and make it international. Despite of some similarities between goals and functions of KIP and the Speleogenesis Network, the two sites do not compete. We coordinate things in both organizational and technical aspects to make the two sites complementary to each other. KIP has a broader scope and hopefully will play a major repository role in integrating existing resources in the whole field of cave and karst science, while Speleogenesis Network is biased to karst and geospeleology areas and intends to be more like a test ground for new projects and initiatives. We encourage
Speleogenesis members to visit KIP, register and contribute to the site.

Best wishes!

Sincerely,

Alexander Klimchouk (Ukraine) and
Alexey Koptchinsky (Austria)

[Brian Roebuck]

That's a very interesting topic Sharon. I'll have to check it out when I have plenty of time to devote to it.

[Sharon Faulkner]

Also, folks might want to check out the Karst Information Portal (KIP) www.karstportal.org/ listed in the post above, when they have time. Although this is a relatively new undertaking it is coming along. Will be interesting to see the growth of the project in coming years. I noticed some members of U.S. Cavers Forum have joined the discussion group available on the site. I'm sure they will be able to contribute valuable insight to the discussions that take place.