The variety and scope of data on environmental health available electronically
can easily daunt the most intrepid researcher. The information available
ranges from Census Bureau data to anecdotal information to peer-reviewed
articles and may take any form from raw data to casual opinions to the observations
of world experts. Yet each type and form of data is of value depending on
the goals of the environmental health professional--whether to gather data,
identify trends, or collaborate with a colleague halfway around the world.
There are four types of on-line information systems (electronic bulletin
boards, commercial on-line services, commercial databases, and distributed
networks), each with distinct benefits to the environmental health professional.
Electronic Bulletin Board Systems
The electronic bulletin board system (BBS) is the least expensive on-line
information resource: some BBSs only cost the price of a local telephone
call for connection. The environmental health information available via
BBSs ranges from incidental information from public postings of electronic
mail (E-mail) to electronic reprints of articles from BBSs such as CLU-IN
(Cleanup Information Bulletin Board), which is sponsored by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency.
Electronic bulletin board systems began in 1978 when Ward Christensen
and Randy Suess wrote CBBS (Computer Bulletin Board System). Growth has
expanded rapidly. The Wall Street Journal recently estimated the
number of active BBSs in the world at 77,000 (40,000 in the USA alone).
The number of BBSs is hard to fix because of the speed with which they are
created. It is estimated that by the year 2000, there will be between 15
and 20 million BBS users in the USA.
Electronic bulletin board systems usually contain three sections: one
for bulletins and other notices prepared by the system operator, another
for E-mail (sending and receiving messages from other users), and a third
for files that can be downloaded by users from the BBS to their own computers.
An environmental health professional might log to this BBS to gather anecdotal
information about current topics such as public perception of the health
risks posed by electric power lines or the emergence of possible trends
in concerns about environmental health issues. A typical BBS is MNS, an
electronic news magazine. Although certain users are granted free access,
MNS charges $35 per year. It offers 600 megabytes of public domain software
for downloading, and discussions of environmental issues predominate.
The EPA operates a number of BBSs. The CLU-IN includes citations and
summaries of EPA Federal Register notices, Commerce Business Daily
procurement and contract award announcements on hazardous waste, solid waste,
and underground storage tank remediation, publications on Superfund, documents
in the EPA library, and news of meetings, conferences, and site demonstrations.
There are also announcements about environmental education software available
from the EPA and references to other systems, such as the Hazardous Waste
Information Exchange (HMIX) BBS. Available on-line for downloading from
CLU-IN is a well-written manual, OSWER Technology Transfer Electronic
Bulletin Board Users Manual, which introduces the dynamics of BBSs.
Commercial On-line Services
Commercial on-line (or host computer) services offer the full scope of
electronic information services, including BBS-type special interest groups
(also called forums or roundtables), on-line research and retrieval, E-mail,
limited access to the Internet, and ancillary services such as automated
article retrieval, stock market quotations, on-line encyclopedias, and real-time
conferences using E-mail. Companies such as CompuServe Information Service,
GEnie (General Electric Network for Information Exchange), and America Online
provide commercial on-line services.
All commercial on-line services charge a fee, depending on the level
of service, access speed, and method and use of value-added products, such
as commercial databases. These services are growing rapidly: CompuServe
has more than 1 million subscribers, GEnie more than 250,000, and America
Online has about 200,000. According to the U.S. Industrial Outlook,
published by the U.S. Department of Commerce, electronic information services
generated $12 billion in revenues in 1992. The Department of Commerce estimates
that there are currently more than 3 million subscribers to on-line consumer
information services.
Each commercial on-line service is an excellent source for gathering
information, keeping abreast of developments in specific fields, and communicating
with colleagues. Each service has unique features which usually determine
the choice of vendor. For example, America Online caters to people interested
in environmental issues. Its forum includes "The Front Desk,"
where users describe their interests and enter into general discussion,
"The Biosphere," for public messages about environmental issues
concerning the air and atmosphere, "Mother Earth," a message area
for discussion of the earth and issues from acid rain to zoological extinction,
and "Environchat," for conducting interviews with well-known environmentalists
and scientists. Other areas include the "Water Cooler," for debating
environmental issues, the "Litter Free Library" for uploading
and downloading programs and educational resources, and the "Environmental
News Archives" from the Environment News Service.
Using CompuServe, an environmental health professional could observe
the current interests of journalists via "JForum," a special interest
group that caters to all segments of the media. Researchers seeking coverage
of their research could review the profiles of JForum members to see if
any of the members would be interested in writing a story on their work.
A new service lets journalists send article queries to a central source
for redistribution to public information officers at more than 100 academic
institutions throughout the country. Those institutions interested reply
directly to the journalist. A query for information on environmental health
experts yielded 10 replies in 3 days from geographic locations ranging from
New Mexico to Israel. The query also yielded information about the GreenDisk
Paperless Environmental Journal, which documents environmental research
by scanning sources on topics such as renewable energy, marine mammal protection,
and toxic waste disposal. The journal is only available on diskette or on-line.
Such services are well-documented in numerous publications. Software developers
have produced programs that allow easy access to the systems with a savings
in on-line costs.
Commercial Databases
Commercial database services, such as Lexis/Nexis and Knowledge Index,
offer a host of databases from which to gather information on environmental
health. Database services such as Dialog Information Services offer a virtual
warehouse of files covering every field imaginable, some produced by the
service and some licensed from producers and suppliers. These services carry
an annual fee as well as on-line charges, which range from $15 per hour
to more than $300 per hour. Commercial database services also offer off-line
printing and distribution of documents as well as document delivery for
files that are not full text. Dialog Information Services has an extensive
program of user seminars, many of which are free.
According to the Directory of Online Databases, some 5026 databases
are publicly available for on-line searching. Databases related to environmental
health include ENSR Health Sciences, Envirofate, Enviroliner, Environment
News Service Data Base, Environment Week, Environmental Bibliography, Environmental
Health News, Environmental Information and Documentation System/Federal
Environmental Agency/Germany, Environmental Information Division/ National
Institute for Environmental Studies/ Environment Agency/Japan, Environmental
Information Network Inc., the Environmental Mutagen Information Service
and Environmental Teratology Information. In-depth documentation on database
services is available from the vendors, and users receive updates through
newsletters and file descriptions.
Knowledge Index is an off-peak service (accessible only from 6 pm to
5 am) that charges a flat fee of $24 per connect hour. It has a database
on pollution abstracts from 1970 to the present that is produced by Cambridge
Abstracts. Another excellent database for environmental health professionals
is the Federal Assistance Programs Retrieval System (FAPRS), produced by
the U.S. General Services Administration. This database contains descriptions
of 1288 assistance programs administered by 51 federal agencies to fund
research and programs for federal, state, and local governments, private
institutions, and individuals. The cost is $24 per connect hour with access
at 9600 bits per second; there are no startup fees, and the user can dial
in through a toll-free number.
A quick search of FAPRS identified several grant programs in environmental
health. Each citation is accompanied by an extensive program description
that notes the agency involved, authorization, objectives, types of assistance,
uses and use restrictions, eligibility requirements, application and award
process, assistance considerations, financial information, regulations,
guidelines and literature, and information contacts.
Distributed Networks
The final category of on-line information systems is distributed networks,
including Internet, which offer E-mail to sites across the globe, file transfer
protocol (uploading and downloading files), Telenet (browsing of BBS-type
systems), mailing lists (special interest-group mail distribution), and
news groups dedicated to different topics.
Internet is one of the most timely, interesting, and exciting communications
channels for environmental health professionals. Such networks let professionals
communicate inexpensively across global boundaries, for example, to collaborate
on a research article. Internet was described in the Directory of Online
Databases as ". . .an internetwork of many networks . . ., connected
through gateways, and sharing common name and address spaces. It exists
to facilitate sharing of resources at participating organizations (which
include government agencies, educational institutions, and private corporations)
and collaboration among researchers." In other words, a group of computers
networked at one site allows users to communicate with those at another
site across the globe.
Started in the late 1960s as ARPA Internet, the network has experienced
phenomenal growth, especially during the last few years. Today, Internet
caters to millions of users on almost 1 million host computers worldwide.
Part of the reason for its growth is the increased computer sophistication
of users outside the disciplines of computer science and engineering. Also
contributing to Internet's growth is its accessibility through commercial
on-line services. In fact, Internet connections now allow individuals complete
access to all Internet services for a reasonable fee. One such service is
The World, headquartered in Boston. For researchers interested in the environment,
EcoNet, started in 1987 and based in San Francisco, allows limited access
to Internet and offers E-mail, electronic conferences, a user directory,
and a number of databases on the environment. Two electronic conferences,
"en.health" and "en.toxics," cover environmental health
issues.
The USENET is a collection of hundreds of discussion groups, many distributed
worldwide. Similar to electronic conferences, these news groups feature
a free and open exchange of E-mail. In the environmental health area are
"ca.environment" (environmental concerns in California), "uiuc.safety"
(environmental health and safety forum), "umiami.environment"
(discussions on the south Florida environment), "clari.tw.environment"
(environmental news, hazardous waste, forests; moderated ), "fj.soc.environment"
(natural environment and society), "nz.soc.green" (environmental
issues), "alt.save.the.earth" (environmentalist causes), "bit.listserv.envbeh-l"
(forum on environment and human behavior), "sci.environment" (discussions
about the environment and ecology), and "talk.environment" (discussions
about the state of the environment and recommended actions). Restrictions
apply in these news groups; for instance, most do not allow commercial messages,
and special commands are required to read and send messages. To keep up
with developments in distributed networks, environmental health researchers
should subscribe to "new-list," an Internet mailing list to keep
users informed of new lists.
On-line information systems are fast becoming a critical part of the
research enterprise, and understanding how they work and what they offer
will assist researchers in performing their work efficiently. The growth
of on-line services is likely to accelerate as businesses seek to exploit
the projected 15-20% annual increase in revenues. With the advent of the
electronic peer-reviewed journal, researchers cannot afford to ignore this
medium.
John S. Makulowich
John Makulowich
is a freelance writer in the Washington, DC, area.
Suggested Reading
Banks MA. The modem reference. New York:Simon and Schuster, 1988.
Csenge M (ed). DataBase directory, 1991-1992, 7th ed. White Plains, New
York: Knowledge Industry Publications, Inc., 1991.
Dvorak JC, Anis N. Dvorak's guide to PC telecommunications. Berkeley,
California: Osborne McGraw-Hill, 1990.
Gale Research, Inc. Directory of online databases. Detroit, Michigan:Gale
Research Inc., 1991.
Hedtke JV. Using computer bulletin boards. Portland, Oregon:Management
Information Source, Inc., 1990; 3.
Kehoe BP. Zen and the art of the Internet: a beginner's guide to the
Internet, 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey:Prentice-Hall, 1993.
Makulowich JS. Databases and BBSs: for most, the future is still tomorrow.
ScienceWriters 36(4):18(1988).
Rittner D. Ecolinking: everyone's guide to online environmental information.
Berkeley, California:Peachpit Press, 1992.
U.S. Department of Commerce. U.S. industrial outlook. Washington, DC:U.S.
Government Printing Office, 1993. |
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Last Update: August 31, 1998