---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 5 Dec 1999 09:36:15 +0000
From: Mark Kerr <kerrmw@SBU.AC.UK>
Subject: Re: press release for aps mirror of xxx (fwd)

Just a thought...

Those responsible for this mirror might want to mirror the mirror at
another URL: many of the censorware packages will pick up any URL
containing XXX and filter it out. This may include all sorts of
eduactional institutions around the world, which would then be unable to
access the information rather defeating the point. Whatever you think of
filterware, it seems self-defeating to deliberately or inadvertently
limit the potential access to these resources.

This became apparent when recently trying to demonstrate to a local
autgority's children's librarians the attractions of the Teletubbies
Website on the BBC, it became apparent that their images had been given
filenames such as 1284xxxx.jpg, which were then screened by the local
authority's filtering process. BBC = safe, Teletubbies = harmless
(arguably!), but pictures = blocked.

[Please do not launch a filtering debate on the strength of this]

Then again, those with strong email filters might not even see this as
the xxx is in the subject line... unintended outcomes everywhere...

Regards
Mark Kerr

Stevan Harnad wrote:
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Sat, 04 Dec 1999 09:35:43 -0500
> From: Martin Blume <blume@bnl.gov>
> Reply-To: blume@aps.org
> To: harnad@coglit.ecs.soton.ac.uk
> Subject: press release for aps mirror of xxx
>
>  NEW SITE ESTABLISHED FOR MAJOR SCIENTIFIC ELECTRONIC ARCHIVE
>
> Contact:   Arthur Smith, American Physical Society
>                 apsmith@aps.org
>                 631-591-4072
>                 Karen McNulty, Brookhaven National Laboratory
>                 kmcnulty@bnl.gov
>                 631-344-8350 or 2345
>
> Ridge, NY -- The American Physical Society (APS) is establishing, in
> cooperation with Brookhaven National Laboratory, the first electronic
> mirror in the United States for the Los Alamos e-Print Archive. The
> Archive allows authors of physics articles to post their papers on-line
> and, in its short life, has become an essential resource for physics
> research. The mirror, a duplicate web-site updated daily, will provide
> wider and faster access to the heavily used Archive. It can be accessed
> at http://xxx.aps.org/ .
>
> Scientists around the world access the Archive to immediately find out
> about new developments and directions in research, without having to
> wait for these to appear in a hard copy journal. Posting on the Archive
> serves authors as an adjunct or an alternative to publication in a
> traditional physics journal. Created in 1991 by Los Alamos physicist
> Paul Ginsparg and known informally as XXX after the original web site
> at xxx.lanl.gov, the Archive presently contains over 100,000 papers in
> physics and related fields. It operates with support from the U.S.
> National Science Foundation, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the
> U.S. Department of Energy. To speed and facilitate access, the Archive
> is already mirrored at 14 sites around the world.
>
> APS Editor-in-Chief Martin Blume and Deputy Director Peter Paul of
> Brookhaven National Laboratory led the collaboration. APS initiated and
> organized the project, obtained the required equipment and will
> participate in further software development; Brookhaven is providing
> space and internet access. Eventually, the APS/BNL mirror could move
> beyond a passive duplication of the XXX Archive to become a second site
> for submission of articles and vetting for suitability and size.
>
> The American Physical Society is the world's largest organization of
> physicists, with 42,000 members in academia, government, and industry,
> in the US and abroad. The U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven
> National Laboratory creates and operates major facilities available to
> university, industrial and government personnel for research in the
> physical, biomedical and environmental sciences and in selected energy
> technologies.The APS Editorial Offices are located across the highway
> from Brookhaven National Laboratory in eastern Long Island.

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