[Petwksp] Petrography database & search: Call for Comments

[David Hirsch]

(apologies for multiple postings)

Petrographers and Mineralogists,
I plan in the near future to create an online database of mineral  
optical properties, searchable through a custom web interface. At the  
outset, the data will all be from published references, but the  
database will be editable by the community of petrographers, so that  
it can improve over time. Because the core system will be designed in  
the coming academic year (2008-2009), I am calling now for comments on  
the database design and search interface.  By offering comments now,  
prior to the initiation of work, you can help this facility be more  
useful for your professional work, research, and teaching.

A great deal more information, including a timeline, database fields,  
and a mock-up of the interface, is available here:
http://almandine.geol.wwu.edu/~dave/petsearch/

I hope you are willing to take a moment to examine this and consider  
whether the design is optimal for your use.  Furthermore, I hope you  
will offer comments as to whether and how such a facility would be  
useful for you (such comments might be used in funding requests).
Thanks,
Dave

============================
Dave Hirsch
Associate Professor
Department of Geology
Western Washington University
persistent email: dhirsch at mac.com
http://www.davehirsch.com
voice: (360) 650-2166
aim: dhirsch at mac.com
vCard: http://almandine.geol.wwu.edu/~dave/personal/DaveHirsch.vcf
============================



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://serc.carleton.edu/pipermail/petwksp/attachments/20080729/30e7985b/attachment.html