W elcome to SCD's first foray into electronic publishing via the World Wide Web: SCDzine. It is with a great deal of personal pride that I write this brief introduction to what we all hope will be an exciting, relevant, and interesting venue for distributing information to the NCAR community using the very latest in WWW technology.What you are looking at is, effectively, a living document; an interactive information resource that will be continuously updated and improved. Our group of digital information specialists has worked hard to produce this new medium using some of the latest features of Netscape 2.0. Of course we hope that you will enjoy it, but more important, we are sincere in our desire that you find the new format more informative than the hardcopy SCD Computing News, which this web version replaces.
With the revolution in information discovery and distribution made available with the advent of the web, we are now able to offer a more accurate, dimensional, and visually appealing document. For our editors, this means that errors can be corrected immediately and that new material can be linked to past articles, creating a seamless information resource that is even more useful than hardcopy documentation.
Moreover, we are now able to solicit your input to this new format interactively, online. As you read an article or view an image or animation sequence, you may at any time go to the "Your comments" portion of this site and send us your thoughts, ideas, concerns, and (hopefully) encouragement on our new "zine."
Perhaps most significant with this first issue is the fact that we are embracing this technology wholeheartedly and with a commitment to use it in new and different ways. Naturally, there will be some missteps and false starts as is common whenever a new, untried approach is undertaken. But we are confident that "the web is the way" and that our readers will find this format more timely, interesting, and even more fun than any print document could be.
So enjoy the SCDzine--make a bookmark right now!--and watch for new items and articles of interest. Be sure to send us your ideas and comments; we are eager to provide you with the information and resources you need, when you need it. And if you want to contribute to the zine, please don't hesitate to contact us!