Newsgroups posted to: sci.chem,sci.materials,sci.geo.geology,sci.optics,sci.nanotech,sci.misc,sci.polymers,bionet.xtallography,sci.techniques.xtallography
Followup-To: sci.techniques.xtallography
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This is a post to announce the creation of a crystallography
newsgroup, sci.techniques.xtallography on 23rd October 1993.
Would people please pass this message on to potential users
of this newsgroup.
For interested participants, following is a draft
"Welcome to sci.techniques.xtallography" which includes the
newsgroup's charter. People are welcome to post comments, suggestions
and correct the bad grammar.
Lachlan Cranswick (lachlan at dmp.csiro.au)
============================================================
Draft: Welcome to sci.techniques.xtallography.
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This is the first of a hopefully regular posting welcoming people to
the unmoderated newsgroup, "sci.techniques.xtallography". The main
aim of this newsgroup is to provide an open, easily accessible,
electronic conferencing system or bulletin board for the
crystallographic community on the internet. The newsgroups (in
theory) allow queries and discussion to take place in days to weeks,
that would take months to years (or not at all) on conventional paper
journals. Opportunities for informal discussion and exchange of
information and opinions that might only occur at international
conferences can routinely take place on the internet newsgroups.
Participants are welcome and encouraged to browse, read, follow-on,
post, and use this newsgroup as an information server, discussion area
and electronic conferencing system to its maximum advantage. Being an
unmoderated newsgroup, no one owns or runs this newsgroup so. Thus
participants should feel uninhibited to freely use this crystallographic
discussion forum.
=======================================
ETIQUETTE
It is requested that most of the posts and discussion on this newsgroup
occur in a mature and constructive fashion. Encouraging
politeness and courtesy on this newsgroup provides the best chance
of it serving crystallographers and others who would like to use
this newsgroup as a scientific resource and discussion area.
=======================================
CHARTER
Following is part of the original charter for this newsgroup written up
during the newsgroup creation process. The main emphasis being
that this newsgroup is a discussion area for anything relevant to the
scientific discipline of crystallography.
It should be noted that concerns have been raised about participants
avoiding the peer-review process by publishing structures on this
discussion area that might be incorporated into crystallographic
databases. As around two out of five submitted structures have problems
or errors, it is thus recommended that this newsgroup not be used to
publish raw results and data that would normally go via the peer-review
process.
Topics for discussion include:
------------------------------
Powder diffraction (neutron/X-rays)
Single crystal diffraction
Electron diffraction
Crystal Structure determination
Structure determination
Rietveld Refinement
Software
Data formats
Databases
Hardware/Equipment - specs, alignment, opinions, etc.
Phase Identification - search match software/techniques/....
Discussion of complementary/confirmatory techniques :-
e.g.:- SEM, XRF, MicroProbe, AFM, STM, Optical Microscopy......
Applications to the fields of Mineralogy, Geology,
Physics, Chemistry, Industry, etc.
Announcements/reviews of papers/conferences.
Preparation techniques.
Non-ambient techniques (high-pressure/temperature/??)
Discussion on the accuracy/validity of various structures
and reference patterns.
General Discussion/opinions/questions.
Synchrotron radiation
Positions vacant
Crystallographic texture determination
Biological crystallography and applications
TEM (Transmission Electron Microscopy)
Structural analysis of disordered (i.e. amorphous) materials.
Anything else that is relevant to crystallography in general.
==================================
FAQ's (frequently asked question files)
One thing users might like to keep in mind is the idea of FAQs
(frequently asked question files). After discussion on a particular
topic, interested people might like to create an FAQ so that any
conclusions or interesting information are stored and are posted
regularly to limit the same discussion occurring every 6 months or so.
Examples of a crystallography FAQ might be :-
FAQ sci.techniques.xtallography - structure drawing software
FAQ sci.techniques.xtallography - molecular modelling software
FAQ - crystallography information services on the internet.
FAQ - how to find a colleague's email address on the internet.
Some of above topics have already been already discussed to some extent
in newsgroups such as sci.chem and sci.materials and thus might be
appropriate to create FAQs relatively soon.
=================================
FUTURE ACTIONS ON THIS NEWSGROUP
Based on email received, three desirable actions for the near future
are :-
a) Link this newsgroup to LISTSERV or related software such that
interested users can read this newsgroup via email.
b) Archive this newsgroup such that old postings are retrievable.
c) Expand awareness of this newsgroup amongst the crystallographic and
scientific community by announcments on relevant paper journals and
electronic information servers.
==================================
Again, comments, criticisms and suggestions are appreciated as either
followons to this post or via email.
Lachlan Cranswick (lachlan at dmp.csiro.au)
--
Lachlan Cranswick - CSIRO _--_|\ lachlan at dmp.CSIRO.AU
Division of Mineral Products / \ tel +61 3 647 0367
PO Box 124, Port Melbourne \_.--._/ fax +61 3 646 3223
3207 AUSTRALIA v
